Banjos and booze

[Oldbaldguy]

It’s been a tough week.  I’ve lost a favorite nephew to murder, I lost my favorite dog two days ago, my house is full of contractors and now my spousal unit and I have finally had too much gin and tonic.  I have a friend I’ve known and been very close to for almost seven decades.  We are essentially joined at the hip.  His father was a Naval Aviator, as was he.  His dad soloed a Navy biplane - N2N or N2S, I don’t know which - and finished his career twenty years later flying Vigilantes.  Biplanes to Mach 2 in two decades; unbelievable.  Anyway, my bud and I have been trying to sort out an on-deck crash his dad walked away from back in 1953.  His dad - call sign Speed- was a test pilot for a while.  He flew carrier suitability trials for several early Navy jets, including the big Banshee.  On a day just one month before my bud’s third birthday, his father got up, had breakfast, kissed his wife and went to work.  Work that day included flying out to the boat in a F2H-3/4 Big Banshee for carrier suitability trials as dictated by the scheduler in VX-3.  Speed made his approach to the USS Tarawa, CVA-40, in an airplane bigger and heavier than the technology of the moment allowed for just to see if it could be done.  On this day, it was a bridge too far.  The Big Banjo’s hook skipped the wires and he was into the barrier long before he knew it.  All this was captured on film but little if anything is known about it today.  I’ve seen the photos but they are now lost.  He plowed through the barrier and into the airplanes parked on the bow.  The last of the series shows him sitting sedately in the cockpit, sideways on the deck, with the rest of the airplane somewhere behind him.  The bottom line is that he came home; my friend still had a dad.  All these years later as we try to piece together these events, my bud checked his dad’s carefully preserved log books to find that they say little more about that day, 3 September 1953, than he flew deck trials in an F2H-3.  In my dotage and drunken stupor (my wife has just now begun to snore at our table and I love her for it), I wonder if people of this caliber exist these days.  Who does this anymore?  Landing on a carrier is not an easy task on the best of days but the current level of technology makes it much easier than it was back when Speed was going to the boat.  These were giants among men, with huge brass ones, and we are the better for it.  I’ve lived a very full life in my 75 years, but I wonder if I could do what Speed did.  Probably not and neither could most of you.  Do the youngsters today realize what had to happen over the years for them to have a seat in a Hornet on a nuclear powered, thousand foot long warship thousands of miles away from home?  My guess is probably not.  Most have no idea what a Banshee ever was.  Time marches on and heroes live in the moment and that’s too bad because new ones are not always better than old ones.   But, Jeezus, too much Tanqueray will seriously kick your butt - my wife just fell out of her chair and I’m not sure I can pick her up and get her to bed.  Wish me luck.  There is no LSP model in this anywhere, BTW, because nobody makes a big Big Banjo, more’s the pity.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[quang]

Sorry @Oldbaldguy I thought this was about bluegrass and honky-tonk 

[Shoggz]

When one emoticon isn't enough... 

[LSP_Mike]

I had some similar thoughts the first time I walked the deck of USS Constitution. It seemed so small!

Sorry to hear of your nephew, a tragedy one should not have to bear.

   Hopefully, you have a dog or two left to help sort the contractors.

[blackbetty]

Tigger has a Banshee...

[Rick Griewski]

Wow I can’t type worth a dam attter tweee gin cockiteeles.  
 

I am sorry about your nephew.  Please take the best care of yourself. 

[Oldbaldguy]

2 hours ago, blackbetty said:

Tigger has a Banshee...

Quite right and it is a -3/4 if I remember correctly.  But it seems to have a droopy look to it besides being a vac kit - not impossible but I’m not sure there is enough Tanqueray left to convince me to attempt it.

[easixpedro]

Oh there's still plenty of crazy tests to do.

 

In the early oughts I had friends doing test flights for flap settings off the boat.  Goal being to see what the low end speed was.  In a Prowler no less. End result is their last one ended up not fast enough and rooster tails of water as they settled off the bow...

 

Sure it's changed from being a stick and throttle man honking on the controls to the fly-by-wire bits, but someone still has to go out and test it. Just look at Pig. Someone has to go fly with the drones with Loyal Wingman and make sure they don't crash into you.  

 

The halls of USN TPS are lined with class pictures--there's some legends there. Jim Stockdale and John Glenn were in the same class...

 

As they say, the shoulder of giants...

[CRAZY IVAN5]

On 5/7/2025 at 8:32 PM, Oldbaldguy said:

It’s been a tough week.  I’ve lost a favorite nephew to murder, I lost my favorite dog two days ago, my house is full of contractors and now my spousal unit and I have finally had too much gin and tonic.  I have a friend I’ve known and been very close to for almost seven decades.  We are essentially joined at the hip.  His father was a Naval Aviator, as was he.  His dad soloed a Navy biplane - N2N or N2S, I don’t know which - and finished his career twenty years later flying Vigilantes.  Biplanes to Mach 2 in two decades; unbelievable.  Anyway, my bud and I have been trying to sort out an on-deck crash his dad walked away from back in 1953.  His dad - call sign Speed- was a test pilot for a while.  He flew carrier suitability trials for several early Navy jets, including the big Banshee.  On a day just one month before my bud’s third birthday, his father got up, had breakfast, kissed his wife and went to work.  Work that day included flying out to the boat in a F2H-3/4 Big Banshee for carrier suitability trials as dictated by the scheduler in VX-3.  Speed made his approach to the USS Tarawa, CVA-40, in an airplane bigger and heavier than the technology of the moment allowed for just to see if it could be done.  On this day, it was a bridge too far.  The Big Banjo’s hook skipped the wires and he was into the barrier long before he knew it.  All this was captured on film but little if anything is known about it today.  I’ve seen the photos but they are now lost.  He plowed through the barrier and into the airplanes parked on the bow.  The last of the series shows him sitting sedately in the cockpit, sideways on the deck, with the rest of the airplane somewhere behind him.  The bottom line is that he came home; my friend still had a dad.  All these years later as we try to piece together these events, my bud checked his dad’s carefully preserved log books to find that they say little more about that day, 3 September 1953, than he flew deck trials in an F2H-3.  In my dotage and drunken stupor (my wife has just now begun to snore at our table and I love her for it), I wonder if people of this caliber exist these days.  Who does this anymore?  Landing on a carrier is not an easy task on the best of days but the current level of technology makes it much easier than it was back when Speed was going to the boat.  These were giants among men, with huge brass ones, and we are the better for it.  I’ve lived a very full life in my 75 years, but I wonder if I could do what Speed did.  Probably not and neither could most of you.  Do the youngsters today realize what had to happen over the years for them to have a seat in a Hornet on a nuclear powered, thousand foot long warship thousands of miles away from home?  My guess is probably not.  Most have no idea what a Banshee ever was.  Time marches on and heroes live in the moment and that’s too bad because new ones are not always better than old ones.   But, Jeezus, too much Tanqueray will seriously kick your butt - my wife just fell out of her chair and I’m not sure I can pick her up and get her to bed.  Wish me luck.  There is no LSP model in this anywhere, BTW, because nobody makes a big Big Banjo, more’s the pity.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

A tough week!? That's an understatement to say the least! I'm so sorry about your nephew that's awful! Then you lose 2 dogs on top of it all[ that's bad enough in itself]. The Banshee has been kind of neglected in all scales , I'd love to see one in 32nd, hell a good one in 48th I could hang with [kitty hawk really screwed the pooch on theirs]. Yeah, there's still people [brave souls] who are doing flight testing everyday , we just don't hear about 'em unless something "spectacular"happens. As far as the "younger"generation knowing the history that I'm afraid is going to be up to us before we finally check out[ hopefully not for a while]. 

[Oldbaldguy]

Since I’m the one who brought up family business in my drunken stupor, I feel like I should explain the opening of my original post.  My nephew, who was closest to my wife and me in age, was murdered in his home just before midnight New Years Eve 2023.  We found out while at the breakfast table the next morning.  The greater crime, if there is such a thing, was that it was patricide - he was killed by his youngest son, a grown man living at home.  I leave it to you to imagine what that meant to us.  When I wrote the original post, we were trying to deal with the sentencing of his child whom we watched grow up - life in prison plus five years with no possibility of parole - not enough for me, but dictated by his peers, so okay.  The dog was my daughter’s.  We bonded when he was barely big enough to hold in both hands and he peed all over me; he was our first grandchild.  After 14 years of guarding his family as only a German Shepherd can, on Sunday morning he simply could not get up.   By the end of the day, his watch was over.  These two events back to back were a lot for two old people to endure.  So I broke out the Tanqueray, which led us and all of you in a round about way to the first few lines of the original post.  Kind words of support from you all are most appreciated because, so far, they are the only ones we’ve had.  I like to think it is an LSPer kind of thing.  Thank you all.  Time to move on.  

 

 

[Aerophile]

I certainly understand your sentiments on our forefathers. My dad was a Korean War vet and he was my hero. Honest to a fault and tried to find the best in everyone he met. His era were certainly cut from a different bolt of cloth. I’ve told many that if I amount to half my dad, I’ve done well. I hope time tempers the losses you’ve had. Go easy on the Tanqueray!

God bless you!

[europapete]

Sorry to hear, that is a hell of a week. Our thoughts go out for you both. 

And yes, you are correct. Although there are many in our forces that have the personal qualities of our forefathers, I would agree that the general populace does not. Not even close to the "Greatest Generation" . 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by europapete

[Tony T]

Sorry to hear about your losses.

T & Ts are good for stream of consciousness thinking. So is rum & coke — proper dark rum that is, like Pussers, Lambs, Woods etc. 

Especially with a cigar or two: drink's too wet w/o a smoke, smoke too dry w/o a drink.

1:32 should be known as old man's whiskey-sipping scale.

 

Apologies to those clean-living super healthy run-every-day modellers who get high on endorphins. 

 

Tony