Weekend open thread
I guess it’s been a few weeks since we’ve had one of these, and I have some business in Winchester, VA, so I’ll be gone for a while and you can keep yourselves occupied talking about me while I’m gone.
Category: Administrative
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Good Moring, TAH.
Let’s see…The Phildo is still avoiding calls seeking clarification of his claims but several of his employees really despise him.
Mathew Beck claims “Classified Ranger” and a Silver Star but gets upset when you ask why it is not on his body.
Jerry SEAL still is a turd.
TB at AWPA avoids calls as well seeking clarification od SEAL claims.
I am making vegetable soup on a cold, winter’s day.
I won 25 bucks on a lotto ticket.
Let’s start the bowl season!
Just laid my eyes on the latest incarnation of the hundred dollar bill. [sigh] Maybe the next iteration will have those little motion detecting LED flashers, like kids’ tennis shoes.
The more they debase the currency, the more they gussy it up to prevent “counterfeiting” (i.e., other people debasing the currency).
Happy Holidays to the family at TAH. I just caught my son snooping through my room looking for his presents. Good thing I already wrapped them. Oh, to be 8 again.
Oh, and the santana presents are cleverly hidden.
My tablet changed it from Santa to Santana and even made the first letter lower case. My tablet hates me.
1. Won $10 on a $3 Arkansas lottery ticket. Here the lottery is known as the Redneck retirement plan.
2. Saw the new food stamps, they have Obama’s picture on it.
3. Jonn is visiting VA today. Does that mean the IQ of both WVA and VA is temporarily increased for the day?
4. Well, he said to talk about him.
My time to say a very Merry Christmas to each and every TAH poster and staff. God bless each of you and your families this Christmas.
Twist @5: A suggestion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnhCeFEQvMw
Okay, I need some help here from you fixed-winf types. This morning, I hear the sound of aircraft and I say to myself, “What the hell is that?” I run out back and, flying overhead is a flight of seven small, identical prop planes (formation was 4, followed by 3) with external fuel tanks on the end of each wing. I thought thet were fighters, mabe old trainers but I can’t finf them in googling WWII or Korean war aircraft. Any guesses?
AC, on that description alone, can’t help. Single engine, I presume? Not aware of any air shows which might have a stray formation flying about.
In the meanwhile, you might want to nose around here: http://www.airpowermuseum.org/
They might have a pic of one of their reproduction zeeks or Bettys which could be what you saw? Or maybe a more modern aerobatic aircraft.
@5 – I’d be very happy with a Santana present!
@10. Yes, single engine. Sorry about the description. I had seconds to look. The sound was quite distinctive. I’m a few miles from the Air Guard in Martinsburg and, my guess is, given the flight’s altitude, that’s where they took to the air. I’ll check the museum site. Thanks.
2/17AirCav, they could be T6 Texans, which the Navy used to train pilots down in Pensacola. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-6_Texan
Without seeing them, I can’t give you a better answer.
@13. No, but I appreciate the guess. If I had been more careful in my vrief observation, I’m sue I would have found out what they were but, quite frankly, I was tickled to see ’em and they were quickly gone.
AC, hope you got out the spray bottles of vinegar just in case. Teehee.
Just duckwalked out a huge Giduck that barely flushed. Think of it as “John Giduck Yule Log”.
All these other posers take Giducks as well.
@16.
Heard that!
@16 – Your comment reminded me of another GIANT turd, and bedwetter, William “Bill” Blake of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Well worthy of being flushed along with the Giduck Yule Log.
Green Thumb, I have not forgotten your request for a nasty man modeled after phildo: Phelps Affenteil, a scuzball stumpsucker, if there ever was one.
@18.
That fat fool is nothing but hot air.
He brags about getting paid then launches into the threats against you, your family, questions your masculinity and so forth. He also wants you to fly down and “meet” him face to face. When you ask him to cover the airfare, he hangs up.
Very unoriginal, indeed.
Just a useless leech on society.
@19.
Cool. Maybe toss in a sordid sexual history as well as stealing anything that is not bolted down.
Might actually not be to far from the truth.
Oh, not just stealing, but selling it out the back door and pocketing the cash, and all on the DoD’s budgetary account for logistics like food, medical supplies, guns and ammo. He’s just a snake waiting to meet the snake killer. And sordid sexual history? His door swings both ways?
When you find yourself facing a sort of perdition the TAH family can always bring a smile. There is someone else to laugh at and/or someone else to laugh with.
A New Years toast to the denizens: “Here’s to us, and those like us, Damn few left.”
The benchmark need not be a ribbon or medal. The Oath that has no end date matters.
Speaking of SV. I just went through Starbuck’s…for my WIFE. While sitting in the drive through, down the street comes a guy about 350 LBS. Rockin’ his old fatigue jacket and pants that showed his calves. He was sporting a SF patch on one arm and a Sceamin’ Eagles patch on the other. Plus a lot of bling I couldn’t quite make out at the distance. Just a simple drive to get my wife her mocha and there he is in all his glory. Every f@ckin’ place you go! You just can’t get away from it. Must be the time of the season. Never stops amazing me though. On the plus side, when I got home I had to take a big Giduck then wipe my Blake. So something good came out! (All pun intended)
@23 Here-Here!!!
An old repeat offender is raising his head again. After being incarcerated for awhile, he is back out, causing friends to notify me as I requested of them.
I made contact with a couple of people on Kyle Barwan’s friends list, and it has helped greatly in keeping track of him. One just referred another person to me, and I am waiting for a full on conversation with that person to see what is up this time. He is very close to Ft. Campbell, KY where he had the thickheadedness to go on post as a warrant officer, (formerly he was a Captain). To date he has not suffered punishment for his phoniness, but for related things; such as using claimed mil status to gain money from those not up to speed on spotting a faker. I will keep y’all apprised of what I learn.
I’ve seen those WWII style prop planes, too. I think they’re the new DHS planes. I can’t remember where I read that they were going to be using those for patrols, but yeah…
@14 – AirCav, it might be some kind of Cessna. The closest I can come to it is a Cessna 310Q, but that’s a two-engine fixed wing craft big enough to use as a multi-person transport, up to four passengers plus the pilot.
See if you can get pix, if you ever see them again. I am waiting for the black Hueys to fly over my house next spring, so that I can run out with my camera and shoot them, and then wave.
Y’all talk of Black HUEY’s, DHS planes, etc. Living here, where I live, might make you concerned?
https://www.facebook.com/frankie.cee.7/media_set?set=a.10200914869209106.1073741843.1086639350&type=3
@9-Well, drop tanks on a propeller plane probably puts it somewhere in the 30’s to end of WWII timeframe if it’s not a trainer (probably not, as those are all fairly-well known aircraft with lots of surviving examples you would have found in your search). It’s almost certainly not a civilian model in origin if it has drop tanks and is that small. You might try some of the more obscure foreign models. CAC Boomerang, perhaps? That’s a WWII fighter and attack aircraft (Australian designed and produced) that doesn’t show up in many books and searches of WWII aircraft because it’s pretty obscure compared to others like the Corsairs, Hellcats, and Messerschmidts. That’s kind of a Hail Mary, though, since I don’t think there’s too many surviving examples. A Soviet one, maybe, like a Lavochkin or a Yak? Again, there’s few surviving examples, but it’s remotely possible, and they built a lot of different models, so you might not have found them in your search. Probably not Italian, since very, very few of their fighters survived the war. Those, Germany, and France (very few surviving examples of that last one) are the only ones who really produced aircraft in the quantities that would allow seven surviving models to be in one place at the same time today. That’s my guess; hope you find it helpful. Oh, and Merry Christmas.
@14 AC I would guess an F.15 Picchio
@29 Frankie, that’s enough aircraft for your own control tower!
@#32:
And that is only the ones I felt like photographing. Living under a “Military Aviation Operational Area”, I have the pleasure of often seeing C-130s low enough (200-500ft AGL), that I can make eye contact with the cockpit crew. A month ago I even had the pleasure of having a C-17 flying a pattern over the farm at 400ft AGL for over 2 hours. That was most impressive.
The Russian Hinds in the photos is owned by a flight training company, teaching Air Force rotary wing pilots to fly it so they can become instructor pilots for the Afghani Air Force. That company has permission to use the fields here for landing and takeoff practice.
@33 Way cool to be able to see all those great aircraft right from home.
@31. That’s close but not it. Plus, there were seven of them, with those tanks, one at the end of each wing. I suppose I could call the 167th Airlift and ask but they would likely put me through to their PR office or something next week. But, I could ask a few of their guys who regularly get pizza where I do every Monday or Tuesday. Thats’ two–count em–two large pies for $12 and they are DE-licious.
@26.
I forgot about that clown.
How did the Phildo’s December 13th DUI issue turn out?
In saturdays not so feel good story a three year old little boy playing with a gun shot and killed himself in arizona.
@38-So-while tragic, we should do-what, exactly? Confiscate everybody’s guns?
I have an idea, how about we teach kids how to safely handle firearms. That might stop them from shooting each other and themselves. Or, would you rather they learn everything about firearms from video games, on the street, and violent television?
@35- was it a flight of those Embraer-made things that they are testing as a ground attack platform? A year or two ago Embraer was awarded some sort of contract for ground attack planes, and people threw a fit that a Brazilian company got the bid. They’d look something like this here:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_EMB_314_Super_Tucano
@38.
Do you have a Phildo?
@9. Hey 2/17 Air Cav, I am a bit of an aircraft enthusiast (not a pilot). You may have seen a Marchetti SF 260. I’ve seen youtube videos of them doing flyovers of stadium and auto racing events. As an aside, was outside today and saw a Piaggio P 180 flying overhead. A unique aircraft.
Speaking of low flyers, the Mach Loop in Wales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4
Like the C-130 imitating the fast movers.
2/17 Air Cav
My guess is Siai Marchetti SF.260 Used for jet fighter training because of flight characteristics and lower cost per hour. used for strafing and light bombing in some countries. The wing tanks extend range, may not be dropable.
Single engine aircraft with wing tanks flying in formation sounds like some kind of Agricultural aircraft. They’re used for cloud seeding, pesticide/herbicide applications, reseeding forests after fires, and there are a dozen or more types. It would be really difficult to tell which one from so brief a description.
Daniel Dellinger, the National Commander for the American Legion, was in New Mexico this week for a tour of our posts. He’s a great guy, and I’m glad I met him.
Legion Rider Chapter NM22 busted a phony this week. Guy named Clint Cleaver was showing up at PGR missions sporting Army sergeant stripes, 101st patch and a Desert Storm Veteran patch. He’s been trying to join the Legion and Riders for a month or so, but never produced a DD214 so he’s been on hold until he does. His girlfriend, (Army MP veteran with a DD214) found his real discharge and gave it to us (then she kicked him out.) He served 31 days and has an “Uncharacterized” discharge.
(I love weekend open threads.)
@20 – Green Thumb – Your assessment of William “Bill” Blake, aka Zippy the Pinhead, is right on. He talks so tuff, but is just a special snowflake. Bedwetting sissy-boi.
@ 24 Sparks – Yes, I gotta wipe my “Blake”, too. Kinda shitty.
@38 – VWPunk’d – Please go play with the nearest gun. Try sucking on it, sucker.
@39 & 40: Stipulated: VWP is a generally ignorant anti-gun troll.
But “what we should do, HSS, is let the prosecutor see if a grand jury will charge the [ahem] “responsible” adult(s) with a crime(s).
And FW, are you suggesting teaching a **3-YO** to safely handle firearms? Uh-uh. My youngest is now 21, so I don’t ‘zactly remember what they were like at three. But about the ONLY thing you can teach kids that young is, “If you find a gun, STOP – DON’T TOUCH – LEAVE THE AREA – TELL AN ADULT.” Safe gun handling can begin, MAYBE, at say 5 or 6, with strict adult supervision.
If a 3-YO was killed “playing with a gun,” my hunch is that at least one adult in that house was acting recklessly. If so, s/he ought to be tried, and if found guilty, punished to the fullest extent of the law.
After two days of gloom and slop, it is trying to snow in my kingdom.
Ex-PH2: you have my sympathies. Snow is indeed a 4-letter word. (smile)