Lone Sailor Statue Overlooks Muliple Locations

The sculpture, Lone Sailor stands outside of the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo, Iowa (above.) I saw this bronze last weekend during Memorial Day. It reminded me of the same statue (below) that I discovered in Norfolk, Virginia three years ago which overlooks the Iowa class battleship, USS Wisconsin.

The naval connection between Waterloo and the sea have been many for a landlocked state in the middle of North America. But the main reason is in memorial for five brothers who all served on the same light cruiser during World War II. The USS Juneau was sunk during a Pacific battle. All five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo died in that action. Their story can be found here.  

About a dozen Lone Sailors can be found throughout the US - see list here. 

Gitmo Bay's AT-6C Texan Displayed at Monticello Fly-In

At the Monticello, Iowa Fly-In this past Sunday was this AT-6C "Texan" aircraft with US Navy markings. Built in 1944 this particular plane served with the VC-10 attack squadron located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a couple of weeks the trainer will be in Dubuque, Iowa with other AT-6s before heading to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the big EAA show. Know that.

2011 Quad Cities Air Show - Part 1

Last weekend an air show in the Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa) took place for the twenty-something time. Its claims to be the third largest air show in the United States and featured, among other exhibits, the US Navy's Blue Angels. Half of the show consists of static displays. Above is some type of Navy helicopter that was in the process of balancing it's side fuel tanks and was guarded by the local Civil Air Patrol members.

Another static display at the show was this World War II era Avenger. This craft carried a torpedo and was used primarily in the Pacific theater. This particular plane is in immaculate condition.

Spooky is a C-47 transport plane used near the end of WWII and converted to a machine gun platform used in Vietnam. This plane was called in, usually at night, to a target area, circled the target (known as orbiting) and discharged its twin side mounted machine guns downward. This measure usually decimated the jungle and allowed for other attack aircraft to conduct missions.

A-10 Warthog jets have been around for years. They are used in the Middle East to destroy tanks and provide cover for troops on the ground. The two engine nacelles allow the plane to linger over the target area.

The Quad Cities Air Show offers site seeing for many people. Willy the dog however, was not allowed on the show's grounds but hung out in the parking area with his owner. Both enjoyed the aerial portion of the five hour show. Know that.

Touring the USS Nitze During Fleet Week 2009

The guided missile destroyer, USS Nitze paid a visit to the Nauticus in downtown Norfolk, Virginia in mid-October. The occasion was to help celebrate the US Navy's 234th birthday by welcoming the public through tours of the active duty ship. This was the first visit in four years by a Navy ship to the facility for a public tour. Click here to see Norfolk's WAVY-television report of the ship's tour.

The crew assigned to the 42N group greeted each member and asked if there were any active or retired military in our group. An ex-navy guy and his family from the Norfolk area identified himself. The Nitze crew thanked him for his service and began the tour.

Our guide (the woman pictured above) explained the name of the ship and their ongoing mission. We toured the helicopter landing area and hanger, the ship's fire fighting team, the galley (which was filled with cooks and hungry sailors), and many tight passages. Part of the 'wow' factor was a walkthru of the ship's combat information center - a subdued lighting, computer screen filled room located directly below the bridge. It looks like what you see in the movies. Any sensitive data was scrubbed from the computer screens for these public visits.

Our tour continued upstairs to the bridge and then onto the forward deck to checkout the 5-inch gun and multiple hatches for the guided missile arsenal. An interesting feature of modern warships is the phased array radar systems. Two large flat radar panels are visible in the bottom photo behind the 5-inch gun control.

Our guide explained that she doesn't recommend standing anywhere near the 5-inch gun when it fires nor when the missiles start their climb out of the hatches. She said its pretty noisy. 42N thinks its probably worse to be on the receiving end of either of those two weapon systems.

The Commander of the USS Nitze, CDR Richard Brawley, wished us well at the end of the tour. He is proud of his ship and his people. So is 42N. Know that.