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Documentary aims to 'break silence' on crash of TWA Flight 800
CNN ^ | 6/19/13 | Mike Ahlers

Posted on 06/19/2013 5:43:06 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55

click here to read article


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To: Smokin' Joe

Don’t forget, it was Kallstrom as honcho on that.


61 posted on 06/19/2013 7:12:55 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: Triple

It was either the USS Grasp or the USS Grapple (or both) that brought up TWA wreckage and were transferred to a “classified” command.


62 posted on 06/19/2013 7:15:26 AM PDT by Triple (Socialism denies people the right to the fruits of their labor, and is as abhorrent as slavery)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

“I never bought the exploding fuel tank business, it was almost surely shot down.”

I agree. There are thousands of aircraft with that same exact type of wiring as found in TWA800, and they’re not going KABOOM in midair.

The only other crash that I know of that was wiring related was the SwissAir 111 that had a fire in the cockpit causing a crash off Nova Scotia.


63 posted on 06/19/2013 7:18:55 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Slaving away so obama supporting deadbeats can play)
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To: Flintlock

“Our good buddy the Shah had US MADE AA missiles for the F-15s we sold him. The were dual-purpose in that they could also be use onboard ships.
They had large warheads for the BIG Soviet bombers.
The Mullahs would have JUST LOVED to use a US-built missile on one of our own planes.
And did.”

They never got the F-15. They had the F-14, but not the AIM-54’s to go with them.

Any air to air missile can be modified for surface launch look at the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, and the MIM-72 Chaparral


64 posted on 06/19/2013 7:42:09 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Slaving away so obama supporting deadbeats can play)
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To: Kahuna

“Possible payback for the shoot down of Iran Air Flt:655?”

No, the payback was Pan Am 103.


65 posted on 06/19/2013 7:44:10 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (Slaving away so obama supporting deadbeats can play)
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To: surrey

surrey;Clintons are White Trash

I read that Clinton didn’t want the 1996 Olympics to fizzle out so everyone was instructed to lie about what happened.

I also listened to a late night talk show where the host invited airline pilots and plane mechanics to offer their opinions. Every one of them said it was not a fuel tank explosion.


66 posted on 06/19/2013 8:10:33 AM PDT by goldi
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To: tgusa
"....if memory serves, the F-14s we sold Iran NEVER had Phoenix...."

Well, your memory does NOT serve, as the AIM-54 system most certainly WAS installed on Iranian F-14's, and they were supplied well in excess of 250 missiles.

Ya'all gotta remember, Iran under the Shah was vastly different than the Iran of today.

67 posted on 06/19/2013 8:12:53 AM PDT by diogenes ghost
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To: ConservativeMan55
Read Nelson Demille’s Nightfall he basically covers this in a Novel.
68 posted on 06/19/2013 8:14:31 AM PDT by angcat
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To: Revelation 911
"My neighbor is an air traffic controller - his opinion and those of his co-workers..."

Well, here's an opinion from another controller....the f'ing tank blew up.

What makes one opinion better than the other?

Well, this controller was actually working a jet brought down by an exploding tank. So I do have some unusual interest and insight in the subject.

69 posted on 06/19/2013 8:20:37 AM PDT by diogenes ghost
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To: diogenes ghost

I sit corrected. Maybe I’m remembering something about after the fall of the Shah and the embargo of spare parts for the F-14. In any event, I went through Navy flight training with some of the Shah’s Boys, and we considered them to be laughingstocks.


70 posted on 06/19/2013 8:25:32 AM PDT by tgusa (gun control: deep breath, sight alignment, squeeze the trigger .......)
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To: Clintons Are White Trash

“explained to me how the fuel tank thing was impossible.”

Probably along the lines that the center fuel tank at 13,000 that day would have been below 80°F that night, and Jet A will not ignite at that temperature.


71 posted on 06/19/2013 8:33:09 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: 2CAVTrooper
I worked for Fairchild doing sheet metal right out of high school, no jets, it was R4Ds, R6Ds, C119s, and the little fleet of B26s that launched the Bay of Pigs exercise. The avgas they all burned is a lot more volatile than J4 fuel and no one worried about spontaneous fires in fuel tanks, none of them were designed by careless people.

Some of the Cuban pilots were real swashbucklers, real heros, I'm proud to have met them and worked on those planes.

72 posted on 06/19/2013 8:36:07 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: Sacajaweau

Oh, you mean the second blast showing up on the richter scale or the fact that McVey roamed from one end of the country to the other telling everyone he met that he was gonna blow something up but acted alone?

There are lies, damn lies and Government press releases.


73 posted on 06/19/2013 8:45:27 AM PDT by Jaded (Really? Seriously?)
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To: tgusa

Nope....

IRAN

The sole foreign customer for the Tomcat was the Imperial Iranian Air Force, during the reign of the last Shah (King) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was searching for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting Soviet MiG-25 “Foxbat” reconnaissance flights. After a visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to Iran in 1972, during which Iran was offered the latest in American military technology, the IIAF narrowed its choice to the F-14 Tomcat or McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Grumman Corporation arranged a competitive demonstration of the Eagle against the Tomcat before the Shah, and in January 1974, Iran ordered 30 F-14s and 424 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, initiating Project Persian King, worth US$300 million. A few months later, this order was increased to a total of 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles as well as spare parts and replacement engines for 10 years, complete armament package, and support infrastructure (including construction of the huge Khatami Air Base in the desert near Esfahan).
The first F-14 arrived in January 1976, modified only by the removal of classified avionics components, but fitted with the TF-30-414 engines. The following year 12 more were delivered. Meanwhile, training of the first groups of Iranian crews by the U.S. Navy, was underway in the USA; and one of these conducted a successful shoot-down with a Phoenix missile of a target drone flying at 50,000 ft (15 km).
Following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the air force was renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) and the post-revolution interim government of Iran canceled most Western arms orders. In 1980 an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran-Iraq conflict.[55]

Flight formation of Iranian Tomcats - 2008
According to research by Tom Cooper, within the first six months of the war Iranian F-14s scored over 50 air-to-air victories, mainly against Iraqi MiG-21s and MiG-23s, but some also against Su-20/22s. In exchange, only a single F-14A was destroyed by a MiG-21.[55]
Between 1982 and 1986 Iranian Tomcats were to see use in a series of slowly developing campaigns: mainly tasked with patrolling the skies over objects vital for the survival of Iranian regime and economy, like Tehran, or Kharg Island. Most of these patrols were supported by the fleet of Boeing 707-3J9C tankers, and some lasted as long as 10 hours, thanks to up to four successive in-flight refuelings. Time and again, they were involved in new air battles, and had scored heavily, but their main role was that of intimidating the Iraqi Air Force. Cognizant of previous heavy losses in battles against Iranian F-14s, the Iraqis avoided any engagement with them, so that the sole presence of a Tomcat over the target area was enough to force Iraqi formations to abort their attacks. Because of this, and because of the precision and effectiveness of the Tomcat’s AWG-9 weapons system and AIM-54A Phoenix long-range air-to-air missiles, the F-14 maintained air control over a lengthy period of time.[citation needed]


74 posted on 06/19/2013 9:30:39 AM PDT by Kozak (The Republic is dead. I do not owe what we have any loyalty, wealth or sympathy.)
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To: ConservativeMan55

Later...


75 posted on 06/19/2013 9:56:55 AM PDT by matthew fuller
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To: diogenes ghost
great attitude - i offered to opinion of my neighbor as it was a consensus among his peers in the arena-

nothing more nothing less -

now - when you're done bemoaning the piss on your corn flakes, think about your tone, jackwagon

76 posted on 06/19/2013 12:11:41 PM PDT by Revelation 911 (hump scratching n'er do well.....all strung out on chicken wings and venison jerky)
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To: Revelation 911
"...think about your tone, jackwagon."

Really?

I was working a KC-135 that blew up, killing 27 servicemen, then had to go over the tapes with pilots who flew with, and knew well, the dead crew.

And I am the one with a tone?

77 posted on 06/19/2013 1:31:16 PM PDT by diogenes ghost
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To: diogenes ghost
dude - you replied dropping "f"s - Im sorry for your loss... really - but you should try a hug some time - might cheer you up

what i was relaying was OPINIONs - get over it

78 posted on 06/19/2013 4:08:35 PM PDT by Revelation 911 (hump scratching n'er do well.....all strung out on chicken wings and venison jerky)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

You may be on to something...we can’t ever underestimate the enmity between the obamas and clintons.


79 posted on 06/20/2013 5:32:34 AM PDT by pgkdan (Marco Rubio can go straight to hell!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
It may also be taking down the Clinton name so it can't compete with Michelle. Just a thought.....
80 posted on 06/20/2013 5:36:10 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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