Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Puma44 on March 26, 2020, 01:29:42 PM
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When I was first introduced to the T-33 at the Tyndall AFB schoolhouse after most recently flying the T-38 in UPT, it was like going from a modern day computer to a stone and chisel. The T-33 is a descendant of the Korean War era P-80, basically a trainer version. As such, the Tbird instrument panels were both laid out the same but had no resemblance to the modern day instrument “T” or “Six Pack”. The instrument panels were more akin to a “throw it on the wall and see were it sticks” arrangement. So, it was a challenge to develop some sort of an instrument cross check even during day VFR conditions. The first few instrument flights training under the hood without outside references were more of a semi controlled panic.
Among the other oddities of the Tbird design was location of the landing gear handle. On all the retractable gear airplanes I had ever been exposed to the gear handle was somewhere on the forward instrument panel. Not in the Tbird. The Tbird’s gear handle was cleverly located on the left side wall panel, near the floor, next to the pilot’s seat. It’s was actually quite convenient and just a matter of reaching down on the left side to grab the handle. It was a simple arrangement. The handle rotated 90 degrees of travel. Horizontally, the gear were down. Rotating the handle 90 degrees counterclockwise to the vertical position raised the gear and vice versus to lower the gear.
My cross country protege and I volunteered for all the air show static display events that we could. Extra flying time, interesting fun locations, VIP treatment, and with our International Orange flight suits lots of interest from the ladies in the evening, usually wondering if we were astronauts or test pilots (who were we to deny their awe?). During the day at the air show, there was always a lot of interest in the Tbird, especially from the old retired guys who had worked her back in the day. Young kids were also fascinated with our charge because of its “out of the ordinary” look and the “bombs” we were carrying on the wingtips. Now the dudes that were there with more modern jets were a different story. They would stroll (perhaps strut is more accurate) by and look with disdain at our shiny old jet (one jet in our squadron came out of the factory exactly 7 days before I was born). Occasionally, one of them would come up and start chatting. The questions were always the same. Where are you guys from? What do you do with this? Why? Performance questions, etc, etc..... Then, it was “Can I take a look at the cockpit?” Why, of course! So, up the boarding ladder we go. The look of amazement was always the same. Most would be thoroughly befuddled by the panel layout and want to know how we could fly instruments with this thing. After an appropriate amount of time to allow their confusion with this ancient dinosaur, I would issue the challenge. “I’ll bet you drinks at the bar tonight, or a case of beer(as appropriate for the air show location) that you can’t find the gear handle”. Challenge accepted! In more than a year a half of air show static displays, not a single one of these modern day jet jocks found the Tbird gear handle. We would even let them look in the rear cockpit. Our evening entertainment was always very cheap.
Because of its age, the Tbird and it’s components were getting long in the tooth. One summer day, while cruising in the mid 30,000 foot range, I felt a tug on my flight suit sleeve while resting my arms on the canopy rail. It was an unusual and somewhat startling feeling. I lower my arm, lean down, and look at the bottom of the canopy rail where it rests on the cockpit rim. I see daylight! That’s not supposed to be there. I explain what’s going on to my much more experienced cross country bud. He explains that it’s the well worn, old rubber canopy seal, and to turn up the cockpit heat to expand the seal. It worked! The next time that happened, I inserted a piece of paper into the void and it was quickly sucked out of my hand and shredded into the atmosphere. We had a new way to tidy up the cockpit.
Another Tbird oddity was the air conditioning system outlet control. Similar to the landing gear handle, it was located on the left side of the pilot’s seat in both cockpits and to the rear of the gear handle. It also had a 90 degree travel between vertical and horizontal. Vertical sent conditioned air up to the head area. Horizontal sent conditioned air down to the feet area. This handle had a cam arrangement that kept it from freely moving back and forth. One day while cruising along and half bored, I changed the valve between positions with a more aggressive than usual action. This resulted in a deep “thump” that, with some imagination, could sound like an engine anomaly. Hmmmmmm.
So, as an “old head” 1st Lieutenant IP, I would take new squadron pilots on their first cross country trips for familiarization with the jet and getting it from one place to another. On occasion, when flying with a newbie who was doing well and relaxed with the jet during a typical 2 1/2 to 3 hour cross country leg, I would reach down and “thump” the ac selector handle. There would be an instant “Did you hear that?” “No, what?” “A thumping sound”. “No, I didn’t hear anything”. We’d check instrument instruments, etc with no indications. After a few minutes, another thump followed a couple of seconds later with an additional thump. Again, from up front, a query if I’d heard anything. “No, what did it sound like it might be? Did you see anything on the engine instruments?” “A deep thump”. So, I’d wait a longer length of time and thump him again. Getting excited by now, he says “There it is again! Didn’t you hear it!”. I reply “Did it sound like this? “Thump” thump, thumpa da thumpa da thump”? I’ve been found out! I explain what it was and how to “play the piccolo” in the Tbird, and offer to buy at the bar tonight for having fun at his expense.
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:rofl
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Good thing for you...poor guy didnt shat hisself :rofl Real potential for a "Poopy Suit" :devil
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(https://content.invisioncic.com/r50406/emoticons/default_popcornsmilie.gif)
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I always knew you were a bad bad man!
:)
:cheers:
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I always knew you were a bad bad man!
:)
:cheers:
Oh no. Just slightly sneaky. :D :bolt:
:salute
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So, instead of typical chapter format the book can be filled with these shorts. :D
Loved it just like I love them all. :cheers:
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Thanks Arlo! Thinking more about doing it and have two friends who have written books, one who has done two.
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Thanks Arlo! Thinking more about doing it and have two friends who have written books, one who has done two.
If social distancing is over by publication time I'll be in line for my copy to be autographed. :)
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:rofl :aok
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Take a ride in the Tbird he says,ya you'll enjoy it he says........ :furious
Always knew you were one of those! :devil
:salute
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Take a ride in the Tbird he says,ya you'll enjoy it he says........ :furious
Always knew you were one of those! :devil
:salute
You’ll enjoy it way more if I’m not sittin’ in your trunk. :rofl But, I’d show ya some cool stuff. Pay your money and take your chances. :D
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All I can think about after reading another one of your great anecdotes is how you can publish them? A single, comprehensive biography covering your career from beginning to end in chronological order? Robin Old's book follows that model and reads really well. Ed Rasimus, who co-authored Old's book, organized his into two Vietnam tours, which were both chronologically in order and by aircraft type (F-105 then F-4). But your stream of consciousness style where you go wherever your memory takes you might fit better with being published in small anthologies like a collection of Reader's Digest short stories. All I know is that there are a lot of people who would enjoy readying your anecdotes beyond the limited size group that lurks in these forums. They just need to read a few to get hooked. If you could focus on a particular time frame/aircraft type and build a longer, coherent story, I bet you could even end up with a book that would be as funny as Catch-22, but even better because the events really happened.
I really hope you take the time to gather all your little stories and gather them into some sort of treasure trove that the general public will be able to access. It doesn't have to be a book. I could be just a blog and count on people like us spreading the word on social media as to where to find all these great insights into aviation, the USAF, and the people that lived it.
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Wait .... Catch-22 didn't happen? :O
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All I can think about after reading another one of your great anecdotes is how you can publish them? A single, comprehensive biography covering your career from beginning to end in chronological order? Robin Old's book follows that model and reads really well. Ed Rasimus, who co-authored Old's book, organized his into two Vietnam tours, which were both chronologically in order and by aircraft type (F-105 then F-4). But your stream of consciousness style where you go wherever your memory takes you might fit better with being published in small anthologies like a collection of Reader's Digest short stories. All I know is that there are a lot of people who would enjoy readying your anecdotes beyond the limited size group that lurks in these forums. They just need to read a few to get hooked. If you could focus on a particular time frame/aircraft type and build a longer, coherent story, I bet you could even end up with a book that would be as funny as Catch-22, but even better because the events really happened.
I really hope you take the time to gather all your little stories and gather them into some sort of treasure trove that the general public will be able to access. It doesn't have to be a book. I could be just a blog and count on people like us spreading the word on social media as to where to find all these great insights into aviation, the USAF, and the people that lived it.
Interesting you should say this. I spent a good part of the morning going through what I’ve written so far, and printed them out. There are more than I realized. As I reviewed them, the ideas for more writeups came about. So, you guys have got the wheels turning.
Thanks for the encouragement! :salute
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Publish a book, Ill buy it! :aok
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Ever since I read Stephen Coonts' book THE CANNIBAL QUEEN I have enjoyed reading books the likes of what I imagine yours would be. Can I put in my early order?
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I too think you should compile your airforce life to a book , and I would buy it... but;
You have to tell me what the plan was for you.. You qualified in the T-38 which I believe was a supersonic jet trainer. But then the command assigns you to a T-33?? My first Captaincy was on the DC-9-30 (a slug by today's standards) and I have clear recollections of passing T-33's in the skies over western Canada. What did they think you could possibly learn flying the T-Bird?
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What did they think you could possibly learn flying the T-Bird?
Discipline and patience? :old: (Just a guess, obviously.)
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I too think you should compile your airforce life to a book , and I would buy it... but;
You have to tell me what the plan was for you.. You qualified in the T-38 which I believe was a supersonic jet trainer. But then the command assigns you to a T-33?? My first Captaincy was on the DC-9-30 (a slug by today's standards) and I have clear recollections of passing T-33's in the skies over western Canada. What did they think you could possibly learn flying the T-Bird?
At the time, everyone going through USAF UPT, flew the first half in the venerable T-37 Tweet, or “Six Thousand Pound Dog Whistle” and then thehotdamnthisissocoolIhavear rived, T-38. The first ride in the “White Rocket” was known as the “Dollar Ride”, basically a freebie demonstration ride and going supersonic for the very first time. I remember the first few rides in the White Rocket as holding onto the tail trying to keep up with its much faster speeds and performance. But, solo day was the day of realization that “I have arrived. This is were I belong”. Well, here’s another short story idea.
Back to your question about the Tbird. Performance wise, it was somewhere between the Tweet and the White Rocket, closer to the later. The Tbird had the ability to carry a surprising amount of ice without adverse affect. I learned a lot about this flying the jet in all kinds of really poor weather conditions during the course of our assigned ADC Target Missions, especially during the winter. The other valuable aspect of flying the Tbird was developing an effective instrument crosscheck for approaches to low minimums in actual weather. Gluing the needles in the center on an ILS or having the PAR controller repeatedly calling “On Course, On Glidepath” was especially gratifying. The level of instrument proficiency and confidence I gained was invaluable, and great preparation for transitioning into the much higher performance of the F-106 Delta Dart, another one of those “now I have really arrived” moments of realization. Also, a ”I can’t believe this skinny runt from southern New Mexico gets to do this” moments! I had just turned 26 years old, and had been flying the rough winter weather of the CONUS and Canada in the Tbird since age 23.
Additionally, being an ancient dinosaur, the Tbird was prone to various mechanical issues, especially out on the road. Fortunately, at pretty much everywhere we stopped there was at least one grey haired old guy who has worked them back in the day, who could come up with a creative way to solve our maintenance problem. I learned about coloring outside the lines and to think out of the box, a skill set that has served me well ever since.
So, there were volumes to learn flying the Tbird, especially if one was eager to learn. I was.
Secondly, flying the Tbird was the ONLY way us young bucks were going to get assigned to the F-106. It was the lead in pipeline to the F-106 All Weather Interceptor world. NORAD was a complex system of GCI sites that provided command and control to ADC interceptors in the US and Canada that were on five minute alert reaction status 24/7 no matter the weather conditions, well except when a winter blizzard would dump several feet of snow against the alert barn doors. Other than that small inconvenience, when the klaxon went off, we had to be airborne within five minutes, no matter what the weather was doing. Then we had to come back and land in it. The Tbird was a great, and smart, way to get preparatory training for the rest of the story.
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The Life and Times of a Flying Puma
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So, there were volumes to learn flying the Tbird, especially if one was eager to learn. I was.
Thank you so much for that insight!
And by the way, as I am sure you might agree, the very best pilots you ever knew were the ones who never lost that "Eager to Learn".
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Thank you so much for that insight!
And by the way, as I am sure you might agree, the very best pilots you ever knew were the ones who never lost that "Eager to Learn".
Roger that! From the early days learning to fly in southern New Mexico, it was obvious that if I didn’t learn something new every flight, something was missed that could have bit me. That holds true every flight, every day.
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Ever since I read Stephen Coonts' book THE CANNIBAL QUEEN I have enjoyed reading books the likes of what I imagine yours would be. Can I put in my early order?
Yes sir! You are on the list. Thanks! :aok
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Yes sir! You are on the list. Thanks! :aok
Just to be sure, I am, too, right? :)
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Just to be sure, I am, too, right? :)
And you too sir! :aok
I’m sure you, my early encouragers, will get a deep discount. :D
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:rofl :aok