October 14, 2014

the Blue Angels blew into town


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Well, pictured above aren't the sexier and fancier F/A-18 Hornet jets, but I believe these are Scheyden-MX2 single-prop carbon-fiber acrobatic stunt machines capable of pulling 12 "G"'s. They were making some rather daring maneuvers above and through downtown San Francisco.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Yes, San Francisco has been "celebrating" Fleet Week, which is basically just one incredibly large public-relations effort on behalf of the United States military. Oh, the excitement!



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Hey, never mind that these mock phalluses cost $57 million each… What's money when we can have a plane that will travel 2000 mph. For armament they include a six-barreled 20mm gatling-gun capable of spewing 100 rounds-per-second, plus a wide variety of heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

The F/A-18 is a fairly new jet design and is intended to replace our aging fleet of F-14's. Now, I don't want to get into a bunch of debatable 9-11 conspiracy stuff here, but maybe you, like me, are more than a little bit concerned that our nation's immediate response system of defense--the F-14's--were not available on September 11, 2001.



NEWEST EDITION - Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 3
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1

3 comments:

Zoomie said...

You got some great shots, even if you don't approve.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

Ooo...don't get me started on our government.

AphotoAday said...

Hi ZOOMIE -- Thanks. Gotta admit, though, that only the first (black & white) photo was taken this past weekend. The others are from previous years.

And yeah, JOHN (SINBAD'S DAD) -- I try not to get too "political" out here on the blog because in the past every time I do, I tend to lose a sizable chunk of the fine folks who visit the blog, and it is SO difficult to get my "stats" back up.

 
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