Queensland , Malaysia, Korea

Served with these good old beer drinking blokes and it was an uplifing experience. They would fight or drink a beer with equal exhuberance!!! Would have one of them and another MARINE for support any time or place. They were there also when I was in Korea 1953. OORAH!! SF PM

I "worked" with the Assuies a couple of times in "Indian Country" and PM is right.... they were a bunch good people.

It suprises me just a little to see that writing from an Aussie. I guess it goes to show that others worry about the U.S. as much as we that live here.

Thanks, John, for sharing. I guess us "old" 165ers are still hangin' in there.....;)

I served with some Aussies when I was assigned to Advisory Team 3 at Hue in 1966. There were, and are, good people. I have an uncle who worked in Australia for several years, and he said that the Australians support America because they remember that we saved their buns in WW II when we kept the Japanese from invading their country. And they have long memories, unlike some other countries.

Aussie's Ode to america

Hey Roth:

I'm surprised by the quality of Col's writing but not by the sentiments expressed. Remember when after 9/11 the Brits played American National Anthem in place of the British. That's never been done before. I'm not sure that Americans realise how significant that is to the Brits but it's huge.

As you know I'm English (although of Irish ancestry, now there's a formula for trouble) but I've been here so long that when I'm in England, the Brits think I'm American. What they don't realise is I can pick up the subtle undercurrents constantly present in English conversation. Combine that with a group of friends in England who are perfectly willing to put me under intense interrogation in the pub where anything of importance in England is discussed, and I think have a good feel for how people are thinking and feeling.

In general, people look to America as the one place on earth where freedom is valued above all else. They may not want to live here and we can annoy them beyond reason sometimes with our 'bull in a china shop' approach but they are glad America is here and thriving. The feeling at general public level is often much at varience with what politicians are saying, no surprise there, and there is often the snide amusment at the 'top kid on the block' stubbing his toe. But every country in the world has relatives here and in many ways there is a feeling that America belongs to everyone.

American Presidential elections are reported on in England as though the Brits can vote. If you want really good reporting on American Politics, read the Times of London. When a radio talkshow host commented that England might as well be the 51st State, his listeners reacted with a "What's wrong with that" attitude. Even the callers who objected agreed that they could live with it.

When I was leaving England I had to get clearance from the IRS. They actually gave me a rebate, to speed me on my way, maybe. The agent asked me where I was going and when I told him to the US to work for Boeing, he said "Good for you, lad, if I was your age I'd be with you."

John,

I'm happy to hear that the "Brits" feel the way they do. Your'e right, as well, when you say we all have "family" in the Islands.

I knew the Aussies always kinda liked working with us. I can't remember hearing of anyone else they would share their beer with!! hehehe

I'm glad you went to work for Boeing. You were an outstanding rep and especially with your work on the "station 410" situation we ran into.

Thanks for your expertise during that little problem. I don't think the "fix" would have developed quite as quickly as it did without your input and research.

Sempers, and hope to see you in Reno.

Ode to America

Thanks for the compliments, I'm not sure they're deserved but I'll take them anyway.

I worked on various possible solutions for the 'desync' problems when I was in Engineering but my field was Flight Controls, especially 'Fly by Wire', so my involvement was peripheral at most. But almost everyone in Engineering at that time worked on the 'desync' problem as it was known in house. It took priority over everything else. Station 410 was the weakest point on the fuselage and when something catastrophic occured, that was where the airplane failed. When Sta. 410 was beefed up, the failure occured somewhere else. The solution was to fix the original problems and there were more than one. The feeling in Engineering was that the extra weight added by the beefup of Sta. 410 wasn't a good idea but that wasn't received well by the field. They may have been right but they were sitting at a desk not out flying.

I worked on a version of the H-46 that was to be completely 'Fly by Wire', no manual controls at all. Saved a ton of weight and was extremely responsive but it didn't go into production.

I believe the Tech Rep who did the most to help clear up the problems with Sta 410 was Norm Clark, a Popasmoke member. He was a member of the original design team, was the Tech Rep with HMM-164 when they deployed, did at least 3 tours 'in country', worked for NAESU until he retired and was promptly rehired by Boeing. His career pretty much covers the entire service of the H-46 and recently he was all ready to go overseas again. What he doesn't know about the H-46 isn't worth knowing. Unlike me, he doesn't feel compelled to post to Popasmoke when someone says something he knows to be wrong. I wish he would but there you are.