[Milsurplus] Noteworthy publicatons

[Hue Miller]

This is a snippet of a video I will buy, but just having placed a couple 
Amazon orders in the
last weeks, I am rationing my hobby spending at the moment. This is a video 
of PBM
operations, including dropping of Sonobuoys.  ( If the link works not, try
www.militaryvideo.com, then select Aviation - Fixed Wing, then PBM. ) If you 
watch the
video sample, in the scene where the pilot is talking on the mic, is that a 
couple RAX's
in the background, or is that my imagination? Hard to tell on a screen the 
size of a
postage stamp.

http://www.militaryvideo.com/index.cfm?film=detail&titleID=PBMMariner&do=detail&search=

Also noted, books:
"The Last Zero Fighter". Some comments on radio that are, for me, 
noteworthy. I learned the
"Tora Tora Tora" message was sent by CW, NOT A3, and was also picked up in 
Japan. That
even fighter pilots might sometime use CW. That the Japanese pilot who 
landed on Nihau,
Hawaii, picked that island because it had been designated as a rescue by 
submarine site.
That one crashed Japanese plane had onboard a Fairchild, USA-built RDF.

"From the Flight Deck".  A collection of excerpts from carrier accounts, 
some fictional.
(Fiction not recommended. ) Has one account of 1942 squadron of Wildcat 
fighters
returning to Hornet; got lost and had to ditch. First account I've seen with 
comments
on workings of YE-ZB system. I always thought the system pretty much 
foolproof, but
this account proves if you get confused, the radio navig aid can support 
your confusion.
In this case, the squadron leader became confused and led the flight astray, 
despite the
doubts of some; there was loss of life in the ditching as fuel finally ran 
out. A contributing
factor was that strict radio silence was maintained, until the actual 
ditching: a Japanese
fleet was in the vicinity. Seven pages that for me were worth the price of 
the book, which
was not very much.
"Starting down, Talbot first transmitted a May Day distress call for help, 
which later was
reported to have been picked up in Oahu, about a thousand miles away."
( I quote that last sentence especially for Dave Stinson. )
via: Hue Miller