Ram air

On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo fighter"
and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of it's life
just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had nothing to do
with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to USAAC pilots in WW2.
While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer thing is also true,
Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and was the source of a
large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

Bertie

Notary Sojac (from memory...not Googled)

Stealth Pilot wrote in
:


they are fascinating pieces of folk history so when I find one out it
sticks in the memory.

Kilroy was a government guy pressed into the task of inspecting the
quality of the hastily built cargo ships the americans turned out for
the shipping task to england. he had no way of remembering where he
had previously inspected so he developed the habit of chalking 'Kilroy
was here" to remind himself of sections he had already inspected. the
internal sections were eventually welded into the structure.

weeks later when torpedo damage was being repaired the workers would
cut away sealed parts and find the mysterious chalk marks "Kilroy was
here". the endearing puzzle being how did they get there in sealed
sections?

the mystery was explained a few years ago in a news radio segment
where someone actually tracked down the guy and got him to explain the
riddle.

I always wondered where that came from. You'd still see it as graffiti as
late as the 70s. i suppose years form now people will be explaining the
origins of "where's the beef" to the bewilderment of the youngsters who
won't be able to understand why anyone would eat something infected with e-
coli and BSE..

Bertie

Stealth Pilot wrote in
:

On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:21:50 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:


fence with the line 'foo was here'

foo is the 'forward observation officer' the guy who used to tootle
over the lines in an auster or a cub spotting for artillery and
fighters. verrah verrah british ol' chap. verrah verrah courageous
flying too boot.


Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo fighter"
and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of it's life
just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had nothing to do
with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to USAAC pilots in WW2.
While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer thing is also true,
Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and was the source of a
large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

Bertie

interesting. smokey never seemed to make it into our war history.
dont doubt you though.


Oh it's true. In much the same way as modern cartoon culture makes it into
every day life. How many guys do you know who say "Doh"?
Smokey was cool if a bit dated by the time it bit the dust, which must have
been in the 60s. Corny, but simultaneously quite surreal.

Bertie

cavedweller wrote in news:ecad1ae9-5348-4dfc-b881-
:

On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo fighter"
and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of it's life
just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had nothing to do
with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to USAAC pilots in WW2.
While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer thing is also true,
Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and was the source of a
large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

Bertie

Notary Sojac (from memory...not Googled)



Oh yeah! Have no idea what that meant! I looked up his website a few years
back for some reason. He had loads of weird sayings that probably meant
something or another to older guys of the WW2 generation. He almost
certainly decorated a few airplanes in WW2 as well..



Bertie

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
cavedweller wrote in news:ecad1ae9-5348-4dfc-b881-
:

On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo fighter"
and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of it's life
just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had nothing to do
with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to USAAC pilots in WW2.
While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer thing is also true,
Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and was the source of a
large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

The car(s) had two wheels - predating the Segway.

--
nuts

On Jun 6, 10:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
cavedweller wrote in news:ecad1ae9-5348-4dfc-b881-
:



On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo fighter"
and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of it's life
just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had nothing to do
with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to USAAC pilots in WW2.
While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer thing is also true,
Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and was the source of a
large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

Bertie

Notary Sojac (from memory...not Googled)

Oh yeah! Have no idea what that meant! I looked up his website a few years
back for some reason. He had loads of weird sayings that probably meant
something or another to older guys of the WW2 generation. He almost
certainly decorated a few airplanes in WW2 as well..

Bertie

There IS a Wiki article. Bring back Pogo, too.

mixed nuts wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
cavedweller wrote in
news:ecad1ae9-5348-4dfc-b881-
:

On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of the
french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo
fighter" and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning of
it's life just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and had
nothing to do with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter to
USAAC pilots in WW2. While I'm sure the Forward Observation Officer
thing is also true, Smokey Stover was really popular at the time and
was the source of a large number of slang words used during the war.
I always loved his car!

The car(s) had two wheels - predating the Segway.


Yeah, that's right. I have a vague memory of an article in Popular
Mechanics about someone building one. I think they might have published
plans for it, even, as they did back then. Quite a challenge to make
something like that! I suspect it must have had a single castering wheel
hidden underneath fore or aft.


Bertie

cavedweller wrote in
:

On Jun 6, 10:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
cavedweller wrote in
news:ecad1ae9-5348-4dfc-b881-
:



On Jun 5, 11:21 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Actually, "Foo" came from Smokey Stover, and was a corruption of
the french "feux" ( Smokey was a fireman) He called himself a "Foo
fighter" and juxtaposed with the term UFO (which at the beginning
of it's life just meant anything that pilots couldn't identify and
had nothing to do with little gray men) a UFO became a foo fighter
to USAAC pilots in WW2. While I'm sure the Forward Observation
Officer thing is also true, Smokey Stover was really popular at
the time and was the source of a large number of slang words used
during the war. I always loved his car!

Bertie

Notary Sojac (from memory...not Googled)

Oh yeah! Have no idea what that meant! I looked up his website a few
years back for some reason. He had loads of weird sayings that
probably meant something or another to older guys of the WW2
generation. He almost certainly decorated a few airplanes in WW2 as
well..

Bertie

There IS a Wiki article. Bring back Pogo, too.

Pogo, I never got into. It was one of the few, along with Mary Worth and
Mandrake, I skipped. B.C, the Wizard of Id, Moon Mullins, Dick Tracy. It
was, by far, always the most intelligent part of any newspaper..

On Jun 6, 9:04 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Yeah, that's right. I have a vague memory of an article in Popular
Mechanics about someone building one. I think they might have published
plans for it, even, as they did back then. Quite a challenge to make
something like that! I suspect it must have had a single castering wheel
hidden underneath fore or aft.

Nope. Those things had two smaller wheels that ride inside
each tire. The main tires have no inner sidewalls, and the actual
suspension is a bar that reaches into the inside of the main and has
two small wheels on each end of it that ride on the inside of the
mains' treads. They have a wheelbase of 10" or so, enough to keep the
machine upright. Fools lots of people. The flattish-looking main tires
give the game away to anyone with any mechanical knowhow.
A guy here in our area built one and drives it in the local
parades. Has hydrostatic drive, too. Runs the smaller wheels.

Dan

wrote in news:2789e107-b5ff-401c-b261-
:

On Jun 6, 9:04 am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Yeah, that's right. I have a vague memory of an article in Popular
Mechanics about someone building one. I think they might have published
plans for it, even, as they did back then. Quite a challenge to make
something like that! I suspect it must have had a single castering wheel
hidden underneath fore or aft.

Nope. Those things had two smaller wheels that ride inside
each tire. The main tires have no inner sidewalls, and the actual
suspension is a bar that reaches into the inside of the main and has
two small wheels on each end of it that ride on the inside of the
mains' treads. They have a wheelbase of 10" or so, enough to keep the
machine upright. Fools lots of people. The flattish-looking main tires
give the game away to anyone with any mechanical knowhow.
A guy here in our area built one and drives it in the local
parades. Has hydrostatic drive, too. Runs the smaller wheels.

Wow! never expected to hear from anone who knew of one! That sounds pretty
complicated. There can't have been many guys who built those. So the outer
tire just flexes and acts as a sort of track for the inners and, i suppose,
they just use differential power and/or braking to steer.
Cool!
I must have a look for the old plans..


Bertie