Omakase

Amazon Search
«  
  »

Good Work

By lex, on February 7th, 2012

If you can get it.

Same crew that was flying F8s with the Blue Angels a couple of years back.

And I thought I had a good job.

Share
February 7th, 2012 | Tags: , | Category: Flying, History

16 comments to Good Work

  • BeachBum
    February 7, 2012 at 7:32 am

    Meh. First minute showed nothing, then we get to the good stuff and they have jump cuts every .5 seconds. Don’t get me wrong, the team and the planes are more than worthy, but the people filming them messed up badly, IMNSHO. I preferred the Bearcat/Blues footage myself.

  • BeachBum
    February 7, 2012 at 7:36 am

    …oh, and Lex? You don’t have a good job. You have a GREAT job. One that has all of us desk flyers drooling every time you tell us one of your work stories.

    • SK1
      February 7, 2012 at 10:48 am

      Someone always has a better this or that than we do and we think the grass is greener over the fence. Each of us should be happy as most are doing OK. I’m trying to livevthis more as life goes on…..it would be cool to do what they do but many would gladly take what we see as not so good.

      Got the taxes done Saturday and I was amazed at the total income we earned in 2011. Not because we live high on the hog but rather because me & Mrs SK1 are doing OK and find ourselves squeezed on a regular basis. No new cars here or 2 week vacations to the islands….we live pretty modestly and the $$$ required to keep things even is alarming.

      17 years ago we bought our little house on my income of $ 30K a year….don’t think that would be possible now. What can we do to make sure our kids can afford to own a piece of the American Dream like we have?

  • Navig8r
    February 7, 2012 at 8:04 am

    You DO have a good job. And I hope you say thanks every Sunday in church. I can only live vicariously via blog from cubicle land.

  • Hogday
    February 7, 2012 at 8:15 am

    Hopelessly and shamefully off topic….but what the hey, “Tally Ho”:

    In the lighter moments of World War II, the Spitfire was used in an unorthodox role: bringing beer kegs to the men in Normandy.
    During the war, the Heneger and Constable brewery donated free beer to the troops.
    After D-Day, supplying the invasion troops in Normandy with vital supplies was already a challenge. Obviously, there was no room in the logistics chain for such luxuries as beer or other types of refreshments. Some men, often called “sourcers”, were able to get wine or other niceties “from the land” or rather from the locals. RAF Spitfire pilots came up with an even better idea.
    The Spitfire Mk IX was an evolved version of the Spitfire, with pylons under the wings for bombs or tanks. It was discovered that the bomb pylons could also be modified to carry beer kegs. According to pictures that can be found, various sizes of kegs were used. Whether the kegs could be jettisoned in case of emergency is unknown. If the Spitfire flew high enough, the cold air at altitude would even refresh the beer, making it ready for consumption upon arrival.
    A variation of this was a long range fuel tank modified to carry beer instead of fuel. The modification even received the official designation Mod. XXX. Propaganda services were quick to pick up on this, which probably explains the “official” designation.

    As a result, Spitfires equipped with Mod XXX or keg-carrying pylons were often sent back to Great-Britain for “maintenance” or “liaison” duties. They would then return to Normandy with full beer kegs fitted under the wings.
    Typically, the British Revenue of Ministry and Excise stepped in, notifying the brewery that they were in violation of the law by exporting beer without paying the relevant taxes. It seems that Mod. XXX was terminated then, but various squadrons found different ways to refurbish their stocks. Most often, this was done with the unofficial approval of higher echelons.
    In his book “Dancing in the Skies”, Tony Jonson, the only Icelander pilot in the RAF, recalled beer runs while he was flying with 65 Squadron. Every week a pilot was sent back to the UK to fill some cleaned-up drop tanks with beer and return to the squadron. Jonson hated the beer runs as every man on the squadron would be watching you upon arrival. Anyone who made a rough landing and dropped the tanks would be the most hated man on the squadron for an entire week.

    In his book “Typhoon Pilot”, Desmond Scott also recalls Typhoon drop tanks filled with beer but regretted that it acquired a metallic taste.
    Less imaginative techniques involved stashing bottles wherever space could be found on the aircraft, which included the ammunition boxes, luggage compartment or even in parts of the wing, with varying results. Champagne bottles in particular did not react well to the vibrations they were submitted to during such bootlegging trips.

  • mojo
    February 7, 2012 at 10:28 am

    Cadillac of the sky, baby.

  • Daryle
    February 7, 2012 at 10:33 am

    I saw their show a few years ago at Jones Beach. Pretty damn cool. I’ve been jonesing for them to come back ever since. They give you a tiny little taste of what it must have looked like to see a squadron heading off to protect the bombers.

    I agree with Beach Bum about the editing. I hate that jump cut style.

    PS- I didn’t know they were called jump cuts.

    • Scott
      February 8, 2012 at 6:43 am

      Preferred editing method for the ADD generation.

      That said, recorded “Casino Royale” off AMC recently. Sat down to watch it and couldn’t get past 45 minutes. Toooooooooo slow! Same thing with watching some other vintage movies. Some never get boring, but for the most part…. Maybe it isn’t just the ADD generation?

      • Daryle
        February 9, 2012 at 9:41 am

        I think I am developing Acquired ADD because it seems that I can’t watch anything on TV without my notebook in hand to surf and I frequently stop reading even short posts to jump to another then com back. I used to be able to concentrate bet…hey, that’s a cool avatar you have there.

  • Scott
    February 7, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    Lex – where you screwed up was not being like Dan Friedkin, whose father was one of the founders of PSA and became a multi-millionaire by being granted the distributorship for Toyota in the gulf coast states. When you can buy a Mustang out if your spare change, and your family business gives you the time off to get really good at it… Not saying that good ole Dan couldn’t have hacked the CNATRA program as you did, but he didn’t have to. There was no external evaluation – just a little more money from Dad’s checkbook. No SPD boards, nothing.

    But if the truth were known, I’d bet he’d change places with you in a heartbeat.
eXTReMe Tracker

View My Stats