tell a Model A related story

[Jim Brierley]

Not related to aircraft, but sort of a continuation of the above posting, and maybe a type of aircraft? These were Corporal missiles, maybe 25' long and about a 25 mile range. If the missiles were completely gone-thru, with new seals installed, the were about perfect. They fired a couple that were just taken out of storage and fired, without going thru them. One of these took off from the pad, flew maybe 50' high and did a graceful arc into the ocean. We retrieved it with our 10-ton tow truck. We took our boots off but merely rolled our pant legs up a foot or so! The other one that had not been gone thru fired off in a normal way, headed down course, and went way farther than it supposedly had the capability of doing. It went out of range of the radar and as far as I know may still out in orbit somewhere! BTW, that was the coldest water I have ever been in! Benbecula is so far North that it never got dark the whole 3 months we were there. The sun would set, and a half hour later would rise! There was a beautiful beach on the island, so a few of us decided to go for a swim one Sunday, big mistake! We only went in about up to our Nuevo's, then quickly ran back to shore. It's a wonder that I was able to have any kids after that episode!

[Jim Brierley]

Continuation: This was a NATO project, so don't tell anyone I posted the above, it may be classified info, or maybe not at this time? After being on the island for about 4 weeks, they decided a different fueling rig was needed for the missiles, so they flew a British Lance Corporal and myself to the mainland, where we traveled South to Coventry to get such a rig. It was an American 5-ton, so driving it on the wrong side of the road was, let's say, interesting! I kept trying to get the Brit to drive but he deferred to me, wonder why??? The first leg of our South-bound trip was on a steam train, yeah steam! This was the Summer of '62. The 2nd leg was on a diesel train, diesel only. It looked like a series of street cars and with the sun shining we could see that every-other car had a smoke stack with smoke coming out the top. It had 3-speed transmissions, smoothly shifted by the engineer. The last leg was on a modern diesel-electric train. That whole Summer was an extremely interesting time in my life!

[Mister Moose]

Originally Posted by woofa.express

What had happened was this. Jack was the sole pilot and he had his left foot planted on the left pedal, just where it should be. Pilot sits on the left in all dual controlled aeroplanes. But Jacks right foot was also planted on left pedal of the second pilots controls, who sits on the right .

Sounds like Jack got more than a little careless. Every pilot I've ever flown with has tatooed inside his eyelids (along with several other things) CONTROLS: Free and Correct as part of a pre take-off checklist. Jack did not do this. Every good pilot knows that not only do you press on the left rudder, when you do you also feel the right rudder come towards you. If both feet go to the floor then you get "Free" but you don't get "Correct". You also can't steer when taxiing with 2 left feet, and you can't apply differential braking with 2 left feet.

On a related note, in small enough bench seat aircraft, if there's no wing leveler at cruise altitude you can put your left foot on the pilot's rudder, right foot on the co-pilot's right rudder, and shift your weight on the bench seat until the plane is balanced. Much easier on long cross country flights.

[woofa.express]

Hi Jim.

The things I remember about England were narrow country roads plus overcast skys, even in mid-summer. My forebears originated from there. They were thieves. My g g g grandfather was given free passage, below deck, to Tasmania or Van Deemans Land as it was known then. My g g grandmother likewise. When I travel to England, which is not frequent, I look at those people with pale faces and skin living in uninviting weather I think that could have been me. I give thanks to the British courts and magistrates.

[Mister Moose]

Originally Posted by Jim Brierley

The airfield wasn't very long, so when the 130's flew out, they would taxi to the end of the strip and hang their tail wheel out into the sand, hold the brakes, give it full throttle, let go of the brakes, and I think said a little prayer. As they left the strip they would lose altitude as they flew out over the ocean!

A number of military aircraft, including the C130 could be outfitted with JATO bottles. (Jet Assisted Take-Off) What these were really were the biggest bottle rockets you've ever seen. Many airplanes had them as standard equipment for emergency use if you lost an engine on take-off.

[Mister Moose]

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Originally Posted by woofa.express

This job is to teach my 16 year old granddaughter Milly to fly. I taught her brother and only last week he passed his RAAF graduation flight test. I taught my 2 sons 30 years ago.

Good on you to teach your family to fly. I'm sure you have a much more seasoned approach than a 250hr time builder CFI. Gotta ask about that Cherokee though, don't you Aussies have VOR's? The ADF looks like #1 in the stack below the audio panel, and then just a comm?

[woofa.express]

To Mister Moose. the aeroplane was very cramped and the natural and comfortable place for Jack's right foot was infact on the trainees left rudder pedal. I think the worst thing Jack did was not admit error.
It could have happened to anyone including Gary. A partition is now fitted between the pedals of both pilots so as this would not happen again. This was a national requirement on 2 seater Piper Pawnees.
The Pawnee is a rarity today. Thank goodness. Covered with doped fabric and with a fuel tank sitting immediately behind the engine they cremated many pilots.

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by Mister Moose

A number of military aircraft, including the C130 could be outfitted with JATO bottles. (Jet Assisted Take-Off) What these were really were the biggest bottle rockets you've ever seen. Many airplanes had them as standard equipment for emergency use if you lost an engine on take-off.

I once saw a DC3 takeoff at an airshow. JATO assisted. It must have layed the pilots to the back of their seats. An ex military man once told me they were also fitted to the maritime patrol Neptunes and known as de-fuelers.

[Mister Moose]

I was asked to drive my nephew and his new bride to the reception, so of course I said yes. I dressed in a tux, had the de riguer tin cans dragging behind, and flags with their names on them on the front bumper. We were told later that sparks flew from the cans! The groom is checking the time with my NHRR Grandfather's Ball Cleveland railroad watch, from about the same year as the car (1934)



Wow, posting photos right now is challenging. Had to go offsite to a photo hosting site and than jump through quite a few hoops to get it to work.

[woofa.express]

From Mr Moose. I was asked to drive my nephew and his new bride to the reception, so of course I said yes. I dressed in a tux, had the de riguer tin cans dragging behind, and flags with their names on them on the front bumper. We were told later that sparks flew from the cans! The groom is checking the time with my NHRR Grandfather's Ball Cleveland railroad watch, from about the same year as the car (1934)

From Woofa.Express.
She looks pretty good. the Bride looks okay too.

[Jim Brierley]

Woofa, My dad was born in the land of eternal fog, that's why my skin doesn't like the sun. So what is my hobby? Land Speed Racing, on the Utah Salt Flats, just over the hill from Salt Lake City. It' really not too bad if you stay in the shade of a tree, nearest tree is less than 50 miles to the West, or 100 miles to the East!

[woofa.express]

Hi Jim. I looked up Temecula on google maps, (I look up many places of forum contributors). It looks great. Away from the large cities. Many crops but predominantly vines I see. Water from several sources. Are many houses adobe?
Tocumwal, where I live, has population of nearly 3,000. When I first moved here it was less than 1,000. I liked it better then. You can see it on google maps.
Erratic weather. Most likely to rain in winter. Irrigation water becoming more scarce. Recent droughts. Greenies, who seem to have more political authority than the food producers have forced the water authority (government) to flow more into the Southern Ocean.
Patsy and I are currently childminding in Brisbane. Population 2 and half million. I am most uncomfortable in any city plus the weather is terribly humid. Temps okay, low 30’s C. Nice to hear from you Jim.

[Jim Brierley]

Woofa, We live about 8 miles East of town, in wine country. We bought our 2.5 acres in 1985, population then was about 15,000, a small town for SoCal. There were 4 wineries, now there are 105,000 people and over 40 wineries. the good part today is we live in the county at the end of a dirt road with 14 neighbors, all are very friendly and more than willing to help each other. I maintained the road for several years, now there is another neighbor that helps with that. We have annual neighborhood Christmas parties, at different neighbor's homes. Only 1 other car-guy in the hood, he and his son's family live next to each other. The son races, mom has a '28 Auburn boat-tailed speedster that has been in her family since 1935. Dad has a Model A roadster, Cragar powered. I had a couple of guys over a few days ago, they took some of my stuff to a shed on our property. My neighbor nearest to that shed called me to tell me there were guys in my shed! The biggest man-made reservoir in CA is about 20 miles East of here, another reservoir/recreation lake is just over a mile from our place. My wife designed our home, it looks a bit like a barn, bottom half is garage and shop, upper is our home. One can drive either to the house level or the garage level, I couldn't be happier!

[woofa.express]

Differing opinions.

On almost every matter. I find this amongst owners of Model A’s. You too would have seen it in the forum. It’s also a syndrome with some pilots and aeroplane owners and probably in every field where people have and opinion. Some want to show they have authority even if they have no expertise at all. Some have considerable and are pleased to share it and I look to these people for direction. It doesn’t take too long to sort who is what.

I will modify my cars to suit myself. I don’t take them too far away from original. I enjoy owning and driving them. I lend them and encourage others to drive them. Most are concerned they may scratch or damage them. They can be repaired I explain, for they were a heap of trash when I first purchased them and they have been rebuilt.

I also enjoy seeing the pleasure others get from driving them and I get pleasure for taking oldies for a drive. Many have memories of Model A’s or motor cars of similar vintage. For many it was the first car their family had.

One thing I enjoy about Model A’s is I think they are the most attractive and appealing motor car ever built. And to quote Mr Bean, “I just like to look at them”.

[woofa.express]

This opinion is almost universal.

The two tooth steering box is better than the 7 tooth that is. Steering in my 28 ute was so heavy so I fitted a shorter pitman arm but as a result it had more slop in the steering. About 5 inches. Something had to be done, it was not a pleasure to drive.
I purchased a rebuilt 2 tooth on ebay. It turned out the rebuild was a new paint job on the column. I had it rebuilt a second time, the cost all up 2k AUD. Now my Tourer steering box also must be replaced and one is available in New Zealand for 1,500 NZD. The difficultity is getting the money from my bank. My wife is the finance minister and to get money from her is like extracting teeth even though I earned it. I can’t sneak it because I don’t know anything about internet banking and I don’t intend to learn.
So the NZ system is better value. You American readers do be pleased that your costs are much lower.

[Jim Brierley]

Talk about narrow roads, when on the island the roads were 1 lane, with turn-out areas every hundred yards or so. When 2 vehicles approached, the first one to a turn-out stopped whilst the other passed. Never a problem.

[woofa.express]

We hear some funny sayings and quotes don’t we?
I must share with you a recent one I heard. It was said of a person who took soooo long to do something, and I’m going to quote this by example.
“you could wear out a set of tyres before Jean can finish eating her dinner”.

[katy]

I heard about a girl that was such a slow talker, that before she could say she wasn't that kind of a girl, she was.

[woofa.express]

There are 2 reasons people holiday at the beach. There are those who like the surf and that’s great.
And the second reason is those who like to hang around the shops and commercial sector. Since most Australians live in cities or large towns they can do that at home without having to pay a premium for a beach house or accommodation. However for the testosterone saturated boys they enjoy immensely the young girls who dress flimsily and put themselves on display and parade where they get the most prominent viewing. No, the boys don’t get to see this at home.

We have just come from a week in Brisbane. Not a place we’d visit without reason. This time to mind grandchildren and see relatives. We are now at popular Rainbow Beach. At sister in laws who has a house on hillside with great view. At night I look down at the town which is fairly well lit and notice the salt from the ocean drifting over the town and forming a haze. That means rusted motorcars, roofs and roof gutters. Clothes which have become salt impregnated when hung out to dry. Salt of course is hydroscopic means clothing absorbs water and doesn’t dry to that nice crisp feel I enjoy.
And dogs. It seems dogs like window shopping even entering shops. On leads and in arms of owners. Mostly useless dogs, frequently designer dogs. When I get home I’ll ask woofa if he feels excluded because I don’t take him shopping.

I am continuing to write this some 2 days after the above was completed. One very negative I have overlooked. Sandflies or midges. I’ll itch for days if not 2 or 3 weeks. They give me hell and I’m sure I’m not Robinson Crusoe.
And what do I do here at the beach? If I had bought my boat I’d fish, but you can’t do that all day each day. There’s a bowling club and if I learned to play I wouldn’t want to do it all day either.

At home I’m always busy and enjoy living in my little old country town. In addition to my garden I make bush furniture and visit my friends. I feel wanted by the oldies who I help. Much better

[woofa.express]

What’s the origin of that common quote?

When a person drops a well known saying such as “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” I ask what does that mean and frequently they don’t know. If I don’t I’ll research it on google. Well a common quote is “let’s cut to the chase”, today it means get to the point.

It started in the days of silent movies when the producer, Hal Roach, in this case, would ask for the tape to be cut so as to take it to the excitement- the chase.

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My brother-in-law frequently speaks of needing a scan which simply means a Senior Citizen’s Afternoon Nap.