30
The Battle of Kursk, which occurred in July of 1943, was the largest armored battle of the Second World War.
31
Known as the “Key West Agreements,” these “treaties” were hammered out at a series of meetings which determined that only the USAF could operate armed fixed-wing aircraft. Ironically, the Army used the loophole of “fixed wing” to eventually create their fleet of armed attack helicopters.
32
The TF-34 has also been used on a number of commercial aircraft, particularly highly fuel-efficient commuter jets.
33
For those of you who are among my younger readers, the Volkswagen was the original subcompact car, which was designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche in the 1930s for Adolf Hitler. When I was young, they were frequently a person’s first car.
34
One thing that the USAF rarely tells folks is just what the GAU-8 and other Gatling-type gun systems sound like when fired. From a position on the ground, the most civil way to describe it would be “a fart from God.” Hardly the last thing that one wants to hear!
35
“Manual Reversion” feeds the controls back into aprimitive series of pulleys and cables with just enough play to make gross corrections to the flight path of the aircraft. This is a last-ditch mode of operations only! 7 For a better understanding of this AGM-65 Maverick, see
36
Before you laugh too hard at this idea, “heated” Hogs (as the Sidewinder-equipped A-10s are known) shot down a pair of Iraqi helicopters with their guns (they were too close to use the AIM-9s). By comparison, the huge force of F-16s that fought in the 1991 Persian Gulf War failed to score a single confirmed “kill” against enemy aircraft.
37
On a personal note, the general’s son, Major John Horner, USAF, is a distinguished Warthog driver with numerous missions in the “no-fly” zones over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Not that this keeps the senior Horner, himself a supersonic flyer of some renown, from jokingly saying that “he died in a motorcycle accident,” rather than tell folks that his son is a “Hog” driver!
38
For a fuller description of the Desert Storm air campaign, again see
39
The squadron, the famous 138th Fighter Squadron of the 174th Fighter Wing, part of the New York Air National Guard (ANG), “The Boys From Syracuse,” served honorably in the Gulf, though dogged by technical problems with CAS F-16s. Today they are a “normal” F-16 ANG unit.
40
Johnson and the Skunk Works were already working on the F-104 Starfighter, and soon would begin work on the famous U-2 spy/reconnaissance plane.
41
In the USAF, while officers fly aircraft, enlisted personnel “own” them. If you doubt this, just ask any Air Force crew chief. He or she will rapidly set you straight!
42
For more on the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport, see
