Shooting Stars over Italy

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It happened 80 years ago this month.

Official period caption, June 1945: “Italy — Historic meeting at Vesuvius; crusty old jet looks down on bright new jets during the Lockheed P-80s’ visit to Italy.”

U.S. Army Air Force Photo Number 57638AC. Print received June 1945 from Publications Section, AC/AS Intelligence. Used in an issue of “Impact”, June 1945. Copied 12 June 1945. CONFIDENTIAL Classification cancelled by WD Circular #24, para. National Archives Identifier 204908286

Equipped with a General Electric I-40/J33 engine, the P-80 Shooting Star became the first U.S. aircraft to exceed 500 miles per hour in level flight, and was the best Allied jet fighter of WWII, albeit it only came into it at the very end. Note that the above aircraft lack the type’s iconic “tip tanks.”

Two of the aircraft shown in the above image have visible tail numbers: 44-83028 (MSN 080-1007) and 44-83029 (MSN 080-1008), denoting them as among the first 13 YP-80A test aircraft. They were from a group of just four aircraft that were rushed to Europe as part of Project Extraversion.

The Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star, one of just two in Italy, had a nose packing six 50 cals. “Print received June 1945 from Publications Section, AC/AS Intelligence. Used in an issue of “IMPACT”, June 1945. Copied 12 June 1945. CONFIDENTIAL. Classification cancelled by WD Circular #24, Para. USAAF 57639AC”

Flown by Wright Field test personnel, they were the first “combat” Shooting Stars, assigned to the 1st Fighter Group at Lesina Airfield in December 1944, from where they reportedly were tasked with shooting down passing Luftwaffe Arado Ar 234 reconnaissance jet aircraft. Returned stateside after the war, 44-83028 became a drone while 44-83029 crashed on 2 August 1945 near Brandenburg, Kentucky, taking her pilot with her.

Two other early YP-80s had been sent to Britain at the same time, where one, 44-83026, killed test pilot Major Frederic Borsodi in a crash at RAF Burtonwood. The second YP-80A sent to England, 44-83027, was transferred to Rolls-Royce and fitted with a prototype Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene engine, then cracked up on 14 November 1945.

The first 20 or so production P-80As, starting with serial 44-84992, were shipped to the USAAF’s 31st FS (412th FG) (4th AF) at March Field and Muroc Field (now Edwards AFB), California, starting in mid-1945, replacing the troubled Bell P-59 Airacomet jet fighter.

Is Pavutyna Taranto 1940?

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You have to be under a rock to have not seen the news that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) recently hit the button on an operation– dubbed “Pavutyna” (Spideweb)– some 18 months in the making.

The complex logistics involved smuggling nearly 200 FPV drones and their mobile storage hangars into Russia.

The drones, likely fiber-optic controlled (hence “Spider Web”) so as to counteract EW defenses, were hidden inside 20-foot ISO shipping containers with roofs rigged to slide open via remote control to allow their UAV cargoes to lift off toward their targets– Russian strategic aircraft, often nuclear-capable.

The trucks were staged very near bases and controlled via datalink back in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the drivers were already well on their way to exfiltrating.

Check this out for a great nuts and bolts on how the raid happened.

While one strike– on the Ukrainka air base near Seryshevo in far-off Amur oblast– failed when the truck exploded, four other strikes, using 117 drones, were more successful.

The strikes hit:

  • Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk Region of the Russian Far East, some 2,600 miles from Ukraine, damaging at least one Tu-95MS Bear and two Tu-22M3 Blackjacks. TASS reports it is the first strike into Siberia during the war.
  • Near Murmansk, the Ukrainians hit Olenya Air Base, some 1,100 miles north of their border, damaging at least 4 Tu-95s, allegedly a Tu-160 Swan, and an An-12.
  • At Ivanono Air Base, some 620 miles north of Ukraine and only 150 miles from Moscow, they hit an A-50 Mainstay (Russki AWACS).
  • Closest to home, at Dyaglievo near Ryazan, some 320 miles north of Ukraine and some 120 miles from Moscow, they hit “more than 10” aircraft.

The damage assessments and claims are all over the place. Whereas Ukraine says they damaged/destroyed 41 strategic Russian airframes, according to the OSINT project AviVector, only 13 were hit on camera.

The Russians themselves are tight-lipped as to any losses.

It was dramatic, for sure, but it took 18 months to set up, and surely benefited from Western intelligence as to targeting packages.

Did it really accomplish a lot?

Probably not on a strategic scale, other than the fact that it will now stress the Russians into sanitizing their bases, far from the front lines, for random trucks and curious buildings anywhere within a few kilometers of their flight lines, as the fiber-optic controlled battery-powered drones have a very short range. This ties down troops. Lots of them. All for the cost of some cheap drones, some converted trucks, and the risk to some drivers who were already headed home before the button was pressed.

The big thing is the precedent.

‘Taranto Harbour, Swordfish from Illustrious Cripple the Italian Fleet, 11 November 1940′ by Charles David Cobb. Painting in the collection of the National Museum

Much how the nighttime raid on the Italian port of Taranto by 21 Fleet Air Arm Fairly Swordfish on 11/12 November 1940 left three Italian battleships and a heavy cruiser damaged, but paved the way for a much more successful and much larger strike by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor 13 months later, Pavutyna could be the rough blueprint for a first strike in the next big war.

USS SHAW exploding at Pearl Harbor. NARA 80-G-16871

What if China had 2,000 such drones set to attack 50 strategic bases and communication nodes in the U.S. on D1? What if they had another 2,000 set to go after infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, dams, and the like?

Now you have a Pearl Harbor 2.0.

And in that vein, the Army just released its latest Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS)
At the same time, the five Marine Corps bases will host drone competitions to test Marine teams from across the fleet on “hunter-killer” drone employment, speed, and agility, with the first event occurring at Quantico, Virginia, in November.

Nica and the Monk

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Perhaps one of the best jazz album covers ever: Underground by Thelonious Monk (Columbia, May 1968). Where else are you going to find Lugers, an MP40, an M1911, M1 pineapple grenades, demo gear, a field telephone, and multiple radio sets, as well as a Morse key?

The album cover is an ode to the young British-born Baroness Kathleen Annie Pannonica ‘Nica’ de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild), who, at the time of the initial German occupation of Northern France some 85 years ago this month, opened her Château d’Abondant to displaced refugees and evacuees. She later managed to escape the country and joined her husband, Jules de Koenigswarter, who was abroad with De Gaulle’s Free French forces. She pitched in herself as a codebreaker for Gaullist intelligence and served as an on-air host at Radio Brazzaville (the Free French England-based Radio Europe). She finally became an ambulance driver for the 1st Free French Division during the North African Campaign in 1942-43.

The Baroness, who moved to New York after the war, later became a noted patron of the arts, particularly jazz musicians, including Monk (who was 4F during WWII), personally. This is why several jazzmen have songs about “Nica” (Kenny Drew: Blues for Nica, Horace Silver: Nica’s Dream, Gigi Gryce: Nica’s Tempo, Sonny Clark: Nica, Tommy Flanagan: Thelonica, et.al)

Her image is reportedly hidden in the cover as well, perhaps mocked up with a STEN gun.

The back of the album:

Take it away, Mr. Monk:

The Tsar’s Finest

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It happened 110 years ago today.

Here we see the submarine Bars (Snow Leopard), the first of a class of 24 planned boats for the Imperial Russian Navy, after being launched on 2 June 1915 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd).

Note her Romanov eagle bow crest and four port topside “drop collar” torpedo launcher positions. Designed by a Polish-Russian submarine engineer, Prof. Stefan Karlovich Dzhevetskiy, the launchers were a cost-effective and easy way of carrying torpedoes and were used by both the French and Tsarist navies. However, the design proved an issue in winter months, especially in ice, and greatly shortened the lifespan of the weapons carried. 

On 25 July 1915, the boat, under the command of LT V. F. Dudkin, entered service and became part of the 1st Division of the Baltic Sea Submarine Force, and would be operational for the next 22 months.

Russia. Baltic. Submarine Bars 1915-1917. Note: torpedoes carried in the Dzhevetsky drop collars

Designed by Maj. Gen. (Russian admiralty officers in non-line billets were listed as colonels and generals, not admirals) Ivan Grigorievich Bubnov, the head of the GUK (Main Directorate of Shipbuilding), the Bars class was probably the most advanced and effective Russian submarines until the late mid-1930s when the Malyutka (type M) class boats began entering service.

Russian submarines Volk and Bars (center), iced in over a Baltic Winter. 1915-1917.

At 223-feet oal, they had a displacement of 650 tons (780 submerged) and could operate down to 300 feet. This made them almost ideal for the Baltic. Keep in mind that today’s Sweden’s Blekinge (A26)-class SSKs under construction right now run just 216 feet overall.

Bars class submarine, via Spassky

Diesel electric (with German Krupp or Russian Ludwig Nobel Kolomna plant diesels, later augmented by some American-made engines sent from New London) powering twin screws, they could make 9 knots submerged (13 on the surface) and carried enough fuel and food for 14 days of operations.

Heavily armed, they had eight 18-inch torpedos carried on the deck in Dzhevetsky drop collar trapeeze systems, and another eight fish in fore and aft torpedo rooms with two tubes in each. A small deck gun or two and a light machine gun were added. Mines could also be carried.

The Russians were able to complete 20 Bars-type boats, of which four were lost during the Great War (including Bars) while three others sank in peacetime operations. Four, as well as two of the unfinished hulls, were captured by the Germans in 1917-18. Post-war, the Soviets kept a dozen of the class in operation into the 1930s, with at least two surviving until the 1950s in use as training ships and battery charging barges.

The Soviets considered them the first “modern” submarines in Russian service.

Evolution of Soviet subs from 1914-1955 with Bars-class at top

In 1993, in the Baltic Sea, in the area of ​​Gotska Sandön Island, the Swedish minesweeper Landsort discovered a Bars-type submarine (most likely Bars herself, which went missing in May 1917) at a depth of 127 meters.

Cap ribbon and model of the Russian submarine Bars at Vladivostok

As for her father, designer Bubnov died of typhus during the Russian Civil War in 1919, aged just 47.

MG Bubnov, in front of the building Tsarist submarine Akula, in happier days

It’s official: CVN-65 headed to Mobile for final cruise

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Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.

The world’s first nuclear powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) will be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up.

The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.

Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).

Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her recycling, after over 55 years of service, will be more expensive until you consider inflation.

Per DOD’s contract announcements last Friday:

NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, Vernon, Vermont, is awarded a $536,749,731 firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-25-C-4135) for the dismantling, recycling, and disposal of Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65). Under this contract CVN 65 will be dismantled in its entirety, and all resulting materials will be properly recycled or disposed of. Specifically, hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, will be packaged and safely transported for disposal at authorized licensed sites. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by November 2029. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $533,749,731 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation module, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

 

The Hussar General at 250

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“Général Lasalle.” – François Flameng, 1906

We would be remiss if we let May escape without observing the 250th birthday of Antoine-Charles-Louis, Comte de Lasalle.

Born on 10 May 1775 in Metz, the son of an officer in the French Royal Army and knight of the Order of Saint Louis, as well as a great grand nephew of a Marshal of France from the 30 Years’ War (Abraham de Fabert, marquis d’Esternay), it was no surprise that Lasalle joined he Army at the tender age of 11 and became an officer by 14.

Sadly, he was a leg in the Alsace Regiment of the Baron de Esbecke, a unit composed mainly of Germans, and only managed to upgrade to the cavalry after the Revolution. Accepted as a lieutenant in the 24e Régiment de Cavalerie on 25 May 1791, he soon had to resign over the controversy that he was a petit noble.

However, with the enemies of France pressing in from every direction, the young Lasalle was able to convince the Comité de Salut public to allow him a spot with the 23e Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval in February 1794, and the rest is history. The 19-year-old had a horse and knew how to use it. His first notable combat was capturing a British artillery battery at Landrecies that same July.

Fighting in the Italian campaign as an ADC for Gen. Kellermann, by 1796, he was a captain. He led an 18-man troop of the 1er Régiment de Cavalerie on a mission behind enemy lines that soon matched it against a 36-strong group of Austrian hussars, which he bested. Then came a squadron command in the 22e Chasseurs à Cheval, and a trip to Egypt with the 7e Régiment bis de Hussards. There, amid the pyramids, he led 150 sabers against several times that amount of Mamelukes in swirling battles, pistols in hand.

Returning to France in 1800, he was decorated by Napoleon himself. He made a colonel at the tender age of 25, famously remarking, “Tout hussard qui n’est pas mort à trente ans est un jean-foutre, (Any hussar who isn’t dead by the age of thirty is a jerk.).”

Commanding the 10th Hussars at Vilnadella, the young colonel was in the thick of it, reportedly having three horses killed under him and breaking seven sabers, earning the Legion of Honour.

By 1803, he was a brigadier general in command of a brigade of dragoons that he would lead at  Austerlitz.

His legendary moment was in the Prussian and Polish campaigns. Leading his “brigade infernale” of the 5th and 7th Hussars, he captured the King of Prussia’s Guard and the Stettin fortress, then forced the Prince of Hohenlohe to surrender at Prenzlau. The Stettin fortress, with 5,000 Prussians inside, surrendered after a threatened “siege” by Lasalle and his 500 worn cavalrymen using wooden cannon as a ruse.

He bested Blücher at Lübeck, and the Russians at Golymin before solidifying his living legend at Jena and being made a major general of division on 30 December 1806 at 31.

“The Comte de Lasalle at the head of his brigade at the Battle of Jena – October 14th, 1806.” – Alphonse Lalauze, 1928

Murat & Hussar General Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle at the Battle of Heilsberg, June 10 1807 Breville

Fighting at Heilsberg and then serving brilliantly in the Spanish campaign, by 1809 he was with the Grande Armée again, once more fighting against the Austrians, but this time with the  Germans on the side of the French.

Capping nearly 40 hours of epic fighting at Wagram, Lasalle’s last charge ended with his death, struck in the head by a bullet while facing Hungarian grenadiers.

Général Lasalle charging at Wagram on June 6th, in the afternoon, just before he was killed.” – Édouard Detaille, 1912

“The Charge of Général Lasalle at Wagram.” – Guido Sigriste, 1906

He bested his “dead by age 30” boast by four years.

 

HK has delivered over 15,000 MG5s to the German military

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HKhas announced it is making good progress in filling a long-running German military contract for general-purpose machine guns.

Developed as the HK 121 by the company, the gas-operated belt-fed 7.62 NATO is type-classified by the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) as the Maschinengewehre No. 5, or MG5.

Adopted in 2013 to replace the legendary MG3 – which was fundamentally just the WWII-era MG42 chambered in 7.62 NATO rather than 8mm Mauser – the German military has a total of 22,672 of the guns on order. The company delivered the 15,000th gun to the Bundeswehr in January.

Interested in how the new gun stacks up against the MG3? Check out the below (German not required):

Developed as the HK 121, the MG5 – seen above in a tripod sustained fire mount – has been slowly fielded with the Germans over the past 12 years, with some 15,000 delivered thus far. HK used the same design in 5.56 NATO for the Bundeswehr’s MG4 light machine gun. (Photos: HK)
HK catalogs at least three variants of the MG5, including the standard 25.2-pound Universal model, top, with its 21.7-inch barrel; the solenoid-fired MG5A1 for use in vehicles and aircraft, center; and the more compact MG5A2 with an 18-inch barrel, bottom. Not shown is the MG5 S, which is used by special forces. 

The MG5 is also used by Albania, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, and Spain, and has seen combat use in Ukraine in recent years.

Likewise, the German federal police has also purchased at least 42 MG5s for its own use. Lesson: do not mess around with the polizei.

Razzle Dazzle

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How about these great recent Lightning Bug shots that just hit DVIDS from the F-35A Demonstration Team? All show Major Melanie “Mach” Kluesner of the 4th FS, 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, in action.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Melanie “Mach” Kluesner, pilot of the F-35A Demonstration Team, performs aerial maneuvers during the Southernmost Airshow Spectacular at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, on March 30, 2025. The team’s mission is to inspire, engage, and recruit the next generation of Airmen by showcasing the capabilities of the Air Force’s premier fifth-generation fighter. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

U.S. Air Force Maj. Melanie “Mach” Kluesner, pilot of the F-35A Demonstration Team, performs aerial maneuvers alongside a P-51 Mustang and F-16 Fighting Falcon during a heritage flight formation at the Sun ‘n Fun Airshow in Lakeland, Florida, April 2, 2025. Heritage flights honor the history and evolution of airpower by showcasing multiple generations of aircraft flying together. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

For reference, the birds are the throwback 50th Anniversary rollout livery F-16C Block 50D (91-0395) of the 20th Fighter Wing, TSI’s P-51D-20-NA Mustang “Double Trouble Too” (463684/N51EA), and the Demo F-35A (19-5483)

Barrett Wins Army 30mm Precision Grenadier System Competition

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Tennessee-based Barrett teamed up with Mars, Inc., and brought a radical new 30mm grenade launcher over the finish line in an Army competition.

It is planned that the new gun will eventually be fielded as part of the Army’s Precision Grenadier System program. The PGS requirement is for a soldier-portable, shoulder-fired, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, integrated system that can engage targets in defilade– such as behind a hill– as well as aerial drones at close range via programmable ammunition. Ultimately, this allows the user faster fire than a 40mm, and with more power and round capabilities than the 25mm.

First launched in 2023 as part of a xTechSoldier Lethality contest designed to rapidly fill the requirement, the PGS competition soon boiled down to two platforms: FN’s PGS-001 and the Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System, and, with the SRS announced last week as the winner.

Barrett and Mars Inc. recently put their xTech Precision Grenadier System prototype to the test in a live fire event. (Photo: Barrett) 
The Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System was recently picked for the Army’s PGS program. It uses the Vortex-made XM157 fire control system, which is also used by the Army’s planned 6.5mm Next Generation Squad Weapons, the M7 rifle, and the M250 machine gun. (Photo: Barrett) 
The ammo used by the PGS will include Programmable Air Bursting High Explosive (HE), Proximity Fuzed, and Point Detonating HE, as well as a Close Quarter Battle Round. (Photo: Guns.com)
The SRS is intended to be portable and used by a single soldier. (Photo: U.S. Army xTech Program)

We visited with Barrett and Mars at SHOT earlier this year and got the scoop on the big honking 30mm bloop gun.

Mars even had one set up at their booth in the basement that was mocked up as a Heavy Bolter from Warhammer.

The Terrible T at Play

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It happened 80 years ago today.

The Tambor-class submarine, USS Tautog (SS-199), photographed from an altitude of 300 feet off the Florida coast by Navy airship ZP-31 on 29 May 1945. Note the scoreboard painted on her conning tower, representing Japanese ships sunk by the fleet boat.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-323879

Over the course of 13 war patrols, Tautog received 14 battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for her war service. According to Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee figures, she sank 26 Japanese vessels, accounting for 72,606 tons of enemy shipping, against 39 ships claimed for 133,726 tons.

Artwork of USS Tautog’s (SS-199) World War II battle flag. Photographed circa the early 1970s. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph, NH 98808-KN.

After the war, Tautog served as a USNR training boat for about a decade in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before her illustrious career ended in 1959.
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