Junkers-Larson 12. A ground attack aircraft from 1921.

I posted these photos the other day on our companion blog, Lex Anteinternet

Gen. Mitchell was checking out aircraft.

Thompson submachine guns made the press

Lt. Gen. Wise & Lt. Brooks Hyde-Pierson, 10/21/21

I didn't realize at the time I did this, that these were photographs of the same thing.  One Junkers JL12 ground attack aircraft.

It's hard not to view this as anything other than "goofball", but then this was in the early days of aviation and there was a lot of experimentation going on.

The Junkers-Larson 12 was a militarized version of the Junkers F13, the world's first all metal transport aircraft.  The origins of the F13 actually extended back to World War One, but its first flight came in 1919, so it came too late to see service in the war.  Obviously, it represented a big step forward in aircraft design, so perhaps it isn't too surprising that it was militarized pretty quickly.

If oddly.

The aircraft was equipped with 30 Thompson Submachine Guns.  They were operated by single levers in two batteries, with most of them firing straight down.

The Thompson was brand new that year, although its origins also dated back to World War One, for which it had been designed, but which it missed seeing service in as the early variants didn't come out until 1919.  1921 was the first year of real production.

Hap Arnold with Liberty V12 engine.

The JL-12 was equipped with a Liberty V 12 engine, which may explain its name.

Did anyone buy them?  

Well, I don't know.  It was an interesting idea that foreshadowed later aircraft like Douglas AC-47 Spooky and the Lockheed AC-130, so the whole concept wasn't as absurd as it at first might strike us.  The problem would have been that Thompson's in .45 ACP wouldn't have really given the advantage of altitude that an aircraft needs.  If many were made, it probably wasn't very many.

Delta receives a subsidty to continue serving the Natrona County International Airport

 I'm really not too certain what my view on this is.  Overall, I suppose it's a good thing.

Delta is one of the two carriers, relying on regional contractors, serving the Natrona County International Airport, and hence all of Central Wyoming.  It flies to and from Salt Lake, while United flies to and from Denver.  

It used to have great connections.  A businessman in Casper could take the red eye to Salt Lake and then catch the late flight back. That's no longer possible  Frankly, depending upon what you're doing, it's nearly as easy to drive to Salt Lake now.

And perhaps that's cutting into their passenger list, along with COVID 19, although I'm told that flights have been full recently.

Anyhow, losing Delta would be a disaster. We'd be down to just United.  Not only would that mean that there was no competition, it'd place us in a shaky position, maybe, as the overall viability of air travel starts to reduce once a carrier pulls out.

A couple of legislatures ago there was an effort to subsidize intrastate air travel, and I think it passed.  While Wyomingites howl about "socialism", as we loosely and fairly inaccurately describe it, we're hugely okay with transportation being subsidized.  We likely need to be, or it'll cut us off from the rest of everything more than we already are, and that has a certain domino effect.

I don't know what the overall solution to this problem is, assuming there is one, but whatever it is, subsidies appear likely to be part of it for the immediate future . . . and maybe there are some avenues open there we aren't pursuing and should be.