Just for Dusty........

C

Captains Cat

New member
Just realized after I read this "ODE" that we haven't heard from Dusty since Sept 22 of this year. Here's hoping he's OK and ready for SBS 09. If he's not there, I'm going to go find him! Dusty?? :?: :love

DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO FLEW BEHIND ROUND ENGINES

We gotta get rid of those turbines, they're ruining aviation and our hearing...

A turbine is too simple minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through it in a straight line and doesn't pick up any of the pungent fragrance of engine oil or pilot sweat.

Anybody can start a turbine. You just need to move a switch from "OFF" to "START" and then remember to move it back to "ON" after a while. My PC is harder to start.

Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. You have to seduce it into starting. It's like waking up a horny mistress.
On some planes, the pilots aren't even allowed to do it...

Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a lady-like poof and start whining a little louder.

Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho FART or two, more clicks, a lot more smoke and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that.
It's a GUY thing...

When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: Useful, but, hardly exciting.

When you have started his round engine successfully, your Crew Chief looks up at you like he'd let you kiss his girl, too!

Turbines don't break or catch fire often enough, which leads to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going to blow any minute. This helps focus the mind !

Turbines don't have enough control levers or gauges to keep a pilot's attention. There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.

Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman Lanterns.
Round engines smell like God intended machines to smell -- burnt oil and hot steel

Pass this on to an old WWII guy (or his son, or anyone who flew
them, ever) in remembrance of that "Greatest Generation.--------------------------------

From one who has flown IN one but never FLOWN one........ :love :lol:
 
I too have been concerned about Dusty's absence, Charlie. I know he's had some health challenges - at his age it's no longer a challenge, just "the way it is"
as we mature.
Sending warm regards to a great sailor, outstanding skipper and one remarkable individual who takes up a big part of my positive memories.


Don
 
I still remember the feeling of adjusting a transducer in the accessory section of a 3350 that was pulling 30 inches of mercury. My whole body hummed in sync with that engine.

Hats off to the guys that flew them.
 
I've only one limited experience with those wonderful bits of aviation history, but my pop got his experience flying B-25's, and shared many wonderful stories. He's right around Dusty's age, but missed active duty in WWII by a few months.

Flying stuck with him, and he owned a few small planes when I was growing up...Cessna 172, 182, finishing up his flying years with an M35 Bonanza. We flew all over the US as a family in those planes, had many great times. One of our best routine trips - we'd toss the shotguns and Brittany in the cargo hold, and fly up to a dirt strip in the CA Delta to go pheasant hunting on weekends. All of this was routine to me as a kid, never knew how good we had it.

The sound and experience of piston/prop flight, is far more satisfying than the relative luxury of jets and turbo props. Charlie's note brings back many memories...my Dad constantly twiddling with this and that, looking at gauge after gauge that fascinated me as a kid...good times.

But yeah...those radials are definitely in a class of their own. Later on in life, my brother-in-law bought me one of my most memorable presents...and aerobatic ride in an old Stearman. The company is long since gone, due to liability I was told...they used to give rides out of Columbia airport in the Sierra foothills.

As we're taxiing out to the runway, swinging back and forth so the pilot behind me can see, he starts in with a little chat to check my comfort level.

"Now, if you're uneasy, or anything concerns you, motion to me so I'll know."

My response - "Don't you dare hold anything back". He smiled, and he didn't.

Now that, was flying...open air cockpit, wearing the cool leather goggles with face in the wind, big slow loops and hammerheads, rolls and inverted...best fun I've had with my clothes on. I'm sure somebody out there is still offering such rides, probably outside of litigious CA - if any of you ever have the opportunity, I can't recommend it highly enough.

An era gone by...sorely missed by many of us, who weren't even there for it.
 
Captains Cat":14clogjv said:
Now Bill, that was a GREAT memory, thanks!! :rose

Charlie
Still worried about Dusty!
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too!

I suggested to someone about a month or two ago that they email Les if an email or PM to Dusty wasn't returned, but haven't heard back from them.

(For those of you who are new to the site, Les Lampman, the co-owner of EQ Marine, is Dusty's son.)

Hoping to hear good news soon, and to see Dusty at one of the functions of the Seattle Boat Show / C-Brat Get Together in January (23-25).:wink

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
H-34 crewman in USMC and ARNG before UH1s. The radials were always more FUN and definitely took finesse. Got a couple rides in a privately owned H37 -- that was a beast. DE ARNG had H13 and H23s too so I got lots of stick time in them -- definitely fun birds.

Friend owned a Stearman -- we would chase Pennsy passenger trains behind GG1s -- they would win if there was any kind of a headwind.

You can still fly in an old timer out of the Sonoma CA airport. They've got a Bamboo Bomber tail dragger and an AT6 for sure -- there is other stuff in the hangar.

Bill Uffelman
Still boatless in chilly Las Vegas NV
 
Bill's story brings back memories. My former masters degree adviser is one of the best aerobatic pilots around - Giles Henderson. He was national aerobatics champion in the sportsman category about 5 times and has won many, many awards flying a clipped wing piper cub. Google his name and you'll see many mentions of him. He's responsible for the one aerobatic flight I've taken.

I studied physical chemistry under him during 1982 and 1983. He had offered to take my flying on several occasions but for some reason our schedules didn't work out or the weather was bad or something came up. We canceled several appointments in a row until one day in the winter of '83 he came to me about 2 in the afternoon and said - "Hey, I have some time, the weather's good, want to go flying?". Now that day was at the end of a semester and I had just spent many hours grading final lab reports for undergraduate chemistry students. I had a late lunch that day - a Hardee's deluxe burger and I didn't think my stomach was in the best shape for aerobatics. Nonetheless, we'd been jinxed so many times on previous plans, I couldn't say no.

I was a crisp but very clear day in Dec. I had on a fairly heavy coat and once I got inside the cockpit of his cub I was bit warm. The parachute that is required for aerobatics added to the insulation and the sun streamed in through the cockpit windows. We took off from a little airport near Macomb Illinois (I got my masters degree from Eastern Illinois University where Giles was a Prof in Chemistry). It was a gorgeous day out. The piper cub is a two seat plane with one seat in front of the other. Aerobatics pilots fly such planes from the rear seat. It's kind of like sighting down a gun - being a bit farther back makes it easier to line up maneuvers. So that put me in the front seat.

The first maneuver was a snap roll. Snap rolls are very quick 360 degree rotations on the axis of the plane. It was over before I knew it happened. Giles yelled out "You OK?" I indicated I was.

The second maneuver was a barrel roll. A barrel roll is also a 360 degree rotation on the plane's axis but it is much slower and more of a cork-screw like motion. This was a bit more noticeable as it took several seconds to complete. Again Giles yelled out "You OK?" - again I responded "yes".

The third (and my final maneuver) was a hammer head stall. In brief, a hammer head stall involved flying straight up until the plane stalls or stops. A properly executed hammer head stall has the plane rotating 180 degrees about the axis perpendicular to main axis of the plan. The rotation takes place at the apex of your rise into the sky. If done properly, there's no backwards slip at the top. E.g. the plane goes straight up to the sky and then rotates either left or right and comes straight back down the same line it went up. If you're in the front seat (as I was), the sensation is sky, sky, sky, sky, sky,.,sky....sky.... rotate, stomach in throat, ground... ground.. ground, ground, ground getting bigger very fast and pull out of the dive. Giles again asked "You OK?". I responded "Yes, but I don't think I want to do any more of this". The Hardee's big deluxe was about to come up on me and I didn't want to embarrass myself by puking in my research adviser's extremely clean and well maintained plane. Giles tried to make the remainder of the flight enjoyable with some low to the ground maneuvers - quick rises over trees and fences etc but I just wanted to get back to the airport and get my feet on firm ground.

We got back in 5-10 minutes (probably - it seemed like 1/2 an hour) and Giles wiped down the plane while I leaned white faced against his car. He dropped my off at my apartment and I took a 1-2 hour nap. After that, I finally started to feel OK again. I've never done aerobatics since.

Later, during my Ph.D. program, I took lessons to learn how to fly. One day I had an engine failure in a Cessna 152 and I haven't flown seriously since. But that's another long story.
 
Roger's story reminds me of a winter joy ride in the back seat of a Hughes OH6. I'm 6'2" so my helmet wedged between the driveshaft tunnel and the door frame so good harmonic vibes.

Heat was on blowing bleed air off the turbine -- ie gotta love the smell of kerosene! Pilots were both full time test pilots at Aberdeen Proving Ground so we went out and practiced helicopter aerobatics over the Bay. If you keep positive Gs on OH6 main rotor you can roll the bird -- I have never lost it in flight but came close that day!!!

Bill Uffelman
Touring memory lane in Las Vegas NV
 
I think I told this story before somewhere here, but it deserves repeating.

For the newbies on here, Dusty Lampman started out as an enlisted pilot in WW II and was rudely shot down a couple of times - where he gratefully learned all about Submarines rescuing pilots. He moved up through the ranks, ending his long career as the last Commanding Officer of the USS Boxer, CV21/LPH4, before it was decommissioned 40 years ago this month.

Oh I'm sure he's got hundreds of personal war stories, but for me, one of the more fascinating stories about Les happened in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in 1969. A twin-engine, fixed wing OV-10A Bronco without arresting gear landed safely aboard due to an emergency and Captain Lampman served as the LSO.

It's pretty much unheard of for the Commanding Officer to take over as the LSO during flight operations, so I asked him about it. Typically, he answered "Well, I probably had more experience as an LSO than anyone else in the entire fleet, so it was just a natural response." So here's a guy with an unlimited tonnage, unlimited waters license and thousands of hours driving ships, and his favorite boat? The C-22 C-Dory.

Dusty I salute you

Don Anderson ETCM(SS) USN RET
 
Greetings to all and Merry Christmas! (If that's not politically correct in your neck of the woods then consider the sentiment rather than the actual words.)

Thanks you so much for all your kind words and concern. It took me a few minutes to wipe away some tears before I could start typing.

First and foremost Dad (Dusty) is doing fine. He's had a few issues to iron out over the last couple of months but a lot was medication based and they've reorganized that for him. He's also been busy with real life stuff and he and my mother usually make a 2-day trip each week (for fun). We just had a wonderful Christmas Eve family get-together with Dad, Mom, both my sisters and their spouses (and mine), along with my middle sister's two (grown) children.

Dad enlisted in the Navy in 1937 as an E-1 and eventually became a Chief Radioman operating in the Panama Canal area just prior to WWII. He volunteered for the Enlisted Pilot program and went to Pensecola for flight training. When done they sent him to the Pacific fleet as a Lieutenant where he flew Torpedo Bombers and became the Executive Officer of his squadron. And it goes on from there. 37 years later he retired as a Captain and the Commanding Officer at Sandpoint Naval Air Station (which they had renamed to I can't remember what).

Somewhere along the line he was the Air Boss on the USS Roosevelt, the Skipper of VAH-11 (A3Ds), the Skipper of the USS Rankin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rankin_(AKA-103)] and the Skipper of the USS Boxer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boxer_(CV-21)].

He'll never admit to being a hero (he also has a Silver Star) but he's mine.

P.S. - I'm sorry I can't get the Wikipedia links to look like links; the things just steadfastly refuses to operate for me.
 
Les, thanks so much. I've tried to call you at EQ but can't get a human voice beyond e-mail. Been very worried about your Dad, he's been quiet at times but never for so long. Great to hear he's doing well! I look forward to seeing him and you too at SBS09. Will you be at the boat show? If so, where? I'll come up to see your dad if he doesn't come down.

Charlie
 
Thanks, Les, for letting us know. Your Dad has a lot of fans here... and not nosey, just concerned. Merry Christmas to you and yours and let Dusty know he's missed around here.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan (Wild Blue Crew)
 
I just spent a wonderful hour googleing Captain Lester B. Lampman. Amazing career. And I think he was possibly really close to being the CO of the Sand Point Naval Air Station at which I started my military service in VP-892 as a senior in high school in the USNR. Later I did active duty on the USS Oriskany (CVA-34) in the same waters as he was serving as CO on various naval vessels, including air craft carriers.
 
Glad to here dusty is o.k. Need to keep the shrimp on thier toes or legs or what ever they have. Now for you round engine fans I thought I would share this

july_11_128_2.sized.jpg

Thats My Mom and Dad In thier CJ-6
 
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