Dad was stationed in P'cola twice, so I've seen the Blue Angels several times. We also had an Air Show on Misawa Air Base. The JATO assisted take offs were impressive.

Japan, air show late 70s.
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Cub Scouts getting to tour a P3
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When coming or going from/to Misawa, you'd take a jet to/from an air base in the south end of Japan (Yokota or Yokusuka, I think) and then, I'm pretty sure you'd fly in a C130 from there to Misawa. That was an experience. seats loaded into the plane facing the rear of the plane. Usually only a handful of rows of seats with cargo in the back of the plane. The inside of the plane not finished, not heated, and not insulated from sound. You wore jackets as if you were outside, and ear plugs.

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The real hacksaw ridge.
Desmond Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in WW2. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions in Guam and the Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 men, becoming the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war.
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Downtown Houston. Plenty of parking back then.

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From 2011 until Covid, I worked on the 9th, and then the 12th floor of the building just above and right of center. 1111 Fannin.

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Another old photo from the opposite side of the building.
The two parking lots in the foreground are now a complex called "Green Street" which is (or was before covid, no idea now) mostly restaurants, bars, and shops.
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I will pass. :eek:

Great pics...time machine!

I was lucky my C-130 pilot friend made sure I brought an air mattress, air pillow, a sleeping bag, shooters ear guards, etc., etc.

I also spent a lot of time on the flight deck.

When I was at the Sikorsky factory, we deleivered Blackhawks to Germany in a C-5. I did two trips - we flew the acceptance test fights in Germany with the Army for each 60L What a ride.

I slept in the bunk house on the flight deck behind the pilots.:cool:

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There were two situations we would encounter on AOG operations that required the removal of the vertical fin even if we were not working on it. One would be structural repairs outdoors on the tarmac, when we would have the airframe structurally compromised enough that the wind load on the vertical stabilizer would prove to be a problem. The other situation would be if we needed to get the airplane inside into a hangar whose ceiling was not high enough. In both cases, we would simply remove the vertical before we really even got started. It's not that hard, really. Relatively speaking...

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I am sure that I have mentioned this before, but I actually flew on Fat Albert during an airshow. JATO takeoff was awesome !!

I was going to transfer to VXE-6 back in 1982, but decided to leave the Navy instead.

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Very cool, Jeff... thanks for answering my mystery. :D

who's dad is this ....... awesome!!!!!

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Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!
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Daisugi: Developed near, Kyoto, in the 15th century – Daisugi is the art of growing trees upon trees. It's a methodology that's meant to allow you to continue to harvest the same tree over and over again for timber.

In Europe, they practice pollarding, which is similar.

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If you did I missed it...I would have loved to had done that.

I flew with VXE-6 in 1985. I had a two week basket leave period after my first cruise and thought the experience would be great. I was, of course, single!

I grew up near Pt. Mugu and met friends a few days before the flight.

Do you do an inter-service transfer?

Rando:

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My dad talked about a flight he took with a Navy C-130. He was just a passenger and observer to see "how they do it in the Navy" and he was just there to observe. They loaded some Marine cargo and did not really secure it properly. He said at take off, it shifted, and they had to declare an emergency. There was some damage to the aircraft, and they all needed fresh underwear. He wrote up the incident, and the Navy was very unhappy with his report and it caused a bit of tiff, and the loadmaster on that flight did receive some loss of rank and discipline.

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That pesky weight and balance equation. Yikes.

Not my pics, but it is weird to see in person:

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Dad was the PIC for C-54s. C-47s. C-124s but never was assigned to a C-130. He always had close communications with his loadmaster. He talked about one time he was in the Philippines and they stuffed his C-124 full of mattresses to be delivered to troops stuck on some remote island in the Pacific. He said it was really hot and humid, and the numbers did not fit, so they could not take off until it got cooler. Finally one morning after several days of waiting he figured they could leave. He said they had to crawl on their bellies like a snake to get to the cockpit as all the mattresses in the shipment filled the airplane. He said they took off, and still ended up mowing off the top of a 1/4 mile of sugarcane. He said when they landed and got the mattresses unloaded the troops were really happy to have something more than cots or the ground to sleep on.


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Some welding porn!
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The house where the Spilotros were beaten to death, getting torn down to make way for more industrial space. Private development pays a lot more than eminent domain. Sold for $890k. This house would be worth mid 3's on a good day, maybe less with the stigma of a couple notorious murders taking place in the basement.

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Different time - amazing! In order, I think!

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The cargo guys, and nobody does it better than the Air Force, see and do some amazing stuff.

One of my early memories is mom getting dressed up in long dress, hat and gloves, formal outfit. We went to a family open house on the flight line and they wanted to show the families the airplanes the husbands and fathers flew. We went inside the C-124 often called the pregnant elephant, and I was astonished to see the rope ladder they had to climb to get to the cockpit. It was way up there, of course I was just a little kid, so sizes are magnified.

He talked about the time they landed at some pacific island that was not part of the US fuel supply. It was a British protectorate and they would have to pay for the fuel. Dad said he sat there wondering now what, and remembered the training that there was an envelope under the seat, inside was a metal credit card. The told the FBO to add a few thousand pounds of fuel, and they were all doing happy dances as it was the biggest fuel sale ever to fill up, or top off a C-124. The FBO gave them a few dozen cases of beer as a thank you for the big sale. They went on to the next remote island and walked int to the Officer's club and asked for a beer. They were laughed at and told they had not had beer in weeks. He said send a crew out to that 124 and we can fix you up. They were heroes on that island for bringing beer.

Likely more cargo weight than our 182-T can haul, but not even noticed in a 124.

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No inter-service transfer. My hitch was up. I would have extended if they had come up with my orders to VXE-6, but they did not in time, so I became a civilian.
After a couple of years, I missed the military. I wanted something a little more edgy than the Navy, so hello Army. I got what I wanted in spades ! In all almost 3 decades of service. I would of liked to have done more, but medical disability forced early retirement.

During my Army career, whenever the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds came to town for an airshow, we hosted them in our hangar. During one of these airshows the (Blue Angels) had an overspeed on the nose wheel doors. Their NDI tech was off due to wife having a baby and I was the only one around who held a Navy NDI certificate. So, I got to remove both nose wheel doors and NDI them in shop and did NDI of the fuselage attachment points for the doors on the flightline. Everything was 100% damage free. I put it all back together and Blue Angels CDI checked it all and away it went. For my efforts they gave me a ride during the airshow in Fat Albert. Thrilling to say the least !!

That makes me one of a few, if any army guys to ever repair a Blue Angels aircraft....and I owe it all to my Navy training !

Pic of me working on Blue Angel

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The post above and the one proceeding it are as cool as two cool things.

No pictures from me on this one. Well done and thanks!

That is welding sex, arch-orgasm and a post-bead smoke in one picture!



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was that your fanclub Byron?

:D


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a Guard that falls over is not going to get much sympathy, they are trained to do stuff with their toes like wiggle em for circulation and stuff to prevent that from happening.
And told not to lock there knees as that keeps em standing with active muscles which also helps..

Brandenburger Tor?

It was the Russians closing in on the center of Berlin.

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Reacher?