A lot of goodbyes happening right now in military aviation. Another tribute to the JASDF.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Aussies are saying farewell to their F/A-18A classic Hornets, in preparation of their replacement with F-35s. The best of the Aussie Hornets will live on though, having another decade or two of life in the frozen north of Canada while the Canucks figure out how to buy a new fighter someday.
Of course, we said goodbye to the Legend Himself, General Chuck Yeager, last week. Which put me in the mind of this classic bit of cinema of one of General Yeager’s flights.
Which reminds this one of the last days of operational F-104S service in the Italian Air Force.
Interesting note, my kids have been really getting into the Ace Combat series for the past couple of months. The F-104 is a flyable aircraft in Ace Combat 7, which means I’ve been answering all sorts of questions about the legendary Widowmaker. Oddly enough, it appears that my collection of aviation reference books have a bit of a hole around -50s and ’60s era American fighters. I should remedy that at some point soon.