ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

The call to arms can come at any time and we, as the first line of defense, must be ready to answer at a moment's notice.  

After a long day of duty outside the cockpit, I had recently returned home to my wife and our small house near the front. After some yard work and a modest meal, I was in the back yard surveying the property needs when I heard the familiar drone of an engine I knew well. As I cast my eyes skyward in the direction of the sound, I see him..., the Airbike Ace. "Look!" I exclaim to my wife as she searches for what my trained aviator's eyes have already pin-pointed. When she sees the red white and blue roundels of my flight leader's tan bird she gasps as she spots the two Hun in pursuit. The Ace wags his wings at me and I know what that means. Glancing at my wife, she simply says, "Go." With a quick kiss, I was on my way to the aerodrome.

As I headed south along the west perimeter of town, I spotted a familiar puff of smoke--the kind the master uses to blind and confuse his foes before he strikes. The Airbike Ace had been at work--no doubt dispatching one or both of his pursuers. Yet, I could not see him against the southern sky.

As I turned east and barreled toward the field, I saw that another familiar bird was engaged with multiple Hun adversaries. It was Avenger in his sleek Taylorcraft in a diving pass in the direction of the hangar. This must be bad. The Hun have hit us where we sleep!

Sacrificing the rubber on my old tires for the sake of a speedy response, I pulled into the field and saw the Ace standing near the hangar reloading his guns as his last sortie must have demanded full depletion of his combat load.

The Hun were loitering at the perimeter of the field as Avenger circled to defend. Just as he splashed one enemy plane, the others turned tail seemingly deciding to try their luck another day. They flew off west, and Avenger, after a victory fly-by, set up for landing. Just as he cleared the trees at the north end of Selby's wide strip, two Hun came screaming out of the high evening sun strafing Avenger's approach! His experienced reflexes were astonishing! A hard slip to get under the first stream of bullets was followed by a bump on the throttle to float over the second stream. They never got close. Another slip put him down midfield when a third Hun came in flying nap-of-the-Earth from the southwest. As this obviously skilled pilot pulled the trigger, it was clear to the Ace and I that Avenger's luck had run out..., or so we thought. Pulling off one of the slickest short-field stops these eyes have ever seen, Avenger forced the Hun to undershoot his mark. I was amazed, but it was at that moment that I realized that such maneuvers were surely old-hat for such a grizzled veteran.

I ran to Hot Stuff to get her ready to fly. It seems that the Hun had not missed after all. A stray bullet grazed my engine causing a small fuel leak from the fuel filter. After a quick hand fix, I was sitting behind the prop blast taxiing to the north end of the field. Avenger and the Airbike Ace salute me as I pass in ground effect before climbing to engage this final Hun.

The rest is a blur. As I came in for a solid three point landing I am getting applause from my two veteran wingmen. I know I've prevailed, but in the excitement of my first air-to air victory, I can't yet remember how. Perhaps one of the ground observers can offer some account of how the action unfolded. In any case, Selby was saved today. I was proud to do my small part.

See I told you that soon you would see Hun's and the battle was a fierce one  I am sure Paul had a much better view of you flight as I was still reeling from the high speed ground loop required to avoid the Hun's and the end of the runway.

Perhaps you should install some ack ack guns at Selby to keep the huns off avengers tail. They always seem to attack him when he's landing.

The weather on the northern front is still keeping the huns grounded, however being grounded this long means they have lots of time to strengthen their numbers!

Chris

They can't catch me when I am in the air so they wait till I slow to land before attempting to take me out.  They know I have ducks and trees to contend with when I land and my mind isn't as sharp at watching for them.....

Hey, don't under estimate Andy, not only is he a good pilot but a great writer/story teller! Andy did an absolutely fantastic job of telling it like it was during our latest skirmish with the Huns, I re-lived that entire foray while reading his de-brief.  There are a couple of things he left out though, so I will try to fill in the gaps.

My wing- wag signal to Andy that I needed help as I flew over his homestead was all the encouragement necessary for him to spring into action.  At Selby Aerodrome, us pilots are always watching the other guy's six. Mine was getting torched.

Thank God his wife, for whom he named his plane "Hot Stuff" recognized the situation and bid her husband/fighter pilot good luck along with the kiss that she knew might very well be the last time she would see him again---alive. She most likely wiped a tear from her eye with her apron as she watched him go out of sight.

Our forces were split!  I was out on patrol, Andy was on leave and Avenger was left alone defending the aerodrome.  He was definitely outnumbered. By the time Andy arrived, I had fired off all nine yards of ammo and had come in to land and reload.

Avenger had dispatched a Hun and two others appeared to high tail it home. But that was a ploy!  While Avenger was about to land the Huns had reversed course and were now diving out of the sun onto his back.  While distracted by his twisting and turning to avoid getting hit, he didn't touch down on the 1200' runway until the midway point.  There wasn't enough runway remaining for him to stop!

Not only is Avenger a quick wit in the air, same goes for his ground handling. If he didn't do something fast, he would be off the runway's end, over the berm and dip, then into the wheat field. While standing on the left brake and rudder he cranked in full right aileron and performed a very tight 270 degree ground loop!  This maneuver resulted in his not only, not running off the runway's end, but he also avoiding the trees!  

I tried to photograph the action but by the time the dust cleared, his plane was stationary and no longer rocking violently. Gradually his black and red Taylorcraft appeared through the dust like a ship coming out of the fog. The door flung open, he scrambled out and monkey-ran to the cover of the trees he had just missed.

Later, Avenger stated that it was a good thing he has practiced ground looping so much even though it is a doubtful skill.  In this case it saved his plane and his tail. Only disadvantage is that we have all these torn up half and three quarter arcing ruts in the grass runway that we have to constantly repair. Sometimes I question that he needs so much practice!

Andy fixed his bullet damaged plane then he took off in Hot Stuff to engage the Huns that tried to strafe Avenger.  The sky was filled with many twisting and turning planes directly overhead.  Shell casings fell like rain along with numerous aircraft parts.  Avenger and I pushed our planes into the hangar to avoid further damage.

Suddenly, the Huns scrambled out of the area and Andy came in for what was three (that we could count) of many bounces during his "Boeing" landing. You know: boing, boing, boing!

Hardly had we finished our de-brief when a horse-drawn hay wagon pulled up containing several villagers.  They had brought us ice cold homemade brewskies and several links of Kizska, Kielbasa and some Perogie. What a tremendous thank you for saving both the protective aerodrome and their village.  

The women and children are now safe and everyone slept peacefully that night!

AirBike Ace

Judging from the tree picture I could be maybe another 8 ft lower coming over them.  I think you have to copy the text and delete the message and then repost to change picture sizes after they are posted although seems like I have seen other people do it ane I might be wrong.  Yes when I had the tailwheel problem on the Max I did get a bunch of groundloop practice ... more then I wanted.  I watched Lawrence Alley groundloop his cub at his field when he couldn't stop going downhill.  I knew a controled loop was an important tool in the landing arsenal when you always fly short fields.  Should have been there when Chris was and saw me land 2 foot short of the southend of the field... got stopped with over half the field left.  I will be on patrol this weekend if the wind quits blowing out of the east.    Death to the Huns......

The above photo is where Avenger first touched the earth on his last landing during which he did a "controlled" ground loop.  By the time the camera readied itself for the next photo, Avenger's Taylorcraft was imersed in a cloud of dust and not about to emerge for a moment or two.

AirBike Ace

One of the Huns sent this photo of their leader's plane after it returned to their airfield.  It was unscathed they boasted!  We will get him next time!  Hail to the victors at Selby Aerodrome!

AirBike Ace

Don't let them make to much fun of you Avenger, the high speed turns helps you get off the runway at twice the speed aiding in getting the plane back to the bunker, Also know as the zero turn, much like zero turn mowers speed up mowing.    

Quoted from skyblazer Don't let them make to much fun of you Avenger, the high speed turns helps you get off the runway at twice the speed aiding in getting the plane back to the bunker, Also know as the zero turn, much like zero turn mowers speed up mowing.    

Well thanks there skyblazer... finally a calm mind in a storm of... well....   It was way close to a zero radius turn,  actually it was really only a sliding 90.  Not the way I like to land but the Huns were on my tail there was no head wind to slow me and the trees were 6 ft higher then the last time I landed from the north.  Thank goodness I have a forgiving plane and one that takes as good a care of me as I try to do for it.  Also.... you make the best landing when no one is watching and the worst when the whole field is there....lol

90 degrees my eye!  Well, OK, if you count coming to rest 90 degrees to the right of your original landing direction after  rotating 270 to the left! No matter what, it was a fine piece of airmanship (groundsmanship?) to bring that bird to a halt in such a short distance and not hit anything!  And the plane can be used again. Now get out to the runway and patch up your divot (rut).

Your landing techniques and style give us something to marvel at, we enjoy watching you perform, some day we may achieve your level of skill.  But I guess we need to start practicing.

AirBike Ace

oh come on.. I land as fast as you guys fly.  Been working on it and have it about back down... and the chainsaw and about an hour and I can land lower over the northside.  Rust does creep up quicker than a man thinks.... but still fun to fly out of Selby and when you tell people you land a taylorcraft in 1300 feet the men quiver and the women swooooon....

Right you are Avenger.  You Da Man!  We all aspire to reach your level of airmanship. It is nice that you continue to contribute in our sorties even though you fly the big plane.  

You are right about your ability to land that Taylorcraft on our runway, and because of the trees on the north end and the road, it is impossible to use the full 1300 feet. I hope the pucker in your plane's seat has started to level out now that you have been landing at the Selby Aerodrome a number of years. For a long time we thought that was a locating pin to keep you in the seat and not slide out sideways during your controlled groundloops.

Fortunaltely the chain link fence, razor wire, and padlocks keep the swooning women at bay.  After watching you land, they want to smother you with kisses while trying to rip your clothes off.  They do however, manage to get their hands on you once inside the hangar. We often wondered why you always park your plane in the unlighted hangar area. What goes on in the dark? You really ought to get some new duds, those you wear now are pretty well tattered.

It is nice to have such a humble hangar mate.

Paul Fiebich

I have a new technique now for hiding from Hun and wild nurses.  My old truck which I was trying to get 300,000 miles on gave up the ghost this weekend, at 292,879 it passed.  We will be having services later this week and you of course are all invited.  I now have a new one so I will be incognito for a while till they learn who I am again.  I am going to lower the trees to the North maybe this weekend.  Seems like only 5 years ago they were only about 8 foot tall.... now they are over 30 and being a hundred ft from the fence and road are now a major hazard to me so they.... like my truck... must die.

Yesterday I arrived at the Selby Aerodrome to find that a note had been placed on my plane stating that I had flown to many missions and been in to many sortied to continue flying without the required R&R needed to totally recover.  Well now that is a pickle for me but I called up my favorite blond nurse and decided to take her out and get some of the R&R they had talked about.  She and a bunch of other nurses were going to have a party at Rose Hill... a Bikini pool party in fact... well anyone who has seen me knows a bikini and I are not a good match but she asured me that it would be the women in bikini's so I was game. Well a few adult beverages into the party a familiar engine drone was heard in the distance and sure enough it was AirBike Ace returning from a gathering in Valley Center of fine Hun Hunters.  One of the nurses cried out in dismay... yes behind and into the sun was coming a couple of Huns.  At the last minute Paul saw them and the fight was on.  Never in all my years have I been drinking an adult beverage sitting with young nurses in bikinis and had a better seat then this to watch Ace fight in deadly combat with what turned out to be 3 Huns.  It was like watching a dance the way the planes intertwined, passing each other and turning on each other wings... down to almost ground level and then back up to..... well as high as an ultralight can go... and as quick as it began it was over, Ace with a few more bullet holes was headed on to Selby like nothing had happened.... we all saluted him as he flew on.  Battle does have an strange effect on women as the nurses all cuddled up closer to me knowing I flew out of the same hangar.  I suspect they all in their minds were hugging Ace... but me being the man I am was willing to let them live out their fantasies through me.   So Thanks Ace your work in the air worked for me on the ground.

I think the company Comondant left that note on your plane by mistake Avenger.  It should have gone to me!  Oh well, I will get the next one---maybe.

Avenger, we all know what a tough job it is to console a bevy of red headed nurses let alone your favorite blond nurse while dressed in their wet white bikinis while lounging at poolside.  But, you are the man who has risen to such challenges before and I know you were all but too happy to rise again.  To quote an anonymous person: "It's a tough job but someone has to do it."

Your description of the dog fight with the three Huns was spot on. I thought I was going to die! I believe being outnumbered like that, they could have taken me down had they wanted.  So, in retrospect, I think they were just messing with me since I was alone.  They have been known to be sporting and fight a fair fight.  One time a Hun terminated a battle when my gun jammed. The pilot flew next me and just tipped his spiked helmet, saluted me smartly then peeled off.

The lesson to me is not to venture out alone, I need to have Avenger, Hot Stuff or the un-named pilot who flies the yelllow plane with me at all times. How fortunate it was that my aerial battle played into your hands with those nurses, you owe me one---or more; how many nurses were there?

AirBike Ace.

It was a great party with food and wine...  though I didn't count the nurses a good guess would be about 16 some of course came with good stout men of other armed forces but some came alone.... which my little blonde nurse gave just the right amount of jealousy when I was catch looking in the direction of another free one.  Having spent my required time in R&R I hope to fly on sunday if the weather permits I am leaving for Dallas on Thursday to return late Saturday night.  Then it is off to Mexico and Miami... .... .... .... ok it is Mexico Mo and Miami Oklahoma... but still good places

With the winds at nil yesterday, I expected to see more flyers at the aerodrome. Nonetheless, I patroled without incident for the better part of an hour. Rate of climb was terrible in the warm humid air. Maybe the Huns were experiencing the same and wisely stayed home.

I got into town just in time to leave again I have to get more time to myself.... might be home by sunday and if I am I am going to run away from home and fly..... the huns are laughing at me again....  I must seek retaliation