Showing posts with label nose art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nose art. Show all posts

Sunday, June 26, 2011

THE NINE-O-NINE




The Nine-O-Nine completed 140 combat missions with the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group during World War II - believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions - she never lost a crewman as a casualty.

The Nine-O-Nine was a block 30 B-17G manufactured by the Boeing Company, she was nicknamed after the last three digits of her serial number: 42-31909. She was added to the USAAF inventory on December 15, 1943, and flown overseas on February 5, 1944. After depot modifications, she was delivered to the 91st BG at RAF Bassingbourn, England, on February 24, 1944, as a replacement aircraft, one of the last B-17s received in factory-applied camouflage paint.





A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that Nine-O-Nine completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, also believed to be a record. M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.





The Nine-O-Nine's first combat mission was Augsburg, Germany on February 25, 1944. She dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs, and flew 1,129 hours. The letter “B” was painted on ten of the 140 bomb symbols to represent ten missions “Nine-O-Nine” flew to Berlin; she was credited with downing three enemy fighters. She had 21 engine changes, four wing panel changes, 15 main gas tank changes, and 18 changes of Tokyo tanks (long-range fuel tanks).

After the end of hostilities in Europe, Nine-O-Nine was returned to the United States on June 8, 1945, and was consigned after the war to the RFC facility at Kingman, Arizona on December 7, 1945.






Sadly, she was eventually scrapped but thanks to dedicated hard-working enthusiasts, the Nine-O-Nine flies again!



B-17G-85-DL, 44-83575, civil register N93012, owned and flown by The Collings Foundation of Stow, Massachusetts, currently appears at airshows marked as the historic Nine-O-Nine.






Today's Bird HERE


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Thursday, March 31, 2011

NOSE ART WAR

Iran's Attempt to Modernize Its Fighter Planes as Member of IFAPSA Alliance Fails to Win Nose-Art War.

This ingenious piece of brilliance is courtesy Friend of STORMBRINGER Jim Wrenn of the Worthy Blog PoliSat.Com

As a member of the IFAPSA (Islamo-Fascist and Paleo-Stalinist Alliance) desperately needing a fighter plane that would at least have a remote chance against an F-22 Raptor, Iran is modernizing its air force. However, according to Jane's, the internationally recognized authority on military-weapons, Iran's most advanced fighter doesn't even have a prayer of winning even the Nose-Art War in that category . . .




. . . for the rest of this awesomeness click HERE



Theo and I corresponded yesterday -


STORMBRINGER:
Post this wisdom Theo -


Solution to the problem in Libya:

They want a new Muslim leader.

I say, give them ours.

That solves 2 problems.



THEO: Have finally posted. Need some analysis on Libya and middle east. Had a rant last night.


STORMBRINGER: Yes I read it & I agree - right wrong or indifferent we're in it now; Linnane's First Principle of Warfare states: "When you find yourself involved in a war, you must commit to certain victory in as short a time as possible with every resource available; to do anything else equals criminal negligence."


THEO: So are we going to nobble Gadaffi or spend the next decade pissing about in the middle east. You have been there and done it . What are your thoughts on how we should proceed? Can use a pseudonym if you want to let rip.


STORMBRINGER: "Sean Linnane" IS a pseudonym . . . and I WILL let it rip . . .


THEO: Yes I know Sean is a pseudonym but if you really want to let rip use another.


This is too easy; sharpshooting the current Occupier of the Whitehouse - ESPECIALLY on this foreign military adventure - is the philosophical equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel . . .

. . . then events of the day overcame - I know it's incredible to imagine but yes I have a life & a career outside of Blog STORMBRINGER - and now it's going to have to wait until the weekend . . . Friday morning at the earliest . . . BUT I will end with a nice photo of our
new allies:




. . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS



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Sunday, February 20, 2011

THE BIRDS

People send me all kinds of stuff to post in STORMBRINGER and I appreciate all the support I get. Most of the material sent is political, Tea Party-themed - which is great, although I usually tend to wave off politics because it's done elsewhere, and I don't have time enough to dedicate the energy & creative juices to do it right.

STORMBRINGER is a military blog, primarily dedicated to honoring heroes of the great US / UK / ANZAC / CANADA / ISRAEL Alliance in this conflict forced upon us by the Evildoers of Islamic Fundamentalism. Themes include reports on international security, great battles and notable events of military history, the greatness of Ancient Greece and Rome (and how the civilization of Ancient Rome still exists and prevails), the story of United States Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) and of course from time to time bits of my personal philosophy; inspired by Aristotle, Cicero, Atilla the Hun, John Locke, Benjamin Franklin, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill, Ayn Rand and Rush Limbaugh, to name a few.

An essential ingredient of my personal philosophy - a.k.a. The Philosophy of STORMBRINGERISM - is what Ayn Rand refers to as laizee-faire capitalism. The phrase laissez-faire (pronounced: lah-zay-fair) is French and literally means "let do", but it broadly implies "let it be", or "leave it alone." In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies.




Also from Ayn Rand, I embrace the concept of Human Exceptionalism; the belief that human beings have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This belief is the grounding for some naturalistic concepts of human rights. Taking it a step further, Rush Limbaugh describes the philosophy of American Exceptionalism: the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nations. This stems from our emergence from a revolution, and the uniquely American ideology, based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. This observation is traced to Alexis de Tocqueville, the first writer to describe the United States as "exceptional."

STORMBRINGERISM is also about the Cult of the 1911 and the individuals right to self-defense - up to and including lethal force - is a justifiable defense in a court of law:


The unwritten clause in my life insurance policy.


But, you say, how does this include the Great Alliance; our worthy allies the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel?

Simple: the American experience would not have been if the foundations of Democracy had not been laid in Britain, and before that in Ancient Rome, and before that Ancient Greece. In that, the UK is the Mother Country - has been and always will be - and by default this makes Canada, Australia and New Zealand our brothers and sisters.

But . . . but . . . what about tiny (yet MIGHTY) Israel?

Israel is the oldest country, and at the same time the youngest. The ancient Egyptian Empire and civilization has come and gone . . .


Nobody speaks in hieroglyphics anymore.



. . . and the people who built the pyramids are not the same folks who live in Egypt today. Likewise Babylon . . .


Nobody speaks in cuneiform anymore.



. . . it is gone, ground into the dust, even less of it left than in Egypt. There is still a Syria, but the ancient Assyrian Empire is dead and gone and it's people flung far and wide across the globe in diaspora.

Of these ancient kingdoms and empires of the Old Testament, only Israel remains, the smallest - yet most powerful - of all the countries of the Middle East.


The oldest country in the Middle East is also the only modern democracy in the Middle East.


Modern Israel exists because of Britain and the United States - if it was up to the rest of Europe and the Middle East there wouldn't even be anybody left to occupy a State of Israel. The Islamists - al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mullah-led theocracy of Iran - view Israel as a Western foothold in their territory, much like the Crusader Kingdoms a thousand years ago. They - the radicals who have hijacked Islam - consider it only a question of time until they drive the Israelis into the sea and get that land back.

As such, Israel is with us, or like the Israeli girls say:

"Don't worry America - ISRAEL IS BEHIND YOU ! ! !"


"VISIT ISRAEL BEFORE ISRAEL VISITS YOU."


While we're on the subject of girls, women, chicks, sheilas, females, and members of the opposite sex - Israeli or otherwise - there was a bit of resistance when I first introduced the BIRDS OF STORMBRINGER; on the grounds that this would affect the way people view STORMBRINGER as a serious literary outlet - to which I replied "When did anybody take STORMBRINGER seriously in the first place?"

Here's the deal with The Birds: my brother is a journalist for an afternoon paper in a large American city in the Northeast. It's a tabloid format; he takes himself seriously so of course I always tease him; "If your paper was on the other side of the Atlantic, there'd be a Page 3 Girl." Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson: NSFW


Bar Refaeli from Israel was the first Bird featured in STORMBRINGER.


When I first signed up, SOLDIER Magazine always had a bikini babe featured on the back cover. Sometime toward the end of my first tour I picked up a copy of SOLDIER and flipped to the back page. Staring back at me was a sergeant; all cami'd up and in full battle rattle - talk about taking a hard dose of reality. The Birds of STORMBRINGER are a throwback to an earlier, simpler time when it was okay for a warrior to tape a pinup girl in his wall locker, or depict one on the nose of his mighty war machine:


Most of the Birds are fully-clothed compared to THIS Bird.


OK now we've covered THAT subject to death, let's get on with the weekly BLOG ROLL:


CHRIS ROCK DISSES THE TEA PARTY: "Tea Party is full of racists . . ."

What exactly are you basing that on, Chris?


Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price (Democrat) Tells Citizens, 'All Of You Are White! Go To Hell!'
These are the same folk who say the Tea Party full of racists.


TSA agents busted at JFK Airport for stealing $160,000 from checked bags.

I remember the Democrats insisting that airport security had to be a part of the Government because "Government equals professional" . . . I say: "This is your Government taking care of you."


CARTER: "Muslim Brotherhood nothing to be afraid of . . ."
Jimmy Carter should know; he never met a dictator or a terrorist he didn't like.


News networks may yank female reporters out of Egypt after rape of Lara Logan by Muslim mob.
Lara Logan was brutally raped by an Egyptian mob chanting "Jew! Jew!" in a crowded public square while covering the chaos in Cairo - tell me about that Muslim Brotherhood again, Mistuh Jimmuh?.


Egypt's Health Ministry says 365 killed in unrest . . . Labor unrest hits Egypt's strategic Suez Canal


ABCNEWS Correspondent Beaten in Bahrain Protests: At Least 2 Dead in Crackdown; ABC's Miguel Marquez Roughed Up.


The Fat Lady hasn't even BEGUN to sing on this Arab unrest thing yet . . .



. . . . . . . . . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS




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Monday, November 22, 2010

THE NINE-O-NINE



The Nine-O-Nine, a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber of the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions, and never lost a crewman as a casualty. B-17G-85-DL, 44-83575, civil register N93012, owned and flown by The Collings Foundation, Stow, Massachusetts, currently appears at airshows marked as the historic Nine-O-Nine.




The original aircraft was a block 30 B-17G manufactured by the Boeing Company, she was nicknamed after the last three digits of her serial number: 42-31909. She was added to the USAAF inventory on December 15, 1943, and flown overseas on February 5, 1944. After depot modifications, she was delivered to the 91st BG at RAF Bassingbourn, England, on February 24, 1944, as a replacement aircraft, one of the last B-17s received in factory-applied camouflage paint.[1]

A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that Nine-O-Nine completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, believed to be a record. M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.

Flying her first combat mission on February 25, 1944, to Augsburg, Germany, she made 18 trips to Berlin, dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs, and flew 1,129 hours. She had 21 engine changes, four wing panel changes, 15 main gas tank changes, and 18 changes of Tokyo tanks (long-range fuel tanks).

After the end of hostilities in Europe, Nine-O-Nine was returned to the United States on June 8, 1945, and was eventually scrapped.


Monday Mystery Bird HERE


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Monday, October 25, 2010

QUEENIE

B-17G-15-BO 42-31353

322d Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group, 8th Air Force

This aircraft participated in the first large daylight raid on Berlin on 6 March 1944. It was later passed on to the 323BS in early April and subsequently downed by flak over 'Big B' on April 29. Only half the crew survived.




The art work was done by Tony Starcer, modeled after the Varga calendar girl:





Oh yeah . . . I nearly forgot . . . MMB is HERE




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Saturday, October 2, 2010

A FELLOW BLOGGER WRITES

From a friend of the Blog-o-sphere whose opinion I respect:

Sean-

Pictures of showy women and men does not add to the good message of
your site. While it's fun to see scantly clad photos (I prefer
naturally endowed women, btw), that stuff makes your site less likely
for me to recommend to a wider group. The Internet has plenty of photos
of barely clad models; your site reminds us how good it is to be an
American and how to be a better American: with fun and honor.

Sincerely,
Charlie Echo




STORMBRINGER replies:

Dear Charlie:
Yeah I know - when I originally started out there were two things I wanted to avoid; politics and eye-candy. I wanted to stand out by featuring posts on National Security, philosophy, military themes, etc.

Then as things progressed, politics intersected when it became overwhelmingly obvious that the current administration's policies were affecting our National Security.

The Babes of Stormbringer grew out of Theo's Totty collection, which I contribute to from time to time. My rational was: I remember back in the good old days when Soldier Magazine used to feature a hot babe in a bikini on the back page, every month. Then, slowly, the girl slowly began covering up, bit-by-bit as the months went by; until at last one day I picked up a copy of Soldier Magazine and there on the back page was a picture of a sergeant, in full battle-rattle with face camouflage. That was the final end of the old Army.

My inspiration with the bikini babes was to go back to the irreverent Good Old Days . . .




. . . perhaps I need to develop the theme a little with some WWII nose art, Lucky Strikes, Terry and the Pirates, etc . . .





Your thoughts?




NOTE to Team STORMBRINGER:

Please direct your eyes to the poll there on the right; take "Due notice Thereof and Conduct Yourselves Accordingly" . . .



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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

WORLD WAR II NOSE ART

I've always loved the "Nose Art" they printed on the old World War II bombers . . .








This is actually an extension of the bowsprits they used to put on the old sailing ships - topless women, mermaids, etc. . .





B-25 "Briefing Time"





B-24 "Playmate"




Warriors seek talismans to bring them luck . . .






B-25 "Pacific Princess"





B-29 "Bockscar"



They seek Divine favor in battle, safe return home and a reminder of what awaits them there . . .





B-29 "Lucky Lady"






RCAF Bomber "Lady Orchid"



This tradition is as eternal as the Dawn of Time . . .




B-24 "American Beauty"




B-17 "Pistol Packin' Mama"



Enjoy . . .


- Sean Linnane





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