Category Archives: Single Ship

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter-pilot header, click on the title to view the featured-image header and continue reading. If you have ever attended a high-school reunion, this little vignette should bring a chuckle, especially since the underlying message of “puttin” on airs” is so true. Jan, Sue and Mary haven’t seen each other since high school, and they arrange via a reunion website to meet for lunch at a wine bar and catch up! Jan arrives first, wearing a beige Versace. She orders a bottle of Pinot Grigio. Sue arrives shortly afterward, … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter-pilot header, click on the title to view the featured-image header and continue reading. I friend and fellow ex-Phantom driver recently sent me a link to a story commemorating a sad day for those of us who have a soft place in our hearts for the F-4 Phantom II. The very last Phantom in the “boneyard,” a storage facility for retired aircraft located at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ, home of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, departed for a final assignment. Credit: blog.naver.com via Wikipedia I’m … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter pilot header, click on the title to view the featured image header and continue reading. There’s a saying about fighter pilots, probably originating from their collective ability to make fun of themselves, that a fighter pilot “wears a big watch, has a little ________ (insert your preferred term for the male sex organ), drinks scotch and water and is always looking for a place to cash a check.” All kidding aside, every flight briefing during my twenty-plus years as a fighter pilot began with a time hack … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter-pilot header, click on the title to view the featured-image header and continue reading. My good friend and fellow ex-fighter pilot Yago F. de Bobadilla, Maj. Gen. SAF (ret), has assembled a PowerPoint slide show as a companion to his original collection honoring the aviators and flying machines of World War II and the artists who commemorate specific events with exceptional skill and dedication to their craft. Throughout the history of air warfare, combatants have struggled to achieve a tactical advantage and shift the balance of power in their … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter-pilot header, click on the title to view the featured-image header and continue reading. (Header image credit: sim-outhouse.com) Almost two years ago, I received this comment from a visitor on my series “Beautiful Aviation Art”: My watchcap is off to these gallant airmen and their crews, however, once again the crews of the lowly PBY Black Cats are left out of the story. Those men flew into the teeth of the Japanese war machine with a lumbering flying boat painted black as their main defense. They sunk millions … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black and/or you see the fighter-pilot header, click on the title to view the featured-image header and continue reading. You can click on any image for a larger view and use the back button on your browser to return here. My original intent was to publish this series in six parts, but my good friend and fellow ex-fighter pilot Yago F. de Bobadilla, Maj. Gen. SAF (ret), sent me additional examples of aviation art that deserve to be included. Here they are: Ploesti, Romania, August 1, 1943–”Hell’s Wench,” a B-24 badly damaged by … Continue reading →

One of my key objectives in this blog is to honor the legacy of WWII military aviators in whatever small way I can, and it’s a special thrill to receive comments from visitors with personal connections to the people and events in the posts. The first of these relates to “Koga’s Zero,” by Jim Reardon. A visitor had evidence to support the contention that a family member had been the captain of the ship that transported the aircraft to California for flight testing, not the individual named in Reardon’s book. The second arrived a few days ago in relation to … Continue reading →

We complete the six-part series to showcase some of the finest examples of art depicting events of the WWII air war. I discovered the original images in a gorgeous slide show created by a good friend and fellow fighter pilot, Yago F. de Bobadilla, who rose to the rank of Major General in the Spanish Air Force. January 1st 1945. All across western Europe airfields are thrown into chaos as the Luftwaffe unleashes a desperate surprise offensive to destroy allied air power on the ground. “Operation Bodenplatte” would instead result in the death knell for the once formidable German Air … Continue reading →

If the title of this post is black, click it to view the featured-image header. As a professional aviator for over four decades, especially during my career as a fighter pilot, I considered myself to be living in a domain far removed from that of “normal” folks. This feeling intensified during visits to my childhood home in Dallas, Texas, where five of my closest friends had returned after going off to college. The visits had a surreal quality, never more apparent than shortly after returning to the States following my two combat tours in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. … Continue reading →

Note: If the title of this post is black, click on it to view the featured-image header. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that most women think of men as needing close supervision in many areas of life. Not with lawnmowers, tools, and cars, usually, but almost certainly with food choices and other health-related issues, like scheduling regular physical exams, dental appointments, and not being afraid to show weakness by taking medicines. A family friend sent us these photos of his first retirement project, that of building a new medicine cabinet to replace the one his wife has been … Continue reading →