Burning Piano's

[syncro_single]

Guys,

Where does the tradition of burning pianos in the Officers' Mess come from?

Thanks

Pete

[effortless]

Cheaper than tuning them.

[philrigger]

;)

What is this CLUB to which your story refers ?

[Fitter2]

What is this CLUB to which your story refers ?


Information restricted on a 'need to know' basis.

[OHP 15M]

How come officers always get away with burning pianos under the guise of 'high spirits'? As a knocker, throw a donkey into a hotel swimming pool in Sicily, play football with a dead cat in Gibraltar or acuse the Govenor of Guernsey of Nazi collaboration and everyone gets all upset!

I'm sure there's many, many 'high-spirited' stories out there that are a bit more interesting than torching the old joanna?


' tis the season to be jolly, Merry Christmas PPRuNers :ok:

[Blacksheep]

In this work, a piano (one that is beyond repair and ready to be trashed) is burned, allowing the listener to hear a variety of pitched and unpitched sounds as the piano strings heat and break.I was present in the RAF Changi NAAFI when 205 Sqn Groundcrew gave a Jazz recital that culminated in a Modern Jazz arrangement of that very piece, with the crescendo occuring as the piano, blazing majestically, descended the staircase. A truly stirring, heart warming performance. :ok:

[Tigger_Too]

There was a piano supplier near Stamford. If you 'phoned and said that you were interested in buying a piano, the instant response was:

"Would that be a 'player' or a 'burner' sir"

[cornish-stormrider]

Didn't (don't) XII have a piano bombing comp at Tain every year or is it the XV schoolchildren :E

ISTR one crew had a CEP (correct term?) of zero, they bombed the piano dead on.....

Us linies had a tradition, well several actually, there is the 10 - 0 on the kicker table and it's twice round 't hanger with trollies down. There is the fine and upstanding tradition of 10:27, naked drinking and the culmination of them all...................

The naked beach run,

Is it me or are all the traditions I know involve nakedness, I must be an exhibitionist:E

[Sloppy Link]

The difference between a piano and an onion?

Nobody cries when you chop up an onion.



I'll get me coat.

[Warmtoast]

Royal Navy don't burn pianos aboard ship, probably a dangerous thing to do in a confined space. However, they seem to get rid of their time-expired 'Joannas' with a little more finesse as seen here.

Apologies if its been posted before.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/ArkRoyal1978PianoCatapaultLaunch.jpg

[Shack37]

As airplanes became more powerful and lethal,


would that be aeroplanes Flt. Lt.?


throw a donkey into a hotel swimming pool in Sicily, play football with a dead cat in Gibraltar or acuse the Govenor of Guernsey of Nazi collaboration and everyone gets all upset


Tongue in cheek I hope or very, very sick, although the Governor is fair game.


Temporary sense of humour loss, carry on.

s37

[spamcanner]

Agreed :hmm:

[foldingwings]

Royal Navy don't burn pianos aboard ship, probably a dangerous thing to do in a confined space. However, they seem to get rid of their time-expired 'Joannas' with a little more finesse as seen here.


The piano in question had a plaque on the back that stated: 'Property of RAF Honington Officers' Mess'.

809 Squadron (Buccaneers) home base at the time of the last Ark commission was Honington and, without a piano of their own, they nicked the mess piano and took it to sea - and launched it into the briney rather than bring it home for burning (or admit to their guilt!).

The scheming ba**ards!:ok:

Foldie (On 12 Squadron Buccs at the time)

[DON T]

Blacksheep,

I can remember it well. I played for a darts team called Your Round Next. The Pedang Naafi at Changi was supposed to be the posh Naafi.

When the Britannia Club closed downtown their piano flew very nicely into the swimming pool. (mind it was them matelots that done it)

[Geehovah]

Hands up all those who were present at the famous piano burning session after Exercise Guest Flint at Wildenrath in 1981.

Trains, Phantoms, Jaguars and milk were all involved.

Oh and a load of fun

[Willy Miller]

try placing a few catering tins of NAAFI baked beans into the piano prior to ignition - for extra OOOOMPH !

[thunderbird7]

A Donkey in the pool :eek:

Group Standards must have been slipping!

At least we changed hotels for the next det.

[KeepItTidy]

The simple fact of the matter was that England lost nearly a generation of men to World War I,

So nobody else fought Englands war in WW1 :=

Typical arrogance thats never forgotten

[spanners123]

That's a fair point KIT :D

[farefield]

I think he cut and pasted from an American article,hence,also the reference to "o club" ......Jock.

[MAINJAFAD]

The story of the burning of Coltishall's last one is a classic, especially the shouting match between an Air Commodore and a Group Captain outside the entrance which preceded the event. (Wife of a workmate worked in the mess and saw the whole thing).

[Blacksheep]

I was captain of The Bodgers, CAN T and was walking up the stairs on my way to the regular Wednesday league as the piano was launched from the top. I only just made it to the first floor landing as the blazing piano passed.

The replacement piano was encased in a cage with two armholes for the player's access, which stopped it being launched down the stairs, but failed to stop it disappearing in smoke when the NAAFI closed down in '71.

[pontifex]

The Coltishall piano burning occured during the dining in night for a very senior NATO visit - lots of starred ociffers. Station master (who shall remain nameless) had organised two very old pianos to be burned in the almost empty car park to amuse the assembled very senior officers. It was supposed to be a tradition from WW1 that pianos were burned when a sqn disbanded. ( I think a Coningsby sqn was disbanding).
Said pianos were set on fire when Staish said to a JP"is that yours which has failed its MOT and is awaiting the knackers". YES. So Staish and many senior NATO officers get on board and aimed between the two pianos. Didn't make it and got stuck. Station fire section called but all domestic fire incidents also go to local fire brigade. Call intercepted by local press. Next day in Daily Mail or Sun or something was story of hooligan officers. Staish then asked to explain action of his officers by AOC. Then all went quiet!

[MAINJAFAD]

Different piano burning, that would be the bumper car one I first heard of in the very early 1990's in various forms, glad to hear a more detailed version (Told the bones of it ten years ago by a Sqn Ldr who was saw the event while a junior FC at Tidytoilet, who also told me how a German phantom wing at the time did in piano’s at mess functions……

with axes!!!!

[FJJP]

At Scampton in the late 70s, a weekend Families Day was organised with a large number of visiting aircrew to stay (static and flying display crews). It was anticipated that happy hour would be a wiz-bang event, with lots of free barrels and a threat to the mess piano. The guys went down to Lincoln and bought an old piano from the auction rooms for a tenner and shipped it back to the carpenter’s shop. For a few slabs, they did a top rate job of French polishing the wreck. (Looked magnificent). The mess upright was locked in the silver room (it was regularly tuned by a blind piano tuner and was in amazing nick).

As the night progressed, the fast jet mates decided to teach the bomber boys how it was done back home and duly heaved and pushed this beautiful (refurbished) wreck out to the front of the mess. It was well alight by the time the word got to the PMC, who had a major sense of humour failure. It took several Sqn bosses to prevent him taking a fire axe to the perpetrators. He did not regain his sense of humour when told where his beloved real upright was.

The fire section took great delight in putting out fire, in the process blowing the debris far and wide (ever seen the cast iron frame airborne?). One of the FJ mates jumped on the fire wagon and turned the branch on all and sundry standing in front of the mass (inc the Staish, who was laughing like a drain at the time).

It was an incredibly successful weekend and we looked after the visitors right royal.

[galaxy flyer]

This could turn into a continuation of the famed "1Gp Dining-In" thread. One of the most hilarious threads ever on Pprune.

GF

[BEagle]

FJJP - I think I remember that event!
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Internet/zxzxz.jpg

The piano burning was announced by 'Mongo' (Joe B***s of 35 Sqn) advising over the mess Tannoy "If anyone has got a car parked in front of the mess, you'd better move it NOW before it gets burned!"

Various pianos were lined up in front of the mess. A few BINA ERS ripped up and inserted, followed by the 'Night' end of a timex Day/Night distress flare got the buggers going quite merrily.....

Some tw@t decided to drive his Morris 1100 through a piano pyre. But he'd left the window open, so was treated to the 'Day' end - amazing how thick orange smoke can be when confined within an 1100. And the effects of said smoke on the interior are somewhat permanent!

Then Captain Flack and his gang turned up and drenched everything - including Wing Commanders various and the Station Commander who thought it was tremendous fun. Some poor Blunty who wasn't there but had left his mess window open was somewhat mystified when he came back on Sunday night to find his bed rather damp!

We then repaired to the bar. After a couple of beers I realised that it wasn't very warm, I was bloody soaked and starting to shiver, so decided to bugger off home to the house 4 of us shared in Scothern before hypothermia became critical. We simply didn't know about drinking and driving limits in those days.

Best news was that the Sqn CSRO decided that we'd all earned a BTR tick for Combat Survival for use of the D/N flare, practical firelighting and hypothermia awareness!

This was ex-RAFG F4 Wing Weapons Officer Mongo Joe's attempt to recreate a NATO beercall as best he could on a nuclear bomber station 'somewhere in Lincolnshire'. And a damned fine effort too!

Any ex-Scampton Officers' Mess folk on here? Question of the Day - why were the main bar doors surmounted by a small plaque enscribed 'Wright Memorial Doors'?

Simpler, happier times.........:ok:

[The Real Slim Shady]

The simple fact of the matter was that England lost nearly a generation of men to World War I,

You utter,utter,utter ENGLISH ******.

Jingoistic buffoon.


Your miserable arses were saved by others.

[The Old Fat One]

Flt Lt Mac

you might be a little surprised to find yourself castigated so vigerously by the jock brigade for what was presumably nothing more than a complacent oversight in an otherwise excellent post.

Don't be too outraged (or surprised). When it comes to the "I'm a well-balanced victim, with a chip on both shoulders", them north of Hadrian's Barrier know no equal.

Top thread by the way

[seac]

I have great memories of a NATO exchange at a Dutch AFB at Volkel in th '80's.

The leafy squadron had duly loaded the red piano on to the Herc, rolled it down for the welcome evening and set fire to it . But as the Dutch are so in love with cycling , they had a bike shed near to hand. As the embers began to fade , two JP's decided it would be a good idea to "borrow" two bikes, and have a ramp erected so they could jump over the flames .

Great fun, the the engine Chief ( DS for those who remember him) decided to boost the flames with a bucket of Avpin !!!!!!!! Don't know who it scared most, the jumping jocks, or the engine chief , as the flames chased back up the stream of Avpin.

[farefield]

It's a cut and pasted AMERICAN article,jeez. They often say England when they mean Britain,don't take it so personally.