RE: Andy Rooney dead at age 92...

[brad kaste]

http://news.yahoo.com/andy-rooney-wry-60-minutes-commentator-dies-133038061.html


Andy,...ya' ol' curmudgeon,....you'll truly be missed by many. R.I.P.

[Kiwikat]

He was a pretty lucky guy. Got paid to complain all the time. If only I were that lucky... :mixedsmi:

RIP Andy.

[beana51]

Reading ,watching,listening to him for a long time......The Ultimate "GADFLY"..



A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad.
Any of various flies, especially of the family (http://www.answers.com/topic/gadfly#) Tabanidae, that bite or annoy livestock and other animals.





For many? he was a pain in the ass!..tho he grew on you in time..and there was plenty of time!!

One more of Americas Greatest generation gone...RIP

he wrote....

"On Feb. 23, 1943, I went on a bombing raid on Wilhelmshaven in a B-17. That's something you never forget. It was as close to death as I ever came, and I was 24 years old. Artillery shells exploded in the air around us and we were attacked by German fighter planes, FW 190s and Messerschmitt 109s. I haven't forgotten them, either."




"Several times a week, Air Force public relations alerted reporters that there was going to be a bombing raid. The reporters living in London boarded a train in the morning to be at one of the airfields when the bombers returned -- if they returned.

On one of those raids, I was up front, in the nose of the bomber, sitting behind the pilot and co-pilot and across from the navigator at his little table. I could see the German fighter planes out the window boring down on us, guns blazing. You notice I'm not saying I wasn't scared. I kept asking myself why I volunteered to go on a bombing raid. It had always seemed wrong to me that I wrote about the airmen without ever joining them, so I volunteered to go on a raid."



"When they flew over Germany after crossing the English Channel, some of our bombers were always shot down. The bomb groups were either B-17s or B-24s, and the B-17s always got the dirty jobs because they were harder to destroy than the B-24s. The B-24 was faster, more maneuverable and in many ways a better airplane but it had that one shortcoming: It got shot down more easily."


"The B-26 Mustang was a smaller, two-engine bomber that they should not have wasted time and money making. It didn't carry a heavy load, had limited firepower and was a poor weapon. This sort of thing happens a lot in war, I think, and we never know about inadequate weapons or vehicles until the war is over."


"They made one early mistake with the B-17. As the story goes, they built it so big and wide that they had to remove its wings to tow it onto the airfield because the streets of the town where it was made were too narrow to accommodate it."

[Crusader]

If memory serves me right Andy Rooney stated he made the landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day . He was with Stars and Stripes . RIP sir .:medals: :salute:

[Daveroo]

did he write "B26 mustang? or was that a typo thats lasted the years?

[beana51]

B-26 Mustang??.my thoughts ZACTLY..I let it go..his words not mine...Marauder? ,INVADER?.....This may explane the thoughts then:

"After entering service with the U.S. Army, the aircraft received the reputation of a "Widowmaker" due to the early models' high rate of accidents during takeoff and landings. The Marauder had to be flown by exact airspeeds, particularly on final approach and when one engine was out. The 150 mph speed on short final was intimidating to pilots who were used to much slower speeds, and whenever they slowed down below what the manual stated, the aircraft would stall and crash.."...This said it better than I...I remember that expression.then..."WIDOWMAKER" then

"The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were re-trained and after aerodynamics modifications (increase of wing span and incidence, to give better take off performance, and a larger fin and rudder).[/URL] After aerodynamic and design changes, the aircraft distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces"]United States Army Air Forces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-26_Marauder#cite_note-Ethell_1995.2C_pp._242-243-4) dispatch from 1946.

The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any USAAF bomber..! guess that said it all!...Seems it was a matter of Timing! Later Modles were better and ..DA BUGS WERE RUBBED OUT!..Small consolation to the early crews which Roony may have been reffering too!..Now so long ago!

[hey_moe]

He didn't complain, he showed the public things they were wrong. Take like when you buy a bag of chips. When ya open it up the jumbo bag it is half full ????? Same thing with a box of cereal, mater of fact just about anything you can't see. I only watched him a few times because he was so negative about things. RIP.

[HouseHobbit]

I always enjoyed Andy, and his outlook..
He was one of a kind in a sea of the same..
RIP
:salute: :salute: :salute: