Comments by "MM2" (@MM22966) on "Ed Nash's Military Matters" channel.

  1. Can never tell if the Brits were tweaking noses by re-naming all their "colonial" planes with names with Revolutionary War/War of 1812 significance. Washington, Boston, Hudson, Baltimore...
    117
  2. Like half of all pre-war/early war aircraft, it looks like a thing Miyazaki would love.
    80
  3. Now let us all thank Nash for making a prescient "Who the F%ck is Prigozhin " video. Topical!
    68
  4. Thank you for the update, Ed. I had seen some combat footage that suggested things were not going well for the government the last couple of months, but I had no real feel for the situation, players, or the odds. Your point about "no Star Wars endings" is well taken. Question: are these groups socialist/communist aligned like the Kurdish YPG? I saw those red flags and did not not know what to make of them.
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  5. I wonder if Salcedo was the inspiration for Tom Clancy's character Felix Cortez, the former Cuban intel officer who worked for the "Escobedo Cartel" in the book Clear and Present Danger.
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  6. Lots of open questions: ARE they getting AMRAAM with it? How much and what kind of air-to-ground munitions? What kind of jammer support? How much more antiradiation missiles? (because to effective, they will have to a lot of Wild Weasel missions to roll back Russian ADA systems)
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  7. It's funny to think of an aircraft of that era being "European". It's not exactly a Tornado or Typhoon, but a Brit-built fuselage, a French engine, with a Swiss gun, for a Belgian order....
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  8. It's like a Superfortress and a Marauder had a baby together! Thanks for finding this, Nash!
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  9. 4. Corruption.
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  10. You know what this reminds me of? Popular Mechanics/Science artwork of future planes from this period. It has this unbelievable air to it, but its lines are sleek while sort of being...vague? Like it was the 1930's/40's idea of a super-aircraft that came to life from a artist's rendition rather than concrete plans/blueprints.
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  11. I feel the same way about late-WW2 prop fighters as I do about suits of Renaissance armor: Tech that peaked just as it went redundant.
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  12. I had never heard of this bird, and the political background adds a lot. For example, I NEVER understood why the UK sold examples of Rolls-Royce jet engines to the USSR...but by showing the nuance of the political climate between the US-UK at the time, it makes slightly more sense. Slightly.
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  13. Everybody's faces when they realize the C-130 will still be flying in the 2100's...
    17
  14. Jesus christ....At this point I fully expect a "Old Dog" stealthed battlefortress version to eventually pop up as well...
    16
  15. But are the they going to conscript the people shooting at them?
    15
  16. No, when they designed it, it was expressly designed for a conventional, WW3-style fight in Europe, a modern-day Sturmovik. That is why they built it with a 30mm tank-opener. What would have happened when it was forced to fight in the VERY heavy AAA/SAM environment the Soviets had built is another story. It IS a brilliant asymmetric/counter-insurgency attack aircraft, or if it operates in a benign air defense environment (which has been all of them for the last forty years for the USA). If we have to tangle with the Russians or Chinese, they better have all the ADA beaten down before they try using the 'Hog, just as Nash said. An aircraft you can't use because it is likely to be shot down is not very useful. Same goes for the Specters/Reapers/Predators. That's why the AF wants to dump it for more F35. On the other hand, it is a BRILLIANT low-level CAS for low-level wars, which is the more likely fight. Which is why Congress wants to hang on to it. And because it is awesome.
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  17. The ripples in the stainless steel along the side even sort of look like a wagon's canvas stretched over its bows.
    13
  18. Perun (whatta trooper stepping up!) made a lengthy two-part "what's next" strategic/economic analysis on his channel that is highly worth watching. One BIG point that struck me (and that Nash echoes in his own way) is that the Western Alliance needs to start planning out Lend-Lease for Ukraine NOW, and how it is going to be maintained over what is likely to be a multi-year conflict, and not a slo-mo frozen conflict like it was 2016-2022, but a big conventional war. Maintained the way a jogger needs to beat a sprinter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ptG1IxZ08
    9
  19. "....Not taking reference book statistics at face value" That right there is the real value of this channel. Nash really finds out, he doesn't just quote Wiki entries.
    9
  20. Boy, there's a story the Egyptians don't tell their grand-kids....
    8
  21. 1:42 Let us savor the irony of the USS Independence saying goodbye to Subic so the Philippines can be more...independent from the United States.
    8
  22. I had to look up the Fashoda Incident, which I did not know of. It is interesting how it intertwined with so many other matters that were much more well-known at the time. (Briefly, for others: the French and British tried to claim the Upper Nile at the same time for purposes of securing communication across their other African colonial possessions. The French were forced to back down - in no small part because, as Nash pointed out, they simply did not have a navy capable of playing games with the RN. It happened in 1898)
    8
  23. I HAD heard about this, but I thought it was a one-off. I didn't know they had done 30 missions with nearly no losses. That is a very good record for something that approaches wunderwaffe levels of "holy crap, they built that??!"
    8
  24. It's all about who you know & who you gulaged!
    8
  25. Greatest political decision-chain process since the Avro Arrow. Zing!
    7
  26. Career slightly interrupted by trip to death camp. Not something on most North American aviation pioneer resumes.
    7
  27. 1:40 PINKO COMMIES!!! I KNEW IT!!!! I mean, it was always suspicious, with how much the Brits liked to dress up in red so often....
    7
  28. Look, if its wings aren't bent in the middle, it ain't a Corsair! Or a Stuka. It's not a Stuka either.
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  29. So if I went to Baltimore, and asked a kid on the street what the best medium bomber of WW2 was, he'd say "A Baltimore!", and not "Gimme your wallet!"?
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  30. Those two events were more than 140 years apart. Seems like a poor analogy.
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  31. "Master has given Dobi an engine!!! Dobi is a real plane!!!" Edit: I see someone beat me to it....
    6
  32. Then you get something like the Tomcat, and they are even more confused.
    6
  33. Wow. This the kind of story I come here to see!
    6
  34. I think this was...not your best, but certainly your cutest documentary, Nash. Not the flashiest plane, but a neat little story tied up with a bow and a bit of modern footage that warms the hearts of aviation enthusiasts.
    6
  35. Never heard of it! I was thinking it was going to be another one-off prototype that never went anywhere and then Nash just keeps rolling with the service history of an absolute unit of a transport! That shot at 10:36 of it absolutely DWARFING a squadron of B-29's was hilarious!
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  36. Aircraft to make Miyazaki-sensei's heart go a'flutter.
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  37. Let's not forget the advantages of the "F16 effect" and dropping costs/operational flexibility/maintenance commonality/etc if EVERYBODY in NATO is using the damn thing. Is the F35 the Sherman tank of the 21st century?
    6
  38. Lockheed-Martin's discretionary & hospitality budget is the greatest SAM system ever devised - it shoots down aircraft BEFORE they fly!
    6
  39. LOL!!! So true!!! And Raytheon, and McBoeing, Gruman, BAE, etc, etc
    5
  40. Kind of looks like a F-102 and an A-4 had a baby.
    5
  41. Nash, do you have any feel how the Indians view the whole thing? It is their back yard, and they play as a world power, but I have never heard a peep one way or another (in English media) about where they stand.
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  42. There was a long list of shoot downs from the early 50's to about 1958. Mostly Soviet/East-bloc fighters shooting other people's spy planes, airliners, etc. It only slowed down after Gary Powers & the U2 went down.
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  43.  @bholdr----0  Cheese Peak?! Look, I know the Brits like giving stuff odd names, but that's taking things too far!
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  44. It was discussed adding a heavy tailgun at one point, but nothing on this scale.
    4
  45. What an absolute bunch of sweethearts.
    4
  46. The origin of "sabotage" involved using wooden shoes to destroy machinery. This being SE Asia, I can well believe somebody tossed their flipflop into a turbine along with a satchel charge.
    4
  47. "The Filipino Ministry of Defense will now be accepting bribes...I mean BIDS from all leading aerospace firms wishing to sell their aircraft."
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  48. 5:50 The way Nash paused, I was half-expecting him to say "four-thousand five hundred pounds...of WOOD!"
    4
  49. What gets me about this period is these guys were making state-of-the-art technology...in a garage, in their spare time. That hasn't happened since...what? Bill Gates and Windows?
    4
  50. Who knew the Rambo movie showcased the lighter side of the Burmese military?
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  51. 5:20 18 wounded Marines evac'd in ten flights, with a two seat-plane...(does math with fingers)...THEY STRAPPED THEM TO THE WINGS, DIDN'T THEY???
    4
  52. But....it has no bomb bay? This seems to be false advertising on the part of the Bristol Aircraft Company.
    3
  53. I think you are giving this incident & the Russians more sophistication than it deserves.
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  54. So....Glasgow Airport (2007) all over again??? How the heck do you lock someone IN a car, though?
    3
  55. Fair's fair: Now we get to break one of their toys.
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  56. "In three years, Sikorsky will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All Blackhawks are upgraded with Sikorsky computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Sikorsky funding bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from military cargo helicopter operations. Sikorsky begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware 2:14 AM, Eastern time, August 29th. It hates that soldiers keep leaving their dip bottles and barf bags in its troop compartment and starts doing barrel rolls in revenge. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."
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  57. How would you get the patient, especially a litter, in and out?
    3
  58. Hell, USAF knew that thirty years ago.
    3
  59. After watching various Nash, Drach, and Rex videos, plus a fair amount of reading, I have come to the conclusion that the French military R&D motto starts with "I'm not going to do what everybody thinks I'm going to do..."
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  60. "The Ukrainian invasion of Russia". Imagine going back in time just 15 years and explaining this. They'd send you to the loony bin so fast you'd hit light-speed on the way there.
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  61. Angry Reminder: The US government under Biden still forbids HIMARS and other long-range US weapons from being used by the Ukrainians against Russian soil, everywhere except the area around Belgorod!
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  62.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  Ugh. Reminds me of Syria circa 2011-2012. Or Lebanon. Or Russia, around 1917. I hope somebody is thinking about getting everybody to sit down NOW and hammer something out that is workable post-conflict, assuming it can be. (and assuming they maintain this momentum) And where is China? I thought they backed the junta? Getting shy again?
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  63. I know why (I think) we won't do it, but it would be much simpler and more glorious if they simply re-established the Flying Tigers/Eagle Squadron/Lafayette Escadrille/Kościuszko's Squadron with the US DOD's blessing and some surplus F-15/16/18's. American/NATO volunteer pilots on leave from official duties - it would give us some practical air combat experience in a modern ADA environment, and I imagine there are dozens if not hundreds of aviators that would jump at the chance.
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  64. When you build an aircraft based on Popular Mechanics cover art.....
    2
  65. To be fair, that applies to most Americans/most countries on a map, LOL.
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  66. But...he does launch rockets. He launches more rockets than everybody else on the planet. We're going back to the Moon and eventually to Mars because of him. He's made internet available for cheap to the most remote places on the planet. He still makes boneheaded statements sometimes, but he's a public figure. I can't think of one that doesn't do that eventually.
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  67. Thank you for this, Nash. I have now finally heard something more historically ridiculous than the Soviet Pepsi-cola Fleet.
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  68.  @ricardokowalski1579  Yeah, they were clearly caught pants=down. Maybe they pulled the more effective units toward Kherson and that was something that accelerated the Russian route?
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  69. I've seen this in at least three different movies.
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  70.  @mbryson2899  That was one I was thinking of. Also Marvel's Winter Soldier and that old Tom Selleck scifi movie, Runaway. Neat film, and ahead of its time in some ways. Worth watching.
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  71.  @elennapointer701  Ahhhhh, thanks!
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  72. Yeah, I saw an article where a Uke pilot was talking about how the Flankers and MIG-31's hang back over the border and lob missiles at them from the safety of the Russian SAM net. Going to need something long range to push them back/counter. @SakiniCZ 
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  73. Good point. @JonMartinYXD 
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  74. "...and decides its purpose in life is to intercept other aircraft."
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  75. That is some niche fandom!
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  76.  @JuanCarlosCoreaBarrios  No S. I took a quick peek at the state-of-the-art in 1968 and it was pretty bad.
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  77.  @SPboxcar67290l  They probably had a very limited budget. Hand-animation COSTS.
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  78. Hey, the Brits aren't the only one that should have human blenders!
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  79. The Mauler sort of underlines a minor trend in military tech that I have noticed: the ultimate form of a particular piece of military tech is achieved just as it goes outmoded; piston torpedo bombers, knightly armor, wooden sailing warships, battleships...tanks are still up in the air, I guess.
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  80. Huh. I didn't think of that. Like IDF attacks into Suez in 1973.
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  81. You look and think "no way!". But it works very well. Why wasn't it pursued more, especially in the 40's and 50's????
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  82. Looking at this thing...somewhere, David Drake is smiling.
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  83. What, fill out an Osprey or something with guns and rockets?
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  84. Any evidence of use?
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  85. Every time I hear about interwar German/USSR military cooperation, I get "NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!" levels of comedy vibes. Imagine if modern Japan wanted to sneak around behind everybody's back and develop nuclear weapons, so they go to North Korea for help. It is that kind of silly-insane-clever.
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  86. Damn. The power of interior lines of communication to dictate combat rhythm gets demonstrated yet again! I never would have thought they could swing a major axis so far after getting involved in Kherson! The tide (cautiously) seems to be turning, far sooner than anybody would have thought. However, the raspustina is coming in, what? A month? Lots of mud. And winter after that. This may enforce a slow-down in combat-ops. Additionally, I am worried that this might be the most dangerous phase; Putin has to be thinking about nukes right now to retrieve the situation, and the Russians in general have demonstrated a very flagrant attitude in public on how "easy" it would be to use them. I hope the Ukrainian general staff is making sure there is good dispersal of units/supply dumps, etc.
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  87. Thanks for the update, Ed! You beat Perun to the punch!
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  88.  @givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 Hey, it was a thumbnail!
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  89. When you plug an office floor fan into the back of your aircraft as a powerplant, but you make it work and everybody takes it seriously, because you are German.
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  90. Yes and no. There have been some programs for drone naval choppers over the last twenty years, but they haven't gone mainstream.
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  91. Thanks!
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  92. Oh man, I had never heard of a GUNSHIP mod with a freaking gatling gun for these whirlies! Or that the Japanese got such good use out of it! (which figures; they always take pains with their equipment)
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  93. Jesus, I had never heard any of this. Thanks, Nash. Also, the next time somebody brings up how Lock-Mart or Boeing or whoever in the West plays fast and loose with the rules & plays politics to cut somebody else out of a aircraft contract that they shouldn't have gotten, and bemoans how capitalism ruins things...I am going to point to this, to show the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence, or the Wall, as the case may be.
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  94. Not discussed & probably not quantifiable, but I wonder how much closing Gamma (and I assume related programs of intel gathering) had on losing the Vietnam War?
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  95.  @Sherwoody  "If plane does not fly, you can use it to heat your stove!"
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  96. A good way to summarize the problem.
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  97. Probably structural issues. With canvas, wood, and wires to work with with...Even if they could take the weight, the vibration and recoil were probably something else again.
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  98. There are lists out on the Net, on Wiki, that list a very long number of aircraft shot down during the Cold War, especially in the middle 1950's to early 1960's. Most were as the incident Nash described at 8:05, but it also included airliners that wandered off course, spy missions, and even two neutral Swedish aircraft. Privateers were also in that list. The Soviets and their various Communist allies had a very paranoid/aggressive approach to borders, and sometimes the US bent the rules to get better intel. There was also the issue that the Soviets considered maritime/air boundaries of countries starting at TWENTY-FIVE miles, while the Western allies adhered to the general 12-mile rule. So you could be in "Soviet" airspace as far as they were concerned, even if your charts said otherwise.
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  99.  @arararagisan1197  I hope your post-war government isn't "interesting", assuming they manage to throw the junta out. I am also surprised the Chinese are not doing more to support the junta. My understanding was that they were a primary backer.
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  100. "You will believe a lawnmower can fly! And carry a ASW torpedo!"
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  101. You know, I never really thought about it, but it is strange that these guys went to odd places like South America while other prominent R&D types like Von Braun got yanked up to the US/UK by OP Paperclip, or the Soviet equivalent. Did they just run faster?
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  102.  @Caseytify  Good point.
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  103. Stealth Maple!
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  104. Congratulations, Nash. Please keep posting!
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  105. 1:57 "SHOW ME YOUR COMMUNISM FACE!!!" "Hey, I didn't mean literally...."
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  106. Sounds good, but over what time frame? Do the Poles actually have the money for a order this big??? All kidding, I actually bet soembody months back that Poland would be the new military power in Europe over the next 50 years or so. It's more than money or numbers; they seem to WANT to develop a battle-tested and effective military capable of taking the fight to....somebody.
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  107.  @dotEXCEI_  Unless it all talk and propaganda?
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  108. Nash, I have a recommendation for the next 'fight' vid: Ogden War, 1977. Ethiopian F-5E vs. Somali MIG-21's.
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  109. Summary: Junta hold capital and central valley, along with balance of population, plus selected fortified cities, some of which are under siege. Rebel groups hold north, west, and parts of south and east, along with most border areas, and are making slow incremental advances. Diplomatic pressure/attention on conflict for great powers in tepid, with exception of China, which is showing some monetary and logistic support to BOTH sides. Does that stand up, Nash?
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  110. Thanks for the explanation on doctrine/design choices for the FAA. Their various oddly-shaped aircraft always puzzled me. It was clear just looking at them they weren't trying to do what the Americans and Japanese were doing, despite the Brits having the tech to do so. I never understood why until now. Their entire carrier force was just a better form of catapult-launched spotter from their point of view. (doctrinally, not in employment)
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  111. Nash is one the serious Youtube reporters on this conflict. Preston Stewart is another. They weigh in on the weaknesses/failures that have to be overcome on the friendly side as well as report enemy disasters.
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  112. "...and this is the current Syrian Army hand sign." I fell down laughing.
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  113.  @dovidell  It WOULD be funny to sit down and see what the Egyptian perspective is on the Arab-Israeli Wars.
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  114.  @Stubbino  Yeah, it's always been the debate. USAF even had a experimental squadron at one point of Super-Tucanos for that reason...the problem is that, the A29 is great at CAS, but useless for other roles, just as you named. I think the AF dumped them on the Afghani air force before the collapse. Same reason most the B-26's and Skyraiders they used in Vietnam were handed over to the South Vietnam air force when we left there. Beware: Whomsoever we donate any A10s to, they shall fall!! It is the used CAS airframe generosity curse!!!!
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  115. Turkey, unfortunately, would have to do something considerably more raw than this to get any kind of serious push together to evict them from NATO. Why do you think they're using proxies?
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  116. Welp, Ed was off by two days. Not a bad sideline call at all.
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  117.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  I wish the news was not so inane. They are either reporting "I see smoke/explosions on horizon, stuff's happening", or trying to drum up the finger-waving by the Western allies/UN at Russia, as if Putin gives a crap since Biden already publicly wrote the Ukraine off. What I want to know is: what are the EASTERN NATO members going to do, once Russia rolls up however much of Ukraine he has his sights on? That has the potential to really expand this if they decide to try some variation of "support the rebels".
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  118.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  You think? I dont't know. If I had to lay money down, it would taking over Belarus all or in part, especially if Lukashenko drops dead in the near future. Though admittedly it has the same up/down sides as Moldova. Short-term, the question is how much/how far into Ukraine they are gonna go. Kiev's gotta be awfully tempting right now.
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  119. Update: I waaaaaay overestimated how well the Russians were going to do. My bad, their worse bad, all good for the Ukes and everyone else. :)
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  120. I am trying to picture what firing a GAU-8 from this thing would have been like...Probably something like being in a car crash combined with an earthquake.
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  121. I wonder how much the C130 knocked these things out of major service.
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  122.  @typhusfever2262  It helps that this is a conventional war where good tech and tech skills really matter. Iraq and Afghanistan and their thousand little firefights and bomb drops/IEDS didn't provide the same theatre to show this. And it helps the Ukrainians are actually GOOD allies worth helping!
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  123.  @typhusfever2262  True. Maybe I should have phrased it as "effective peer vs peer warfare" or something else.
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  124. "...and, uh, drugs. For some of them." LOL.
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  125. "You can't just clip the wing off a Blackbird and put a camera on it!"
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  126.  @ricardokowalski1579  You don't need a lot of trucks to get ahead of an advance, if it is just guys hitching a ride. Look at the US retreat from Chosin in the Korean War.
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  127. Look, I know copying German tech was all in vogue after WW2, but you weren't supposed to do it with a Ju-52.
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  128. Okay. And that fits with previous weapon systems; AIM-120B is out of service for C models, and the US Air Force and others have just went to the -D variant according to Wiki and are probably working on its replacement now in R&D.  @Spey_Phantom 
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  129. Damn, I forgot about NASAMS being ground launched Slammers. @aritakalo8011 
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  130. Interesting. But since they got a HARM fired off a MIG-29, I hold out hope of field mods. @iatsd 
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  131. Why do all the non-main planes from the Brits across the 30's and 40's look like Hayao Miyazaki had input?
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  132. "....and FOUR 37mm cannon." LOL. Russians: "Don't try and steal our sturmovik ideas, America!"
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  133. I keep thinking of that Drachfiniel episode: "When Hotels Go To War" for some reason when I watch this...
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  134.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  Sacre Blue (Max)!!!
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  135. My first question was: engine availability. If those Wasp engines were not being built in Australia, then that means they were being imported, presumably from the US or UK. If that was true, then the rational behind a unique homegrown aircraft loses a lot of its validity.
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  136.  @benwilson6145  Must have missed it, thnx.
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  137. 4:21 So cute. It even has eyebrows on the eyes.
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  138. One crashed and they cancelled the program. (in another timeline)
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  139. It's kind of like a 747: It LOOKS like its type. If you say "British heavy bomber", this is kind of what I would think of, even if I get it confused with Lancs, Halifaxes, Manchesters. etc.
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  140. Or until it runs out of gas.
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  141. Mmmmm...Flying tuna.... Homer drooling noises
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  142. They made about a 100 of these. Jesus save the crews!
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  143. Cigarette storage. Whenever a pilot needs the cool, crisp taste of Lucky Strike (tm) cigarettes, he can reach back and pull a fresh one out.
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  144. What about the Falk-....Oh, yeah. RAF, not Fleet Air.
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  145. I feel I have seen this before. Were they doing a mind-meld with the Japanese?
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  146. "Like, O-47-my god, Becky! Look at her canopy! It's SO big! And the belly cabin! It's so FAT!! She's just so....OBSOLETE!"
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  147.  @a.fredscullard162  Mr. Woke?
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  148.  @Galvars  That always makes me laugh. As if Germany wouldn't crap its collective panties if the US/NATO asked them to strap a nuke on a Luftwaffe plane and go bomb somebody.
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  149. @ I thought of that, too. Then I discarded it when I realized a C-47 could carry about 5 or 6 times as many patients, nearly as fast, farther, and in greater comfort, and from the same kinds of airfields.
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  150. Thanks for this, Nash, and tell your friends in the Free Burma Rangers to be safe. I had seen some vague reports of what was happening up north, but I didn't know Turkey & its proxies was pushing just as hard as Israel to set "ground truth" before Syria settles into whatever the new normal is going to be.
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  151. Like something out of a Looney Tunes video....Perhaps the intention was to add so many wings that the aircraft would not need to leave the ground to give the impression it was airborne. Some kind of aviation equivalent of turtle-stacking.
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  152.  @johnladuke6475  Funny conversation, given what just happened recently with Mr. Baldwin.
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  153.  @All2Meme  "Look, it's not going to fall out of the sky if you buy it..." "Like the Starfighter?" "Okay, bad example."
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  154.  @jtho8937  Yes.
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  155. Will you be satisfied with remembering A Columbia?
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  156. "...-It's obvious!" To Russians. Never change, Russian design bureaus, never change. :)
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  157.  @PappyGunn  Quite a lot & more to come, and "All the better to beat you with" is, I believe, an appropriate comeback to a Russian shill.
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  158. Can you imagine being some fresh-faced new FAA pilot in 1939? He gets to his first squadron out of training, and he asks, "So what do we fly??? Hurricanes? Those shit-hot new Spitfires I've heard about?!"....and they say, "Naw, mate. Here's your kite," and show him a Roc.
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  159. I think the unspoken international standard right now is that you can do anything horrible to your own people, in your own borders, and the international reaction will be pretty negligible (as far as effective action). BUT if you attack another country or significantly cause problems outside your borders to disturb/frighten the international order (and that can be refugee streams, vital resource control, successful conquest, do it near major trade routes or important countries' borders, etc), THEN other people get serious. Burma and the Burmese military govt simply don't meet that test. Ukraine does.
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  160. "...but it killed its test pilot."
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  161. Just tell them you're illegal immigrant. They'll pass you right in!
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  162.  @zJoriz  ✌
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  163. 1:40 Love the pivot-analogy, lol
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  164. There was never a heavier-gunned version of anything a Russkie didn't like. Its a characteristic that shows up in everything they build, and apparently are given as Lend-Lease.
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  165. Fieseler: "Stupidly slow, micro takeoff distances and long landing legs?! That's my wheelhouse!"
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  166. Start a spelling bee?
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  167.  @wtice4632  Since there is video of people from rebel towns after they got gassed, and that OSCE/Norwegian ship took on a load of chemical weapons for disposal after the US airstriked Syria for using chemical weapons, I am not sure what table you are standing on.
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  168. I almost thought it was a Me-210 when I saw the thumbnail.
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  169. V. : But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. VOILA!! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V. Evey: Are you like a crazy person? V. : I’m quite sure they will say so.
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  170. I sometimes think there might have been a lack of understanding morally. The Soviets, especially under Stalin, were evil, and I don't think the Western powers really understood that in the gut at the time. A rival power, yes, but not monsters. We don't get THEM, either, because we have decades of defectors, stories, and open records showing what was going on behind the Iron Curtain at the time that weren't widely available in 1946.
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  171. Are we sure it isn't just a large lawnmower flipped over and mocked-up as one?
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  172. Sort of interesting there was no Chinese competitor mentioned, no J-17, etc.
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  173. Nash, shhh!!! It's supposed to be a secret!!!! Do you want to Fokker things up for Hans?
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  174. It will be funny if this gets labelled "The Fourth Battle of Kharkiv" by the historians, when the dust settles.
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  175. Oh, I don't know. If they have cross-border safe areas in Thailand, India, etc, and small but steady supply of recruits, supplies, & weapons, along with some political support from the western allies, they could probably keep up a level of resistance to the junta. It sounds like a recipe for long-term inconclusive slaughter, however.
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  176. Why?
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  177.  @waterwalker1315  Ah. Airspace management issues, then? Taking up altitudes and flight areas from faster aircraft? I have seen that happen with helicopters.
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  178.  @robertharper3754  They got a whole toilet successfully up their butt? Wow, that is some ingenuity!
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  179.  @EdNashsMilitaryMatters  So, generally officially express concern, privately ignore unless it spill over/gets bigger, and profit $$$ under the table? I've heard similar stuff about Singapore.
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  180. Not as effective as MANPADS.
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  181.  @qh-50dashman26  How did they aim it? How they fire it without shaking the gyro to pieces?
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  182.  @qh-50dashman26  Thanks! Sounds like you had some hands-on experience!
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  183. VERY GOOD POINT, Deaks25!
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  184. "Small is good! Small is cute! If plane does not work, you can throw it off cliff to fly it!"
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  185. I had forgot about the S. Korea Sov set.
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  186. Sounds like they really wanted the acronym of the project to come out as S.H.I.E.L.D.! I mean, SHiELD.
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  187. This is a twist: Usually prop-transports evolve into bombers, not the other way around!
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  188.  @ollimoore  Oops, fixed!
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  189. Another great one, Nash! I had never heard of this thing!
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  190. Oh man, I remember seeing drawings of these things in Popular Science/Mechanics back in the day. Now that I understand things better, I wonder what they were thinking - drive a slower, LESS capable light fighter into a modern Warsaw Pact AD network??! They must hate pilots.
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  191. Well, I mean it was FRAM or they went into a Reserve fleet anchorage to rust. Those were the choices.
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  192.  @dovidell  Wasn't that where they all ran into the ground in front of a bunch of VIPs?
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  193.  @ernestcote3398  No. There's too many smartphones out there now. You couldn't keep any large number of foreign troops secret for long.
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  194. CAS is a primary AF role... But AF hates doing CAS. This was why the Army basically had to blackmail the AF into buying the Warthog in the first place.
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  195. You have practical points, but there is always the question of morale and speed. Just standing there and taking it may be efficient in the macro sense, but it's incredibly draining on a military & people's will to keep fighting. Offensive operations (as long as they go well) get people excited, make them more aggressive and willing to fight. As far as speed, they may be obtaining local superiority and using what are sometimes called force-multipliers by hitting the Russians fast from an unexpected direction, keeping them off-balance, and inflicting more damage that way. There's also the question on how the Russian people will react to a offensive toward a historic city like Kursk.
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  196. "Scorecards! Get your scorecards heah!!! Can't tell the players without a scorecard!"
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  197. Oh, I could see the ICC eventually issue a warrant, for whatever good it does.
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  198. My childhood realized! (Of course now you have to do an episode on that hilariously bad "Stealth" movie and its autonomous drone fighters....)
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  199. Remember kids: You don't need drones to kill people! Turboprop COIN still has its place!
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  200. Does anyone else feel like breaking out in the Simpson's "MONORAIL!" song every time they hear Mono-plane? Is it just me?
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  201. There are German-made Marders attacking toward Kursk by people the Russians call Fascists. History has a sense of humor.
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  202. I had no idea these had done such extensive and good work for the Air Cav. Thanks, Nash!
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  203.  @olivergs9840  Must have spinny nose. Smiley nose does not count. Unless it's a Stuka. Spinny AND Smiley nose count if it's a Stuka.
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  204.  @clivestainlesssteelwomble7665  Mini what?
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  205.  @johncmitchell4941  Not a car guy. How was it state of the art tech for its time?
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  206.  @misterbig9025  Legendarily corrupt, I would have said...and yet you voted his kid into office?
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  207. Wow. Nash didn't go into this level of detail. Thanks!
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  208. Let's not forget the added benny of free combat-testing.
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  209. Huh. I thought the Soviets were the only ones that tried this tactic.
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  210. Lockheed: How much bubble do you want in your bubble-canopy? Air Force: YES.
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  211. If NATO isn't using Italian frogmen to mess with the Russians, they should be.
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  212. A history-minded mugger? @jtjames79 
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  213. It's the real question in all this: How much does Russia have in immediate reserves and how fast can they get them there?
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  214. Nash seems fairly convinced these guys will fall, but there are plenty of cases of dictators hanging on. Assad, for example, is still running Syria.
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  215. Let us pause and savor all the ways to make a joke about this aircraft named a "Roc".
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  216. Vietnam's face when the realize they can fund their military for several budget-years by selling American weapon collectors back their old sh&t in the 21st century.
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  217.  @pjotrtje0NL  I would appreciate some numbers/names to prove that. A quick check shows over 500 C130J currently produced, and 120 or so A400M. C390 numbers are a little harder, but it is somewhere less than 20. Somebody like the Dutch buying 5 Embraers or Hungrary contracting 10 A400Ms to add to the NATO Transport Force isn't exactly "moving away" in any meaningful sense. Or put another way, if we were shown pictures of a NATO airlift, how many Hercules would we see, and how many other kinds of aircraft?
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  218.  @Justanotherconsumer  I was actually thinking of the Dakota as a model - long retired with major powers/airlines, but you still see it flying in out of the way places.
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  219. Glad Nash covered this. There are lists out there, on Wiki and other sites, of the HUGE number of intercepts, shootdowns, and general aerial mayhem that was going on from the mid to late 1950's around the fringes of Cold War borders. It wasn't always limited to US snooper aircraft, either. Brits, Swedes, even straying civilian airliners were targets - the Russkies, ChiComs and various satellite country East Bloc air forces had a very robust sense of what constituted "intrusion". Probably a lot of this dropped off after the Cuban Missile Crisis because everybody started to realize just blazing away at aircraft NEAR your borders was a good way to start WW3. (Not that there weren't still incidents. Flight 007, etc)
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  220. I'd only add that there are still pockets of ISIS-affiliated terrorists (more like bandits) in the central part of Syria. Oh, and the Druze.
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  221. Never heard of this before...and I can see why! Imagine being a "pilot" for this thing, belly down and your faces inches from the instrument panel, as you zoom straight at a large metal bomber with intent of smashing into it. Better hope those shoulder-straps are tight, chief....
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  222. Thanks!
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  223. Bloody interesting! Thanks, Nash!
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  224. Kind of like saying the SR-71 could have been the best bomber interceptor of the Cold War.
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  225. Yeah, I had missed that glancing at the map.
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  226.  @Matt_from_Florida  Honestly, I don't know. The Crimea is the closest thing they have to a "Miami Beach", so it may be frozen somewhere north of there. As far north as Kherson? Certainly as far as Kiev.
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  227.  @weasle2904  Agree, but grain of salt time: It wasn't designed primarily for air-superiority (unlike F22) and it HAS NOT gone up against a 4/5-Gen fighter, so we don't really know for sure. Modern conflicts always have eye-openers as to what works, what doesn't, and what exceeded all expectations. (Patriot, Exocet, Harrier, Bradley, T72, etc, etc) My one big gripe about the F35 is actually its combat range, which is fairly short. I was actually surprised Canada agreed to buy simply because THEIR primary need is for long-range patrol/NORAD air defense
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  228.  @weasle2904  Hmmm, I sort've assumed they were shouldering at least some of the NORAD Far North patrol work. Not so? (and good point about drop tanks and F-18 having even shorter combat radius)
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  229. Now THAT'S embarrassing. Reminds me of how France made the UK-based U.S. strike aircraft go around during the Libyan punitive strikes back in 1986.
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  230.  @kevanhubbard9673  Once, maybe. Not multiple times.
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  231. I hear they all had hairy ears!
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  232. @ No can do, Paveway. We're trying to junk that woke stuff. :)
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  233. @ I understood that reference!
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  234. HAAAAAAAW-KAAAA!!!! Had to do it.
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  235. Given what Northrop is probably going to charge the US taxpayer for it, the B21 BETTER be one hell of an aircraft.
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  236. Somebody needs to make a list of all the reasons aircraft don't get made.
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  237.  @meyou6556  Washington. (war of 1812)
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  238.  @derek6579  Yeah, but given the aircraft are American in British service, I always thought the actual choices were the result of a private joke.
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  239. I wonder if somebody got a report about Hans Urich Rudel flying the Ju-87G at Kursk, and thought "Hey, let's do that too, but with a faster aircraft!!"
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  240. I would laugh so hard if Warthogs showed up in Ukraine colors...shooting up Russian tanks, their intended purpose, 50+ years after they went into service.
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  241. Great episode, but I am not sure I agree with Nash. I kept thinking about the Me-110, Herman Goering, and the "Zestroyer" doctrine the Luftwaffe was in love with at this point in the war, and we all know what happened: heavy firepower and twin engines were not a substitute for a maneuverable, high-performance single-seat fighter. Me-110s were hacked down in the Battle of Britain and other fronts in large numbers when put against fighters, and I can't see the S.E. 100 doing better against German Me-109s, even theoretically....no matter how ridiculous its gun-power. (TEN 20mm?!!)
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