“Yeah they are just parts of the structure and despite what some people claim they are not 052C type radar panels.”

The Varyag was originally designed for phased-array radars, that is just the mounting base where they would have been if they had ever been installed.

I really like the XC-142A in front of the Valkyrie…… 4 engine tilt-wing VSTOL prototype that did carrier landings & take-offs in the late 1960s.

The America was very worn out…. on her last deployment she suffered several major problems, including the control gear on one elevator letting loose and allowing it to drop to the hangar deck level in an uncontrolled manner, damaging an aircraft and injuring several crewmen.

She had not had a Service Life Extension Program modernization to give her that last 15 years of life, therefore she was right near the 35 year life that was planned when she was built. (Only the CVNs are designed for 50 years from the start)

The Kitty Hawk has had a SLEP, that is why she is still in good condition.

The problem with putting her up as a museum is that there are 3 other large CVs currently under preservation efforts: CV-59 Forrestal (the first “supercarrier”), CV-60 Saratoga (both on the east coast), and the CV-61 Ranger (on the west coast). In addition, the smaller CV 41 Midway is a museum on the west coast. Also preserved are the WW 2 veteran carriers CV-10 Yorktown (east coast), CV-11 Intrepid (east coast), CV-12 Hornet (west coast), and CV-16 Lexington (gulf coast).

Even a country as large and wealthy as the US can support only so many museum ships of the same type!

looking forward to them. 😉

I’ve been interested in the history, politics, and development of the Bolivia-Peru-Chile-Gran Chaco area for some time. Thanks for this nice site.

The only problem is it has been 27 years since my high-school Spanish classes.

Is there a good way to get a translation? (I don’t count the Babelfish translating program as “good”.)

Yes, HALO has nothing to do with cannisters or pods, it involves paratroops (usually, but not always, Special Forces) leaving the aircraft at several thousand feet (I don’t know the usual number) above ground level, but not opening the parachute until just enough altitude is left for the chute to slow them to a safe landing speed before touching down.

In most parachute landings, most of the descent with the chute open is done at the same speed, HALO simply removes all that slow, wind-affected gliding and converts the “flight” into more high-speed, controlled falling.

Nice, but I’m very privileged to live in Grand Junction, Colorado USA (on the other side of the mountains from Denver…. right beside the Utah state line).

Our local airport is home to a fully restored (in WW 2 combat configuration, except the guns don’t work, darn it!!) TBM, which flies at airshows around the country. If I get up the money (~$150 I think…. I’ll find out if anyone wants me to), I can get a ride in the “back seat” (either the navigator’s spot in the middle of the greenhouse, or in the turret).

Much better than a fire-fighter conversion that is (am I right?) going to be a static display!

“USAF storage is at Tucson (Davis Monthan), Mojave is full of airliners.”

Just a nit-pick here…. Mojave is a desert located in the south-eastern part of the State of California, with small parts extending into the southern-most part of the State of Nevada and the western part of the State of Arizona.

Davis-Monthan AFB is in the south-eastern part of the State of Arizona….. about 3 hundred miles from any part of the Mojave Desert.

This, to a Yank, is like referring to the Grampians as a Shire or County, not a mountain range, would be to a Scot.

Otherwise, yes, D-M AFB is home to many mothballed (flyable), stored, and waiting-to-be-scrapped Historic aircraft…. so many, that I sometimes get depressed at how hard it is to free any of them from the current owners (US gov., airlines, etc.), many of whom care nothing about their historic value, only about their scrap and parts value.