Here is where we will begin to de-construct Mack Maloney's popular series of books called 'The Wingman'. I hope that these commentaries, questions, falsifcations, improbabalities and odd stuff seen in the books will find it's way here.
I also hope to try to list them down under a few different catogories, not by individual books, but more along the lines of weapons, aircraft, ships, technology and supply. Some of the material will be culled from the Wingman Message boards at Mack's Home Page, from my own ramblings, and from other fans.
Feel free to email me with questions, thoughts, comments or whatever!!!! Enjoy!
Let's start off with a little something from me...just some ramblings....
Since I'd begun working on the mission sets, and espically when doing 'Circle War', some things have occurred to me:
1) Dozens, if not hundreds, of Soviet nukes rained down on the Central US....now, lets think about this for a sec...all that megatonnage, and there's NO mention of the nuclear winter that was sure to follow? Even with no response by US/NATO forces, some REAL damage had to be to the ecosphere of the planet. The effects of even a one-sided exchange would be catasthropic on a global scale. Hmmm... Perhaps it would explain certain things about the Badlands...of course it WOULD be a radioactive hell for years to come, depending on the yield and 'dirtyness' of the warheads, but the prevailing winds usually blow north and east...toward the Appliachian mountains, and the Eastern seaboard...shouldn't there have been some effects? Were they ground bursts or air bursts? Either way, there would have been fallout world wide.
2) Tactical useage of stratagic weapons: if I read these right, it appears that the Sovs ONLY targets military instlations; ie: missile silos and bases in the mid-west/central plains. Perhaps they were low-yeild weapons, 1-10 kilotons? I remember a line that states something like 'the west coast came out practically unscathed'. Well, I'm sitting here in Los Angeles, practicially in the middle of a bunch of important prime targets: Long Beach-10 miles south, San Deigo-90 miles south; Nellis AFB-300 miles north. To say nothing about the huge naval bases in San Franscico, Seattle or the AF bases in Wyoming, Idaho, Washington State, Arizona, etc...you follow my drift? It appears to me that the Sovs ONLY targeted the most vital instillations for destruction. Leaving the major population centers virtially untouched. Now, I'v been to Seattle, and a few multi-megaton warheads would REALLY hurt - Whidbey Island, Bangor Naval Base, McCord AFB....wouldn't take much. Same in San Deigo-Mirmar MCAS, North Island NAS, Camp Pendalton Marine Base...San Deigo Naval Base...etc...bad news all around! (but WHAT a sun-tan!) Conclusion: the Sov's WANTED the population centers intact, espically on the East Coast, for occupation and terrorization. (hence the plot of 'Thunder in the East') Then why did their Pacific/Far East forces NOT invade; either throught Alaska or in California? Hmmmm
3) Supplies: particulary POL deposits (that's petroleum, oils and lubricants for the non-military). Is the Alaska pipeline still intact? and how does the crude oil come down from Alaska? If the SLOC's (sea lines of communication) are disrupted, the tankers can't make the passage from Alaska to the refineries in California (I should know, I used to work for Chevron USA--2 major refineries, on in SF bay area, another here in Long Beach) Im sure the Canadians couldn't handle all the refining, so can we assume ANOTHER overland pipe from Vancouver/Seattle area to northern California? Or smaller, coastal tankers from Pueget Sound to either San Fransisco or Long Beach? hmmm...
4) Back to the loss of the 'breadbasket' of America...most of the nations food is grown in the mid-west. Shouldn't we have seen large-scale starvation among the population? Every major city in this country is less than 3 days away from starving...if supplies stopped rolling in. What if there were NO supplies to roll in? Food riots, hording, rationing...martial law or surviving military forces taking over (which is as depicted in #2--PAAF IS a military dictatorship...as is the UAC-make no mistake; but it's the only way to control such a country in shambles....
5) Other high-value targets: sea ports, manfacturing centers (vehicles, weapons, the whole military-industrial complex), power stations, hydro-electric generators (Grand Colee Dam, Hoover Dam, etc--nice, big easy to hit targets!). If these remained intact, power could be re-routed from the damaged grid sections. Here in LA, most is supplied from Hoover, so we here could concievably have maintained some standard of 'normal' living...which would assist in the recovery process. This is, of couse, ignoring the effects of electro-magnetic pulse from the nukes, which would totally FRY ANY and ALL non-hardened electronics (automobile's on-board computer, the PC your looking at now, digital watches--I mean EVERTHING with printed circuits and micro-processors!!! Reference: the novel 'War Day' by Whitley Striber)
None of this, of course, is to detract from the stories. After all, isn't the series about the REBUILDING of America after the nuclear holocaust? And the heros that sacrifice EVERYTHING to make it happen? Just some thoughts...comments are VERY welcomed!
Here's one, from HunterVF, about something that even I missed!!!
Wait a minute...I just thought of another flub for the nitpickers guide (that relates to cars even!) In "Skyfire" Hawk tools around town in "a sooped up 83 Corvette." Only one problem; GM never made a 1983 Corvette! They took one year off to switch from the 3rd generation body style (1968-1982) to the 4th generation body style (1984-1996)-no 1983 model exists (you shoulda picked that up Wrench, being a GM guy ;)
And a response to my original nit-pic, by Cadet:
I would like to address some of the nitpicks and raise some of my own.
As for #1, I believe General Seth Jones says that most of the bombs used were clean ones. These would leave little or no fallout while completely destroying the land-based nuclear forces of the US in the Midwest. Notice I say land-based. What the hell happened to all the submarines? I guess Mack covered that well when he said the VP ordered everything destroyed. I guess that means all subs RTB, but wouldn't sub captains think something is up when they see 10 or 12 fellow subs sailing into San Diego, Bangor, or Norfolk at the same time.
#2 is a valid point. However, I believe that the reason there was no attack, was that there were no silos, despite the high amount of military forces on the West Coast. I think the reason there was no attack/invasion was what Louie St. Louie mentioned to Hawk when they first met. He launched cruise missiles of the wings of his B-52. The USAF in the Pacific severely mauled the Pacific Soviet forces. They simply had nothing left until they managed to muster those 50 Yaks and the Mongolian People's Army in the Circle War. Notice a lot of the enemies of freedom are Soviet supplied, but never are there Soviet groud troops, outside of some rare occurrences.
#3 is a very interesting point, but I think the answer is very simple. The New Order destroyed. What better way to disrupt The Continent than to take away its only domestic source of oil.
#4 and #5 are valid and I can raise no qualms. I would think the New Order would destroy or render ineffective the dams, though.
My biggest nitpick comes from #1. In Hawk's first conversation with General Jones, Jones mentions the Panama Canal. He says that it was destroyed in the first wave of nuclear missiles which the Soviets sent over. However, in The Twisted Cross, there's the Canal, apparently unaffected from a direct hit by a nuclear missile. I would think that would be on the list.
That's all I have for now, Cadet Corporal Nicholas Patrick Suhr USMA Class of 2002
Other essays will cover weapons, aircraft (!), personalities and motivations, and any other subject relevent to the stories. All comments, replies or other essays are VERY welcome! Keep them cogent, clear, and when possible, give references from the Wingman books and/or other sources related to the subject.
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