Although I had two very different careers in aviation before becoming a snake,....er...ah...lawyer, I think every day about flying, especially combat flying because the majority of my flight hours before going to an airline were in combat.
Flying in Vietnam was simply a way of life and looking back I loved it, the mixture of danger with the absolute self-confidence melded and into flying with no limits to the heights of excitement. Then the exhaustion and a cold beer while enjoying my squadron mates, my comrades.
Anyway, as I grow older I realize that war is a serious business and flying in combat is a young man's or young woman's game. Perhaps the Russians are learning this the hard way.
Received in an e-mail
Russian pilots note high chance of not flying home - 204 aircraft downed in 3,000 missions. As time goes on, replacing parts will become harder through sanctions.
Missiles downed about 3 a day of 10-15. Botashev was downed today in the Luhansk Region flying a Russian Su-25 “Grach” close air support aircraft, he was unable to eject.
There is an interesting conversation going on (Twitter) that so many retired Air Force military officers (because of the shortage of trained pilots) have been recruited to return to active duty in senior positions tempting them with large cash salaries and Major General Botashev, former AF Commander, was one such gentleman. I only hope our USAF intelligence, Navy Intelligence, and CIA analysts are looking into this in a big way – once again, a “Flying Tiger’s” organization with Ukrainian colors could be more and more justified and essential AND it has direct implications to the situation of Taiwan where in the minimum there are hundreds of superior trained Top Gun level pilots still in their prime years are jumping at the bit to join just such a unit or in fact units.
Link: https://www.military.com/video/cast-of-top-gun-maverick-learn-how-really-fly-movie?ESRC=eb_220525.nl
Enjoy reading your recollections. Fascinating.
As to your experience - it sounds amazing. It’s the beauty of youth. Smart enough and physically capable enough to do the job but not entirely realizing what is at stake.
was up there.
It sounds increasingly more desperate for Russia. I pray that they are not cornered into using nuclear weapons. It is a situation of Putin's making, but that doesn't change the danger to the world. That is an incredibly high mission death rate.
The US and Taiwan should be thinking about this.
Taiwan should loosen up their private air industry, and let people fly more. I understand (at least 10 years ago when I was going there all the time) that their airspace if far more locked down than our own air space when it comes to private planes. They will need reserve pilots. They may want to even allow foreign pilots to travel there to train "for fun."