For those interested in the U-2, here is a video I just came across last night from an ex U-2 pilot showing some interesting first landings and landing attempts. Some are better than others. I didn’t know that part of qualifying requires you to complete a landing without callouts from the chase vehicle. Judging by the chase vehicles, some of these are pretty old but I haven’t seen any of them before. Even includes a Beale crew belly landing a T-38.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5D9pHfiBBo

Also came across this great picture last week of 11 U-2 pilots standing in front of their bird. A great shot. (This is the link to the page, click on the picture to see it full size.)

http://aviationintel.com/2013/01/29/just-a-really-cool-picture-americas-inner-spacemen/

And regarding U-2 retirement I’m not sure what the current plans are anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if they shut down the whole Air Force and all of Naval and Army Aviation next week. We’ve got some great pilots and maintainers but right now I don’t think we could run a lemonade stand without going bankrupt within a week and giving all of our customers food poisoning and scurvy. It a management problem, and we’re not smart enough to fix it.

*****

Hi Graham,

Do you have both a red and a green identity disk with these same markings? These were hand stamped, so I’ve seen some variations in format even from tags believed to be from the same period. Woolfox is the surname of the serviceman.

The format most often seen would be Service Number at the top, below that would be Religion, and next to that would be Blood Type. Below that would be the Surname with the first and middle initials either above it, beside it, or below it, depending on how many letters were in the surname and how much room there is on the disk. If you have a picture of the disk/s it would be easier to confirm or if you could diagram exactly where the markings are it would help. Without seeing it I can only guess that the tag belonged to “I.V. Woolfox”. If it is a real WWII era RAF identity disk then I don’t believe it refers to Woolfox Lodge. I believe that the RAF was the only branch of service that stamped their initials on the identity disks but they didn’t stamp “RAF” on all disks. Again, these were done by hand and there are many variations in format. Good luck.

Cheers

I’ve just seen my neighbour again and he says that he heard a Mosquito very loudly, looked up at it and, as far as he remembers, saw a second aircraft come out from clouds and crash into it. He also says that a wheel came down and lodged in a tree near where he was standing, stayed there for a few seconds and then dislodged, ending up where he would have been if he hadn’t stopped, so he must have been pretty close. He also says it was near ??St. Bartholomew’s Hospital which had been a mental hospital pre-war but was being used to treat wounded soldiers at the time,
Jim

Jim, does he remember anything about what directions the aircraft were flying in relation to each other? Was it a head-on impact?

Is it wood clad in metal, with rubber anti-skid strips glued to the metal cladding?

The only thing I can think of is the PT boats that were built in the 1960s and used by the U.S., most of them in Vietnam. They were designated PTF (Patrol Torpedo Fast) and each boat would have been numbered PTF-1, PTF-2, etc. There are lots of racks and cradles on PT boats.

I don’t know what P.T.F.”O” could stand for though.

Very wrong indeed about me Dave, it’s just the impression you Americans give us Brits, when we look at films such as an example, I mentioned.

Therein lies the problem. When you look at films! WHEN YOU LOOK AT FILMS?

That proves my point. You live in a fantasy world. Visually-literate, TV-educated. And attempting to apply your life experiences in the U.K. (a sample of ONE) to another country yields the confused results we see from you. Thankfully, your opinion of our constitutional amendments is just an opinion and has no weight in our world. We’ll never be as great as “G.B.”, a country in which if you lift a hand to defend yourself from an intruder in your own home, YOU are more likely to be charged than the perpetrator. We’re watching very closely and the numbers are staggering.

In spite of that, it would be the height of arrogance and ignorance for me to try and tell the good citizens of the U.K. how they should live their lives and what laws they should follow. That is for the citizens of that country to decide. It’s okay for me to have opinions about what goes on there, but if all I do is insult those citizens with my ignorance then it serves no purpose.

And I didn’t call you a troll. I said you might be a troll because I truly couldn’t believe some of the things you have been saying. I know now that you are absolutely no troll. You really do believe the things you are posting, of that I’m convinced now.

I do know how some U.K. citizens think. Just a few. I spent over a month there last year and will probably spend slightly more than that this year. I work with many U.K. citizens who come to the U.S. on business travels. I’ve never insulted even one of them, or told them how to run their country. I’m a guest there, not a citizen. And I leave my guns at home when I visit. I have many friends with whom I disagree, but I have no friends that are continuously rude, insulting, and uninformed.

I’m sorry that my ancestors had to shoot your ancestors to get away from crap like this. But I’m glad we got away. Goodbye Jim. Have a nice life.

Prisoners don’t administer “justice”. They get some payback or revenge. And if they were level headed, they probably wouldn’t be prison inmates in the violent offenders ward. It’s a noble concept, but it doesn’t really apply to convicted, incarcerated, violent criminals does it?

Once you put someone in jail or prison, it is then the state or nation that is responsible for their welfare.