But this... I'm in constant shock-and-awe with your diary. And as you wrote in your comment on the entanglement of military planes and commerical air planes, I'd be extremely intersted in your take on the militare planes (Eurofighter, JSF, Mig, Rafale, etc.) after you've wrapped up this series.
BTW, this being a subject totally new for me (again), would it be possible for you to list your previous series with links at the end of a diary, similar to what dmun, DoDo and others do? I'm starting to lose track of the serial codes, but it helps when I see the picture of the plane you mean. (I'm a visually orientated person.)
As I mentioned in a comment above, I'm hesitating to write diary's about military planes. I have seen most of those planes flying and on static shows, even prototypes of the latest types. I was in the cockpit of some of them. On my computer I have professional flight-simulation programs, and even a joystick of 3Kg wich is a replica of the real F-16 stick. It is a fascinating world : I learned about aerodynamics, pneumatics, hydrolics, electronics, navigation, radar, Infra Red, ILS, FLIR, TCAS .... and lots more. But at the end : its about a weaponsystem, a thing to kill, or drop super-killers like nuclear bombs. Maybe, after Bush has finished his wars , the next one will be fought again with stones. The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)
I understand your hesitation on "glorifying" killing machines, although your thoughts on the spending of the military and the policies behind it about which you briefly muse would be a fascinating read as well, I'm sure.
I understand. What - sometimes - fascinates me is the human genius behind the machine - whatever the machine purpose is. A bombers' purpose is absolutely unacceptable, and still a bomber can be a beautiful piece of machinery. Witness this British Victor : http://www.drivearchive.co.uk/xplanes/vbombers/victorcos1.jpg
