Patriot's Point Vietnam War Exhbiit

In addition to the Naval exhibitions, Patriot's Point also has a Vietnam War exhibit.

 

They exhibit in keeping with the overall nautical theme of Patriot's Point, has a PBR on display.

 While some of the Bunkers and exhibits were closed due to Covid, there was still lots to see.  The exhibit is setup like a Vietnam era base camp with a variety of Quonset huts, fence-line, and a watchtower.

There were more helicopters including a medevac Huey:

A rather tired looking H-34 Seahorse

 

And a CH-46 Sea Knight:

It's not a war if you don't bring artillery:

Other vehicles present include a deuce and a half in remarkably good condition. Murphy gave it a detailed walk-around inspection and concluded it probably wouldn't take much to get her up and running.

And there was an M-42 Duster, good for when you really want to get the kids off your lawn:

Note the "Keep Off" sign.  They put it there in advance of Murphy's visit.  They knew he was coming.

It's an extensive exhibit and well worth checking out.

Definitely plan for at least a solid day at the minimum when visiting Patriot's Point.

Not Sure How He Said That With A Straight Face

First go ahead and read the interesting article on Covid vaccine effectiveness at

Spin, strangeness, and charm.

In the post it references a Toronto Sun Article where he notes that a former Biden staffer and current World Health Organization staffer has come out and plainly said the source of Covid-19 was indeed most likely a leak from the Wuhan lab.

Rather big news that the theory, poooh-poohed by dmeocrats and the China lobby as a right wing conspiracy is gaining credence.

Here's the hilarious part:  When asked about Joe Biden and China in the interview, the former Biden staffer Mr. Metzl had this to say:

Will a change of the U.S. administration help find an answer?

Biden will be tougher on China than President Trump because President Biden is very smart and strategic and he understands that American power and American strength doesn’t rest on bluster, it rests on principles, it rests on partnerships, and alliances and accountability. And the Trump administration unfortunately gave China a pass by over politicizing the question of the origin of the virus by alienating America’s partners and allies.

Ok, you can pick yourself up off the ground after you fell down laughing now.

The Trump administration gave China a pass?  What alternate universe is he living in? 

China Joe Biden will be tougher on China than Trump?  As if.

This is the same China Joe whose son has been making millions from the Chinese?

The same China Joe that just reopened access to our power grid to the Chinese government?

The Same China Joe now "considering" loosening sanctions against Chinese  telecom Huawei?

The very same China Joe that has said nothing as China is now routinely entering Taiwan's airspace in uncharacteristically large shows of force now that he's been elected?

To believe that China Joe Biden will be tougher on China than Trump requires a very interesting mind completely detached from the facts,  track records, and reality.

Patriot's Point: USS Laffey

Moored beside the USS Yorktown and dwarfed by her  in size yet packijng a punch of history is the USS Laffey

The USS Laffey, a Sumner class destroyer,  is famously known as "The Ship That Would Not Die".

The Laffey first served in the Atlantic theater, doing convoy escort and supporting the D-Day invasion.

It was at the Battle of Okinawa on April 16, 1945 however that she earned her moniker.  Hit not once by a kamikaze, not twice,  but by six separate kamikaze hits, as well as four bomb hits and an F4U Corsair hitting its radar antenna, all in one day. 

The Laffey crewmen, in the face of insane odds against which other ships would have been surely lost,  saved their ship from the extensive damage from those attacks, with 32 crewmen killed and 71 wounded out of a crew of 336.

The ship was in rough shape when she pulled into port in Seattle after the attack.

Repaired and refurbished, she served on proudly in the Korean War and into the Cold War.

She's the last surviving Sumner class destroyer.

The ship is in good shape and entry on to the ship is near the stern.

Passing cargo ships go by under her guns.

The galley:

 

The Laffey's torpedo launcher:

 

The Sumner class was the first class of destroyers to have a combat information center.

Radar:

The ship is now a national historic landmark

Much of the ship, including the turret interiors, was unfortunately closed off for access to the public due to Covid.

But the exterior of one of her turrets shows her action history well.

While we didn't get to see all of the ship, it was still a good and educational experience to explore what we could of this historic ship.

Springing Emotions

Happiness: Finding an AR-15 buffer spring that you thought had gone into the dimension of lost springs while you’re crawling around on the floor.

Sadness: The reason you’re crawling around on the floor and found the buffer spring in the first place is that an extra-power Glock extractor spring and bearing was launched at high speed to either somewhere in the room or into the dimension of lost springs, never to be found again.

Update:  In awesome customer service news,  I contacted Apex about purchasing a new spring to replace mine that had sprung as they did not shown them for sale individually on the website.

They quickly replied that they’ve been in the searching for springs situation before and they just went ahead and shipped a replacement out to me for free.  Apex has both great parts and great customer service - highly recommend.

Patriot's Point - USS Clamagore

From the Flight deck of the USS Yorktown one could get some photos of the USS Clamagore, SS-343,  a Balao-class (and later GUPPY-class) submarine.  She served in the Navy from September 1945 until June 1975, a solid 30 years in service.

 Clamagore is the last surviving GUPPY class submarine. The sharkfins you can see on the bow were added for the GUPPY III sonar sensor upgrades.

Looking back from the sensors on the bow to the stern, she's certainly seen better days.

The USS Clamagore as you can see is looking pretty darn rough.

Due to Covid, the sub was sadly not open to visitors. 

I would have gladly signed a waiver to be able to get on board and see her, but that was not an option.

As a result, I will probably never have the opportunity to tour the inside of Clamagore.  

This will likely be the last year for anyone  to see the Clamagore above the waves, as she is now scheduled to be taken out and sunk as an artificial reef  sometime later this year.   

I'm not sure if this will be the first US designated National Historic Landmark to be deliberately sunk or not.  Once sunk, does that make it a National Historic Seamark? 

Once she is sunk, there will be no more surviving GUPPY class submarines left above the waves.

Reading: The Mightiest Martial Art On Earth - Or Off Of It

Cast away your karate, junk your jiu jitsu, and learn the greatest martial art in the galaxy - Kirk Fu.

A great fun read and hilarious homage to the amazing martial arts skills of Captain James T. Kirk.

Learn this devastating art with the hardcover Star Trek Kirk Fu Manual:

Every technique has easy to follow instructional drawings, as well as commentary from Kirk's personal log as well.

Fight boldly where no one has fought before using the mighty double clutch -

Hilariously, each technique depicted in the book always ends with Kirk's shirt torn. 

It's a quick fun romp of a read and a must for fans of the original series.

First Time Ever Seeing That Message From Comcast

Just got an interesting email and text notice from Comcast.

For the first time ever, we've exceeded our internet data allotment of 1.2 TB!

I was unaware of such a limit and had never hit it before.

Then again, this month has been very heavy on Zoom usage due to both kids being at home and both of us working at home a lot.  

It's also due to a prominent situation of everyone  binging on Netflix and HBO Max and Amazon Prime programs this month, so I can easily see how we hit that number.

Thankfully, since it's the first time we apparently won't be charged for going over, but future overages are charged at $10 for every 50 GB over the limit.  Ouch.  

Now that I know how and where to look, it turns out we got close to that number for the past few months, most especially in September but not close enough to get a warning. 

1.2 Terrabytes!  That's a heckuva lot of data used.

Sunday Skating

So this evening we took the kids to go skating at Blake's Cider Mill for an outside outing.  Good to get off the screens and do some outdoor activities.

We got them some skates and they hit the ice.  Unfortunately they were required to wear masks on the ice even though they were outside.

Sometimes they really hit the ice.

 

Still they would get up and keep on going and enjoyed themselves.

Interestingly enough, the ice wasn't made from water.  It was synthetic ice.

First time I've actually heard of and seen the stuff.  It acts and kinda looks just like ice but according to the kids didn't quite feel like ice, but it was slippery enough and it worked to skate on.  It works for skating without refrigeration and handles above-freezing weather with no problems.

Of course this evening was rather chilly at 26 degrees Fahrenheit.

Everything was solely outdoors so it was rather cold.

While they went skating Tash and I got some adult beverages.

Hard ciders made by Blake's on the premises.  Really good stuff.

The kids had a good time skating for an hour and then we had some doughnuts, and Blake's Cider Mill doughnuts are the ne plus ultra of doughnuts.  

A very successful, if rather chilly, outdoor activity.

Flying - Night Current Again!

So in keeping with my resolution to fly more, this evening I jumped in the plane.

The aircraft performance was outstanding with the -4 degree air.   Amazing climb and cruise performance, and I had to ease back the throttle a lot more than usual in the pattern as the plane just wanted to get up and go.

I left as the sun was setting and it was gorgeous out.  I headed to the northeast as the pattern was absolutely packed.  The wind was about 7 knots from 210 degrees. The sky was clear up to 12,000 feet which was a nice change from the overcast we've been having every other day I tried to fly this month.

 I climbed up to 5,500 effortlessly and maneuvered for a bit.

I then returned and reentered the pattern and did  3 landings after sundown that still counted as day landings and then it became night in terms of FAA regulations for night currency. 

Night has multiple meanings, and for night currency, night starts an hour after sundown.

I then got in the pattern and did 6 takeoffs and landings.  The wind had dropped to calm and flying at night was fun as all get out.

A few other planes were around, and they were much easier to see at night all lit up as they were.

 

The landings were smooth as silk.  I mean they were really, really good. 

A lot of fun was had and that was my first time flying solo at night, and my first time flying at night, period, in over a year.      

I should have done that earlier as I was overly cautious about night time flying solo and really shouldn't have been quite that concerned about it.  Nothing to it but to do it, and the landings at night were, if anything, easier than in the daytime.

I'm now current to carry passengers at night and I will maintain that currency and get to flying at night more often, because it is fun, and it's good to keep in practice.

That's 1.8 with .6 during the day and 1.2 at night with 3 daytime landings and 6 night time landings.

More Michigan Corona-idiocy

So Governor Half-Whit has announced restaurants can open on February 1

At 25% capacity and with restaurants being required to close at 10pm, because Science! and Data!

We will note that 25% capacity is not profitable nor sustainable for a restaurant, and is even more restrictive than her prior 50% capacity orders.

The 10pm curfew apparently is because the virus becomes much more contagious at the stroke of 10:01, or something.

In related news, now that Gov Half-Whit has dictated that High Schools may reopen, the kids will be going back to a hybrid program of two days there, one day off in the middle for studying, and two days virtual.

There's a minor fly in the ointment though. For the days there will be in the building they are being told, in addition to even more draconian separation rules from other students than the last re-opening, to bring their computers with them as the live classes will also be on Zoom.  So basically they will be virtual without the comforts of home.

But wait, there's more!

Most importantly, they've been told to wear winter jackets and bring blankets to wear in class.

This is because the school is going to have all the windows open to increase airflow to prevent the coronavirus from spreading among the students.

In Winter in Michigan.

This idiocy has apparently been dictated to the school as a best practice that they must follow.

How well students will learn while shivering and wearing costs, hats, jackets, gloves and masks is yet to be determined.  At least the laptops won't be at risk of overheating.  

This is either a clever psychological ploy to have parents decide to keep their kids at home so they don't have to offer live classes, or they really believe this nonsense is a sensible approach to reopening.

The kids are certainly going to have one helluva high school experience to reminisce about when they're adults.

USS Yorktown - The Flightdeck - Marine Hornet!

The F/A-18 Hornet replaced the venerable F-14 Tomcat in the Navy's fighter line-up, as well as replacing the A-6 Intruder and the A-7 Corsair II as an attack aircraft.

This one is in the livery of VMFA-142, a Marine squadron with a legacy back to the Second World War, participating in the Guadalcanal campaign.  The squadron was inactivated in July 2008.

The F-18 has served with the US Navy, US Marines and a number of foreign countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait. Malaysia, Spain, and Switzerland.  The F-18 A-D series has now been replaced in US Navy front-line combat squadrons by the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and  the F-35.  The Blue Angels have also turned in their F/A-18s for the Super Hornets.

The Inaugeration Provided Yet Another Historic First

This is the first time in history that a President has been sworn in with multiple claims against him of sexual assault and harassment, and his Vice President believes the accusers and has stated so on the record.

Also, I noted not a single pussy hat nor #MeToo sign protesting such was to found.

Curious, that.

A Photo Tells The Temperature At The Inaugeration

While I did not watch the inauguration, I've seen some photos of it.

Clearly, one can tell that the weather while cold, was not that cold.

How do we know it wasn't that cold?  

Well, we know that it was insufficiently cold enough for a socialist politician to deign to put his hands in his own pockets, so it couldn't have been all that cold.

No, You Really Can't Do That While Partaking of The Electric Lettuce

Got a call from a potential looking for an attorney.

Said potential was involved in an automobile accident.

Said potential was found at fault in said accident.

Nothing too serious so far.  But wait, there's more!

Said potential was found by the police at the scene to be in possession of a firearm in the car for which she had not sent in the Michigan transfer (in reality "registration") paperwork in a timely fashion though she did have a CPL.   Oops. 

Even better, said potential freely admitted to the cops that just before driving she had consumed a glass of wine and partook of a blunt of marijuana when they asked her if she had done so.  

Yep, you likely won't talk yourself out of trouble with the police, but you can sure talk yourself into it - and she sure did.

The friendly and rather professional police, not being anyone's fools. then immediately took her to get a blood draw.

Now she's looking at charges of driving under the influence, carrying under the influence, and failure to turn in the transfer paperwork.  Oh, and a failure to yield ticket too.

That's two misdemeanors and two civil infractions committed in one incident. 

Given the statements freely given and the evidence thus far, this is a damage control case.

Thankfully, no one is calling the Feds as no, you still cannot use marijuana and be in possession of firearms.

Regardless of how the state may say you can do some weed if that is your thing, the Feds still say if you're using the ganja then no gat for you.  

You also cannot be going about carrying your gun under the influence of drugs and alcohol as both the state and the feds rather frown upon that.

I quoted her a rather reasonable retainer given what we're going to have to do in this case to try and keep her out of jail. She then can't understand why she would need to pay a retainer instead of paying over time in this case.  

Well, there's a reason it's called dope, after all.  You don't want to get behind and have a doper owing you money on a case, as it will likely go up in smoke long before it gets to you, and if she can't remember to mail in a slip of paper within ten days of buying a gun, how is she going to remember to pay you, right?  Not to mention accused criminals tend to have lousy track records at paying their attorneys.  So yep, not getting retained on that one which is probably for the best anyways.

So remember folks it's still legally a choice of the gat or the ganja, not both.

USS Yorktown - The Flightdeck - The Tomcat Prowl

What would a tribute to carrier aviation be without the Grumman F-14 Tomcat?

The Tomcat, made famous in the movie Top Gun, is a large, twin-engined, two seat, swing-wing supersonic fighter and interceptor.

 

First deployed in 1974, it served with the US Navy until 2006 being replaced with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.    The F-14 scored its first air-to-air kill in 1981 when a patrol of F-14s was engaged by, and then downed Libyan Sukhoi jets.

 

Tomcats were also adapted to fly air-to-ground missions with the ability to drop both precision-guided and non-precision bombs.  The moniker Bombcat was often applied to these upgraded aircraft.  F-14s took on air-to-ground missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Interestingly, the F-14 on the USS Yorktown bears the markings of two different squadrons on the aircraft.

It bears markings of aircraft #103 of the USS George Washington on the port side with the squadron markings of VF-143, the Pukin' Dogs.

On the starboard side it is painted with the livery of the USS KittyHawk, Aircraft #101 of squadron VFA-154 The Black Knights.

So Now That Biden Is President

 I certainly extend to the Biden and Harris administration the exact same support, civility, and respect as was extended by Progressives and Democrats  to the previous administration.

Bureaucrats Always Fail Upwards

Bureaucrats do not normally get punished when they make horrible decisions that adversely affect other people's lives.  Instead they get promoted.

Joe Biden has nominated transgender Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine (born Richard Levine) for assistant secretary of health.

This is the same Rachel Levine that as Pennsylvania Health Secretary required nursing homes to take in COVID patients.

That decision had consequences -  68% of all Covid Deaths in PA were in nursing homes. 

One resident of a nursing home was however not affected by that edict - Rachel Levine's mother. 

The Pennsylvania Health Secretary, while making that edict that brought death to thousands in nursing homes, made sure to remove mom from the danger that edict would cause.  Certainly casts a shadow of knowing culpability in regards to that decision, now doesn't it?

One would think such an obviously idiotic decision  with such disastrous results (also implemented in NY, NJ, MA, and our very own Michigan - with similar deadly results) would disqualify one from ever holding such a post of trust in regards to public health. 

Indeed, in a sane world it would likely call for criminal charges of gross criminal negligence causing death or reckless indifference causing death. But no, she's getting to go to Washington and impose more of her ill-conceived edicts on the entire nation.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - The Mighty Sea King

For you rotorheads out there, there was a Sikorsky SH-3G Sea King on the flight deck.

The Sea King's size is something to behold in person.  Note the lady standing to the left for scale.

This one is marked as number 61 from  Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 4 (HS-4)  now called Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Four (HSC-4).  HS-4 served on 6 deployments on board the USS Yorktown from 1960-1968.  The squadron also set a record for the most downed airmen recovered,  24, on a single cruise in 1966 by an ASW squadron when the carrier was deployed in the Gulf of Tonkin.  

The Sea King is an amphibious helicopter and has done everything from antisubmarine and search and rescue work, to ferrying presidents, and even recovering returning Apollo space craft.

Catch And Release Times 4 And Counting

Neither the third time, nor the fourth time was the charm for this "no human is illegal" pedo sex offender.

The Detroit News: Convicted sex offender deported 4 times arrested in Michigan

Border Patrol agents have arrested a convicted sex offender who illegally entered the United States and has been deported four times, investigators said Tuesday.

. . .

After questioning by Border Patrol agents, the man, a Mexico citizen identified as Jesus Trejo-Garcia, told them "he had entered the United States illegally by wading across the Rio Grande River near Laredo, Texas," officials said in a statement.

Anyone expect what will eventually be his fifth deportation to make any lasting difference?

The only difference I can see is we can expect Biden to offer him a pathway to citizenship on the next go-round.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - Skyhawk!

At the stern of the Flight deck an A-4 Skyhawk sat with its arresting hook deployed.

 

The A-4 Skyhawk was an outstanding light attack aircraft.

This one is pretty well wrapped up.

Designed in the early 1950's by Douglas'  brilliant aircraft designer Ed Heinemann, it came in under both the weight and cost limits of the Navy contract that led to its creation.  It proved to be a very successful design remaining in production until 1979.

While a lightweight strike aircraft, weighing 9,853 lbs, it can carry the same bomb load as that of a B-17 Bomber that weighted 34,000 lbs.

2,960 Skyhawks were produced and they served in some of the notable conflicts of the 20th century - The Vietnam War, The Yom Kippur War, The Falklands War, and The First Gulf War.

Sunday Indoor Match Day

So today I headed over to DSC for their indoor USPSA match.

First time shooting there, and also the first time shooting a match with a different gun, but more on that later.

It was a very well organized match.  Between Covid restrictions and the match being held in a confined space indoors, your squad gets a starting time and you show up then.

Tosh, Duffy, and I had a 12:30 start so we got there a bit early, paid our match fee and geared up.

4 stages with the first stage being a classifier.  After the classifier, there were three fun, short, and challenging stages.

Since they were all in the one room, space was at a premium but they did a real nice job laying it out.

Each of the three stages was shot by a different shooter one after the other, and then all scored together.  it moved along very quickly.

These other three stages were small but brain teasers.

In Stage 1 it was Amoeba/Classic targets rather than standard targets and you had to shoot 6 rounds at each of the first three targets and transition to two shots on each that you had to engage after moving as they were hidden behind a wall.

In Stage 2 it was multiple targets separated into three shooting positions.  Rather fun and not too complicated.

Stage 3 however was a brain twister.  Virginia count, three shooting boxes, each one closer to the target but each each offset differently.  It was mandatory to shoot 8 rounds form each box and each of the 4 targets had to be hit 6 times.   Stacking on targets was allowed,  but you couldn't go back and you had to do the match right, and some were more hidden from certain locations.

So I engaged T1 with 6 shots and T2 with two, then moved to Box 2 and hit T2 with 4 more shots and hit T4 with 4 shots.  Then in Box 3 I hit T4 with 2 shots and finished by nailing T3 with 6 shots.

Math is hard.  Lots of procedural penalties occurred on stages 1 and 3 due to shooters messing that up. 

A fun match with a good bunch of people, took about an hour to get through and shoot all 4 stages.  I definitely would shoot there again.

Michigan's Democrat AG Prosecuting Political Enemies - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

So our current rather partisan Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel has decided to file criminal charges against former Republican Governor Rick Snyder over the Flint Water Crisis.

The Detroit News: Michigan plans to charge ex-Gov. Snyder in Flint water probe

Let's of course disregard how the damage in Flint was caused by the combination of factors: a rapacious Detroit Water board, local Democrats making decisions, decisions of state level bureaucrats, and bureaucrats at the EPA that advised the state and city with an erroneous and insufficient additives standard, leading to a breakdown of the protective coating in lead pipes and causing the crisis.

In short, Snyder, whatever his faults, and there were many, was not the main cause of the Flint water crisis by a long shot.

The problem of course is prosecuting your political opponents can easily backfire and this will be a bad precedent to set. Aside from the chilling effect to prevent Republicans from running for office lest they win and then get prosecuted for acts that occur during their administration, there's a flipside to this decision.

After all, the next Republican AG, to remain consistent with this precedent, must prosecute our current Governor Whitmer for her criminal negligence, if not reckless indifference causing death.  

After all, by her very hand she directly ordered nursing homes to take in those infected with Covid - those executive orders are signed by her with no layer of bureaucrats or anyone else issuing those orders.  Her issuance of that order and doubling-down on that order led directly to the deaths of thousands in those nursing homes - far many more than died or were harmed in Flint. 

Are the Democrats really stupid enough to play this game?  Do they think they will never be out of power where their own precedents can be turned against them? Stay tuned to find out.

Update:  Well, they are charging Snyder with willful neglect of duty, and the former state health director with involuntary manslaughter.   If anyone doesn't think that Both Gov. Whitmer and her Department of Health head Dr. Khaldun can't be charged with similar charges for their actions in terms of Covid and nursing homes once control of the executive branch flips they're kidding themselves.     Real nice precedent you're setting here Dems.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - The Eyes And Ears Of The Fleet

 

The Grumman S-2 Tracker

The Grumman S-2 Tracker, or the "Stoof", introduced in 1952, was the first Anti-submarine warfare aircraft designed specifically as an ASW aircraft for the US Navy.  The Tracker and served on Essex-class carriers like the USS Yorktown and others.

The Tracker served as an ASW aircraft and as search and rescue operations with multiple foreign nations from both carriers and land based stations.  

The only remaining country  to operate the Trackers operationally in their military is Argentina.  

Trackers still continue to serve and fly today in civilian hands as water-bombers.

The Grumman E1-B Tracer

The "Stoof with a Roof" was Grumman's Airborne Early Warning aircraft.

The Tracer could and did operate from the decks of the Essex-class carriers, providing airborne early warning and control to Navy aircraft.

 and served in the fleet from 1959-1977 when it was completely replaced by the E2-A Hawkeye, which was too heavy to operate off of an Essex-class carrier.

Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior

Another huge aircraft on deck. Note the person standing helpfully to the left for scale. The Skywarrior was the heaviest operational aircraft to operate from a US Carrier, but it did indeed operate from the Essex-class carriers as well as their larger successors.

Originally designed as a nuclear heavy bomber for the Navy, it entered service in 1956.  The EA-3B was quickly phased out of nuclear attack with the ballistic missile submarine taking over the nuclear role, and it soon took on an electronic warfare and reconnaissance role.

The EA-3B served on through the first Gulf War, and was retired from service in 1991.

The number on this electronic warfare plane - 007.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - Site Of The Intruder

The Grumman A-6 Intruder served as a long-range attack aircraft from 1963 through 1997 with both the Navy and the Marine Corps.

This one flew off the USS Independence.

The Intruder's payload and range have yet to be matched by serving carrier-based Navy and Marine aircraft.

84 Intruders were lost during the Vietnam war due to various causes.  One was shot down over Lebanon in 1983, and three were lost in the Gulf War.

It was also the star of the eponymous movie Flight of The Intruder.  The movie sadly showed that while fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make not nearly as good movies.