Monthly Archives: October 2022

A Little Flour, a Bit of .45…

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80 Years Ago: A 6th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabee) baker, M1911 on his side for those special moments, bakes bread in an oven recycled from Japanese materials at Guadalcanal, 26 October 1942. The pistol is not puffery. Just a few weeks prior, a Japanese offensive pushed the Marine lines back to the Lunga River at a point only 150 feet from the West end of Guadalcanal’s embattled Henderson Field, home to the Cactus Air Force. With the Marines entrenched in fighting at one end of the field, the Bees were carrying on construction at the other.

Seabee Museum photo.

NCB 6 was formed from volunteers in May 1942 at Camp Bradford outside of Norfolk then, after a 48-hour train ride, arrived at Gulfport, Mississippi on 24 June– the first battalion at the installation where now about half of the Seabee force is based. Their first building task was to erect the flagpole at Gulfport.

Before the end of July, “equipped as a combination of soldier, sailor and construction worker, they were ready to tackle their first assignment” and shipped out of San Francisco for the Western Pacific in the holds of the SS President Polk and USS Wharton.

Most of the men of the battalion had been in the Navy for less than 90 days. 

The first elements of NCB 6 landed at Espiritu Santo on the morning of 17 August, just days after the Marines went in at Guadalcanal, and went about their work building three piers from a camp set up in a coconut grove. On 1 September, the Bees headed to Guadalcanal to get into the airfield business.

As noted in the unit’s war history:

At Guadalcanal, the Seabees of NCB 6 lengthened and maintained Henderson Field, constructed piers, bridges, tunnels, roads, a Patrol Torpedo Boat Base, a tank farm, and a power plant, which they also operated. Most of the work was accomplished under enemy fire: strafing and bombardment from Japanese aircraft and shelling from the Japanese fleet.

U.S. Naval Construction Battalion 6 was inactivated on 13 September 1945 at Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands. However, it would soon be reformed as NMCB 6 and serve extensively in Vietnam, but that is another story.

Cordon on Steel at 60

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No less than 102 assorted American “greyhounds”– destroyers, destroyer escorts, destroyer radar picket ships, guided missile destroyers, destroyer leaders, and destroyer group leaders– received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for participating as part of the extended Naval Quarantine task force in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, with the period extending from 24 October to 31 December.

In other words, a period starting some 60 years ago this week.

Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 The Lebanese freighter MARUCLA is boarded by a party from the USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. (DD-850), on 26 October 1962. The MARUCLA is an old “liberty” USN 711187

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 USS MULLINIX (DD-944) and the Venezuelan destroyer ZULIA (D-21) leave the US Naval Station Trinidad, on the first mission of the joint US-Latin American quarantine task force on 12 November 1962. MULLINIX is the force flagship. USN 1063363

Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 Soviet freighter VOLGOLES carrying missiles away from Cuba on 9 November 1962. USS VESOLE (DDR-878) is alongside. The wingtip of the photo plane, an SP-2 Neptune is also visible. USN 711204

The oldest of the lot was the soon-to-be-disposed-of Fletcher-class destroyer USS Saufley (DD/DDE/EDDE-465), which was laid down in January 1942– and earned 16 battle stars during World War II, making her one of the most decorated ships of World War II– while the newest included the Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sellers (DDG-11) which had only just finished her post-shakedown yard period a couple of months prior to the Crisis and would still have 28 years of service ahead of her.

Abbot (DD 629), 11 – 22 Nov 62.

Allan M. Sumner (DD 692), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Bache (DD 470), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Barry (DD 933), 24 Oct – 1 Nov 62.

Barton (DD 722), 24 Oct – 30 Nov 62.

Basilone (DD 824), 24 Oct – 18 Nov 62.

Beale (DD 471), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Bearss (DD 654), 4 – 16 Nov 62.

Beatty (DD 756), 16 – 24 Nov 62.

Biddle (DDG 5), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Bigelow (DD 942), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Blandy (DD 943), 24 Oct – 1 Nov 62.

Bordelon (DD 881), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62; 3 – 21 Dec 62.

Borie (DD 704), 24 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Bristol (DD 857), 4 Nov – 3 Dec 62.

Brough (DE 148), 25 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Brownson (DD 868), 28 Oct – 18 Nov 62.

Calcaterra (DER 390), 31 Oct – 14 Nov 62.

Charles F. Adams (DDG 2), 24 Oct – 30 Nov 62.

Charles H. Roan (DD 853), 27 Oct – 24 Nov 62.

Charles P. Cecil (DDR 835), 29 Oct – 6 Dec 62.

Charles R. Ware (DD 865), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Charles S. Sperry (DD 697), 24 Oct – 1 Nov 62.

Claud Jones (DE 1033), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Conway (DD 507), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Cony (DD 508), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Corry (DDR 817), 24 Oct – 12 Nov 62; 18 – 21 Nov 62.

Dahlgren (DLG 12), 27 Oct – 11 Nov 62.

Damato (DD 871), 24 Oct – 4 Nov 62.

Davis (DD 937), 13 – 24 Nov 62.

Decatur (DD 936), 4 Nov – 7 Dec 62.

Dewey (DLG 14), 24 Oct – 12 Nov 62.

Dupont (DD 941), 26 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Dyess (DDR 880), 3 – 23 Dec 62.

Eaton (DD 510), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

English (DD 696), 24 Oct – 24 Nov 62.

Eugene A. Greene (DD 711), 24 Oct – 20 Nov 62.

Fiske (DDR 842), 24 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Forrest B. Royal (DD 872), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Furse (DD 882), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Gainard (DD 706), 18-20 Nov 62.

Gearing (DD 710), 24 – 30 Oct 62.

Hank (DD 702), 24 Oct – 26 Nov 62.

Harlan R. Dickson (DD 708), 4 Nov – 5 Dec 62.

Harwood (DD 861), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Hawkins (DDR 873), 24 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Haynsworth (DD 700), 24 Oct – 14 Nov 62

Henley (DD 762), 27 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Hissem (DER 400), 24 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Holder (DD 819), 1 – 18 Nov 62.

Hugh Purvis (DD 709), 28 Oct – 18 Nov 62.

Ingraham (DD 694), 6-10 Nov 62.

John King (DDG 3), 7 Nov – 6 Dec 62.

John Paul Jones (DD 932), 4 Nov – 5 Dec 62.

John R. Perry (DE 1034), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

John R. Pierce (DD 753), 24 Oct – 2 Dec 62.

Johnston (DD 821), 10-31 Dec 62.

John W. Weeks (DD 701), 24 Oct – 14 Nov 62.

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr (DD 850), 24 Oct – 5 Dec 62.

Keppler (DD 765), 24 Oct – 1 Nov 62.

Kretchmer (DER 329), 27 Nov – 20 Dec 62.

Lawrence (DDG 4), 24 Oct – 6 Dec 62.

Leary (DDR 879), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Lowry (DD 770), 24 Oct – 8 Nov 62; 17-30 Nov 62.

Mac Donough (DLG 😎, 24 Oct – 20 Nov 62.

Maloy (DE 791), 6-29 Nov 62.

Manley (DD 940), 24 Oct – 24 Nov 62.

Mc Caffery (DD 860), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Mills (DER 383), 24 – 31 Oct 62.

Mullinnix (DD 944), 24 Oct – 6 Dec 62.

Murray (DD 576), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

New (DD 818), 2-19 Nov 62.

Newman K. Perry (DDR 883), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62; 3-21 Dec 62.

Norfolk (DL 1), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Norris (DD 859), 4 Nov – 5 Dec 62.

O’Hare (DDR 889), 24 Oct – 3 Dec 62.

Peterson (DE 152), 25 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Purdy (DD 734), 17 – 24 Nov 62.

Rhodes (DER 384), 24 Oct – 26 Nov 62; 21 – 31 Dec 62.

Rich (DD 820), 2 – 18 Nov 62.

Richard E. Kraus (DD 849), 29 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Robert A. Owens (DD 827), 27 Oct – 20 Nov 62.

Robert L. Wilson (DD 847), 24 Oct – 3 Nov 62.

Roy O. Hale (DER 336), 14-16 Nov 62.

Rush (DDR 714), 24 Oct – 1 Dec 62.

Samuel B. Roberts (DD 823), 24 Oct – 3 Nov 62.

Saufley (DD 465), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Sellers (DDG 11), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

Soley (DD 707), 24 Oct – 2 Dec 62.

Steinaker (DDR 863), 24 Oct – 14 Nov 62; 20-22 Nov 62.

Stickell (DDR 888), 24 Oct – 6 Dec 62.

The Sullivans (DD 537), 17 Nov – 17 Dec 62.

Thomas J. Gary (DER 326), 15-27 Nov 62.

Vesole (DDR 878), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62; 3 – 21 Dec 62.

Wallace L. Lind (DD 703), 24 Oct – 22 Nov 62.

Waller (DD 466), 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Willard Keith (DD 775), 24 Oct – 15 Nov 62.

William C. Lawe (DD 763), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

William M. Wood (DDR 715), 28 Oct – 24 Nov 62; 10 – 24 Dec 62.

Willis A. Lee (DL 4), 7 – 21 Nov 62.

Witek (DD 848), 24 Oct – 1 Nov 62; 16 – 20 Nov 62.

Zellars (DD 777), 24 Oct – 21 Nov 62.

For a deeper dive into the Crisis from a Navy point of view, check out the digitized 57-page “Cordon of Steel: The U.S. Navy and the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Curtis A. Utz. No. 1, in The U.S. Navy and the Modern World series, 1993.

Fittingly, the cover of the piece included a destroyer in the foreground, the old Fletcher-class USS Eaton (DD-510), which earned 11 battle stars in WWII and then served on Caribbean duty through the early 1960s, including standing off Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Eaton also earned the AFEM for the Quarantine, serving on the line from 25 Oct – 5 Nov 62.

Swedish Barrels in Africa

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You don’t think about the Swedish Air Force ready to drop napalm in Africa, but it was a thing.

Official caption, 60 years ago this week: “Two Swedish S29 SAAB Photo-reconnaissance jet planes arrived in Leopoldville, the Republic of the Congo, on October 23rd, 1962. Sweden has also supplied four J29 fighter jets with pilots and crew to the United Nations Forces in the Congo (ONUC). At Ndjili Airport is the United States Air Force MATS C-133 cargo plane unloading the planes after bringing them directly from Sweden.”

UN Photo # 113781

Back in the good old romantic mercenary days when you could grab a ticket to Africa and pick a side, the mass of confusion that was the 1960s Congo Crisis– which was later seen as downright gentlemanly compared to the pure shit show that was Biafra a few years later– saw a huge influx of non-aligned UN Peacekeepers from countries like Ethiopia, India, Sweden, Ireland (of “Siege of Jadotville” fame) and the like who, contrary to the UN of the 1990s and 2000s, often pulled triggers and dropped bombs in the interest of waging peace.

Cue the curious Saab 29 Tunnan.

Saab 29, colloquially called Flygande Tunnan

First flown in 1948 at a time when the Messerschmitt Me 262 was arguably still the best jet fighter in the world, the swept-wing turbojet Saab 29 Flygande Tunnan (“Flying Barrel”) set a world speed record of 607 mph and was put into production in both fighter (J= Jakt or “fighting”) and reconnaissance (S =Spaning or “scouting”) variants.

Capable of toting four nose-mounted 20mm cannons and equipped with 10 hardpoints for rockets, missiles, and light bombs, the J29 variants could take off and mix it up for an hour or so, with a combat radius of about 250 miles.

Royal Swedish Air Force SAAB J- 29 Tunnan after Napalm bombing in front of Hailie Selassie at Rosersberg in the Uppland province.

The Swedes would send a total of nine J 29B fighters and two S 29C photo reconnaissance Tunnans (the two shown in the first image above) between September 1961 and 1964, under the banner of Flygflottilj 22. They were soon joined by Iranian and Filipino F-86 Sabers and a force of Indian B-58 Canberras, giving the UN its first “Air Force.” 

Kamina Airport, UN Force in the Congo, January 1963, four Imperial Iranian Air Force F-86F Sabers of the Shah’s 103rd Tactical Fighter Squadron in the foreground, five stubby Swedish Air Force Saab 29 Tunnan to the right, and five Philippines Air Force Sabres. Also note the C-46 and two Sikorsky UH-19Ds.

A flight of four Swedish Saab 29 Tunnan (J-29) jets in the Congo

They eventually picked up a special “Congo” splinter camo scheme that they carried after late 1962.

While some of the only combat aircraft operated by the UN on the ONUC mission, Tunnan rarely engaged in combat missions or shoot down the mercenary-flown Fouga Magisters that had harassed the Irish at Jadotville. However, they were effective to a point.

From A Walter Dorn’s study: 

Active patrolling of the skies by the Swedish J-29s effectively cut the air bridge between Katanga and its allies in Portuguese West Africa and Southern Africa, precluding the introduction of new aircraft.[59] From 28 December 1962 to 4 January 1963 a total of 76 sorties were carried out by UN aircraft against Katanga’s airfields and aircraft

In the end, with the type withdrawn from service back home as they were replaced by the more advanced Saab J32 Lansen and J35 Draken, when ONUC wrapped up the Swedes destroyed their Tunnans on the ground in the Congo and flew their maintainers and pilots back home via SAS.

They have been remembered in box art and scale models. 

“Saab J 29B Tunnan Over Congo” by Zdenek Machacek

And, in semi-related news, let’s tap in Roland The Thompson Gunner…

Rare Army (Colt) Ace surfaces

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The original Colt Ace (the current one is a German pot-metal piece of trash) was a neat little blow-back action .22 rimfire version of the Colt Government similar to .45 ACP National Match, useful in training. However, the 10-shot .22 M1911A1 never really caught on, with less than 11,000 made between 1931-41 then in a “clean up” done post-WWII on everything left. A variant of the model, the Service Ace, which used a floating chamber design for better reliability as the .22 cartridge did not always have the power to move the slide backward for proper ejection and reloading, was lumped into the line after 1937 and about 13,000 were made, with the serial numbers starting with “SM” for Service Model.

Both the Navy and Army purchased small quantities of the pistol during this era, with the latter acquiring no less than 206 Aces.

Speaking of which Milestone has a really nice– and possibly historic– Ace up for auction this weekend.

The pistol is reported to be in the first group of Service Model Ace pistols obtained by the United States Gov’t for trials and consideration.

The pistol is accompanied by a copy of the sales receipt from Rock Island Arsenal to Captain Mark Jartman, Office of Deputy Chief of Ordnance, Washington DC and is dated Dec 30 1954. It is housed in Rock Island Arsenal shipping box with a label and the box has the serial number SM15 scribed on top with the matching federal stocking number that is indicated on the sales paperwork. The serial dates to the first run in late 1936, before the Service Model went into serial production. 

The pre-sale estimate is $8,500-$15,000.

What’s the Difference between the SIG Romeo Zero, 1, & 2 Pistol Optics?

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While Glock, S&W, and others sell pistols and have optics cuts on a lot of their newer models, SIG is kind of unique in the respect that they make both handguns and compatible red dots as well.

Over the past few months, I have been doing my own research when it comes to the company’s Romeo series (Zero, One, Two, Three Max, etc) of pistol-mounted red dots and have put together a guide to the above in my column at Guns.com.

Not gonna lie, tho, I like the Romeo 2 myself, it has proved bombproof in a T&E 10mm P320 XTen over the summer.

Alert Clocking in, 53 Years On

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The USCGC Alert (WMEC 630) is the newest of her class of 210-foot Reliance-class gunboats (WPG/WPC), her keel laid down in 1968 at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay. Commissioned 4 August 1969– the service’s 179th birthday– and is the 8th such cutter to bear the name going back to 1818.

Alert shortly after her commissioning in 1969. Note her single manually-operated 3″/50 Mark 22 mount, the last one installed on a U.S. warship. At the time, the Navy had already switched to the more modern radar-guided 3″/50RF Marks 27, 33, and 34; along with the 3″/70RF Mark 37, and would ditch those in the 1970s in favor of unmanned CIWS and MK75 76mm OTO Melera mounts. USCG Image: 170531-G-XX000-321

1973 Jane’s listing

Rebuilt in 1993-94 during a Mid-life Maintenance Availability (MMA) to give her a newer set of engines, generators, commo, and nav gear, Alert would also land her 3″/50 in favor of a much smaller (but still manually-operated) MK 38 25mm cannon. As the MMA was to extend her life for 15 years, she was later given a 9-month Medium Endurance Cutter Maintenance Extension Project (MEP) in 2009.

Now, some 53 years after she first joined the fleet, the humble little cutter, based since 1994 in Astoria, Oregon, is still getting it done. She just returned from a 68-day, 13,700-mile deployment, that saw her stretch her legs down from the PacNorthWest to the Panama Canal.

The Coast Guard Cutter Alert (WMEC 630) conducts an engagement coincidental to operations with members of the Guatemalan Navy on August 23, 2022, five miles south of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. The engagement to strengthen law enforcement and search and rescue capabilities with our partners in Guatemala included joint pursuit training with two Guatemalan small boats and a search-and-rescue exercise with the Guatemalan vessels Kukulkan and the Kaibil Balam. Photo by Chief Petty Officer Matthew Masaschi

Same as the above, Photo by Chief Petty Officer Matthew Masaschi. The images were likely snapped from her embarked MH-65 Dolphin

As noted by USCG Pacific Area:

While in theater, Alert’s crew boarded three Costa Rican fishing vessels and successfully removed 1,440 pounds of marijuana valued at $1.4 million. Furthermore, during the boarding of the fishing vessel Mujer Gitana, Alert’s crew detected and articulated numerous factors of reasonable suspicion allowing Costa Rica to issue a return to port order. Costa Rican Law Enforcement officials searched the vessel and located a hidden compartment under a reversible steel hydraulic door system, a smuggling technique that reportedly has never been seen before on a Costa Rican vessel. The search resulted in the seizure of 729 kilograms of cocaine worth $21.1 million, and the apprehension of seven detainees by one of our top-priority partner nations.

Additionally, the Alert crew led a multinational training engagement with the Guatemalan Navy, conducted three joint boardings with the Costa Rican Coast Guard, and responded to one search and rescue case involving an American fisherman off the coast of Baja California.

The embarked helicopter aircrew flew more than 50 hours over 16 days, and searched thousands of miles over the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The service’s 9th USCGC Alert, a brand-new 360-foot offshore patrol cutter (OPC) was announced in 2017 but likely won’t join the fleet for another decade, leaving the current one likely to keep on sailing into her 60s.

105 Years Ago: Going Loud, a Grave Responsibility

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Via the West Point Museum 

On the morning of 23 October 1917, the first American shell of World War One in Europe, was fired toward German lines by a First Division artillery unit.

On Oct. 22, 1917, Soldiers of C Battery, 6th Field Artillery, used the cover of the day’s dense fog to carve out a firing position on a hill 1.3 kilometers outside the town of Bathlemont without being detected by the Imperial Germans. By nightfall the position was ready, but no order came to emplace a gun there.
Capt. Idus R. McLendon, C Battery commander, made the decision to move the 75 mm M1897 gun, but with the regiment’s horses and tools in the rear, the 3,400-pound gun would have to be moved by hand.
The Soldiers under McLendon struggled for three quarters of a mile in complete darkness; with mud and muck up to their knees they pulled the gun uphill, all while wearing gas masks to protect from lingering German mustard gas.

McLendon convinced his French superiors to fire upon the Germans at first light. It would be the first time in more than a century that American and French Soldiers were to fight a common enemy, and the first time Americans had come to fight on a European battlefield.

When the command was given to fire, Sgt. Alex Arch of South Bend, a 23-year-old immigrant born in Austria-Hungary, pulled the lanyard on the 75mm gun, sending its shell — the first of over 10,000 fired in the conflict — into German lines. The time was 6 hours, 5 minutes and 10 seconds into the morning of Oct. 23, 1917.

Visit the West Point Museum to see the Gun on exhibit in our Large Weapons Gallery!

Barely two days prior, under the cover of darkness, the first battalions of the U.S. 16th, 18th, 26th, and 28th Infantry Regiments were led into the very “lived-in” trenches (complete with rats and remains) by their French allies of the battle-weary 18e Division d’Infanterie (18e DI), becoming the first American combat unit to take positions on the front lines of the Great War.

Captain Alban Butler, who would become the “divisional cartoonist”, portrayed the moment. As the cartoon illustrates, these Soldiers felt the eyes of the world upon them (both allied and enemy) as the mettle of the Americans had yet to be tested in European combat.

Via the Society of the First Infantry Division

Making room for the honored dead

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Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is probably America’s most hallowed ground. Founded unofficially in the Civil War on the somewhat illegally seized grounds of Robert E. Lee’s wife’s estate, the Army cemetery today consists of 624 acres and is the final resting place of over 400,000 service members and their families.

However, it is fast running out of space. This brings us to the massive Arlington National Cemetery Southern Expansion Project, a planned 50-acre expansion that has been underway in assessment and roadway diversion for most of a decade with the primary purpose to increase the capacity for future interment at the cemetery, adding anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 new individual gravesites at a cost of $420 million. This will allow it to continue to serve new qualifying interments into about 2060.

VOA has more details in the below video.

Remember the XV-6A?

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While the U.S. Marine Corps would not take delivery of their first AV-8A Harriers until January 1971, over a decade had elapsed since the original Hawker P.1127 prototype first hovered in tethered flight (21 October 1960) and much ground had been covered in between.

Hawker P1127 made the first-ever vertical landing by a jet aircraft an a carrier at sea on HMS Ark Royal in February 1963. IWM A 34711

In fact, the U.S. Army, Navy, USAF, and Marines formed a joint evaluation squadron and tested a half-dozen early Harriers at sea and ashore as early as 1966, all with the idea of using the aircraft for close air support. 

We are talking about the Hawker Siddeley XV-6A Kestrel.

XV-6A aircraft in flight during evaluation test operations, May 1966. USN 1115755-A

XV-6A vertical lift off of aircraft from the deck of the USS RALEIGH (LPD-1), May 1966. USN 1115757

XV-6A aircraft lifts off flight deck of USS RALEIGH (LPD-1) during evaluation operations at sea, May 1966. USN 1115763

XV-6A aircraft touches down on board the supercarrier USS INDEPENDENCE (CVA-62) during evaluation operations, May 1966. USN 1115758-C

As noted by the NHHC: 

The 1957 design for the Hawker P.1127 was based on a French engine concept, adopted and improved upon by the British. The project was funded by the British Bristol Engine Co. and by the U.S. Government through the Mutual Weapons Development Program.

With the basic configuration of the engine largely determined and with development work under way, Hawker Aircraft Ltd. engineers directed their attention to designing a V/STOL aircraft that would use the engine. Without government/military customer support, they produced a single-engine attack-reconnaissance design that was as simple a V/STOL aircraft as could be devised. Other than the engine’s swivelling nozzles, the reaction control system was the only complication in the effort to provide V/STOL capability.

The initial P.1127 was rolled out in the summer of 1960, by which time RAF interest in the aircraft had finally resulted in funding by the British Government for the two prototypes. First hovers in the fall were made with a severely stripped airplane. This was due to the fact that the first Pegasus engines were cleared for flight at just over 11,000 pounds thrust.

With potential NATO and other foreign interest in the P.1127, four additional airplanes were ordered to continue development.

As the project proceeded into the early sixties international interest in V/STOL tactical aircraft led to an agreement to conduct a tripartite operation, with the United Kingdom, West Germany and the United States sharing equally in development and evaluation. Nine P.1127s were ordered and designated Kestrel F.G.A. 1s in the RAF name system. A number of major configuration changes were incorporated in it although the basic concept remained unchanged. Within the United States it was a tri-service venture (Army, Navy, Air Force) with the Army functioning as the lead service. However, the final interservice agreement later transferred responsibility for this category of aircraft to the Air Force.

Following completion of the operational evaluation in the United Kingdom, six of the Kestrels were shipped to the United States in 1966, designated XV-6As. Here they underwent national trials, including shipboard tests. Two subsequently served in a research role with NASA.

The tripartite British, West German, and American roundel of the original test P.1127s

In the end, the Army bowed out and kept the OV-1 Mohawk in service for a generation–augmented by the new AH-1 Cobra for close air support. The Air Force walked away and would go on to develop the A-10 Warthog. The Navy let the Marines go ahead– with the prospect of using Harriers in a sea control role if needed. 

Four of the six American XV-6As are preserved in the states while a fifth was sent back “home” to be preserved in England.

XS694 (NASA 520) XS689 (NASA 521)

The Pearl Harbor Avenger is back, baby

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With all the news of scrapped or otherwise abandoned museum ships– particularly three submarines recently — it is nice to see a win for an old girl. The Balao-class fleet boat USS Bowfin (SS-287) launched on the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942– giving her almost 80 years in the water and the easy nickname of “the Pearl Harbor Avenger.”

After completing nine Pacific war patrols in WWII and earning a Presidential Unit Citation for 67,882 tons sunk (16 vessels of that tonnage plus 22 smaller craft), she was used as a Naval Reserve training submarine during the Korean War then stricken in 1971 and has been a memorial and the floating Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum at Pearl Harbor ever since. Notably, she never received a Cold War GUPPY upgrade, leaving her very close to her original WWII layout, which is rare today.

And she has just completed two months of scheduled dry dock maintenance and looks good as new.

Bowfin is set to return to her traditional dock in Pearl on Thursday and will reopen for tours around the first of November.

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