Filling the I in the G-I-F-UK Gap

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U.S. Navy Lockheed P-3C Orion aircraft from Patrol Squadron VP-49 at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, 1971. (U.S. Navy Photo)

Going back to the first act of Red Storm Rising, American ASW aircraft based in Iceland was a mortal thorn in the side of the Red Banner Fleet’s submarines headed to the Atlantic. Originally established by the U.S. Army Air Force as Meeks Field in 1942 during the occupation of Iceland in WWII, by 1951 Naval Air Station Keflavik was up and running and remained in operation until it was closed in 2006 following the thaw in the Cold War.

Now civilian-run Keflavik Airport for the past 14 years, occasional NATO Air Policing units visit off and on to keep roaming Russian Bears away and, since 2016, Navy P-3s have increasingly passed through while new hangars have been constructed to accommodate P-8 Poseidons.

And, in an underreported story, ADM Robert Burke, commander of both U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (CNE-CNA) and Allied Joint Forces Command (JFC) Naples, said it was possible a squadron of Poseidons could operate from Keflavik again.

Sig’s TANGO6 Optic Picks up an Army Three-peat

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Sig Sauer’s variable powered 1-6×24 TANGO6T is a first focal plane ruggedized riflescope with a flat dark earth anodized aircraft-grade aluminum main tube, with a magnification that allows either relatively close-quarter shots or use against more distant targets. The optic is already in use with the Army on the Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDMR) and with SOCOM as the Squad-Variable Powered Scope, or S-VPS.

It has now been picked by the Army as the new Direct View Optic (DVO) for use on the M4A1 Carbine.

More in my column at Guns.com.

What’s Better Than a .50 cal? How About Four!?

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I’ve always been a fan of the M45 Maxson Quad-50, dubbed the “Meat Chopper” by those who saw it in action.

My buddy Ben Philippi recently posted a great video of one doing its dance in high-res/slo-mo.

What more can you ask for?

Own a Flying Nightmare

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A U.S. Marine Corps Vought F4U-5N Corsair night fighter of Marine night fighter squadron VMF(N)-513 Flying Nightmares on the flight line at Wonsan, Korea, on 2 November 1950.

A slugger, the gull-winged F4U-5 was the first post-WWII Corsair to enter production, filled with lessons learned from combat use in that conflict. Some 538 were produced of which 315 converted to the -5NL configuration with a wing-mounted radar for nighttime operations and other tweaks including winterizing– both of which would come in very handy in Korea.

Speaking of which, Bu.124541, as detailed by Warbirds News, spent more than 200 hours with the Flying Nightmares in Korea before she was charged off and transferred to the Argentine Navy in 1958 for operations from the Colossus-class carrier ARA Independencia (ex-HMS/HMCS Warrior).

The Argies kept her on the books until 1966, then she spent a period in storage before weathering life as a gate guard at the Museo del la Aviacion Naval in Buenos Aries before she was purchased by a French group of aviation enthusiasts in the 1990s.

Extensively restored, today she carries her historic VMF 513 livery, sans the radar dome which was deleted in the late 1960s.

F4U-5NL Bu.124541 via Platinum Fighters

F4U-5NL Bu.124541 via Platinum Fighters

Best yet, this flyable Corsair is airworthy and for sale at Platinum Fighters, just don’t ask how much.

Soldier of the Grand Army of the Republic

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Unidentified Civil War veteran from Grand Army of the Republic Post# 386 in uniform with a musket in front of flags, weapons, and equipment.

Note the extensive militaria assembled. The old Vet was likely rushed to pose with the belt, as it is upside down. Liljenquist Family collection. Library of Congress. hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.49787

I am not sure which Post# 386 the above bluecoat belonged to, as there were at least two of them, one each in Naperville, Illinois and Conway Springs/Sylvia, Kansas, which were in existence from the 1880s into as late as the 1930s in the case of the Illinois post.

Be sure to reach out to your veterans this week. 

75 Years Ago: Wake Island Fireball

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Today in 1945, just weeks after the end of WWII, the world entered a new phase of naval aviation when a Ryan FR-1 Fireball fighter (accidentally) made a landing on an aircraft carrier under jet power alone.

The Fireball was an interesting hybrid stepping stone in aviation, a mixed-power single-seater with a Wright R-1820-72W Cyclone 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine in the front and a GE J31-GE-3 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine in the back, enabling it to break over 400mph with both fired up or travel at more sedate speeds on either.

Ryan FR-1 (Bu# 39651) In flight, with propeller stopped and jet engine supplying power, near NATC Patuxent River, Maryland, 24 July 1945. NH 89683

Ryan FR-1 (Bu# 39648) At NATC Patuxent River, Maryland, 11 March 1945. Note the J31 jet engine port in the rear and intakes in the wing roots. NH 89684

Just 77 airframes were completed by VJ-Day (of a planned 1,044) and the Fireball underwent initial and unsuccessful trials on the USS Ranger in May 1945 while attempting to do pilot carrier quals with VF-66/41, the only operational squadron to use the Fireball.

Speaking of carrier quals, it was Ensign J. C. “Jake” West who, his prop feathering unintentionally, fired up his GE J31 and touched down on the escort carrier USS Wake Island (CVE 65)–– only narrowly hooking the last wire before going over the side, some 75 years ago today. 

Not a lot of real estate…USS WAKE ISLAND (CVE-65) Underway in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area, 9 November 1944. Photographed by N.A.S. Norfolk. 80-G-289879

On the beat

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Chicago: Cops on the job inside the waiting room of Union Station, Jack Delano, photographer, January 1943.

Makes me think of the stairway scene in The Untouchables. RIP Sean Connery.

 

Going long, in .38 Rimless Smokeless!

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Tweaking his own Colt Model 1900, John Browning coughed up a beefy longslide autoloader in .38 Automatic Colt Pistol, marked “.38 Rimless Smokeless” on the slide, to make sure the cartridge was easily differentiated from something that ran on black powder.

The result was the Colt M1902:

Boom.

More in my column at Guns.com.

The micro red dot carry gun market marches on

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Just a decade ago, reflex or red dot sights used on handguns were primarily just for competition race guns in unlimited matches. Just a few years ago, it was considered revolutionary that the U.S. Army’s XM17 Modular Handgun System went with a model of the Sig P320 that included an optics-ready slide cut for an RMR, specifically a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro sight, which was a big move for a MIL-STD handgun meant for the common Soldier in the field.

Today, while lots of full-sized pistols from Sig, Glock (MOS series), FN, HK, and others are on the market with slide cuts, there is an increasing number of makers delivering sub-compact models, intended for concealed carry, capable of using a micro red dot.

Springfield Armory just delivered such a thing in their newest Croatian-made XD-S Mod.2 OSP 9mm pistols, with the “OSP” denoting it is optics-ready.

And they will ship it complete with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500 for around $550, which isn’t bad.

More in my column at Guns.com.

It’s a family tradition

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Meet 2nd Lt. William Pershing, Great Great Nephew of General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far.

 
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