Couldn't agree more. You have to wade through the ass kissing a bit, but Boyd himself is such an amazing person it makes it worth reading
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Neil Armstrong's primary grades
- Thread starter NavAir42
- Start date
Couldn't agree more. You have to wade through the ass kissing a bit, but Boyd himself is such an amazing person it makes it worth reading
A bit of an attitude isn't uncommon. Being a complete jerk is. According to many, Boyd and Yeager were and are both.
I've been told Yeager takes his role as the world's most famous living aviator to heart. At public appearances, if you aren't scheduled to talk to him, the word is not to try to. He is apparently VERY unfriendly to glad-handers, not just Joe Blow civilians, but also to military pilots.
I've been told Yeager takes his role as the world's most famous living aviator to heart. At public appearances, if you aren't scheduled to talk to him, the word is not to try to. He is apparently VERY unfriendly to glad-handers, not just Joe Blow civilians, but also to military pilots.
I remember at TOPGUN in 93 (I was stashed there awaiting flight school) when they had a change of command. A big guest of course was Randy Cunningham. The rumblings were he was not well liked, high on himself, not a good man or officer, etc. I don't know, define a good man or good officer. Maybe those perceptions were right after what happened to him.
I'd heard that about Duke as well. Good stick, but not so hot as a skipper. It turned out he was obviously a little fuzzy on the ethics and morality deal as well. But hey, shoot down 5 bad guys and you're set. Hell, these days, shoot down ONE bad guy and you're set. Just ask RADM Fox.
NB: Not implying Admiral Fox is anything but an officer and a gentleman, I don't know him from Adam. I'm just saying, get yerself a bandit these days and you can write your ticket.
As for the "watch out for the smart guys" thing, I wasn't saying that only smart guys get you in trouble. I'm just saying that you gotta watch 'em because they can come up with brilliant, well-thought-out, logically sound and technically clever reasons for doing the most idiotic things imaginable.
NB: Not implying Admiral Fox is anything but an officer and a gentleman, I don't know him from Adam. I'm just saying, get yerself a bandit these days and you can write your ticket.
As for the "watch out for the smart guys" thing, I wasn't saying that only smart guys get you in trouble. I'm just saying that you gotta watch 'em because they can come up with brilliant, well-thought-out, logically sound and technically clever reasons for doing the most idiotic things imaginable.
I get exactly what you mean. We had a very 'smart' pilot in my Prowler squadron, ended up going to TPS too. Problem was, many of his 'ideas' were stupid/idiotic. Just ask Brett, wonderboy ended up in his squadron.......
Yep, Cunningham was a legend for his exploits. He would have lived forever with those deeds.......now he will be remembered for his misdeeds.
I had buddies who cruised with Admiral Fox has CAG. They and what seemd the airwing had nothing but respect for the man.
Although there are some funny stories too. Good guy, flew with him several times in the Prowler. He loved that the CDI had "old guy" sized LED's. Hell, he flew Vigi's! That moves him up a bit in my eyes.
How did he fly Vigi's? From his bio he was winged in 1980 (and flew A-7's before F/A-18's) and the last Vigi was retired in 1979. Did he ride in the backseat on a middie cruise?
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=115
http://broadcast.illuminatedtech.com/display/story.cfm?bp=112&sid=8126
http://www.vectorsite.net/ava5.html
I also read this book, and while I agree it was good book, and he was an amazing guy; I think he was his own worst enemy. Even though he contributed so much to aviation in the development of the F-16 and what is now the F-18, he still died a lonely, senile old man.
I'm sure most of us will too ... well, at least the senile part.
Both MRT (Fox) and Mongo (the other shooter) were very humble about their kills in DS. I don't know MRT, but cruised twice with Mongo - you won't find a better guy. He gives credit to the guys in the Hummer, his wingmen, everyone. Basically he says "I was just the right guy in the right place."
There used to be an awesome video of one of their HUD tapes floating around, background music was "Wanted dead or alive" and you can hear the call, "Hammers, Tigertail, Pop-Up threat BRA blah blah blah."
The coolest guy in the whole evolution was the Sunliner's XO, Maggot, who was the lead for the flight. Everything was VID due to the number of blue air everywhere. Maggot passed up the chance to shoot, pushed ahead and put eyeballs on the Migs.
The other side of the story was the Sluggers in VF-103. They claim that they had the MIGs locked up for 5 minutes, but couldn't get Tigertail on the radio and they missed thier chance for a kill. One of them (who was a good friend) got liquored up one night and explained to me how the Tigertails screwed up and since VFA got the kill instead of VF, contributed to the death of the Tomcat.
N
Ehhh, I don't think that anything with the 'death' of the Tomcat at all........it did last another 15 years.........