Cheers - I knew you'd have a better grasp of it than me - I'd gotten the impression that the USAF birds didn't get fibre but didn't know the Australian ones had - I'd thought it was just an experiment at the time. It was an interesting exchange as the guy obviously had a good working grasp of the subject and seemed the real deal - I went from hating the 111 to having a healthy respect for it over a period of time.

 

There was a definite feeling the F-111H (I think that was the proposed model name) with B1 engines would have been a very potent nuclear bomber whereas there wasn't so much enthusiasm for the B1B at the time (this was during the time the Bone was exclusively nuclear tasked and wasn't making friends in the hangar)

 

Ian

 

 

Stobie, the part about Carter being briefed on stealth is false.  I get this from War and Peace in the Nuclear Age.  Stealth was being worked on, but it was still very much in its infancy, and Have Blue was still on the drawing board.  According to the book, Carter was not briefed on stealth because the USAF didn't have anything workable to brief him on.  So it wasn't a case of Carter cancelling the B-1 in favor of the B-2 or even the F-117.  Carter thought the B-1 was a waste of money, didn't understand the need for a manned bomber, and refused to listen to those who tried to explain it.  He didn't know about stealth, and given the USAF never forgave him for cancelling the B-1, I doubt they would've told him anyway...especially given the fears that Carter would either cancel it outright or bargain it away at SALT II.

 

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age was written by one of Carter's own reps at the SALT II talks, and even he thinks Carter was convinced of his own intelligence, wouldn't listen to any advice that contradicted his own preconcieved notions, and was determined to advance his own ideas of morality no matter how much it endangered the country, or NATO.  The author, John Newhouse, was pretty harsh on Reagan too, so it isn't the case of a conservative pushing an agenda. 

 

As far as Worst President Ever goes, my vote is for Buchanan, but Carter's right up there.  Wilson I rank somewhere in the middle, mainly because I thought that he conducted himself well during World War I, and he was a product of the Progressive Era--many of Wilson's ideas were not dissimilar to Teddy Roosevelt (my favorite President).  Do I agree with Wilson's ideas? Not all of them, but I also recognize that the times were different and the Progressives of the time did do some good. He got taken for a ride at Versailles, but that was a case of Wilson thinking with his heart rather than his head.

 

Carter basically got one thing right--Camp David--and that was only because Sadat was willing to risk everything on it.  Everything else Carter failed at, epically.

 

Obama has only been in office a year.  Were he to leave office tomorrow, I would rank him up there with the worst US Presidents.  But maybe he'll have an attack of good sense in the next year.  I doubt it, but I don't want to judge his Presidency as a whole until he's finished with it.  The fact that I can't wait until he's finished with it isn't a good sign.

 

Anyway, let's not threadjack...back to the B-1, the F-35, and the KFX.