OT: Warbirds

[GM]

Originally posted by Old Guy:

I'm agnostic- evidence please.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Interesting! This one's right up there with the 'only low mass, high BL drivers are suitable for horn loading' edict. The one I was remembering actually refers to fragmentation weapons that aren't easily traceable in a human body such as sonic cannons.

[bfish]

Something like Dr. Zippermeyer's Whirlwind Cannon?

[Ronald Lee]

Originally posted by GM:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Old Guy:
He may well have survivied cannon fire. Lucky man.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yet not so lucky, he died young of lung cancer in '57 IIRC as a consequence of the toxic conditions he worked in at the late Fisher Body Plant's spray painting facility. We always knew what colors were sprayed that day by what was in his hair, etc. since only minimal protection was provided.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is unfortunate to survive the war, and come home and have GM kill him. Back then, those paints have all kinds of weird solvents, probably some of them were carcinogenic.

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According to a neighbor of mine, Ed Justice who owns Justice Bros automotive additives used to fly his P51 around the San Gabriel Valley(10 miles east of Los Angeles). That thing is LOUD! He said that you hear him flying all over the Valley on Saturdays. I believe he died a few years back or got so old, he couldn't fly anymore.

[chopsrr]

Well since we're on the subject of P51's, 50BMG's and such, I thought I'd share a few pictures from this year's "Sun 'n Fun Fly In" in Lakeland, FL back in April. It's one of the largest shows in the country and they thrive on War Birds.

You can view all of the pics of the two days that I was there on my website...

http://charlest.zenfolio.com

[chopsrr]

Oops! I goofed on the 4th pic.

This is the one I meant to put there.

[bfish]

If any of you warbird fans ever get to Tucson, Az., I'd highly recommend a visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum

Not only one of the world's largest and complete indoor aviation museums, the Pima Air & Space Museum offers exclusive bus tours of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the "Boneyard." The facility is located adjacent to the Museum at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Allow at least a day (or two) to take it all in. Since I was there last, they've opened a new hanger featuring the SR-71.

[bowtie427ss]

"the whole nine yards"

Anybody know the origin?

[bowtie427ss]

My mom had six brothers who all served in WWII. All of them saw live combat in one form or another. My uncle George was a belly gunner on a B-17 the "Square C". Miraculously, Gramma got all her boys back, more or less in one piece tho none would ever be the same people they were before the war.

500 rounds of belted .50BMG ammunition measures exactly 27 feet in length.

The quote "i gave em the whole nine yards" was broadcast over many intercoms and radios back in the day.

[GM]

Originally posted by bowtie427ss:

The quote "i gave em the whole nine yards" was broadcast over many intercoms and radios back in the day.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmm, after reading this http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/nineyards.htm and your response I decided to ask three of my neighbors that were adults during WWII (widows of soldiers that survived it, one a Canadian in Canada during this time and two suburb Atlanta 'Southern Belles') and FWIW none recalled ever hearing/reading the phrase before seeing the movie on TV recently and didn't have a clue why it had a title with no apparent tie-in to the plot.

That said, I can't remember where/when I first heard it and I'm 18 years younger than the youngest of these three, though for sure I was an adult and since I was exposed to most of my 'slang' other than my region specific colloquialisms during the Asian Police Action, I assume this is when I was exposed to this one.

BTW, how do ya'll embed links inside a word or phrase?

[bfish]

To embed links, use the "URL" button and paste the desired URL in the first popup, and the desired text in the second.

I searched the 9 yard phrase a little, the BMG50 was a common use, but unlikely as the actual source since it didn't appear in print till around '61...