Honey, I Finished The Internet

9 Replies to “Honey, I Finished The Internet”

1. My Grand Uncle Tom died over the English Channel in a ASW aircraft, known as a “Wimpy”
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Wellington
   My family has his training log…
   His Sisters still miss him…
   dwright

2. The tale was told by a waist gunner on a B-17 who froze his “unit” to the relief tube just as they where jumped by some 109s, freeing himself by brute force, he put in for a purple heart.
   It was denied on the basis of “self inflicted wound”.
   War truly is hell……

3. …bet that hurt…….

4. The Lancaster was a great aircraft, able to sustain incredible amounts of damage, yet still return it’s crew back to base time after time.
   My uncle Peter was a 21 yr. old bombardier on a Lancaster, who perished in France. As a boy he caddied for King George in Banff and was a very accomplished war poet. We have all of his hand written letters home, as well as a beautiful series of letters from a French priest who was first on the scene of the crash and who described in great tenderness to my grandparents, the expression of serenity he found upon my Uncle’s face.
   About 10 years ago his sister {my Aunt}, the youngest in the family, arranged to visit the small French town closest to the crash site. She was astounded when she found the entire populace, including the mayor, had turned out to honour her loss and to remember her brothers contribution to their freedom.
   His is just one of thousands of similar stories, but I still remember him – a young man who tied nearly 10 years before I was born – with great emotion each Remembrance Day.

5. This got me thinking…
   Why did three brothers, all prosperous cowboys (ranchers) , my ancestors go to War?
   (Dave and Storey got sent to Italy, Storey lost an eye and gained a bunch of shrapnel saving his little bro.)
   Thomas had 15 missions logged as a pilot before the last one.
   To fight Fascism, and I would too.
   I fight every night on the ‘net, was accepted OCS Air Force before a training accident sidelined me. Before Basic school. Then a re-training accident , I’m still good to fix stuff, though.
   The might need Nazi killers again, just closer to home.
   dwright

6. I have stood over and looked into the ball turret of the B17. It is very compact, and the occupant can only sit in a tightly crouched position. How someone can relieve themselves in there is testament to true ingenuity.

7. During the Gulph war we were flying out of Turkey. I ate/drank something that didn’t agree with me prior to flying on the AWACS (I was a fighter controller). Needless to say I occupied the washroom in the galley upon takeoff and never exited. We never made it to our CAP position and had to dump fuel and abort the mission. I always wondered how much money went down the drain that day just because of my little problem.

8. Great post. Over the course of WWII 91000 Saskatchewan men and women signed up and over 4000 didn’t make it back. Air crew were particularly vulnerable. We were firing 303 caliber that quite often just bounced off the German planes and the German fighter pilots were firing at our bombers with 50mm upward firing canon.
   We will remember them.

9. Anyone who has flown anything other than their neighborhood 737 probably have a tale or two of their own. I remember the first aircraft I worked on in the Air Force, the CF-101 Voodoo. This two seat jet interceptor had two relief tubes, one in each cockpit. For those not in the know, imagine a funnel attached to a hose and you have a relief tube. Now, imagine a new kid being asked to check out the emergency “intercom” . Many a gut was split watching that prank.
   Transport aircraft of the Canadian military are notorious for having the loo up or out back in the tail of the aircraft. Not that any pilot would ever have fun at others expense or anything but it seemed that any time someone had to “go” there would be a rash of turbulence.
   Gee, I almost miss those days…