Best wishes to anyone who has so little of a life that he has to come here on New Year's Eve.

Here's hoping 2006 is a better year for all of us and our country and the rest of the world.

C141Heaven Special AUDIO GREETINGS FROM G.W.B.
(You need an MP3 player like QuickTime configured for these).

And you can click here for a special audio greeting expressing his hopes for 2006.

Over and Out for 2005.

More comments on the crash of 64-0641

I got a note from, Al Hurst, a former McChord simulator instructor about his 'near miss' with death on the last flight of 65-0641. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see his added comments, or read the whole sad story from the beginning.

New Photos of the Golden Bear

New photos of the Golden Bear static display at Travis AFB can be seen on the 63-8088 page.

Stories about 714

C141Heaven received a nice note from Wally Stahl regarding the history of the NASA C-141, 714. Check this link for details.

Relative Invasion Nearly over

Hope your Christmas was as good as mine. The relatives are nearly departed from my hotel and I'm starting to find some time to post more material. Please keep it coming.

OK, So what the F**K is a WAVE GUIDE?

The questions are now pouring in. I posted the comment from Paul Laemers about what the 'blue thing' was. He said it's a wave guide.

I should have anticipated it, but now people are asking me "What is a wave guide?"

Come on people, that should be obvious!! A wave guide guides waves.

Here's a more technical explanation (stolen from some web site) for you engineering types:

A waveguide is an electromagnetic feed line used in microwave communications, broadcasting, and radar installations. A waveguide consists of a rectangular or cylindrical metal tube or pipe. The electromagnetic field propagates lengthwise. Waveguides are most often used with horn antennas and dish antennas.

An electromagnetic field can propagate along a waveguide in various ways. Two common modes are known as transverse-magnetic (TM) and transverse-electric (TE). In TM mode, the magnetic lines of flux are perpendicular to the axis of the waveguide. In TE mode, the electric lines of flux are perpendicular to the axis of the waveguide. Either mode can provide low loss and high efficiency as long as the interior of the waveguide is kept clean and dry.

To function properly, a waveguide must have a certain minimum diameter relative to the wavelength of the signal. If the waveguide is too narrow or the frequency is too low (the wavelength is too long), the electromagnetic fields cannot propagate. At any frequency above the cutoff (the lowest frequency at which the waveguide is large enough), the feed line will work well, although certain operating characteristics vary depending on the number of wavelengths in the cross section.

Well, that certainly clears it up for me. The real question should be: Who cares?

As a pilot, I needed to know three things:

   1. Pull Back - Go Up.
   2. Push Forward - Go Down.
   3. From where I am right now, what heading and how far to the nearest bar?

Personally, I like the term 'Blue Thing'. That's technical enough for me.

In the 'Starting Engines Checklist' the item would have read:

         'BLUE THING:       GUIDING'

I don't think knowing the technical details about wave guides would have done me much good, but I'm sure some weasel flight-examiner would have probably asked 20 questions about it after shutting down two engines (on one side) on short final during a no-notice check ride.

But if you really want a visual example that any idiot can understand just click here (turn on your speakers) for a WMV file that explains it all in layman's terms.

Info on 2779 Blue Thing

You have to wonder...if I can pose a simple question about what the 'blue thing' was (see December 17th entry, a few slots down this page), and get an answer so fast, why couldn't the FBI figure out a way to communicate with each other that terrorists and evil-doers were taking flight lessons around the country?

I guess they didn't have web sites or Google in those ancient days of 2000/2001.

Anyway, this morning I got the answer about the blue thing in the following email from Paul Laemers:

The 'blue thing' was part of the wave guide system for the ARTB test platform if my memory is correct.

I was the crew chief on this aircraft from before the nose mod until I delivered it to Edwards.

Also it was called 'Against The Wind' because I am a big Bob Seger fan from Detroit.

Paul Laemers
North Charleston, SC

Photos of 65-9401

Some shots of a nose gear incident were recently submitted and added to the 9041 page.

New photos of the inside of 61-2779

Carl Hayden was recently on a visit to Edwards AFB and got someone to open up 2779 for him so he could take some photos. These can be seen at this link. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the new photos.

If anyone knows what that 'blue thing' is, please send email to c141heaven@gmail.com to let me know. At this point my best guess is a $100,000 water-softener so the crew could have nice water for the ice-maker so their cocktails didn't get that "off-taste".

66-0177 Photo Shoot

On December 13^th, 2005, 60177 was photographed in anticipation of the upcoming retirement ceremony. Over the course of the next several days I received copies of these official photos and a few others submitted by other folks. Here's a link to those photos:60177 Photo Shoot

New Air Force Mission?

In case you missed it in the news on December 7^th, (a day that will live in infamy), the USAF changed its official MISSION STATEMENT to:

The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options
for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests
-- to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace.

I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty weird. The old one was:

To defend the United States through control and exploitation of air and space.

which seemed pretty clear to me.

This 'sovereign' concept seems very strange (and very British). I sort of expect pirates to pop onto the scene any minute. Sovereign is not a word you see or hear very often in the US, and it's way too imperial for my taste.

According to Dictionary.com, 'sovereign' means:

1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:

    a. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.

    b. A national governing council or committee.

    c. A nation that governs territory outside its borders.

2. A gold coin formerly used in Great Britain.

And if you are wondering about 'imperial'

1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of an empire or a sovereign, especially an emperor or empress: imperial rule; the imperial palace.

2. Ruling over extensive territories or over colonies or dependencies: imperial nations.

3. Having supreme authority; sovereign.

4. Regal; majestic.

Did Tony Blair have something to do with this? Or was it Dick Cheney?

Now here's a bit more on this from Wikipedia:

The Imperial Presidency is a term which has been used from the 1960s to describe the presidency of the United States and the President's aides. It was based on a number of observations.

As late as the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Executive Branch of the president of the United States had few staff, most of them based in the Capitol, where a president traditionally has an office (it is no longer used except for ceremonial occasions, but nineteenth and early twentieth century presidents were based there with their small staff on a day-to-day basis). However, the modern day president has a much larger Executive staff, which is usually cramped in crowded conditions in the West Wing, or basement of the White House, or in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a building beside the White House that used to house the Departments of Defense and State. Such is the modern overcrowding in the West Wing that President Richard Nixon had the former presidential swimming pool covered over and converted into a press room.

As staff numbers grew, many people were appointed who held personal loyalty to the person holding the office of president, and who were not subject to outside approval or control.

The office of White House Chief of Staff has evolved into what is in many (though not all) administrations a dominant executive position, turning the office into a virtual 'prime minister' on the occasions when it was held by a strong-willed dominant figure and the presidency was held by a hands off president who left day to day governance to his cabinet and his Chief of Staff. Donald Regan as Chief of Staff and Ronald Reagan as president was seen as an example of this presidential-quasi prime ministerial relationship.

A range of new advisory bodies developed around the presidency, many of which complemented (critics suggest rivaled) the main cabinet departments, with the cabinet declining in influence. The National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget are prime examples of these.

The Senate does not "advise and consent" to appointments to the Executive Office of the President (with only a handful of exceptions), as it does with cabinet appointments. A corollary of this is that EOP personnel may act independent of, without regard for, and without accountability to Congress.

Critics suggested that the range of new bodies, the importance of the Chief of Staff and in particular the large number of people, created a virtual 'royal court' around the President, members of which were not answerable to anyone but the President and on occasions allegedly acted independently of him also.

Critics of the Imperial Presidency theory counteract by arguing that:

    - the Executive Office of the President makes up only a very small part of the federal bureaucracy and the President has very little influence as to the appointment of most members of the federal bureaucracy;

    - the number of people within the EOP is small and there is no institutional continuity at all;

    - the organization and functioning of most of the Federal government is determined by federal law and the President has little power to reorganize most of the federal government.

The presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were particularly described as surrounded by 'courts', where junior staffers acted on occasions in contravention of executive orders or Acts of Congress. The activities of some Nixon staffers during the Watergate affair are often held up as an example. Under Reagan (1981-1989) the role of Colonel Oliver North in the facilitation of funding to the Contras in Nicaragua, in explicit contravention of a United States Congressional ban, has been highlighted as an example of a "junior courtier's" ability to act, based on his position as a member of a large White House staff. Howard Baker, who served as Reagan's last Chief of Staff, was critical of the growth, complexity and apparent unanswerability of the presidential 'court'.

To sum up the mess we're in here, Yogi Bera said it best (all these quotes are directly from him)

• It ain't over 'til it's over
• Never answer an anonymous letter
• It's deja vu all over again
• When you come to a fork in the road....Take it
• I didn't really say everything I said
• When asked what time is was......"you mean now?"
• On why NY lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh: We made too many wrong mistakes
• Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting.
• Advising another player in a slump: Swing at the strikes.
• I remember a teacher once asking me, 'Don't you know anything?' and I said, 'I don't even suspect anything.'
• You can observe a lot by watching
• The future ain't what it used to be
• After being beaned, Yogi was taken to the Hospital and released,
  commented: They thoroughly examined my head, and they didn't find anything.
• It gets late early out here
• The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.
• How can a guy hit and think at the same time?
• If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be
• If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them
• A nickel ain't worth a dime any more.
• You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.
• Ninety percent of this game is half mental.
• You give a hundred percent in the first half of the game. If it isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left.
• I usually take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four.
• I wish I had an answer to that because I'm getting tired of answering that question.
• After seeing a movie starring the late Steve McQueen: "He must have made it before he died.
• Asked if he wanted his pizza cut into four or six pieces: You'd better make it four. I don't think I can eat six pieces.
• Dinner at the White House: It was hard to have a conversation with anyone, there were so many people talking.
• Whether a "streaker" he saw was male or female: Don't know, they were wearing a bag over their head.
• If you don't go to their funeral, they won't go to yours

New Katrina Relief Mission Photos

Carl Hayden sent some new photos about a Katrina Mission he flew in October.

News about C-141 Retirement Ceremony

MSGT Lucia Greer from Wright-Patterson sent this info yesterday.