We, that is the old girl and I have been busy this past few weeks with visiting family and my telling of some of my Tall Tales around the evening campfire with the grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Well, I read with interest a post in the Real Aviation section about something that brought back some fond memories for me and perhaps some for you folks.
The post was by wahubna "Adam" who probably loves radial engines as much as I do.
Reading his post my mind flashed back to several things.
We used to smoke in the pointy end of the aircraft and myself, well I never smoked cigarettes.
I spent many a year smoking a pipe and fine cigars.
I started to remember when I:
-blended Middleton's Cherry Blend and Three Nuns Pipe Tobacco to smoke in my many pipes
-would place the blended tobacco in a glass sealer with a slice of apple, plum or even onion and place it in the back of my beer refrigerator until ready to use
http://pipesmagazine.com/middletons-che ... e-tobacco/
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/tag/three ... obacco-us/
-another great pipe tobacco was Erinmore Flaked which you rubbed (a little oily) and stoked the pipe bowl for a wonderful smoke
http://www.google.ca/search?q=erinmore+ ... 44&bih=721
-we would place our milk and beverages which needed to be kept cold right against the emergency hatch, which for example on the Douglas DC3/Dak/C47
was just behind the port side pilot's seat
-there were no cooling devices on many of these old birds
-milk would sometimes freeze and then separate...guess that is why I like Laphroaig Scotch Whisky
-no airline terminal at many of these early unpaved strips or ice strips and the crewman would collect the airfare in cash from the passengers
-we never had a female steward until the early 80s
-union...what was that?
-noisy...oh yes, as wahubna "Adam" mentioned, the old radials were noisy
-may not even hear a woman giving birth in the back...yes, we were the only means of transportation to many locations until the ice roads could be used
-I remember hearing and feeling the flaps and landing gear go down
-feeling the rear of the aircraft lift as the Tail Wheel Steering Lock locked into place
-oily engine covers and large wing covers...all part of the game
-no GPS or VORs back then, if there was an NDB an ADF and a good map was all we used
Thanks Adam...sometimes what we think is a simple post will bring back some fond memories for many of us...
