Quote:
Originally Posted by KNS
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When my dad was station in Korea, part of his job was to assign the crew to the aircraft that were flight ready. Korea was at the bottom of the supply chain, and parts were often unavailable, and they scavenged parts from grounded aircraft.
He always assigned himself the sketchiest aircraft. All C-47. He had 13 in flight emergencies in row. After 9 emergencies, the base commander wanted to ride right seat, and he said no one has 10 emergencies in a row. As soon as they rotated, the left engine went past the stops and overspeed as it was suddenly just a giant barn door, He pulled the power and called in emergency number 10. He said it was not part of normal procedures, but his only interest was to get on the ground safely. He did a 180, and landed downwind as he said there was no way they could go around.
He said the base commander was sweating profusely, but he did his part, and they landed safely.
This article is from another emergency in the string. The ground crew started a betting pool on how long it would go on. 13 was the lucky number.
Dad said after the Pueblo was seized, they were moved from the end of the parts supply to just under the Pentagon and every backorder ever, was filled. Troops and supplies flooded in and the challenge was finding a place for everything.