The scarves were to wipe their goggles off and also to prevent chaffing around their neck. Along with the Castor oil, there was also the problem that some models did not have self oiling rocker arms, and had to be greased. I speak from exp that there is nothing quite like having a ball of hot grease catch you right between the eyes and then start to smear, all about the time the tail comes up while doing a formation takeoff. I always flew with my mouth shut, even though I was using aeroshell 100, it did not taste that good either, and the bugs, oh the bugs. A dragon fly hitting you in the forehead at 70 will raise a welt.