To: Dingducky
This may or may not apply and besides, it probably happened before you were born.
I was stationed at CGAS Traverse City, Michigan the year was 1950. It was a lousy day with a great deal of snowfall. A Capital Airlines DC-3 had landed and requested refuge in our hangar.
The airline pilot was sipping coffee with our pilots on the mess deck. He told our pilots that his aircraft had just been equipped with a runway localizer and that required that another instrument had to be relocated. He complained loudly that he found it difficult getting used to the relocation of that instrument. Our engineering officer laughed out loud and told the Airline pilot the following.
We have two PBYs, two UF-1Gs (SA-16), one JRF Grumman Goose, one JRB (Beech C-45),
one HO3S (S-51) two HO4Ss (S55 Two models),
three HO5Ss (S52) and one Bell HTL1 (early version of B-47 and all of our pilots must maintain currency in all of them because they never know what type of mission they will be assigned to. I don't know what other service had those requirements.
Even the mechanics were dual qualified on rotary and fixed wing
Now in the Coast Guard you either fly rotary wing or fixed wing and maybe some are dual qualified.
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The Cat
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 05 December 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 05 December 2000).]