Jay Honeck wrote:
I previously posted this as a reply on the original thread, but that thread
is getting so old I thought a bunch of interested folks might miss it, so I
thought I'd repost it as a new thread. I've taken the time to correct and
clarify some of the things I wrote in the original version.

Jay and perhaps some others seem to think that we should have launched every
available alert aircraft during the 9-11 attacks.

Big snip of fascinating post

Thanks, Scott, for the great post. Very interesting -- and scary --
stuff.

Two quick points, and a question:

1. I didn't say we should have launched everything we had on 9/11. I
said we DID launch everything we had in the D.C.-to-New York area,
according to published reports. That's the scary part, cuz it
amounted to a tiny handfull of fighters to defend our most important
assets.

Published reports of anything are generally inaccurate.

2. I'm not sure that highlighting the incompetence of our Cold War-era
Air Force is a good way to prove that handing over our home defense to
the Air Guard has been a good idea. The fact that at the height of the
Cold War our air and support crews predictably took weekends and
holidays off -- and broadcast this status over walkie-talkies -- does
NOT inspire confidence. It just doesn't get much dumber than that,
tactically.

The military usually takes holidays off unless someone is shooting
at them, and even then sometimes.

Everybodies military; if they don't the other side will get really
suspicious.

3. Did word of the Soviet incursions into German air space ever leak
out at the time? I don't remember reading anything about this, back
then -- and you'd think it would have been big news.

Sigh, there were Soviet incursions into just about every part of
European airspace, Asian airspace, and American airspace.

They would turn around as soon as someone came out to greet them.

It was all a game and both sides played.

There were occasional pictures of Bear crews waving to the US fighters
published in the military oriented aviation mags; it was no secret.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.