My dad, an Irish immigrant’s son who by dint of hard work and good luck became a seaplane instructor from Stamford, Connecticut, could take a crowded train down to Arcada, Florida, and teach British farmboys how to fly on Stearman biplanes, incredible planes that are still flying. After learning how to take off and land in one piece, the British cadets quickly graduated to aerobatics fifty feet off the deck. The ones who survived were well-prepared to move on to Spitfires, the planes they used to drive back the mighty Luftwaffe. To this day, British families of pilots who died at Arcada gather once a year to honor them.
President Biden! In the time we’re wasting nitpicking how to get Russian MiG 29s from Poland to Ukraine, we could be picking up Ukrainian pilots at the border and having our Top Guns train them on American fighters that the Ukrainian pilots can fly back to their homeland. It would be like delivering big Javelins, which we are already doing.
They don’t call me the Idea Man for nothing!
Curmudgeon in the Land of Smiles 
Thanks for the link Terry…I do like your blog.
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Thanks, Jeff.
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Do you really think that the American soldiers who would counter-invade Ukraine would behave better than what yo saw in Ubon, or how they implemented policy in Afghanistan and Iraq? Right now the big tragic mistake has been made by the Russians who will not be successful in meeting their objectives. The Ukrainians are the ones suffering the most from this mistake. The US military is a really blunt instrument, as is the Russian. I am impressed that the Ukrainian military defending its home turf is probably doing about as well as can be expected. I approve of the defensive support that presumably they are being slipped under the table in the form of anti-tani, anti-air weapons etc. How would adding more foreign soldiers to this mix contribute to this?
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Tony, all I ask for is what President Zelensky asks for–MiG-29s from Poland and other Warsaw Pact countries that Ukrainian pilots already know how to fly. I add the caveat that this is taking so long with Pentagon paper-shuffling and head-scratching that it might be easier for the US to send Ukraine planes on lend-lease like we did with England in WW II. I have the added experience of knowing first-hand and from interviews with other veterans that aircraft overhead lifts morale big-time when they are on your side.
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