Thanks be to God

33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

"Big John" wrote in message
...
33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

Well don't leave us hanging here, Big John - tell us the story! ;-)

cheers...pix

33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

How about some details?

vince norris

Same he Ejected and excellent equipment usually don't
go in the same sentence. Greenland is ice, Iceland is green.
Do you walk to school, or carry your lunch?

Have a great one!

Bush

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:37:28 -0600, Big John
wrote:

33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

Same he Ejected and excellent equipment usually don't
go in the same sentence.

Shot down, maybe?

All right you'se guys. Told the whole story last year but a short
version.

Ferrying three T-33's out of over haul to Iceland and going to bring
the war weary birds back.

Launched, CAVU and forecast and to remain, from Goose Bay along with 9
F-5's going to Jordan. En route, Wx at Sonderstrom went to 1K and
three miles in snow. F-5's were faster and passed us and started
landing (GCA) before us. We arrived at Sonderstrom and listened to the
problems the F-5's were having while circuling for an hour.

Finally given clearance to make an approach to GCA for landing. Gave
us a 360 to burn off altitude and ran us behind a mountain and we lost
radio contact. I climbed a little and went to Guard and got contact
and we were on base leg and they forgot I was on Guard and let us over
shoot final talking on descrete freq not Guard. Sent us around with 12
gallons on totalizer. Pulled up and punched.

Civilian chopper picked three of us up and 4th landed outside their
local TV station and walked in on camera :O)

Lots of errata but that is basic story.

Monday morning quarter back. If I had declared emergency fuel 10-15
minutes earlier they might have lost one or two F-5's but my three
birds would have landed ok. Isn't hindsight wonderful.

Big John

Msc

The F-5's had a price tag of over a million dollars ea.

The T-33's were on the books at $65K ea.



On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:37:28 -0600, Big John
wrote:

33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 21:54:49 -0600 Big John wrote:

All right you'se guys. Told the whole story last year but a short
version.

Ferrying three T-33's out of over haul to Iceland and going to bring
the war weary birds back.

Launched, CAVU and forecast and to remain, from Goose Bay along with 9
F-5's going to Jordan. En route, Wx at Sonderstrom went to 1K and
three miles in snow. F-5's were faster and passed us and started
landing (GCA) before us. We arrived at Sonderstrom and listened to the
problems the F-5's were having while circuling for an hour.

Finally given clearance to make an approach to GCA for landing. Gave
us a 360 to burn off altitude and ran us behind a mountain and we lost
radio contact. I climbed a little and went to Guard and got contact
and we were on base leg and they forgot I was on Guard and let us over
shoot final talking on descrete freq not Guard. Sent us around with 12
gallons on totalizer. Pulled up and punched.

Civilian chopper picked three of us up and 4th landed outside their
local TV station and walked in on camera :O)

Lots of errata but that is basic story.

Monday morning quarter back. If I had declared emergency fuel 10-15
minutes earlier they might have lost one or two F-5's but my three
birds would have landed ok. Isn't hindsight wonderful.

Big John

Great story here, you owe to your self to gather this up, add a little
more detail and send it off to a few of your favorite plane mags for
submission, not as a letter to the editor. This deserves it's own
space.

R. Hubbell


Msc

The F-5's had a price tag of over a million dollars ea.

The T-33's were on the books at $65K ea.



On Mon, 08 Dec 2003 11:37:28 -0600, Big John
wrote:

33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

Big John wrote:

Monday morning quarter back. If I had declared emergency fuel 10-15
minutes earlier they might have lost one or two F-5's but my three
birds would have landed ok. Isn't hindsight wonderful.

Big John

Msc

The F-5's had a price tag of over a million dollars ea.

The T-33's were on the books at $65K ea.


Cool story. Glad you're still around to tell it.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

"Cartoons with a Touch of Magic"
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

Big John,

I join you in your celebration of survival and tip one for you.

However, I wonder what God or Allah or Odin or Zeus has to do with it.
If God allowed your airplane to go south on you and the weather to be
awful, why would you give Him or Her credit for your survival. After
all, didn't He or She screw you to start with?

Again, congratulations on surviving a horrible experience and using
your skill, experience, judgment and knolwedge in selecting when and
where to leave the aircraft. Let's give credit where it's due. You
just plain did it right.

All the best,
Rick

Big John wrote in message . ..
33 years ago at about 13:00 Greenland Standard Time , with good
training, excellent equipment and the Grace of God, I ejected over
Sonderstrom Greenland, in the middle of a snow storm and survived,

This day after Pearl Harbor Day, I celebrate, with my troops, this
episode in time.

Big John

On 8 Dec 2003 21:33:10 -0800, (Rick Durden)
wrote:

However, I wonder what God or Allah or Odin or Zeus has to do with it.
If God allowed your airplane to go south on you and the weather to be
awful, why would you give Him or Her credit for your survival. After
all, didn't He or She screw you to start with?

Oh, brother. Here we go again.

Rob