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And some cockpit views of a lot of AF stuff: Cockpit360
Wriight-Patterson AF Museum is totally worthwhile. You have to see a B-70 Valkyrie in person to understand the complete and total AWESOME INCARNATE this plane represents. Second only, maybe, to the SR-71 Blackbird. Stand underneath it, behind the six (6!) engines filling the tail, and you are immediately transported into the opening sequence of Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope.
B-70 is possibly my favorite aircraft of all time. Other contenders are the SR-71 and the B1. This is the list of pure awesome -- from the WWII piston era the 190D9, the P51D, the P47D, the P38L, the P61 Black Widow, the F8F bearcat all make strong arguments for their own awesomeness.
If in DC area, you want to go to the A&S at Dulles. Where the Enola Gay is.
Yeah, I learned this after the fact. I was working in Georgetown, had no car, and decided to spend a Sunday doing tourist stuff at the National Mall.
Originally Posted by bahurd
Bockscar is at Dayton.
I have touched that airplane.
It's pretty ******* cool to just be able to walk right up to one of only two aircraft ever to deploy a nuclear weapon in time of war, and lay your hand on it.
It's pretty ******* cool to just be able to walk right up to one of only two aircraft ever to deploy a nuclear weapon in time of war, and lay your hand on it.
It's just goddamn freaky.
Can you imagine being a Japanese tourist and coming upon that plane? I had a conversation with one of the tour guides there last year and he mentioned it. I guess there's a lot of foreign tourists that make the visit.
Can you imagine being a Japanese tourist and coming upon that plane? I had a conversation with one of the tour guides there last year and he mentioned it. I guess there's a lot of foreign tourists that make the visit.
Yeah. I've been to Hawaii frequently the last few years, as my brother-in-law has been stationed there. Specifically I've spent a lot of time on Ford Island, which is in Pearl Harbor. Assuming you've watched the videos of the Arizona getting bombed and blowing up to hell and back, the Arizona along with almost all of the other battleships were moored at Ford Island. When you see PBY Catalinas getting blown up on the ground, that's Ford Island too. Anyway, to visit the Arizona Memorial, or the Pacific Air War museum, those are on Ford Island. So I saw a lot of Japanese tourists visiting these locations. It would have been interesting to listen to the tour guides, but of course it was in Japanese.
Not sure how it would compare to a Japanese tourist seeing Bockscar or the Enola Gay, but I've been to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I'm a pretty insensitive bastard, but those places were truly awe inspiring. It's when I was stationed on Okinawa, and they have an amazing park (Peace Memorial Park) with the names of everyone who died in the invasion there. Both Japanese and American names.
Before going to any of these places I was under the impression the message would be "peace at any cost," but that wasn't the case. It was more of "here is the reality of war."
Ground Zero Nagasaki:
Last edited by czubaka; 02-18-2017 at 12:14 AM.
Reason: Added pic to avoid ban
That special moment when you are officially the very first passenger in a brand-new commercial elevator. Simply because you happened to stop at Home Depot at precisely the right moment.
Probably belongs in the Wuss thread. I mean really, taking a selfie with a big smile flashing the peace sign with a picture of an atomic cloud with Nagasaki under it! Who do you send it too, your mom who lost a few relatives in the war? Hey mom, wish you were here... too bad about uncle Hiro though.
I'm putting my engine back together, and there was a ring gap issue.
So I put this thing together...
I need some assistance in the vision department....
I checked the top rings half a dozen times, they barely had a 0.28 mm gap.
I needed .042 minimum.
So, I ground them all to 0.43 mm. Pretty satisfied with the results.
Other rings checked out just fine, btw.
(And, do ignore my earlier ring question. Low blood sugar and all.)
I checked the top rings half a dozen times, they barely had a 0.28 mm gap.
I needed .042 minimum.
So, I ground them all to 0.43 mm. Pretty satisfied with the results.
So your rings had 6.66x the minimum gap and you weren't happy with that, so you increased them to 10.24x the minimum gap?