Fareastdriver (your #8456),
...That’s when the water meth failed and we lost 4,000lbs of thrust...
Knowing next to nothing about multi-engined aviation, does "safety speed" have anything in common with V1 ? I can imagine a situation in a heavily loaded aircraft where losing 4,000 lbs of thrust on take-off would be a serious matter.
...but you could feel the panic in the back...
I'm not surprised !
...“Off you go, have a good time.”...
Doesn't sound much of a good time to me. The mixture of "single men in barricks" (Kipling) and the "Sex Workers" (as we now must learn to call them) has always caused trouble in the armed forces. In my day in India, the M.O.s regularly lectured us. Most took the pragmatic view that their audience would divide into three groups: the first were the incorrigibles, who were deaf to advice and warning, and would go after "tail" whenever and wherever it was on offer. Mind you, that would only be in the towns where there were settled camps. In the rural villages near the jungle "kutcha" strips, never in their worst nightmares would even they be tempted !
At the other extreme were those who, from upbringing, religious conviction or sheer aversion to the whole sordid business, would remain continent whatever happened. This left the greater bulk of the undecided, and the good doctors concentrated on them. They were armed with sets of truly terrifying photographs of the possible consequences of a "night out" - and remember, that in those pre-penicillin days, cure was by no means quick, easy or comfortable.
To round off an unappetising subject, there was an apocryphal story of a Colonel who, in the absence of his M.O., decided to deliver the oration himself. After a few preliminary harrumphs, he started off: "
It has come to my notice that some of you men have been putting your private parts where I would not put the ferrule of my walking stick......."
...We had been taken for a ride...
'Fraid so. Could have been worse.
...As a single flying officer living in the mess I was only on £45 a month...
As a single Flight Lieutenant (with Flying Pay) I was on only £45 a month as late as early 1955, before I married and it went up to about £65. We set up house on that.
I do hope not ! (at least, not for good ! - there must be lots more in the pot, FED).
Danny.