Radschool Association Magazine - Vol 39

Page 6

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Out in the shed with Ted

Ted McEvoy.

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Pension rates.

More than 310,000 veterans and war widows recently received a pension increase. From the 20th March, 2012, pensions were increased by 0.9%. You can now buy a yacht and sail away.

The new rates are:

The rate of Carer Allowance (caring for a person 16 years or over) is $114.00 per fortnight. This rate was effective from 1 January 2012. If you receive the Carer Allowance payment, on the 1st July you will also receive an annual Carer Supplement of up to $600 for each person in your care

There will also be a “Carbon Tax” compensation payment made in June – see HERE.

Who is the goat now??

At a high school in Nebraska, in the US, a group of boy students played a prank. They let three goats loose inside the school grounds. But before turning them loose, they painted numbers on the sides of the goats: 1, 2 and 4..

School Administrators spent most of the day looking for No. 3.   Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.....

The Beerfire.

In the lighter moments of World War II, the Spitfire was used in an unorthodox role - bringing beer kegs to the men in Normandy.

During the war, the Heneger and Constable brewery donated free beer to the troops. After D-Day, supplying the invasion troops in Normandy with vital supplies was already a challenge. Obviously, there was no room in the logistics chain for such luxuries as beer or other types of refreshments. Some men, often called "sourcers", were able to get wine or other niceties "from the land" or rather from the locals. RAF Spitfire pilots came up with an even better idea.

The Spitfire Mk IX was an evolved version of the Spitfire, with pylons under the wings for bombs or fuel tanks. It was discovered that the pylons could also be modified to carry beer kegs. According to pictures that can be found, various sizes of kegs were used. Whether the kegs could be jettisoned in case of emergency is unknown. If the Spitfire flew high enough, the cold air at altitude would even refresh the beer, making it ready for consumption upon arrival.

A variation of this was a long range fuel tank modified to carry beer instead of fuel. The modification even received the official designation Mod. XXX. Propaganda services were quick to pick up on this, which probably explains the "official" designation.

As a result, Spitfires equipped with Mod XXX or keg-carrying pylons were often sent back to Great-Britain for "maintenance" or "liaison" duties. They would then return to Normandy with full beer kegs fitted under the wings.

Typically, the British Ministry of Revenue and Excise stepped in, notifying the brewery that they were in violation of the law by exporting beer without paying the relevant taxes. It seems that Mod. XXX was terminated then, but various squadrons found different ways to refurbish their stocks. Most often, this was done with the unofficial approval of higher echelons.

In his book "Dancing in the Skies", Tony Jonsson, the only Icelancer pilot in the RAF, recalled beer runs while he was flying with 65 Squadron. Every week a pilot was sent back to the UK to fill some cleaned-up drop tanks with beer and return to the squadron. Jonsson hated the beer runs as every man on the squadron would be watching you upon arrival. Anyone who made a rough landing and dropped the tanks would be the most hated man on the squadron for an entire week.

The Spitfire had very little ground

clearance with the larger beer kegs.

In his book "Typhoon Pilot", Desmond Scott also recalls Typhoon drop tanks filled with beer but regretted that it acquired a metallic taste.

Less imaginative techniques involved stashing bottles wherever space could be found on the aircraft, which included the ammunition boxes, luggage compartment or even in parts of the wing, with varying results. Champagne bottles in particular did not react well to the vibrations they were submitted to during such bootlegging trips.

A Navy bloke called in a repairman to fix his electric clock. The Elec bloke examined it and said "There's nothing wrong with the clock. You just didn't have it plugged in." The Navy bloke replied, "I didn't want to waste electricity, so I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is."

Walk don't run!!

This used to be a sign that was on every wall around the local swimming baths - and it was also a hit for a group called the Ventures.

The group got together again 38 years after they had the hit with Walk don't Run - and they brought back their original drummer, a bloke named George Babbitt, though these days George has another job, he's a 4 star General in the USAF..

Anyone who thought the military is all spit and polish and discipline can see how the USAF handles it.  I never knew Babbitt but sure would have liked to meet him.

You can see it HERE..........Watch it - that's an order!!!  and you will love it or you'll bring a chit....

And

Just to show something completely different, if you have not seen this, do take a look, it is amazing; sensual and beautiful. Click HERE

Laugh In

If you don’t/can’t smile at THIS – then you got a problem!!!

Angry??

How do you tell when a woman is angry? - see HERE.

The Dog.

Almost everyone likes a dog – you’ve gotta love this one. (If that link doesn't work, try this ONE)

From the WTF department.

• “Our goal is to deliver each client tangible results, cost-effectively. We do this by building our people, our capability and our alliances to effectively leverage our key attributes and in-depth knowledge of recognition, incentive and reward practices.”

• “In an effort to spread the corporate learnings and stay accountable to the six-month timeline, conference calls were held every other week with the corporate team lead … First, each hospital administration designates an eMAR coordinator to serve as a single point of contact to facilitate improved multidisciplinary communication for shared learnings across the corporation.”

• “Today, customised executive education is about ‘moving the needle’ for organisations in terms of business outcomes; it starts with the organisational strategy, followed by the development of people to achieve this strategy.”

"Push harder" I shouted at my wife when she was in labour.

"Nick off you mongrel!" she screamed back at me.

Bit harsh I thought... it wasn't my fault the car broke down on the way to the hospital.

Boeing 747 Brake test.

Before Boeing, and any other airline for that matter, can release a new aircraft for sale, they have to do some tests with it – tests such as will the engines start, will it fly, (reasonably important) and will it stop when you finish flying it or if and when you decide not to go flying.

Sensibly, they do the stop test before they do the ‘will it fly’ test, and the stop test is really something to see. Boeing recently finished building their new 747-8 Intercontinental and BF Freighter aircraft and as they wanted to start selling them, they had to do the tests.

These aircraft are the new, high-capacity 747s that Boeing say offer the lowest operating costs and best economics of any large passenger or freighter airplane anywhere. When full, they weigh in at about 430 tonnes..

One test that has to be certified is the emergency stop – if the take-off has to be aborted, the aircraft has to be able to stop without careering off the end of the runway and ploughing into houses, factories or a road full of cars. If that happens, the paperwork is horrendous.

So for this test, to make sure the aircraft would stop in an emergency, they took it to a long runway, then loaded it to more than its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and just to make things a bit more difficult, replaced the brake pads with completely worn out ones. Now, everyone with a car with disc brakes knows what it’s like when the pads wear down to the metal – when you hit the skids there is a lot of noise and not a lot of braking.

They then drove the aircraft to the end of the runway, turned it around, opened the taps and floored it. The big aircraft went hurtling down the runway accelerating to 320 Klm/hour then they slipped it into neutral and jammed on the anchors.

With the brake pads down to the rivets, the noise was horrendous but the aircraft rapidly slowed and pulled up 200 metres short of where they thought it would. Metal on metal is definitely not the preferred method to apply braking so the whole system warmed up a tad and actually started to glow quite red. It was estimated that the temperature reached 1400 degrees C and the discs and callipers and brake lines smoked quite a bit.

But it did stop! The fireys were called and got to the aircraft in about 5 minutes – this was planned as it is estimated that in a real emergency, it would take that long to get the fireys off the volley ball court, into their funny suits, then into the fire trucks and out to the aircraft.

By design, special fuse plugs in the tyres were activated, deflating the tyres before they exploded. At the five-minute mark, the fireys moved in with plenty of water. While the tyres and brakes were damaged, the rest of the airplane remained in great shape.

You can see the video of the test HERE and click HERE to see how they rigged the aircraft for the test.

Old soldiers never die, just young ones.

A Pocket guide to Vietnam.

An overlooked and long-forgotten military handbook, which was written in 1962 and which sheds interesting light on the US involvement in Vietnam, has just been reissued by Bodleian Library Publishing.

Originally written and published during the war, the pamphlet presents a compelling snapshot of Vietnamese culture, history, politics, infrastructure, geography, and people.

Intended as a crash course for GIs, many of whom had never been out of their state let alone the US, the pocket guide set out ‘Nine Rules’ for military personnel and aimed to encourage friendship with the Vietnamese, and to demystify an unknown country perceived as mysterious to many in the West. An excellent primer to Vietnamese culture, it offers a highly sympathetic account of the country’s historical context.

Viewed from the intervening distance of four decades, the Pocket Guide to Vietnam provides a fascinating historical insight into the American mindset during the Vietnam War, and some of the central issues surrounding the conflict. A candid foreword by a Vietnam veteran puts the publication into context, offering a recruit’s perspective on the culture shock of arriving in such foreign surroundings, and underscoring the role of the Guide as a superb introduction to Vietnam.

O.K. Honey We're here!

I said I was sorry! You can come out now.

This publication makes for captivating reading for anyone interested in Vietnam and its cultural, social, political and military history. The text is accompanied by 32 black and white illustrations reproduced from the original pocket guide.

The production of pocket-size pamphlets for armed forces involved in an international conflict used to be common practice in the 20th century. This sort of publication became a very popular means of instruction and preparation for servicemen during the Second World War, and continued to be used afterwards in successive conflicts.

You can read it HERE.

2 Classics – 1 a car!

Margaret Dunning is 101. She has been driving for more than 90 years, sometimes not always legally. She owns an 82 year old straight-8 1930 Packard 740 roadster which she has owned since 1949 and she still drives it, and changes the oil and plugs herself.

DFRB/DFRDB

Everyone knows we are and have been unfairly treated by successive Governments when it comes to indexation of our DFRB/DFRDB – but do you know how much you are worse off when you compare your DFRB/DFRDB pension rate to other pension rates. The Superannuated Commonwealth Officers’ Association has prepared a little program where you enter your current pension rate and the date from when you started to receive your pension and it will show you the amount you are worse off each week.

You can try it HERE.

But - seeing this could explain the reason for the reluctance in the Government granting ex-service men and women their due pension rates. Perhaps they are worried that if/when the ex-service men and women are paid their due, which is affordable, there will be an instant and noisy claim from ex Public Servants, which will most certainly open the flood gates and make the super bill too expensive.

And This!.

Seeing as how ex-service people have been trying, for some time, to get some satisfaction from various Governments regarding the inequalities of the DFRB/DFRDB system, can you believe THIS??

Peter Criss on 4BC

Recently, 4BC (Brisbane radio) morning announcer, Greg Cary, (right) spoke with Peter Criss on the subject of indexation of Military Superannuation. Greg is recognized as one of Australia’s finest and most respected and balanced broadcasters and his interview was very enlightening – you can hear it HERE.

The fuchsia is the world’s most carefully spelled flower.

Commercials.

If you watch “Top Gear” on Channel 9, you, like a lot of people, would be sick and tired of the number of commercials 9 puts into the show, it seems there’s a commercial break every 2-3 minutes. Most of us are sick of it and have switched off and watch something else. I’ve got some advice for Channel 9 – change your commercials. The Germans have the right idea, they make commercials that people like to watch, if Channel 9 ran some of these, they could show any old program, no one would care, everyone would look forward to the next commercial break – have a LOOK.

I just read an article about a lady who makes ice cubes from left over wine.

I am totally confused!

What the hell is left over wine?

Blessed are those who are cracked,

for they are the ones who let in the light!

Ok, Ok!! – I’m going back to my room now!!

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