Grandson Update

This is an update on the youngest grandson..
When we visited him on Sunday he was four and
a half months old. Jager is all boy..flirting with his
grandmonther...laughing with grandpa...and
eating up a storm. In an earlier post, I mentioned
how he had to return to the hospital for a minor
operation to correct a digestive problem. Since
then he has done nothing but grow. He is spoiled
rotten.. if his mother is not carrying him around,
it is his two older brothers or his dad. His brothers
are fourteen and sixteen so to say that Jager is
a surprise, is an understatement. The parents
say he is a good baby and hardly ever cries. I
was hoping for a little pay-back for his dad...
but for Christmas we are giving Jager a rocking
chair Pony.. when he rides it, it makes horsey
and clacking noises.. REAL LOUD!! I couldn't
find a drum set.....

Denison Wins Again !!

For the past three years Denison has been
eliminated in the third round of the Texas
High School Football Playoffs,...but today Denison
defeated Marshall 35 to 26 in a game played
at Hanby Stadium in Mesquite.
Denison trailed the Mavericks 19-7 at the
half, but came back to outscore Marshall
28-7 in the second half. It will be the first
time in the quarter-final round of the playoffs
since 1997 for the Yellow Jackets. There are
only eight 4A schools still playing football after
today. Next round will be the Regional II
Championships and Denison will face off
against Sulphur Springs, a team that ended
the Yellow Jackets playoff run last year.
Sulphur Springs defeated Frisco Liberty
33-31 in the other Regional Semi-Final
playoff game. Denison plays Sulphur
Springs next Saturday at 2pm at Ford
Stadium on the campus of S.M.U.
Great Comeback Jackets !!

Fokker DV-II

Yesterday's post featured the Sopwith
Camel, a plane used by all of the allied forces
of World War I.. Today I offer the plane
used by the Germans to battle the Camel.
This is a Fokker DV-II, designed and
built in the Netherlands, this plane used
both BMW and Mercedes engines in its
development. Climbing and turning was
a distinct advantage for the Fokker over
the Camel or the Spad, used by the allies.
Twin machine guns mounted on the
front cowling were synchronized to fire
through the propeller. A first for the
Germans and later copied by the allies.
More on the Fokker DV-II..
Late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V.11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D.IIIa engine. In January 1918, Idflieg held a fighter competition at Adlershof. For the first time, frontline pilots would directly participate in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V.11 along with several other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V.11 and found it tricky, unpleasant, and directionally unstable in a dive. In response to these complaints, Fokker's chief designer and engineer, Reinhold Platz, lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay, and added a triangular fixed vertical fin in front of the rudder. Upon flying the modified V.11, Richthofen praised it as the best aircraft of the competition. It offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet it was safe and easy to fly. Richthofen's recommendation virtually decided the competition, but he was not alone in recommending it. Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were designated D.VII by Idflieg.

Sopwith Camel

The last post was of one of the worlds fastest
fighters..and now to one of the slowest. This is
a Sopwith Camel, the top fighter of the British in
World War I... It is also the fighter used by Snoopy
in the cartoon series... The Sopwith was used by
the British, French, and Americans in World War I
as a reconnaissance, bomber, and fighter plane.
The first photo is an actual Sopwith Camel and the
rest are of my model.
More on the Sopwith camel:

In appearance and design, the plane was not revolutionary. A biplane combining a distinct dihedral in the lower wing with a flat upper wing, it did have a distinctive "tapered gap." The fuselage was a wooden, box-like structure, covered with aluminum up front, plywood-covered around the cockpit, and then fabric-covered back to the tail.

With its center of gravity very far forward (the engine, fuel tank, guns, and pilot were all in the front third of the plane), the aircraft was tricky to fly, but very maneuverable for a skilled pilot. While 413 Camel pilots were shot down in combat, 385 were lost in non-combat related situations, many due to the Camel's difficult handling

Specifications of the F.1 Camel:

• Engine: 130hp Clerget 9-cylinder rotary engine
• Max. Speed: 117 MPH at sea level
• Ceiling: 19,000 feet
• Climb Rate: 10 minutes to reach 10,000 feet
• Weight: 929 lb. empty, 1,453 lb. fully loaded
• Wingspan: 28 feet
• Length: 18 ft 9 in
• Height: 8 ft 6 in
• Wing area: 231 sq ft
• Guns: Two synchronized .303 inch Vickers machine guns. The Camel was the first British fighter to mount twin forward-firing machine guns side-by-side, a natural arrangement that became standard for the RAF.
• Bombs: Four 20-lb. Cooper bombs

F4 Phantom

This is a model of the F4 Phantom Jet
Fighter/Bomber. I don't care for jet models
per say, but I have a special spot in my memory
bank for the Phantom. In Vietnam I was
stationed at Phu Bai on top of a mountain
fire base. We were constantly surrounded by
enemy forces and only artillery bases by the
Marines and the 101st Airborne Division kept
them off our necks. On one occassion when the enemy
tried to over run Phu Bai I called in air support
and a group of Phantoms returning from another
mission came to our rescue. Suffice to say, napalm
can be a terrible thing on advancing infantry.
The McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom is a twin
engine, two-seat, supersonic fighter developed
for the U.S. Navy/Marines. It was developed
as an attack aircraft and later changed into an
advanced long-range all weather interceptor with
missile armament. The Phantom was in production
from 1958 thru 1981 and was used extensively
in the Vietnam War. It has been used by eleven
other nations and remains the front line fighter
for seven countries as of 2009. The first photo is
of two German Phantoms and the rest are my model.
Technical Specifications:
Engine Type: Two Genral Electric J79s
Maximum Speed: 1,472 mph (Mach 2)
Ceiling: 60,000 feet
Range: 1,615 miles
Wingspan: 38 feet 4 inches
Length: 63 feet
Armament: one 20 mm Vulcan gatling cannon
4 AIM-Sidewinder missiles
16,000 lbs. of bombs
Number built: 5,195

Denison Wins Again

The Denison Yellow Jackets continue their
march in the state football playoffs. Last
night they collected their eleventh win of the
year as they turned back Dallas Conrad
50-14 in a game played at Hanby Field
in Mesquite. The game was an obvious
mismatch as Denison led 44-0 at the half
and the starting players did not play in
the second half.
Denison will now advance to the 'Area'
semi-finals next Saturday against Marshall
high school. Marshall defeated Corsicana
last night 34-14.
Denison tailback D.J. Jones had another
big night..running for 156 yards and scoring
three touchdowns, all in the first half. He
now has 1901 yards rushing for the season.
He set the school record last year when he
ran for 2340 yards as a junior.

P-38 Lightning Fighter

I touched on this plane a few postings back
but that was to explain the difference between
the plane and the can opener that both go by
the designation P-38.
This posting is to show you my latest model
plane...The P-38 Lightning. It was the first
twin-engine fighter and was the first American
plane capable of flying 400 mph. A lot of P-38's
were painted black and used as night fighters
with their radar screens attached to the wing.
I started in that direction with this model, but
decided to change after I saw a photo of one
with this type camouflage pattern. I assume it
is to hide the plane in the Fall season. From the
air I think it would be tough to spot with the
changing of the leaves in the Fall. More info
on the P-38..
The Lightning designed by Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers, represented one of the most radical departures from tradition in American fighter development. The Lightning was a complete break-away from conventional airframe design, power, and at long last, armament. Not only did it have twice the power and almost twice the size of its predecessors, but with no less than four .50 cal. machine guns plus a 20 mm cannon, the P-38 had enough firepower to sink a ship--and sometimes did. Concentrated in the central fuselage pod, the guns fired parallel which eliminated a need for a propeller synchronizer.

The Lightning tricycle landing gear and twin-boom configuration completed the list of major deviations from what might be considered conventional Army fighters. In this respect, it was very unusual that the Lightning design progressed beyond the testing stage; such radical concepts seldom achieved production status. But the simple fact was that the P-38 design worked and the Army seemed to have found its dream plane in this 400 mph fighter.