Capitaine Vengeur

It reminds me rather of the USS Miami Fire in 2012: also a moron dissatisfied with own's life who put fire to a warship worth 1 billion, and damaged her beyond repair. Not a seaman that time, right, but hey, why should a hostile foreign power spend billions to maintain a force able to challenge the US Navy, when they can just let the US Navy recruiters enlist any wretch passing by just to meet their quota,  then let the First Navy destroy herself? So bad for the average US taxpayer, so good for some people on the opposite side of the Pacific...

Quote from the article:  The crew was slammed for “a pattern of failed drills, minimal crew participation, an absence of basic knowledge on firefighting” and an inability to coordinate with civilian firefighters.  Compare that waste with the USS Forestal Fire in 1967: there, also an incredible pile of mistakes from the Navy, and a crew barely trained in firefighting. Yet they did their duty, fought bravely anyway, and saved their ship and the day, in spite of the High Staff's and self-centered Boards' general incompetence. The Greatest Generation is dead, buried, and forgotten since long for sure. 

It reminds me of an old joke that could be considered as a "honest" slogan, this time encouraging to enlist:

World War One: One hundred military killed to one civilian.
World War Two: One military killed to one civilian.
Vietnam War: Ten civilians killed to one military.
Now you know what to do to survive the next war: ENLIST !

Michael Collins was the man left behind in '69. Now it's Buzz Aldrin's turn...

Sounds the old grumbler of me, but I hate to try these new games dependent on Internet and digital "services" like Steam. Recently, I've wanted to give a try to all of the old Halo stuff, through the whole Halo Master Chief Collection... And it crashes on takeoff, without any real explanation (or actually, too many possible ones to find out the real glitch). I'm fed up with these downloadable products dependent on distant giant servers (a bad thing for the global warning, besides)! That's the reason why I won't ever give a try to Star Wars: Squadrons before the price has dropped down to unsignificant. I'm still playing much Elite Dangerous, though, where some older paying DLC are now for free...

A legend gone. RIP...

Bah, just some kind of black and white "Iron Eagle", 30 years older, and even suceeds in being less obviously ridiculous - to say nothing about "Iron Eagle, The Forgettable Sequels".

Happy New Decade, too! Cheers!

Last summer, I enjoyed a trip in Albania (took off from Tirana and took pictures over Durrës just 4 hours before the major earthquake that mauled the area on 21 September, by the way!) There, I visited the nice medieval Castle in Gjirokastra, which was once the National Museum of Arms during the Communist era (still contains dozens of WW2 artillery guns). And on the top of this fortress, I unexepectedly stumbled on this wreckage faded by 50 years of careless outdoor exposure. On 23 December 1957, this USAF Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star (number 51-04413) was forced to land by two or three MiG-15bis, while flying off-course over Communist Albania during a transit from France to Greece. Major Howard J. Curran claimed he planned to land anyway due to instruments failure and lack of fuel; he was relased as soon as 9 January 1958. The plane has been exhibited in Gjirokaster since 1969, as a captured spy-plane and a war trophy over the Imperialist powers. Typical Cold War era...

Hello. I'm just coming back from a nice trip in the incredibly beautiful Sultanate of Oman. As my hotel in the capital city of Muscat was located in the district of Ruwi, I spent a morning at visiting the nearby Sultan's Armed Forces Museum - and sure, I did not regret it! Below are some shots mostly related to the outdoor displays dedicated to RAFO :

          Two-seater Jaguar OB (commissioned 1977-2014), displayed at the place of honor in front of Bait Al Falaj Fort.

          BAC 167 Strikemaster and Hawker Hunter - Unfortunately, I did not collect full information about these models.

          Short & Harland Skyvan 3-SH1877 (passenger transport aircraft, commissioned 1970-2006).

I can't resist adding these few shots from a missile boat quite unusually displayed in the open ground :

          RNOV Al-Mansoor, fast attack craft (commissioned 1973-1985).

Now God shall enjoy the honor to be seated at the left hand of Stan Lee and Will Eisner...

A nice man - and a nice politician, which is less often. Heard from Europe down here, a welcome voice from America has fallen silent.

When I visited Kyiv a few years ago (before the 'events'), I was falling in love about 5-6 times per minute! Almost in the mood for cutting down my *** once back to very common creatures at my homeplace... Yet our guide, clearly a gentleman by Ukrainian standards, told us that these beauties usually don't last long, due to early pregnancies, heavy drinking, and fat-rich Ukrainian food! (I can't but agree for the food)

Quite tedious actually... These flat suburbs seen from the skies looks like an undifferentiated, boring square agglomerate of anything and everything, built at the same time by the same people, each area looking like the other one flown over 2 miles before. Tell me about flying over London, Paris, Lisbon, Rome, Athens or Budapest...

"Poland has not yet died, so long as we still live." The Polish anthem seems to have been written for guys like these... Even while, actually, the 303rd's best scorer during the BoB was a Czech. The Battle of Britain movie showed Poles thrown into battle while unsufficiently prepared: problems with keeping formations, with radio protocols, and lack of fluency in English (a sequence in the movie, when a Pole warned for the Hun behind him, checks above first). Their spontaneous recklessness owed them great successes, but also great losses. At least, there were used to be provided with the least efficient of the available foreign aircraft fighters: in the French service during Spring 1940, their national squadron was fitted with the greatly underpowered Caudron C.714 (500hp!!). As a result, they scored little and lost many, while the Free Czechs, scattered between the active French squadrons, scored much more.

Luc Besson's current sci-fi movie "Valerian" is inspired from an old French comics, whose artist J-C Mézières designed several sets of "The Fifth Element". Most notably, the vertical city with crappy lower levels and audacious taxi drivers, and the flashy interiors of the space cruise ship can be found in some books by Mézières long before the movie. These comics have often been said to have inspired some of "Star Wars" sets (first and second trilogy). Not watched "Valerian" already, but it is said to be inferior to "The Fifth Element" in many regards but visuals (of course: no Gary Oldman, and I do not like the immature teen look of the "heroes" casted there - these comics made me dream as a child, with heroes being full grown-up adults; times are changing).

I just watched it yesterday. The chopped, criss-crossed narration style is more interesting than the theme itself: quite disturbing at first, but finally, it makes the intense moments even more intense by the second part of the movie. I can see that footages were really shot on the actual place: the thick white clouds of salt foam on the beaches are typical when walking along this coast. Yet the weather was reported to be better here on this ending Spring 1940: an evacuation on a completely flat sea. Also one can see in the countryside modern cranes for containers, that look quite anachronistic. Good point for the absurd tight 'vic' formation of the RAF planes: hard this way to watch out for the Hun in the sun... All in all, a good movie, I won't say unforgettable.

Gepard, an amusing part of "Week-end at Dunkirk" was the materialization of an Allied delusion of those days, with German spies of the 'fifth column' dressed as nuns! German spies were seen everywhere (in this new movie "Dunkirk" too, aboard the fishing boat), but nuns, hum, I don't think so...

I had read a recent edition of "A guide to France", booklet aimed at the GIs soon to land on the Old Continent. As expected, full of naïve preconceived clichés as well. It was hard enough to have rough cow-boys admit that they would not get laid with any French girl just by showing dollars and chocolate!

Interestingly is the fact, that Zeev Raz was a Yom Kippu War hero of the ZAHAL (IAF). He was not intended to fly the mission. But as commander he decided that he would fly and so he pushed one well trained pilot out of the mission.

During the attack only one pilot missed the target. And this only one was Zeev Raaz.

As said above, Raz asserts that Yadlin, scheduled to be second to drop, cut his way at the last moment in order to be the first one. Raz was rewarded with a Chief of Staff Citation. As said in my Israeli Medals Pack, there were but a little handful of IDF combat pilots who were ever awarded the lowest-ranking medal (still highly praised as rarely awarded), or this highest-ranking citation ribbon.

...starring Ilan Ramon, the later first Israeli astronaut, as the junior pilot in the pack. A carefully selected pack, yet I had read an article about how awful was the private relationship between the leader Ze'ev Raz and his second in command Amos Yadlin.

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, the pre-emptive strike which brought Israel to the shores of the Suez Canal and the old walls of Jerusalem and Hebron. A military feat still highly praised and studied to this day, while a political failure on some regards. Some dates seem to be significant in History, as today is the 35th anniversary of the seven-day campaign, also known as Opration Peace for Galilee, which brought Israel into the Lebanese quagmire. Triggered while the West's eyes were focused on the Falklands and the advance to Port Stanley, this offensive had the IDF complete within one week the advance on a terrible terrain that took in 1941 one agonizing month to the Australians (who started on a 8th of June; some dates in History, etc). The Bekaa Valley Turkey Shoot is still a legendary reference in the history of modern air warfare. Yet it does not seem that easy when you fly the Skyhawk in Wings over Israel's related campaign...

I mostly remember the sketch by the Monty Pythons: "Algy? Are you a poof? - I should bally well say so, old fruit!"

Blowing Scooter... Ooch! 'hurts my bum...

That day, Lt Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, VF-96, emerged as the first US ace pilot since the Korean War. He also ended the hectic day proving his worth as a competition swimmer when his F-4 turned into a one-way submarine. He just missed out by little on the Medal Of Honor, yet became the incarnation of the American hero America missed so much in those days. Later, he became a very unpleasant Congressman, and the incarnation of the crooked politician, and deserved every minute of his jail term. Wartime can reveal how much some people can be extraordinary, while return to peace later reveals how actually the same war heroes can finally be very, very common men. See 'Pappy' Boyington...

The bigger balls you proudly own, the more it hurts when you bang them into the table... The table always prevails...

On 6 April 1917, the Congress of the USA approved the declaration of war against the German Empire - and prepared to take an active part into the most terrible war Europe had ever known then, far away from the coasts of Western Atlantic. Except for a few small-scale operations before (Mediterranean, Philippines...), it was the first time that this young nation, seemingly so isolationist and stuck to the Monroe Doctrine, planned to commit large numbers of troops out of the North American continent. Almost untrained and unequipped at that time, the Doughboys finally took a decisive part in the conflict by the sheer numbers of fresh and motivated troops they brought onto an exhausted Old Continent. This gave to President Wilson a prominent role in deciding what new Europe should look like. A quarter a century later, the States were as isolationist and the US Military (Navy excepted) as understrength and unprepared as they were in 1917. Yet 1917 had been a decisive precedent, and a first milestone in the USA taking an ever growing (somehow intrusive) interest in the rest of the World.