Another Chance
Copyright© 2014 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 54
It was noisy but our pet pussy kept the pimps and drunks at bay. I must say we accumulated a nice collection of Saturday Night Specials and genuine Italian switchblades. The LMDP (lettuce, mayonnaise, dill pickle) fella from the tower did stop and pick us up. The plane was waiting, full of gas, oil and magnetometer. Sans blood, which was very nice of them ... at least I thought so. Both evil guys survived which didn't suit Piper at all.
There was a nice letter from Uncle Captain Crossman taped over the compass asking the family to the ceremonial base closing August 15th, 1955, and, incidentally, Navy Captain Crossman's elevation to Rear Admiral Crossman and his subsequent retirement. General Uncle Bleeker will not be the only family with a star.
Now, this may sound a little strange, we are now volunteer scientists for the USGS GLEE (United States Geologic Survey Great Lakes Exploratory Expedition. And the first thing they want us to do is overfly the area where the paddlewheel aircraft carriers landed planes and lost them over side, over bow, over hill, over dale and outta gas. It seems that numbers of fledgling pilots learned the true meaning of 'controlled crash.' Land, takeoff and "Oh Shit." ... not necessarily in that order.
(Excellent website for the Paddlewheel Carriers: Paddlewheel Carriers. I recommend it.)
The Survey wanted us to quarter the Lake allowing our recording magnetometer to record the magnetic anomalies with precision. As Federal Volunteers we would receive all our fuel, oil. parts and a stipend along with a daily renumeration. All we had to do was fly the lake east and west from Gary Indiana, to Milwaukee like crop dusters. Concluding that operation we were to fly a north-south pattern using the Grand Haven Michigan - Milwaukee Wisconsin line as a turn around.
"One of you flies and one of you looks out for ships," we were told by a USGS bigwig. "Please don't hit any ships."
It has been claimed that the 200 aircraft in the lake were all from missed landings and that no planes were "tossed" overboard. Can't be so. Neither Carrier had a hangar deck let alone an elevator. I can not imagine the captain returning to base after every fuck up to deliver the results of said fuck up to a repair facility. Ain't happening.
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