logbook VOLUME 14

Volume 14, Number 1

Feature Articles:

Corsairs for Argentina - Part Two
By Santiago Rivas

The chance vought F4u-5 corsair was the first carrier embarked combat aircraft for argentine naval aviation, and represented the beginning of carrier operations in that country. Although upon their arrival the aircraft were all but obsolete, most latin american countries were still operating piston-engined planes, and other than argentina, none of the had a ship-bourne capacity.
Part two of the chronicle of the corsair in argentina.

Around the World in 94 Hours
by Steve Hallex

World War Two was over, and the Allies had emerged victorious over the Axis. Of course, one of these Allied nations was the Soviet Union, and as history has recorded, a once comrade in arms soon became the primary threat in what would become a decades-long Cold War. Acknowledging this new threat, U.S. Air Force planners soon realized that a capability to strike deep within the Soviet Union was a basic requirement for the U.S. bomber force. The trouble was that the current long-range heavy bomber - the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and its souped up cousin, the B-50 - simply did not have the range to make these strikes. Clearly, inflight refueling was the way to go.
What is now a common procedure was back in the late 1940s, a rather unproven evolution. To prove that with inflight refueling a bomber's range could be extended almost indefinitely the USAF decided to conduct a test flight - a round-the-world test flight.
Author Steve Hallex tells the story of the Lucky Lady II (yes, there was a Lucky Lady I, and there would be a Lucky Lady III), a B-50 that proved no target in the Soviet Union was out of range of U.S. attack. 

What Ever Happened To Ralph Ritchie?
by the LOGBOOK Staff

Ralph Westley Ritichie (1898 - 1967), if the story is true, led a life in the air that reads like an adventure novel. A good bit of reading but hardly a true story. Or was it?
He was, according to an article in the January 1951 issue of "Naval Aviation News" magazine, an enlisted sailor, a boxing champion, a Naval Aviator, an early airline pilot, a South American bush pilot, a Colonel in the Bolivian Air Force, a squadron leader in the British Royal Air Force, and back again to an enlisted sailor. Quite a life, indeed.
The trouble is that unlike other adventurous aviators of his era, Ritchie's life is not chronicled in any books. He surely existed, but how much of the life recorded in that magazine article is true? This is the first in a series of articles detailing the research into the life and times of Ralph Westley Ritchie. 

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 14, Number 2

Feature Articles:

A Day at TOPGUN
Navy Fighter Training Thirty Years Ago
by Dave “Bio” Baranek

YES, IT SEEMS LIKE NOT ALL THAT LONG AGO, BUT THE U.S. NAVY FIGHTER WEAPONS SCHOOL FIRST STOOD UP WAY BACK IN 1969. BIO BARANEK WAS BOTH A STUDENT, AND THEN LATER AN INSTRUCTOR, AT THE EARLY 1980S, AND HAS SOME GREAT STORIES TO TELL - SOME FINE SEA STORIES FROM A GUY WHO WAS THERE.
TODAY, THE SCHOOL IS NOW KNOWN AS THE U.S. NAVY STRIKE FIGHTER TACTICS INSTRUCTOR SCHOOL, A NOD TO THE EVER CHANGING MISSION OF NAVAL AVIATION.

757 Missions Across the Hump
by Dirk Septer

IN WORLD WAR TWO, FOR AN AMERICAN MILITARY PILOT, THE COMMON TOUR OF DUTY WAS 80 MISSIONS FLYING OVER THE HUMP. FOR CANADIAN-BORN BROTHERS ALBERT AND CEDRIC MAH, OF CHINESE DESCENT, THAT NUMBER HELD NO MEANING. AT THE END OF THEIR WARTIME SERVICE FLYING FOR THE CIVILIAN AIRLINE CHINESE NATIONAL AVIATION CORPORATION - WHICH WAS OWNED BY PAN AMERICAN AIRWAYS - THE TWO BROTHERS HAD LOGGED A COMBINED 757 FLIGHTS OVER THE HUMP, AS WELL AS OTHER MISSIONS OVER WARTIME CHINA.

Flying the “Six”
Memories of the F-106 Delta Dart
by Warren E. Thompson

EVEN BY TODAY’S STANDARDS THE CONVAIR F-106 DELTA DART WAS ONE HOT SHIP.IT WAS NICKNAMED THE “ULTIMATE FIGHTER” AND WAS OPERATIONAL FROM 1959 TO 1988, A LONG TENURE, INDEED. BASED ON A NUMBER OF PERSONAL INTERVIEWS, WARREN THOMPSON TELLUS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO FLY THE “SIX,” A FIGHTER THAT WAS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM OF ALMOST EVERY PILOT THAT FLEW IT.

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 14, Number 3

Feature Articles:

Flying by Ear
A Father and Son Conversation
by Captain Douglas H. Parrott

THINGS CERTAINLY DO CHANGE, AND THE YOUNGSTER PILOT OF TODAY WOULD FIND THE NAVIGATIONAL TECHNIQUES OF THE EARLY 1950S VERY STRANGE INDEED. MANY OF THESE TECHNIQUES ARE ALL BUT GONE TODAY. IN A CONVERSION BETWEEN CAPTAIN DOUGLAS PARROTT AND HIS SON CAPTAIN JEFF PARROTT, THE FATHER EXPLAINS WHAT IS WAS LIKE TO BE AN AIRLINE PILOT NAVIGATING THE AIRWAYS BACK JUST AFTER THE END OF WORLD WAR TWO.

Taking The Air Force to Sea
by Commander John P. Lamers USNR (Retired)

ON THE VERY FIRST DAY HE CHECKED IN TO DRILL WITH HIS RESERVE SQUADRON, JOHN LAMERS FOUND THAT, BY VIRTUE OF HIS RANK, HE WAS NOW THE COMMANDING OFFICER. AND, SINCE THE NAVY HAD CHANGED THEIR POLICIES, DEMANDING MORE AND MORE FROM ITS RESERVE SQUADRONS, COMMANDER LAMERS FOUND THAT HE HAD HIS WORK CUT OUT FOR HIM. HE ALSO FOUND THAT HE HAD TWO AIR FORCE RESERVE PILOTS UNDER HIS CHARGE. NO PROBLEM - HE TOOK THE TWO AIR FORCE GUYS TO THE BOAT WITH THE REST OF THE SQUADRON.

Learning to FLy in the Civilian Pilot Training Program: 1942 - 1943
by John R. Redrup

AS THE UNITED STATES MOVED CLOSER AND CLOSER TO BEING INVOLVED IN WORLD WAR TWO, MILITARY PLANNERS QUICKLY SAW A NEED FOR MORE AND MORE PILOTS. THEY ALSO REALIZED THAT WHILE THEY MAY NEED THESE NEW PILOTS QUICKLY, THE MILITARY WAS IN NO POSITION TO TRAIN UP SO MANY PEOPLE. ON 27 JUNE 1939, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SIGNED THE CIVILIAN PILOT TRAINING PROGRAM (CPTP) ACT OF 1939 INTO LAW. THE IDEA WAS TO HAVE A LARGE POOL OF REASONABLY WELL TRAINED PILOTS WHO COULD QUICKLY BE FURTHER TRAINED TO FILL THE COCKPITS IN AN EVER EXPANDING MILITARY, IF THE NEED WAS ACTUALLY REQUIRED. HISTORY SHOWS THAT IT CERTAINLY WAS REQUIRED. JOHN REDRUP WAS ONE OF THOSE CPTP GRADUATES.

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 14, Number 4

Feature Articles:

The 31st Fighter Group at Kasserine Pass, Tunisia
by Andrew Arthy

THE BATTLE OF KASSERINE PASS IS REMEMBERED AS A GREAT LAND BATTLE, AND AS GERMAN GENERALFELDMARSCHALL ERWIN ROMMEL’S LAST NORTH AFRICAN SUCCESS. HOWEVER, THE AERIAL CONFLICT OVER THE BATTLEFIELD WAS JUST AS INTENSE AS THE CLASHES ON THE GROUND, AND ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT UNITS INVOLVED WAS THE AMERICAN 31ST FIGHTER GROUP (FG). EQUIPPED WITH THE BRITISH SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE, THE 31ST HAD BEEN OVERSEAS SINCE MID-1942, BUT UP TO EARLY FEBRUARY 1943 HAD SEEN MINIMAL COMBAT. THAT WOULD CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IN THE PERIOD COVERED BY THIS ARTICLE, AS ROMMEL’S ARMY PUSHED ALLIED TROOPS BACK IN CENTRAL TUNISIA. THE 31ST FG WAS CONFRONTED WITH MANY CHALLENGES IN AFRICA IN MID-FEBRUARY 1943, INCLUDING TERRIBLE WEATHER, SKILLED AERIAL OPPONENTS, AND A HASTY EVACUATION FROM ITS AIRFIELD. HOWEVER, IT PASSED ALL TESTS WITH FLYING COLORS, AND THE BATTLE OF KASSERINE PASS SAW THE 31ST FG COME OF AGE.Flying by Ear
A Father and Son Conversation
by Captain Douglas H. Parrott

“I Knew You’d Come”
by Robert B Robeson

 THE GHOSTS AND MEMORIES FROM THAT SOUTHEAST ASIAN CONFLICT CONTINUE TO RATTLE THEIR CHAINS IN MY PSYCHE. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF ONE UNFORGETTABLE MISSION IN EARLY 1970 SOUTHWEST OF LZ HAWK HILL IN THE INFAMOUS HIEP DUC VALLEY OF I CORPS. HARDLY A DAY PASSES, SINCE THEN, WHEN WHAT OCCURRED THAT MORNING DOESN’T EMERGE FRONT-AND-CENTER TO REPLAY ITSELF IN MY MIND LIKE A NEEDLE STUCK ON A 78-RPM RECORD. IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE THAT TESTED MY RESOLVE AND AUTHENTICATED MY EMOTIONAL DECISION FOR VOLUNTEERING TO BECOME A DUST OFF PILOT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Trap!
by Commander James L. Brown USNR

KOREA - 22 JANUARY 1953:
“THE WINTER WAR IN JANUARY WAS GETTING TO BE A VERY BUSY MONTH FOR ME, AND IT WAS STATING TO GET TO ME A BIT.”

IT WAS A MISSION THAT MADE IT IN THE OFFICIAL RECORDS, BUT NOT EXACTLY HOW IT WAS FLOWN, OR WHAT ACTUALLY HAD HAPPENED. FOR LIEUTENANT JAMES BROWN MISSION AFTER MISSION IN THE DARK COLD SKIES OVER KOREA WERE BEGINNING TO INFLUENCE HIS DECISION MAKING ABILITY. PERHAPS THAT’S WHY HE DID WHAT HE DID.

“I WAS EMBARRASSED THAT I HAD LOST MY PROFESSIONALISM THAT HAD EARNED ME THREE MEDALS ALREADY.  NOR, DID I REALIZE AT THE TIME THAT CLOSE CALLS WERE BEGINNING TO BECOME TOO MANY, AND I WAS BEGINNING TO TAKE RETURN FIRE PERSONALLY.”

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK