There must also be a flyable computer available for Nefarious to do FSO. So he doesn't keep talking about it for eight and a half hours on Friday night!
Ironically, my dad and him were on the same cruise in the Med during Yom Kippur. My dad was with VA-65 which is one of the Squadrons Tanker Pics above. It was my dads first Cruise on the Indy, They were in Athens when Yom Kippur broke out. They left Greece in such a hurry, lots of squadron personel were left there and had to be flown back to the CV. My dad was in the Navy for 20 years, and he said it was more intense than during Desert Storm. He said it felt like the real deal, they were loading Nukes on Intruders.
Cool pics Nefarious. F4s look so odd without the cannon. I've never seen a real one without it except for the PR version. I've read somewhere that in 73 the IAF still made more gun kills than missiles kills, though I do not have the full break down, so it could be largely due to the Mirages. A fighter without a cannon, that's just crazy...
It was the "real deal". Two large Mediterranean fleets circling each other armed to the teeth and on trip wire. If one side fired there wouldnt be enough time to consult with higher command regarding retaliation so the fate of the world rested in the hands of two Admirals, one American and one Soviet. The only chance the Reds had was to launch everything at the USN CVs because the Soviet fleet wouldnt survive a USN air strike and SSN attack. And they knew it. Yom Kippur was even scarier then Cuba because there were players and decisions the Super Powers couldnt control.Who knows? Maybe the presence of the 6th fleet and those air planes saved the world from catastrophe. The Israelis would have surely used nukes if they couldnt count on US resupply along with the deterrence of the 6'th fleet. And who knows what would have happened after that genie was let loose? A very scarey piece of History your dad was involved in.
