War Can Be Fun If You Don't Get Killed
or
Nil Carborundum Illegitimi
Immediately after this I drove to NAS Vero Beach, Fl. arriving there Oct 25. I slept overnight in Baton Rouge and Tallahassee. I dropped the Ensign with whom I had gone to Miami and Mexico, off at his home in Houston. The car developed a mysterious leak in the water-cooling system and I would have to stop somewhat frequently for water. I discovered later that it was caused by a pin-hole in a freeze plug on the side of the engine block. The water would squirt out, hit the hot exhaust manifold and disappear. This car also needed the 16 lifters for the valves adjusted somewhat frequently. I would feel the power loss and stop along the road and adjust them with the engine idling.
The Navy didn’t know what to do with me at Vero Beach. Eventually they put me in Operations so I became an Operations Officer. This was easy service. I learned how to read and write a Telex without vowels. I stood watch in the control tower with the WAVES who ran everything there. One of them, the tall striking good looking one, had been a stripper at the Rialto in Chicago!
Shortly after the War, I was in a bar on Wilson Avenue in Chicago about one block east of the "L" and on the south side of the street called "The Backstage". I was with my cousin, Bill Walters. We were seated at the bar and having a beer. The bar was oval and had a small stage in the middle where the girls would jiggle. One had just finished her act and came down and sat beside me. She addressed me by name! She remembered me from New Trier high school. I had a hard time placing her. My cousin was impressed. After all how many guys know a stripper and this one made two.
One day as I watched an SB2C ground looped right in front of the tower, and cartwheel in a cloud of dust, the pilot climbed out and walked back to the flight line. Yes, he was carrying his parachute. The plane did not appear to be much damaged. Navy planes were rugged in those days.
While at Vero Beach I sold the 1940 Buick and acquired a 1941 Blue Ford convertible for $1,000 which I kept until about 1951. Also at Vero Beach my camera, a rather good one, with my first color film in it, was stolen from the glove compartment of the ‘41 Ford. I have never replaced it.
1941 Ford
The ‘41 Ford had a fuel pump that rode on top of a push rod from the cam shaft at the back top of the V8. The pump had a rocker with one end on the pump diaphragm and the other with a cup on top of the push rod. The cup was not lubricated and would wear causing the pump not to deliver fuel. The fix was to remove the pump and stuff tinfoil in the cup. I have done this at night in the middle of nowhere. In those days it was well to carry tools.
I went home for Christmas 1945 in the ‘41 Ford dropping Ens. Doherty off in Cincinnati and picking him up on the return trip. Doherty had a sail boat with an inboard engine. I sailed with him a number of times on the Indian River. The Indian river can get boring. I shared a room in the BOQ with Doherty. He was not a pilot. I don’t remember what he did.
I flew with Lt.jg Roy Tedford frequently who was also in operations. He was from Longview Texas. I was in Longview January 20, 1974 to visit Lone Star Steel Company. No Tedford could be found. However, the town was aptly named.
Doherty had a Harley Davis 45 Motorcycle. There was a Harley 85 that had been in a minor wreck that Tedford and I fixed. We would tear down old highway One at top speed. The 85 was a large hog. You could put some unsuspecting soul on the back and gun it. The soul would be left sitting on the ground. Someone, I don’t remember who, used it to go to the Vero Beach country club. There was a bar there. A good place to go on a motorcycle. Part of the road was sand. He spilled and the bike pinned his leg. He had boots on and was unhurt, but he could not lift the machine. It was too heavy. Lucky he was on sand. He dug himself out.
On November 1, 1945 I became a Lieutenant (junior grade) and pay jumped to $167 per month plus 50% flight pay along with the $21 subsistence. Good money in those days when you are living in the BOQ. The mess bill at Vero Beach was usually $25.00 per month.
F6F
At Vero Beach I had lots of time off and could get any plane on the line. I flew F6F ( a Grumman single seat fighter), SNJ, TBM, SNB (a twin engine Beachcraft), GH-3 ( 4 seat high wing monoplane built by Howard). The Howard was so under-powered that when you flew through rain you had to add substantial power because of the weight of the water that collected on the craft.
The F6F had 42’-10" wingspan, 33’-7" length, and was powered by a 2000 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W engine. It had six 50 caliber wing mounted guns. Cruising speed was 200 mph. It maxed out at 391 mph.
In April 8, I flew to Ft. Lauderdale in an F6F to see Joe Oliver who had been in VC-93. He was instructing a new group of Ensigns in the fine points of flying a TBM and had recently acquired a beautiful redhead wife.
I flew to Lake City, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, Jacksonville, Banana River, and others on official and unofficial business. I would give the WAVES rides in the SNJ on weather hops. We flew out to the west to see what any incoming weather would be. Very high tech weather system. Somehow I picked up 6 hours in a PBY, a rather large sea plane. I don’t remember a PBY. It may have been a scam to get flight pay.
Flying at Vero Beach took place January through May 1946. I accumulated 48 hours there.
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