Just to help prove that Axel is actually working in the proximity of an infinite improbability drive, I would like to mention that I just finished Dale Brown's _Flight of the Old Dog_. Pretty good. I've already read a bunch of his later books, but this one had eluded me at the various libraries that I have frequented.

So Axe, do you think your true calling is as an author, or as a spy fighter-bomber?

fighter-bomber pilot. from everything i see in myself i would TOTALLY KICK ASS as the pilot of any high-performance air-superiority or strike fighter. after reading _day of the cheetah_ and _silver tower_ (my favorite) i very nearly started looking into piloting. there is NOTHING that excites me more than the thought of taking an F111G through mountainous terrain just barely subsonic at like 200 feet. or just dogfighting in an F16. or flying an AH64. or playing all-weather interceptor for a carrier with AIM-54's on an F14.

i watched top gun 14 times. in theaters.

i want to fly low-level ground strike. through heavy SAM and AAA defenses. i want to do carrier landings at night. in storms. i want to intercept and engage hostile aircraft at high altitute from long range. the opening F111 run into iraq in _chains of command_ is fucking AWESOME. i want to fly an F111 with terrain-following radar and forward-looking milimeter radar and IR under power lines through hostile territory. at night. with one engine out. well, with both engines, but at night. at 500 knots.

i'd be the guy in the squadron who would be doing every turn at 7G's, every roll at max-roll-rate, every landing with gear up until just before touchdown. every takeoff i'd roll inverted as soon as the tail would clear the ground and either continue inverted or roll smoothly all the way to whatever alititude. i'd fly fingertip formations at fucking FINGERTIP.

motorcycles and cars are *nothing* compared to high-performace fighers and fighter/bombers.

if i can ever afford it i'll get a Lancair with a 400HP motor and do as much low level and high performance stuff as i can get aways with. of course, that's all governed by laws, just like cars and bikes, and there aren't any weapons... SUCK.

a guy i work with used to do maintenance on F-105's. during a low-level strike practice one of the hot-shit pilots tore off his lower radio antenna on a tree. just barely subsonic and he scraped a tree. YES!

axe