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Winter 2012-2013
Vol. 35 No.4
The Magazine of the Air Force Museum Foundation • www.airforcemuseum.com
Featured Articles Last Flight With Misty 7
11 The Lance Sijan Story 17
The Bravest of The Brave
In 2012 you helped us...
Young Minds
Those Who Serve
PURSUE OUR DREAMS For the Museum Expansion
The Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. is a private organization. It is not part of the Department of Defense or any of its components, and it has no government status.
Col "Scoop" Cooper, USAF (Ret.) Executive Director, Air Force Museum Foundation
Competition. Teamwork. Friendship. As we move out of the old year and into the new, it's a good time to reflect on the qualities that ground and refuel the spirit. Gen Tom Stafford, USAF (Ret.) Apollo 10 astronaut, former SAF/AQ for the Air Force, and Air Legacy Ace with 8 kills!
In many ways, it has been a WOW year! Everthing from our fundraising efforts for the Expanding the Legacy program for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force® to the addition of two new interactive flight simulators. As you can see below, the skies over Dayton were ablaze in our first annual Air Legacy Competition, which brought out the best in individual and team flying skills. Teamwork was demonstrated with Museum special events, such as the spectacular 70th Anniversary Doolittle Tokyo Raiders celebration, as well as the presentation of NASA's first space shuttle crew compartment trainer (CCT) in one of several Membership Appreciation events. Finally, Friendship. Every day at the Museum, I witness friendship in action as friends and family meet in the atrium for a day in the Museum or to purchase a Legacy Data Plate for the Museum's Wall of Honor. As you think back on the past year, we hope you have your own stories of competition, teamwork, and friendship to reflect upon. Remember to keep your eyes on the skies and in the pages of the Friends Journal as we move into 2013. We have many good things in store, including the transition from film to digital 3D in the Air Force Museum Theatre (it's going to be awesome!), the rollout of the new shuttle CCT exhibit, and a new round of Air Legacy Competition—this time including air-toground gunnery featuring the A-10! Wishing all our Friends a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year! Email: email@example.com Website: www.airforcemuseum.com
Thanks to all who competed in the first annual Air Legacy Competition which ran for the month of November at the Interactive flight Simulators in the Museum's second hangar. Competitors "flew" the F-15 Eagle in exciting air-to-air combat. The winners below all achieved ace status and excelled in their respective categories in the friendly competition. Solo Champion - Matthew Nenzoski with an average of 14.5 kills. Two-Person Crew Champions - Annie and Keith Pollcano with an average of 21 kills. Organizational Champion- Levin Porter and Associates, led by Steve Byington with an average of 9 kills. Annie & Keith Pollcano
Matt, Annie and Keith each won an Air Legacy coin, t-shirt, theatre tickets, and a one-year AFMF Membership. Levin Porter and Associates team members received Air Legacy coins and a 10% one-time discount in the Museum Store. Additionally, the organization will receive a special group screening at the NEW digital 3D Theatre!
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Richard V. Reynolds - Chairman Mr. Gregory G. Lockhart - President Mr. Gary G. Stephenson - Vice President Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Charles S. Cooper III - Secretary Mr. Robert J. Suttman II, CFA - Treasurer Gen. (Ret.) William J. Begert The Hon. Claude M. Bolton, Jr. Col. (Ret.) Mark N. Brown Dr. Thomas J. Burns, PhD. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Charles H. Coolidge, Jr. Ms. Frances A. Duntz Mr. David C. Evans Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr. Mr. Charles J. Faruki Col. (Ret.) Michael B. Goetz Maj. Gen. (Ret.) E. Ann Harrell Col. (Ret.) William S. Harrell Mr. Jon G. Hazelton Mr. Charles F. Kettering III Mr. Patrick L. McGohan Col. (Ret.) Pamela A. Melroy Gen. (Ret.) T. Michael Moseley Col. (Ret.) Susan E. Richardson Gen. (Ret.) Charles T. Robertson, Jr. Col. (Ret.) James B. Schepley Mr. Scott J. Seymour Mr. Philip L. Soucy Mr. Harry W. (Wes) Stowers, Jr.
Friend or Foe?
This was one of many questions on the concerned minds of Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The ability of servicemen to identify "friend or foe" in an instant was crucial to combat survival, and the subject of recognition was taught in just about every World War II service school. Servicemen and patriotic civilians alike quickly rose to the challenge of learning how to identify enemy from allied aircraft. One of the most effective training methods was to provide classrooms with airplane models painted black to simulate the silhouette seen from the ground or while in the air. The airplane pictured here, a scale model of the P-40, was hand-carved by Mr. Howard L. Richardson to teach aircraft spotting for Civil Defense in Maine. It is part of a collection of 47 models donated in 1977.
The models were purposely devoid of details such as propellers, extended landing gear, and control surface outlines, and they were required to be finished with "non-gloss" black paint. The effort even made the cover of Life magazine, with an article entitled "How to Make Plane Models." As promoted in the June 1942 issue of Flying Aces, "Your country needs scale model planes for the emergency. They won't be used in a display gallery or to show the handiwork of one's leisure time. They will serve a definite purpose. They will be used for training military personnel in aircraft recognition and range estimation in gunnery practice. These models likewise will be important in the training of civilians in enemy plane detection, an essential element in civilian defense." Established model building companies like Comet and Strombecker likewise stepped up for the war effort, providing premade official identification model building kits.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE Lt Gen (Ret.) J. H. Hudson, Director Terrill Aitken, Senior Curator
Executive Director - Col. (Ret.) "Scoop" Cooper Chief Development Officer - Ms. Lin Erickson Membership Manager - Matt Lynch Development Coordinator - Charlene Wells Membership Coordinator - Michele Giefer Membership Office: 1-877-258-3910 (toll free) or 937-656-9615
Friends Journal
Editor - Peggy Coale Art Director - Mark A. Riley Editorial Assistants - Bill Hughes, Robert Pinizzotto, Dave Menard, Herman Engle Editorial Office: 937-656-9622
The Friends Journal is published quarterly by the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the expansion and improvement of the National Museum of the United States Air Force and to the preservation of the history of the United States Air Force. Authors retain all rights to further publication or use. Author's views expressed in the Friends Journal do not necessarily represent those of the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc. or those of the United States Air Force. Printed in the USA. USPS Standard "A" rate postage paid at Dayton, OH. Subscription to the Friends Journal is included in the annual membership of the Friends of the Air Force Museum. All materials are Copyright 2012 and may not be reproduced without permission from the Air Force Museum Foundation. Submission of material for publication and correspondence concerning contents should be addressed to The Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1903, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-1903, and marked in the corner of the envelope "ATTN: Editor."
to schools participating in the National School Model Building Program around the country. The use of a 1:72 scale likely stems from its use in British commercial model-making kits. It worked out nicely, though, to let one inch in model dimension equal the height of a sixfoot man—or 72 inches. The effect was that a model viewed at a distance of 35 feet would appear the same size as the actual airplane would at approximately a halfmile distance. Many of today's aircraft model kits retain the 1:72 scale initiated during World War II.
Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Office of Education put out a call to model builders — particularly schoolboys — to construct half a million airplane models just like this one. Initially, the Bureau of Aeronautics Special Devices Division had employed skilled model builders from the Navy. These enlisted men built models of enemy airplanes that they had never even seen before, often relying only on the information found in blurry photographs taken at crash scenes. By February 1942, the first set of 1:72 scale official patterns for planes had been devised and distributed
It is estimated that within the first nine months of 1942 more than 200,000 of these wooden aircraft models were constructed by high school students across the country. Not long afterwards, highly accurate and easily-produced plastic models became widely available thus ending the need for the student-made models. The age of wood recognition models was short-lived but, as the author of the story in this Journal will testify, not quite forgotten. Source: www.collectair.com
Contents Winter 2012-2013 Vol. 35 No. 4
ARTICLES 4 MISTY—A Difficult Task in a Terrible War by Maj Gen Don Shepperd, USAF (Ret.) LTC Bill Douglass, USAF (Ret.) Col Bud Day, USAF (Ret.)
7 Last Flight With Misty by Ed Risinger
Events Rally Support for Museum Expansion
11 The Bravest of The Brave by Maj Gen Don Shepperd USAF (Ret.) 13 U-6 Mission in Vietnam by Maj Walt Hoy, USAF (Ret.) 17 The Indomitable Spirit of Man: The Lance Sijan Story by Guy Gruters Misty 29 22 Building Spotter Models For the War by Wilfred M. Husted 24 Jolly Green 22: Preserving The Legacy by Raymond L. Robb 28 Classic Aircraft Of The National Museum Of The U.S. Air Force®
Dayton, Ohio at the Museum
31 Glimpses Back From a B-24 Pilot by George T. Henry 36 The LRRP Nightmare by Lt Col Ray Janes, USAF (Ret.) 39 Unlucky 13 by Peter Kassak and Charles G. Jarrells
DEPARTMENTS 2 Editor's Notes and Feedback
42 New Exhibits
43 Activities and Events
Colorado Springs, CO at The Club at Flying Horse
44 Restoration Update Go Behind The Scenes 45 Education Museum's Education Division Participates in Community STEM Event
46 Major Donations and Contributions
51 Reunions
53 The Museum Store Washington, D.C. at the home of Maj Gen E. Ann Harrell, USAF (Ret.) and LTG William T. Grisoli, USA
Winter 2012-2013 • Friends Journal
verybody needs a wingman, that fellow Airman, friend, or coworker who always has your back and stays with you through the worst of times. The official Air Force definition of a Wingman is the pilot flying the plane beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation who protects the lead by "checking his six." Unofficially the word has taken on much greater significance, as it refers to the commitment between all Airmen— including Air Force civilians—for mutual support. When you designate someone as your wingman, it means you know they're always going to be watching out for you, helping you complete your mission. Airmen at war develop a strong bond of mutual support and trust, perhaps like no other. You don't always know where you're going to get a wingman contribution. For many unfortunate airmen and soldiers in Vietnam—in imminent danger of capture—it was from an F-100F Fast Forward Air Controller, who would remain as on-scene commander until A-1 and HH-53 "Jolly Green" helicopters arrived. These rescue ship aircrews, of course, had everybody's back during the war. Sometimes it's from a stranger who doesn't speak the same language but is fighting for a common cause. Or an Air Force Academy classmate who turns up unexpectedly beside you in a North Vietnamese POW camp. It might even be a 13-year-old high school student in 1942, working carefully in shop class to craft wooden aircraft recognition models to support the war effort. We tell these tales and others in this Friends Journal issue. We are grateful to the Airmen who lived these stories and served our country so faithfully—our nation's Wingmen! Peggy Coale, Editor "Wars are not won by individuals. They're won by teams." Col Francis "Gabby" Gabreski
Cover Illustration: Original art by Lou Drendel, designed especially for this issue, portrays a scene from
"Risinger's Raid," a Misty FAC mission detailed in both Misty and Bury Us Upside Down. Lou's work can be viewed at www.aviation-art.net. Three stories from Misty, edited by Maj Gen Don Shepperd, USAF (Ret.), are reprinted in this issue with his permission: "Last Flight with Misty," "The Bravest of the Brave," and "The Indomitable Spirit of Man."
The Air Force Mary Bruggeman Chief of Theatre Operations
he Air Force Museum Theatre will host its first annual Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation as part of our newly renovated, digital theatre opening. The festival will open with a VIP Red Carpet reception on Thursday, April 11, followed by an incredible three-day event celebrating the wonder, history, and people of flight as presented on the big screen. From classic films like Wings to Air Racers 3D, each invited production will be presented by someone closely affiliated with bringing it to the silver screen. These include every type of talent; from actors, producers and directors, writers, historians, aerial cinematographers and stunt pilots. Among them will be producer Catherine Wyler to present both her 1990 feature film, Memphis Belle, and her late father, William Wyler's, 1944 documentary of the same name. We are working with Ron Kaplan, founder of the Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation, to make this an event to remember. For the most up-to-date information on ticket availability and film schedule, check the Foundation website at www.airforcemuseum.com or http://reelstufffilmfest.com in the upcoming months.
Friends Journal • Winter 2012-2013
Friends Feedback You Have No Rudder In the latest Friends Journal you included an article by Capt John Irwin, "You Have No Rudder." In the article John remarks that in the aftermath of the incident he failed to log the flight in his logbook and did not get a photo of the T-6. I was a classmate of John and happened to be on the flight line after my training flight that day. I had my new camera, and after reading his article, I thought I had a photo of the rudderless airplane. After a little digging I found the picture and have enclosed it. Brig Gen Monroe G. Mathias, USAF (Ret.) We have forwarded the photo to John Irwin
Navy Brat John Pittman's story "Growing Up An Air Force Brat" brought back memories of my childhood as a Navy dependent. My earliest recollections are of duplex housing in Long Beach. We later lived in Quonset Huts near what was then known as the Destroyer Base in San Diego. After a year or so living off base near San Diego, we followed my father to Guam, again living in Quonset Huts. We were only there a few months before I contracted polio, in September 1951. By December I was stable enough to be flown home to San Diego, which is really the point of my story. At the age of 8, accompanied by my father, I was put aboard a MATS plane filled with Korean War wounded. I understood the plane started out in Seoul, stopping in Manila before it arrived in Guam. It seems to me we stopped in Kwajalein and Eniwetok enroute to Honolulu, where I spent a few days in Tripler Hospital. Then it was on to Travis AFB, where we were transferred to a C-47 for the flight to San Diego. I recently came across a couple of snapshots my father took at the beginning of the trip. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who might have been on that flight or flew missions such as mine in December 1951. John Fry P.O. Box 9444 San Diego CA 92169 firstname.lastname@example.com
Clarification needed On page 15 of the Fall 2012 issue, the photo caption reads: "Yak-9s on a Russian flightline. These were the type of fighters often assigned as escorts to Allied bombers flying shuttle missions to the USSR from European bases." I have read about and researched those USAAF missions in considerable detail…I can assure you that Russian fighters did not escort American bombers on any of the earlier missions in which the latter participated, from and to England, Italy and Russia (the Ukraine), as they had their own escorting P-5ls on all of them. There were Russian fighters at Ukrainian bases utilized by the USAAF during these shuttle missions, from June to August 1944, but their only connection to the American aircraft would have been in the role of local airfield defense. Steve Blake Membership Chairman, Historian, and Lightning Strikes Editor P-38 National Association
All long-range fighter escort was indeed accomplished
by American fighters; however, local base defense and escort over Soviet occupied-territory was handled by Soviet fighters. The following is transcribed from the "Frantic Joe" Standard Operating Procedures: "Soviet defensive fighters will relieve offensive fighters at front line and escort our bombers to bases and provide area support. Soviet defensive fighters will give close-in and escort support on missions departing Russia." Later, it was decided that the Soviets would provide area protection from rising interceptors by flying below 15,000 feet. They would not attempt close support of the bombers so as to eliminate confusion. The Soviets would also attack German airdromes near the corridor of entrance. Furthermore, Soviet press releases transcribed in the final report state: "The American bombers were met over Soviet territory by squadrons of our "Yak" fighters, which escorted them to the bases." My conclusion from the primary source documentation: Soviet fighters did not escort the American bombers to target, but did provide fighter escort over Soviet territory. I can confirm on some missions from Italy to Russia, American fighter escort returned home after the bombers crossed into Soviet territory. From Brett Stolle, Museum Research Division:
Correction In the 2013 National Museum of the U.S. Air Force calendar, the November photo was incorrectly attributed. It should read "Photo by Jerry Herbert." Our apologies to Mr. Herbert!
John Fry, at age 8, on middle bunk surrounded by Korea War wounded.
Winter 2012-2013 • Friends Journal
MISTY—A Difficult Task in a Terrible War By Maj Gen Don Shepperd, USAF (Ret.) LTC Bill Douglass, USAF (Ret.) Col Bud Day, USAF (Ret.) The following material is excerpted from the book Misty, edited by Maj Gen Don Shepperd, and is a compilation of stories written by Gen Shepperd, LTC Bill Douglass, and Col Day. "Misty" was the radio call sign used by the F-100F Forward Air Controllers, Fast FACs, during the Vietnam War. USAF There were 157 pilots officially Misty missions were flown with two pilots. The assigned to fly frontseater usually flew the aircraft while the missions over backseater navigated and observed. North Vietnam from June 15, 1967 to May 19, 1970. Another 21 attached pilots flew occasional missions. There were also Intelligence Officers, Flight Surgeons, and Maintenance Officers assigned. It was a small, tightknit group of special people given a difficult task in a terrible war. Of the 157 Mistys, 34 were shot down, and two were shot down twice. Eight others were shot down when not flying with Misty, for a total loss rate of 28 percent. There were seven killed in action, four prisoners of war, and 33 are now deceased. There was also one Medal of Honor recipient, two Air Force Chiefs of Staff, eight general officers, an Air National Guard Director, two astronauts, a winner of the Collier Trophy, the Louis Bleriot Medal, the Presidential Citizen's Medal of Honor, the first man to fly non-stop, un-refueled around the world, and one who ran for Congress. By any measure this was an unusual group of men. The Misty mission was to interdict men and materials headed to South Vietnam and to prevent SAM deployment in the area of responsibility. Between 1965 and 1967, as the result of a build-up of U.S. forces in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese attempted to move massive amounts of men and material to the South.
Friends Journal • Winter 2012-2013
Airstrikes were employed against the infiltration routes running south from Hanoi and Haiphong. These routes ran along the coastal plain in the southern part of North Vietnam and through mountain passes into Laos. The air campaign against the infiltration routes in Laos was known as "Steel Tiger." B-52s flying from Guam and fighters flying from bases in Thailand were employed against roads, bridges, and suspected marshaling areas in the southern panhandle of North Vietnam and in southern Laos and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Vietnam. To prosecute the air war against North Vietnam, planners divided the country into six "Route Packages." Route Pack 6 encompassed Hanoi and Haiphong, while Route Pack 1 was the southern Map showing Route Packs in Vietnam panhandle of North Vietnam from just south of Vinh to the DMZ. Route Packs 2, 3, 4, and 5 encompassed the remainder of the country. The Air Force was assigned primary responsibility for Packs 1 and 5, while the U.S. Navy was assigned Packs 2, 3, 4, and 6. Route Pack 6 was later divided into Packs 6A and 6B with the Air Force being given 6A and the Navy 6B. Early in the war, propeller-driven FACs in O-1 and O-2 aircraft (Slow FACs) were used to control airstrikes in Route Pack 1, the DMZ, and southern Laos. As infiltration rates increased, air defenses intensified,
and losses of the Slow FACs increased dramatically—enter the Fast FACs and Misty. A decision was made to employ two-seat F-100F Fast FACs in Route Pack 1 and southern Laos.
four hours and thirty minutes, with two and a half to three hours spent over Route Pack 1. We normally landed "Minimum Fuel," with less than 1,000 pounds remaining. Missions of longer duration Misty began with 16 with recovery at pilots and four aircraft Ubon, Udorn, or Da as Detachment 1, Nang were common. 416th Tactical Fighter We needed our own Squadron, Phu Cat tankers because we Air Base, Vietnam had to use "probe and on June 15, 1967. drogue" refueling. Mario Candia via NMUSAF Its official name was Most other aircraft "The Commando could use boom in 1967. Maj Bud Day, first Misty Commander, is Sabre Operation." The original 16 Misty FAC pilots, refueling, so it was a center front, kneeling. Major George "Bud" little bit complicated Day was the first commander, and the first Ops initially. Eventually they gave us our own tanker on a Officer was Major Bill Douglass. Bud was shot down track in northwest Thailand. Occasionally, we refueled on August 26, 1967; he was captured and remained a offshore, but basically we settled into the Thailand POW until February 1973. Phu Cat was an old French routine. The tanker support was great, although I'm airstrip on top of which the Corps of Engineers laid not sure the tankers ever figured out what we were down a modern runway carved quickly out of the red doing. The missions got a little tense at times, and the clay of Binh Dinh province. The first Misty pilots refueling gave us a little bit of a welcome coffee break. designed the basic tactics and techniques used by follow-on Misty generations. Two pilots flew on each After refueling, Mistys proceeded back to Pack 1, mission. The front seat pilot flew the aircraft while the or Laos, and located and marked targets, controlled backseater handled the radios and carried maps and a fighters against targets sighted during the first cycle, hand-held 35mm camera with telephoto lens. and continued reconnaissance. The Mistys also worked any Search and Rescues (SARs, also called A typical Misty mission briefed two and a half hours prior to takeoff. Pilots studied targets and photos supplied by Intel and previous Misty flights; went over the daily "Frag Order;" and received intelligence briefings on matters of significance, such as aircraft and crews lost the previous day, latest known Anti Aircraft Artillery (AAA or "triple-A") locations, and weather. Aircraft configuration was 2x335 gallon fuel tanks; two pods of 2.75" white phosphorous (Willie Pete) smoke rockets (14 total), and 220 rounds of 20mm ammunition loaded in two 20mm cannons. The flight profile was: depart from Phu Cat; about 30 minutes south of the DMZ check in with our controlling agency, the Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (ABCCC-pronounced "AB triple C") and enter the area to work for approximately 45 minutes, possibly a little longer; go out to the tanker and refuel; come back, work, refuel again, work again, and then return to Phu Cat. Mission duration was about
Mario Candia
Misty pilot P.K. White returns to Phu Cat Air Base.
RESCAPs) for downed aircraft, usually capping as On-Scene Commander, until A-1 "Sandys" and HH53 "Jolly Green" rescue helicopters arrived. In 1967-
Winter 2012-2013 • Friends Journal
1968 about every third flight turned into a RESCAP. After the second cycle, Mistys generally proceeded home to Phu Cat; however, if lucrative targets were sighted, Misty often returned to the tanker for a third, or even fourth cycle. Mistys normally conserved their 20mm ammunition for RESCAPs. Strafing was not encouraged; however, at the end of a mission Mistys often strafed trucks, or petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) sighted during the flight. Several aircraft were lost strafing. We flew four flights a day, so we could provide complete coverage during the daylight period. The flights overlapped so that we could communicate in the air and also with the next flight prior to their takeoff. We relayed information to keep a coordinated effort going and to identify any hot targets. We also had support from the Seventh Air Force. They would, on occasion, drop off photography, and the ABCCC would advise us of areas where there had been significant activity detected overnight. The results from Misty for the first two or three weeks were pretty marginal. The reason was that, even though we'd flown in-country for a long time, our eyes were not properly trained to detect camouflaged targets. So for the first two or three weeks, we primarily got ourselves oriented in the area and sharpened our skills and awareness as we worked our first few strike flights. Those who flew in the North know that the camouflage was terrific. You needed to look for the "hand of man," that is, just a little different shade of color, a little dust on the foliage, a straight line or a curve or circle—anything that showed man's involvement. Our opponents were using the resources they had at hand, and they were very, very good at it. We did our own handheld photography, and I think this helped to accelerate training of our visual skills. Using two copies of the same picture and a stereoscopic viewer, we generated a three-dimensional image that often revealed exactly what we were looking for. The general tactics employed by early Mistys included staying fast — 400 to 450 knots—and continually "jinking" — changing flight path direction every five to seven seconds (the flight time for a 37mm round). We also flew at 4,500 feet or above, unless marking targets, participating in a RESCAP, or taking a close look at a particularly important target. Violating any of these rules dramatically increased chances of being shot down; observing them was no guarantee. The majority of North Vietnamese AAA defenses faced by the Mistys included small arms, 50 cal., 14.5mm, 23mm (came later in the war), 37mm, 57mm, and occasional 85mm and 100mm AAA guns. In 1968 the North Vietnamese repeatedly attempted to deploy SA-2 SAMs into the area, and later in 1969 the shoulder-fired infrared missile began to proliferate,
Friends Journal • Winter 2012-2013
particularly in Steel Tiger (Laos). The NVA confined MIG aircraft to the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. No MIGs were encountered by Mistys in the southern Route Packs. By far the greatest threat to Misty was the 37mm AAA gun. The great majority of Misty losses were attributed to this gun. Misty was a dangerous mission. The loss rates were high. For this reason the tour length was adjusted to four months (50-60 missions), after which the pilots returned to complete their tours with a unit flying in South Vietnam. Twelve Mistys completed 100 or more missions. The high loss rate was no badge of honor but was due to the extended time spent over the North and repeated exposure to guns at low altitude. A typical mission entered North Vietnam two to three times and spent two to four hours at low altitude exposed to guns. Some missions lasted up to eight hours, usually associated with a RESCAP. The single-engine F-100 was particularly vulnerable and drew intense gunfire while marking targets. RESCAPs were extremely hazardous. All stops were pulled out and rules were set aside to rescue downed pilots. The Mistys who volunteered were among the most talented, hard working, courageous men I have ever encountered. To a man they were remarkable pilots. They worked long hours, days on end, to get the program started. During the early missions we were consumed with establishing procedures, deciding on tactics, constructing our maps, testing various equipment and aircraft configurations, and learning the area. It was really hunt and peck and trial by fire. Those early Misty missions were really hairy as we experimented with how to survive in a dense AAA environment while marking targets and directing strikes. Although FACing was not a new concept— the USAF had employed FACs since WW II—Fast FACing was new and we were truly plowing new ground. We had to learn to operate and survive in a very dense threat environment while operating for extended periods at low altitude—dicey stuff! I cannot emphasize too strongly the courage of the first group of men who raised their hands. They were going where no jet pilot had ever been before to do dangerous things no one had ever done. President Johnson declared a bombing moratorium over North Vietnam in November 1968 in an attempt to bring the North Vietnamese to the peace table. Misty continued to operate over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. In April 1969 when Phu Cat became an F-4 base, Misty operations were transferred from Phu Cat to Tuy Hoa, the nearest F-100 base. Tony McPeak, Misty 94, was the last commander at Phu Cat. From Tuy Hoa, Mistys operated in Steel Tiger (Laos) while F-4 Fast FACs assumed responsibility for Route Pack 1. Tactics at Tuy Hoa changed, and the Mistys operated at lower altitudes and higher speeds. High loss rates continued. The Misty program was terminated in May 1970.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Clear skies expected for 'supermoon' Saturday
Published 7:01 pm, Friday, July 11, 2014
Photo: Nikolaos Pantazis, Flickr Vision
SAN ANTONIO -- The full moon on Saturday will be a "supermoon" -- the first of three this summer.
"Supermoons" happen when the moon's orbit brings it closer to Earth.
The best time to take photos is at moonrise, The Washington Post writes, when the moon appears largest. That's because of the Ponzo Illusion, in which the mind tricks itself into thinking objects are larger based on their surroundings.
There will be two other supermoons this summer on Aug. 10 and Sept. 9.
Moon watchers in San Antonio should have a clear view Saturday night. A National Weather Service spokesman said there will be few clouds that should clear out by moonrise, which will be at 8:48 p.m.
News Channel
Twitter: @JFreports


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Two recent articles in The Canberra Times have pointed out the folly of outsourcing Australia's strategic capability. The first, an opinion piece by Martin Callinan and Alan Gray ("Defence white paper lacks innovation grunt", Times2, March 3, p5), points out the "strategic mistake" inherent in "abandoning self-reliant, deep expertise". Despite the "seductive simplicity of outsourcing, they argue, "preparedness can't be bought off-the-shelf".
The second by Peter Hannam and Adam Morton ("Climate modelling may be outsourced", March 9, p5) reports that CSIRO is giving active consideration to the procurement of climate modelling capability from the British Met Office. This revelation comes in the wake of the recent announcement by CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall of the organisation's intention to make drastic cuts in its climate change research capability.
Both articles draw attention to the shortsightedness of policy prescriptions that elevate the logics of "the market" over the logics of "public purposes". The same criticisms made by Callinan and Gray of the defence white paper can be applied to the CSIRO's misguided efforts to shed its "self-reliant, deep expertise" in climate science.
As the Climate Institute and others have pointed out, climate change is a major source of strategic risk and uncertainty, the strategic implications of which cut across Australia's social, environmental, defence, economic and foreign relations policy interests. The Turnbull government needs to back off the "mantra of the market". Australia's climate security cannot be bought "off-the-shelf"'.
Dr John Butcher, Australian National University
Authentic or not?
Quentin Grafton ("Voters want leaders to be 'the real thing"' (Forum, March 5, p5), rightly says that all over the world people are reaching out for authenticity, meaning honesty; "what you see is what you get." Quentin then says Pope Francis and Donald Trump are perceived as being "authentic", ie, genuine, true and trustworthy.
However, Pope Francis inferentially "judges" Trump as not being Christian because he advocates building "walls" while the Pope himself oversees his Christian fiefdom from behind 30-foot high Vatican walls.
The disconnect between the Pope's "judgment" of Trump and his "politically correct" refusal to have an opinion on homosexual practices is palpable. Why then is Pope Francis held out as being "authentic"?
Incidentally, why is the subprime mortgage fraud (it wasn't a debacle, because it wasn't a humiliating failure for the banksters who profited but did not go to goal for perpetrating it), stated to be an example of in-authenticity when the subsequent bank bailouts have been far more fraudulent and far more damaging to global economic welfare?
The subprime mortgage frauds are history.
Just askin'.
Ron Chapman, Yarralumla
Light dig on light rail
Poor Peter Robinson (Letters, March 7)! I was being funny by referring, in my letter of March 3, to the citizens of Tucson as "car-hating". Anyone who has lived or travelled in the American Southwest, as I have, knows that the people there love their cars more than anything else. (Yes, even more than their guns!) By resorting to satire, I was trying to say that, since even people who are terribly car-oriented have embraced light rail, Canberrans, with their healthier lifestyles and trimmer waistlines, should logically be more receptive to it.
Los Angeles, the classic car-loving city, is a case in point. By following the Alistair Coe transport model, it abandoned its tram lines and became a freeway-clogged, smoggy sewer: truly dystopian, to use Mr Robinson's expression.
In the 1980s, people there realised that the automobile is not useful for urban transport and built subway and light rail lines. As in Portland, Oregon, which lost its efficient inter-urban (heavy) rail system to massively clogged freeways and roads and has now rebuilt it as light rail.
If Mr Robinson and his ilk succeed in destroying light rail, with the inevitable need to build freeways and huge carparks for a city that will soon grow to be well over 500,000 people, my grandchildren will have to destroy these automobile artefacts and replace them with rails. Would it not be simpler, easier and far cheaper to put in the rails now?
John Mason, Latham
Warming to change
Jenny Stewart ("Going Green – Australia must choose its options carefully", Forum, March 5, p5) betrays her bias early by invoking the snide anti-science canard that "global warming has morphed into climate change". In fact, in the scientific literature the term "climate change" dates back to Gilbert Plass' 1956 paper "The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change", while the term "global warming" first appeared in Wallace Broecker's 1975 paper "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?"
Since 1975, both terms have been used, but "climate change" has always dominated the scientific literature. Both terms are valid. Basic physics says that increasing CO2 will reduce the rate that heat can leave the planet and will therefore warm it. Observations confirm this. As a result, the climate is changing in complicated and generally deleterious ways.
No one claimed the warming would be uniform in space or time. In fact, the fingerprint of greenhouse induced global warming is that the stratosphere has cooled – predicted by models and confirmed by observations. A warmer arctic can cause blizzards in the North America and Eurasia.
Climate scientists do not choose either phrase for political effect. On the other hand, right-wing spin doctor Frank Luntz advised American Republicans to use "climate change" because it was "less threatening than 'global warming"'.
Paul Pentony, Hackett
In higher esteem
All praise to Richard Hoare (Letters, March 1) for his tribute to the "Flying Scotsman".
I trust I am on the right track by suggesting that a steam locomotive be returned to the massive concrete plinth outside Canberra railway station to acknowledge steam's contribution to the development of our capital. It would be an impressive welcoming sight for tourists. The plinth has deteriorated over the years and looks more like the Tomb of the Unknown Railway Worker. It is ugly and a disgrace and an OH&S problem due to its Lycra-shredding and rusty, spiked fence abutting a cycleway. God knows what tourists arriving by rail make of it.
V.R. Condon, Narrabundah
Premiums increasing much more than Health Minister claimed
The federal Health Minister, in recently claiming success in scaling back bids from health insurers for premium increases, said that my fund would raise premiums by 6.6per cent. In fact, my premium has increased by just under 10per cent, a rise of nearly $30 per month.
When queried, the fund claimed that Senator Ley was not including in the stated premium increases the on-going annual reduction in the percentage of the rebate offered by the government. This meant that premiums are rising well in excess of the announced percentage increases.
It is difficult not to conclude that Senator Ley is being at least economical with the truth and continues to represent the interests of the health insurance industry over consumers who are more likely than ever to vote with their feet.
Jeffrey Benson, Curtin
Not for him to say
Michael Pezzullo ("Department of Immigration and Border Protection uses 'allegedly' to describe experiences of Nazi Germany", canberratimes.com.au, March 9) states that there should be no place for "falsehood" in discussions of detention policy. One wonders how he can then say with a straight face that "people subject to regional processing will not be allowed to settle in Australia"?
As a public servant, he knows – or should know – that it is not for him to determine government policy, and while he can state what current policy is, he has no right to determine what will happen policy wise in the future.
(Dr) William Maley, Reid
Taking a lead role
The Department of Human Services is not removing the right for staff to take time off when experiencing family and domestic violence ("Public servants lose domestic violence leave", March 9, p1). It is irresponsible to suggest otherwise. Staff will always have access to leave, flexible working arrangements and support in the workplace when facing such serious circumstances.
The proposed staff agreement contains access to flexible working arrangements, specifying situations where "a person is experiencing violence from a member of the employee's family". This department is taking a lead role across the public service to guide a whole of government approach to providing support for staff affected by family and domestic violence.
Our Family and Domestic Violence Strategy outlines the approach to supporting both staff and customers impacted by this issue. We have established an experienced family and domestic violence contact officer network to confidentially provide information to staff about the support available, including leave and flexible working arrangements.
Our campaign, titled "Enough", encourages both customers and staff impacted by domestic violence to seek help. And we're rolling out training across our 35,000-strong workforce so all staff are better able to identify where someone – customer or colleague – may need this kind of help. We are committed to ensuring every employee can access support when needed.
Hank Jongen, general manager, Department of Human Services
Only alternative
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has called scheduled strikes by Border Force and other APS staffers "unfortunate, ill-conceived" and "counterproductive". Cash asserted the effort and time spent on work stoppage would be spent better on negotiating realistically. The union and APS staff asserted they've done everything they can to make the case for the "frustrated mums and dads working across the Commonwealth public sector", and, in their view, striking is the only alternative remaining.
Having endured bargaining as a public servant, I observed both management and union treating staff as ignorant children. Both published incomplete, incorrect, and intentionally misleading information; neither management nor union provided raw data that would allow us to decide – based on facts-without-spin – as the intelligent APS-ers we were.
APS strikes call attention to worker-management issues affecting work at prime places at prime times. I'm willing to be inconvenienced in this case.
Judy Bamberger, O'Connor
No stopping women
I guess we will continue to see articles like Judith Ireland's "Government needs to lead on gender equality" (March 8, p4) into eternity. They really do amuse me as women have, and have had for quite a while, equality in the workplace.
If women want to spend their lives battling for office, they have every right to do it and good luck to them but, if they don't, why should they have to in order to keep the feminists happy?
The two female division heads I have worked for in the public service were as good as any man, but the claim that women are stopped by the glass ceiling amuses me. Some of the other female executives I have known, including one who recently got an award for mentoring girls and women, were so toxic that the glass ceiling would have dissolved if they had licked it.
Stan Marks, Hawker
Migration caution
I am flattered that my humble heresies on the claimed adverse effects of immigration on infrastructure now require the urgent attentions of the chief proponent, Jane O'Sullivan (Letters, March 7), rather than an acolyte.
While I am in furious agreement with Jane on the rate of migration, all I can do is once again point out that her multiplier of 7per cent of GDP for 1per cent of immigration does not clearly apply to historical cases such as the US at the turn of the 19th century which combined high immigration, high birth rates and high economic growth.
While I am glad to see that Jane recognises the positive benefits of migration and does not think of migrants solely as "burdens", these considerations were unfortunately not mentioned in Geoff Davies's first letter. While I am sure that neither Jane nor Geoff would subscribe to any animosity, I think we need to be cautious about depicting migrants as millstones when there are all too many groups which are actively hostile to the home cultures, ethnic composition and religious beliefs of recent arrivals.
David Roth, Kambah
Pay our apprentices a fair living wage
Much has recently been said about the decline in apprentice numbers, low start numbers and high non-completion rates. Much wringing of hands and "oh, woe is me" from the leaders of industry.
How about just stumping up the money and paying apprentices a living wage! The promise of substantial wages on completion belongs in the world of the Norse Gods, it is all mythical. Take for example a dual trade qualified automotive technician, who is the mechanic that diagnosis and repairs complex mechanical systems in your car.
They have undertaken additional apprenticeship requirements to attain the requisite knowledge to fix the complex electrical systems in today's modern cars, but are paid as little as $47,000 gross per annum. Try getting a home loan on a wage like that.
Why would any parent ever encourage their child to take on an apprenticeship? We must learn to pay our tradespeople a decent living wage.Current low levels of participation will remain until this is addressed.
Charles Landwehr, Kambah
Many nappy returns
I'm heartened by the support of James Allan (Letters, March 8) regarding human procreation and its effect in stretching our planet's resources. I believe there will soon be strong bipartisan support in redressing this problem by banning the use of disposable nappies in the ACT in favour of cloth nappies.
This will have a positive impact on the environment, landfill and decomposition issues, and contamination problems that result fromdisposable nappies. It will be a win/win outcome for the ACT and help maintain the territory's reputation for being innovative and agile in meeting environmental challenges. It would also determine who in public office is fair dinkum about addressing environmental issues.
Les Brennan, Sunshine Bay, NSW
Dinkum advice from PM Turnbull to Tony Abbott, taken from the other political side (Gareth Evans to Bob Hawke): "It's time to move out , old mate. The dogs are pissing on your swag".
Linus Cole, Palmerston
Please show concern for our wildlife during these hot conditions by having constantly filled bird baths/water bowls. We've had so many more birds than usual in our garden recently, including a raven.
Susan MacDougall, Scullin
Did a senior Treasury official ("Global economic threats have intensified, says Treasury's Nigel Ray", canberratimes.com.au, March 9) really say: "Global risks are tilted to the downside"? What did he mean? Does he know? Are these risks actually decreasing, or did he mean the opposite? What happened to the requirement for senior government officials to be able to communicate clearly?
Mike Hutchinson, Reid
Trialling driverless cars in Canberra is a terrific idea. If they can be programmed to use indicators, observe the speed limit and refrain from tailgating, they will be streets ahead of our brainless drivers.
Gaynor Morgan, Braddon
Contrary to some critics, the Westside Container Village, delivers a double benefit to the community. It complements the aesthetic statement of the architectural monstrosity behind it on Anton Peninsula, the National Museum of Australia. It also inures us to the proposed blocking of the open western vista from the northern shore of Lake Burely Griffin.
Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor
What is the difference (as a Tweeter posited on Q&A last Monday) between those in ecclesiastical authority ignoring what is going on under their noses in Ballarat and elsewhere and those in political authority (or aspiring to it) and us too, for that matter, ignoring what is going on in the hell-holes on Nauru and Manus Island?
James Gralton, Garran
I had expected to see a letter on Thursday complimenting Pope on his brilliant depiction of Abbott as a clapped out fixer-upper (Times2, March 9,p1). In case you didn't get any such letter, please regard this one as expressing my great appreciation of his artistry.
George Beaton, Greenway
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Extracting grain of truth on ethanol
Seeing through the smokescreen: the debate needs some economic
Photo: Belinda Pratten
A LOT of nonsense has appeared in the media in the past few days about fast-tracking the subsidising of ethanol so we can reduce petrol prices. If we look at the cold, hard facts, it is obvious this will not bring down the price of petrol for the general consumer.
The first of these facts is that if ethanol is included in petrol as an E10 blend which is what is being promoted the price reduction will be minimal. E10 is 90 per cent petrol and 10 per cent ethanol. The current price of petrol at the refinery gate is about $1.10 a litre before GST. Let's assume ethanol is sold at 50¢ less a litre. If you substitute 100 millilitres of petrol at 11¢ with 100ml of ethanol at 6¢, the price of E10 would be 5.5¢ a litre less at the pump once GST is added.
The energy value of ethanol is only 67 per cent that of petrol. This means motorists will get poorer mileage out of E10 than out of standard unleaded petrol. Now, ethanol also improves the octane value of petrol, which makes the petrol more efficient. However, this does not make up for the energy loss; so the 5.5¢-a-litre gain in the above scenario will not all end up in the pocket of the consumer due to the poorer mileage of their vehicle.
As most of the price difference between petrol and ethanol is due to the fact that ethanol does not have the excise on it that petrol pays, it would be much simpler to reduce the excise on petrol to get the same result, and achieve it much more quickly. Either way the reduction to the consumer would not be large.
Recent estimates of ethanol production from sugar, presented at the recent Australian Ethanol 2006 conference, had a price of 70¢ a litre for ethanol with sugar at $300 a tonne. With raw sugar now at $405 a tonne on the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange, the price of ethanol would have to be much higher before you could get people to build a sugar-based ethanol plant. At these raw sugar prices, it is unlikely that significant levels of sugar-based ethanol would be produced, although ethanol can be produced from C molasses at a cheaper price.
Ethanol from grain can be produced at prices below 70¢ a litre, with estimates varying from 38¢ to 54¢ a litre depending on the assumptions used. However, increased ethanol production from grain would be likely to increase grain prices by creating more demand for grain and, therefore, the cost of ethanol production would be likely to rise. In times of drought, prices of grain can double, consequently greatly increasing the price of ethanol production from grain.
However, even if ethanol can be produced much cheaper than petrol, it is economically naive to suggest that the ethanol producers would sell it at a low price. Products are priced at a level that is competitive in the market, which takes into account competing products, their prices and their usability. Why would someone who produced ethanol at 45¢ a litre sell it for 55¢ if they could sell it for 80-85¢ a litre?
The only situation in which ethanol would be sold for significantly less than petrol would be if the supply were close to or higher than demand; but it would take years to ramp up ethanol production. A typical plant takes 12-18 months to complete and has to go through development applications and environmental processes, as well as raising the capital. We use about 19 billion litres of petrol a year in Australia. To supply just half of that as E10, five to 10 major plants would need to be built to produce 9.5 billion litres of ethanol, with no guarantee to investors that petrol prices would still be high when they finished construction.
Even if that happened, it would reduce petrol consumption in Australia by just 5 per cent; which would have absolutely no effect on world oil demand and petrol pricing in Australia.
The only way to get a true value proposition to consumers in Australia is to increase the number of flex-fuel vehicles in the market. These are vehicles that will run on anything from 100 per cent petrol and no ethanol to 15 per cent petrol and 85 per cent ethanol. If ethanol were 50¢ a litre and petrol $1.10 a litre at the refinery gate, then E85 would be about 87¢ a litre and petrol $1.44 a litre. Despite the energy differences, that is a proposition that motorists would leap at.
Ethanol production has already been subsidised by capital grants from state and federal governments and by being free of any excise until 2011, and only at half excise levels after 2015. To subsidise the production of ethanol further with no guarantee that it will be passed on to consumers is to pass public money into the hands of private investors for no public benefit. If a product that can be produced at half the price of a competing product cannot get a value proposition that means something to consumers, then the people promoting it need to rethink their approach to the market. That is the major failure of the ethanol industry; and the only way they can think to get around it is by further public subsidy. The industry has to get more innovative in its approach to the consumer rather than trying to get the Government to force people to take their product or further subsidise them. I am a strong believer in biofuels as a solution to balance of payments problems, the strengthening of regional economies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What the industry needs is a sophisticated, innovative approach to the market, not more time at the public teat.
Paul Higgins is a futurist with Emergent Futures. He and his partners are writing a book on Australia's oil future. He has made presentations at several biofuels conferences and workshops in the past year.
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British Sea Power make me miss the Lake District
It was while listening to Foals' forthcoming single that I wondered, not for the first time, just when did singing in such obviously affected accents become the norm?
Don't get me wrong - I like to hear people celebrating their regional accents, whether that's The Futureheads' clipped Sunderland brogue (or, if we want to be specific, Houghton-le-Spring brogue) or The Wurzels' self-parodying West Country burr.
But at some point in the past couple of years a new accent has emerged that can be best described as an indie chancers' twang - the forced delivery, dropped vowels and exaggerated consonants adopted by a generation of young singers seeking some sort of street-level validation or authenticity.
It's there in the falsified mockney of Jack Penate, Lily Allen, Jamie T, The Maccabees and Ka'e Nash (let's drop the T, just as she does) - largely middle class kids who've grown up around street slang. I'm sure you know what I mean: plummy singing from a region that doesn't exist on any map.
Blame can be laid at the feet of various artists for this strange shift. Where once (well, in the 90s, anyway) rock bands were all too happy to sound American (Bush and all those awful pretend grunge bands) or at the very least Transatlantic (Idlewild), the great Britpop face-off saw Blur and Oasis celebrating their geographical origins by exaggerating their own accents.
In the 00s strongly defined accents became something to celebrate with Dizzee Rascal's 'Ackney and Bow street patois, Bloc Party's nice-boy art-student south-east drawl, Arctic Monkeys' undiluted Billy Casper-isms (which make good use of Kate Nash's surplus Ts) and, perhaps most intriguingly, The Streets' Mike Skinner who veers from Brummie scally to white Brixton rude boy, a combination broad enough to have cross-regional appeal and very much in keeping with his pyschogeographical first album. Imagining these or countless other artists singing in different accents is either hilarious or near-unthinkable. Consider, for example, Arab Strap singing in Essex geezer accents or Mark E Smith adopting Received Pronunciation. Or imagine if Shane MacGowan was from the west end of Glasgow (actually, that's not so hard).
If heightened accents in indie rock are, as I suspect, all part of the English obsession with a north-south divide where does that leave the Midlands? Well, its young bands have the option of heading either way up or down the M1. The Twang and Kasabian's allegiance to the simian swagger and John Lennon bastardisations of Liam Gallagher are obvious, while The Enemy have adopted Paul Weller's warmer Woking tones. Editors' Tom Smith meanwhile has journeyed north, where if you purchase an Ian Curtis signing voice you get an Ian McCulloch thrown in for free.
Ultimately the pronounced regional British accent can cut both ways depending on its use (or misuse) - or perhaps just the quality of the band. Hearing the Kaiser Chiefs makes me want to avoid Leeds, while The Mekons and Gang Of Four make me want to move there. British Sea Power make me miss the Lake District. Radiohead (and fellow Oxford band Foals for that matter) make me think of dreamy spires and grammar school educations. And on and on.
It was Ian Brown who famously said, "It's not where you're from, it's where you're at." And he was right (unless you happen to be "at" somewhere very uncool): in 2008's indie scene, it seems a regional accent is something to wear and discard like a fun but trashy accessory.


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Kevin Youkilis' trade to the Chicago White Sox is still unsettling to Red Sox nation.
Just ask President Obama who learned first hand.
Speaking at a fundraiser at Boston's Symphony Hall last night, Obama drew a chorus of boos when he addressed the audience and said, "Boston, I just want to say thank you for Youkilis."
"I'm just saying, he had to change the color of his socks," said a smiling Obama, a die-hard White Sox fan.
"I didn't think I'd get any boos out of here. I guess I should not have brought up baseball. My mistake, my mistake. You've got to know your crowd."
The boos were cleary not mistaken for "Youuuuuuk," which was often heard at Fenway Park.
TEAM COVERAGE: Obama touts White Sox -- in Red Sox country
Youkilis, who spent nine years in Beantown, was a popular member of the team that won the World Series in 2004 and 2007. He was traded Sunday for infielder Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Zach Stewart.
He made his White Sox debut Monday night and went 1-for-4 in Chicago's 4-2 loss to Minnesota.
Obama knows now he can't mix sports and politics, especially in Boston.
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Richard Volunteer Fire Department Fundraiser
Additional Information
Come out and support your local firefighters Sunday, September 16! BBQ pork steak lunches $7; BBQ hamburgers $2; and cold drinks and cold beer. There will be a live music auction. For more information contact any local firefighter or Chief Dwayne Thevis at (337) 457-3951 (home) or (337) 256-9093 (cell).


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James Cameron's sci-fi eco epic Avatar is almost certain to become the highest-grossing movie of all time - not bad going for a film whose heroes are blue-skinned aliens speaking a made-up language. It has violently divided critics. Some have been moved by its message of cosmic wholeness, others have been left cold by its vapid, predictable plot, its too obvious allegory and the preachiness of its message. Everyone agrees, however, that it is spectacular, which may be enough to explain its success.
Boris Johnson is the latest to notice the film's heavy-handed political subtext - a plot which involves an evil human (read: American) corporation despoiling the paradisal world of the Na'vi in search of valuable mineral deposits. The anti-Western, anti-technological slant, together with the celebration of primitive peoples living in harmony with the natural world has been seen in some quarters as the usual Hollywood liberal flannel; but, as the Mayor of London notes, "it is a feature of powerful military empires that they like to romanticise their victims and luxuriate guiltily in the pathos of their suffering." As he also points out, all this eco-hippyish breast-beating is done in the service of a hugely successful capitalist money-making machine.
I was particularly struck by this piece of Boristry:
There is already a group of Na'vi sympathisers in Florida who are proposing quite seriously to set up a Pandora-style community, complete with Eywa. You haven't heard of Eywa? You will. It is the blue-nose religion, a version of James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis that postulates a kind of electro-spiritual link between every organism, so that we are hooked up to the trees and the trees are hooked up to each other in a huge dendrological internet.
I prophesy that in 10 years' time the UK census will show more adherents of Eywa than there are of Jedi, and that is saying something. With James Cameron poised to do at least two sequels to Avatar, and with the frenzy likely to grow, it is time, surely, to put the whole thing into perspective.
As far as I can make out (and I haven't yet seen the film) Eywa is a kind of giant plant the Na'vi live on, and also a sort of earth-goddess that connects every living thing to every other via a system of neural networks. As an added bonus, it includes a "Soul Tree" that keeps a record of every life and every thought (again a parallel with the Internet seems natural).
NY Times columnist Ross Douthat has complained that Eywa represents "Cameron's long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world." He noted the popularity of such ideas in Hollywood and in American culture generally, tracing the theme as far back as Alexis De Tocqueville's ruminations on the nature of American democracy in the early 19th Century. He added:
Today there are other forces that expand pantheism's American appeal. We pine for what we've left behind, and divinizing the natural world is an obvious way to express unease about our hyper-technological society. The threat of global warming, meanwhile, has lent the cult of Nature qualities that every successful religion needs — a crusading spirit, a rigorous set of 'thou shalt nots," and a piping-hot apocalypse.
But if Eywa is a religion, it's a highly atypical one one. The notion that everything is connected to everything else and part of some great holistic system sounds suitably New Agey and spiritual - pantheistic, indeed - but as it is realised in Avatar it's not a belief system but rather the way planet Pandora actually functions. Eywa seems to be nothing but a vast and highly-evolved plant, and the creatures (including the Na'vi) that constitute its ecosystem have evolved in tandem with it, as certain insects have evolved to pollinate a particular species of orchid. It is not a deity: it is merely a life-form that has some of the characteristics traditionally ascribed to gods. For the audience Eywa can be seen as a metaphor for how (according to Gaia) everything on earth functions as a living entity, but for the Na'vi it just is. They don't believe in Eywa as human beings might believe in God. They are simply part of it. As Jeffrey Weiss points out,
Academics will argue about exactly how you define "religion." But one element is common to every definition I've ever seen: faith. A religion requires its adherents to have faith in some aspect of the transcendent that cannot be proven using the material stuff of the ordinary world.
Explaining Eywa is a matter of neurophysics, not theology. So it's not about religion.
Or is it?
Bron Taylor, an expert in environmental ethics at the University of Florida, has a new book out entitled Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future, which tackles this question head on. Surveying the emerging religious and quasi-religious currents within environmentalism, he divides them in two ways - thematically (animist and Gaian) and in terms of their philosophical basis. Some forms of nature-religion are implicitly or explicitly spiritual - they see a transcendant or at least supernaturalist dimension either in living things (animist) or in the world-system as a whole (Gaian). Others are naturalistic. As he explains it (pdf),
The form I call Gaian Naturalism represents a skeptical stance toward any supernaturalistic metaphysics. Its claims are more likely to be restricted to the scientific mainstream as a basis for understanding and promoting a holistic metaphysics. Yet, its proponents express awe and wonder when faced with the complexity and mysteries of life and the universe, relying on religious language and metaphors of the sacred, albeit not always self-consciously, when confessing feelings of belonging and connection to the energy and life systems in which they participate, live, and study.
Taylor appears to see this form of naturalistic green consciousness as the future of religion. He writes that "traditional religions with their beliefs in nonmaterial divine beings" have been in decline since Darwin's time, but that "the desire for a spiritually meaningful understanding of the cosmos, and the human place in it, has not withered away". This is his "dark green religion":
Whether beneficent, dangerous, or both, such religion is becoming increasingly important in global environmental politics. It motivates a wide array of individuals and movements that are engaged in some of the most trenchant environment- related struggles of our time. It increasingly shapes the worldviews and practices of grassroots social activists and the world's intelligentsia. It is already important in global environmental politics. It may even inspire the emergence of a global, civic, earth religion.
Such religion may not be supernaturalist in content, but that doesn't mean it is not religious in tone or indeed in reality. In an interview with Religion Dispatches, Taylor described as a "misconception" the idea that religion necessarily involves belief in non-material divine beings. He preferred to concentrate on the "explanatory power" of the concept of religion in understanding modern environmentalism.
In a nutshell, and thinking long-term, maybe very long-term, I think that in the future, what we know scientifically, through our senses, will provide the parameters within which most people will find their spiritual understandings (what they consider the ultimate nature of reality to be). These understandings will be the ground for feelings of reverence for the earth, and concomitant action to protect and restore her fecundity and resilience. In my view, without such biocultural evolution, there is no bright future for Homo sapiens on this planet because the planet itself will be biologically impoverished, far from the paradise our species knows we once enjoyed, as related in so many mythic, edenic, narratives.
In other words, "deep green" environmentalism may be grounded in science (or claim to be); it may not acknowledge any form of divine intelligence or consciousness at work in the universe; it doesn't usually involve "worship" in the usual religious sense. There's also no priesthood (unless the IPCC qualifies), no canon of scripture, no dimension of mystical communion. Yet some elements of "religion" are present nevertheless. There are strong ethical imperatives, based on protecting the planet's resources. There's a strong narrative element, based on how human activities (sin, in other words) risk landing humanity in an inescapable damnation (aka "climate change") unless we repent and change our ways: the judgement of God has been replaced with the impersonal but implacable response of nature to what is done to it. We've even seen in some environmentalist circles the emergence of heresy-hunting tendencies, and an attraction towards worst-case-scenarios and authoritarian solutions that might well be called fundamentalist.
While there are points of contact with Buddhism and other eastern religions, environmentalist religion is Christian in form if not in content: it has an historical direction and an escatological conclusion and, above all, it's a story of sin and redemption. (Interestingly, there are some of these Christian themes in Avatar itself.) But it's also materialist. I'm struck by Taylor's comment that in future science "will provide the parameters within which most people will find their spiritual understandings". To some extent this is already the case. Even bishops now treat recycling as a moral imperative, and suggest people give up their cars as a Lentan penance. Meanwhile, health has become something of a secular religion, with doctors and state nannies its priests, smokers and drinkers its sinners - who must be reformed, re-educated, taught the error of their ways.
The nature-worship depicted in Avatar fits in nicely with this materialising tendency. It appears religious - in Bron Taylor's terms it is - and the language it employs of psychic interconnectedness and wholeness is implicitly spiritual. But there's nothing supernatural about it. The Na'vi aren't spiritually connected to Eywa; they're physically plugged into it. The neurological connections on planet Pandora are metaphorical, however, for the audience - a metaphor for Gaia, which is itself of course a metaphor. We are supposed to take from it an environmental message. Thus does the fictional planet of the Na'vi cross the bridge that separates ought from is - their reality is put forward as what our morality ought to be.
So let's look a little closer at the Eywa system. What do we find? As with most utopias, from Plato's Republic to the land of the Tellytubbies, it turns out to be a totalitarian nightmare. Everything is controlled by an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-pervasive system of control that operates to maintain global harmony. Evolution has made the Pandorans dependent upon a godlike superbeing, without the capacity for real independence. The beauty and coexistence with nature comes at a heavy price: the elimination of even the possibility of freedom. If the Na'vi are native Americans, they're also the Borg. And Eywa may be less an earth-goddess than a metaphor for the type of authoritarian control some scientists claim is needed to save our own planet. The future of religion indeed.
With some climate change scientists arguing that democracy and environmental protection are incompatible, Eywa may be the future of politics as well as the future of religion. Not a prospect I altogether relish.