Now that was a good (long) week-end.

Aaron from The Shekel came down Friday to catch the air show and hang out for a few days, and the G-rated version of this week-end's events can be seen on his page. But I just dropped his hungover self off at the airport and it looked like he at least made it inside so now the stories can begin.

Friday night I took him to work with me at a music venue where I labor part time. He put a couple pics up but I notice he omitted the best part of the entertainment. And of course there were adult beverages

Next day was airshow day, and it was good.

More on this later.

Then it was out for dinner and a second line parade--Aaron's first--and another show, this one where we were just spectators. But the adult beverages flowed free.


Sunday came and we went out to the swamp for a bit, and then came back and took kayaks out on Bayou St. John. We rewarded ourselves for that with another foray into the French Quarter and a few more adult beverages.

Yesterday we hit the Louisiana National Guard museum at Jackson Barracks.

It looks great now but it was completely destroyed during Hurricane Katrina and the pictures they have of the hundreds of historic guns ruined by submersion of the floodwaters is enough to make you cry. So we came back to my place and walked down to the Quarter to get some adult beverages to make us feel better.

I think we started out at R Bar (as seen on NCIS New Orleans) for a beer. Then I took Aaron to get some gifts for his kids and we had a few dozen oysters and some more beer Then it was into a bar where a lady friend of mine works, and she made us a couple of specialty cocktails that weren't exactly light on the rum, because she's a good friend. From there we went to Popeyes to grab some chicken on the way to the ferry dock and we went over to The Crown and Anchor, a nifty English Pub on the West Bank, to meet another lady friend of mine. We had a couple more beers, and a few whiskey shots, then caught the last ferry back in a downpour. And then because *someone* hasn't learned to use the bathroom before leaving a bar, we had to stop into another bar so he could go. And it's rude not to buy anything when using a bar's bathroom so we had a couple more tequila shots each and then I took him to a local pirate bar to get him his first Absinthe drink.

He seemed to like that 124-proof concoction, or at least that's what he told me a dozen times or so between there and the next bar, where we stopped in to see Janet the bar dog.

While we were there we ran into some Las Vegas cops here for a conference. We talked, they bought us a couple more beers, and then we invited them to join us for midnight burgers at Clover Grill, a Bourbon Street institution. Those guys were pretty hammered too, and wanted more drinks, so I steered them all to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop and got Aaron a Hurricane because he hadn't had one yet and it's his last night. There we met a few members of a bridal party from Toronto, Aaron's home town, and one of us tried (and failed) to pick up the bride-to-be. (OK, that was me. Aim high, right?) We finally walked back to my place again.

I thought that it was a pretty good night, but Aaron seemed to have picked up a case of the flu somewhere along the way as he was still quite green and slow-moving this morning.

Good times...good times.

So I'm driving down the road...

In Alabama the other day, and what do I see on the I-10?

Someone got a cool new toy!

Also can't help think about how handy that would be in New Orleans when the wheels finally fall off due to Mitch Landrieu's stunning managerial incompetence and the race-baiting that he uses to distract people from it. Plus it's also just about one of the few vehicles that can drive on city streets that have been so neglected as back-to-back Democrat administrations have siphoned off money meant to fix them and spent it on other things near and dear to them and their coterie of friends alone.

But mark my words...let enough Democrats run enough of America for too long and we WILL likely be seeing tanks in our streets.

Tanks Alot!

I found this beauty at a VFW hall in Eunice, Louisiana today.

It's an older M-60, and it's in great shape. And it looks stunning with Old Glory behind it.

Looks good from the front, too. And has most all of it's little bits and pieces...even it's running lights. And none are busted out, which is rare for an unguarded public display tank. (My bet is that the usual hooligans do break or steal stuff, and the VFW guys repair or replace.)

If it wasn't being so well cared for, I'd have considered hooking it to my tow bar and taking it home. My and my new gator friend could go cruising the Lower 9th Ward with it.

But the Eunice VFW has made this one the centerpiece of a very nice memorial to local vets, so it's probably better off right where it is.

Thanks, Vets!

Two dead as WW2 Armored vehicle explodes in Oregon.

Some people think that flying airplanes is dangerous, but there are risks involved with every activity, and sometimes even people with tanks can have a bad day.

In Oregon, two men who were operating a vintage M18 Hellcat tank destroyer were killed when something when wrong while they were firing the machine's live 76mm gun.

Ore. pair who restored vintage tanks killed by explosion

Authorities are still trying to figure out what went wrong. RIP, Steven Preston and Austin Lee.

A tank in the basement. Why can't I have cool neighbors like that?

My neighbor just has regular feral cats, but this German guy had a Panther! And then they came to take it from him, just because.

WW2 Panther tank seized from pensioner's cellar

The guy apparently had it since the war, and was even seen driving it around in the late 1970's, but Grosse Bruder finally found out and sent the troops in to take it away.

He had an anti-aircraft gun, too. Also confiscated.

I feel for the old guy. I'm thinking that if I had a tank and the government came to take it, they'd have to fight that tank.

When they outlaw tanks, only outlaws will have tanks.

Tank You Very Much.

While out and about in Washington DC the other day, I happened across this nifty M60 M48 tank on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

I'd seen it for some time through their fence off North Capitol Street, so the other day I stopped by their main office and they were kind enough to allow me access to take some pictures.

This one is one of the first-generation M60s, later generation M48s and it sports the long bore-evacuated 105mm main gun, as you can see here.

These machines weighed in at approximately 50 tons, and they were powered by a Continental V-12 air-cooled, twin-turbocharged diesel engine that put out 750 horsepower. (Air cooled? How do you do that on an engine that big, especially one encased in steel?)

As you can see, this one is in great shape, without a single broken light or missing fixture.

Close-up of the turret below shows an interesting logo welded on the hull. Didn't notice it until I got home and went through the pics. What do you suppose it is? Perhaps Detroit Tank Arsenal's version of a hood ornament?

Detroit made a lot of these. Between 1952 and 1959, they produced over 12,000 of them for the US Military and our allies, and Pakistan was still using them in Somalia in 1993.

The US Marines made great use of them in Vietnam, literally writing the book on jungle operations with these monsters that were designed for the open battlefields of Europe. The VC and NVA quickly learned to fear them. A great book on that aspect of the war is Praying for Slack: A Marine Corps Tank Commander in Viet Nam by Robert E. Peavey. Likewise, Ralph Zumbro has written several good books on tanks and tank combat, with Tank Aces being a favorite of mine.

Gotta admit, I'd love to have this beauty under my carport. But she's apparently being well-cared for where she is, and she's where she belongs, serving out her days in the company of other veterans. Still, I'll likely pop back to visit her every now and again, just because.

EDITED TO ADD: Reader Knucklehead informs me that this is an M-48, not an M-60.

I still need one, though.

Saturday Man Movie

In Saharah (1943), US Army Master Sergeant Joe Gunn, played by Humphrey Bogart, leads a band of allied soldiers across the desert, battling the Germans and the elements in a fight for survival. Because they have almost no food or water, he makes the decision to ditch Giuseppe, an Italian prisoner.

Tanks for the walk!

I had to go into Maryland today, so I took the hounds along and we went for a stroll downtown Brunswick. Naturally, they found a new ride that they thought that I needed, one that may not be as fast as the cars loved by the likes of Keads and Tam, but one that could dish out and take a bit more of a beating.

This is an M5 Stuart. It can be found downtown Brunswick in the center of a nice veterans' memorial. The dogs apparently think that I need it as a daily driver for my commute down into DC.

"You need this, Boss!"

It's a beautiful tank, and it's been here since 1946. There was originally a howitzer here following World War One, but the city was asked to give it up for a scrap metal drive for World War Two. The Defense Department promised them a tank at the end of that war in return, and they came through with this one.

It looks good there, but I do feel somewhat sorry for it. If it could talk, I know that it'd want to run again and drive around. What a great shade-tree restoration this one could be...and it could still be a veterans' memorial in lots of local parades...and on my commute down into DC.

Ah well...at least it's taken care of there.

The dogs and I walked all around downtown, and I was a bit sad but not surprised to see one of my formerly-favorite restaurants has apparently gone bust.

El Sloppy Taco used to offer same fantastic South American BBQ dishes at decent prices, and it was good enough to motivate me to ride my bike down often from Harpers Ferry to get some, but unfortunately, the woman who ran it tended to look at customers as if we were some sort of an affliction, and I finally got tired of being treated like shit in return for walking in the door and spending money so I quit going there. Looks like a lot of other people made the same choice, because it's empty now. Tsk. The place could have been so much more.

I also found a dog-friendly antique store in Past and Present Antiques, and the owner graciously allowed Murphy and Belle in and even gave them biscuits. And Murphy and Belle were well-behaved enough not to knock any of the expensive breakables off of the shelves and tables as we waked the aisles, although I did keep a pretty tight rein on them. Here they are after enjoying their snacks.

Now we're home, and the dogs are napping. The peace and quiet..so nice. Time for a beer or three.

Because Tanks...

We saw these cherry M5 Stuarts at Thunder Over Michigan last month.

There were four, but I couldn't get a picture with all of them in it at once.

The M5A1 was an upgraded and much-improved version of the old pre-war designed M3 light tank. It had a boxier hull and a decent Cadillac V8 engine, as opposed to the old radial aircraft engines that powered the earlier M3.

It sported two .30 Browning machine guns, one on the turret mounted coaxial to the main gun and one in the sponson, or front of the hull. The Main gun was a 37mm cannon. (Not terribly impressive in an airplane, according to Juvat, but more than fine for a tank.)

It wasn't heavily armed or heavily armored, having just enough of both to get it into trouble. It's main purpose was as a scout or reconnaissance vehicle but during World War Two, it was used for pretty much everything and saw service from North Africa to Europe to the Pacific.

Thousands were made, and after the war, most were scrapped, sold off or given to any number of our allies. We gave bunches of them to the British, who really weren't too keen on them despite their ability to build a tank that was any great shakes, and we gave more to the Russians under Lend-Lease, and they didn't like them either. Both considered the tank to be too light and too prone to catching fire when hit, thanks mostly to the older aircraft engined M3s that needed high-octane gasoline to run.

Post-war, they were adopted by the Nationalist (Red) Chinese, who used several that we abandoned in the Philippines in their own civil war in 1949. The Indians and the Pakistanis fought each other with them, Portugal used them and numerous South American countries, notably Brazil and Argentina, used them well up into the 1970s. It's rumored that Paraguay is STILL using a few today.

The little suckers sure got around.

Of course, as is the case with all of the surplus aircraft after the war, no one thought to save me one or two. Why was everyone back then so damned thoughtless?

At the show, the tanks fought a battle for us to watch. They drove around and shot their guns.

They even made use of a spotter plane and supporting infantry.

It made for a nice show when the airplanes weren't flying.

And yeah, I'd love one for use in traffic.

Here they are after their battle. Neat, huh?