Barracks Inspection

billrunnels · Jul 6, 2018

As you can imagine, barracks inspections were tough in the Air Force Cadet Program, especially so in Pre-Flight. Inspection of each Cadets Area was of the greater concern. If you didn't pass you were given extra duty assignments on your free time. Consequently, I gave it my best effort. The blankets on the 10" white collar bed had to be tight. The inspector would flip a silver dollar on the bed to check the bounce. He also measured the collar. He checked the neatness of items in your footlocker. The pair of dress shoes under the bed had to have a mirror shine. I bought a new pair of dress shoes, gave them the old spit shine, just for inspections. On a few occasions, while in Pre-Flight, I would get everything ship shape the night before and sleep on the floor.

A side note about my inspection dress shoes. I never did wear them.They accompanied me to the 303rdbg in the UK. While checking into our assigned hut, a pilot, co-pilot and navigator were exiting. They welcomed us and the navigator invited me to join them on a slow time engine flight which I did. I put my gear on the bunk and the inspection shoes on the floor. When I returned they were gone. Never did find out who took them. Made me almost as mad as losing two boxes of candy bars from the nose of our B-17 while in Greenland.

ODonovan · Jul 7, 2018

I hope the lowlife who stole your shoes got blisters from 'em. It'd serve the b**tard right for stealing another man's gear.

-Irish

Wayne Little · Jul 7, 2018

Yeah, hope your right on that.!

Gnomey · Jul 10, 2018

Good stuff Bill! Sucks about the shoes though!

Peter Gunn · Jul 10, 2018

So that's where dad got that extra pair of spotless dress shoes he used to brag about...

Hah. Actually that would have been the furthest thing from his mind and in fact, if he had seen it happening he'd have knocked the bastard for six.

ODonovan · Jul 12, 2018

Peter Gunn said:
...if he had seen it happening he'd have knocked the bastard for six.

I think most guys would have. And the thief would deserve every bit of however much they got.

-Irish

Tieleader · Jul 12, 2018

billrunnels said:
As you can imagine, barracks inspections were tough in the Air Force Cadet Program, especially so in Pre-Flight. Inspection of each Cadets Area was of the greater concern. If you didn't pass you were given extra duty assignments on your free time. Consequently, I gave it my best effort. The blankets on the 10" white collar bed had to be tight. The inspector would flip a silver dollar on the bed to check the bounce. He also measured the collar. He checked the neatness of items in your footlocker. The pair of dress shoes under the bed had to have a mirror shine. I bought a new pair of dress shoes, gave them the old spit shine, just for inspections. On a few occasions, while in Pre-Flight, I would get everything ship shape the night before and sleep on the floor.

A side note about my inspection dress shoes. I never did wear them.They accompanied me to the 303rdbg in the UK. While checking into our assigned hut, a pilot, co-pilot and navigator were exiting. They welcomed us and the navigator invited me to join them on a slow time engine flight which I did. I put my gear on the bunk and the inspection shoes on the floor. When I returned they were gone. Never did find out who took them. Made me almost as mad as losing two boxes of candy bars from the nose of our B-17 while in Greenland.

billrunnels said:
They welcomed us and the navigator invited me to join them on a slow time engine flight which I did.

What is a slow time engine flight?

YF12A · Jul 12, 2018

On those piston engines, you had to break them in. You could not take a brand new engine just installed and treat it like a fully broken in engine. When slow timing a new engine as an example, you would use take off power on the 3 used engines and less that full throttle on the new one. Then, during this flight, you would vary the throttle to break in and let the new parts wear in together under acceleration and deceleration, very important to piston rings among other parts as an example. This break in period greatly extended engine life, whether a military or commercial engine back then.

As an aside, does anyone remember warming racks for electronic parts?

billrunnels · Jul 12, 2018

Tieleader said:
What is a slow time engine flight?

After an engine was overhauled they hung it on a B-17 and run it in flight for four hours. This was a break in test. If it was okay they left in on the aircraft. They had no test cells at the time.

Tieleader · Jul 12, 2018

billrunnels said:
After an engine was overhauled they hung it on a B-17 and run it in flight for four hours. This was a break in test. If it was okay they left in on the aircraft. They had no test cells at the time.

Again, learned something new today!
I'm guessing the process was done on fighters as well?
BTW I think it was the same gremlin that robbed you of your shoes as well...they're tricky you know!

tyrodtom · Jul 12, 2018

When I went through WOC flight training in 1970, things had changed a little.
Same "white tie " linen inspection. it was supposed to be a check that you had fresh, clean sheets. But the white band had been narrowed down to 6 inches, they'd check it with a dollar bill. We'd get down under the bed and tie the blanket to the springs, then stretch it over to the other side, and tie it again. That would get it tight enough to cup the mattress if you overdid it.
We weren't allowed any inspection only shoes. You had two pair, 1 notch in the the heel of one pair, 2 in the other. You wore shoes on odd and even days. Demerits if you were caught wearing shoes with one notch heels, on a even day.
If they caught you trying to hide a pair of inspection shoes, they'd give you demerits for attempting to beat the system, or worse start threatening honor code violation, for you and everyone in your room. You for doing it, them for probably knowing you did it and not trying to stop you, or telling on you.
The honor code was simple " I won't lie, cheat, or steal, nor will I tolerate anyone whose does " Simple, but it could have far reaching consequences.
A simple statement, but it also meant you could be in violation of it if you knew someone else was trying to pull a trick, and you didn't inform on them.
I remember we had to tie our laundry bags on the front of out bunks in a certain tight knot, it took time to do, and we were always time challenged. One guy had a zipper sewed into the back of his laundry bag, so he could save this time. He, and his two room mates ended up being charged with honor code violations. When it went before the honor court though , the charges was dismissed.

With all the possibilities tied up with that honor code it sort of limited what you could do to make things a little easier on yourself. If you did think of something that was better, or saved time, you'd better share it with everyone. If you kept it a secret, and tried to use it for you own personal advantage, and got caught, you might get eliminated from the program.

billrunnels · Jul 13, 2018

tyrodtom said:
When I went through WOC flight training in 1970, things had changed a little.
Same "white tie " linen inspection. it was supposed to be a check that you had fresh, clean sheets. But the white band had been narrowed down to 6 inches, they'd check it with a dollar bill. We'd get down under the bed and tie the blanket to the springs, then stretch it over to the other side, and tie it again. That would get it tight enough to cup the mattress if you overdid it.
We weren't allowed any inspection only shoes. You had two pair, 1 notch in the the heel of one pair, 2 in the other. You wore shoes on odd and even days. Demerits if you were caught wearing shoes with one notch heels, on a even day.
If they caught you trying to hide a pair of inspection shoes, they'd give you demerits for attempting to beat the system, or worse start threatening honor code violation, for you and everyone in your room. You for doing it, them for probably knowing you did it and not trying to stop you, or telling on you.
The honor code was simple " I won't lie, cheat, or steal, nor will I tolerate anyone whose does " Simple, but it could have far reaching consequences.
A simple statement, but it also meant you could be in violation of it if you knew someone else was trying to pull a trick, and you didn't inform on them.
I remember we had to tie our laundry bags on the front of out bunks in a certain tight knot, it took time to do, and we were always time challenged. One guy had a zipper sewed into the back of his laundry bag, so he could save this time. He, and his two room mates ended up being charged with honor code violations. When it went before the honor court though , the charges was dismissed.

With all the possibilities tied up with that honor code it sort of limited what you could do to make things a little easier on yourself. If you did think of something that was better, or saved time, you'd better share it with everyone. If you kept it a secret, and tried to use it for you own personal advantage, and got caught, you might get eliminated from the program.

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like your requirements were greater than ours. It was an interesting time and the challenges many.

GrauGeist · Jul 13, 2018

Tieleader said:
...I'm guessing the process was done on fighters as well?

They did...everything was done in a conservative manner for a prescribed amount of time to allow the internal parts to seat and break in.
When the ship returned to the field, if there were no issues during the slow time flight, the ground crew would go over it with a fine-tooth comb, change the oil and then it was ready for regular service.

tyrodtom · Jul 13, 2018

One of my classmates usually had the least demerits, the shiniest shoes, most perfect room, etc.
One TAC officer couldn't find anything to demerit in his room. Then asked him to pull out his wallet and open it, his bills weren't in any kind of order, plus some were wrinkled . The officer didn't give him any demerits, just gave him a look, and said nobodies perfect.

From that day forward we all started taking our bills out of our billfolds, ironing them, then putting them in order.
The WOC program called such BS, "attention to detail ".

To this day some of it still sticks with me, I don't iron my money anymore, but I do keep the bills in a order.

mikewint · Jul 13, 2018

Yea, I remember those DA inspections. The DI always found something. I recall one time he actually took the end caps off the blinds and felt inside to find dirt

Barracks Inspection

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