First up, thanks John for the invitation to post in your absence & mazel tov to you and your bride.
Couple of interesting items to pass to the esteemed readership - an update on the latest iteration of the Hawkeye (you expected maybe something pointer-nosed?) and a great flick available, free (*my* favorite four-letter word) that showcases some pretty marvelous CG-work.
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (source: Defense Industry Daily): The 'Delta' was rolled out of the factory in April and completed its first flight in August. At $17.5B, the program envisions 75 aircraft plus spares and other support. While little appears to have changed on the outside - a feat in itself noteworthy for a design laid out in the mid-1950's, there are subtle external and radical internal changes. Among the major items are a new radar and antenna, "missionized" cockpit to bring the front end fully into the mission (no more copilots having to mentally picture what was going on from radios alone), new mission computers, displays, upgraded dual-band SATCOM and a host of other capabilities. In other words - as large a leap from the E-2C as the E-2C was from the A/B models. For details on the program of record and the way ahead, check out the article in today's Defense Industry Daily.
A Lonely Sky
No, we're not talking about the recovery tanker working its way down through foul weather on a Case III, blue water ops recovery. Rather this is the title of a CG-based (computer graphics) short that was released on the 'net earlier this year and won wide acclaim/prizes at the Digital Media Awards. Yeah, no tailhooks - but one can imagine what the capabilities demonstrated here could bring to the screen, small and large, for historical events that would include hookers. Imagine, for instance, a redo of "The Bridges at Toko-ri" this time with 'Banjos' (per the book) rather than Panther models on strings, Midway with real SBD-3's and the real Enterprise, Hiryu, etc and not vintage shots of the Lex going backwards... Granted we've seen some already - the lamentable scene of the P-40's chasing Zeros (in the wrong color) between hangars comes to mind - but enough editorializing. Turn the page and enjoy the inflight movie...
- SJS
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