Amazing find. And this ... “If you go down to my locker, there’s 40 bucks in it. You can have it!”

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:

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Originally posted by wolfe 21:
^ Not knowing the costs involved, would it even be feasible for someone short of a Bill Gates to privately fly any modern era fighter craft because of fuel and maintenance costs?

I do remember seeing a former Marine pilot and real estate big wig owning & operating his own Harrier. Tomcat might be a bit spendy though..

They're expensive to operate, no doubt. But there are plenty of people that could afford to. There are a good number of people owning and operating retired Mig's that have similar operating costs.

The real issue with this is the security of the avionics involved. The F14's are all highly classified because of the Iranian F14s out there. I visited a small museum that had a F14 on display. The curator told me how as soon as it was parked, the Air Force stripped all avionics, radar, and related engine items to be brought to classified storage.

As for the USS Hornet, it amazes me that after all the damage (from Japanese bombs and US torpedoes), the gun mounts look serviceable, the tractor still on its wheels... I guess I expected to see things flipped and bent/broken. War is a damned strange beast.

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Originally posted by jimmy123x:

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Originally posted by wolfe 21:
^ Not knowing the costs involved, would it even be feasible for someone short of a Bill Gates to privately fly any modern era fighter craft because of fuel and maintenance costs?

I do remember seeing a former Marine pilot and real estate big wig owning & operating his own Harrier. Tomcat might be a bit spendy though..

They're expensive to operate, no doubt. But there are plenty of people that could afford to. There are a good number of people owning and operating retired Mig's that have similar operating costs.

Larry Ellison from Oracle has his own MiG.

Just amazing. Completely amazing.

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Originally posted by PASig:

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Originally posted by cjevans:

What are those hoses for? Water cooling of the barrels?

That's a good guess. I don't know the answer, myself, but I do know that's a 1.1" AA mount. They were taken out of service and replaced by Oerlikons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.1%22/75_caliber_gun

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The air-cooled Oerlikon had similar effective range and rate of fire with considerably less weight. The Oerlikon could not sustain fire for as long as the water-cooled 1.1", but six Oerlikons could be installed for the weight of a single 1.1" quad mount.[

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Originally posted by Hound Dog:


That's a good guess. I don't know the answer, myself, but I do know that's a 1.1" AA mount. They were taken out of service and replaced by Oerlikons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1.1%22/75_caliber_gun

That Wikipedia entry on the 1.1"/75 caliber gun was pretty interesting!

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The first shipboard installation in 1939 was quickly nicknamed the Chicago Piano, possibly because it was the size of a baby grand piano and looked a little like a baby grand without its lid. (Although the reminiscences of the sailors who served with these guns all agree on the nickname, no one seems to know where it originated.)

The gun was very unpopular with its crews; it was said that due to its tendency to jam, the only way to fire one was to position a gunner's mate on his back underneath the mount, equipped with an assortment of wrenches and hammers to clear them...

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Originally posted by Gibb:
The real issue with this is the security of the avionics involved. The F14's are all highly classified because of the Iranian F14s out there. I visited a small museum that had a F14 on display. The curator told me how as soon as it was parked, the Air Force stripped all avionics, radar, and related engine items to be brought to classified storage.

There's a museum out on the Oregon coast that has a gulf-war veteran Tomcat on display. I was disappointed to see how much gear had been stripped out of it.

They interviewed 103 year old Richard Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot) about finding Hornet on Fox today. He is the only one of the 80 airmen still alive and said it was such a rough ride across the North Pacific, all they wanted to do was take-off and get on with the mission.

Very cool.

I've been to her replacement, CV-12, USS Hornet at Alameda CA, as a museum ship. Cool they placed her there, since this is from where CV-8 USS Hornet picked up some twin engined aircraft for a special mission to Japan in early '42.

Here is a link to all the Continental Naval and USN Hornets. A real hornets nest with a distinguished history.

https://www.uss-hornet.org/vis...-ships-named-hornet/

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Originally posted by icom706:
Very cool.

I've been to her replacement, CV-12, USS Hornet at Alameda CA, as a museum ship. Cool they placed her there, since this is from where CV-8 USS Hornet picked up some twin engined aircraft for a special mission to Japan in early '42.

Here is a link to all the Continental Naval and USN Hornets. A real hornets nest with a distinguished history.

https://www.uss-hornet.org/vis...-ships-named-hornet/

My sons scout pack stayed overnight on the Hornet in Alameda. We slept in the same bunks the sailors slept in. I spose youd get used to having another guy’s rear end inches over your face every night. Interestingly average height of A WW2 sailor was 5-8