Yeah, I used to have a great reference book about Bucky Fuller's designs and innovations, not just the Dymaxion structures, but also things like his World Game, where players try to solve the world's problems, with minimum ecological impact and equal distribution to all.  It sounded like a fascinating exercise, as they used his Dymaxion Map, which showed the world without the usual distortions of forced perspective, and they tried to build cooperative relationships that lead to mutually beneficial solutions.

He was a fascinating guy.  The book also included a passage of comment from one of the children of a family who lived in one of the experimental houses, who talked about climbing on the support wire rigging and pinging them with metal objects to generate tones.  There was a problem with the seams, though, and the roof had leaking problems.  If memory serves, it (or another) was heavily damaged ina tornado.

The structures they built for use in the war used a natural cooling system.  In his experiments, they discovered that by painting the interior one color and the exterior another (one darker, one lighter), it created a natural air current, due to the absorption or reflection of light and heat, creating a cooling effect.

ps.  Welcome aboard and......BOOGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps Scarlett's infiltration of the consulate, disguised as a cleaning woman, bears some similarity to the movie How To Steal a Million, where Audrey Hepburn escapes from a museum, with a counterfeit statue, disguised as a cleaning woman, after she and Peter O'Toole spend the night in the museum, setting up the theft.



My favorite line in the film is when O'Toole hands Hepburn her peasant clothes and a bucket and scrub-brush and tells her to "..Give Givenchy the night off."

Great film, with a brilliant caper and a fun cast of actors.

You missed the possibility that Scarlett dressed her like that after knocking her out and stripping her, which would be even kinkier.

Well, wild turkeys can, but only for short distances. Not sure how they'd fare if thrown out of an aircraft.

GI JOE Special Missions #5



Time to give the "zoomies" a spotlight. This issue will be told entirely in hand gestures.

With the occasional flash of a really big watch!

Creative Team: Larry Hama-story, Herb Trimpe-art, Phil Felix-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Bob Harras-editor, Jim Shooter-better eject soon!

Synopsis: We start out on Cobra Island, as a ground crew prepares a Night Raven for flight. Judging by the dialogue, the pilot isn't a favorite of theirs.....



Some Rattler pilots and helicopter pilots are checking out the surveillance aircraft, Cobra's variation on the SR-71 Blackbird. They remark about the composite structure that helps it avoid radar signals, making it stealthy, while noting that causes a problem with canopy ejection, in an emergency. The chief points out the emergency escape tool, an object much like a crowbar. Then the Strato-Viper pilot turns up, kicks the ladder out from underneath the curious group and proceeds to crush the hand of one of the ground crew, while berating him for getting grease stains on his controls, telling him to use his free hand to clean them off.

So, he was an Academy graduate!

He gets clearance for departure and berates the tower for the time lag and jets off into the sky, leaving the search-and-rescue pilots grousing about what a Richard he is. His target is an air base, in Florida (McDill?).

Meanwhile, an Air Force Officer (who hasn't learned to remove his cover indoors) briefs the JOEs about Cobra reconnaissance flights that skirt the rim of the controlled air space, around military facilities, but close enough for high-res photography and signals gathering. Since he doesn't enter their airspace, they have no legitimate reason to scramble fighters and shoot him down. The mission parameters are for the JOE Team to send a Sky Striker and the X-30 up on maneuvers, in the area, intercept the Night Raven, playing chicken with him. They are not to fire unless fired upon, but they are given free rein to do everything possible to induce a hostile act by the Night Raven and send it into the ocean. Ace and Slip-Stream have been tasked to fly the mission.

We then see the contrast in the Cobra pilot and the JOE pilots, as they are appreciative of the work that their ground crews perform and have a comradeship with the SAR air crews.....



The Cobra pilot nears his target, but notices his camera image is a bit out of focus, when suddenly, Ace slips into his view, blocking him from recording the base. Slip-Stream then sidles up at his 6 o'clock and has perfect firing position. Ace them begins a series of maneuvers around the Night Raven, trying to provoke a response. The Strato-Viper ignores him, so Ace goes inverted and delivers hand gestures....



Why does this seem familiar?



Ace succeeds and the Strato-Viper launches a missile at him, while popping a flare, which blinds Slip-Stream. The Skystriker is hit and Ace ejects safely, while Slip-Stream tries to regain his vision. The Cobra pilot sees that Slip-Stream is not responding to his actions and realizes that the flare must have blinded him. he maneuvers in to attack position. Sip-Stream's vision starts clearing and he catches a glimpse of the Night Raven moving in on his 6 and breaks hard right, popping his own flare. The Cobra missile isn't diverted, but it messes up the surveillance package of the Night Raven. The missile's proximity fuse detonates and Slip-Stream is thrown into a flat spin. Rather than eject, he decides to try to counter the spin and restart his engines.

Meanwhile, the SAR team scrambles to pick up Ace....



Slip-Stream is finally able to restart his engines and pulls out of the spin and re-engages. The Strato-Viper is unaware that he has recovered, assuming, in his arrogance, that he is splashed down. His threat display cuts out, further keeping him in the dark. He fumes about the maintenance chief not replacing it on a regular schedule. He is unaware when Slip-Stream slides into his 6.....



Slip-Stream fires a burst of 20 mm spent uranium projectiles into the Night Raven's port tail fin. The Strato-Viper tries to evade, but Slip-Stream stays on his tail and fires Sidewinder missiles up his afterburners. Both engines are hit and the Night Raven goes down. The plane is outside SAR range and tries to close the distance. He calls in a mayday and Cobra scrambles the SAR helos, with a somewhat different response than the JOE Team......



Slip-Stream remains on station near Ace, to vector in the SAR team, while he has the fuel. They succeed in hoisting Ace up from his raft and return to base. As they land, Slip-Stream asks for permission to perform a Victory Roll and is given tacit, but not official approval.

Meanwhile, the Night Raven is able to make a waterborne landing, but the pilot cannot release the canopy. He looks for his escape tool, but it is missing. The craft sinks under the water, just as the Cobra SAR helos come on station and someone asks if he got out.....



Thoughts: Not much of a plot to this one; but, it does give an idea of what a day's work as a fighter pilot is like, while also contrasting how the JOE team operates (and, by extension, the US military) and how Cobra does. The Cobra Strato-Viper is arrogant and elitist, belittling the helo and Rattler pilots as inferior to him, while treating his ground crew like indentured servants or slaves. So, when the defecation hits the oscillator, we see who rises to the occasion and who fails. The JOEs are a tight bunch, with friendly rivalries, but a sense of teamwork. When things are quiet, they might needle each other and trash talk; but, when the red light goes on, they are there for each other.

One of the chief advantages the US Navy had over the Japanese, in World War 2, was in Search-And Rescue, allowing them to recover downed pilots and put them back into the fight, maintaining that level of experience. As the war went on, Japan lost more and more of their experienced pilots in air combat or accidents and their replacements lacked the same level of expertise, which created a cycle of poorer and poorer generations of replacement pilots. The US Navy, Marine Corps and USAAF lost many pilots, but they recovered many or more and had skilled, experienced men in combat, against rookies. Adding to that, US airframes were more robust and survivable, allowing them to take more damage and land safely, while a Zero was extremely vulnerable to battle damage. Also, the Japanese attitude of staying in the fight often meant that pilots went down in their planes or tried to put them into suicide dives.

In WW2, the Navy used the PBY Catalinas to pick pilots out of the ocean, or Grumman J2F Duck amphibious planes. They could land near the downed pilot, send out a rescue raft and bring the pilot back aboard and fly out,, returning them to base. From Korea onward, there were Search-And-Rescue helicopters. By the Vietnam War, the concept was raised to an art form, with helicopters on site soon after a pilot landed, assuming he was within range of friendly forces. If he was over North Vietnam, he was in trouble. SAR helos traveled with gunships, which provided covering fire, while the rescue chopper touched down or winched up the downed aircrew. Fighters would also stand guard and drop ordinance on hostile forces, to keep them at bay. The Air Force also used para-commandos (called Air Commandos, in the Vietnam Era) who would jump in treat wounded air crew and provide security for the extraction. There is an argument in the military over who has the toughest training, the Navy SEALs or Air Force para-rescue.

The mission reflects much of what went on during the Cold War, when US and Soviet forces would come in contact. Often, they would shadow one another probing them for responses and passing on the intel. In some cases, the acts were more aggressive and tensions could get quite high. The general rule of engagement in such situations was not to fire, unless fired upon. Neither side wanted to start WW3; but, they also looked for weaknesses to exploit. This happened in the air, at sea and in land maneuvers, near border regions. Similar things have gone n in other areas, with other nations. Currently, China has been carrying out aggressive maneuvers near Taiwan and Japan, as well as contested islands in the Philippines. Libya, in the 80s, tried to claim all of the Gulf of Sidra as territorial waters and played chicken with the US Navy, which ended poorly, for them. Iran engaged in hostile actions int he Persian Gulf, in the late 80s and the Navy sank a few of their ships. The Soviet navy played games in the Baltic, around Sweden and Denmark.

The Night Raven toy was based on the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, which itself was one of the early developments in stealthy aircraft. It was eventually mothballed and replaced; but, it's general configuration was often the starting point for imagining what stealth aircraft might be like, as the actual planes were closely guarded secrets, until the Pentagon unveiled them publicly. There were classified test flights around Groom Lake and it was some time before the B-2 Stealth bomber was seen publicly (as well as flying at the Paris Air Show) and even longer before the public display of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, during the Gulf War. Early "stealth fighter" model kits were usually slightly modified SR-71 molds. The F-117 was developed early, but was kept a more closely guarded secret than the B-2.

The Night Raven toy featured the basic SR-71 airframe, but with forward canard wings below the cockpit section, bulkier air intakes on the engines and twin tails that projected outwards, instead of inwards, as in the Blackbird. The toy also had a smaller reconnaissance shuttle, that could be launched, though Herbe Trimpe left that out, here. We also see JOE Tomahawks, as the SAR helicopters. The Cobra helos look like Soviet Mil Mi-8 "Hip" helicopters, one of their most widely used models (as a troop transport and utility helicopter). Generally speaking, if they were not referencing a toy design, Marvel (especially Trimpe) tended to use Soviet military vehicles and weapons as their model. Since many of the toy vehicles were based on US military vehicles, it makes sense to use the Soviets for Cobra, since it provides the most variety.

It is pretty obvious that Top Gun was the main inspiration for this story. It was released in May 1986 and this comic was released in February 1987. Top Gun was a big deal and it makes sense that it would factor in this book, at some point. The game of chicken with the enemy aircraft and the flat spin are all plot elements of the film, as is a sea rescue of Maverick, after he goes down in a flat spin, killing Goose. I actually met divers who performed that scene, during filming and none of them had a good word to say about Tom Cruise. Similar sentiments were expressed by officers on the USS Enterprise, where some filming was done. There were stories that he was kicked out of the wardroom (the officers' mess) on the Enterprise and that he went around acting like he really was a pilot. It might have been Method acting, but he ticked of a lot of people, back then. Still, it did wonders for publicity and Navy recruiting, though most didn't become pilots.

For the non-aviation enthusiast:

6 or 6 O'Clock-directions relative to the aircraft are done in degrees, like a clock face. 12 O'clock is straight ahead or straight above. 6 O'clock is directly behind or below. The best shooting position, in aerial combat, is at the 6 O'Clock position, as you can fire directly into the engines and control surfaces of the aircraft.

Zoomie or Zoom Boy-Air Force personnel, especially pilots

Talking with hands-pilots in conversation, especially military pilots, will use hand gestures to signify aerial maneuvers. We used to spoof it in Supply Corps School, replacing pilot jargon with things like auditing forms and submitting requisitions. "There I was, with the XO at my 6, when I filed an upgrade to my DD-214 and a priority requisition." Made paperwork sound sexier than it was.

Big watch-pilots tend to like big, bright, shiny objects, like high end watches with lots of gadgets. The first thing a pilot did on a deployment overseas was hit the PX to buy a Rolex or Omega watch.

Academy graduate: This is a stereotype, but with a lot of historical record to support it. In general, military academy graduates tend to be a bit more arrogant than their counterparts from other commissioning pipelines. Not everyone; just by comparison. Being an academy graduate does get you favorable treatment in things like assignments and promotion. However, in my time, in the Navy, NROTC and OCS officers tended to be looked at more favorably by enlisted personnel, as we tended to be better multi-taskers and had less of a stick up our rear valves. Even with our scholarships, we didn't have a complete ride and I held down a part time job, along with my ROTC duties and course work, to cover room and board. Academy types got everything. My unit eventually got some small sailboats, for training, which were Naval Academy hand-me-downs. That kind of thing. They got hazed and played power games for 4 years; we were more laid back and didn't engage in that stuff (well, my unit, anyway). Graduates are known as "ring knockers," as they wear huge clas rings, which they have a tendency to bang against tables and doors. The Naval Academy was known as either "Boat School" or "Canoe U." West Point and Colorado Springs have similar nicknames, I am sure.

McDill Air Force Base-located near Tampa, Fl, it is also home to the US Special Operations Command and US Central Command. It has also housed SAC components and fighter wings, though the 1991 Base Realignment project resulted in removing much of the fighter contingent, due to increased air traffic, related to the growth of Tampa. It does house a refueling wing and Air Mobility wing.

Flying inverted-upside down. Herb Trimpe draws a Comics Code Approved hand jesture, rather than the usual one, as seen in Top Gun.

Sidewinder-the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile is the most common air-to-air missile, with an infra-red guidance system. It is a short range missile. In my time, the F-14 Tomcat would be armed with a configuration of two Sidewinder missiles, two AIM Sparrow missiles, and two AIM-54 Phoenix Missiles. Sidewinders were for short range, the Sparrows for medium range and the Phoneix were long range, beyond visual sight. An F-14 (basis for the Skystriker) could take out a target from 25 miles out, with a Phoenix missile.

20 mm spent uranium projectiles-The US military uses spent uranium metal for its 20 mm cannons, both on aircraft and in the Close-In-Weapon System (CIWS) carried on naval vessels, for protection against anti-ship missiles. "Spent" uranium is metal with minimal U235 material in it, less than .3%, in the Dept of Defense munitions. It has a high density, which makes it perfect for punching through armor and is used in artillery, as well as anti-tank munitions. However, it still has low radioactive levels and there are still long term health concerns related to them. one of the potential causes of what became known as "Gulf War Syndrome," was the use of depleted uranium munitions in combat. When the munition impacts a target, particles are released into the environment. Cancer rates within the war zone rose dramatically, after the war. Navy regulations required protective gear when handling 20 mm munitions, when loading the CIWS. I had actually kept a pair of ejected brass casings, after my first midshipman training cruise, but got rid of them after reading more about the munitions. Never did me any rainbow trout flips a wheelie!

SAR-Search-And-Rescue

ps In the letters page, in answering a question, it is stated that the command structure for the JOE Team is Hawk, as the CO, Duke as First Sergeant (senior enlisted) and "acting XO" is rotated between Wild Bill, Ace and Cutter.

COUGH***_bull@#$%***COUGH

The military doesn't work that way. The XO would be second in rank to the CO. Wild Bill is a CWO 4, Cutter is a Lieutenant (JG) (O2) and Ace is a Captain (O3). Ace would be senior in rank; and, therefore, be the XO. In reality, Ace might command the JOE air wing, while an Army officer, probably a major, would be the unit XO. That would be a specific billet, not a collateral duty. A billet is a job assignment, like CO or XO, while a collateral duty is an additional duty assigned, on top of an officer's primary duty. For instance, my billet, on my first assignment, was Assistant Supply Officer, on the USS Jesse L Brown. I had collateral duties, including Savings Drive Officer, handling the Savings Bond campaign, to encourage the crew to put a portion of their pay into savings. In an Army unit, collateral duties might include Morale or Mess Officer, overseeing the unit mess hall (which would be run by a non-com).