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GTX said:
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Don't laugh; we used a surplus jet engine to melt snow & ice from our 300 foot radio telescope in Green Bank, WV.

"Jet engine in the shop, January 1963. From left: unidentified, Clifford Barkley, Paul Devlin. The exhaust from the engine was directed upward towards the underside of the 300 foot dish to melt snow and ice from the dish surface, It was used during the winters of 1964-65 and 1965-66, but then abandoned because the engines required constant maintenance, spare parts were difficult to obtain, it was costly to run - and it was extremely loud."
 

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The observatory at Green Bank had a small paved landing strip that was used to fly equipment & personnel in & out occasionally. One winter night the jet engine was brought out and fired up to clear ice from the 300 foot telescope. It ran for quite a while when our security guard received a frantic call from some woman who was in a panic about a jet plane that had been circling overhead for hours but couldn't land.
 
My best jet engine ice melt story was back in my Northwest Airlines Maintenance days. Winter in Detroit. We had a DC-9 that had a staggered throttle write up, and 2-3 inches of fresh freezing rain had fallen. The ramp was so slick the push back tugs had to have chains on the tires, but the taxi ways were clear. So it was decided to take the DC-9 out for an engine trim to align the throttles to within 1/2 knob at part power position (about climb power).
It was no problem taxing out to the run up pad, but when we got there the run up pad was ice covered, and ground control would not let us perform the engine trim on the taxiway due to the 30-45 minutes we estimated it would take. So I decided to park on the run up pad, set the brakes, open the clam-shell thrust reverser's and let the engines idle for about 5 minutes. They melted about a 10 foot clear & dry spot under each engine, then I just executed a 360 turn and parked with the main landing gear parked on the thawed spots I just cleared. Set the brakes, and then the poor lower seniority mechanic got to lower the air stairs, get the ladder out of the rear cargo compartment, open the engine cowlings, trim the engines at idle and part power, then reverse the process, all the while I stayed warm and safe in the cockpit.
He said the hardest part was latching the cowlings, and not falling on the way to and from the forward air stairs. I think a DC-9 or MD80 would have been the only type we flew at the time that I could have done that with. 727's engines are to high to work off a ladder with, and all the types with High bypass type engines don't reverse core air of the engine only the bypass air, and they deflect the air sideways not up and down.

 
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In this April 19, 1963 photo, General Jimmy Doolittle, right center, stands in a moment of silent
prayer with Brigadier General John A. Hilger after laying a wreath at a Seattle memorial for World
War II dead. Doolittle, who led the war's first bombing raid on Tokyo 21 years ago, arrived in
Seattle to join 25 of his raiders, standing in salute during the ceremony, for their 21st annual
reunion.

 
syscom3 said:
Aircraft and airmen of the Royal Air Force station at Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt, on parade, 19 April 1938.

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It would have been warm in the full blue uniform even though it is early'ish in the morning. If memory serves, another couple of weeks and they would have been in the khaki and that would have been a sight to behold with the baggy shorts 2 inches above the knee and the top of the sock 2 inches below.
 
N4521U said:
Even in the heat of the blazing summer sun in San Diego,
we sailors had to travel in woolen dress blues.
El Centro, 105F at midnight on the way to Phoenix!
Ack!!!!!!!!
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Your comment reminded me of being in Huntsville, AL back in '61. I was downtown, standing in the crowd watching the Armed Forces Day parade going by. Lots of different units were on parade, including a small contingent of Navy Reserve. When they marched by, an old Army sergeant who had just wandered out of a nearby bar, looked at the crisp white uniforms as they passed by and shouted "Well, I'll be God damned! They finally go those cooks to march!"
 
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