As promised, here is one of several amusing tales from an original Me-262 pilot, Mr. Hans Busch, as related to the audience at one of the Planes of Fame Museum’s (Chino, Calif.) monthly seminars (2001). I audio-recorded many of those fascinating seminars and still have the recordings.

Hans stated that he was definitely not a fighter pilot, but rather a bomber pilot in the Me-262. Hitler’s ridiculous utilization of many of these advanced aircraft as “bombers” proved futile, as this aircraft had no bomb sight at all and carried only a tiny ordnance load. Bombing with a 262 was totally a blind, hit or miss proposition, no technology involved.

Tale No.1: Hans related an amusing story regarding routine fueling operations in the Me-262. An obvious late-war shortage of men to perform ground operation duties resulted in a number of German women assisting in these activities. One activity was the refueling of the advanced Me-262 jets. One day, Hans was having his Me-262 refueled (as he sat in the cockpit) by a particularly attractive, blonde, buxom, young Luftwaffe airwoman. The airwoman, per prescribed procedure, began the fueling of the aircraft with the forward fuselage tank and, at the same time, Hans and young airwoman making eyes at each other. When the forward fuselage tank was full, aforementioned blonde, buxom airwoman proceded to transfer the fueling hose nozzle to the rear fuselage tank, and due to not shutting off the fuel flow, soaked the following items in noxious German WWII jet fuel in this order: front fuselage, windscreen, Hans, rear cockpit, canopy and rear fuselage, all in one, smooth, fluid motion. Not one change in the airwoman’s cheerful expression was noted by Hans during this wayward procedure :).

Apparently, according to Hans, this German jet fuel was terribly noxious. You simply threw away any clothes that came in contact with it. Interestingly, Hans stated that there was NEVER a shortage of jet fuel, just a shortage of aircraft and pilots. Whatever hydrocarbon fuel cracking process being used by the Germans in late war (whether synthetic, coal-derived fuels or conventional), the process or processes yielded an abundant quantity of jet-suitable fuel.

More Me-262 stories to come!

Best,
– octane130 –

Wasn’t it a O-47 that was used in the final scenes of the 1965 ‘Flight of the Phoenix’ due to the original plane crashing, killing Paul Mantz?

Yes, as JDK posted, this is the very same aircraft that was used in the “Flight of the Phoenix” as a stand-in aircraft. The aircraft was on loan from “The Air Museum” in Ontario, Calif. The museum moved to nearby Chino, Calif. in the late ’70s and is now, of course, the renowned Planes of Fame museum.

– octane130 –

Thanks, jimflint80 for posting those photo links of Darrel Greenamayer’s Red Baron Lockheed F-104! Old memories were brought right up to the surface. I remember seeing THIS Red Baron taking off from Mojave, California in what must have been 1978. First of all, even those that have been privileged enough to have seen an ordinary F-104 take-off would have just been blown away by a take-off from this extemely light-weight, home-built Starfighter! Darrel flew the F-104 at extremely low altitude for just a few seconds after takeoff and then, still in afterburner, pulled the aircraft vertical and performed an immediate “Immelmann.” The aircraft then proceeded to intended destination in the opposite direction. Simply jaw-dropping! This is the kind of thing that U.S. civil pilots could get away with performing at a remote, “uncontrolled” airport such as Mojave on an ordinary day. This was and is strictly verboten at other airports. Mojave is an ex-US Marine Corps Air Station located just outside the limits of the famous Edwards Air Force Base.

By the way, Darrel was banned by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) from flying the F-104 from his local base, Van Nuys Airport in SoCal, USA. One reason was that the F-104 could awaken the dead with its extreme noise levels from the General Electric J79 turbojet engine in a very dense population area and second, this was a dangerous aircraft—-period. The F-104 had to be trucked up to Mojave for flight activities. Darrel was very vociferous in his complaints regarding this. I remember following this on the local television news broadcasts. There was the F-104 perched up on a flat-bed truck in the background.

Darrel received the J79 engine for his project from an “anonymous” donor. Hmm, I wonder who that may have been :).

The ejection seat that he purchased in an Army-Navy surplus store in Oceanside, California was later responsible for saving his life when the landing gear on this aircraft would not extend. You really do not belly-land an F-104 and live to tell about it. Following the ejection and crash of the F-104, Darrel matter-of-factly carried his parachute out to the nearest Mojave Desert road and caught a ride from a local resident back to civilization. Hey, no big deal to him 😮 .

Best,
– octane130 –

Dateline Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada:

The latest word is that Glacier Girl has both of her new engines mounted as of today, Friday July 20! Just a few details such as hose clamps, etc. need to be finished up. That was really fast work but with such a talented crew (Steve and John Hinton, Bob Cardin, Jim Dale, owner Rod Lewis, and others), not really a surprise.

There was a problem with the U.S. shipper that was to deliver the aeromotive engine oil to Goose Bay. They wanted $6000 to deliver the oil from New York to Goose Bay. I don’t know if that also involved some substantial import duties into Canada but the crew obviously and appropriately said “forget it” to this highway robbery and found a more nearby, domestic source. As of today, the oil had not yet arrived but it was on its way. This will teach me not to complain about the US$19.00 for my automobile oil change at Jiffy Lube, ha! 🙂

Glacier Girl may fly tomorrow, Sat. July 20. Tentative plans (very tentative) are for Glacier Girl to fly to Oshkosh, Wisconsin next week for the big AirVenture gathering. Completing the trip to England this year is out, but maybe next year, who knows?

Cheers,
– octane130 –