Many years ago when I was in the USCG many of our pilots had been in WW 2 operating seaplanes over the North Atlantic on submarine patrols. The constant danger and the isolation resulted in a lot of drinking. During my tenure in CG aviation many of our pilots used to carry a bottle of whiskey in their nav kits when we were going for a long SAR over water. They referred to it as "engine smoothener." On one occasion I flew with our engineering officer. His nickname was Shaky but I never knew why. That is, until this flight. We flew to Buffalo NY to provide supplies to one of our helicopters that was being used to pluck fisherman off of the ice in the Niagara river prior to their going over the falls.
The truck was late and the weather was very cold. Shaky got a little anxious and went into the Admin building to visit the bar but it was closed. Slowly, he sobered up and then I knew why they called him Shaky. During our flight to Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn, NY I did most of the flying as I did on our return to our home base.
Many of the pilots were alcoholics and were transferred to other bases mostly in Alaska. It was a sad state of affairs and I am sure it does not exist in today’s Coast Guard.
