The Daedalian General Membership Meeting was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in North Austin on Thursday, 11 February 2016. It was a luncheon meeting with members gathering after 1100 hours.
Following a social period, the Flight Captain, Ron Butler, called the meeting to order at 1200 hours. The Flight
Captain led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Provost Marshall toasted our departed brothers, sisters,
and the Commander-in-Chief. Our honored guests were introduced and toasted by the Flight Commander. Rip Torn
mentioned two You Tube videos you might watch: "Sh!t pilots don't say," and "Sh!t pilots wives don't say". The
previous minutes were approved. |
GUESTS | HOST | |
Charlotte Firestone | Ken Firestone | |
Rich Cardiel | Scott Stevens |
During that lunch with the SOS students, Alex ask everyone if they knew he invented the relief tube. About 1922, the Chief of the Air Service, Maj Gen Mason Patrick, was not a pilot. In visiting units by air, every time the general had to urinate, his pilot, Lt Millard Harmon, had to land. Lt Harmon approached Alex with the problem. Alex poked a hole in the airplane, and inserted a metal tube. He figured the slip stream would suck out the urine (venturi effect). On the next flight, the general began pounding on the Lt Harmon to land. The venturi effect was too strong and it sucked the general's uhhhh.... member ...into the funnel that Alex had attached to the tube, and Gen Patrick could not extricate himself! Later Alex was involved with the gyroscopically stabilized bombsight, in-flight refueling, filed 364 patents, and his team developed the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Many years later, retired Sen Barry Goldwater stopped by Barksdale in a C-21. He was then very old and would take 45 seconds to descend the aircraft's 3 steps. The senator had to use the men's room - - badly, and said the C-21's toilet was too difficult to use. Brett had met the airplane, and suggested the senator use a piddle pak. Though he'd never heard of the device, he asked Brett to get him one so he could evaluate it. After seeing one, the senator asked for a case; he was so happy that he said he would use it at home!
The females who fly up to 12 hour missions in the U-2 and their associated space suit, use a special diaper and throw it away after the mission.
Brett told us about a friend who commanded a couple of Space Shuttle missions. On one mission they had a newly designed toilet that sorta had spin cycle for solids. When the toilet broke during the first day of the mission, the crewmembers just had to defecate and catch "it" in plastic bags. After 5 days, one chap just couldn't do this, and he wound up incapacitated.
Brett's talk featured an unusual subject - - but an entertaining one!