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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: Dan McEntee on September 11, 2014, 12:06:29 PM
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Like most of you, today is not just another day on the calendar for me anymore. An occasion where we all remember what we were doing or where we were that day in 2001. Many heroes performed many, many great feats that day, many told and many untold. I read about one over the weekend, and was in the on-line news today.
This time of year is also Reno Air Race time, and the Air races were affected by the events of 9/11/2001 also. But some of the event participants had a role you may not have known about.
Most air race fans know the name John Penny. Mr. Penny has piloted the air racer Rare Bear many times along with several other air racers. When Rare Bear won it's last Reno Championship a few years ago, John was at the stick and the plane and crew were featured on an episode of Dave Dispain's "Wind Tunnel" on Speed TV. It was a very nicely done piece on the plane , the race and other aspects of the sport. Then John Penny was asked about his daughter, Heather.
John went on to tell that his daughter was an F-16 pilot, and was on duty that day out of Andrew's Air Force Base that day. Her squadron was scrambled, and she was among the jets that provided the air cap over the nations capital that day, and was one of the fighters that escorted the President on Air Force One back to Washington. If that wasn't impressive enough, an article in this past weekend's newspaper added some extra details.
Lt. Penny was scrambled with her commander, Col. Marc Sassville, to intercept hijacked United Flight 93 that was reported to be heading back towards Washington. The aircraft they were piloting had just returned from a training session out of state, and had not yet been re-armed with any kind of ordinance. Their mission to intercept Flight 93 had only one possible outcome if they were to be successful, and that was to ram the airliner kamikaze style. Major Sasseville told Lt. Penny that he would be taking the cockpit section, and for her to target the tail section.
There was one other little bit of information that ran through Lt. Penny's mind, and that was the fact that her father, John Penny, was an active United pilot at that time, and was flying some of those routes out of the east coast. There was a possibility that she would be sacrificing her own life, and that of her father if he was on that flight. As things turned out, Capt. Penny was not on board that flight, but the pilot in command, John Dahl was a close friend of John Penny's. The two fighters never encountered the airliner, and reversed their course back to Washington to continue their air cap mission, just in case Flight 93 had slipped by them.
I just can't imagine what it took for them to get into the cockpit of an F-16 that day, knowing what they knew, but their mission ad duty so clear to them that they did not hesitate to do the job that was at hand before them. Even with the knowledge that her own father may be on the target aircraft. I think it is just way beyond incredible.
But Ms. Penny has a different perspective. She looks at the passengers and crew of Flight 93 as the real heroes they truly were by saying "Because of what they did, we didn't have to."
James Michener wrote in "Bridges of Toko-Ri, talking about the fighter pilots operating off of an aircraft carrier" "Where do we find such men?" and you have to add "Where do we find such women?"
Thinking about them all today,
Dan McEntee
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Dan,
Thanks for that account of that horrible day.
I have a very personal connection also. My father was NYPD Emergency Service. Altough he passed away before that, 13 men in his squad were lest in the buildings. I grew up with those men. I also new people in the building that luckily got out.
That is why all of my airplanes have a reference to 9-11.
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I have a real problem seeing my screen as I think of that day and the scores of heros involved, it seems to get blurry for some reason.
So many heros who never intended to be a hero but just did what came to mind and heart in the terror of the moment as they saw others in danger.
May we never - ever-ever forget that day and those AMERICANS who showed the world what this country is made of; men and women of all races and ethnic backgrounds who care, really care when the rubber is being scorched on the road. And those far eastern radicals think they can stop us? Bullcrap, I say, bullcrap. Ain't no bloody way.
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The New York City Circle car guys had a big contest and on 9 / 10 took all the over seas guys on a tour of the towers. how scary is that
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I won't forget ever. Unfortunately many people have forgotten.
Wayne
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Dan,
thanks for the write up. i was just out of the navy reserve and was getting ready for work when i saw what was happening on the news. it was so terrifying, it took most of the day for me to comprehend what happened that morning. I'll never forget that day.
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When is the USA going to finally exterminate all of those sub-humans and halt the 'diplomatic' baloney? (Certainly not as long as the "Golfer-in-Chief" is in charge, that's for sure.)
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When is the USA going to finally exterminate all of those sub-humans and halt the 'diplomatic' baloney? (Certainly not as long as the "Golfer-in-Chief" is in charge, that's for sure.)
No s--t. HB~> It's waaaay beyond time for some real, ass kicking "change". Our "leaders" need to cough their nuts out and get back to the '41 to '45 way of taking care of things. y1
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Unfortunately, George Patton and Norman Schwarzkopf are no longer with us. Today, we're left with a bunch of wimps of the McNamara/LBJ/Jimmy Carter persuasion. Would that we had another Ronnie Reagan among us - but, alas, he's gone too.
I'll bet the WWII guys (Halsey, Patton, et al.) are rolling over in their graves as they watch this once-powerful nation descend into mediocrity.
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When is the USA going to finally exterminate all of those sub-humans and halt the 'diplomatic' baloney? (Certainly not as long as the "Golfer-in-Chief" is in charge, that's for sure.)
Hopefully not until April 5 2023. World peace is bad for the "drone" business.
Read a funny comment in the Army Times today: "Obama is sending more troops/advisors to Iraq, bringing the count to over 1200. Wonder how he is keeping all of those boots off the ground"
On a serious note, allot of folks in uniform are equally frustrated that we aren't out there waffle-stomping ISIL. The sooner certain folks on "The Hill" realize that diplomacy is less effective then a hellfire missile when dealing with terrorist organizations, the sooner that may happen
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Unfortunately this thread got political.
Imagine, if you will, that Kate Harris had obeyed the law.
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On a serious note, allot of folks in uniform are equally frustrated that we aren't out there waffle-stomping ISIL. The sooner certain folks on "The Hill" realize that diplomacy is less effective then a hellfire missile when dealing with terrorist organizations, the sooner that may happen
Statement of the year! Kill as many as you can Sean!
Derek
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I was on a GM construction project. We had the actual construction managers who built the WTC. They correctly stated that the builidngs were going down as soon as they were hit.
Due to the asbestos scare the world's best fire-proofing material was replaced with insulation that is almost as inflamable as rocket fuel.
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A lot of sheep in this country have forgotten. If everything does happen to collapse, we only have ourselves to blame for allowing it to happen. Being an American doesn't mean the same thing, collectively, as it did 50-70 years ago.
I still applaud those heroes of the day and will continue as long as I have the breath to do so.
BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM
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Thanks for the story Dan. I had gotten home form work that morning. Midnight shift with the phone company. I guess the news had not hit yet when I left the control center. I pulled into to the drive when the daughter asked me if I had seen or heard the news. Needless to say I was glad I didn't have to work that next shift as I spent the time glued to the TV. I kept waiting for the president to declare war on the countries harboring the people involved in stead of keeping them alive. Yes we may have lost some innocent people, but how many have we lost since then. I will never forget watching a landmark collapsing into a dust cloud and thinking how many innocent people from all parts of the world were in those towers. Don't forget the other planes that went down also.
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Statement of the year! Kill as many as you can Sean!
Derek
Got 29 of em on my last hunting trip
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Got 29 of em on my last hunting trip
Thank you Sean, that tally can't rise fast enough.
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Unfortunately this thread got political.
Imagine, if you will, that Kate Harris had obeyed the law.
huh??
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Got 29 of em on my last hunting trip
Awesome! Thanks!
Derek