Re: Our first cover!
Ah yes. I'm still legendary in the P-3 community for this.
Well, I had been writing for Pacific Flyer for many years--mostly doing air racing coverage, but also some other airshows and stuff. And I had become pretty good friends with Wayman Dunlap. So a lot of the time I'd just write him to keep in touch and be my usual, sarcastic self. When I was going through flight school, I'd send him pictures of what I was flying, and sometimes they'd run a little story about me because I was a contributor, etc. He even had one of our squadron photos of our P-3, with an inscription I scribbled across the bottom with something like "keeping the world safe from the Soviet Submarine threat"....a slam at our own community, since the Sov's weren't an issue anymore.
Pacific Flyer also has always supported the military, waves the flag pretty hard, and likes to be pretty tongue in cheek when it comes to humor and sarcasm.
So....its 1995. Brad is 'hard down' at Kadena AB, Okinawa. I've got pneumonia, and haven't flown in three weeks. BORED TO DEATH, and probably a little 'drunk' on cold medication and narcotics (prescribed by the flight surgeon, of course). The latest Pacific Flyer arrives via the Fleet Post Office, and inside there is all the fallout from the Phoenix 500...and how they went bankrupt because of the Donnie Cochran/Blue Angels incident and the shows they had to cancel. One of the side stories is a reprint from the Blue Angels "hosting manual" which talks about all the incredible 'requirements' that an event is supposed to provide when the Blues come to do a show.
I'm feeling a bit belligerant (in my doped up stage), and laugh about how stupid these requirements are. So I pull out the pen and paper and write my old buddy Wayman a personal letter....letting my sarcasm go, naturally....and telling him that he should know not ALL Navy pilots are that arrogant. Hell, I tell him, if any of these airshows need 'filler', they ought to just give our squadron a call--we don't need no private hotel rooms, no police escorts, none of this prima-donna crap. Just give us a boxed lunch, a place to empty our pisser, and a box of pens and we'll sit and sign autographs for the spectators all day. And, I conclude, when we take off, the P-3 blows out almost as much smoke as the Blues do for an entire show. No big thing, right? I throw in some other useless crap in the letter about how I'm not feeling well, hope he's doing better, etc., and then drop it in the mail.
Fast forward a month or two. I'm standing duty at Deigo Garcia at like 7:00 in the morning. Phone rings. On the other end, I recognize the voice of Drago, one of the Navigators I used to fly with. "Big Daddy!" he booms out, "You're a God!!!!" Whut? He can hardly contain himself..."How'd you do it, man? This is BEAUTIFUL!" No idea what he is talking about. "Hang on...let me fax it to you".
Crap.
What comes across the fax two minutes later, but a half page story in the Pacific Flyer titled "Got the Airshow Blues? Call VP-40"...with a by-line of Lt. Brad Haskin...and the 'official' squadron photo of our plane (but trimmed so that my note to Dunlap was cropped out). And he has taken my letter and cut out all the personal stuff, and turned it into an 'article'....with all the embarassing stuff.
Long story short, Brad got taken to Captain's Mast for this....and because I felt that I was being railroaded, I told the old man that I wanted to go to a Courts Martial instead, and bring in Dunlap as a witness. The Old Man was FURIOUS that I would do this in an 'official' capacity, and how dare I make him look bad, and yadda, yadda, yadda. I mean, I was standing tall in my dress whites and he damn near came over the desk at me he was so pissed.
However, the only saving grace was that Dunlap, in little tiny print after the article, had put "This was originally a personal letter to the editor, however it was so funny we just had to share it." That was what saved my ass. And when I chose to go to Courts Martial over Captains Mast (which takes the reprimand power away from the Commanding Officer and puts it in the hands of a JAG/jury), he knew there was nothing he could do except make life miserable for me.
I even got Dunlap on the phone long distance to say it was all his fault, etc.
But this wasn't the first time that a military pilot had gotten into hot water by something 'funny' that the Pacific Flyer did. And they started the "Order of the Red Tailed Hawk"...a double secret organization of military pilots dedicated to 'the cause', who had given their ass--or most of it, at least--for furthering the common good of general aviation and the airshow world. I was officially inducted into it (along with certificate suitable for framing) as member #8.
That article is posted in many a 'ready room' in the Navy. And it is legendary amongst the P-3 community, because even though it is off the wall, it is right on the head accurate. I was a hero to every Junior Officer in the community, and the object of hatred of everyone O-4 and above (just on principle...even if secretly they thought it was funny too).
The cap to all of it was...about two months later, I heard from Dunlap again. He said "You probably don't want to mention this to your Skipper...but we were overwhelmed by response letters to your letter/article. Every single one thought it was hilarious....and six different airshows wanted to know how to get ahold of you so you could bring a plane to their show."
I never brought it up to the Old Man.
Originally posted by tvrphoto
Well, I had been writing for Pacific Flyer for many years--mostly doing air racing coverage, but also some other airshows and stuff. And I had become pretty good friends with Wayman Dunlap. So a lot of the time I'd just write him to keep in touch and be my usual, sarcastic self. When I was going through flight school, I'd send him pictures of what I was flying, and sometimes they'd run a little story about me because I was a contributor, etc. He even had one of our squadron photos of our P-3, with an inscription I scribbled across the bottom with something like "keeping the world safe from the Soviet Submarine threat"....a slam at our own community, since the Sov's weren't an issue anymore.
Pacific Flyer also has always supported the military, waves the flag pretty hard, and likes to be pretty tongue in cheek when it comes to humor and sarcasm.
So....its 1995. Brad is 'hard down' at Kadena AB, Okinawa. I've got pneumonia, and haven't flown in three weeks. BORED TO DEATH, and probably a little 'drunk' on cold medication and narcotics (prescribed by the flight surgeon, of course). The latest Pacific Flyer arrives via the Fleet Post Office, and inside there is all the fallout from the Phoenix 500...and how they went bankrupt because of the Donnie Cochran/Blue Angels incident and the shows they had to cancel. One of the side stories is a reprint from the Blue Angels "hosting manual" which talks about all the incredible 'requirements' that an event is supposed to provide when the Blues come to do a show.
I'm feeling a bit belligerant (in my doped up stage), and laugh about how stupid these requirements are. So I pull out the pen and paper and write my old buddy Wayman a personal letter....letting my sarcasm go, naturally....and telling him that he should know not ALL Navy pilots are that arrogant. Hell, I tell him, if any of these airshows need 'filler', they ought to just give our squadron a call--we don't need no private hotel rooms, no police escorts, none of this prima-donna crap. Just give us a boxed lunch, a place to empty our pisser, and a box of pens and we'll sit and sign autographs for the spectators all day. And, I conclude, when we take off, the P-3 blows out almost as much smoke as the Blues do for an entire show. No big thing, right? I throw in some other useless crap in the letter about how I'm not feeling well, hope he's doing better, etc., and then drop it in the mail.
Fast forward a month or two. I'm standing duty at Deigo Garcia at like 7:00 in the morning. Phone rings. On the other end, I recognize the voice of Drago, one of the Navigators I used to fly with. "Big Daddy!" he booms out, "You're a God!!!!" Whut? He can hardly contain himself..."How'd you do it, man? This is BEAUTIFUL!" No idea what he is talking about. "Hang on...let me fax it to you".
Crap.
What comes across the fax two minutes later, but a half page story in the Pacific Flyer titled "Got the Airshow Blues? Call VP-40"...with a by-line of Lt. Brad Haskin...and the 'official' squadron photo of our plane (but trimmed so that my note to Dunlap was cropped out). And he has taken my letter and cut out all the personal stuff, and turned it into an 'article'....with all the embarassing stuff.
Long story short, Brad got taken to Captain's Mast for this....and because I felt that I was being railroaded, I told the old man that I wanted to go to a Courts Martial instead, and bring in Dunlap as a witness. The Old Man was FURIOUS that I would do this in an 'official' capacity, and how dare I make him look bad, and yadda, yadda, yadda. I mean, I was standing tall in my dress whites and he damn near came over the desk at me he was so pissed.
However, the only saving grace was that Dunlap, in little tiny print after the article, had put "This was originally a personal letter to the editor, however it was so funny we just had to share it." That was what saved my ass. And when I chose to go to Courts Martial over Captains Mast (which takes the reprimand power away from the Commanding Officer and puts it in the hands of a JAG/jury), he knew there was nothing he could do except make life miserable for me.
I even got Dunlap on the phone long distance to say it was all his fault, etc.
But this wasn't the first time that a military pilot had gotten into hot water by something 'funny' that the Pacific Flyer did. And they started the "Order of the Red Tailed Hawk"...a double secret organization of military pilots dedicated to 'the cause', who had given their ass--or most of it, at least--for furthering the common good of general aviation and the airshow world. I was officially inducted into it (along with certificate suitable for framing) as member #8.
That article is posted in many a 'ready room' in the Navy. And it is legendary amongst the P-3 community, because even though it is off the wall, it is right on the head accurate. I was a hero to every Junior Officer in the community, and the object of hatred of everyone O-4 and above (just on principle...even if secretly they thought it was funny too).
The cap to all of it was...about two months later, I heard from Dunlap again. He said "You probably don't want to mention this to your Skipper...but we were overwhelmed by response letters to your letter/article. Every single one thought it was hilarious....and six different airshows wanted to know how to get ahold of you so you could bring a plane to their show."
I never brought it up to the Old Man.
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