Tag Archives: nato

Kit Bashing, Technology

C-130J: Retro Dayglo, and how neon paint helps keep airplanes from falling outta the sky!

Video

Photo by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, 22SEP2020.

In September 2020, C-130s were painted in ‘heritage’ colors to represent some of the first aircraft flown by the U.S. Air Force’s 41st and 61st Airlift Squadrons.  The paint schemes included a camo tail, a pre-World War Two yellow tail, and a Cold War dayglo orange/red tail.

Photo by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, 22SEP2020.

The paint-job was handled by the 19th Maintenance Squadron on Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.

Photo by Staff Sergeant Jeremy McGuffin, 08OCT2020.

On 08OCT2020, USAF and Arkansas National Guard C-130s showed off their new paint jobs, en masse.

Video report by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, explaining the history of the 41st and 61st Airlift Squadrons:

65th anniversary video by Master Sergeant Jason Armstrong:

Photo by Airman First Class Isaiah Miller, 08OCT2020.

USAF photo by Photo by Airman Joshua Maund, 04SEP2015.

Dayglo paint/oil is not only used to make things like vehicles stand-out, it’s also used to make defects in structural components stand-out.  It’s a type of non-destructive inspection (NDI).

U.S. Army photo by Ervey Martinez, 18SEP2020.

The ‘penetrant’ paint/oil soaks into any cracks revealing the defects.

Magnetic particle inspection using a black-light.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Cecilio Ricardo.

This Airman is using a blacklight to inspect a bolt.

The term dayglo originates from the name of a paint company whose primary customers were retail advertisers, but that changed with a big boost from the U.S. Department of War (established 1789-1947) during World War Two, a military supply contract which lasted through the undeclared Cold War (and beyond).  Ironically during the Cold War decades, the company was not only getting business from the U.S. National Military Establishment (1947-1949) and U.S. Department of Defense (1949-present), but from the hippie-dippie peace movement by selling its neon paints to producers of peace posters and music industry advertising.  In 1969 the company first known as Fluor-S-Art, then as Switzer Brothers (in honor of the founders), changed its name to Day-Glo Paint Corporation.   In 1985, Day-Glo was sold to Nalco Chemical Company, and today it boasts of being the world’s largest producer of florescent colors.

C-130J: ONCE A RED COAT, NOW A BLUE ANGEL

ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON BEGINS EARLY, AGAIN,1ST WC-130J HURRICANE HUNTER LAUNCHED!

Pandemic Overflight: HERKS FOR HEROES

Bare Metal: C-130 PAINT PREP, OR THE EMPEROR GETS SOME NEW CLOTHES

Vehicle I-D: NORMANDY PAINTED C-130 HERCULES

Neon in Plastic:

BLACKLIGHT REVELL DEAL’S WHEELS

AMT WILLYS VAN RETRO ISSUE

MULTI-MAVERICK 

Technology

Cold War S-A-C flew World War Two B-25 Mitchells

Video

SAC=Strategic Air Command

These photos were taken in the late 1950s by the father-in-law to Russel Sharp.

Russel Sharp (the guy in the uniform) was a crew chief (aka maintainer) and flight engineer on B-25s flown by SAC, out of Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

Between 1954 and 1959, U.S. Air Force SAC used the World War Two U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchells as trainers for incoming nuclear bomber crews.  Doctor John Garrett, 17th Training Wing historian, explains that “This specific aircraft was built in 1944 and was converted in 1945 from a bomber to a trainer model. It flew as a trainer until 1959 and its last years were in Dyess. This plane was kept downtown in San Angelo, and in 1983 Charlie Powell, former wing commander, rescued it from San Angelo.”

U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Jackson, 02AUG2017.

On 02AUG2017, Russel Sharp returned to Goodfellow AFB to check-out the B-25 gate guard installed near Jacobson Gate.  Going by the tail number it is the same B-25 that Sharp spent more than 9-hundred hours flying on.   Sharp said the connection was made when an old Air Force buddie saw the gate guard and was sure the tail number was the same.

Video interview by Airman First Class Jessica Ray:

B-25 FLAMIN’ MAIMIE WAS AS COLD AS ICE!

Technology

B-25 Flamin’ Maimie was as cold as ice!

Image

Before there was NASA, there was NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics).  Photos from the NASA archives.

Looks to be Flamin’ Maimie before NACA’s many modifications. NACA photo, 1947.

NACA had a XB-25E called Flamin’ Maimie.  If you look up Flamin’ Maimie you’ll get a couple of dominant results; a jazz song from the 1920s by the band The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, and a big-hair female track team from Abilene, Texas, who became the first female sports team to make the cover of Sports Illustrated, in 1964.

NASA photo, 1947.

While the jazz-dance song and the track team were about ‘hot’ women, NACA’s Flamin’ Maimie was about being as cold as ice.

NASA photo, 1947.

Originally the XB-25E was used by the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) from 1942-44.  It was a modified B-25C.  The hot exhaust gasses were routed through the flying surfaces of the bomber.  It was successful, but apparently the USAAF decided the added weight of the hot air de-icing system wasn’t justified.  In July 1944, NACA became the new owner of Flamin’ Maimie.

NASA photo, 1949.

NACA added these protruding therm-o-meters.

NASA photo, 1950.

NACA used Flamin’ Maimie to study new de-icing technologies, and the processes which caused aircraft to collect ice.  The program operated out of Ohio, from the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (now known as NASA Glenn Research Center), until 1953.

NASA photo, 1950.

The NACA pressure icing rate meter data recorder used in the XB-25E.

NACA’s diagram of de-icers on B-25, dated 1946.

I was not able to find any information as to what happened to XB-25E Flamin’ Maimie, other than NACA “transferred” it in February 1953.

B-25 ¡PANCHITO!

Business/Economics, Influenza, International

CoViD-19 Shenanigans

Video

03 October 2020 / 03:48 (UTC-07 Tango 06)/ 12 Mehr 1399/15 Safar 1442/17 Bing-Xu 4718

Incomplete list of links to news reports from around the world:

United Nations World Health Organization now admits that harsh pandemic lockdowns cause more harm than the pandemic and “must be avoided at all costs.” 

Countries without CoViD infections are still being killed-off by CoViD restrictions in pandemic countries:

CHINA:  Hong Kong’s massive USD$68.4-million mass testing during its Third Wave now considered a waste of time and money!

GERMANY: Neanderthal gene increases risk of severe coronavirus illness

FINLAND:

 INDIA: Experimental vaccine maker is somehow already producing millions of doses

Scientific contact tracing study discovers that children are the CoViD-19 super-spreaders!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            CoViD-19 restrictions force migrant workers to flee                                                                                                                                                                                                Coronavirus Shatters India’s Economy

City of Mumbai discovers possible second CoViD-19 antibody

JAPAN: Fourth suicide by a Japanese star during COVID-19 highlights country’s crisis

Suicides among young women increasing sharply, government response to coronavirus blamed

Coronavirus government subsidy fraud on the rise

Retail store sales continue to crash and burn due to CoViD restrictions

National Center for Global Health and Medicine confirms that pre-existing medical problems are the main reason people are dying after getting infected with CoViD-19

PAKISTAN: Begins Phase-3 Trial of Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine

Is Covid-19 ‘herd immunity’ really working in Pakistan?                                                                                                                                                                                         Schizophrenic government response as on one hand all education facilities are re-opened, yet on the other hand restaurants are being forced to shutdown                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       RUSSIA: ‘Mushrooms Have Kidnapped You’; Pandemic Obsession With Forest Fungi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Recovery of tourism industry will take at least two years once the pandemic is finished                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       SWEDEN:

UNITED KINGDOM:  Study says loss of smell is best indicator that you are infected                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         UNTIED STATES: 50 Most Popular U.S. Restaurants That Won’t Reopen After the Pandemic
                                                                                                                                                           Idaho;     After 18 years the Golden Corral restaurant in Pocatello gave up the ghost, blaming CoVid-19,  adding another nail in the slow-death-economic-coffin for Pocatello.

Photo by AAron Hutchins, October 2020.

CoViD-19 fearmongering restrictions kill-off more restaurants in Eastern Idaho (some of those fearmongering restrictions are the fault of the restaurant owners themselves, one Asian style buffet in Pocatello is now open only four days per week and requires you to wear a mask, except when you are actually shoveling food into your mouth, and if you don’t have a mask they force you to buy one of theirs)

                                                                                                                                                          Pub owner in Western Idaho tries to be responsible in the age of CoViD, resulting in the permanent shutdown of the popular Irish gathering spot after 18 years “of fun”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Coronavirus Cases Rise In What Is Called Idaho’s Third Spike (Wave)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    State officials already developing CoViD vaccine distribution operation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Even god can’t stop the mormon owned BYU-Idaho from possible shutdown due to an invisible virus                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Arrests made at church’s ‘psalm sing’ in Moscow, Idaho, over coronavirus violations                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Man shutdown Idaho high school football game by refusing to wear a mask, yet in the photo you can see that even the responding cops, as well as other people, refused to wear masks!                                                                                                                                                                                                          Leftist group warns of new anti-pandemic lockdown organization based in Idaho                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Washington DC; President Trump gets experimental antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      President Trump is correct about suicides versus CoViD-19: “Every 1% hike in the unemployment rate will likely produce a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a 0.99% increase in suicides according to data provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the medical journal Lancet. These are facts based on experience, not models. If unemployment hits 32%, some 77,000 Americans are likely to die from suicide and drug overdoses as a result of layoffs. Scientists call these fatalities ‘deaths of despair’.“–Betsy McCaughey                                                                                                                                                                                                            VENEZUELA: Thanks Russia for 2-thousand experimental CoViD-19 vaccines
CoViD-19, April 2020:  ‘EXPERTS’ ADMITTING TO WHAT I ALREADY WARNED ABOUT, MASKS CAN’T PROTECT YOU!                                                                                                                                                                          March 2020: CoViD-19 fearmongering shuts down WINCO’s 24 hours grocery operations in Pocatello, Idaho

Technology, U.S.

National Guard teaching a baby three horned dinosaur to fly?

Video

13 September 2020 / 04:18 (UTC-07 Tango 06)/ 23 Shahrivar 1399/25 Muharram 1442/26 Yi-You 4718

National Guard photos by Second Lieutenant Anna Doo and Sergeant John Montoya.  Videos by Second Lieutenant Anna Doo and Sergeant Zechariah Freeman.  Dig photos via New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Image

In October 2015, the New Mexico Army National Guard was called-up for a mission unlike any other; sling-load a 65-million years old baby Pentaceratops out of the desert: “This ranks very high in the importance of Pentaceratops discoveries because it is the first baby skeleton, including the skull, ever recovered, and one of less than 10 adult Pentaceratops skulls unearthed.”-Spencer Lucas, Chief Curator of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

The baby three horned dinosaur was actually discovered back in 2011, in the Bisti/De-na-zin Wilderness Area south of Farmington. In 2013, an adult was found in the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness Study Area, 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.  The paleontologists had a problem; no wheeled vehicles are allowed in those federally controlled areas, and once encased in protective plaster, the two dinosaur skeletons could weight as much as one U.S. ton.

In 2014, administrators with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, New Mexico National Guard, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, agreed to airlift the bones using UH-60 Blackhawks from New Mexico National Guard’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation.

It took four hours to position just the encased baby skeleton for sling-load by the Blackhawk: “The process, since it was an unconventional load, took some different planning. We had the right personnel here and were able to brainstorm together. There was never really a set way that we had. We knew once we got in there we’d take a look at everything and figure out the best option. My favorite part was getting the jackets onto the sling loads. That was something we hadn’t had experience with and we knew it was going to be a difficult process. That was our biggest hurdle. Once we got past that we knew we had the capability to do everything else that we needed to.”-Staff Sergeant Jonathon Velarde, 1st Battalion-200th Infantry, National Guard site leader at the Bisti location

But when the day came for the airlift, it was discovered that the plaster surrounding the baby and adult Pentaceratops skeletons were water damaged from recent rain storms and could not be airlifted, only the skulls could be sling-loaded. However, it was soon discovered that the plaster jacketed skulls were much heavier than estimated.  The Blackhawk crew trying to lift the adult skull reported it weighed 5-thousand-5-hundred pounds (2494.8 kilograms) and the UH-60 was not able to safely lift it.  The jacketed baby skull weighed 4-thousand-5-hundred pounds (2041 kilograms), more than twice the estimate.

To make the lift the Blackhawk helicopters flew around burning off expensive fuel to lighten themselves.  Keep in mind that the National Guard personnel on the ground, heaving the heavy skulls into positions, even pushing one uphill, were unaware that they were dealing with weights that were more than twice what they were expecting.

Video, baby skull flip:

Apparently it took two days (28-29OCT2015) of struggling to position the two skulls for sling-load.

Video, adult skull flip:

Video interview, Staff Sergeant Jonathon Velarde explains the proper positioning of the sling-load net:

Video, skull lift:

Video, incoming skull:

The skulls were flown out of the ground vehicle restricted areas to a location where a M984 HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) was waiting to take them to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: “The mission went really well and it was good training for the traditional Soldiers. The mission was accomplished and everyone was safe. We were able to really show the capabilities of the National Guard as far as our air assets, the Infantry piece as far as them having to go out there and rig it, and our transportation assets as far as being able to move it, as well as working with the civilians and the general public.”-First Lieutenant Jerome Bustamante, 116th Transportation Company, New Mexico National Guard

HEMTT dino-load video:

The skulls are part of dinosaur displays at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, unfortunately the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs used the CoViD-19 fear-mongering to shutdown all taxpayer funded museums in New Mexico, until further notice.   

Just before the CoViD-19 BS started: BLACK HELICOPTERS SWARM SUPER BOWL-54

IDAHO BLACKHAWKS HEAD SOUTH, DOWN CENTRAL AMERICA WAY, YOU PAID FOR IT!

U.S. government shenanigans, January 2019: MULTI-AGENCY SUPER SURGE

Technology

Cold War & Beyond: Remembering the Starlifter

Video

Lockheed’s fast transport C-141 was designed according to Cold War requirements in 1960, and first flew in 1963.  It was the world’s first turbofan powered military transport aircraft: “The C-141 has a noble record of achievement in its support of the U.S. military. Participating in every military operation from Vietnam to Iraqi Freedom, StarLifter crews have also performed humanitarian relief flights to nearly 70 countries on six continents. Most recently, the StarLifter served those affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The aircraft has served NASA, conducted Antarctic resupply flights for nearly three decades and has been a key asset for flight research serving science for two decades.”-Ross Reynolds, Lockheed Martin vice president of Air Mobility

California based C-141A ‘Golden Bear’ on Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB), Alaska, shortly after April 1965 when the Starlifter became  operational.  This photo was probably made during Golden Bear’s promotional flight around the Pacific Rim, which was in May 1965.  The Golden Bear was based on Travis AFB, California, and after 1977 it was upgraded to the stretched ‘B’ version.  Golden Bear made its last flight in March 1996, after which it was abandoned on the flight-line.  Since 2005, and after restoration, Golden Bear has been serving on ‘Gate Guard duty’ on Travis AFB. (more below)

U.S. Air Force photo, July 1966.

USAF photo from July 1966, Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-141A (short) on Tan Son Nhut Airbase, Viet Nam.

Quick silent film, by somebody with last name of Anderson, of iconic comedian Bob Hope arriving in Korea, via a C-141A, for one of his famous USO Christmas shows, 27DEC1970:

C-141As loaded with former prisoners of war (PoW), leaving Viet Nam for the United States, March 1973.

Silent U.S. Army film, by somebody with the last name of Fraser, showing soldiers with The Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) boarding C-141As outbound for wargame ReForGer (Return of Forces to Germany) in West Germany, October 1973 (with some film of USAF cargo ops tacked on at the end, obviously filmed during warmer months):

Silent U.S. Navy film, by Todd Thompson, showing the arrival of a C-141A on U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Philippines, to pick-up refugees from Viet Nam and fly them to the United States, 29APR1975:

It was quickly realized that the C-141A had enough power to transport far more than what could be crammed into its slim cargo hold.  It was decided to stretch the fuselage by 23 feet, creating the YC-141B.

Comparison of C-141A to YC-141B.  The ‘B’ version also got inflight refueling apparatus.

Photo via author’s collection.

From the Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) Photo Shop, YC-141B aerial refueling test over the Mojave Desert, California, Spring 1977.

Photo via author’s collection.

Production C-141Bs were actually stretched C-141As.  According to historians at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, stretching 270 C-141As to C-141B standard was cheaper than buying 90 new build C-141Bs!

Photo via author’s collection.

The stretching of 270 C-141As took place from 1977 to 1982, first deliveries began in 1979.

Photo via author’s collection.

In this photo you can see the unpainted fuselage ‘plug’ used to extend the C-141As into C-141Bs, as well as the aerial refueling sections.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Robert C. Marshall, July 1980.

C-141A still in use, Norton AFB, California, July 1980.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Bob Fehringer, 31OCT1980.

Fans of the movie The Thing, yes there is a McMurdo Station, and C-141As went there, in 1980, as part of Operation Deep Freeze.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Rose Reynolds.

Sometime in the early to mid 1980s, a C-141B leaves Travis AFB, California.

Unknown photographer, 26OCT1983.

During the U.S. invasion of Grenada (aka Operation Urgent Fury) in October 1983, C-141s not only brought in ground troops, but took out U.S. citizens who were taking college courses on the island.

Photo by Robert C. Keffer, 25OCT1983.

Also in October 1983, the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was blown-up by a suicide bomber driving a truck full of explosives.  C-141s also acted as flying hospitals, flying wounded Marines back to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany.

NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) modified a C-141A into an airborne space observation vehicle in 1975.  It was known as KAO (Kuiper Airborne Observatory) and ceased operations in 1995.  

Whatever happened to the N(for NASA)C-141A #12777 ‘The Gambler’, a test aircraft for experimental ECM equipment destined for the B-1B and B-2 bombers?  (click here and find out the ugly truth)

In 1986, climate problems caused a hay shortage for farmers in the Southeastern U.S.  C-141s were used to transport 170 tons of hay from the Mid-Western states, in just one day of Operation Haylift.  This video shows President Ronald Reagan kicking-off the first day of Op Haylift, 24JUL1986:

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, May/June 1987.

Oops, a C-141B ran off the runway on Marine Corp Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, sometime in Summer(?) 1987.

February 1991, Operation Desert Storm.  U.S. military personnel pass by a Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-141B (C-5 Galaxy in the background) somewhere (“undisclosed location”) on the Arabian Peninsula.  According to McChord Air Museum, Washington, during Operations Desert Shield-Desert Storm USAF C-141s were landing every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 7 months in Saudi Arabia.

Video from March Field Air Museum, C-141B airdrop over California:

January 1993, photo via Sergeant Corey Idleburg.

Operation Restore Hope; President George H.W. Bush (center, wearing Marine Corps cap) in front of C-141 Starlifter in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Operation Restore Hope gave birth to the phrase Black Hawk Down (also inspiring the Ridley Scott movie of the same name).

Photo by Marcus Castro, 24MAY1993.

In May 1993, a USAF F-16 crash landed and then plowed into a parked C-141B, on Pope AFB, North Carolina.  C-141 Lifetime Mishap Summary has data and photos of dozens of accidents, crashes and ‘mishaps’ involving C-141s.  

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, 22JUN1994.

Two M113 Personnel Carriers are loaded into a C-141B, on Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, for deployment to Uganda for United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ duty, 22JUN1994.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Val Gempis, 03AUG1994.

C-141B delivers humanitarian aid to Rwanda refugees in Zaire, August 1994.

In 1996, NC-141A #12776, based on Edwards AFB, became the ‘Electric Starlifter’ with fly-by-wire controls.  In the 1990s, 63 C-141Bs were upgraded to C-141Cs with the latest in digital equipment.

NASA photo by Tom Tschida, 20DEC1997.

In December 1997 a C-141A was used by NASA to tow a QF-106 to high altitude before release, to test the feasibility of similar launching of future space vehicles.  It was called Project Eclipse.  C-141A #12775 is now at the Air Mobility Command Museum. 

NC-141A #12779 with ‘universal radar nose’, wasting away on the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum’s South Base flightline, in California.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2000.

Upgraded ‘glass cockpit’ of a C-141C, September 2000, during a ‘Project Trans-Am’ mission.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ken Bergmann, 12OCT2001.

A Tennessee Air National Guard C-141 gets loaded with war gear on U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, in NATO Italy, for the start of the undeclared War on Terror (Operation Enduring Freedom), October 2001.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.

Hurricane Rita final hours of an air evacuation from the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, onboard a  Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Starlifter.

USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.

The YC-141B recently underwent intensive restoration in Georgia.  Click here to see the effort and results.

Video report by Airman First Class Kahdija Slaughter, January 2015.  Preserving the Starlifter Gate Guard at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina:

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Bryan Hull, 06AUG2016.

Kelsey Schmidt, Miss Washington 2016, rechristens ‘gate guard’ Tacoma Starlifter, (#65-0277) on Heritage Hill, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (click here to see Sandra Marth, Miss Washington 1966, christen Tacoma Starlifter the first time).  Tacoma Starlifter first arrived on Lewis-McChord in August 1966 and took part in 1973’s Operation Homecoming, bringing Prisoners of War (PoW) back home to the U.S. from Viet Nam.   The last C-141 stationed on Lewis-McChord was retired in April 2002.

USAF photo by Airman First Class Zachary Martyn, 07APR2017.

Airman conduct weekly inspections of ‘gate guards’, like The Garden State Starlifter, on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Video report by Staff Sergeant John Ayre, April 2015, 50th anniversary of Golden Bear:

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Liliana Moreno, 30MAR2018.

‘War on Terror’ veteran Brandon Jones and his service dog, Apache, pose in front of Golden Bear on Travis Air Force Base, California.

Video report by Kenneth Wright, October 2018.  History of the C-141 from the viewpoint of the personnel of the 349th Air Mobility Wing (formerly Military Airlift Wing), U.S. Air Force Reserve on Travis AFB, California:

In September 2004 the last of the U.S. Air Force active duty C-141s retired, with Guard and Reserve C-141s operating until May 2006. The Lockheed C141 Starlifter was retired in favor of the upgraded Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.  Starlifters were also replaced with the Boeing C-17 Globmaster-3.

Most C-141s were reportedly scrapped at AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance Regeneration Group) in Arizona.  At least they took some pics of C-141 nose art. 

Kit Bashing: WORLD’S LARGEST C-141B STARLIFTER MODEL?

Vehicle I-D: KAWASAKI C-2

C-130J: ONCE A RED COAT, NOW A BLUE ANGEL

Technology

Vehicle I-D: USMC Sno-Cats flee Slink Fire

Video

U.S. Marine Corps Sno-Cats, Mountain Warfare Training Center, California. Photo by Corporal Patrick King, 22JAN2022.

Photo by Firefighter Benjamin Paladino, 29AUG2020.

On 29AUG2020, the Slink Fire erupted near Bridgeport, California, near the U.S. Marine Corps’ Mountain Warfare Training Center.

Tucker-Terra Model 1600 Sno-Cats. U.S. Marine Corps photograph by Lance Corporal Cedar Barnes, 03SEP2020.

U.S. Marine Corps’ Tucker Terra 1600 Sno-Cats began evacuations on 03SEP2020.

USMC photograph by Lance Corporal Cedar Barnes, 03SEP2020.

The evacuation also included the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center’s mules.

USMC photograph by Lance Corporal Cedar Barnes, 03SEP2020.

USMC photograph by Lance Corporal Cedar Barnes, 03SEP2020.

The Tucker Terra-Sno-Cat is made in the U.S. state of Oregon, and can be configured in dozens of ways for both military and silly-vilian use.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Rachel Young-Porter, 12FEB2019.

This appears to be a USMC Sno-Cat 2000XL with snow plow, at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in February 2019.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Danny Gonzalez, 24FEB2017.

A 1600 with stake-bed and towing a sno-cat trailer, February 2017.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Danny Gonzalez, 25FEB2017.

This is a USMC PistenBully.

PistenBully roadwheels. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Danny Gonzalez, 25FEB2017.

USMC video, by Lance Corporal Carlos Lopez, PistenBully 25FEB2017:

Tucker Terra Sno-Cat with plow. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Danny Gonzalez, 26FEB2017.

Vehicle I-D: USMC LAST RIDE FOR 1ST, 2ND & 4TH TANK

USMC AAV7 VID-FEST

USMC CANNIBALIZES HMMWV TO UPGRADE BRAND NEW JLTV

Technology

Once a Red Coat, now a Blue Angel

Video

The retired ‘Fat Albert’ C-130T, brought out for public Pandemic moral display. (Texas Air National Guard photo by Julie Briden-Garcia, 06MAY2020.

On 06MAY2020, the retired C-130T Fat Albert was brought out to help fight CoViD-19 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas.  After 30-thousand hours of flying in support of the Blue Angels demo team, C-130T Fat Albert was retired to static display duty in 2019.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 28JUL2020.

The new C-130J Fat Albert on second functional check-flight over Cambridge, England, 28JUL2020.

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 28JUL2020.

The ‘new’ Blue Angels Fat Albert is actually an old British empire Royal Air Force C-130J, which underwent rebuild by Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group in United Kingdom.  A Forbes report says it cost U.S. taxpayers $29.7-million.  (which isn’t too bad, considering that in 2014 a new C-130J would cost between $67-million and $167-million depending on options)

Video by Marshall Aerospace, dressing the bare-metal C-130J in its new Blue Angels uniform:

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 06AUG2020.

On 06AUG2020, C-130J Fat Albert arrived on Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas.

Video, by Petty Officer Second Class Cody Hendrix, C-130J Fat Albert flying over algae bloom off the Atlantic coast of Florida, 17AUG2020:

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Cody Hendrix, 17AUG2020.

USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Cody Hendrix, 17AUG2020.

Nobody is on the beach, what is this, CoViD-19 lockdown?

Photo by AAron B. Hutchins, 1989.

This is a photo I took of a C-130T Fat Albert at the Vandenberg AFB air show in California, Spring 1989.  Notice that it is not painted blue and white.

Bare Metal: C-130 PAINT PREP, OR THE EMPEROR GETS SOME NEW CLOTHES

 

C-130T, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, 04MAR2014.  Photo by Staff Sergeant Oscar L Olive the Fourth.

C-130T promotional video by Staff Sergeant Oscar L Olive the Fourth:

International

CoViD-19 can’t stop growing global tsunami of migrants! Where the hell are they coming from?

Video

Incomplete (tip-o-the iceberg) list of main-stream-news links about global immigrant/border operations from August 2020 to the beginning of September 2020.

Leftist news sources want metro areas to become “true havens for climate migrants” advising How cities can prepare to support climate migrants.

Revealed; more than 200-thousand unaccompanied child migrants left to uncertain fates in Europe.

 

Five years later hundreds of migrants still dying in the Mediterranean.

Five years on from boy’s tragic death, “refugee and migrant children worse off”.

Migrants rejected by European Union and deported to Tunisia are now fleeing to Libya.

“47% of surveyed refugees and migrants cited increased difficulty crossing borders as an impact of the coronavirus crisis…”

AUSTRALIA:  So desperate for skilled slave-wage workers that The Land Down Under is going to wave CoViD-19 restrictions for them

Revealed; real estate values were being propped-up by influx of migrants

State of Tasmania desperate for slave-wage migrant construction workers, blames CoViD-19

BANGLADESH: 80 Bangladeshis were arrested after they claimed they were tricked out of $4-thousand each, and into migrating to Vietnam for jobs that didn’t exist.  Apparently there is a Bangladeshi law that says you can’t embarrass the country by doing things like protesting over unemployment in other countries.  

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: ‘No Man’s Land’: Migrants, Refugees Stranded at a Bosnian Roadside

FRANCE: Council backs migrants who pitched tents in central Paris

GERMANY:  Leftist news media claims Five years after migrant crisis, integration is succeeding

GREECE: First case of CoViD-19 confirmed in migrant camp (you’d think by now there be hundreds, if not thousands, of infections)

 More than 10-thousand migrants blocked

Greece Is Dropping Migrants into the Sea — And Europe Is Turning a Blind Eye

INDIA: Government food program to feed slave-wage migrant workers slashed to starvation rations

Politicians prefer to help local people, not migrants..

ITALY: Troubles brew on Lampedusa as island bears brunt of migrant arrivals

Migrant with coronavirus gives birth in helicopter.

 

Italy gives Sea-Watch-4 permission to bring 353 rescued migrants to Sicily

KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA: African migrants locked up in  coronavirus centers

KOSOVO:  U.S. Army National Guard units from Oregon and Texas are in Kosovo and, among other things like CoViD-19 response, are conducting joint border patrols with the Kosovo Border Police, in the municipality of Kamenicë (Kamenica). Photo by Captain Nadine Wiley De Moura.

LEBANON: ‘They Called Me ‘Slave’: Beirut Blast Exposes Migrant Workers’ Plight

MALDIVES:  Covid-19 Exposes Abuse of Migrants

MALTA: Illegals on tanker ship running out of food, threaten to jump

Prime Minister to spend 1-million Euros per month to detain illegals on cruise ship

PANAMA: 22-thousand illegals from around the world captured crossing the Panama-Colombia border in 2019

SINGAPORE: Migrants get help from new CoViD-19 phone application

SPAIN: Migrants trying to reach Europe pushed to deadly Atlantic

More Than 200 Migrants Stuck in Gran Canaria Dockside Camp.

 

UNITED KINGDOM: Exhausted migrants wade to shore and collapse on beach – as 409 make journey across Channel too shatter new daily record

1,500 migrants cross Channel in a month.

 

UNITED STATES: The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs is awarding a $250-thousand Technical Assistance Program grant to help domestic migrants (aka Compact Migrants) within the U.S. Pacific territories

ICE captures 2-thousand illegals over a five weeks period

As U.S. expels migrants, they return, again and again.

 

Leftist New York Times claims After a Lull, the Number of Migrants Trying to Enter the U.S. Has Soared

Taxpayer funded security contractor housing immigrant children in hotels

Near Naco, Arizona, a new section of wall (San Pedro River Project) has been started under Section 284 of Title 10, U.S. Code:

On the top of the Tinajas Atlas Mountains, in Arizona, a new ‘border road’ was started on 05AUG2020.  Photo by George F. Jozens, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Photo by Jerry Glaser, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

From California to Texas, 3-hundred miles (483 kilometers) of new border wall sections were completed:

The U.S. Coast Guard reports capturing 16 illegals from Bahamas near the Hanover Inlet of Florida, 12AUG2020. One human trafficker (smuggler) was detained.  The illegals were returned to Bahamas.  Photo by Petty Officer Third Class Brandon Murray.

Near the coast of Marathon, Florida, the U.S. Coast Guard captured 20 illegals from Cuba, 19AUG2020.  The U.S. Coast Guard reports a huge drop in illegals coming from Cuba; so far this fiscal year only 140 have been captured, compared to the 482 in fiscal 2019.

Idaho PBS reveals refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo are now one of the main groups arriving in Idaho.

In the state of Michigan, National Guard personnel are being used to test migrant farm workers for CoViD-19.  This is the result of the state Department of Health and Human Services issuing an emergency order at the beginning of August, requiring that all agricultural and food processing workers who are living in migrant housing camps must be tested for CoViD-19 within 48 hours of entering the state.  The program is taxpayer funded and involves the Michigan National Guard because apparently a lot of Guard personnel speak Spanish: “We do have a large migrant population as well in our community, because of our influx of migrant workers during the summer and fall months. So having somebody who does speak Spanish is important because it gives them access too.”-Heather Alberda, Ottawa County Department of Public Health

On 07AUG2020, the U.S. Coast Guard captured this boat with 16 illegals from Dominican Republic, near Puerto Rico. The illegals were sent back to their home country.

16AUG2020, the U.S. Coast Guard claims this boat was packed with 52 illegals from Dominican Republic, heading to Puerto Rico.  On 17AUG2020 the illegals were handed over to the Armada de Republica Dominicana.

Over 100 stash houses that kept migrants in ‘deplorable’ conditions dismantled in Texas.

 

Texas Army National Guard assist with operations at border checkpoints, 14AUG2020.  Photo by Staff Sergeant DeJon Williams.

Texas Army National Guard performs maintenance on U.S. Border Patrol vehicles.

14AUG2020, pilots at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, conducted a CoViD-19 flight carrying flags to honor the members of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection killed by CoViD-19. Photo by Senior Airman Anne McCready.

VENEZUELA: 100-thousand would be illegal immigrants halted by CoViD-19

OPERATION COVID-19: BORDER GUARDS

OPERATION COVID-19: TITLE 42 USC 265, THE RAPTURE DISAPPEARS BORDER CROSSERS?

IMMIGRANT INVASION U.S.A., 09-15 FEBRUARY 2020: BORDER COPS REPORT RECORD NUMBER OF…FLOWERS?

OPERATION JUPITER: MEASLES PANDEMIC SPREAD BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

U.S. GOVERNMENT SHENANIGANS, SEPTEMBER 2018:TAXES, BAD COPS & CRIMINAL MIGRANTS ON THE RISE!

U.S.

Last ride for 1st, 2nd & 4th Tank

Video

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Andrew Cortez, Camp Pendleton, California, 18JUL2020.

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Justin Evans, 28JUL2020.

USMC photo by Lance Corporal Justin Evans, 28JUL2020.

In July 2020, the United States Marines Corps (USMC) began retiring its M1A1 Abrams tanks and M88A2 Hercules recovery tanks, as part of a so called modernization plan called Force Design 2030.

The last M1 Abrams assigned to 1st Tank Battalion depart Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, 06JUL2020. Photo via USMC.

The units affected are California based 1st Tank Battalion (1st Tanks) of the 1st Marine Division (my grandfather’s Alma Matter) and 4th Tank Battalion (4th Tanks) 4th Marine Division, as well as North Carolina based 2nd Tank Battalion (Iron Horse) of the 2nd Marine Division.

2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division M1 Abrams are pushed out the gate from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 27JUL2020. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Patrick King.

Last ride into retirement. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Patrick King, 27JUL2020.

The 2nd Tank Battalion was an armor unit for almost 80 years, but apparently that ends under Force Design 2030.

1st Tank Battalion was created in 1941, originally in North Carolina but quickly made a new home in Twentynine Palms, California.  After 79 years the 1st Tanks is no more:

From my grandfather’s files, 1st Marine Division unit citations for actions in World War Two and Korea (click on each to make bigger):

Alpha Company, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, Camp Pendleton, California, said good bye to its armored vehicles on 18JUL2020.  Alpha Company is the first of the six companies of 4th Tanks to deactivate.  4th Tanks was created in 1943, during World War Two:

A Caterpillar 988 tractor moves a ‘divested’ M1A1 Abrams Tank into position for loading and shipping via rail to Anniston Army Depot. USMC photo by Laurie Pearson.

In August 2020, tracked armored vehicles located on the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow (after being a TC on Sherman tanks during the war in the Pacific my grandfather worked at the Yermo Annex), California, were loaded on rail cars and shipped-off to the U.S. Army.

01OCT2020, these tanks are being used for rail operations training, on the Yermo Annex, Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California. USMC photo by Laurie Pearson.

All the Marine Corps’ tank units are expected to be deactivated by the end of 2021.  The vehicles could be ‘sold’ to the U.S. Army, or to foreign militaries.

Don’t blame Trump, Force Design 2030 is part of the Obama era plan referred to as Pivot to Asia:  2013, New York Times reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was pursuing a “pivot” against China.

According to U.S. Naval War College “Starting in 2010, the U.S. and Vietnam accelerated this process effectively forming a partnership on several fronts. The Obama administration identified Vietnam as one of the new partners to cultivate as part of its ‘rebalancing’ of U.S. priorities toward the Asia-Pacific region, a move commonly referred to as the U.S.’s ‘pivot’ to the Pacific.” 

Vehicle I-D: U.S. MARINES USE ‘FAKE NEWS’ MIG-23

WHAT DO THE MARINES DO WITH ALL THAT AMMO THEY CAN’T USE?

M1A1 ‘DAY AT THE RANGE’ WITH THE USMC, 2016

Dorian: HOW TO EVACUATE THOUSANDS OF U.S. MARINES

Harvey: MARINES USE AMPHIBIOUS COMBAT TANKS TO SAVE LIVES!