For the second time a FEMA disaster event hit Guam. During the last half of November 2019, Hawaii National Guard’s 93rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team deployed to assist Guam’s National Guard in responding to a Mass Destruction event.
In this video, emergency responders inspect a school hit by WMD, dramatic medivac of responder who got contaminated during inspection:
Guam is part of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Region 9, according to reports the U.S. island territory was hit by both a typhoon and a WMD terrorist attack! Emergency responders from California, New Mexico, Alaska, and Utah also provided assistance.
Fortunately this was part of what is now standard FEMA training for National Guard units across all the FEMA Regions, called Vigilant Guard.
Official video report, Vigilant Guard 2020:
Silly-vilians should be concerned, every year since the creation of Vigilant Guard the scenarios have gotten more elaborate because the U.S. Department of Defense, and FEMA, are expecting something really big to happen.
The above World War Two photo is considered to depict the third In The Mood, a M4A1 76(w). Note that the gun tube has no muzzle break. The current restored In The Mood does. Apparently all three In The Moods had extremely short lives. There’s more info about the confusion over the various In The Mood M4s @ SSgt Lafayete Pool-“In The Mood”.
It took about 5-hundred hours and five volunteers, working from July to August 2019, to restore the current In The Mood.
Video of painting and decaling of restored In The Mood. Note the use of the M60 AVLB to tow the Sherman out of the hanger. In the interview the volunteer refers to the engine as a “star engine”, another term for radial engine. The volunteer mistakenly says the gun tube is 107.62mm, it’s actually 76.2mm (commonly stated as 76mm, known as 76w).
To see video of the moving of In The Mood from Belgium to Grafenwoehr, Germany, for its restoration, check out Vehicle I-D: M4 Sherman.
American Forces Network music video of restored In The Mood:
At the beginning of November 2019, the Illinois State Military Museum held its Great War Encampment event and two 1917 Ford Model Ts showed up.
The Ford Model T gun truck is owned by John Krug, he also brought his 1917 Model T Ambulance.
In May 2018, Oregon’s Military Museum held its 22nd Annual Living History Day and retired Reservist Jack Gieson drove down from neighboring Washington in his 1917 Model T ambulance.
https://youtu.be/2rBzyseQ-54
A standardized class B truck, or ‘Liberty Truck’, also made the Living History Day show.
According to the folks at the AMedD (Army Medical Department) Museum at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, during World War One the U.S. Army also bought two 1917 White Motor Company ambulances. While they look similar to the Model Ts, they were smaller than the Ford ambulance. In 1917 they cost about $1,650 each.
I so far haven’t found any information as to why the White ambulance has a GMC radiator. U.S. Army orders for White logistical vehicles, during World War One, made White the top producer of trucks in the United States, which was a burden since the company was new to truck building. Immediately prior to WW-1 the White Motor Company began shifting from car production to truck production, but was only able to make the truck chassis, they had to contract with Riddle Coach and Hearse Company to make the bodies of the trucks. It’s possible White was also outsourcing for powertrain parts.
Ohio Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Alexis Wade, 31JUL2019.
July 2019, Ohio National Guard C-130H2 gets new tail markings.
Video from 2018, Dobbins Air Reserve, Georgia, explains how they picked the nose art for their C-130s:
Wyoming National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Jimmy McGuire, 16NOV2017.
In November 2017, after Hurricane Maria laid waste to Puerto Rico’s Air National Guard base their C-130Es were sent to Wyoming to get some depot maintenance. Yes, using a roller brush to apply primer paint.
Missouri Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Audrey Chappell, 12JUN2018.
June 2018, this C-130H is fresh from the paint shop, with its Cold War era camo, heading to its new home as permanent ‘gate-guard’ for Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, Missouri.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Dana J. Cable, 26OCT2017.
October 2017, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, a vinyl decal is readied for use as the new tail flash for the 314th Airlift Wing’s C-130Js.
USAF photo by Greg L. Davis, 09FEB2017.
United States Marine Corps KC-130T sits at Oklahoma City (Tinker) Air Logistics Complex, waiting for new clothes, February 2017.
Oklahoma City Air Logistics video explainer:
USAF photo by Tommie Horton, 27JUL2015.
Masking the windows of a C-130 for painting, July 2015, at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Georgia.
Warner Robins video explainer:
McChord Air Museum photo, 25NOV2014.
November 2014, McChord Air Museum, Washington, primer paints C-130 for static display.
McChord Air Museum photo, 10DEC2014.
McChord Air Museum photo, 08JAN2015.
It took two months but finally, in January 2015, McChord Air Museum’s Vietnam era C-130 is almost ready for display.
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Miranda A. Loera, 28OCT2019.
On 28OCT2019 the 64th Aggressor Squadron (Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada) revealed their new ‘Wraith’ paint-job for the F-16.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.
The paint scheme resembles the late World War Two/Korean conflict U.S. night fighter paint-job; black with red markings. However, in WW-2/Korea the black was glossy as U.S. Army Air Force studies revealed that amazingly glossy black actually was harder to see from the ground with search lights, than a flat/matte (‘nonspecular’ as it was called back then) black. The new F-16 Wraith uses flat black.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Bryan Guthrie, 16NOV2019.
OV means Operational View, and OV-1 sounds like Obi-Wan. The OV-1 entered production in October 1959 and served in United States, Europe, Korea, Israel, VietNam, Central and South America, and during Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the Middle East. The Mohawk retired from U.S. service in September 1996. At least 133 OV-1Cs were built (sources vary, as many as 169?), the C designating the model which used an IR (InfaRed) imaging system in the nose.
Oregon National Guard’s Project 926, move the old tail number 926 OV-1C Mohawk ‘gate guard’ to a better location.
23OCT2019 was the culmination of three years of volunteer work by Oregon National Guard retirees who worked and flew the OV-1 Mohawk from 1972 to 1992. Almost all of that three years was spent restoring the gate guard.
The new home of the 926 Mohawk is at Deibert Flight Facility, Army Aviation Support Facility.
The official dedication ceremony was held 02NOV2019.
Video of relocation operations called Project 926:
See more about Oregon National Guard’s long use of the Mohawk here (OV-1 Mohawks in Oregon).
The 02NOV2019 dedication for the new home of 926 came one day after a pilot was killed flying a Mohawk, while preparing for an air show in Florida.
Somebody needs to make a decal sheet of the Flying Monument.
In the early 1980s, NASA created an automated stall-speed warning system for OV-1Cs.
From February 1983, a NASA-U.S. Army operated Grumman OV-1C over Edwards AFB.
U.S. Army-NASA OV-1C Mohawk, automated stall warning system tests @ Edwards AFB, July 1983.
Hasegawa’s now ancient 1:72 scale OV-1B (also issued by Frog in the early 1970s) can be easily modified to a C version by scratch-building the IR glass in the nose.
Roden’s 1:48 scale D boxing depicts the IR nosed Mohawk. The D Mohawk is simply a consolidation of all the best upgrades from previous versions. Oddly, Roden’s C boxing does not depict the IR nose, and the instructions even tell you not to use the IR nose part (which is included on the clear sprue of every Roden Mohawk kit).
Roden’s C version also does not come with the SLAR, but you still need to get it because it comes with fuselage mounted flare dispensers and ‘classified’ electronic recon under-wing pods.
‘Aftermarket’ companies produce a variety of detailing/correction sets for the Hasegawa and Roden kits: Eduard, Cobra Company and Black Dog.
NASA-Armstrong DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory sits on the east ramp of the 124th Fighter Wing, Boise, Idaho, 23JUL2019. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras.
NASA’s aged and heavily modified DC-8 airliner is conducting air monitoring missions in relation to the growing wildfire danger in the western U.S.
Idaho National Guard A-10Cs in the foreground, NASA’s DC-8 FIREX-AQ takes off from Gowen Field (Boise Airport), 30JUL2019.
President Donald Trump is portrayed by the ‘main-stream’ news media as being anti-climate, yet since he became President of the United States NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) has seemingly increased its studies of the effects of pollution and wildfires (including prescribed burns and agricultural fires) on the atmosphere.
On 23JUL2019, NASA held an explainer day for Idaho news media, and as you can tell not many showed up. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras.
Looking like chaff/flare dispensers these are actually Airborne-Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) antenna. NASA photo 26MAR1998.
NASA says their DC-8 flys at 42-thousand feet (12-thousand-801 meters or 12.80 kilometers) for as long as 12 hours, collecting air samples with the many antennae protruding from the fuselage.
FIREX-AQ sensors. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 23JUL2019.
More sensors, Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Joshua C. Allmaras, 23JUL2019.
In 2016, the NASA DC-8 was in Korea conducting high-altitude monitoring of air quality, from Osan Air Base. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Travis Edwards, 27APR2016.
Video explainer of NASA’s DC-8 mission over Korea:
NASA pilot suits-up for an ER-2 AVIRIS-NG mission high over Hawaii, February 2018. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Luke Kuennen.
Six decades after California set the first global standards for industrial anti-air-pollution laws the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has proven those (and subsequent) laws to be laughable.
NASA ER-2 preps for a mission from Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, February 2018. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Luke Kuennen.
NASA used it’s modified U-2R/TR-1A, called the ER-2 (Earth Resources-2), to inspect industrial air pollution, scanning the ground from near-space (65-thousand feet/19-thousand-812 meters): “Before the pilots even take off, we put them on 100% oxygen for an hour to get all of the nitrogen out of their systems. It’s similar to what scuba divers can face. If they have nitrogen in their system, they can end up getting what they call the bends, and it’ll be a really bad day for that pilot.”-Wason Miles, ER-2 life support crew, from 2018 interview concerning the HyspIRI preparatory airborne mission over Hawaii
Liquid nitrogen is used to cool the ER-2’s hyperspectral thermal emission spectrometer. USMC photo by Lance Corporal Luke Kuennen.
The two years long NASA-California methane mission resulted in the AVIRIS-NG ( Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation) system, onboard the ER-2, discovering dozens of what NASA calls methane “super-emitters”(published 06NOV2019) across the Los Angeles area. This why I say California’s progressively ‘tougher’ anti-pollution laws failed. I lived in California when those anti-pollution laws began driving out many industries causing the loss of thousands of jobs just in the Los Angeles area, in the 1970s-80s. The exalted lawmakers of The Golden State then started playing games with their own anti-pollution laws, trying to woo back major employers. NASA’s California methane mission revealed that the industrial sector of the Los Angeles area is still pumping out clouds of pollution, even with stricter air quality laws and fewer industrial operations.
NASA photo by Jim Ross, 13JUL2006.
Boring 2018 lecture type NASA explainer video about how AVIRIS detects and maps methane emissions:
NASA photo by Lori Losey, August 2001.
2017 NASA video explainer of their climate-spy-plane AVIRIS system:
ER-2 tail#706, over Edwards AFB, California, 04NOV1997. NASA photo by Carla Thomas.
In the 1990s, NASA had three ER-2s, but now has two. The other ER-2 was returned to the U.S. Air Force.
ER-2 tail#709. NASA photo by Tony Landis, 18FEB1998.
Lockheed ER-2 tail#809 cockpit. NASA photo by Tony Landis, 11DEC1999.
ER-2 #809 receives fuel outside Arena Artica hangar in Kiruna, Sweden. SAGE-3 Ozone Loss & Validation Experiment (SOLVE), January 2000. NASA photo by Jim Ross.
ER-2 #809 in Kiruna, Sweden for SAGE-3 Ozone Loss & Validation Experiment (SOLVE), January 2000. NASA photo by Jim Ross.
The ER-2, which has been in use for decades, can be equipped with a variety of sensors.
Large Area Collector sensor for a cosmic dust collection. NASA photo by Tom Tschida, 24APR2009.
ER-2 under-wing mounted cosmic dust collector pod. NASA photo by Tom Tschida, 24APR2009.
ER-2 Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) mission over Costa Rica, 06JUL2005. NASA photo by Bill Ingalls.
May 2010 pic of NASA’s ER-2 overflying the British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill. NASA photo by Regan Geeseman.