"I go diving down" - SCAV

[Ghastly]

OK, work has been crazed and I haven't gotten too put in even the usual pitiful 3 to 5 hours per TOD for months - and won't for a few more at least - but I suddenly remembered SCAV's I Go Diving Down posts from the early 90s this morning as I jumped on the boards, feeling very wishful that I could find some time in the skies that I'm not going to get any time soon.

All the old hands will have seen this more than a few times in the last 2 decades, but it occurred to me as I was rereading it that there might be a significant number of new guys that have never been introduced to SCAV, since I haven't seen it "brought back up to the surface" in years.  I never knew him myself - I never flew AW - but I would like to have had the honor. 

And beyond the humor, there's also another realization waiting to be made for those who are fairly new - which is that there is a kindred spirit shared among those of us who fly despite the competitiveness that seems (to me) to be increasingly lost in today's online sims - a camaraderie that was, I think, far more pronounced when I started flying online over a decade ago.   And another realization too - which is that no matter how much things change, many of them are still pretty much the same. 

Anyway, here's a link to Scavengers's (immortal) "I Go Diving down" (among some other writings) for those who have never seen it. 

http://people.redhat.com/zaitcev/avia/scav.html

<S> Terry - Blue Skies.

[WMLute]

 

I think some that are new to this hobby would be amazed to learn it's history goes back 20+ years.

[maddafinga]

I am pretty sure that Thud has it archived on his part of the Musketeers site also. Good reading there.  A lot of the guys in our squad go back to those days, (just two months ago we celebrated the squad's 20th anniversary of operation in fact!)  and I always love reading the stuff from back there.  I only came  in when AW first came to aol, but I have a real affinity for the times before I got there.  I sure wish I could have flown with SCAV, he seemed like a great dude.  Thanks for reposting that. 

Also, Ghastly, dig through out website, there's tons of good old stuff like that on there if you feel around.  I'll point Thud here too, he has a great big archive of that kind of thing. 

[humble]

  O.K. so I've been waiting to come diving down like I said so I could do this SCAVENGER thing and bring sorrow and woe to the wives and girlfriends of those poor wounded prey that I come diving down on.

So last weekend I was up there waiting to come diving down right and nothing was showing on my radar. There were a couple of dots here and there when suddenly, below me was a dot that hadn't shown up on my radar but started showing up as an icon that said it was an A-26. Looked like he was sorta sneaken around the mountains trying to, shall we say, remain incognito?

Now that drove this diving down thing into a real frenzy. I mean to tell ya I reaaaaly wanted to go diving down. So I did and just to make sure it was going to work I pulled the trigger at 8,000 ft and just held it down. And just to make sure he wouldn't fly away I had the airspeed indicator pegged out. So with the guns smoken the bullets flyen man did I come diving down. I think I got some hits. I can't be sure cause I went by pretty fast. Then I found out I only had 175 ft. in which to pull out from a 475kt. vertical dive.

Well That's about it. It was over pretty quick and I sorta hope the A-26 guys weren't looken out of the cockpit when I went by but what the heck I finally got to come diving down didn

Been there done that way back in the good old days...

[mensa180]

The Atlas read was incredible.

[maddafinga]

Looking that link over, it appears it was posted by another one of our squaddies some while back.  Haven't heard from him in a few years, but he was indeed a Nice Guy. 

[Boxboy]

I flew with Scavenger back in those days and it was a great shock to have him go so early in life, he was great guy and made us all laugh and look at ourselves in a better way, when we were in the "scream and Bioch" mode.

I fond   to his memory and the words he left us.

BigJim

[Demetrious]

You just don't seem to understand the courage it takes to fly with a 386DX25. I guess you just have to be Japanese as the 386DX25 is the divine (hot) wind machine of Air Warrior. Every night before I take to the field I wrap my head in a 1941 scarf of burlap with the weed emblem above my eyes.I bow to the east and sip my little cup of ginsing mixed with Royal Jelly.

Then with a last salute I fling my leg up and over the printer and settle down into the cockpit. A flip of the start switch, I hear the Hard drive begin to whine. When it reaches peak I yell "contact" and hit the F8 key. The 386DX25 coughs and blue smoke envelopes me as Dos engages, bypasses the config and auto system. My keyboard lights begin to flicker on. I disengage the NUMLOCKs and begin to taxi.I look out of the cockpit once more as I know this will be my one hundreth one way trip this month.

With resolve I push my MarkII WCS to the firewall. The 386DX25 coughs, stalls, and then catches itself as we begin rollout. As I clear the end of the runway for just a moment I can see the smiling faces and hear the cheers of all the other 386ers as they wave me into battle. I know I am reaching take off speed as their faces are beginning to jump around on my screen as the 386 uses all of its energy to fly.

I will face the technology of 1994 with my weapons of 1991. But I will do my duty. I will seek out the enemy and do my best to down some of those (little tiny) aircraft as they go hoppity hoppity hoppity around my screen. If I can end just one of them dam hoppitys the evening will have been a success.

I will GO DIVING DOWN.

Scav.

This made me laugh uproariously. When I was but a wee lad I spent countless hours glued to my family's old 486 Acer, braving the dangerous skies in Sierra's Red Baron, and then later, Aces Over Europe. Flying with the arrow keys, in fact. When my next-door-neighbor, my sister's godfather and a former freight pilot, bought me a joystick, it was like a gift from heaven, descending from his hands bathed in holy radiance.

Those were some good times.

[AAJagerX]

Just read the whole thing.  One word....  WOW.  Great writing, very interesting.  It's amazing when we get to hear about these "behind the scenes" stories.  This really made my day. 

 

AAJagerX

[NoBaddy]

I was Scav's first AW Academy trainer. He was unable to complete the class at that time due to personal reasons. We got him into another a bit later so that he could finish. I was asked to help his instructors give the final exam.

Scav (from start to finish) was (by far) the most clueless player I have ever dealt with. At the same time, he was, doubtless, the most inspirational. He really wasn't worried about being one of the elite players. The joy he received from simply playing the game was inspiring. AH could do with a whole lot of that. 

[maddafinga]

I was Scav's first AW Academy trainer. He was unable to complete the class at that time due to personal reasons. We got him into another a bit later so that he could finish. I was asked to help his instructors give the final exam.

Scav (from start to finish) was (by far) the most clueless player I have ever dealt with. At the same time, he was, doubtless, the most inspirational. He really wasn't worried about being one of the elite players. The joy he received from simply playing the game was inspiring. AH could do with a whole lot of that. 

Thud is a lot like that you know NB.  You should hear him on the squad vox.  He's my hero when we fly. 

[skribetm]

<S> scav

blue skies.

[Lye-El]

I was flying Air Warrior back then. His writing was always excellent. I loved to read his posts in the Crash 'N Burn Cafe.

[Hap]

Back in '97, I was introduced to AW and Scavenger's writings.  Fond memories.

[Roadblck]

Not trying to necro a thread, but I just happened across this post with ghastly's link and read a bunch of it, and was very moved by it.  Lately I've been frustrated with my lack of improvement in AH (in fact, I feel like I'm much worse now than a few weeks ago), but reading this has given me a new perspective.   Thanks for posting that link, Ghastly!