When I was 17 and getting ready for my senior year in high school, my dad had the contract to repaint the McDonald Douglas Air force Plant here in Tulsa
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/T/TU006.html. I worked all summer from like 6am to 2:30 pm every day of the week and it didn't rain for like 30 days! That was the summer of 1980. 1980 was HOT, it was around 102F every day.
Douglas was overhauling old F4's. It was a total overhaul and they would have about 40 jets inside the plant in different stages of overhaul. It was like an assembly line.
The old phantoms would fly into Tulsa, then be striped of paint, and then all the panels would be removed. About twice a week they would have about three of these beast ready for takeoff. They would strap them to the runway, run up the engines, then hand them over to a test pilot. The sound these things would create was incredible. Then the Douglas test pilots would taxi to the end of the runway, run it up and would hug the the runway close as they roared down the the runway. The guard would say they were at 350mph as the pulled their noses up. Then 30 seconds later they were at 30,000'. Talk about noise, everyone would stop and watch. I heard they were going to Saudi Arabia at the time.
Rash
