Monday, February 8, 2021

Vegas!!! Redux

 Progress in Operation Move One House Clockwise has continued, if slowed a bit.  The kitchen repair crew is due to finish their part of the project today.  


The View a couple of weeks ago.

The View last week

The View yesterday.

Still got some staining to do, and the Painter came by to talk to us about the Paint Job yesterday. It will be done, but Phase 2 of the OPlan (My Sister moves in to the renovated house) should be complete before DIL and GrandDog TEX arrive mid-March.

Another Project was completed this week.  The Petio is fully operable.

Highlighted area is The Petio.


Seems to be a great hit with the four legged family members.



Schmedly was the first to access it.  As the Commander of the 4 legged Brigade, it befell her to assess it.

We spent a bit of time this week making it more of a place they would want to be.


The two single section cross pieces are essentially ladders.  Once on the higher one, the cats can jump back to the structural crosspiece which now has a ledge added to it which goes all the way across the west face of the Petio.  The Kamikaze Grays (Our two Korat Cats) have learned to climb to the top and then dive bomb a sleeping dog on the pallet and scamper through the access door (lower right) before the dog has a chance to react.

Great fun!

So...A lot accomplished but little time to put together a long posting.  Given that, I did a bit of thumbing through old posts and came across one of my first posts.  I encountered a lot of really good folks while in the Military (Yes, Beans, and some Cads, for lack of better term).  The person I wrote about and another mentioned in this posting are two of the finest.

Without further ado.

VEGAS!!!




So there I was….stationed at Holloman AFB in lovely Alamogordo-by-the-sea NM. I’ve been married about a year now and my personnel officer bride and I have managed to align the moons of Jupiter and gotten assigned together.  She is working at the Consolidated Base Personnel Office (CBPO) and I am assigned to the 435th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (TFTS) as an Instructor Pilot (IP) at Lead-in Fighter Training (LIFT). (I’m trying to expand Sarge’s Acronym Locker).The 435th mission was to teach newly graduated pilots the basics of flying a fighter, and also trained existing fighter pilots in the AT-38B and qualified them as IPs.



I’ve completed instructor training (Ed Rasimus was my IP, story(s) at a later date), and have been working as Squadron Scheduler.  Ed’s description of his Replacement Training Unit (RTU) scheduler, Wimpy, in “When Thunder Rolled” accurately describes a scheduler’s duties.

In any case, I’m building the schedule one day when the Squadron Commander walks in.  He’s one of the VERY few people allowed in the scheduling office when the schedule is being built.  Reduces distractions, eliminates the opportunity for pulling rank, bribery or blackmail to get on the schedule.  But the Squadron Commander is the boss, so he’s allowed.  Anyhow, he walks in and says “Juvat, old boy, I've got a good deal for you!”  Immediately I think “Shields to Maximum!  Ready all phasers and photon torpedos!”  I am attentive to his every mannerism at this point and, based on previous experience, am evaluating various escape routes.

He says “You know we’re getting a new DO (Director of Operations, the person in charge of all the Operational aspects of a Fighter Wing, an O-6, Full Colonel) shortly.  Because we’ll have to work around his schedule, and since you’re the scheduler, I want you to be his Instructor.”

Now, I need to go off track a bit to set the stage for what I envision is an opportunity to commit career suicide.  At this point in time, Tactical Air Command had instituted a policy which, to me, was absolute genius.  They modified the uniform regulation for flight suits so they could include a small patch on the sleeve showing a pilot’s experience level.  One silver colored star for every 500 hours of Fighter Time.  Additionally, a pilot would have a gold colored star if he had even 1 hour of combat time and would add additional gold stars for every 500 hours of combat time. 

There were a lot of Vietnam era pilots in the 435th at the time.

Ed had at least 3 gold stars ( I think he might have had 4).  Most of the Majors and above had at least 2. 

Since I had a little less than 1000 hours in the F-4, I had one silver star.

The reason I thought this policy was genius, and undoubtedly the reason it was done away with, was you could instantly judge a senior officer’s credibility with a quick glance to his sleeve. Fighter Pilots judge credibility primarily on having employed weapons from a Fighter in anger, multiple times.  So an O-4 with 3 Gold Stars and 6 Silver stars (4000+ hours of flying time and at least 1000+ combat time, AKA Ed) had much more credibility than an O-6 with 2 Silver Stars (our Wing Commander at the time).

About now, Sarge is probably saying “Get ON with it, juvat!  We’re paying by the electron here.”  Back in the squadron, as I have now eliminated all possible escape routes as impossible, I’m thinking about the many different ways I can screw this up.  If he’s a rising star in the, as LL at Virtual Mirage would say, Chair Force, I will probably run afoul of him because, well let’s just say, I’m not very tactful.  If he’s actually a Fighter Pilot (an attitude not an AFSC), what is little ol’ minimally experienced ME gonna teach him?

But, the die is cast; I am to be his IP.  The day of his arrival is now upon us, and I happen to be looking out the window when I see a brand new Corvette sweeping into the parking lot.  By sweeping, I mean driven as a Corvette should be driven, with authority! Out steps the driver who jams his flight cap on his head at the requisite Fighter Pilot angle and with the Fighter Pilot crush at the back. 

Robin Olds, NOT Vegas, but the flight cap is right.
A quick glance at his sleeve, 3 golds, 6 silvers.  He’s been there, done that!

He strides into the squadron like he owns it (which technically he does), and the squadron is called to attention.  Bellows “As you were”.  Walks up to me sticks out his hand and says “Juvat, I’m Vegas” I reply…..”Pleased to meet you, Sir.”  We sit down and I begin the flight briefing for his first ride.

The Instructor Pilot program at LIFT was divided into 2 parts, aircraft qualification and Instructor qualification.  Aircraft qualification was 5 flights, 3 in the front and 2 in the back followed by a check ride.  Successfully completing the check ride meant you were qualified to fly the aircraft.  The front seat rides were for practicing aircraft handling as well as landings.  The back seat was for instruments.  Landing from the back seat was taught after the check ride as part of the instructor qualification.

So, for Vegas’ first ride, we’re going to go out to the area and do a little acro then some stalls and falls, then return to the base and beat up the landing pattern.  We get suited up and walk out to the jet, fire it up and taxi it out.  The AT-38 was a pretty sweet little jet and performed the LIFT role well, but takeoff at Holloman on a hot summer day was often exciting.  Holloman’s field elevation was 4000’, which meant that a lot of runway 22’s 12000’ was needed. 


Vegas gets us airborne and flies the departure like he’s been doing it for years, we get through the advanced handling without me demo’ing any of the maneuvers, the man has golden hands.  Back into the pattern, pitch out, configure, on airspeed in the final turn, touch down on the numbers on speed.  Power back up; go around, another perfect landing and another and another.  Full stop and taxiing back in, I’m trying to figure out what to say in the debrief.  I can’t say “Got nothin’ Boss, great ride!” without appearing like a suck up, but that’s what it was.  However, we get into the debrief and he starts with “Man, I think I was about 2 knots fast on that first touch and go……” and proceeds to conduct his own debrief.

Second ride is in the back seat, he wants to do the takeoff.  Smooth as glass.  We head to Roswell to shoot an approach.  That penetration and approach was pretty tricky, there’s a big descent to make a hard altitude and if you’re not paying attention, your airspeed can get away from you, making the rest of the approach difficult.  More than one pilot has busted a check ride on that approach.  His approach was textbook. 
At one point in my life, I could read this.  Now, pretty much Greek.

We get back to Holloman and I’m looking forward to maybe getting SOME stick time at least with the landing, but NOOOOOOO.  Vegas asks if he can do the landing.  Greases it.  I’m glad I let him land, might have been embarrassing.



So this goes on for rides 3 and 4.  I’m learning more from him than the other way around.  We’re now heading back into the pattern on ride 5, his last ride before the qual check.  I’m very relaxed.  He pitches out, configures, comes around the final turn and we’re over the overrun, but a few knots slow.  I notice the nose start to rise a little sooner than I expected as he begins the flare and the throttles start coming back.  BAM, we smack down on the runway.  Power comes up, we complete the touch and go and get cleared for a closed pattern (pitch up to downwind from the end of the runway rather than go out to the pattern entry point and reenter traffic).  I’m thinking, what the heck was that, a fluke?  Configure, start the final turn, rollout.  And the same thing happens again.  Too slow+Early Flare=Hard Landing.  We've got gas for one more pattern so I can’t demo. If he doesn't land correctly this time….He doesn't.  If anything the full stop was worse.  So much so, that we’re taxiing on the runway longer than usual.  He asks me “How was that?”  

The mind is racing.  Decisions, Decisions…

“Well, sir, I think you need another ride.”  He says, “Can we do that? How?”  I say “I bust you on this one.”

 Silence.

I’m thinking, well at least McDonald’s is hiring.

After clearing the runway, we typically would call back to the squadron with the Aircraft status (Code 1-fully operational, music to Sarge’s ears, rarely happened; Code 2-flyable, but some problems; Code 3- not flyable without repairs) and the mission status (T3C -Student Passed, T2M- mission unsuccessful Maintenance, a needed system was inop, T2W- Unsuccessful Weather and T2S- Unsuccessful Student non-progress). Hard Landings have to be written up, so the jet is Code 2.

“Black Eagle ops, Juvat, Code 2, T2S” 

“Juvat, Black Eagle Ops, say again” 

“Black Eagle ops, Juvat, Code 2, T2 Sierra” 

“Standby Juvat”

“Juvat, Black Eagle One (the commander), say reason for T2S”

Before I can respond, the DO gets on the radio from the front seat and says “If my IP says I busted this ride, I busted this ride!”

I’d follow him through the gates of Hell.

Update:

I was a bit curious as to what happened to him post-Holloman.  His actual name was James Cox.  Googling that produced more returns than I could get through, but searching Google Images on that name was more productive.  I recognized him from this picture, which he'd had hanging in his office back in the day..


And the site I found it on provided a bit more info than I had when I wrote the post in 2014.  I'd  mentioned that he'd had 3 gold stars on his flight suit sleeve, meaning between 1001 and 1499 hours of combat time.  This site informed me that they were earned in three combat tours. Virtually every fighter pilot in that era had one, many had two, Very few tried their luck a third time.  Another reason I respected him. The article also let me know that he'd retired from the Pentagon and worked for Lockheed on the F-22 program, until retiring again.

Unfortunately, I found the article on  Find a Grave.  Vegas passed away in 2017.

Rest in Peace, Warrior!

52 comments:

  1. Good to see that the house fixings are coming along.
    Count your blessings for the times you get to work with a leader who's a LEADER.
    Frank

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had the good fortune to work for several actual LEADERS. However, there were a few SHOE CLERKS interspersed along the way. The Holloman wing commander being one. As might be suspected, the further I got away from flying, the more of the latter and fewer of the former were encountered. The last assignment at the Pentagon, was the epitome (as might be expected) of the latter. The Animals hit "We gotta get out of this place." was played regularly during our commutes to and from the place.

      Delete
  2. Kitchen looking pretty spiffy there, good to know the flooring is solid eh? Petio wiring looks to be sturdy enough to foil yotes and raptors both. Would liked to have heard more of any exchange tween Vegas and Black Eagle One after that ride juvat. Three tours in SE ASia......whew! Frank's comment is spot on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Nylon. We hope so. They all seem to like it.

      I wondered about that myself. The Squadron Commander was a pretty good guy and might have been trying to protect me from myself. He never brought it up though. Read next week's post. I think you'll get a better understanding of Col Cox.

      Delete
  3. I wonder if you could fit the cats with little wingsuits.

    I echo what Frank and Nylon said.

    Maybe add a surplus-to-needs baby monitor to the Petio to keep an eye on things?

    I continue to be in awe of what is required to fly a high performance aircraft with and more to the point, to fly it well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John,
      Not on your life! Our Bed has a similar ledge above it. We've already been dive bombed by them and while they only weigh 8 lbs, them landing on your stomach in the middle of the night, tends to inhibit any further restful sleep. Wingsuits would only encourage them further.
      The Baby Monitor is something I'll keep in mind. In the interim, my desk and computer look directly out into it, so they're not completely unmonitored.

      Delete
    2. Back in the days of catdom, we had a waterbed, and the cats loved the top of the headboard shelf thingy. And loved landing on dad's wedding tackle as it was the softest thing around, with the added bonus of turning dad into a squeaky toy.

      I do not miss that, much.

      Delete
    3. Beans, I know of whence you speak. Literally!

      Delete
  4. I love to work with competent, honest people. I learn from them. Most of the time, I learn a lot. It may sound a bit mercenary, but I like the challenge of being around people I respect. That's why I hang out here. Getting to see some "inside AF" in that story is pretty cool, too.

    I'm a bit miffed at the wasted space in modern cabinetry. I remember drawers being much closer together in our old house in LBB. Cabinets that held a LOT of stuff. Seeing those in the pics, just brings home the quality craftsmanship of built ins, viz the bought at the box store. I wonder what a good set of built-ins would cost these days? Half as much as a house in the Dominion or River Oaks in HOU?

    You did well getting that house up to speed so quickly. I find I'm 10X slower than a pro, but I am usually proud of the finished product.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All three contractors engaged so far (Floor Installers, Kitchen Repairers and Petio builders) have been excellent, on time and reasonable. As you say, I have learned a bit from each. That having been said, there is NO WAY I could repair that kitchen. So, as an old Flight Commander once taught me, after I'd gone up in the mountains in Alamogordo and collected firewood. "Your wallet is the most efficient tool you have."

      Mrs J (and therefore I) is very happy with the cabinetry in the new house. All the lowers have roll out full width drawers, so they seem to hold a lot more stuff than at our old place. Or at least, it's a lot easier to access.

      About $3K, but that also includes the underfloor repair work.

      Thanks.

      Delete
    2. One of the joys of living in Amish country, from what I've been told, is inexpensive custom cabinetry. Oh, it will still cost you, but if you deal with an Amish carpenter, you'll not have multiple layers of money-skimmers between you and the actual carpenter. Of course, if you're too snobbish to deal directly with the Amish, you can and will pay manymuchmore.

      Delete
    3. Nowadays, just being able to talk to a new face is a highlight of the day. One of the things that got Bill Murray through "Ground Hog Day" was he was the only one repeating it. In my version, both myself and Mrs J are going through it. It's become difficult to remember if I've told here something or just think I did. So, I try hard not to be snobbish or anything else other than friendly to other people around me.

      Which, small though it may be, is one silver lining to this whole BS thing. I may move to Iowa. Their governor said masks were voluntary.

      Stepping down from the soap box now!

      Delete
    4. When we first moved in here, Sweet Little Wife wanted the kitchen redone. It's original late 1970's vintage, and while it "works", it's a bit worn, and looks dated. We called the recommended guy (Our DIL's Dad is a high-end General Contractor and knows everybody), and had him come over. After talking to him about what we could do, SLW started talking pricing. After several minutes he smiled, closed his book, and told SLW "Our kitchen remodels start at $35k", and I almost had to catch her as I thought she was going to faint.

      Turns out the average price for a remodel like she wanted was about $50k.

      We also have an "Amish Furniture" store here that we went to. Stunningly beautiful, hand-crafted, all oak or maple, with prices to match. The six place dining room table she really liked was about $8500, and the chairs were $1500....each.

      Not for us...

      Delete
    5. Yeah, with the exodus of folks from the state out west to here, we're seeing a lot of similar price increases. Fortunately, we got the construction contract signed before the WuFlu BS started up too badly and prices were still fairly reasonable. But almost 20K for a dining room table to seat 8? As I used to say YGBSM!

      Delete
    6. As somebody else here mentioned, you could do a lot better dealing directly with the Amish folks who build it. We went with a local place for the additional furniture we needed. It's "All Wood" furniture as opposed to all the particle board junk out there, and was reasonably priced.

      Delete
    7. Learned that particle board junk lesson the hard way, recently. As someone once said "Never again!"

      Delete
  5. Bet you are glad the light at the end of the tunnel for this phase of Op MOHC no longer appears to be a locomotive. Looks good!
    Are there still leaders like you describe still in the various branches of the service, or have they all been driven away by the way too numerous political sycophants? I've been privileged to know several such men and women both in and out of the services - harsh at times but fair always, follow them anywhere they asked...
    Thanks for the post, juvat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom,
      Without a doubt. The last phase, rehabing the soon to be Cassetta #2, will hopefully be relatively easy. We know we have to replace the kitchen sink, but mostly it'll be moving in furniture.

      As to leaders like Vegas and Ras. I don't know. I've only been on a military base a couple of times since I retired. I certainly hope so. The folks in uniform on those bases (Lackland, Randolph and Pensacola) seemed to be up to speed and happy. But, since the press has their own mission to accomplish, it's hard to say which version mine or theirs is correct. Most likely somewhere in the middle. And, as I've alluded to in other comments today, the closer you get to DC the more political psychophants (not misspelled) one encounters.
      My pleasure.

      Delete
    2. Let us all pray that there are still real Leaders in the military.

      Delete
  6. Nice to see that the recovery work in the old house proceeds apace. Love the Petio.

    Good choice for a reprise, that was a great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Boss. Yeah, I enjoyed re-reading it also.

      Delete
  7. I was born in Holloman base hospital. Dad had a house near the end of one of the airstrips and the AF put some sort of sound baffling up near the end of it as the cycling of the engines right before takeoff was somewhat damaging to said housing.

    I've had too few leaders and too many shoe-clerks in my life. Dangit.

    Good news on the housing situation. Glad that no major snafus have appeared yet to further constrain your schedule.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know where you lived! That housing area, if the Holloman picture were bigger, would be right about where the word "Through" is on the line of text below it. Taking off that direction wasn't the predominant runway. Winds were generally from the west, south west, so Rwy 22 was the primary for the AT-38s, the Eagles used the top one and everybody landed on the north/south one. That having been said, taking off to the north would be loud in the housing area. We lived off base though.
      wy

      Delete
  8. Is that "doggy door" one of those electric deals where the critters wear a collar to activate it?
    John Blackshoe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, just got two weather flaps. The petio has a latchable door to let us vassals in to clean up for our betters.

      Delete
  9. Sounds like Vegas wanted to fly some more and busted the ride to get more time in the air.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vegas flew quite regularly as an IP. It was usually humorous to see him walk in to the briefing room and sit down beside a 2LT. The schedule at the duty desk would usually just show last names. So it would just say Smith- Cox. When I was squadron scheduler I'd do that just for the humor of it. Vegas was big enough to have played pro football, so not only was he an O-6, fighter pilot with more than a thousand hours of combat time, he was physically huge, therefore intimidation was not uncommon. But....He was an exceptional instructor. Most times you didn't even realize you'd been taught something. After the ride, you'd just realize you knew how to do that maneuver. As I said, I learned a lot about a lot of things from him.

      Delete
    2. There were a bunch of reserve O-5/6s who were qualified instructors in P'Cola. Most were airline guys and it was an easy commute up to Atlanta/Hartsfield for their day jobs. It could have been intimidating for students, but they were all chill reservists so it was no big deal after the brief.

      Delete
    3. Hmmm, that would have been interesting reservist IP's. Man, wish I'd known about that earlier.

      Delete
  10. What kind of star programme did the opfor have? Bearing in mind the whole game was rigged from the get-go. I'd be interested in an evaluation from someone who knows the game and played it for real. My dad knew an old Luftwaffe guy, had a face like a cheese sandwich gone wrong. Rall? Dad saw the Wehrmacht and the other guys face to face, grew up with them as unwelcome house guests. Went on to have other adventures around the place. He had a low opinion of the so called professionals of our times...and things have not improved. The shoe banger was right, we are about to be buried....but not quite, he was not a Bibliophile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stefan,
      I'm sorry, you stumped me on this comment. What game are we talking about?

      Delete
  11. Waiting for the second installment on Vegas. I knew a number of true leaders in the AF and whole bunch of managers that left me cold. As for one leader, I would have flown wing on him to drop Special Forces in Hell to battle Satan (C-130 pilot, me).

    Good to see your old house repairs going well and the new house severing you well. Love the petio. We have pet doors for cats and dogs that make life so much easier but there are no enclosures on the outside.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, a bit more on that dichotomy next week, but you're on target.

      Mrs J laid down the law on an enclosure after foxes got into our neighbor's property and made off with a few of his sheep. I don't blame her. Our 3 and 3 make up a lot of the missing our son and daughter and their respective spouses. But...They've got to live their lives.

      Delete
    2. make sure the petio enclosure is fine enough mesh a fox can't ooze through it - I've seen a couple of videos where they do just that, dang amazing to watch them...

      Delete
    3. It's 2"x2" mesh. I'm hoping that will suffice.

      Delete
  12. Looks like great progress on the house(s), juvat! Good to see the critters are enjoying their catio.

    Oh, the T-38! One of my favorite airplanes, and definitely my favorite trainer. Never flew in one (I'm a civvie, after all), but I did get to help work on improvements for them back in the late 1980's. I was working for a small Aerospace company in Torrance, CA (Eidteics, Inc), and they were doing all kinds of analytical work on the best shape and positioning of the Leading Edge Extensions for the wing. It was a fun place to work, and I met some heavy-hitters in the aircraft design field.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks DrJim,

      Yeah the T-38 and more specifically the AT-38B were fun to fly. Holloman's Air Division also included an F-15 Wing. To keep the LIFT IP's motivated, we'd get to go fight them every once in a while. Did that once with Vegas, who had been an F-15 Squadron Commander. Small jet with a talented pilot (and one who was doing his best not to lose sight of lead) put a dent in the swagger that was present in the mission briefing. But, as I've mentioned earlier, his handling the debrief taught them a lot about a lot of things. Not the least of which is the "bad guys" get a vote in the outcome. I was a MUCH better fighter pilot after that assignment than I was going in.

      Delete
  13. Did he think he was in the Navy? Slamming it down is SOP for us! Not getting slow, but you know what I mean. I had to study that approach plate for a little while to remember what I was looking at. Yes, very tricky approach. 15K, then stair step it down with either ceilings or floors the whole way, then holding altitude on the arc, then descend, but not too much! Then dive again to the FAF. Either some strict noise abatement issues out there or they like to keep it challenging for students- just like they did at NAS P'Cola and Meridian. You're either in wide open land with nothing around, or over the Gulf- no reason for the restrictions other than good training.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the latter is the case on that approach, Tuna. Roswell is out in the middle of nowhere AKA Eastern NM. AFAIK, there's no reason for those restrictions. As I recall, the initial descent required idle and boards to meet the altitude restriction without getting too fast to meet the rest of the approach restrictions. And under the bag, in the back with all sorts of tears to let light in at strange angles as well as keep it warm, keeping the brain and tummy from tumbling could be difficult.

      Delete
  14. Hey Juvat;

    Glad that the house is finally getting squared away and when I was reading about Colonel Cox, for some reason, I got choked up a bit...Good officers are rare as hens tooth and I understand the reference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mr G,
      Yes they are. Fortunately, I had the good fortune to meet a few of them.

      Delete
  15. Tuna beat me to it. ;-) I didn't meet Ras until he'd retired, but it was clear he'd been there and done that. The house is looking good and glad y'all are reaching the end of the merry go round!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ras was a great guy and even though he was promoted to Major at the earliest opportunity (4 years below the zone), he retired as a Major after running afoul of a non-gold starred wing king. That having been said, there's command authority and then there's Leadership. Holloman's wing king, who also didn't have any gold stars, flew one ride with Ras. Told my Squadron CO not to schedule him to fly with Ras ever again. Ras didn't bust him, but evidently, no punches were pulled in the debrief.
      I tried to fit Ras into other aircraft in the flight afterward just to see sparks fly. No, I didn't have much respect for that wing king either.

      Delete
  16. (Don McCollor)...remember your story from before. Wonder again who was testing who. I think you dodged a (career) fatal bullet when you busted him for the sloppy landings. Just waiting to see if you would give him a free pass...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure it would have been a fatal bullet, but where I ended up certainly would have been different.

      Delete
  17. Vagas is flying flawlessly and then suddenly he isn't. My guess he was evaluating you; did you have the stones to fail him? His way of finding out the mettle of subordinates he command, and who he could count on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly, WSF! Hardest, scariest, smartest thing I did in the AF. Details next week.

      Delete
  18. The kitchen is looking great! Is that flooring a "hickory pattern"? I like it. Who ever gets to cook there will be happy.

    Curiously, I too scheduled for an RTU '66-67. We had just been in UBON RTAFB (68TFS, 8TFW), so who better to turn into IP's? (A little sarcasm there) Curiously again, I too had the Wing DO (O-6, of course) select me (a lowly, low-ranked Captain) as his IP. He was a good guy, not in the same category as Colonel Cox or Robin Olds, but a good guy. He had seen combat in WWII and Korea. Good stick. We only flew ACM. Clean, if possible. Therefore (see above), usually clean. It was always fun because there was always a high speed stall and snap on every ride. He never quite understood that the Phantom wasn't a P-51, so he used the stick instead of rudders in every high load situation. After a while I stopped telling him about it. Our debriefs consisted of his going to his office. Period, that's all.
    Ever buddy here needs to watch this talk by Christina Olds, if you haven't.

    https://youtu.be/SwBK0a3n658

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D4,
      I'm not sure. Mrs J looked through a lot of vinyl tile samples and said she liked that one. I said "Yes Dear". Some battles aren't worth fighting. But you're right, it does look great.

      I had a similar problem checking out in the C model at Luke. The IP's in the back seat would always tell me not to use ailerons. But ME listen? Then I flew with my Flight Commander who was a WSO. Tried to slap in a bit of aileron as I started the break turn, but the stick would only move front and back. Second engagement, same thing. Ailerons worked fine without any G load. I'm puzzled. Get back on the ground and asked him about it. He said it was a WSO thing. Anytime G's were applied, their legs would come together. After a while, I got used to it. Unfortunately, then I moved to an airplane that really liked ailerons at high G, the Eagle. Old habits are hard to break, but being a movie star on gun camera film can quickly break old habits.
      The film looks pretty good. Enjoyed the first 15 minutes or so. Sounds like his boyhood/early career he met everybody who had anything to do with the birth of the Air Force. I'll get back and watch more this evening. Thanks for posting the link.

      Delete
    2. The most interesting stuff starts about thirty minutes or so, in.

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.