Today's US Navy Photos & Videos

Air Force Names Eielson Preferred Base for F-35 Stealth Jets

In a decision which could bring hundreds of millions of dollars in spending to Fairbanks, the U.S. Air Force has named Eielson Air Force Base one of its preferred bases to host the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The decision to base at least one and possibly two F-35 squadrons in Alaska by 2016, announced Thursday by Sen. Mark Begich’s office, marks a rapid turnaround for Eielson after attempts by the military to reduce the base’s staffing and importance since A-10 Warthog attack jets stopped flying from Eielson in 2007.

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US begins bombing ISIS, with first strike on Islamists' artillery already confirmed

• Two F/A18 fighters dispatched to unleash 500lb laser-guided bombs on Islamic militants outside Kurdish capital Erbil
• Hundreds of thousands of religious minorities have been driven from their homes as ISIS jihadists storm towns
• Some 50,000 Yazidis - half of them children - fled to hills after ISIS took Sinjar, the Yazidis' heartland in Iraq
• ISIS calls Yazidis devil worshippers because of their beliefs that predate Islam, Christianity and Judaism
• Obama said U.S. warplanes had already carried out airdrops of humanitarian aid to Yazidis holed up in Sinjar hills
• David Cameron welcomes airstrikes to help Iraqis 'in their hour of desperate need' but rules out British military action
• Pope begs world leaders to step in as Iraq's main Christian city is sacked, sending thousands of Christians fleeing
• Foreign Office urges British nationals to stay away from Kurdistan as America pounded Islamic State positions

It begins: Two F/A18 fighter jets were dispatched from the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier to unleash 500lb laser-guided bombs on a group of Islamic militants towing artillery outside Erbil near U.S. personnel

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Ready for action: And as soon as the first two jets returned from their successful bombing run on ISIS fighters marching on Erbil this morning, the flight deck of the George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier came alive as more warplanes readied for action

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'We're coming to help': President Obama meets with the National Security Council yesterday in the Situation Room of the White House, hours before his address to the nation in which he vowed to help the thousands of Iraqi civilians being driven from their homes and slaughtered by the Islamic State extremists running rampant through the country. That help came in the form of targeted airstrikes on key ISIS positions today

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Power and responsibility: Barack Obama cut a lonely figure as he liased on the phone with King Abdullah II of Jordan in the Oval Office of the White House. Some 6,000 miles away, U.S. warplanes were carrying out his orders to bomb ISIS positions in a bid to 'prevent a potential act of genocide'

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READY TO STRIKE: HOW THE UNITED STATES IS ARMED TO THE TEETH IN THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER MOVING SHIPS, JETS AND TROOPS WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE - AND BRITAIN HAS ITS BASE IN THE MED TO DROP AID FROM

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UK to drop aid over Iraq, but will not join air strikes

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon says he welcomes the US military intervention in Iraq but insists that Britain's role will be limited to supporting American operations in areas such as refuelling and surveillance. Britain is to drop relief supplies to Iraqi refugees forced to flee their homes by the advance of the Islamic State extremist group. "We are offering technical assistance in that in terms of refuelling and surveillance. We are offering aid of our own which we hope to drop over the next couple of days in support of the American relief effort, particularly to help the plight of those who are trapped on the mountain."

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Re: Today's US Navy Hi-res Photos!

Air Force Brat said:

Hey, he hasn't seen your post yet, but he gonna love it, and we have several modeling threads, but would love to see the America, they will move it if they need to so post away. In case you haven't noticed bd is both famous and infamous on the Sino Defense, welcome aboard Michael, fair winds and following seas. brat

Oh, fantastic first post, and love the shipboard pictures, keep up the good work, and there is a new members thread, be sure and introduce your-self. thanks, that is all

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Thanks for the warm welcome AFB! Those pics were posted by BD, I just quoted his post, but I have the same pics in my cruise book as we have the same cruisebooks.

I'll introduce myself, I'm Michael Clare, former AT-3. I served in the US Navy from '78-'82 and of course I was in VS-33 aboard the USS America for her 3/4 world cruise. We only went to 3 ports (4 if you include Palma twice.) I worked up on the flight deck and the hanger bay. The deck was dangerous, but fun! A huge rush. I still remember it well, being up on there during cyclic ops.

After I got out, I worked for several defense companies, including GTE Defense Systems and Gould NavCom Systems. I am a computer and electrical engineer, and currently work for a companies in Alabama and Florida. In my spare time I restore my two Mercedes classics and I also build models. I am currently scratch-building the USS America in 1/192nd scale which will put the hull at just over 5 and a half feet. The flight deck will be about 14-16" wide at the wisest point.

There are no aircraft available in 1/192 scale, so I am having mold masters 3D printed by a friend of mine who is in the movie business doing SPFX and he worked on the Transformers movies, so he is quite talented. Another member on my model forum is hugely talented and he scratch carved his planes, but I am not as skilled as he, so I am 'cheating' by having them 3D printed. All of the deck equipment and tractors and crane will be 3D printed too.

I have some bold plans to make some items move and articulate. The RADARS will spin, the deck will be lighted and the tracer lights will work. I think I have worked out a way to get the aircraft elevators to go up and down via pulleys and a servo like a piece of gym equipment, the guard poles are another thing. Maybe a JBD or two will raise up and I'm working out a way to get a cat to shoot, sort of.

The hanger bay will be fully detailed and lit in both red and white lighting, with a photocell to adjust the color for the correct time of day. The airwing will be complete with all BUNO and MODEX numbers correct and unique. The hanger bay will be fully detailed and I am planning on installing a couple of micro cameras inside the HB to reveal more details.

Here is the link to my build thread:

And here is my other scratch build:

That is the USS Arcadia that my uncle Gerald served on when he was a young man. I built her for him as a birthday present a few years ago for all he had done for me.

U.S. Navy Deploys F/A-18 To Hit ISIS Targets - Aircrafts Launch & Recovery.

[video=youtube;NvUae4w1AL8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvUae4w1AL8[/video]

I'll introduce myself, I'm Michael Clare, former AT-3. I served in the US Navy from '78-'82 and of course I was in VS-33 aboard the USS America for her 3/4 world cruise. We only went to 3 ports (4 if you include Palma twice.) I worked up on the flight deck and the hanger bay. The deck was dangerous, but fun! A huge rush. I still remember it well, being up on there during cyclic ops.

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Ah yes America..I remember her well...Are you ready for the pain?

http://www.sinodefenceforum.com/members-club-room/popeyes-sea-stories-6261.html

Back in '81 I was with VS-33, We were assigned to CVW-11 aboard the USS America CV-66. We had a west coast airwing and an east coast ship. Back then the east coast and west coast navy did not operate the same. Very similar but not the same.

VS-33 was home ported at NAS North Island in San Diego. Our cruise(deployment) actually lasted from January the 14th..I think..until November the 11th. Actually the first part of our cruise was about 6 weeks of carrier quals ref-tra (refersher training) and ORE(Operational readiness inspection). We did get to go home to San Diego for two weeks after this pain. We did hit St Thomas in the US. Virgin Islands for three days during that siz weeks.

We left NASNI to fly to Norfolk Via USN C-9 on a nice January day. When we arrived at Norfolk we were promptly placed on buses and driven to CV-66. My first impression of CV-66 was that it was very dirty. Filthy in fact. We found out how much a little later. So we wound or way to the berthing and then proceeded to the mess decks for a "special meal" for the air wing..Those fine, fine cooks on the America had prepared in their haste some chili mac, soup hot dogs and such.

Enywho myself and two other shipmates from VS-33 sat down to eat all the while discussing if we had liberty that evening. As we were eating a cockroach fell out of the overhead on to AO2 JC tray of food. He was hungry mind you..he just flicked the cockroach out of the way and continued to grub down..yikes and gadzooks!

Turned out the ship had cockroaches everywhere. Why? Because those lazy messcranks use to store garbage in an empty berthing compartment instead of depositing the garbage in the dumpsters on the pier when the ship was in the Portsmouth shipyard. Disgusting. Needless to state ..The America was not my favorite ship.

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Re: Today's US Navy Hi-res Photos!

mclare said:

I was on this cruise with you shipmate! It's Michael Clare aka AT-3 Clare. I am building a 1/192nd scale USS America, including the entire airwing. Care to see it?

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Whoa! Welcome to SD, MClare! Great reunion for you and popeye!

Also, please post some pics of your model build!

1/192 scale will be huge!

Here's the site I did for my 1/350 scale USS Enterprise, CVN-65 build:

Big mistake on this map. There is currently only one Nimitz Class CVN in the Gulf. That would be USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)

Re: Today's US Navy Hi-res Photos!

mclare said:

Here is the link to my build thread:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

And here is my other scratch build:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

That is the USS Arcadia that my uncle Gerald served on when he was a young man. I built her for him as a birthday present a few years ago for all he had done for me.

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Thank you for those links mclare...and thank you for your service to the Republic!

You, sir, are a craftsman. What you are doing with the America there s simply amazing snd I read the entir thread.

Looking forward to more. I build kits...but what you are doing is true modeling, and as I say, the mark of a true craftmand.

Re: Today's US Navy Hi-res Photos!

Jeff Head said:

Thank you for those links mclare...and thank you for your service to the Republic!

You, sir, are a craftsman. What you are doing with the America there s simply amazing snd I read the entir thread.

Looking forward to more. I build kits...but what you are doing is true modeling, and as I say, the mark of a true craftmand.

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Thanks for the kind words Jeff! And your Big "E" is beautiful! I have two of the same kit and started building it, but the scratch build bug bit me a few years ago when I started on the Arcadia. I still have her sitting along with the Nimitz and Kusnetsov right in front of my on the shelves! The Kus is almost finished and I built her very simply with no hanger or many aftermarket details. Just the brass.

I'll post up more pics soon as it wouldn't let me post many as I was getting an error.

Now it says I am over my quota whatever that means?