You May Be A WWII Junkie

[CWO Marc]

@Gargantua:

Uhmm… guy at bottom right?
TIME TRAVELLER? lol wicked costume, and definitely - a “WWII Junkie If” contestant of the century!

I don’t know the exact title these guys had, but he’s one of the carrier crewmen whose job is to give hand signals to pilots as they taxi across the flight deck to help them get into position for takeoff or park after landing.  You can see them in action in the classic color WWII docu-drama The Fighting Lady.  If you think their uniforms look dorky, their hand and arm signals look even more silly.  Those signals, however, were standardized and weren’t viewed as a laughing matter by anyone on the dangerous environment of a flight deck where one mistake can result in someone being cut in half by a propeller.

[LHoffman]

Aircraft Directors. On the Flight Deck aka Bears.

The one at the very bottom right could be a number of things though. It is hard to tell his jersey color.

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman:

Aircraft Directors. On the Flight Deck aka Bears.
The one at the very bottom right could be a number of things though. It is hard to tell his jersey color.

Thanks for supplying the position name.  On my screen the guy’s outfit looks kind of yellow in colour, which matches what can be seen at 21:00 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Mjbw0GBog

[Gargantua]

Oh for sure it’s a high-visibility Aircraft Director.  It just looks funny! :P

Those signals, however, were standardized and weren’t viewed as a laughing matter by anyone on the dangerous environment of a flight deck where one mistake can result in someone being cut in half by a propeller

LOL - Absolutely agree.

[CWO Marc]

By coincidence, just yesterday I was rewatching the 1944 film “Wing and a Prayer” with Dana Andrews, which includes a scene where an aircraft director is giving signals to a nervous carrier pilot who’s preparing for his first take-off after being on stress leave.  He leans forward, arms hanging straight down, hands facing each other, fingers curled into scoops, and repeatedly swings his arms to bring his hands close together then far apart.  Translation: You forgot to close your bomb bay doors.  The pilot fixes the mistake.  The plane director signals the plane to move forward a bit, then sees something else he doesn’t like.  He extends his arms horizontally to full length, palms together, fingers flat, hands horizontal, then repeatedly opens and closes his hands, using the heels of his hands like a hinge.  Translation: You forgot to extend your flaps.  The pilot fixes that mistake too.  Up on the carrier’s island, the ship’s Air Ops officer is getting mightily annoyed with the pilot for messing up his preflight checklist so badly.  The pilot eventually takes off, but misjudges his airspeed and immediately ends up in the drink; he gets fished out by a destroyer, while his plane sinks.  I can just imagine the kind of non-regulation hand signals that the Air Ops officer might have wanted to give this guy at that point, but the 1940s Hollywood production code wouldn’t have allowed that kind of thing to be shown onscreen.

[Imperious Leader]

Dana Andrews was wonderful in Sink the Bismarck BTW, as well as that episode of Twelve O’clock High.

[CWO Marc]

@Imperious:

Dana Andrews was wonderful in Sink the Bismarck

Actually, that was Dana Wynter in Sink the Bismarck.  She was indeed great in her role as a WREN officer.  She was so patient and understanding towards her SOB boss in that role that it was quite a shock to later see her play Burt Lancaster’s arrogant, tongue-lashing wife in Airport.

[Imperious Leader]

Oh righto. :-D

[Yavid]

You may be a WW2 Junkie if when playing other war games like Battlefront Heroes on facebook you notice the level 1 tanks look like Panzer IIs, the level 2 tanks look like Panzer IIIs, looking at tanks other people have you see Tiger Is

[ABWorsham4]

If you were watching Discovery Channel’s Wings and Field of Armor instead of Saturday morning cartoons as a teen, you may be a WW2 junkie.

[Yavid]

@ABWorsham:

If you were watching Discovery Channel’s Wings and Field of Armor instead of Saturday morning cartoons as a teen, you may be a WW2 junkie.

I’ll 2nd that.

[barney]

If you grew up watching Jonh Wayne movies

[ABWorsham4]

If mash potatoes generally cause you to think of potato smasher grenades, you may be a WWII junkie. Just happened to me in the kitchen  8-)

[Gargantua]

@ABWorsham:

If mash potatoes generally cause you to think of potato smasher grenades, you may be a WWII junkie. Just happened to me in the kitchen  8-)

Lol now that’s bad…

[Putzky]

Lol  ><

[tloger]

You may be a junkie if your vanity plates on your car are 1181942.

[ABWorsham4]

My son had some Axis and Allies submarines out on table next to his tablet. I told him, your tablet makes a great U-boat pen.

That makes you a WW2 junkie.

[The Pripet Martian]

If you see the headline of the article linked below and immediately wonder why they stuck an “s” on the end of Sir Arthur’s nickname, you might be a WWII junkie:

https://winnipegsun.com/sports/football/bombers-harris-earns-star-of-the-week

[barnee]

@The-Pripet-Martian

LOL !

[Caesar-Seriona]

If you actually know what the War of 1941 is.