Kodiak Mace, May 2019, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Alaska.
Getting ready to jump outta perfectly good airplane.
Videos of various U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J ops:
BLACK LETTER C-130J; IT’S A BYATCH!
Kodiak Mace 2019: USMC KC-130J vid fest!
All posts by Hutchins AAron
Fatal USMC KC-130J crash kept secret?
In December 2018, a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J was refueling a F/A-18 over Okinawa, Japan, when they aircraft made contact. Both the F/A-18 and KC-130J went down, only one person survived.
It was not until the end of May of 2019 that the KC-130J’s cockpit voice recorder and digital flight recorder, along with human remains. And it was not until June of 2019 that the information was made public. As the investigation is still ongoing no further details were released.
Model kit EC-130J gets special handling by National Guard!
A real 193rd Special Operations Wing EC-130J Commando Solo, October 2020. Air National Guard photo by Munnaf Joarder.
In April 2019, Pennsylvania’s 193rd Special Operations Wing’s Fabrication Shop recently was given the opportunity to repaint the EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft model outside the wing HQ building.
Video of repairs to model that has been on display since 2006:
Kit Bashing:
USAF photo by Airman First Class Thomas Charlton.
WORLD’S LARGEST C-141B STARLIFTER MODEL?
Black Letter C-130J; it’s a byatch!
In June 2019, a C-130J in Japan was proclaimed to have achieved Black Letter proficiency; no maintenance problems!
In the official video report, USAF 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chiefs explain just how hard it is to get the rare Black Letter:
Here’s official Ramstein Black Letter C-130J video report from May 2018:
VEHICLE I-D: LAST ‘SPOOKY’ DAYS OF THE AC-130U GUNSHIP?
VooDoo redeux: Pocatello Airport
In April 2012, I published a series of pics of the F-101B Voodoo ‘gate guard’ at Pocatello Airport, Idaho. That was before it underwent renovation, when it was surrounded by a fence, faded and dirty.
Before you go on to look at the pics, I was allowed to see a secret room in the main airport building where a very nice 1/48 scale Monogram model diorama of the very same F-101B was gathering dust. The diorama showed tail code AF-90 PO-417 on the flightline in Germany during the Cold War. Today’s gate guard is painted to match that diorama except it doesn’t have the Native American chief in his warbonnet painted on the nose of the aircraft, near the cockpit. There was a small plaque on the diorama explaining the aircraft history, but I didn’t get much time to read it. I asked if I could get my camera and take a pic of it, but was told I shouldn’t even be in the ‘room’. So, supposedly PO-417 was an actual F-101B, yet a quick internet search revealed no such thing (apparently ‘PO’ isn’t a real USAF tail code).
To update this story, I was recently ‘gifted’ a little red book called The First Fifty Years: Michaud Flats, U.S. Army Base, Pocatello Regional Airport. It explains the Pocatello Voodoo was originally slated to be burned up as a fire trainer for the Utah Air National Guard. It was one of two such planes that were already fully dismantled, the Utah Guard decided it wasn’t worth the effort to put them back together just to set them on fire. Around 1988, Idaho Senator Jim McClure used his pull to get one of the dismembered Voodoo’s to the Pocatello Airport. Funding for the project came from several donors including the J.R. Simplot Company (which at that time had its corporate HQ in Pocatello, along the border with Chubbuck), and the actual rebuilding of the plane was done by Idaho State University (ISU) Aviation Mechanics School (still located at the airport today). It was the ISU students who decided on the paint scheme, and created the fake afterburners as the real afterburners were missing.
The 238 paged, hardcover book was published in 1993, it’s available directly from the Pocatello Airport (208) 234-6154. I was also told the Idaho Unlimited gift shop carried the book, but it didn’t show up when I searched their website.
Click the pics to make bigger:
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- Check out those Fake News Cans.
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- Interesting that despite no engines or hydraulics, and a recent paint job, there’s oil leakage!
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- Oh no! They forgot to clear coat it.
Wild Fires 2019: DC-10, Idaho’s 911
15 July 2019-21:32 UTC-07 Tango 06 (25 Tir 1398/13 Dhu l-Qa’da 1440/14 Xin-Wei 4717)
Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.
Another year, another round of wild fires, and Pocatello Airport is temporary home (once again) to DC-10 water bombers. Two were spotted, numbers 911 and 912.
Click the pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make them bigger:
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- #911
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- Kit bashers note that the retardant tank is not flush with the fuselage.
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- AV Center fuelers are being kept busy.
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- DC-10 #912 parked behind the BAe 146/Avro RJ.
SMOKE ’EM IF YOU GOT ’EM, 2017!: POCATELLO AIRPORT FIRE BOMBERS ARE BACK!
U.S. WILDFIRES 2016: DC-10 POCATELLO AIRPORT
IDAHO WILDFIRES 2015: POKEY AIRPORT DC-10 WATER BOMBER
Vehicle I-D: 1-148 Field Artillery gate guards
Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.
M1 57mm Anti-Tank gun from World War-2 (clicking the pics makes them bigger:
World War-2 M4A3 Sherman:
Cold War era M109A5(?) Self Propelled Howitzer:
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- Checking out the 1-148 FA’s boom-boom, Summer 1997.
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- Pocatello, Idaho, 1997.
Related: POKEY AIRPORT, IDAHO ARMY NATIONAL GUARD M109
Cold Ware era M548 cargo carrier:
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- My kids can’t wait to try out the 1-148 FA cargo carrier, 1997.
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- Get that thing pull started! Shhh, don’t tell ’em.
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- Hurry, make our get-a-way!
Cold War era M60A3:
116th Cav, 1-148th FA, Pocatello, Idaho. Photo by AAron B. Hutchins.
Armored Gate Guards: ARMOR MUSEUM FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI
Vehicle I-D: Fury vs Mig
MiG-17 on the left, Fury in the middle, MiG-15UTI on the right. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Tristan Truesdell, 13JUL2019.
In July 2019, the state of Montana was invaded by marauding MiG-15UTI and MiG-17, and a lone FJ-4 Fury came to The Big Sky state’s defense.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Tristan Truesdell, 13JUL2019
MiG-17. USAF photo by Airman First Class Tristan Truesdell, 13JUL2019.
It was part of an air show at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
VEHICLE I-D: MIG 17 V U.S. NAVY FERRARI
POCATELLO AIRPORT 02 AUGUST 2014: MIG-15 UTI & MIG-17
POCATELLO AIRPORT 02 AUGUST 2014: FJ-4 FURY
Vehicle I-D: New armored ECM vehicle
Currently known as Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle (EWTV), testing began in September 2018 at Yuma Army Proving Grounds, in Arizona.
In January 2019, testing shifted to Fort Irwin National Training Center, in California.
Testing is being conducted by the U.S. Army 1st Division’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team ‘Greywolf’. The EWTV is based on a MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected) MaxxPro Dash.
The new vehicle allows ground forces to intercept and jam electronic communications (electromagnetic spectrum) from a ‘safe’ distance. It will be a good use for artillery units because it can pin-point the source of electronic sources and then call-for-fire on those sources (the modern version of triangulating radio signals).
It can integrate with existing ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) vehicles like the VROD (Versatile Radio Observation & Direction) and VMAX (VROD Modular Adpative Transmit) systems.
VEHICLE I-D: GIANT R-C TANKS SEEN TEARING-UP WASHINGTON STATE!
“ending operations effective immediately.”: U.S. Hi-Tech/Communications breakdown, January 2019
Incomplete list, mainly links to main stream news media reports, of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction and cyber-chicanery announcements in January 2019:
At the end of January, U.S. led NATO countries converged on Estonia to conduct cyber warfare ops. Cyber operations included attempted attacks on industrial control systems, physical security systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and maritime surveillance systems, according to U.S. 24th Air Force/Air Forces Cyber.
During the ongoing U.S. meddling in Syrian politics, a female U.S. Navy Cryptologic Technician was killed in Manbij, on 16JAN2019.
The looming danger in high-tech car safety systems
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
CALIFORNIA: Space Exploration Technologies issued a layoff WARN, 577 people in Hawthorne to become jobless in March! Solid state battery maker Seeo issued a shutdown WARN for its ops in Hayward, 45 jobs gone in March. Online entertainment company Machinima issued multiple WARNs, at least 81 jobs in Burbank gone in March. Carlisle Interconnect Technologies issued shutdown WARNs for its ops in El Segundo and Riverside, 338 jobs gone by October! Automotive pricing and information website TrueCar eliminating 35 jobs by mid-March. Verizon subsidiary Oath eliminating 71 jobs by the end of March. Symantec continues killing jobs, this time 14 people were suddenly laid off. Photonics company Invuity finally revealed to state unemployment officials that it laid off 81 people back in October 2018. Texas based AT&T issued several WARNs, 78 jobs gone by the end of March. Software maker VMware issued a layoff WARN for its Palo Alto ops, 126 jobs gone by April!
Helicopters and drones with hi-tech surveillance equipment will ostensibly be used to count how many homeless people live in San Diego County (interesting that apparently nobody has a problem with this, but many people have a hissy about the government counting non-citizens)
Viacom’s Paramount Pictures lays off 20 people
Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group suddenly lays off 22 people
Palo Alto based online home improvement platform Houzz lays off 180!
Elon Musk founded, Palo Alto based Tesla eliminating 3-thousand jobs due to lack of profitable sales!
Elon Musk founded, Hawthorne based Space X eliminating about 7-hundred jobs!
Mojave based Virgin Galactic lays off 40 employees ahead of transition to New Mexico spaceport
Santa Clara based McAfee suddenly lays off 2-hundred employees!
Cupertino based Apple eliminated 2-hundred jobs from its self-driving car program!
After nine years of hype, San Francisco based online meal delivery company Munchery is now dead: “Today, with a heavy heart, we’re reaching out to announce that Munchery is closing its doors and ending operations effective immediately.”
“They can hear you!” The new electronic warfare ‘Greywolf’ vehicle spotted at U.S. Army’s Fort Irwin National Training Center, 13JAN2019.
COLORADO: Cable TV company WideOpenWest (aka WOW!) shutting down a call center, 2-hundred jobs gone by March!
ILLINOIS: Cable TV company WideOpenWest (aka WOW!) issued a layoff WARN, 56 jobs in Warrenville gone by March. Audio/video equipment maker Harman International issued a shutdown WARN for its Vernon Hills ops, 59 jobs gone in March.
MARYLAND: On 04JAN2019, the U.S. Navy Reserve created a new Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group (NCWDG) Reserve unit: “There is a growing demand for Reservist skill sets from all designators. This is where it all comes together. Regardless of their designator, they have impressive skill sets from their civilian work they can apply to Navy needs.”-Captain James Lee, commander of new unit
In the following official USAF video report, new recruits are told that modern warfare IS about creating better video games:
MICHIGAN: Reprise Media issued a layoff WARN for its ‘Search, Social, Mobile Media’ ops in Birmingham, 92 jobs gone. Also in Birmingham, global media advertiser Universal McCann Worldwide issued a WARN, 116 jobs gone! Once again in Birmingham, ‘communication, media and technology specialists’ Mediabrands issued a shutdown WARN for its I-T ops, effective in March.
MINNESOTA: ‘Backup’ security software maker Code42 suddenly laid off 55 people due to crashing global sales
NEW YORK: Concentrix-Convergys issued a shutdown WARN for its call center in Watertown, between 114 and 540 people affected by the end of April! Sun & Earth Energy company issued a layoff WARN, between 47 and 58 jobs gone. Monolith Solar issued a layoff WARN, as many as 23 employees affected.
App ‘savant’ kills self with cocaine and heroin!
NYC based global communications company Ketchum warns of Double-Digit Job Cuts
NYC based Verizon eliminating 8-hundred jobs!
Washington state founded, yet headquarters based in NYC (news media still says its based in Washington, for some reason), online make-up seller Julep suddenly lays off 102 people and goes bankrupt busted!
Texas based AT&T shutting down Syracuse call center, 150 jobs gone! (the official WARN says 155 jobs gone as operations are Escaping from New York to Florida)
NORTH CAROLINA: Conduent to lay off 61 employees
OHIO: Teleperformance shuts down Fairborn facility, 334 layoffs!
OREGON: Bend based Western Communications now chapter 11 bankrupt-busted
TEXAS: Official report about taxpayer funded ‘Hack-of-the-Drones’ involving personnel from the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy: DVIDS_News_306568_791ccf518d402d1c6fe40a3ebe93e655210305df63065fd0dc3cec6e2e893243
Dallas Morning News suddenly laid off 43 people due to crashing revenues
WASHINGTON: On 11JAN2019, the U.S. Army created the new Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space unit (known as I2CEWS) at Joint Base Lewis McChord: “Today we’ll activate the Army’s first I2CEWS detachment, which is the critical unit in the Multi-Domain Task Force and the centerpiece of how the Army will conduct Multi-Domain operations in the future.”-Lieutenant General Gary Volesky, I-Corps
U.S. Tech/Communications breakdown, December 2018: “UNFORTUNATELY OUR RENT IS TOO HIGH”