The Antiplanning family has a new member: Grizzly, a ten-week-old Belgian Tervuren puppy. He is our fifth dog of this breed and we look forward to many miles of hikes with him.
After we lost Smokey in January, I didn’t want to get another dog right away. But I was still grieving six months later when a breeder we admire contacted us and said she had a puppy for us. Suddenly, I found myself looking towards the future and not the past. I’ll never forget Smokey, but everything I wanted to do with him I’ll be able to do with Grizzly.
Just as Smokey was never actually on fire, we don’t expect Grizzly to be as fierce as the bear formerly known as Ursus horribilis. In fact, he is really named after an airplane, not an ursine. His breeder loves flying and likes to have her dogs named after planes. I wanted a name that reflected my interest in nature. Ms. Antiplanner remembered that there was a plane called a Bear, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate to name our dog after a Soviet-era strategic bomber.
A search of plane names revealed that in 1944 there was a plane — two, in fact — called the Beech Grizzly, or more specifically the XA-38 Grizzly. Only two were produced because, though it was small, it used the same engines as the B-29, which was a higher priority at the time. Even though it was a propellor plane rather than a jet, its specifications were very similar to the A-10 Thunderbolt (aka Warthog).
Military issues aside, our new puppy’s official name will be Beech Grizzly, which has a double meaning for us as we expect to spend a lot of time at the beach with him. I may show a few photos of him here as he grows up.
Welcome Grizzly! Though I fear for your humans, who face years of explaining to passers-by, who will exclaim “Oh so you are just a little BEAR!!!” – “Well, no, actually he’s named after the Beech Grizzly, or more specifically the XA-38 Grizzly. Only two were produced because…” (at which point the passers-by have long moved on). (Just kidding you!)
Looks like a very cute and nice dog!
Mans of Military reform recall the Scaled Composite Ares, aka the Mudfighter. Twas designed to be an ultra light, ultra cheap, 25mm cannon armed plane that would provide on demand firepower for troops on the ground. Which is more important than 100 Million dollar fighter jets. The Air Force tried dispose A10 and attack planes in general because it makes them sub-serviant to the army.
Real stickler to repalce it with new derititive made of as many Off the shelf parts as possible.
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2a38736bcf0c425a007ca1c74a509286.webp
Instead of retiring the C-2 Greyhound, Convert a few into AC-2 gunships for the USMC and Army. A-10’s and AC-130’s need land bases and may take 30 min – hour to arrive worse the Air Force is constantly trying to dispose of the former…….beyond that. While converting A-10’s to land on carriers might prove….advantageous it would need a suspension landing gear overhaul, which Air force may not enjoy, inter-agency cooperation and all that. C-2 is already carrier capable, with a cargo capacity of 10,000 pounds, a mere engine upgrade would improve range, economy and capacity.At a safe altitude of 10-15 thousand feet, most guns lose efficacy.
weapon of choice , the new Army’s XM913 50mm gun. with a range of 1400 miles the AC-2 can loiter over regions support operations where heavy firepower can be deployed in “brushfire”….