Search for a downed military plane.

Age 12, 1942
A military airplane had disappeared somewhere over the Ashley National Forest north of Vernal.  The military dispatched a fleet of Civil Air Patrol planes to Vernal to conduct a search.  These were small, two-passenger, planes which were piloted by civilian pilots who were donating their time to conduct the search. Vernal seldom saw a single airplane and now there were fifteen to twenty planes flying in and out of the Vernal airport.

Incidentally the airport was only a pasture where someone had planted a pole which held a wind sock.  The pasture was adequate for the small Piper Cub or T-Craft planes being used for the search.  The only problem occurred when several days of rain occurred.  Then the pasture became too muddy  for planes to take off or  land.

There was always a crowd gathered at the "airport" when the planes were taking off or landing.  There was also always a group of young boys wandering among the planes after they had been parked.  Every one of these boys dreamed of the future when they would be old enough to join the U.S. Air Force and fly planes all over the world.

These small airplanes were ancient compared to today's jets.  For example, the air speed of the small aircraft was measured by a small tube that extended from a forward point under a wing to the airspeed gauge in the instrument panel in the cockpit.  The faster the plane traveled, the greater was the force of the wind entering the tube and this resulted in the speedometer showing the faster speed.  A group of four or five friends and myself  were wandering among the parked airplanes.  The doors to the cockpit were, of course, always locked but we could peak through the side windows.  As we were examining one of the planes, someone discovered the small tube and wondered why and what it was.  Since I was enamored with any airplane and had read extensively about airplanes, I knew why the tube was there.  With a great deal of superiority, I explained the purpose of the tube.

Now what do you suppose the next logical step was for a group of young, mentally retarded, twelve year old boys?  Someone wondered if we could blow into the tube hard enough to register on the speedometer.  We quickly experimented and found when one of us blew into the tube, the speedometer quickly displayed this speed.  This in turn developed into a contest to see who could "blow the fastest"

Before a champion could be declared, however, the pilot returned to the his plane and discovered what was going on with his airplane.  He was absolutely furious.  He screamed at us.  He threatened to have us all arrested for molesting government property.  He whined to the other pilots that he may not know his air speed during take offs and landings.  He insisted that a guard be posted to keep such dumb boys from getting near the parked airplanes.  It seems his concern was that the boys may have been blowing saliva as well as air.  The pilot was concerned that this saliva may have damaged the speedometer.  We made a hasty retreat.  However, since no airplane crashed during take offs or landings, we assumed we had not caused any damage.

Grandpa's wisdom - 

Advic from a farmer friend:     Forgive your enemies.  It messes up their heads.
     It doesn't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
     You cannot unsay a cruel word.
     When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

If Biblical headlines were written by today's liberal media.

     On healing the 10 lepers:
          Local Doctor's Practice Ruined.

     On raising Lazarus from the dead:
          Fundamentalist Preacher Raises  A Stink

     On David vs. Goliath:
          Hate Crime Kills Beloved Champion.

God bless yo'all and have fun today.