"Back in the day" stories

[Jim123]

Here goes-

Back in the day we had to walk from the squadron to base ops, uphill, both ways, in the snow, to file our flight plans. We had to flip through stacks of stone tablets to get our NOTAMs about migratory pterodactyl activity...

So what else is out there?

(exhelodrivr and OUSOONER gave me a good laugh and got me thinking about this line of humor)

Wasn't he sitting in the spare when Eugene Ely launched off of the Birmingham?

No, if I recall in the archives, he was in Pensacola celebrating the grand opening of NASP. He couldn't have been in two places at once.

Don't you mean the papyrus scrolls?

 

[BusyBee604]

Back in the day!

I barely recall (I was a wee lad then) when Plane Captains Brownshoe & Derf were sending A4s out on a 1200' flight at Kitty Hawk. Upon starting to taxi (accomplished by 2 yoked mules), the alert P/Cs spotted a loose wing warp cable thereby saving our intrepid pilot from serious injury or worse.

A4s spent the rest of the day grumbling about how our heroes had screwed him out of "bagging" another sand trap!:mean_125:
BzB

 

[Schnugg]

Back in the day we had to go to base ops to file a flight plan and read the NOTAMS.

 

[brownshoe]

I barely recall (I was a wee lad then) when Plane Captains Brownshoe & Derf were sending A4s out on a 1200' flight at Kitty Hawk. Upon starting to taxi (accomplished by 2 yoked mules), the alert P/Cs spotted a loose wing warp cable thereby saving our intrepid pilot from serious injury or worse.

A4s spent the rest of the day grumbling about how our heroes had screwed him out of "bagging" another sand trap!:mean_125:
BzB

I remember that launch.

I wouldn't do this, but Derf didn't mind... the only way to get a mule up to speed was to stick a cork in its ass and feed it Exlax for a week. Then on launch day we'd stick a few fire crackers in its ass, and set 'em off, which blew the corks free, sorta like an early version of a JATO bottle. However, sometimes the corks would work loose while Derf was inserting the fire crackers. You shoulda seen Derf trying to put those corks back in!

And of course this really happened.

Steve

 

[Derf]

I remember that launch.

I wouldn't do this, but Derf didn't mind... the only way to get a mule up to speed was to stick a cork in its ass and feed it Exlax for a week. Then on launch day we'd stick a few fire crackers in its ass, and set 'em off, which blew the corks free, sorta like an early version of a JATO bottle. However, sometimes the corks would work loose while Derf was inserting the fire crackers. You shoulda seen Derf trying to put those corks back in!

And of course this really happened.

Steve

You had to wash your hands REAL good before you went to chow after a day of recorking...

 

[HeyJoe]

Speaking of Old School topics

CNATRA is destroying all of its old Student Naval Aviator hard copy records, but former USN, USMC, and USCG flight students can request their records be sent to them by writing:

M. A. Mclauglin
Chief of Naval Air Training
250 Lexington Blvd Suite 102
Corpus Christi, TX 78419-5041

 

[nittany03]

Is there a date cutoff, or are they just getting rid of them all? If they're going to shred my watermelon, I want it.

 

[scoolbubba]

CNATRA is destroying all of its old Student Naval Aviator hard copy records, but former USN, USMC, and USCG flight students can request their records be sent to them by writing:

M. A. Mclauglin
Chief of Naval Air Training
250 Lexington Blvd Suite 102
Corpus Christi, TX 78419-5041

This may not be correct, or at least it wasn't as of last summer. I was stashed at CNATRA's Stucon working for Mr. McLaughlin dealing with requests for training jackets, and this was a common theme among the letters we received. You can request your records at any time provided you are not on active duty or returning to active duty. Student NATOPS jackets were kept on site for a few years after wings, then catalogued and sent to a warehouse. Retirees training jackets were stored somewhere in San Antonio, I believe. Either way, I handled requests for jackets from as far back as 1952, so if the poor Enswine stashed there can find the lot number for your jacket, there's a good chance you can get hold of it.

 

[exhelodrvr]

Back in the day we had to go to base ops to file a flight plan and read the NOTAMS.

I suppose next you're going to make some outlandish like claim like the NOTAMS were paper copies on clipboards.

 

[Fog]

I guess we don't file paper flight plans anymore, either? My last was in '82, so I guess there've been a few procedural changes since then.

 

[exhelodrvr]

Is it true that A4s used an abacus and an hourglass when computing his fuel usage?

 

[a2b2c3]

What is this paper you speak of? Does it have some connection with the magical internet? Google sees all. Google knows all.

 

[Old R.O.]

Flight schedules for the squadron were printed on a mimeograph machine with spirit fluid (just the smell of that stuff makes memories come flooding back... that is... if they still make the stuff). You had to type REAL HARD on the manual typewriter to cut through the stencil... and correcting the masters were a real bitch with correction fluid.
Clicky

 

[Flugelman]

Flight schedules for the squadron were printed on a mimeograph machine with spirit fluid (just the smell of that stuff makes memories come flooding back... that is... if they still make the stuff). You had to type REAL HARD on the manual typewriter to cut through the stencil... and correcting the masters were a real bitch with correction fluid.
Clicky

Damn do I remember that stuff. I was OPS Chief at VP-6 my last year there. I wrote the flight schedule on a daily basis with input from Maintenance and the Assistant OpsO. Once it went to the OpsO for his signature, you better not come up with a "My wife she... My dog it..." story because I probably wasn't going to change it. It was always a challenge to get it out before everyone went home. I would have killed for something like a basic copy machine, but who knew...

 

[Fog]

F-man: What is this copy machine you speak of? If it isn't purple/blue & stink to high heaven, I don't think it can be used to make copies. Internet? Is that something used to catch fishes?