In case you’re wondering why I reviewing a book with a USAF F-111 profile on the cover in a Naval Aviation blog:   1. I’ve spent almost three decades, with limited success, trying to establish that its USN counterpart, the F-111B was not a failure so anything about the program is of interest to me. I am pleased in that regard that while the author’s summary of the Navy variant’s failure to enter service is brief, it is respectful. 2. The content includes a description of the participation of carrier-based US Navy aircraft, which played a significant role in Operation Eldorado Cany ..read more

  Navy pilots landed the early jets on carriers as they always had, with the canopy open. It facilitated rapid egress from the cockpit if they had to ditch. If the engine quit, below about 1,000 feet, ejection was not an option to ditching. The early ejection seats were primarily bailout assists, necessary at the higher speeds that the jets were capable of compared to piston-engine powered fighters. However, on axial deck carriers a last-ditch barricade was added for jet landings because the Davis barrier—that was intended to stop them if they failed to be arrested by the customary mean ..read more

  An excellent monograph by an actual historian who does his research in archives (not on line or using books by authors who rely on Wikipedia), high-resolution scans on high-quality paper, knowledgeable and informative captions, previously unpublished close-up full-page photos, color illustrations of paint schemes and markings, what's not to like? A couple of nits: On page 13, the venturi has nothing to do with airspeed; it was there to provide suction of air through the gyros for the blind-flying instruments initially fitted. On page 135, the pilot must not have leaned his engine to ru ..read more

There aren't too many meticulously researched, in-depth books about U.S. Navy airplanes that served before World War II. Dana Bell's Painting the Fleet is one. Steve Ginter has published some in his Naval Fighters Series, including Richard Dann's excellent monograph on the Grumman F2F/F3F,  reviewed by Barrett Tillman on Amazon:  Steve Ginter's "Naval Fighters" series has long been one of the industry standards, maintaining a consistently high quality of research, writing, and illustrations. That's certainly true of Richard Dann's latest contribution, detailing Grumman's prewar bipl ..read more

 Every once in a while on the internet, with respect to U.S. Navy swept-wing fighters before the introduction of the F8U Crusader and the F4H Phantom II, I read something like "X did not have a very long service career" or plaudits for one that was more of an also-ran, if not an outright disappointment. When I wrote U.S Naval Air Superiority once upon a time, I created an illustration of deployments by year by type for the Navy's first swept-wing fighters and the F2H-3/4 Banshee. A deployment was defined as an extended one, i.e. at least six months. One to two-month shakedown cruises we ..read more

 I had intended to post this here but inadvertently created it in my modeling blog. See http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2022/12/a-brief-history-of-usn-helicopter.html  One comment there so far from Richard "RJ" Tucker: Wow! Does this article take me back. I was on the USS Nashville (LPD-13) in 1982 when we deployed on a mine countermeasures deployment with four RH-53Ds from HM-14, two mine-sweeping boats in the well, and an EOD det. We were with the USS Leader and USS Illusive MSOs (Mine Sweeper Ocean). Lots of NATO mine counter measures exercises in the North Atlantic and Med ..read more

Every once in a while, someone posts a picture of a barricade engagement on an angle-deck carrier and refers to it as the barrier. Sometimes I comment that it is properly known as the barricade, not barrier, and the poster or someone else is offended at being incorrectly corrected. For all I know, the big net, I'll call it, is now officially known as the barrier; certainly many refer to it as that. However, once upon a time, before angled decks, it was important to differentiate the barricade from the barriers, which are no longer needed on angled-deck carriers. This is an illustration of the ..read more

 In November 1944, the recently commissioned Shangri-La was used to conduct carrier evaluations of three aircraft, a Grumman F7F-1 Tigercat, North American a P-51 Mustang, and a North American PBJ-1H Mitchell. Click here for one report on the trials of the F7F and PBJ: http://steeljawscribe.com/2007/10/05/flightdeck-friday-more-oddities. Click here for my post on the Navy's involvement with the P-51: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/06/seahorse.html The otherwise stock PBJ-1H was modified to have a tail hook, catapult provisions, and main landing gear struts that could be swivel ..read more

  This is a long needed update of Naval Fighters 13 by the same author published in 1984. "Greatly expanded" doesn't do it justice. Forget page count or number of illustrations: this soft-cover monograph printed on high-quality paper weighs a little over two pounds! If you didn't know already, it clearly demonstrates that Nick is the most knowledgeable F4D subject-matter expert. He covers the lengthy and somewhat troubled development of the F4D in detail, both words and pictures. For example, much of the the account of its nearly disastrous first flight was new to me as were the difficul ..read more

 The U.S. Navy's A3D Skywarrior and USAF B-66 Destroyer are very similar airplanes from the same manufacturer, Douglas, initially with very similar missions, medium range bomber. They look very much the same to the casual observer in a dim light. Some of the differences were necessary but not obvious: the carrier-based Skywarrior had to have folding wings, an arresting hook, and catapult hooks for starters. In fact, however, it's far easier to list what didn't change between the A3D and the B-66. For all practical purposes, you could say that the B-66 had the same basic overall shape as t ..read more