pretty planes

urguyscott · May 11, 2023

BillTheKatt90 said:
Every once in awhile I could see those from Vandenberg AFB when I was a kid. Especially if the launch was in the evening.

When I was at sea near Guam late at night while the Commodore was putting his ships officer thru tic tacs everyone saw a cloud that was clear and yet lit up inside moving across the sky. Later I got mail from home with a clipping describing what we saw as it was seen in CA, Hawaii and as far south as Guam. Years later while at the drive thru of In and Out the guy standing outside taking my order and I saw the same thing in the sky only by now we had a good idea what it was as there were one big light then two smaller ones, with one falling away and the other going up inside the cloud. It was a launch and we saw the first and second stage rockets. But I remember the story and kept the clipping. Later I dated a girl who worked for the Col. who was in charge of schedules for Vandenberg. She was his secretary and she told me the Air Force secret for a successful launch. I thought she was kidding me, but she said it was the truth and when they didn't use the secret the rockets failed. I thought the Navy had funny superstitions. But it started in her office with her and then passed on up the chain of command. It worked so who am I to say it was foolish.

urguyscott · May 11, 2023

Brains_N_Boobs said:
https://www.barnorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/history_through_photography-20.jpg

I'm giving him a ticket for parking by a fire hydrant.

urguyscott · May 11, 2023

My father was bringing his plane in for a landing at Norfolk, VA. He knew all the crew in the tower and they knew him. When he asked permission to land they refused and said "We don't know who you are or what your are, but you are ordered to make another circuit of the airport." This didn't make any sense to my father, but he did as ordered. The second attempt at landing he received another strange order from the tower. "You are order to remove your plane from the runway as soon as you land." When he taxi to his spot and climb out his eyes got big he said as he saw what the problem was. His plane was covered in corn stalks. He said he started pulling them from the wing, tail, everywhere and didn't go to the tower as he knew they didn't want to see him. What happened was he crashed landed in a farmers corn field in W. Va. when his fuel line plugged. He took out a lot of the man's corn and it was as he said a rough landing bouncing over each roll of corn. The farmer came running from his house and found my father unhurt and the plane still in good condition. The two of them worked on the engine and got it running. Then the farmer got his plow and destroyed more corn to make a runway for my dad to take off. But they both missed judged the distance needed and he again cut a long path thru the man's crop. As he went up stalks of corn were hanging all over his plane.