The P-51
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The P-51What plane do would want to fly into combat with
And I'm your E-2 (non flying - you've got an AMMC flight engineer) flightline mechanic waiting on the ground back at NAS Key West Seaplane Annex, hoping you don't find any surfaced U-boats and don't bring my baby back with holes in her hide!Meanwhile me and Joe are still cruising around the Carribean on U-Boot Patrol in our PBY Catalina...
And I'm your E-2 (non flying - you've got an AMMC flight engineer) flightline mechanic waiting on the ground back at NAS Key West Seaplane Annex, hoping you don't find any surfaced U-boats and don't bring my baby back with holes in her hide!
If her hull is punctured you've got to put your wheels down and go land over at Boca Chica, and I've got to go over there and endure the razzing from the Blimp and Wildcat and Avenger mechs while I make my baby seaworthy again.
And do you think I might get any help or even sympathy from my boss (your flight engineer)? Hell no, he's going to be whupped and short tempered after 18 hours of listening to those Pratts and he'll be logging racktime before you young whippersnapper boat drivers can catch a shuttle to the BOQ!
Cheers,
Wes
... the Bikini wasn't "invented" yet
"Don't think so, Lieutenant, Sir. Shuttle driver told me she had to wake you guys up when she got you to the BOQ after yesterday's hop. Said VP pilots aren't any fun, just a bunch of sleepyheads and grouches. She prefers fighter pilots. Now that's where the fun is according to her. With all due respect, Sir."And I'll enjoy my cocktail and bikini clad babes while you fix the aircraft.
"Don't think so, Lieutenant, Sir. Shuttle driver told me she had to wake you guys up when she got you to the BOQ after yesterday's hop. Said VP pilots aren't any fun, just a bunch of sleepyheads and grouches. She prefers fighter pilots. Now that's where the fun is according to her. With all due respect, Sir."
Cheers,
Wes
Well for a WAVE, that could be enhanced by the cachet of scarcity, as there just aren't that many bombardiers in the Nav. And such as there are, are overseas or on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts doing ASW in Liberators or bombing the Kuriles from the Aleutians.Now bombardiers... well apparently they know all the right spots to hit accurately...
"Don't think so, Lieutenant, Sir. She happens to be ComFairKeyWest's niece. How do you think she got that plum job instead of busting her knuckles turning a wrench? In case you didn't know, prewar she was a world class orchestra harpist. Now do you think the Admiral would allow his niece to be transferred to Bangladesh, which is under Japanese attack right now, no matter how badly some young JG in his command wants it to happen? Now really, Sir, how would you like to be an Ensign again? Maybe in some garden spot like Tulagi, or Dutch Harbor or how about Tierra Del Fuego? I'm sure any of those could be arranged for you, Sir."She is transferred to Bangladesh.
Next up...
"On a JG's pay, Sir? With all due respect, Sir, get real! Sir, you're always bumming Luckies off me and everyone else on the ramp, how you gonna afford a private driver? You know none of us are allowed POVs down here unless you're LCDR or above, and the civilians are all on gas rationing anyhow. Good luck, Sir!"Fair enough, I just hired a local maid...
"On a JG's pay, Sir? With all due respect, Sir, get real! Sir, you're always bumming Luckies off me and everyone else on the ramp, how you gonna afford a private driver? You know none of us are allowed POVs down here unless you're LCDR or above, and the civilians are all on gas rationing anyhow. Good luck, Sir!"
"Sir, I respectfully request transfer to another crew. I don't want to be anywhere near when ONI comes sniffing around, or even worse, the Cuban Mafia. Just between you and me Sir I can't afford to have ONI looking at me very closely. My mother was born and grew up in Japan as did my paternal grandfather and all my great aunts and uncles. One of my great aunts is in prison in Connecticut for sedition because of her ties to the Nisei community, who are all in detention camps out west. One of my great uncles was 'invited' to an 'interview' with ONI and never came home. I think they had discovered that he and Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Onishi and General Houma had been playmates and gone to school together when they were kids in Tokyo. Sir, I think you can understand why I don't want ONI looking at me too closely. So Sir, if you're going to fool around with bootlegging, please let me outta here!"Maybe, I'm a rum runner when I'm out flying around...
"Sir, I respectfully request transfer to another crew. I don't want to be anywhere near when ONI comes sniffing around, or even worse, the Cuban Mafia. Just between you and me Sir I can't afford to have ON I looking at me very closely. My mother was born and grew up in Japan as did my paternal grandfather and all my great aunts and uncles. One of my great aunts is in prison in Connecticut for sedition because of her ties to the Nisei community, who are all in detention camps out west. One of my great uncles was 'invited' to an 'interview' with ONI and never came home. I think they had discovered that he and Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Onishi and General Houma had been playmates and gone to school together when they were kids in Tokyo. Sir, I think you can understand why I don't want ONI looking at me too closely. So Sir, if you're going to fool around with bootlegging, please let me outta here!"
"Hey, where'd you hear that? As far as you know, there ain't no such thing, soldier! Got it??"