@flga-2-2
I tell people, that are riding with me for the first time; I have Tourette's Syndrome, but it's weird, I only have the symptoms while I'm driving. So get in; sit down; shut up; and hang on!
I've told co-workers how lucky they are to get to ride with me. Many people drive several hours to a crowded parking lot, then get in line for an hour to pay some outrageous entry fee, then stand in line for another hour waiting to get on some "thrill-packed" ride at World's of Fun Amusement Park. You, on the other hand, not only get the same thrills, you get paid while you're on the ride.
I tell people, that are riding with me for the first time; I have Tourette's Syndrome, but it's weird, I only have the symptoms while I'm driving. So get in; sit down; shut up; and hang on!
Take my SWMBO for a spin, you'll never, ever, ever allow a woman in you vehicle again.
Added to the memior.
As one that often surveys airfileds for the services now, I can appreciate the small airstrips. Thanks for sharing.
I had a good run for a number of years with an AP engineering consultant. 9/11 changed a lot of protocols around air strips, both controlled and uncontrolled.
I made a lot of money on the big APs, but the projects were long and sometimes difficult. Working on a controlled and active AP takes some patience. Several were dual use civil with a lot of military traffic. I hated those with a passion. My favorites were always the small and uncontrolled municipal strips.
One of my deepest, darkest secrets is the whereabouts of a decommissioned F104 that stood guard on display for a number of years at the entrance to a small-town airstrip. The city council wanted to get rid of it. It had been donated to them in the early sixties by some veteran's organization and came from a small nearby AFB that was operated by the ANG and then closed.
The city council and local police were tired of being spray-painted with graffiti and kids getting hurt by climbing all over it. A new entrance drive meant it had to be removed. The consultant wrote it in to the contract to be removed by the lucky contractor...easier said than done...
Although it was almost all aluminum, no salvage outfits wanted to mess with it without a good paper trail. Any paper on it the city had was long gone. Nobody wanted to mess with it, but the contract said "remove it". The carcass was dragged (in pieces) with two dozers and a track-hoe out behind a row of hangars where it laid crumpled for a while.
One Saturday I was staking the main runway extension. The contractor and I were having coffee on the hood of my pickup and I jokingly suggested he incorporate the fighter (which is a lot bigger than one would think) in the fill at the end of the new RW. I can neither confirm nor deny he got a twinkle in his eye and agreed it was a good idea.
We were doing the final grading on the runway by the time folks were starting to ask questions. I couldn't be any help because I never actually saw what had happened to it. The superintendent's only reply when asked where it went was "It's been removed..". 😉
Future archaeologists will have a real head-scratcher on their hands...
I had a good run for a number of years with an AP engineering consultant. 9/11 changed a lot of protocols around air strips, both controlled and uncontrolled.
I made a lot of money on the big APs, but the projects were long and sometimes difficult. Working on a controlled and active AP takes some patience. Several were dual use civil with a lot of military traffic. I hated those with a passion. My favorites were always the small and uncontrolled municipal strips.
One of my deepest, darkest secrets is the whereabouts of a decommissioned F104 that stood guard on display for a number of years at the entrance to a small-town airstrip. The city council wanted to get rid of it. It had been donated to them in the early sixties by some veteran's organization and came from a small nearby AFB that was operated by the ANG and then closed.
The city council and local police were tired of being spray-painted with graffiti and kids getting hurt by climbing all over it. A new entrance drive meant it had to be removed. The consultant wrote it in to the contract to be removed by the lucky contractor...easier said than done...
Although it was almost all aluminum, no salvage outfits wanted to mess with it without a good paper trail. Any paper on it the city had was long gone. Nobody wanted to mess with it, but the contract said "remove it". The carcass was dragged (in pieces) with two dozers and a track-hoe out behind a row of hangars where it laid crumpled for a while.
One Saturday I was staking the main runway extension. The contractor and I were having coffee on the hood of my pickup and I jokingly suggested he incorporate the fighter (which is a lot bigger than one would think) in the fill at the end of the new RW. I can neither confirm nor deny he got a twinkle in his eye and agreed it was a good idea.
We were doing the final grading on the runway by the time folks were starting to ask questions. I couldn't be any help because I never actually saw what had happened to it. The superintendent's only reply when asked where it went was "It's been removed..". 😉
Future archaeologists will have a real head-scratcher on their hands...
apparently a hamfisted f104 pilot really buried it at the end of the runway, hard landing. USAF brass were so embarrassed that they shredded then burned the file on it.
