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Scream of Eagles – Happy Birthday TOPGUN (1)
As the first of two parts recognizing 50 years of training fighter pilots/instructors the below is a modified version of the article written for TOPGUN’s 40th anniversary and serves as introduction for a book review of TOPGUN; An American Story by Captain Dan Pederson USN, Retired, the founder and first Officer -In -Charge. Fifty years ago, the first Fighter Weapons School -TOPGUN – class was in their second week of“graduate level” fighter pilot education and training in an old trailer next to the VF-121 hangar at Naval Air Station Miramar. (3 March 1969 start date) They were there because eagles screamed. [...]
FIGHT FIGHT – Book Recommendation
Highest recommendation for Kevin Miller’s (CAPT. USN, Ret) newest novel Fight Fight. I was going to do a normal “book review”/recommendation but decided to just leverage my comments to Kevin along with his response instead. I had done a recommendation on his first book Raven One in a somewhat normal/accepted manner, but this book has some deeper levels for me than just good naval aviation fiction so wanted to add some emphasis. Some bit ago the novel Ghost Fleet on a future war scenario was highly regarded. The books are similar in some ways, but Kevin’s book strikes home (for me [...]
Remembered Sky: A Naval Aviator Lies in State
You Only Live Twice “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonians, thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I’ve tried to serve our country honorably…” John Sidney McCain III A Naval Aviator lies in state today – since 1852 only 30 people have done so before him. Yet social media continues to extrapolate their dislike and even hatred backwards to his military career, no matter the truth of those times – found in [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 11 – Guadalcanal – Interlude
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 11 Between the lines The haste in putting Operation Watchtower together would prove problematic on many levels not the least of which was that this tasking was completely new – none of the commanders knew how to put it all together, from logistics, to air support of ground forces with long term land, sea, and air opposition, to night battles at sea. Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer The original intent of the Year of the Carrier series was to post discussions on the anniversaries of the major events – Doolittle/Hornet raid [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 10 – Guadalcanal Campaign Major Events Overview
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 10 Watchtower Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army. —Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, IJA Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade at Guadalcanal As noted in Part #9, unlike Midway which was almost entirely a carrier vs. carrier battle, the fight to gain and hold Guadalcanal was a land, sea, land-based air, and sea-based air six month give and take. Each element was dependent on the other and the equality of the Japanese and American carrier airpower played a major part [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 9 – Guadalcanal
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 9 On Land, on Sea, in the Air – Introduction 9 February, 1943 Major General Alexander Patch, USA, Commander, Guadalcanal to Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr., USN, Commander, South Pacific Area, TOTAL AND COMPLETE DEFEAT OF JAPANESE FORCES ON GUADALCANAL EFFECTED 1625 TODAY… AM HAPPY TO REPORT THIS KIND OF COMPLIANCE WITH YOUR ORDERS … ‘ TOKYO EXPRESS ’ NO LONGER HAS TERMINUS ON GUADALCANAL . Under extreme secrecy, on the nights of 1, 4, and 7 February 1943, the Japanese had completely fooled the ground and sea commanders, pilots, ships and PT boats of the [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 8 – Midway Trilogy Epilogue
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 8 Decisive victory? Depends on how you look … a fundamental transformation in naval power had just taken place. Carriers usurped the prime strategic role of battleships in that their principal opponents were their enemy counterparts, and they should only to be committed to battle in the proper circumstances .. Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal , Lundstrom, John B.. Today, seventy six years after the battle, Midway still has its paradoxes and conundrums; […]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 7 – Midway Trilogy (3 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 7 “what did Midway really mean?” “An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks almost everything that seems to denote nobility, yet deep nobility is there. A carrier has no poise. It has no grace. It is top-heavy and lop-sided. It has the lines of a cow. It doesn’t cut through the water like a cruiser, knifing romantically along… It just plows… Yet a carrier is a ferocious thing, and out of its heritage of action has grown nobility. I believe that every Navy in the world has it as its No. 1 priority [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 6 – Midway Trilogy (2 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 6 Into the Shredder The Battle of Coral Sea had provided the first hints that the Japanese high-water mark had been reached, but it was the Battle of Midway that put up the sign for all to see. Midway also marked the gateway to the attritional war that would be fought in the Solomons, a campaign that would irreparably ruin the Japanese Navy by destroying its elite naval aviation cadres and wrecking its surface forces beyond redemption. Midway didn’t produce these consequences by itself, but it created the circumstances whereby the Japanese Navy would be [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 5 – Midway Trilogy (1 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 5 The Battle of Midway Paradox and Redemption: 4 to 7 June 1942 Among the many gems is a reminder to all who study mankind’s self-inflicted cataclysm: “Yet the overwhelming reality during the war…is that nobody knew how it would go.” Winds of War/War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk Before the battle was joined there was no way the Japanese could have lost it…once it began, there was no way they could have won it. The Barrier and the Javelin, H.P. Willmott The Battle of Midway occurred six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of [...]
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Scream of Eagles – Happy Birthday TOPGUN (1)
As the first of two parts recognizing 50 years of training fighter pilots/instructors the below is a modified version of the article written for TOPGUN’s 40th anniversary and serves as introduction for a book review of TOPGUN; An American Story by Captain Dan Pederson USN, Retired, the founder and first Officer -In -Charge. Fifty years ago, the first Fighter Weapons School -TOPGUN – class was in their second week of“graduate level” fighter pilot education and training in an old trailer next to the VF-121 hangar at Naval Air Station Miramar. (3 March 1969 start date) They were there because eagles screamed. [...]
FIGHT FIGHT – Book Recommendation
Highest recommendation for Kevin Miller’s (CAPT. USN, Ret) newest novel Fight Fight. I was going to do a normal “book review”/recommendation but decided to just leverage my comments to Kevin along with his response instead. I had done a recommendation on his first book Raven One in a somewhat normal/accepted manner, but this book has some deeper levels for me than just good naval aviation fiction so wanted to add some emphasis. Some bit ago the novel Ghost Fleet on a future war scenario was highly regarded. The books are similar in some ways, but Kevin’s book strikes home (for me [...]
Remembered Sky: A Naval Aviator Lies in State
You Only Live Twice “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonians, thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I’ve tried to serve our country honorably…” John Sidney McCain III A Naval Aviator lies in state today – since 1852 only 30 people have done so before him. Yet social media continues to extrapolate their dislike and even hatred backwards to his military career, no matter the truth of those times – found in [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 11 – Guadalcanal – Interlude
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 11 Between the lines The haste in putting Operation Watchtower together would prove problematic on many levels not the least of which was that this tasking was completely new – none of the commanders knew how to put it all together, from logistics, to air support of ground forces with long term land, sea, and air opposition, to night battles at sea. Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer The original intent of the Year of the Carrier series was to post discussions on the anniversaries of the major events – Doolittle/Hornet raid [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 10 – Guadalcanal Campaign Major Events Overview
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 10 Watchtower Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army. —Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, IJA Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade at Guadalcanal As noted in Part #9, unlike Midway which was almost entirely a carrier vs. carrier battle, the fight to gain and hold Guadalcanal was a land, sea, land-based air, and sea-based air six month give and take. Each element was dependent on the other and the equality of the Japanese and American carrier airpower played a major part [...]
1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 9 – Guadalcanal
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 9 On Land, on Sea, in the Air – Introduction 9 February, 1943 Major General Alexander Patch, USA, Commander, Guadalcanal to Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr., USN, Commander, South Pacific Area, TOTAL AND COMPLETE DEFEAT OF JAPANESE FORCES ON GUADALCANAL EFFECTED 1625 TODAY… AM HAPPY TO REPORT THIS KIND OF COMPLIANCE WITH YOUR ORDERS … ‘ TOKYO EXPRESS ’ NO LONGER HAS TERMINUS ON GUADALCANAL . Under extreme secrecy, on the nights of 1, 4, and 7 February 1943, the Japanese had completely fooled the ground and sea commanders, pilots, ships and PT boats of the [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 8 – Midway Trilogy Epilogue
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 8 Decisive victory? Depends on how you look … a fundamental transformation in naval power had just taken place. Carriers usurped the prime strategic role of battleships in that their principal opponents were their enemy counterparts, and they should only to be committed to battle in the proper circumstances .. Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal , Lundstrom, John B.. Today, seventy six years after the battle, Midway still has its paradoxes and conundrums; […]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 7 – Midway Trilogy (3 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 7 “what did Midway really mean?” “An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks almost everything that seems to denote nobility, yet deep nobility is there. A carrier has no poise. It has no grace. It is top-heavy and lop-sided. It has the lines of a cow. It doesn’t cut through the water like a cruiser, knifing romantically along… It just plows… Yet a carrier is a ferocious thing, and out of its heritage of action has grown nobility. I believe that every Navy in the world has it as its No. 1 priority [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 6 – Midway Trilogy (2 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 6 Into the Shredder The Battle of Coral Sea had provided the first hints that the Japanese high-water mark had been reached, but it was the Battle of Midway that put up the sign for all to see. Midway also marked the gateway to the attritional war that would be fought in the Solomons, a campaign that would irreparably ruin the Japanese Navy by destroying its elite naval aviation cadres and wrecking its surface forces beyond redemption. Midway didn’t produce these consequences by itself, but it created the circumstances whereby the Japanese Navy would be [...]
1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 5 – Midway Trilogy (1 of 3)
Blown Slick Series #13 Part 5 The Battle of Midway Paradox and Redemption: 4 to 7 June 1942 Among the many gems is a reminder to all who study mankind’s self-inflicted cataclysm: “Yet the overwhelming reality during the war…is that nobody knew how it would go.” Winds of War/War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk Before the battle was joined there was no way the Japanese could have lost it…once it began, there was no way they could have won it. The Barrier and the Javelin, H.P. Willmott The Battle of Midway occurred six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of [...]