I flew as a flight engineer on several long term SAR missions (14 + hours) and the pilots had a bottle of engine smoothener in their nav kits. This was not to make them drunk but to keep them from sobering up completely. Not to excuse them but many of these pilots were WW 2 vets that had flown on submarine search patrols and convoy patrols that were both boring and very dangerous.. .. .On one flight I flew in the right hand seat on a Grumman Goose. The nickname of the pilot was Shakey. I had flown with him on many occasions and found him to be an excellent pilot but I did not know why he was called Shakey. On that flight I found out. We landed at Buffalo airport and he went into the Administration building and looked for a bar. He found it but it was closed. It was in the middle of winter and while waiting for a crew to come pick up our cargo he sobered up. Then I found out why he was called Shakey. I ended up flying the aircraft to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY. We stayed there for several days and just prior to leaving he hit the O club and tanked up. On our way to Philadelphia our heating system malfunctioned and it really got cold in the aircraft. Between Brooklyn and Philadelphia he sobered up again and I flew the airplane to Cleveland.. .. .Regarding the German SAR crash the alcohol content of the pilots’ blood would have most likely gone unnoticed if it happened in Bavaria where beer is considered to be a food.