Humorous Naval Air Flight Experiences

Jim Carriere wrote:

Dave Kearton wrote:
I always thought the 'correct' term was alighting, that is if you do it
correctly.

Yeah, I was gonna mention that, but "alighting" sounds so... cold and
clinical.

Yes indeedy...not really in keeping with the usual mental picture
of the dashing, intrepid, steely eyed, big watch equipped,
aviator huh?
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message

| Jim Carriere wrote:
|
|| Dave Kearton wrote:
||| I always thought the 'correct' term was alighting, that is if you
||| do it correctly.
||
|| Yeah, I was gonna mention that, but "alighting" sounds so... cold and
|| clinical.
|
| Yes indeedy...not really in keeping with the usual mental picture
| of the dashing, intrepid, steely eyed, big watch equipped,
| aviator huh?
| --
|
| -Gord.
| (use gordon in email)



That's what I was thinking Gord. It sounds more like a ballet-practice
term and that real men TM would not alight gently into the water surface,
but SLAM into it, splashing everyone at the pier.



--

Cheers


Dave Kearton

Good ole' ARC-27 you could always tell where in the shop the ARC-27
bench was or had been. From all of the holes in the ceiling where the
scribe ended up after forgetting to unkey the transmitter while tuning
the final PA stages capacitor plates. B+ of 1500 volts'll do that to ya.

Greasy Rider wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 01:34:34 GMT, Dave in San diego
postulated :


You had to go and do it - bring up old painful memories. The ARC-27 was
my second least favorite piece of tron gear to replace. The ARN-21 TACAN
ranked first, primarily because of its generally more difficult location
in the a/c. Can you believe they still had those boat anchors around into
the 80s?


I worked on FJ-3M, F9F, F11F, AD-6, and A4D.
The A4D was the worst for me with that damned "biscuit" which housed
it all. The ARC-27 was my bread and butter gear. Easy to diagnose
problems. Using the bicycle pump always attracted the attention of the
other shops. The only gear I never really understood was the APX-6
transponder. I always kept a wary eye on that live round .45 shell
aimed at the Top Secret cavitron.

Yeh...I suppose the 'flail' action is somewhat more prohibitive (and
hazardous) in the F-18?...

Not to mention the likelihood of some personnel becoming fouled in the hook
or the turkey feathers. g

--
Mike Kanze

"Boy, I feel safer now that [Martha Stewart's] behind bars. O.J. & Kobe are
walking around free, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook
and clean and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."

- Tim Allen



"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
"Bob McKellar" wrote:


My grandfather, Naval Aviator #711, told me about standing up in the
cockpit
and peeing over the side of his plane.

Try that in an F-18!

Bob McKellar


Yeh...I suppose the 'flail' action is somewhat more prohibitive
(and hazardous) in the F-18?...
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:55:31 -0500, "Bob McKellar"
wrote:

My grandfather, Naval Aviator #711, told me about standing up in the cockpit
and peeing over the side of his plane.

That would also indicate he was designated between 1911 and 1919.
During those years 2834 Naval Aviators were designated. It also means
he likely flew a good variety of very interesting aircraft.

One of my instructors at Embry-Riddle in the early 70's - Carl Brown -
would regale us with tales of conversations with the likes of Loening,
the Wrights, Donald Douglas, and other noteables of early US Aviation
History (the subject of the class). He was a Naval Aviator, flew
F-6F's with VF-27 and participated in the "Marianas Turkey Shoot". We
never could figure out how much (if any) of his tales were BS, but
since he was about 70 at the time, it was not improbable he actually
did everything he said. Colorful character - and very proud of the
fact he still held a 1st Class Medical certificate!


J W Alger USNR(ret) 1310/1325
TA-4J, A-7E, EC-130Q, P-3B

Gord Beaman wrote:

"Leadfoot" wrote:

was held by Tzus (sp?) fasteners at the rear

Its Dzus, at least thats the way it was spelled on the last blueprint I saw.

Yes, Dzus is correct...god knows I turned a lot of them on
Lancaster engine cowlings 'lo these many long years ago'...
(you don't pronounce the "D")

Thanks, Gord, for the pronunciation note. Fortunately, I was
able to spend ~18 years in USMC aviation [and twenty-mumble years
since] without once having to actually /say/ that word. *Typed*
it a lot, but never, once, had to say it.

[Never heard it pronounced, either. Dunno if it was Marine
aviation wide, but everyone on our flight line always just said
something like "undo the frammis panel fasteners, take it off,
and then remove that gubeck Top Rock told us to replace".]
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

Would "surfacing" be more appropriate?

Yes, if you're coming from the other direction!

vince norris

My grandfather, Naval Aviator #711, told me about standing up in the cockpit
and peeing over the side of his plane.

That would also indicate he was designated between 1911 and 1919.
During those years 2834 Naval Aviators were designated.

I got my wings in February, 1951, and my number is V-1493.

Anyone know how they got from 2834 in 1919 and V-1493 in 1951?

vince norris

"John Alger" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:55:31 -0500, "Bob McKellar"
wrote:

My grandfather, Naval Aviator #711, told me about standing up in the
cockpit
and peeing over the side of his plane.

That would also indicate he was designated between 1911 and 1919.
During those years 2834 Naval Aviators were designated. It also means
he likely flew a good variety of very interesting aircraft.

July 8, 1918

I have his book with brief bios of the first 2000 Naval Aviators.

Coincidentally, many of these guys seem to have been named after navy
airfields.

Bob

vincent p. norris wrote:
My grandfather, Naval Aviator #711, told me about standing up in
the cockpit and peeing over the side of his plane.

That would also indicate he was designated between 1911 and 1919.
During those years 2834 Naval Aviators were designated.

I got my wings in February, 1951, and my number is V-1493.

Anyone know how they got from 2834 in 1919 and V-1493 in 1951?


The system changed (at least) twice in between. In 1942, they started
issueing letter-number combos based on where they took their training. Then
in 1949, they switched it so that they gave numbers based on the command in
charge fo the training course. The V-series numbers started then.

http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/APP01.PDF

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872