Update on Col Day article
published in a recent HL:
From: Byers Steve
Date: 2/6/2016 10:44:45 AM
To: Mark Sztanyo
Subject: Re: Col Day Picture
Hi
Mark,
Did
a little research on Col Day.Feel free to use any of this. Probably a
lot more info than you want or need, but Col Day is a true hero. Awarded
Medal of Honor for time as a POW. No record of his ever flying the F-105.
After retirement he practiced law in Shallimar FL. He brought a
lawsuit against the US government for breach of promise when retired military
vets lost government health care as promised and required the retirees to use
Medicare. As a result of congressional action, retirees now use Medicare
as primary and Tricare for life, a new program, is secondary.
He
was assigned to the 55th Fighter Bomber Squadron. He then trained to fly the F-100 Super Sabre in 1957 while
stationed at Royal Air Force
Wethersfield in the United Kingdom through June 1959. It was during
this time that he had to bail out of a jet fighter without a parachute,
becoming the first person ever to live through such a feat.[1]
Anticipating retirement in 1968 and now a major, Day volunteered
for a tour in Vietnam and
was assigned to the 31st Tactical Fighter
Wing at Tuy Hoa Air Base in
April 1967. At that time, he had more than 5,000 flying hours, with 4,500 of
them in fighters. On 25 June 1967, with extensive previous service flying two
tours in F-100s, Major Day was made the first commander of Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 37th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Phu Cat Air Base.[2][3] Under the project name Commando Sabre,
twin-seat USAF F-100Fs were evaluated as a Fast Forward Air Control (Fast FAC)
aircraft in high threat areas, given that F-4 Phantom II aircraft
were in high demand for strike and Combat Air Patrol (CAP) roles. Using the
call sign Misty, the name of Day's favorite song, his
detachment of four two-seat F-100Fs and 16 pilots became pioneer "Fast
FACs" (Forward Air Controllers) over Laos and North Vietnam. All Misty
FAC crews were volunteers with at least 100 combat missions in Vietnam and
1,000 minimum flight hours. Tours in Commando Sabre were temporary and normally
limited to four months or about 60 missions.
Steve
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I do not buy into this
but some of you do. Others will be
intrigued by their take on TWA 800:
From: Yahoo! Mail
Date: 2/15/2016 10:37:23 AM
Subject: Death of TWA 800
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Preview by Yahoo
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From: DWSkjerven@aol.com
Date: 2/10/2016 6:56:59 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: MOST EXPENSIVE Of Any Kind Of Ship . .
Ever Built = USS GERALD R. FO...
We are paying fourteen [ 14 ] BILLION dollars for each massive new
aircraft carrier . . ironically . . they're all Fords !
The U.S.
Navy is building its next generation of aircraft carrier . .
FORD-class.
The numbers behind the USS Gerald R. Ford are impressive : 224 million pounds, 25
stories high . . 1,106 feet long . . and 250 feet wide.
But the sheer enormity of the ship and construction operation is hard to grasp
. . until you’re nearly face-to-metal with the massive military beast.
At Newport News Shipbuilding the power of new technology and 100 years of
carrier design is built into every facet of the new ship. The Ford will handle
up to 220 takeoffs and landings from its deck every day.
Part of that quick turnaround is because, when aircraft like the new F-35
return for maintenance, the plane’s network will already have alerted ground
crews to what’s needed so they can get the aircraft on its way faster than ever
before.
The new FORD-class aircraft carrier will be the largest, most lethal ship ever
when it . .
joins the
US fleet in 2016. The scope of the ship’s construction is hard to fathom, but
that its anchor chain links weigh nearly . . 400 pounds . . a piece.
All that weight starts up in its “ Bulbous
parasite drag reduction Bow ” also displaces the ship’s center of gravity,
allowing her to cruise on just the energy required for a much smaller ship.
This bow alone is more than three stories tall and weighs 116,000 pounds. With
its
nuclear power plant and extraordinary size, the Ford is manufactured
only at
Newport
News Shipbuilding, VA.
Using “Big Blue” — the largest crane in the Western Hemisphere — towering
235
feet above
the shipyard. Big Blue can singly lift nearly 2.5 MILLION POUNDS at one
time and
is essential for constructing this new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Ships this big have to be built in dry docks like this one; it's
twenty-two-hundred feet long ; and 250 feet wide.
Replacing the 50-year-old Nimitz-class carrier, engineers at Newport News Ship
Building designed the Ford to accept technology that won’t be seen for decades.
Some of those advancements are expected, but
most are as far-fetched as the Navy’s newest drones were in 1963.
Regardless of what the future brings, all of it will require more power,
which is why the Ford will generate three times the energy of Nimitz-class
carriers. Newport News Shipbuilding has learned a lot about building carriers
over the years, like the wisdom of leaving the paint job until the ship is
finished.
This is done to save on repainting over welds and stresses caused during
construc-tion. Raw steel exposed to salt air causes the rust, but the various
other colors denote the thickness of the plates. The paint applied to the Ford
actually isn’t paint, but a “high solids coating” that lasts longer and doesn’t
break down as quickly. Newport News Shipbuilding rents acres of canvas to cover
the hull when it applies the coating.
Moving
the island control tower back further on the ship will accommodate an
incr-eased launch rate for the 75+ planes that will live aboard the carrier.
The Ford will be capable of launching and
receiving up to 220 planes a day. That increased rate comes in part from
replacing the steam-generated catapult systems like those on the USS Abraham
Lincoln shown here, with an electromagnetic system that’s more efficient and
gentler on the multi-million-dollar jets.
Even with the extra fuel and weapons needed to keep that pace, the
Ford is equipped to remain at sea without replenishment for months at a time.
Before the FORD-class carriers, Newport News needed to construct mock-ups
of many ship sections to see how it would integ-rate in construction. Now they
use 3D design technology. With a pair of these 3D glasses designers are able to
see exactly how everything fits together in a virtual environment.
The 3D system also allows the huge ship to be assembled in modules. These
modules can be exchanged and modified over the carrier’s life-time. Inside a
module like elec- tronic workstation could be removed and relocated along
with the interior walls and floors. These were all permanent fixtures on
previous carriers.
For the first time the Navy will have no urinals on this carrier. Gender
neutral toilets mean berthing can be swapped between male and female without
concern and one unit means fewer spare parts and repair. The Navy is
request-ing larger pipes for the Ford to prevent blockage and unpleasant
smells, which are common issues on carriers.
A
carrier’s effectiveness is judged by its ability to deliver lethal military
force from these 4.5 acres of sovereign U.S.territory.
That lethality comes in many forms — like the weapons aboard the new F-35 Joint
Strike Fighter. The Sea Sparrow Missile also factors into lethality with its
ability to fly four times the speed of sound, turn on a dime, to intercept
anti-ship missiles over 30 miles away.
Ford’s lethality is also enhanced by the RIM 116 short-range defensive surface
to air missile . . and the radar-guided, rotating 20mm Gatling Gun called the
Phalanx'Sea-Wiz.' That lethality aims to help keep sailors safe. And the
enemy less so.
Criticism
of the new carrier, which may be the last of the “ Big ” carriers now
that
drones are replacing manned aircraft, has been swift and harsh.
Facing a longer timeline for completion
and burgeoning costs, Newport News Shipbuilding construction director Geoff
Hummel says : “ Problems are something we consider every day.” There
are going to be issues in this new class of ship. The question is
how serious ?”
Minimizing those problems are the Newport News Shipbuilding employees,out here
every day of the year. Newport News wants the Ford’s eventual new sailors to
know that “this is an awesome ship .. and that they’ll bring to life.”
Because
of the decades of experience Newport News employees bring, when the Ford
finally hits the water in a few years, it will look LESS like something from a
maritime museum . . and MORE like something from technology's future.
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