| Author | Message | ||
     Larry Stevens Username: Larrystevens Registered: 03-2007 |
Anybody out there into "fun cars"? I know Sandy Johnson-Wright was racing Corvettes, and that Dave Benolkin recently sold his near perfect GTX Hemi. My little slice of rapture comes in a 1928 Ford mdl "A" roadster pickup. It is urged by a high performance L-76 Corvette, bored 30/over. Got the usual stuff like headers, torq converter, posi et al. Drove it from las vegas to minneapolis a few years ago, and it beat me to death! Hard to be "cool" while whimpering... It's about like putting 400 horsepower on a floor mat. Mary (Miller) actually did more on building this than I did........how do you beat that??!! She only drove it once. I pleaded with her NOT to put her foot in it, but do women listen???? Soooo, after smoking up the streets, and fishtailing all over the area, coupled with a hint of bladder control problems, we finally came to rest...sigh. We'll probably sell it by spring, and find something else that is capable of providing "check-book-fatigue". Prior to this toy, we had a 1967 El Camino, with a bored out 502 big block, hitched up to a "rock-crusher"4-speed. That thing was scary! It ran on 100 octane, or air plane fuel. It was even too fast to "cruise chicks" at Walmart... And, more recently, we putzed around with a semi-tired '87 Corvette, then gave it to our youngest son (as we like him better than the other son). Kind of looking for an old Sunbeam Tiger (if I can fit in the little thing) or a '65 Olds 442, like I had several years ago. I try to make the hot rod show every June at the MPLS/STP fair grounds. Hope everybody is doing well, and enjoying decent health. Regards, larry stevens ps..Dave, does this thing have spell-check? | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Larry My first New Car was a sports car. I purchased it in 1967 just prior to going to basic training for the United States Air Force. My future wife to be...Joanne Nyberg....was all excited when I told her I bought a new "SPORTS CAR". A couple of days later when I gave here the first ride in my new sports car...Joni said....this is not a sports car. I said yes it was....My 1967 Brown Rambler Station Wagon was great for Hunting, Fishing, Tailgating, Skiing and all kinds of sports activities. I came within $100 of negotiating a deal on a Ford Mustang Black Convertible and a Cougar Black Convertible...but the German Logic won over the Danish Free Spirit in Me. American motors took my deal. Hind sight says that I should have paid $100 more for the Black Mustang Convertible. | ||
| Larry Stevens Username: Larrystevens Registered: 03-2007 |
Bruce, Hey, you got the "right" girl, and that's the decision that really matters. The rest, is but mere filler. | ||
| Larry Stevens Username: Larrystevens Registered: 03-2007 |
Bruce, "Air Force Basic Training"....is that something like BOOT CAMP? Whew....I can only imagine Air Force Basic Training.....short-sheeting, s'mores, scary camp fire stories. Was there a Chaplain or counseling available, for those who stressed under such challenges? Did you have any trouble re-adjusting back to er...ah...society? Seriously, I admire your service. Those jets had to be a thrill to drive. | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Larry Hi Larry I went to Officers Training School ....in Nov. 1967. We were at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio Texas. It was a pain....to go through. They tried hard to make you quit. I think there was a 65% washout rate from the start of Officer Training school to the end of pilot training. \image(concentration) | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
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| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
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| Larry Stevens Username: Larrystevens Registered: 03-2007 |
Bruce, What all did you fly? I know that John Bjeldnes was an F-4 driver. Denny Carpentier called the other day. He sends his regards to RHS alum. And, as you know, Peggy Nyman-Hausler also lives in LV. After the holidays, we'll probably hook up with her and husband and do a lunch or dinner. Lungy says he and Barb may be out in June, so we'll try to lace up the Las Vegas contingent for a gathering of sorts for some yuks. The other LV-ite, Chuck Cline, I haven't crossed paths with in a long time. We ran into each other at a social gig a number of years ago, and he was still working at the MGM, doing personnel backgrounds. I only saw him that one time, after he had his transplant. Well, I better jump on this tread-mill, and fire up my whining regimen. | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Larry I flew the T-38. ATC- Air Training Command. You can see the picture above. Our classmate Mike Hollnagle also flew T-38's in the Air Force. I flew out of Craig Air Force Base in Selma Alabama for five yeras. Mike flew out of Oklahoma. My first assignment out of pilot training was as an instructor pilot in the T-38.It is a supersonic Jet that is capable of going up to 1.4 times the speed of sound. It is the same airplane that chases the space schuttle in. NASA flys them. It is still a hot looking airplane. We could pull up to 7.33G's. If you weigh 200 pounds ...at 7G's your body feels like it weighs 1400 pounds. The blood runs to your legs...and that is how pilots black out. We had G suits that would automatically keep pressure on our abdomen and thighs.....we could also pump them up manually. In addition to the G suit we would do the M-1 maneuver. That is tighten up your adnomen...to keep the blood in your head. One time I gave one of my students an unusual attitude by rolling over....on our back...I pulled down through the horizon....pulled 7.33G's through the bottom of the split S....then climed to a 60 degree nose up attitude and started doing aileron rolls into the sun. The T-38 would do very rapid aileron rolls. I then said..."you have the airplane". The student pilot proceeded to do nothing...and the airplane when straight up....we were at almost zero airspeed....when the nose fell over and then we went straight down. He finally realized that he went from a verticle recovery to a high speed dive recovery. The proceedure was to bring the throttles idle, put the speed brakes out, and then pull up to 7.33G's until you had a positive climb. The student did one extra step....we were screaming toward the ground at .99 mach....when he brought the finger lifts up over and back over what we called the hump. That shut both engines down....I said "I have the airplane"...proceeded to recover and re-start the engines. All in a days work. | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Again Larry Air Force Pilot training consisted of 53 weeks of training after Officer Training School. We started out in the T-41 which was called the attrition machine. It separated the guys that could not walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. We only had 10 hours in that airplane. It was basically a Cessna 172 without a back seat. The only time I had any reservations about flying was when I was on my first solo. I started wondering why I was hurtling my body through the air in that piece of aluminum. That thought only lasted for a couple of seconds. I fell in love with the T-38 from the minute I first saw it...and had my goal fixed in my mind. The second airplane we flew was a T-37. It was also a Cessna but a jet with two engines. They were a real high pitched engine....and thus called the Tweet. We flew alot of aerobatics, some navigation, alot of takeoff and landings, and some formation flying. We did cross countries and night flying. By the time we flew the T-38 we had about 100 hours of flying time and had soloed in a jet. The T-38 was the last half of pilot training. We got 110 hours in it before we graduated. We flew alot of aerobatics, night aerobatics, cross countries - navigation, and alot of formation. We normally flew a tight formation with 3 foot wing tip clearance. We flew up to four ship formations. One of the most exciting times in formation was what we called close trail. Lead is not supposed to dump his backpressure when he has airplanes in close trail behind him. We flew directly behind each other with the tip of the tail in and out of the jet wash of the airplane in front. I was solo as number four one time.....when lead dumped his back pressure. Number two ended up in leads jet wash and did a snap roll to the left, number three ended up in both number one and two's jet wash and did a snap to the right, my airplane ended up in all three jet washes....I did an unplanned snap to the left. That is my airplane did an uncontrolled snap roll to the left. The procedure was to make a call number two's out, number three's out, I called number four's out. We then all re-joined and did some more aerobatics in formation. It took alot of concentration....but I thrived on that excitement. It was a rush. The T-38 was capable of going 1.4 mach. We would demo going through the bow wave when going supersonic in formation. You could feel the bow wave as you went through it. The T-38 could not stall when you were going supersonic. We would demo that to our students....by accelerating to about 1.4 mach...Then roll into 90 degrees of bank and pull back on the stick hard. We were at about 35,000 feet so you normally could not pull back that hard if you were sub sonic. As we pulled we created what we called induced drag...and that decelerated the airplane to sub-sonic. As soon as we went below the sound barrier...the wings would rock violently...since we were in a total stall of the wings. To get out of the stall we simply released the backpressure...and the airplane would recover. Again all in a days work. | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
Larry You were right about one thing for sure. I married the right girl. Being an Air Force Pilots Wife, a United Airline Pilots Wife, and a Realtors Wife took a very self assured woman...who is very understanding and trusting. I was in my early 20's and could take the T-38 any place I wanted to go (military base) on the weekends. I volunteered for extra cross- countries. Joni recognized the opportunity for me to see the country and was very understanding and supportive. I was assigned quite a few foreign students from the Scandinavian countries. They were all excellent students. We were so close to Florida....so many of our cross countries were to Florida. Each student would get one cross country. The Danish students loved to go to Disney World. Some of the pilots made it miserable on their students...for they rushed them on Friday night so they could get to the happy hour at the bar at homestead AFB South of Miami. We were more relaxed about it....would fly our students until late Friday night....get all our work done...then spend all day Saturday on a layover...and finish our work on Sunday on the way back. We always went on cross countries in a two ship formation. I usually teamed up with the same wingman...who liked doing cross countries that way. We felt that if we wanted to spend all our time in a stag bar telling the same jokes....we could have just stayed home at Craig Air Force base. We created alot of fond memories of my air force days. When I joined the Air Force....as a Pilot. I had to volunteer to go to Viet Nam. I expected to go there. Pilot training was competitive...and class position meant everything as far as what you did after pilot training. I was very fortunate to get my first choice ...as a T-38 instructor pilot. It meant a stateside tour of duty. I was not sure if I would stay in or not...and figured that I would really like to learn how to fly before I went to war. As it turned out I separated from the Air Force upon completion of my assignment as an instructor pilot. My next assignment would have been Viet Nam...most likely in some kind of fighter airplane. | ||
| Bruce Jorgensen Username: Brucejorgensen Registered: 11-2007 |
You had to be brave to be a Pilot's wife. Here is Joni (Nyberg) Jorgensen and our first two boys. I always kidded about Joni C Jorgenen with the C meaning "chicken". But she has always been a good sport about flying.  | ||
| Larry Stevens Username: Larrystevens Registered: 03-2007 |
Bruce, To be a cops wife, you need to be able to shoot straight....or at least in the right direction, be a quick study on the rackets, and the characters so engaged, and above all, accelerated coping skills. Well, that may not be a generic view, and essentially be more of a self analysis..... |