Air Force "mania for manuals"

[Joe Broady]

The 1960 March 7 issue of Life magazine has an article poking fun at the USAF mania for prescribing the right way to do everything, including how to be a good servant. One manual has instructions for washing an officer's dog and making an officer's bed. And a chart helps you estimate the number of drinks a cocktail party will consume based on duration and number of guests.

There's also an article on the recently discovered wreck of the Lady Be Good ("Desert Gives Up its Secret").

table of contents

 

[Capt. Vick]

Well...we're waiting.

 

[Zipper730]

J Joe Broady

I was actually searching for something on the Desert Air Force but it really does hit the nail on the head. The USAF really had this proclivity historically for having a one-size fits-all, all-encompassing way to do things.

 

[SaparotRob]

I'm surprised the Air Force doesn't just "wing-it".

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

How many times I heard "There's the right way, the wrong way, and the Air Force way."

So interested in paperwork, we joked that the toilet paper was three-ply, because all paperwork had to be in triplicate.