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One more. Here's dad, center, eight years later at the United States Army School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois in Champaign IL in 1918. He went on to be a Jenny pilot at Chanute Field, Rantoul IL. Air Force weenie, my ass. State of the art though they were, it took a pair to go up in one of those crates!
I don't know who the gents flanking him are, but at least they don't have MP armbands.
The white hat bands signify Aviation, but the other UofI students told the local girls it meant they had a venereal disease.
8 comments:
Thanks for sharing the photographs! If you have more of this kind of stuff, please post it.
Jay in N.C.
I do and I will. Glad ya liked it.
Yes, more pictures - and your comments are superb!
My Dad was a radar technician in the 39th Bomb Group, stationed on Guam. About 10 years ago, I discovered this web site, http://www.39th.org/ , devoted to the 39th, with contemporary photographs and information. (Need to explore the site again - it's been many years since i last did.)
I was a big fan of the late Steve Gilliard's blog, but he used to have something against the Army Air Corps, as if they were an elite, pampered unit. I never quite understood what his problem was. Strings weren't pulled to get my father into the Corps (his brother served in the infantry invading Italy) and it was certainly no joyride for the pilots and flight crews.
VERY cool pics!
Talk about having shit in common. I took my aircraft maintenace supervision course at Chanute. I got some old pics of my dad in Korea and France with the US and British armies, and dad-in-law's baby pic taken at Lackland Field (USAAF) in the same place mine was taken 42 years apart. Gotta scan 'em one day.
Great pics, bro!
I have a picture of my father-in-law at the beginning of WWI. He was in the Railway Engineers, and he is in full feild glory during training.
All his field gear is Spanish/American war and he is armed with a 30-40 Krag.
He and his crew, at St. Nazairre (SP?)were required to repair an AVRO 504 which had landed, and the pilot had not noted how green the landing area was, and "crunch".
FIL's crew had just finished their part of the repair of a locomotive, and were assigned to repair the airplane.
They demurred, being as most had never been closer to an aircraft than the hundreds of feet it might be overhead, plus: locomotives and aircraft have some obvious differences, but were informed by a major, "SERGEANT, HERE'S THE MANUAL, YOU'RE FUCKIN' MECHANICS, FIX TH' GAW DAMMED THING! YA GOT TWO WEEKS"!!!
Having recieved such a well-reasoned explanation, what else could they do?
I have pictures of the "before" and "after" stages of the aircraft.
When they were finished, my FIL was offered a ride in his opus, but, citing religious reasons (he'd "be DAMNED" if he would ever get airborne)he found out differnt.
Previously smiling, friendly lieutenant narrows his eyes, snarls, "Get yer fuckin' ass in that rear pit, pronto. If you fucked this up and it goes down, you're going with me".
So, with this cordial invitation ringing in his ears, he climbed and strapped in, and took his first flight, in 1917.
Hour and a half flight, landed, lieutenant again all smiles, actually told FIL that they had managed to get the aircraft "in true", which the assigned mechanic had never seemed to have been able to do, shook their hands and left.
FIL, from breathing the atomised castor oil of the engine, shit for three days straight, was queasy for two weeks. Flew in a state-of-the-art aircraft, 90 kts (give or take) highest around 5000', probably.
Next time he flew was in 1973 after the birth of my youngest son.
DC 9, speeds up to 600 KTs, altitudes up to 33000 ft.
Asked, what did he think of it??!! How 'bout THAT for a difference from last time he flew??!!
He snorted. Didn't give you enough peanuts, he opined.
He was always a guy who took things in his stride. ;-)
Terrific comments, all! I'll do more of that over time.
O.K., Fixer, you next!
I love old photos (especially military) like a drunk loves his booze. :)
Jay in N.C.
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