Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Ed Nash's Military Matters" channel.

  1.  @jacobbrassard2776  Yes, it does. But I would add that I spent part of my career providing foreign acquisition support, and we made it clear through our contracts what the limitations were. Unlike the Russians and Chinese, we offered extensive support packages and training for the recipient nations. While the Russians today will sell almost anything they have for cash, the Chinese are much more selective. They do not offer economic or military aid to any country except as part of an overarching political policy to undermine that country and dominate it over time through soft power and even Chinese immigration. This is an integral part of their long range strategic plan, however this plan is already developing severe cracks as the affected countries are beginning to learn the harsh reality of dealing with communists, including those who wear expensive tailored western suits.
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  2. As someone who has survived a terrorist attack, I don't take umbrage at this film. One should never be afraid of hearing the views of your enemies or presumed enemies. This is the best way to understand him and counter his actions and beliefs. I rather doubt these prisoners were subjected to genuine torture while in US custody at Gitmo, but I've little doubt they think they were. As for their guilt or innocence, that's harder to nail down. For comparison, I do know we occasionally ran sweeps in the streets of Iraqi cities to pick up "suspicious characters", then we plunked them into detention centers with little to do but talk with other detainees and read the Koran. Some of the men in these centers were hardcore Islamic militants/terrorists, and they took advantage of this situation to recruit fence sitters. This makes great sense. If some innocent kid is arrested and left alone with these guys long enough, it isn't hard for them to convince him that he is being screwed by the ugly Americans and their Iraqi lackeys. The next thing you know, Allah has another soldier in his underground army.
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  3.  @flyingsword135  Don't you mean Dad's Army jokes? ;-) Carry on, sergeant.
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  4. Ed, in 1967 I attended the EAA convention in Rockford, IL and saw one of the Thai P-64s on display. If my memory is correct, it was flown during the airshow. I found a YouTube home video of the show. At 9:17 you can see the P-64 sitting among some P-51 Mustangs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DNgs7Jzek They also had a P-40N flying a the show.
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  5. That and old bolt-action Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifles.
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  6. The idea of a low capability manned fighter is an incredibly stupid one. Aircraft, even complex aircraft, can be built far faster than future pilots can be born, raised, trained, and made ready for combat. Totalitarian societies don't seem to give a damn about human life, so they tend to ignore this important factor.
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  7. I coulda been a contender!
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  8. That's a very interesting story, but I see no evidence the attack was anything other than an accident caused by the fog of war. I can understand why some historians might think otherwise, though it is quite a stretch of the imagination. MacArthur and Truman did not like each, and MacArthur was not above bending orders, policies, and suggestions to fit his own world view or current desires. From what I've read I do not think MacArthur exactly refused an order from his Commander-in-Chief to return to the USA for a briefing. His rationale that he could not in good conscience leave his Far East Command in time of active war was plausible, even if his true motives were obtuse. He was responsive to the suggestion he meet informally with the President at Wake Island. Truman, realizing how popular the general was among the American people, saw it as an opportunity to tie his political fortunes to MacArthur's recent military successes. One thing that is obvious is that the men had limited respect for each other. MacArthur viewed Truman as an uneducated and temperamental political hack who lacked good family connections and breeding. Of course, Truman returned the favor with equal contempt, privately complaining that MacArthur was a pompous, arrogant, pampered ass who was not so subtly defying him. I think both views have merit. Such is usually the case with great men.
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  9. They don't sound like a group I would trust with any power.
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  10. I'm surprised these men didn't sink to the bottom of the Med from the weight of their massive stainless steel balls.
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  11. Perhaps India, Indonesia, and Thailand can aid the Burmese rebels.
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  12.  @simoncullum5019  Yes.
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  13. In my day we court-martialed soldiers who exposed themselves. ;-)
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  14. I am somewhat familiar with the Martin-Baker MB.5, but I was not aware of the tragedy that led to the development of the modern ejection seat. My younger brother probably knew this because while he was in high school he did a science project on the MB ejection seat. At the time I was on my first active duty assignment and he came out west to visit me. By coincidence I was working on a promotion test for ejection seat technicians, so he had a grand time pumping the NCOs for information he could use in his project.
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  15. The XP-46 looks much too French.
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  16. Glad to see somebody cover this important but forgotten transitional aircraft.
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  17. Two decades ago while I was at the Pentagon I wrote a short paper about where drone technology might lead. Though I have not seen much written about it since, I envisioned the development of micro drones, perhaps the size of insects, which could be used for close surveillance and targeted assassination. As such technology matures, it is conceivable that someday it will be expanded and made publicly available to any individual for use as a nonlethal defensive tool against robbery or assault. Imagine tiny stinger drones embedded in your clothing or carried in a pouch that can deploy instantly to deal with an immediate threat or shield you from attack. Perhaps micro drones also will be used to deliver nanobots into an unsuspecting terrorist. What will these nanobots be capable of doing? Perhaps they will kill him while making his death appear natural. Or maybe they will be used for psychological operations, and instead of killing the host, will enter his brain to manipulate his behavior in imaginative ways. This could include spying on his own associates, committing sabotage, or behaving in such a bizarre manner that his own people will think he's gone nuts and kill him. Of course, the possibilities are endless, meaning one day such technology may be unleashed on an unsuspecting public in an effort to make us all compliant automatons. And to think it all began as a toy.
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  18. The Halifax has always looked to me like a British version of the American B-24 Liberator. I would appreciate a story on this largely forgotten bomber.
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  19. The A/B/A-26 Invader/Counterinvader was my favorite twin engine warbird when I was a kid. The USAF retired the last one a year before I entered college ROTC, so a lot of old-timers were still around through much of my career. Indeed, even after 911, when my staff was augmented by both Reserve members and Air Guardsmen, one of the old Chief Master Sergeants loaned to us turned out to be from the Alabama Air Guard. He had started his career as an 18 year-old Airman in the unit from which the CIA had recruited many of the Bay Of Pigs crew and support personnel. He joined it shortly after the infamous invasion and filled me with stories about the acrimony these men long felt toward President Kennedy and his decision not to back them up as originally planned. Regarding the Congo incursion of 1964, one of my NCOs in the late 1970s was a black Master Sergeant who had been a C-130 loadmaster during the rescue operation at Stanleyville. He related to me that as they landed, a fellow airman who was white, asked him what he was going to do if, when they lowered the tail ramp, rebels confronted them instead of Belgian paratroopers. He replied, "That's easy; I'm going to grab you and yell 'I got mine, I got mine.'" Military humor is priceless.
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  20. The capricious Caproni.
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  21. The Albacore was more attractive than the Swordfish.
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  22. A good friend of our family flew Skyraiders in the 1950s. He swore it could carry far more than the official record states. He even showed me a photo of his aircraft fully armed and listed the weight of each piece of ordnance. The total came to over 10,000 pounds, at least matching that of the Mauler. I did some checking on the Smithsonian website and found the following quote. I do not know if this includes fuel, but presume it does. "On May 21, 1953, and AD-4B operating from Naval Air Station Dallas set a new weight-lifting record 6,791 kg. (14,941lb.) that exceeded the aircraft empty weight of 5,363 kg (11,798 lb.)."
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  23.  @rotwang2000  That's the one.
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  24.  @silversurfergw  Read ferandoparis7046 response to my comment before you trash the USA.
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  25. and the VL Pyörremyrsky - the plane that almost worked.
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  26. Can you do a follow-on story involving the North American Fury jet series?
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  27. I can believe it. A family friend had a similar experience in a B-17. He dropped a pencil and bent down to pick it up just as a Luftwaffe fighter riddled the spot were he had been sitting upright.
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  28. The name Free Burma Ranger sounds familiar. Hope you recover from the trench foot. If it's any consolation, you still have more toes than I do. 🦶
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  29. We have it on good authority from the Soviet Ministry of Propaganda that the Soviet Ministry of Truth does not lie; it only exaggerates.
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  30. I worked the 2001 Chinese incident. The CCP pilot had a reputation for thinking he was much better than he really was. His attitude cost him his life. The Russian pilot appears to be in the same category and is lucky to be alive. I doubt we'll arm the drones with AAMs, but it is an option. Failing that we can always send up fighter escorts, but I don't see any of this happening unless the Russians decide to make this practice a habit.
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  31.  @Allan_aka_RocKITEman  Imagine if their intended target was The Bombay Company. I always liked their furniture.
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  32. It looks about as stealthy as a Ford Trimotor.
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  33. Maybe all three should have been named Dragging. ;-)
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  34. Does the Merkava still pop troops out the back end?
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  35. An A-10 that could hover.
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  36. I don't remember this aircraft. Thanks for telling its history.
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  37.  @shauny2285  Nobody can predict with certainty what will happen. Rational leaders will try to avoid such an outcome, but I'm not convinced every leader in this great game is rational.
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  38. Bf-109X, the Messerwulf? Fockeschmitt? Ed, you sound a bit under the weather. Get some rest. Thanksgiving is only two days away, or do you celebrate it on your side of the Pond?
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  39. It's amazing so many different factions can effectively pull together (for now) to free Burma from their despotic military junta. I've long had a soft spot for the Karens, but I do fear what the final outcome may be, particularly if the CCP weighs in.
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  40. That must have been revised at some point. My old neighbor flew French Salmons, which had a single forward firing gun and twin guns in back for the observer, but they were classified as reconnaissance aircraft. It was a unique design in that it incorporated a true radial engine (not rotary), which was a very advanced concept for the time.
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  41. Actually, the two top scoring American aces of WWII flew P-38s. In addition to Richard Bong with 40 kills, there was Thomas McGuire with 38 kills.
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  42. The Army is always playing mind games with the Air Force. Around 2007 I was shown an artist's concept of a proposed Army heavy vertical lift transport. It looked like a C-130 that was given Thalidomide during its conception phase. Nothing ever came of it.
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  43. I'm sorry; what were you saying? I was busy posting my latest joke about Space Force.
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  44.  @localbod  No, I don't recall the name. I'm sure other people have developed similar concepts.
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  45. Dad always admired Bellanca because of the designer's emphasis on making a strong efficient aircraft that employed every possible feature as a lifting surface. For a while Dad owned part interest in a tired old 1959 Downer built Bellanca 260 which a "friend" had found. It easily cruised at 160 MPH indicated airspeed (when parts weren't coming loose in flight).
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  46. I am reminded of what happened the last time the Germans and Russians decided to screw a country that is stuck between them.
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  47. I wouldn't mind adding a PKM to my collection.
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  48. Service before self.
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  49. May you live in interesting times, May you come to the attention of those in authority, May you find what you are looking for.
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  50. This crap has been going on for decades. Soldier of Fortune Magazine was one the very few periodicals writing about it in the 1980s. I doubt many people could show you where Burma is located on a map. I believe the reason the governments of the world don't take any action is because the internal events of that beautiful tragic country don't affect them.
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