Here I am poising in front of one of the huge hangars at NAS Lakehurst. Why I was in my blues I don’t remember. We rarely wore our blues unless we were on watch duty with security. Well, I suppose that is the answer, I was probably on watch duty.
Notice the way I have my arms folded? I read someplace that when someone poses with their arms folded it is sort of a subconscious sign that they fear who ever is looking at them, in this case the photographer. I think it goes back to primitive days when a human would cover up his chest to protect his vitals when he is facing something dangerous.
But again, I noticed in recent advertising people like to look into the camera with their arms folded – like they are conveying to the reader that they know the score or they are wise to you or they an’t gonna take no shit.
Maybe I was a pacesetter instead of a throwback.
Here is another picture of me in my Navy work clothes, which I wore most the time I was on the clock, so to speak. I am sitting in a Bell Helicopter. Who do I remind you of? One of the heroes in BLACKHAWK comic books? Maybe Sky King? Hans Solo?
By the way, the hangar behind me is the same hangar that hosted Germany’s Hinderburg blimp that exploded just up in the air over the hangar there in May 1937.
Bell Helicopter is not named Bell because it looks like a dinner bell on the table to call for the maid – which I originally thought – but it is named that because Bell is the name of the company that built them. I don’t know but I suppose if is the same Bell Aircraft Company that Larry Bell started Bell Bomber Plant here in Marietta during WWII, and later Lockheed took over the plant.
One time my division officer took me for a ride in a Bell Helicopter. The view was great and amazing. I sat there transfixed on the scenery far below us and all those little ants and toy cars. The division officer had to fly something like 50 hours a month to keep his wings. At one point he turned off the motor or turned the propellers off and we fell – that was all in the plan. When we got fairly close to the Earth the blades turning with the airflow reached such a high speed it did an “auto-rotation” which caused us to be suspended. Neat huh?
4 comments:
Pretty neat.
One of the tasks of the Cony was plane guard duty. Waiting off the stern of the carrier for planes and whirlybirds to fall. Never had to go for a plane but a couple of the other cans had to go look for survivors of "angel" duty 'copters. Ironic, looking for downed helicopters which were waiting for other planes to go down. But 'copters sink like rocks. Do not remember what the pull-from-the-drink rate in the North Atlantic was.
Si,
You did all that when on watch? I mostly hid in dark corners of the hangar and smoked.
A pacesetter? Yeah, that's the ticket. Sharp dressed man, Eddie. I saw a million of them when I lived in Norfolk, and to tell the truth, I couldn't wait to get to a place where I'd never have to see a uniform again, except on a policeman.I was never much for uniforms, contrary to most women.
Judy,
I was rarely in full uniform and I only went off the base on time in uniform.... before I had permission to leave the base in civilian clothes, they stamped LA on your liberty card.
You had to have all the wardrobe of a complete uniform before you could get LA stamped. That took me about a week.
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