Video report, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, Florida, announces their first rebuilt F-5N is complete, 27MAY2021:
USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 01MAR2021.
USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 01MAR2021.
A rebuilt F-5N gets a pre-flight inspection. USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 01MAR2021.
USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 17FEB2021.
USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 17FEB2021.
Jacksonville, Florida, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast. U.S. Navy Photo by Toiete Jackson, 17FEB2021.
A spare intake is used to practice a new paint process that is meant to streamline the engine air intakes. USN photo by Ashley Lombardo, 20JUL2020.
USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 20MAY2020.
A 3D scan was made of theF-5N’s engine air intakes, to help engineers create a new paint/coating that will streamline the intake. USN photo by Toiete Jackson, 24SEP2019.
On 11SEP2019, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast got its first F-5N to be rebuilt. USN photo by Toiete Jackson.
Fleet Readiness Center Southeast video report announcing new contract to rebuild F-5Ns, 06FEB2019:
During the night, the German Luftwaffe destroyed several U.S. bombers on the ground of Poltava Airbase in Ukraine. The U.S. bombers, of the 452nd Bomb Group, had arrived from United Kingdom as part of a ‘shuttle’ mission (aka Shuttle Raid).
The attack took place on 21JUN1944. Interestingly, the U.S. Army’s 8th Air Force claims they did not receive the photo negatives until December 1945, the photos of the destroyed B-17s were not even released in the United States until 22JUL1949, kept secret years after the war ended by the U.S. Air Force Historical Office!
The 8th Air Force was using Poltava Airbase as a rest & recovery area for its bombers and crews, after conducting bombing missions against Germany, and other targets in Eastern Europe, during the Second World War.
According to the Historical Museum of the U.S. Air Force, 21JUN1944 was also the first time B-17s were used for Shuttle Raids. I did find a photo dated April 1944 showing a B-17 on Poltava, but it doesn’t indicate if it was taking part in a Shuttle Raid.
U.S. Army Air Force crewmen stand next to a Soviet soldier, the day after the German airstrike.
During World War Two, Ukraine was one of the dozens of republics who were part of the Soviet Union, as was Russia.
U.S. Army Air Force personnel gaze at a portrait of Stalin, 04JUN1944.
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and at the beginning of 1944 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt convinced Stalin to allow U.S. combat aircraft to land in the Soviet Union.
A Soviet solder, based on Poltava, painted portraits of Stalin and Roosevelt, completed on 28DEC1944.
MiG-31K with Kinzhal, February 2022. Russian Defense Ministry photo.
Production of the Cold War era MiG-31 (NATO reporting name Foxhound) began in 1979, in February 2022 it was used to launch what the Russians call a hypersonic ballistic missile. MiG-31s converted to carry the ballistic missile are called MiG-31K.
MiG-31BM, Central Military District photo.
Russian Ministry of Defense video, MiG-31K hypersonic ballistic missile ‘Kinzhal’ (dagger) launch, February 2022:
To confuse you, Kinzhal-dagger is also a name applied to other Russian missile systems.
MiG-31K, Russian Defense Ministry photo June 2021.
MiG-31K with Kinzhal, in 2018. Russian Ministry of Defense photo.
Indiana restaurants want more taxpayer pandemic funding, and why is Banking as a Service (BaaS) a ‘new thing’ (banking was always supposed to be a service):
Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
The U.S. National Archives makes available a lot of cool imagery, but unfortunately a lot of the info issued with it is wrong. Can’t blame the National Archives, they simply repost what was given to them, so a lot of the ‘false’ info actually comes from the source; the U.S. Department of Defense. The following is a case-in-point; photos of Cold War era Exercise Gangbuster #11 show both F-4C Phantom-2s and F-105G Thunderchief ‘Wild Weasels’, it lists both aircraft as being with the “128th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 116th Tactical Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guardsmen”. For the record, the F-4s are part of the Texas Air National Guard but not the 128th TFS/116th TFW, the F-4Cs belong to the 182nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 149th Tactical Fighter Wing. The F-105Gs are part of the 128th TFS/116th TFW, which is Georgia Air National Guard. In some photos the obvious belly of an F-105G is shown, yet the info says it is an F-4 Phantom II. Also, the exalted U.S. Air Force/National Guard info calls the F-105 the “Delta Dart”! Maybe this was an attempt to deceive the Soviets?
A faded ‘blue bomb’, hi-drag ‘snake eye’, is brought to a waiting Texas F-4C. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Georgia Air National Guard F-105G gets bombed-up with a cement filled Blue Bomb. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
This is one of the photos that was listed as being an F-4. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Gangbuster XI took place on Stewart Airfield, Georgia, in April 1981. It was about bombing accuracy, and included the USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) as a floating target in The Atlantic Ocean.
Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Messing with the drogue ‘chute of the F-105G. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
The F-105G used water injection for take-off runs. Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
Photo by Airman First Class Sheryl D. Barnett, 10APR1981.
I could find only two photos of Texas F-4Cs at Gangbuster XI, so here’s a photo of a 182nd TFS/149th TFW F-4C ‘intercepting’ a Soviet Tu-95 ‘Bear’ near Iceland, in 1981:
In July 2021 I revealed U.S. President Biden’s SECRET NEW AFGHAN-AFRICAN REFUGEE OPERATION. I understood the Afghan part, after almost two decades of not really getting anywhere, spending a hell-of-a-lot of tax dollars and shedding a lot of blood, Biden had approved a sudden withdrawal of U.S./NATO forces from the Central Asian country, but what did the continent of Africa have to do with it?
For almost a decade, NATO Europe has been dealing with a tsunami of migrants coming from Africa. Ironically, it is precisely the European, Canadian and United States NATO ‘peacekeeping’ operations that have ramped-up volatility in central and Northern Africa, to the point that people would rather risk dying during an escape to Europe, than to stay in their home countries. African migrants are even traveling to Colombia, in South America, before starting their long caravans North to the United States.
Since January of this year, it appears that NATO is losing control of the Central African region of the second-largest and second-most populous continent on this planet, with new found resources and potentially the largest economy in the world.
In the past couple of days, NATO France announced it was unassing the African country of Mail, literally telling the government of Mali it was on its own. This involves other NATO European members and NATO Canada.
The area of Africa that NATO is unassing is known as The Sahel. It has long been part of the so called War on Terror against ‘extremists’, but since the beginning of the Gregorian year several countries in that area have experienced military coups.
It also turns out that Russia has increased its operations in The Sahel.
Does this mean Biden is thinking of a sudden pull-out of U.S. personnel? Recent news releases by the U.S. Department of Defense makes it look like the U.S. is making its Africa operations a permanent deployment.
On 18FEB2022, the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa released a video, by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Charest, explaining Cutlass Express 2022:
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Helen Brown, 09FEB2022.
On 17FEB2022, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command concluded International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022, which included African countries Egypt and Kenya.
On 17FEB2022, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa released this promotional video, by Staff Sergeant Andrea Salgado Rivera, showing a multi-national exercise held in Côte d’Ivoire, called Flintlock:
USA photo by Sergeant Kacie Benak, 17FEB2022.
Besides military units from Côte d’Ivoire, units from Cameroon, Ghana and Niger took part in Flintlock, as well as NATO personnel from Canada, France, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and United States.
U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Stephanie Longoria, 08FEB2022.
On 08FEB2022, in the country of Niger, U.S. Air Force’s 409th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron constructed new guard towers on Nigerien Air Base 201: “When we got here two months ago, the last rotation complained about the towers. We wanted to make the towers better, so we looked at the configuration of the towers and started brainstorming ideas.”-Technical Sergeant Tyler Carlson, 409th ESFS
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Michael Battles, 21JAN2022.
From 24 to 28 January 2022, U.S. Air Forces Africa co-hosted the 11th annual African Air Chiefs Symposium in Kigali, Rwanda. Apparently 38 African countries attended (looks like they had fun dancing).
Even the USAF-Europe band took part. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Michael Battles, 21JAN2022.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Lynette M. Rolen, 17JAN2022.
From 17 to 20 January 2022, U.S. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa conducted a ‘medical knowledge exchange’ with the Gendarmerie (militarized police) of Djibouti.
Nebraska Army National Guard photo by Specialist Gauret Stearns, 22DEC20121.
In December 2021, the Nebraska Army National Guard helped repair the water supply line for the village of Chabelley, in the Arta region of Djibouti.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Major Carmen Daugherty, 07DEC2021.
Also in December 2021, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force-Africa went to Niger to help set-up an ‘enhanced’ basic training program as part of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership Program Act, authorized by U.S. Congress. The Indiana Army National Guard is also involved with training and certifying Nigerien basic training instructors.
I’ve been following the deepening involvement of the U.S. in Africa, things got hot under President Obama, starting in 2013. There are links below to some of the articles.
Famous last words, Police leaders in Ottawa said this weekend Canadians would see things never seen before, but I don’t think the anti-freedom police were thinking of this: Freedom Convoys now nationwide!
Family joining Freedom Convoy in British Columbia:
USMC’s new aggressor HAWKER HUNTER?
