Yeah...we used the Julie gear to "just listen" too - when we didn't have the Jez turned on. Your memory of the equipment compliment is far supperior to mine, Roger.



Ever experience St. Elmos's Fire? Ever forget to reel in the Trailing Wire HF antenna before landing?



In 1958, shortly after starting flying, we took a boondoggle to Pisa to visit the exchange. I bought my first (and only) Omega wristwatch there. It had an expandable bracelet. On the return trip to Sigonella I was sitting in the afterstation with the hatch removed (summer in the Med). Being young (18)and oblivious (read stupid), I stuck my arm out in the airstream to direct some more air onto my body and ...you guessed it...goodbye Omega. Ruined my day.

Frank.

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Replying to:

Frank - You are right about the OMNI; it was the ARN-14.............



However...............I came up with the scope we used for the active buoys: AQA-1. You are correct that the Jez position was just aft of the copilot seat behind the bulkhead, and poised over the AQA-1 was the ignition analyzyer scope (remember the plane captain reaching back from the jumpseat and clicking through the spark discharge patterns?) I don't know if the SSQ-15 (big sucker) was new when I started flying crew in '65, but the AQA-1 was in all the '7's I was ever in. Come to think on it, it had a Directional Listening position for the ill-fated SSQ-1 (1A?) DL buoy. Now that I think about it, I don't remember having to ever repair one.........very reliable. Never saw or used a DL buoy tho............ I remember using the Julie recorder to monitor active buoys too, so maybe the AQA-1 was a retrofit after you left.



Rog

You want to talk about stupidity? Well.........



During a Sigonella deployment our crew pulled a 1 day "good deal" to Palma (remember gorgeous Palma? All those Scandinavian vacationers..........sigh) At any rate, it was a quick deal, and the crew didn't get any perdiem. The officers were able to afford to go in town, but the mini-crew me (1st tech), Doug Kinder (AO) Jules Moseley (PC) K.D. Walker (2nd wrench) stayed with the bird (LH-3, 141243). The only food we had was in the cruise box, and it was crackers, soup, bread, canned orange juice, etc. -the usual junk scavenged from a career of box lunches.

Well somewhere along the way we pooled our money and one of us went off to the base store and came back with a fifth of vodka. (God I hope the statute of limitations is long past). We all enjoyed (more or less) the vodka and canned orange juice until the fifth was depleted. As judgement vanished, hunger set in. We decided coffee and soup and crackers were in order, however there was no APU for the plane. Not a problem - we had batteries and two fully qualified mechs to crank the engines, and soon were enjoying 400 cycle AC and cooking......

We were happily (way TOO happily) partaking supper, 3350's ticking over, when one of us noticed something unusual from the radio compartment window: smoke coming over the wing.........serious smoke.......

In our soporific state, we had neglected something called cylinder head temperature, and #2 was reminding us that engines do overheat without adequate airflow..............

To make a long story short (too late, I know) we fanned the engine cool again and shut down without incident, although the Spanish tower people were impressed......

I have often wondered had things turned out differently, how we might have explained the blackened wreckage to the returning cockpit crew.......and how long it would have taken us to pay for a P2 at 1960's enlisted payscale....



Some of us even went on to successful naval careers in spite of ourselves........

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Yeah...we used the Julie gear to "just listen" too - when we didn't have the Jez turned on. Your memory of the equipment compliment is far supperior to mine, Roger.



Ever experience St. Elmos's Fire? Ever forget to reel in the Trailing Wire HF antenna before landing?



In 1958, shortly after starting flying, we took a boondoggle to Pisa to visit the exchange. I bought my first (and only) Omega wristwatch there. It had an expandable bracelet. On the return trip to Sigonella I was sitting in the afterstation with the hatch removed (summer in the Med). Being young (18)and oblivious (read stupid), I stuck my arm out in the airstream to direct some more air onto my body and ...you guessed it...goodbye Omega. Ruined my day.

Frank.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Frank - You are right about the OMNI; it was the ARN-14.............



However...............I came up with the scope we used for the active buoys: AQA-1. You are correct that the Jez position was just aft of the copilot seat behind the bulkhead, and poised over the AQA-1 was the ignition analyzyer scope (remember the plane captain reaching back from the jumpseat and clicking through the spark discharge patterns?) I don't know if the SSQ-15 (big sucker) was new when I started flying crew in '65, but the AQA-1 was in all the '7's I was ever in. Come to think on it, it had a Directional Listening position for the ill-fated SSQ-1 (1A?) DL buoy. Now that I think about it, I don't remember having to ever repair one.........very reliable. Never saw or used a DL buoy tho............ I remember using the Julie recorder to monitor active buoys too, so maybe the AQA-1 was a retrofit after you left.



Rog

Frank,

I remember the Omega well. I was told you could buy the self-winding one. Use it for 10 years,take out the self winding and use it for another ten years.

ernie

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Yeah...we used the Julie gear to "just listen" too - when we didn't have the Jez turned on. Your memory of the equipment compliment is far supperior to mine, Roger.



Ever experience St. Elmos's Fire? Ever forget to reel in the Trailing Wire HF antenna before landing?



In 1958, shortly after starting flying, we took a boondoggle to Pisa to visit the exchange. I bought my first (and only) Omega wristwatch there. It had an expandable bracelet. On the return trip to Sigonella I was sitting in the afterstation with the hatch removed (summer in the Med). Being young (18)and oblivious (read stupid), I stuck my arm out in the airstream to direct some more air onto my body and ...you guessed it...goodbye Omega. Ruined my day.

Frank.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Frank - You are right about the OMNI; it was the ARN-14.............



However...............I came up with the scope we used for the active buoys: AQA-1. You are correct that the Jez position was just aft of the copilot seat behind the bulkhead, and poised over the AQA-1 was the ignition analyzyer scope (remember the plane captain reaching back from the jumpseat and clicking through the spark discharge patterns?) I don't know if the SSQ-15 (big sucker) was new when I started flying crew in '65, but the AQA-1 was in all the '7's I was ever in. Come to think on it, it had a Directional Listening position for the ill-fated SSQ-1 (1A?) DL buoy. Now that I think about it, I don't remember having to ever repair one.........very reliable. Never saw or used a DL buoy tho............ I remember using the Julie recorder to monitor active buoys too, so maybe the AQA-1 was a retrofit after you left.



Rog