At a recent convention center visit, I noticed this in the men's bathroom. I did a complete double take the first time I saw it. If I looked close, the C was there once, but it has been peeled off, or fell off. It made me look closely at it.
The picture need some car parts, and keys to a sports car and maybe an Aircraft Spruce catalog.
Fred, are you hiring? She looks qualified.
During their first combat tour, while on the island of Vella Lavella, the Black Sheep’s Intelligence Officer Frank Walton wrote to the Commissioner of Baseball with a proposition:
"The Black Sheep, said Walton, were in dire need of sun-shading ball caps due to the humid weather which quickly destroyed their military issue caps. He promised that his Squadron’s pilots would shoot down a Japanese aircraft for each cap sent to them. Only the St. Louis Cardinal organization of the National League responded, sending dozens of caps to the heroes in the Pacific.
Pictured is Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington (right) pretending to take a stack of Cardinals caps from Chris Magee who accepts a stack of Japanese Navy “victory” decals in return.
According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: "In return for the caps, the Black Sheep made good on their end of the bargain. Instead of taking down just 20 enemy planes, though, the original 20 members of the Squadron accounted for 48 enemy planes destroyed."
The St Louis Cardinals more than doubled their investment and the Black Sheep Squadron were happy to oblige!! Semper Fi.
TRIBUTE TO THE DC-3
In fifty-one they tried to ground the noble DC-3
And some lawyers brought the case before the C.A.B.
The board examined all the facts behind their great oak portal
And pronounced these simple words "The Gooney Birds Immortal"
The Army toast their Sky Train in lousy scotch and soda
The Tommies raise their glasses high to cheer their old Dakota
Some claim the C-47's best, or the gallant R4D
Forget that claim, their all the same, they're the noble DC-3.
Douglas built the ship to last, but nobody expected
This crazy heap would fly and fly, no matter how they wrecked it.
While nations fall and men retire, and jets go obsolete
The Gooney Bird flies on and on at eleven thousand feet.
No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
She hunched her shoulders then took off (I know this makes you laugh)
One wing askew, and yet she flew, the DC-3 and a half.
She had her faults, but after all, who's perfect in every sphere?
Her heating system was a gem we loved her for her gear
Of course the windows leaked a bit when the rain came pouring down
She'd keep you warm, but in a storm, it's possible you'd drown.
Well now she flies the feeder lines and carries all the freight
She's just an airborne office, a flying twelve ton crate
The patched her up with masking tape, with paper clips and strings.
And still she flies, she never dies, Methuselah with wings.