Saturday, December 4, 2010

Let the Blogging Begin!

Well here goes nothing! 12 years ago I felt the same way as I do now. Back then, I wanted to have a website, but really didn't know how to begin, AND more importantly, I did not know what the website would be about. Then, quite suddenly, I got it. I heard a news piece about the fact that it was the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Air Force and there were big celebrations planned. The year was 1997, and I began to think that it was the 25th anniversary of my combat tour in Southeast Asia flying A-1 Skyraiders out of Nahkon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. It seemed that it might be a subject worthy of a website. And the rest as they say, is history.

Skyraider.org has been online for more than 12 years. It grew from the original A-1 Skyraider Combat Journal to include the partner site of the A-1 Skyraider Association Website. It took countless hours of scanning and image editing to create all the content for both sites. A large part of the work was devoted to creating written content for the sites. But once I had the "vision" it went ahead in a straight-forward manner. Now, I am hoping this "blog thingy" will have a similar outcome. I can already tell that the learning curve will be steep. I have spent about three hours trying to decide what design elements I need, and have already switched sites from WordPress to Blogger. Time will tell which one I settle on.

11 comments:

  1. Please forgive my lack of knowledge, I am neither pilot nor dedicated hobbyist. You mentioned above that the skyraider could hold more ordinance than a b-17 is this true weight wise or is the ordinance simply lighter due to technological improvements? Also, Sorry, I know that you have probably heard this many times( but I do not see the question)but how do you feel about this plane compared to the p-47? I only recently became aware of the existence of the skyraider and yours was the first site that I looked up.

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    1. Weight is weight, the Skyraider carried more ordnance (weight) that the B-17 and the technology was essentially the same with minor exceptions.

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  2. I was with the 1st SOS 78-79. Col Canning was CO for most of my tour and Col Vargas was CO at the end. I was a weapons crew chief. I Can't imagine how many A1's we loaded in the year I was there. Ill never forget nor regret my tour there.
    Bob Casperson

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    1. Believe you meant 68-69. I was in TUOC 69-70.

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  3. Byron
    Thanks for the excellent A-1 in southeast Asia book. I was there myself working the F-111A at Takhli, Thailand.

    Currently, May 2015, I'm working surveillance in Afghanistan and we have close air support provided by A-10s, B-1s (believe it), F-15Es and Apache gunships. Your A-1 probably equated most closely with the A-10 and, no doubt, was as intimidating to our enemies there!

    Your readers shouldn't discount the intimidation factor. I've seen many a Taliban think better of attacking when they hear our close air support aircraft!

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  4. Hi all.
    I'm a prior A.F. Crew Chief (amongst other things) and private pilot.
    Can anyone give me technical information on hourly operation costs, oil usage, and so on? Maybe inspection type and timelines?
    I'm looking for comparison's of modern day aircraft, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Maybe someone currently owns/flys one?

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  5. Since you seemed to operate below 12,000 ft did you wear an oxygen mask?

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  6. Greetings over there. A few years ago I assembled some plastic models of WWII and later aircraft, including the A-1 Skyraider, with the possible moving gears that the real aircraft had. Currently I have not found any brand that manufactures a model with the mentioned characteristics. Will you have any information about a model with those mentioned for example: folding wings and landing gear, as well as electronic countermeasures? I thank you in advance for the information. Best regards. gilc15@hotmail.com

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  7. Does anybody know what became of LtCol Barbena? I worked with him during SARs inside TUOC during 1972. The last time I talked with him was at Spangdahlem AB, Germany in January 1973. Also does anybody know what became of Col 'Schochi' Moore?

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