HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

Dad would train potential Air Force pilots in his classroom but the really fun stuff began when they got to work in the simulators. Simulators, at the time called ‘link trainers’, were exact replicas of the inside of the cockpit of the aircraft the students were being trained to pilot. Not only did the simulators have all the switches, levers and instruments, but they moved as they were hit by weather or other technical problems. While the pilot-trainee was in the simulated cockpit, dad would be in a booth that was able to control anything in and around the cockpit. He could give it rain, fog, wind, lightening - multiple problems that an aircraft could face in flight. All the trainees were officers in the Air Force. During one training session dad decided to cut one of the engines to the aircraft to see how the pilot would handle it. Accidentally, instead of cutting one engine, he cut both and the pilot crashed the plane. At least it was a simulated crash. Dad went to the student and apologized and told him that they never cut both engines during a simulation session since that was extremely unlikely to occur in flight and, if it did, the plane would most likely crash. The trainee didn’t accept that and told dad to try it again. He said he wanted to land that plane without any engines. So dad’s student tried it again and the aircraft crashed. They tried it over and over, with dad offering advice on what he should be doing until finally the pilot-trainee was able to safely land the plane. He was overjoyed at his accomplishment and dad was impressed that he was able to land that plane. At least in the simulator.

About six months later a guy showed up at dad’s desk and plopped a big old bottle of bourbon on the desk. Dad asked, “What is that for?” And the guy said, “Don’t you remember me?” Dad said, “Not really.” So he told dad he was the guy that had his engines cut while in training. Of course, dad remembered him then but still wanted to know what the bourbon was about. The guy answered, “Well, it really happened. I was flying my aircraft and it lost both of its engines. But I was ready, I knew what to do and I landed the plane safely. So you see, you actually saved my life. The bourbon’s just a little token of thanks.” “Well, I’ll be damned!” said dad. A happy ending.

DISOBEYING ORDERS

Dad was happy to tell us that he had been in all 50 states in the U.S. While flying in an Air Force aircraft over either Wyoming or Montana in a winter storm mechanical problems developed. The plane, being piloted by an officer, was in trouble. The pilot called to my dad and told him to put his parachute on because he didn’t think he was going to be able to land the plane. Dad put his parachute on and the pilot then told him to jump out of the plane. Now this was probably in the late 1940’s and both Wyoming and Montana were, and still are, sparsely populated. There was no GPS then and jumping out of that plane in a storm created a strong possibility that wherever he landed he would likely not be found before he froze to death or died of hunger and thirst. There was no survival gear aboard the plane. Knowing this dad asked the pilot, “Are you jumping out of this plane?” The pilot said no he was going to try to land it. Dad told him, “If you aren’t jumping out of this plane, I’m not jumping out of this plane!”

The pilot became very angry and yelled, “This is a direct order! I am ordering you to jump out of this aircraft now!” Dad refused. The pilot told dad that he was violating a direct order and that if he didn’t jump out of the plane there would be a court martial. Now dad realized that if the plane crashed there would be no court martial. He also knew that if he jumped out of the plane, without supplies or a locating device, he very likely would not survive on the ground. So he didn’t jump.

Needless to say, the pilot was able to successfully land the aircraft and as they left the plane the pilot told dad that he was in deep trouble. The pilot reported the incident to his commanding officer and demanded that dad be brought up on charges for disobeying a direct order. It so happened that dad knew, and was friendly with, the commanding officer. The officer brought dad before him and asked him to explain what happened. Dad told him exactly what happened and the commanding officer listened with great interest. After dad finished the commanding officer looked at dad and said, “Bill, don’t worry about it.” There was no court martial or any other kind of discipline. We can only speculate what that commanding officer had to say to the complaining pilot.