"in November 1959 it was announced that the FAA would cease to operate fixed-wing aircraft from 1963" I don't understand the use of the preposition "from" here. Perhaps "in"?
"the Australian aircraft did not have an avionics hump and were fitted to operate AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missiles" Singular-plural disagreement. "an avionics hump" suggests one aircraft, "were fitted" suggests many.
I don't agree with this I'm afraid. 'Aircraft' can refer to more than one, and saying that 'the Australian aircraft did not have avionics humps' implies that each US aircraft had multiple humps. Nick-D (talk) 06:20, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
How about this: "The main differences between the 'F' and 'G' variants were that the latter did not have an avionics hump and was fitted to operate AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missiles." --Cryptic C62 · Talk 13:02, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks - that's an improvement, and I've dropped this in. Nick-D (talk) 23:17, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
"The Government's Defence Committee subsequently recommended that FAA fighter pilots be attached to a United States Marine Corps unit stationed at Chu Lai, but not take part in American operations over North Vietnam." Why would fighter pilots be sent to Vietnam if they were not to take part in military operations? This seems like an enormous expenditure with no benefit. Maybe the answer to this is obvious to a milhist enthusiast, but to a science dork like me, it really doesn't make any sense.
Perhaps if it read "combat operations"? Military personnel are frequently exchanged between countries to gain non-combat experience in different environments. N.B. I reviewed this at MilHist ACR and will be recusing myself from delegate duties to comment further in due course. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 04:32, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed, I think (I'd appreciate comments on the new wording though). The issue was that the Australian Government had decided that Australians would only fight in South Vietnam, and prohibited all military personnel serving with US units from ever crossing into neigbouring countries when their 'parent' units did. If the Australian pilots had been deployed they would have joined their USMC squadron in attacks in South Vietnam, but sat out raids on the north; No. 2 Squadron RAAF operated under the same rules during its period in Vietnam, but had the advantage of being a self-contained unit with its own aircraft. Nick-D (talk) 06:20, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Done (for whatever reason there isn't an article on the teams per-se, but there is one on the general concept)
"retained for target towing and radar and weapon calibration duties as well as other fleet support tasks" Yikes. Commas can be your friend: "retained for target towing, radar and weapon calibration duties, and other fleet support tasks"
Thanks - I've been struggling with that sentence, and that's a big improvement. Thanks also for your comments. Nick-D (talk) 06:20, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
