Surviving military aviation Chapter 1: What not to do

[squorch2]

With your "ethics" and your book learnin

 

[VMO4]

I humbly ask to repeat a story from my father. He was a Lt. IP at Bunker Hill NAS (now Grissom AFB) early 1943. A young NAVCAD stud of his is on the schedule for a late afternoon solo hop in the Stearman, It gets dark and no word from the stud. The assumption is at first light some farmer will find a smoking hole in the cornfield and the mystery will be solved. Morning does not bring a smoking hole but it does bring a call from NAS St. Louis and they want to know why a Stearman with NAS Bunker HIll squadron markings is on their ramp unattended. Young stud appears and states he was doing his airwork, got lost, flew around until he saw lights and landed. The investigation later finds he has a girl in St. Louis. Young NAVCAD is on his way to becoming a gunner's mate when several IP's go to bat and state any stud, who managed to fly a Stearman, with only a compass which you could not read at night 300 miles to St. Louis, find the NAS, land and not kill himself, and there were a half dozen IP's on the base who could not get that plane to St. Louis after dark, obviously possessed skills suitable to continue in training, which he did.

 

[blackbart22]

There was a story going around Saufley that a stud on an early morning solo hop in a T-34B arrived at Magnolia OLF (the solo only OLF) before the crash crew got there and although against the rules landed anyway - unfortunately gear up. He then made a radio call saying he had a rough runner and was trying for Magnolia. he waited a few minutes and then called that he wasn't sure he could make it and was holding lowering the gear. His last call was that he was going in gear up short of the runway. Unfortunately an airborne instructor ( the so called Space Patrol) got over the field shortly after the first call and orbited overhead the whole time. He didn't report it and the stud got away with it. After the stud went on the instructor said that anyone with the presence of mind to come up with that right after crashing had what it took to make it through the program.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Or the guy who shot himself in the hand while driving a car in a busy intersection after leaving hooters.

He had had a few drinks and was driving home, and as he sat at a red light he thought, "Oh man, I'm feeling pretty drunk...I shouldn't have a loaded weapon in the car with me." So he proceeded to attempt to unload the weapon, and you got the rest.

 

[bunk22]

Had a buddy in the RAG who was a known hard core drinker. I went through VT-4 with him and we at VAW-120 had a large party one night and everyone got shit faced. So this particular dude became irate with his ex-gf for whatever reason and decided to go to her house and kick the door in. Didn't help that he was armed with a handgun either. He didn't make O-4, one of the few at the time.

 

[BarrettRC8]

There was a story going around Saufley that a stud on an early morning solo hop in a T-34B arrived at Magnolia OLF (the solo only OLF) before the crash crew got there and although against the rules landed anyway - unfortunately gear up. He then made a radio call saying he had a rough runner and was trying for Magnolia. he waited a few minutes and then called that he wasn't sure he could make it and was holding lowering the gear. His last call was that he was going in gear up short of the runway. Unfortunately an airborne instructor ( the so called Space Patrol) got over the field shortly after the first call and orbited overhead the whole time. He didn't report it and the stud got away with it. After the stud went on the instructor said that anyone with the presence of mind to come up with that right after crashing had what it took to make it through the program.

Awesome.