tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post3841925441913536375..comments2024-03-28T23:57:50.103-05:00Comments on Bayou Renaissance Man: Remembering a remarkable manPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-67642738051554840622020-12-11T07:56:02.161-06:002020-12-11T07:56:02.161-06:00F-20 was an amazing plane, I still have a t-shirt ...F-20 was an amazing plane, I still have a t-shirt that fits.<br /><br />Amazing how politics and General Dynamics killed it.Ray - SoCalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11293232996007277071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-28986462451816214662020-12-10T20:08:52.210-06:002020-12-10T20:08:52.210-06:00Yeager had 11.5 kills, which puts him in a rare ca...Yeager had 11.5 kills, which puts him in a rare category, as most of our combat pilots had less than 5, which was the minimum to be rated as "Ace". About 10% of combat pilots had 90% of the kills, for most all countries. Basically, there were hunters, and targets.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722792638246578812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-30505809248114351952020-12-10T19:58:26.215-06:002020-12-10T19:58:26.215-06:00Yeager was probably describing a dogfight against ...Yeager was probably describing a dogfight against an Me-109 near the end of his time in the ETO. His assumption was that he had run into an "experten", which was the term the Luftwaffe pilots used to label a fighter pilot that was seriously competent in fighting, and generally had ~50 kills at a minimum.<br /><br />During the last year of the war, when the P-51 was our main air superiority fighter, German fighters mostly had very inexperienced pilots, leavened with those pilots that had been flying for years, maybe even since the start. There were several that had 250-301 kills, and the highest had 352, his last victim shot down on the last day of the war!<br /><br />German and Japanese experience indicated that it could take many months, up to a year, of air combat before a pilot became accomplished at fighting. And this with pilots that had prewar flight training, equal or exceeding what the Allies mandated for training hours, along with VERY stringent selection paramenters.<br /><br />American and British rules generally had combat pilots rotated home after a set number of combat missions, and this was less than a year. American pilots almost never were allowed to return to combat for a second try, especially if they had run up a notable score. Our highest scorer only had 40 kills.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722792638246578812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-67348444794071773522020-12-10T18:51:06.624-06:002020-12-10T18:51:06.624-06:00I have spent most of my career in aerospace workin...I have spent most of my career in aerospace working on 5th generation fighter programs and even I think the F-20 would have been great. Simple has a quality all it's own and tends to generate higher mission capability rates. Mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08317316178774530796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-14251251423820776492020-12-10T15:21:34.769-06:002020-12-10T15:21:34.769-06:00I have the book from my little brother, who got hi...I have the book from my little brother, who got his pilot's license at age fourteen years old, before he was old enough for a driver's license(15 years old).<br /><br />Here is a link to an image of the cover:<br />https://photos.app.goo.gl/DbcoSSjuL1ypMWrJ6Chip Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03660750410710654043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-79861148582427041442020-12-10T12:56:45.408-06:002020-12-10T12:56:45.408-06:00A note on the F-20. It was not just an upgraded F...A note on the F-20. It was not just an upgraded F-5. The F-20 could out maneuver the F-16, from a cold start (run to the plane, start the engine and such) initialize gyros and avionics, taxi, takeoff and be on the way before the F-16 was ready to taxi.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the F-20 did not have backers in Congress for a US military purchase or big backers for FMS. The F-16 backers pushed force multiplying and multi-mission all of which the F-20 could perform in the same manner. Great airplane gone the way of we don't like Jack Northrup.<br /><br />DaveDavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12765688751001087713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-34527716602295133072020-12-10T11:11:30.128-06:002020-12-10T11:11:30.128-06:00I got to meet General Yeager at the SCI convention...I got to meet General Yeager at the SCI convention in Reno, NV in the 1990’s. He was an avid hunter and wandered around the convention. He was polite but reserved. Someone who was friends with the general said he was wary of having his name used in things he did not approve of. After the film version of The Right Stuff came out, he had been besieged with all sorts of offers.<br /><br />Duke Cunningham told a story about meeting General Yeager at some fighter pilots reunion. He said Yeager had both hands out, re-enacting a dog fight. The hands went up and down, rolled and pitched, the left hand doggedly following the right hand one all over the imaginary sky.<br /><br />Cunningham, an ace in Vietnam, asked General Yeager,” So Chuck, How did you shoot him down?”<br /><br />Yeager said, “I didn’t. I was the guy being chased.”.<br /><br />Gerry<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00564111374650870889noreply@blogger.com