Warbird Information Exchange

Well, Randy, the O2 has a few placards that I can make out. Looks like a yellow "ground here" on the nose for refueling purposes and the black dashed line close to it appears to have some letters associated with it. This was the towing limit indicator that some hotshot ramp ape would hopefully respect and not wreck the nose gear. Everybody else could eyeball it and stay safe. The munitions placard clearly shows on the side. And if you don't mind if I answer OBGF's question, this was to confirm to the crew what the ordnance loadout was on the airplane. It was usually placed close to the cockpit entrance so it could be clearly seen. This appeared on the 26's later than your time at NKP, Randy. The loadout on the AFM aircraft would indicate a later period.. say, 68-69 since it has daisy cutters which were not used in the early phase. It should have a munitions placard. There are pics of 26's at NKP with these placards. We are thinking that our K needs this placard so our crew chief can write things on it kinda like the Lady O2 Pilot has on her airplane... who incidentally has been promising me a picture, but HAS NOT DELIVERED YET. Some people are such slackers!! JR

Ask, and ye shall receive! This one is on the OV-10, indicating 4ea. LAU 68 launchers with WP (white phosphorus, or "Willie Pete"),
and 230 gallons in the centerline tank. So 0-2 lady is off the hook now, right! Need any pics of anything else, let me know. I took a couple hundred today, probably same amount tomorrow.

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Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Well, gee Randy, that is a great pic of the munitions load panel and I really do appreciate it, but you see there is more to this story than just the placard. The Lady Duck Driver is definitely NOT off the hook even though your gentlemanly offer to help her out will assist in the basic layout of the thing. It is what's written on HER panel that gets everybody's attention!! She has a great crew chief, you see?? Well, no you don't see yet, but am trying to coax her into posting it here. Wink Wink... JR

Au Contraire, Randy........I'm not off the hook.....only because my armament panel has very special messages on it........that can correctly monitor the mood (and ammunition) of the day. Those pesky Special Kay people just wanna copy and hope to get theirs in international aviation magazines also The Other JR is very correct.....I have not delivered.......however, I have two excuses of which he is aware and is overlooking. My plane decided is would break itself very well......which then rendered my brain INOP last Friday so said picture and measurements were not taken. And then I came down with something almost verging on the flu which has rendered the rest of me INOP all week. A slacker but with reasonable excuses !!!!

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Talk about posting at the same time, JR...LOLOLOL........and yes I will post it as soon as I feel it's safe to go to the hangar to get the pictures.

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Good morning!! I bet that is the first time that has happened!! ... posting at the same time, I mean. I think you have been to the hangar before, so that just leaves the fact that you are a bit under the weather to explain your reluctance to appear before the small twice motored airplane and beg it to fix itself?? I don't think that works somehow. Is it really the fact that it needs TLC that keeps you away or is it like a horse with a broken leg and you have to contemplate shooting it? Well, that would not be advisable. Could compound the problems with the engine and whatever. But on the other hand, you could claim it was battle damage... think about the authenticity it would garner??? Why do I have the feeling I lost you somewhere after "good morning" and you have disregarded everything afterwards?? Going now... the other JR

OK, think I'll bow out of the placard debate. Probably a good thing that we didn't have them on the 26's on Big Eagle at NKP, or someone may have been offended! When I was at Hurlburt Field, we used to write on the side of the bombs we delivered, "We aim to please--Please AIM!" Surprisingly, as far as I know, we never got a complaint about it. I guess that's what was called, "The good 'ole days." Nobody gave a sh** if it was PC or not, it was just all in fun.

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Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

All in fun, Randy Not to worry. <and just a ps...mine is definitely not PC>

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Only partially correct on the function of the Placard. The crew would have paperwork (Form 768 I think) showing ordnance including internal load that they could not visually check. The main function was to show the Fire Department (and EOD) what was carried in case of an emergency. Written in grease pencil don't quite understand how long they could read it in case of fire.

Oh my bad, I forgot all about that. I rode the fire truck one time when the driver thought he was Barney Oldfield and I about got roasted. This was way back when I had mush for brains and didn't know any better. Mission fixation I think they call it. Shouldn't let amateurs play with stuff like that. I certainly came away with a new respect for firemen in general and crash crews in particular. You can bet that we will request the fire trucks standing by for our first and maybe even our second flight of the K. Maybe they will give us the welcome back to the world water arch! We will be sure to let everybody know how it goes!! Now, a question for you, OBGF.. what the heck does Obergrafeter mean? My German is a little rusty, but it doesn't translate very well for this ol Texas boy. I get the ober and graf parts... eter, not so much. Enlighten me if you will. Ja?? Danke, the other JR

Not the first to ask that question....................loosley translated equal to our Lance Corporal.

Game time! What is this, specifically. The clue is in the pic.

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Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

[quote="NImrodA26"]Game time! What is this, specifically. The clue is in the pic.

After sending this to a committee of knowledgable people, their conclusion is that this is a picture. Or were you wanting to be more specific about the contents of said picture?? Instrument panel seems to be the focal point of it. More?? Are you wanting us to identify the type aircraft that it came out of at some point?? Is that the question? JR

OK, thanks, but then a Lance Corporal only exists in the Marines if I remember correctly. Does this mean you are expressing a fondness for the Marine Corps? I suppose that could happen. Reminds me of a time when there was a gaggle of us moving some old T-41A's out of the boneyard to be refurbished back in the 70's. One of the guys brought his parachute and was severely kidded about that. We had 3 flights of 4 in a loose formation. As it happened just north of the El Paso area, the guy who was leading one 4 ship suddenly started descending. The rest of the flight followed... all with quizzical looks on their faces. As it turned out, Lead (callsign Nuts) was the worst one about kidding the guy with the parachute (callsign Flake) who happened to be flying on his right wing. Lead announced that the SOB just quit and he was looking for a place out there in the mountains to put it down. No sooner than he unkeyed the mike, the guy with the parachute said... Hey Nuts, you wanna buy a parachute? The rest of us had a good laugh. Nuts, not so much. He finally got down to about a 1000 ft and the dumb thing started back up. He limped back to some podunk airport close to Salt Flat I think it was and waited for the truck to come fix it. The rest of us ... well, we circled like vultures for a bit and then start following our new Lead (Flake). We had quite a laugh when we all got together again.... and Flake was never kidded again about bringing his parachute along. Now where was I going with that?? Oh yes... we got 3 parachutes donated by a very generous gentleman for the A26. Thank you kindly. NOW, we might be wearing them if we have to do the duck walk thru the bomb bay on the doors from the aft doghouse to the cockpit for some reason in flight. It was designed to be able to do that, but .... I like a little insurance after having been raised around a B-17 whose doors are designed to open with any good weight on them. So the moral of the story is, always have insurance, whether it is a parachute or a Marine!! Good for the country!! JR

It's obviously a Stuka dashboard.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."