Afterall ..... VF-17 is the coolest squadron around.
"Starting on December 2nd, Fighting-17 enjoyed two weeks of R&R in Australia. Bacchus and Eros were well-honored. On the 15th, they went to Espiritu Santo for re-fit and re-organize. They welcomed Bobby Mims and Oc Chenoweth, while Lem Cooke and Jack Chasnoff departed. It was also announced that they would set up shop at a new forward base on Bougainville.
Toward the end of their stay at Espiritu Santo, they realized they had a problem - 148 cases of beer they had acquired. Transport by ship was out of the question; it would be a 100% loss. Finally Hal Jackson, the scrounger, figured that the roomy ammunition cans inside the F4Us could hold a lot of beer. A little arithmetic indicated that if each of the Corsairs carried one-third of its ammo capacity, the beer could fit in the remaining space. Blackburn confirmed that 24 Corsairs, thus armed, could deal with any possible Jap opposition. When they arrived at Bougainville, each pilot gave his plane captain a can opener and invited him to have a cold one."
Again ...
Hal
