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Post by freebirde on Jul 12, 2017 21:17:00 GMT -6
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Post by willc453 on Aug 18, 2017 12:56:54 GMT -6
Had to laugh when the guy was showing off his telephone switching center & switchboard. Except for the crank handle on the switchboard, we had the same set up at Beale AFB back in '81.
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Post by 9idrr on Aug 18, 2017 15:23:21 GMT -6
Had to laugh when the guy was showing off his telephone switching center & switchboard. Except for the crank handle on the switchboard, we had the same set up at Beale AFB back in '81. Sounds as though you had the same equipment we used on the Hawk arty sites on Okinawa in '68-'69. We could always get a FNG to hold a plug while we pulled back on the toggle and sent the "ring" voltage through his hand. Were you at Beale when the U2 crashed just up HWY70? Only about a mile from the Oroville Dam. IIRC, when it hit the newspaper parking lot, there was some poor woman who'd just come out of the building from placin' a want ad. She and the pilot were the only fatalities, I think. Damn, how did I get old enough to've used stuff that's probably in museums today?
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Post by papaof2 on Aug 18, 2017 16:44:03 GMT -6
[quote author=" 9idrr" Damn, how did I get old enough to've used stuff that's probably in museums today? [/quote] Used stuff that's in a museum? I still have stuff that would probably qualify ;-) A working Craftsman chipper/shredder that dates back to the 80's. And a wheeled blade edger that's probably that old. Does that mean I can start "The Old Lawn Equipment Museum"? The chipper can be made to sound really old if you close the throttle almost all the way but just miss the contact that grounds the ignition. Then it runs like a hit-and-miss engine with the hammer/flail wheel acting as the big flywheel.
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Post by willc453 on Aug 18, 2017 18:42:06 GMT -6
Had to laugh when the guy was showing off his telephone switching center & switchboard. Except for the crank handle on the switchboard, we had the same set up at Beale AFB back in '81. Sounds as though you had the same equipment we used on the Hawk arty sites on Okinawa in '68-'69. We could always get a FNG to hold a plug while we pulled back on the toggle and sent the "ring" voltage through his hand. Were you at Beale when the U2 crashed just up HWY70? Only about a mile from the Oroville Dam. IIRC, when it hit the newspaper parking lot, there was some poor woman who'd just come out of the building from placin' a want ad. She and the pilot were the only fatalities, I think. Damn, how did I get old enough to've used stuff that's probably in museums today? Was at Beale 79-81, so think the U-2 crash happened after I left. Or maybe I'm getting senile and simply don't remember it. However.....there was that time a U-2 pilot declared an inflight emergency when he got close to the base. But then when he didn't think he'd make it to the runway, went to eject......and seat would NOT work! Seems someone forgot to pull a safety pin on the seat before he took off. He made it to the base. Another was when one of the SR-71 squadron people called me, asking how could they get the drive shaft that connects the starter cart to the engine delivered to England where the plane was at?! No drive shaft, no engine start. Why me, I have NO idea. Came up with a few suggestions, but it wasn't going to happen as they didn't want anyone outside of the base to find out about this little boo boo. Seems someone forgot to include this little item when everything was packed in the KC-135 support aircraft. Never did find out how the got it delivered. As to those voltage jolts, oh yeah, I remember those....especially when a WAF did it to me. I told her instead of trying to electrocute me, let's go out on a date which turned out VERY well while I was stationed at Tinker AFB, Okla. in '71.
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Post by willc453 on Aug 18, 2017 18:54:20 GMT -6
[quote author=" 9idrr " Damn, how did I get old enough to've used stuff that's probably in museums today? Used stuff that's in a museum? I still have stuff that would probably qualify ;-) A working Craftsman chipper/shredder that dates back to the 80's. And a wheeled blade edger that's probably that old. Does that mean I can start "The Old Lawn Equipment Museum"? The chipper can be made to sound really old if you close the throttle almost all the way but just miss the contact that grounds the ignition. Then it runs like a hit-and-miss engine with the hammer/flail wheel acting as the big flywheel.
[/quote][/p]
Do fishing rods & reels count? Bought/still have my first Garcia Mitchell 308 reel while stationed in Oklahoma back in '71. Added another one and 2 300's while in the Air Force. Bought a Fenwick rod while stationed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska back in '77 for salmon fishing, then 2 more in '79 at Kmart which had been mis-marked. Suppose to go for $40(?), someone had mark 'em at $10 each. And $40 (for those who remember back then) was a lot of money. You were making REALLY, if not outstanding good money if you were making $5 an hour. Think my first job as a civilian in '81 was something like $2.10 an hour? Been fishing for bass the past month and rods/reels still work with no problems at all.
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Post by 9idrr on Aug 19, 2017 15:42:40 GMT -6
Well, it probably ain't a museum piece but I still have the Sears single-shot .22 I got when I was about 11-12 years old. About the same time, my 9 y.o. brother bought (mail order) an AR7. Wish I had that now. Oops, I guess I can't let the State of Kommifornia that I have an unregistered firearm, huh? Sigh, if they only knew. Boy, willc453, I'm guessin' that that Blackbird, if it was ready to start, had already gotten its initial fuel load, so it was probably just sittin' there, leakin' all over the runway. I'm pretty sure you know that the SR71 was given just enough to get airborne and hook up with a tanker. I haven't kept up, but I guess there's only one Blackbird left as a museum exhibit. I wonder if they're also displayin' one of the Buick 455ci motors that started them suckers. Another dinosaur, those big blocks.
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Post by willc453 on Sept 13, 2017 5:39:19 GMT -6
There's at least 3 SR-71's in museums....Merced, California, Wright Patterson & Smithsonian. Once a year, Merced's museum has open cockpit day where EVERY aircrafts cockpit is open for everyone to take photos of. Great museum, but have only been there once and that was a few years ago when I was an otr driver with our yard a few miles up on I-99. There's also a few Youtube videos about that museum.
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