Drawing a Blank. Without a Clue.

SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010


Drawing a Blank. Without a Clue.

So I get from freedictionary.com that drawing a blank is: 1. . Fig. to get no response; to find nothing. 2. Fig. to fail to remember something.

I didn’t find anything about Annie Oakley using blanks in some of her shooting tricks. I am sure this could never have happened. There was never slight of hand involved shooting holes through coins or anything like that. Trust me on this one.

I was very familiar with the definition in #1 and the reason I looked up the phrase was really #2. I had something I thought was going to be a wonderful topic for today’s blog all worked out last nite before I went to bed. The problem is that half of my brain is in my computer. I failed to record the information there. I also failed to write it down in one of the 3,277 pads I have all around the house or even in my trusty Toshiba 310 Personal Digital Assistant. In some ways my 310 PDA is better than an iPad because it can use a stylus and letter recognition OR the virtual keyboard, despite what Steve Jobs thinks. In other ways I just might prefer an iPad.


I am sure that what ever it was that I wanted to remember and was sure I would will come to mind. Exactly like Sister Mediatrix used to tell us… “If it’s not a lie, you’ll remember.” Not too many old nuns lived in the convent or there were a few liars under that roof.

One of the best things about not being able to remember something is the exact second that you get that OOH, OOH moment. It flashes into your consciousness like Frank H. Chuck Yeager in Glamorous Glennis breaking the sound barrier.

Many folks know that Chuck broke the sound barrier. Many don’t know that he did not follow the normal route to become a pilot. Yeager enlisted before the war started in 1941 and was trained as an aircraft mechanic. Chuck was not eligible for pilot training because he was too young and didn’t have the education required. It was a stroke of luck for him that the US got involved in the war and recruiting standards for pilots were changed. Yeager became eligible for flight training. This is a case of being the right person in the right place at precisely the right time. That was a good thing for us but a bad thing for the Germans.

Chuck was a little of a Hot Dog and was grounded for ‘pruning a tree belonging to a local farmer during a training flight’.

He flew another Glamorous Glennis during the war and she took good care of him because on his eighth mission, after he had only shot down one Hun; he was shot down. He escaped thru France because he was the right guy in the right place at precisely the right time. The Maquis helped him get to the Pyrenees. Another guy had the same kind of luck as Yeager and he got to the Pyrenees too but lost part of his leg. Chuck got the Bronze Star for helping him get up and over the mountains. They both managed to make it into Spain and get back to England just before D-Day.

Just after D-Day Chuck and another 'evader' pilot had a personal audience with Ike and they were allowed to fly over France again because they convinced the general that the French Resistance was actively fighting the Germans with the allies so it was not a danger to the Marquis if they got shot down again. Normally, if you had gotten shot down once over enemy territory and survived you got a one way ticket home and sold War Bonds or trained new pilots. Right guy, right place, right time.

Yeager shot down 11.5 planes. He got five of them in one day when obviously he was the right guy, etc. Two planes he got credit for on his Ace in a Day performance he didn’t even fire a round (one young German pilot panicked when Yeager got in position for his shot and zigged when he should have zagged flying his fighter right into his wing man’s; both planes went down). More of the right stuff.

If you take the one plane he got before he was shot down over enemy territory, add it to the 5 that he got for his Ace in a Day accomplishment, that leaves 5.5 for all the other days flying over enemy territory. Five point five planes was pretty good but for him to go on to the other glories of his military career he really needed to be in the right place at the right time. He did not get credit for one plane he did shoot down because he wasn’t supposed to be flying when he was an ‘evader’ before Ike intervened.


Yeager was good but he also was very lucky.

I will revisit the career of Chuck Yeager some time in the future. When, I don’t have a clue. But I just had that OOH, OOH moment; the sound barrier was broken between my ears.


Today is Father’s Day. My Father in Law flew B-17’s in WWII and they were protected by P-51 Mustangs. The plane Yeager flew. So that is the connection.

Elmer wanted to fly airplanes. He was ready to go into service right at the beginning of the war but he was not old enough to enter pilot's training without his parents’ permission. His dad refused permission unless Elmer went into another branch of service. Elmer really wanted to fly airplanes.

If he had managed to enlist early in the war and fly the B-17’s there is a very high probability that he would not be here now. The early survival rate of B-17 pilots was not too good. If he had gotten shot down Chuck probably wouldn’t be around to help him over the Pyrenees.

Elmer went in when he could do what he wanted to do and took his pilot training. Initially he wanted to fly the forked tail devil, the P-38. He was told he was too tall for the small cockpit and they really needed bomber pilots.

I wonder if Chuck flew any of the missions that protected those flights of B-17’s that came later in the war when Elmer was flying. I know they were flying at the same time.

I guess my FIL was the right person in the right place.

I know I certainly am. I do wish I could be cooking him some barbeque this afternoon instead of being so far away from him at precisely the right time. So does DakotaDawg. She really loves Elmer.

Happy Father’s Day Elmer!

And: Mike, David, Glenn, Tom and Ricky - Happy Father's Day to you too. You too Hermie and Chuck, where ever you are! You have the 'Right Stuff'.

© 06.20.2010 steven d philbrick SR+ DakotaDawg

POSTED BY SRPLUS AT 7:24 AM 0 COMMENTS