Post by jordonj on Jul 4, 2005 11:11:59 GMT -5
Just a photo of me in better days (back when I was younger, and more gung-ho):
Of course after the war, there have been few high-paying jobs for pilots. Also, I ran afowl of some of the bigger names in the FAA, so a career flying in the states is out of the question. I've been getting by since on odd flying jobs...
Well, times have not been good for me the last few months. I paid off some debts with the last big job I earned. However, Uncle Sam wants to know a whole lot when you suddenly come across a lot of money. I had to deal with the IRS and FBI, neither had their hats in their hands when they came to see me. I probably shouldn't have paid off that house either. Well, I'm not exactly destitute or homeless, but I sure could use some money.
I was sitting in my office when in comes this dame. She has a nice blonde hairdo and is wearing a smile that would melt even the most hardcased man (the ones who loved women anyways). It seems that she's looking for a pilot to fly some cargo and is desperate as it could be stolen. I tell her that I'd be happy to fly the job, but my plane is not currently in working order (I wasn't thinking too clearly as I'm a sucker for a pretty face...more on that later). At any rate, she told me not to worry, they had a plane, but just needed a pilot. Then she gave the good news...the job would pay about $10,000! This piqued my interest. She told me to meet her at the airport where I would catch a couple of commercial flights to Iles Wallis over in the pacific.
Now...I still was thinking here was a simple job and maybe my luck was changing. Yeah, like anyone pays that much for a simple job! But I was taken by her pretty face and her sense of desperation.
At any rate, I arrived and was greeted by ten hardened killers with guns! That was when that feeling began to twist in the bottom of my gut...the one where you find yourself asking "what have I gotten into?" They hustled me into an office where the dame was sitting behind a desk. She smiled her seductive smile...one that wasn't pushing the right buttons anymore since my hair was up (I still had hair in those days). Then she started giving me the bad news.
A couple of years ago, she had discovered the whereabouts of a cache of precious stones that the Japanese government was planning to use to sweeten a deal for a surrender to the Allied countries...a plan that was shredded when the Atomic bombs were dropped. The location of this cache is on an abandoned Japanese Airbase over on Ile Alofi.
"But that's French Government Territory!" I protested.
"Yes it is" she replied, still smiling that smile...my sense of foreboding got worse...
It turns out that not only are the French stopping any suspicious transport (the reason for flying in), they too know of the cache and are looking for it, along with some mercenaries working for some British/Irish crime syndicate, and another group that is thought to be working for the Russian government (and I'm pretty high on the KGB's hit list...at least in the top 20, maybe in the top 10...)
"The base is not large, so a pilot with your skill is needed" she tells me (I wonder what she heard about me and who from)? Then I got the last solid kick in the gut:
"You gotta be kidding me!"
"Forget it!" I told her. She asked me where my sense of adventure was. I told her that I was alive because I didn't take stupid risks. This plane hardly looked like it could taxi, let alone fly. "Find another sucker!" I finished and went back to the building only to find out that this facility was privately owned and the flight that brought me here was actually a chartered one (nobody makes regular flights here...)
Well, I'm also alive because I know when I'm beaten! I could hear my dead uncle laughing at me and reminding me what he had told me so often:
Beware the Damsel in Distress!
Well, I prepped the plane and got ready to go. And true to my worst fears, the poor maintenance showed when I started it up. It taxied okay, but getting it into the air was another matter....I gotta give the dame credit, when I was trying to get off the island, she had stripped outta her dress and into army fatigues. She even hopped aboard with a Thompson!
I could barely stay above the treetops!
And of course, the weather didn't stay clear either (not exatly a bad thing really, but it made for a rough flight...)
As we got closer and the ADF needle jumped, I noticed two smoke plumes. "tell me that isn't our destination" I thought. As if reading my mind, the dame told me that she already had another team on the ground who had come in by boat. Great, now we're going to get shot at!
I didn't waste time with a recon fly-by, I just went about the business of putting this cranky old bird down...
The mercs knew their business and we hadn't even stopped when they jumped out shooting. I heard a few sounds nearby the plane and hoped that the gas tanks or engines hadn't been hit.
The mercs ran to the huts where the other team was pinned down with the cache while I got turned around, cursing myself for being a sucker...
Just as I got turned around the both teams came running, carrying several crates (and wounded members). The minute the last one got on, I firewalled the throttles and hoped for the best...
After I was sure that I hadn't crashed into the trees or the wrecked planes lying on the runway, I figured the best thing to do was to reach for the sky. The French were sure to have some flak cannons somewhere.
That was when I saw some yellow streaks fly over me, just before I saw the unmistakable shape of a familar plane as it streaked past me, then turned for another run.
Attention Douglas. You are in posseseION of items that belong to zee Frrench Govairment! Land at zee airstrip on Ile Futuna immediately or we will shoot you down!!!
But the words were no sooner out of the radio, then I saw more yellow streaks, followed by another fighter!
Back off Kapitalist Pigs!!! Douglas, Stand by for your new destination!
Just then, still another fighter streaked across.
Cherrio chaps, sorry...I'm afraid the Douglas is with my employers
Well I decided not to ask questions...I just turned the radio off and headed for the clouds!
I figured the worst that could happen was that the fighters would shoot us down (as if they would let us live if we went where they wanted us to go...right?)
Well, 20 minutes later, there was no sign of the fighters and Iles Wallis was in sight!
The best view I had all day!
I didn't even bother taxiing off the runway. A jeep and trucks were there to offload the jewels. I just headed over to the buildings. I wasn't even thinking of the pay...I just wanted outta there!
A bit later on, the dame came in. "Good work. I can't fly like that, but I can count!"
I didn't like the sound of her voice, it's the sound that someone gets when more trouble is on the way.
"I can count" she continued "all the way to ten thousand!" and put a case on the table in front of me. I just looked at it...
"Also, since I'll have no use for it, the Gooney bird is yours!" she said as she put the papers in front of me...with my name on it.
Next she leaned forward...she had dropped the seductive look and now looking dangerous (and not in the sexy way either) "Now I want you to take that case and papers. That way, I'll know you're for me. I wouldn't want to think you're against me."
One of the reasons I'm still alive is because I know when take the money and keep my mouth shut. "Thanks babe" I said.
Well, I guess I can't complain...I wondered who got the jewels, but then, maybe I don't wanna know.
Of course after the war, there have been few high-paying jobs for pilots. Also, I ran afowl of some of the bigger names in the FAA, so a career flying in the states is out of the question. I've been getting by since on odd flying jobs...
Well, times have not been good for me the last few months. I paid off some debts with the last big job I earned. However, Uncle Sam wants to know a whole lot when you suddenly come across a lot of money. I had to deal with the IRS and FBI, neither had their hats in their hands when they came to see me. I probably shouldn't have paid off that house either. Well, I'm not exactly destitute or homeless, but I sure could use some money.
I was sitting in my office when in comes this dame. She has a nice blonde hairdo and is wearing a smile that would melt even the most hardcased man (the ones who loved women anyways). It seems that she's looking for a pilot to fly some cargo and is desperate as it could be stolen. I tell her that I'd be happy to fly the job, but my plane is not currently in working order (I wasn't thinking too clearly as I'm a sucker for a pretty face...more on that later). At any rate, she told me not to worry, they had a plane, but just needed a pilot. Then she gave the good news...the job would pay about $10,000! This piqued my interest. She told me to meet her at the airport where I would catch a couple of commercial flights to Iles Wallis over in the pacific.
Now...I still was thinking here was a simple job and maybe my luck was changing. Yeah, like anyone pays that much for a simple job! But I was taken by her pretty face and her sense of desperation.
At any rate, I arrived and was greeted by ten hardened killers with guns! That was when that feeling began to twist in the bottom of my gut...the one where you find yourself asking "what have I gotten into?" They hustled me into an office where the dame was sitting behind a desk. She smiled her seductive smile...one that wasn't pushing the right buttons anymore since my hair was up (I still had hair in those days). Then she started giving me the bad news.
A couple of years ago, she had discovered the whereabouts of a cache of precious stones that the Japanese government was planning to use to sweeten a deal for a surrender to the Allied countries...a plan that was shredded when the Atomic bombs were dropped. The location of this cache is on an abandoned Japanese Airbase over on Ile Alofi.
"But that's French Government Territory!" I protested.
"Yes it is" she replied, still smiling that smile...my sense of foreboding got worse...
It turns out that not only are the French stopping any suspicious transport (the reason for flying in), they too know of the cache and are looking for it, along with some mercenaries working for some British/Irish crime syndicate, and another group that is thought to be working for the Russian government (and I'm pretty high on the KGB's hit list...at least in the top 20, maybe in the top 10...)
"The base is not large, so a pilot with your skill is needed" she tells me (I wonder what she heard about me and who from)? Then I got the last solid kick in the gut:
"You gotta be kidding me!"
"Forget it!" I told her. She asked me where my sense of adventure was. I told her that I was alive because I didn't take stupid risks. This plane hardly looked like it could taxi, let alone fly. "Find another sucker!" I finished and went back to the building only to find out that this facility was privately owned and the flight that brought me here was actually a chartered one (nobody makes regular flights here...)
Well, I'm also alive because I know when I'm beaten! I could hear my dead uncle laughing at me and reminding me what he had told me so often:
Beware the Damsel in Distress!
Well, I prepped the plane and got ready to go. And true to my worst fears, the poor maintenance showed when I started it up. It taxied okay, but getting it into the air was another matter....I gotta give the dame credit, when I was trying to get off the island, she had stripped outta her dress and into army fatigues. She even hopped aboard with a Thompson!
I could barely stay above the treetops!
And of course, the weather didn't stay clear either (not exatly a bad thing really, but it made for a rough flight...)
As we got closer and the ADF needle jumped, I noticed two smoke plumes. "tell me that isn't our destination" I thought. As if reading my mind, the dame told me that she already had another team on the ground who had come in by boat. Great, now we're going to get shot at!
I didn't waste time with a recon fly-by, I just went about the business of putting this cranky old bird down...
The mercs knew their business and we hadn't even stopped when they jumped out shooting. I heard a few sounds nearby the plane and hoped that the gas tanks or engines hadn't been hit.
The mercs ran to the huts where the other team was pinned down with the cache while I got turned around, cursing myself for being a sucker...
Just as I got turned around the both teams came running, carrying several crates (and wounded members). The minute the last one got on, I firewalled the throttles and hoped for the best...
After I was sure that I hadn't crashed into the trees or the wrecked planes lying on the runway, I figured the best thing to do was to reach for the sky. The French were sure to have some flak cannons somewhere.
That was when I saw some yellow streaks fly over me, just before I saw the unmistakable shape of a familar plane as it streaked past me, then turned for another run.
Attention Douglas. You are in posseseION of items that belong to zee Frrench Govairment! Land at zee airstrip on Ile Futuna immediately or we will shoot you down!!!
But the words were no sooner out of the radio, then I saw more yellow streaks, followed by another fighter!
Back off Kapitalist Pigs!!! Douglas, Stand by for your new destination!
Just then, still another fighter streaked across.
Cherrio chaps, sorry...I'm afraid the Douglas is with my employers
Well I decided not to ask questions...I just turned the radio off and headed for the clouds!
I figured the worst that could happen was that the fighters would shoot us down (as if they would let us live if we went where they wanted us to go...right?)
Well, 20 minutes later, there was no sign of the fighters and Iles Wallis was in sight!
The best view I had all day!
I didn't even bother taxiing off the runway. A jeep and trucks were there to offload the jewels. I just headed over to the buildings. I wasn't even thinking of the pay...I just wanted outta there!
A bit later on, the dame came in. "Good work. I can't fly like that, but I can count!"
I didn't like the sound of her voice, it's the sound that someone gets when more trouble is on the way.
"I can count" she continued "all the way to ten thousand!" and put a case on the table in front of me. I just looked at it...
"Also, since I'll have no use for it, the Gooney bird is yours!" she said as she put the papers in front of me...with my name on it.
Next she leaned forward...she had dropped the seductive look and now looking dangerous (and not in the sexy way either) "Now I want you to take that case and papers. That way, I'll know you're for me. I wouldn't want to think you're against me."
One of the reasons I'm still alive is because I know when take the money and keep my mouth shut. "Thanks babe" I said.
Well, I guess I can't complain...I wondered who got the jewels, but then, maybe I don't wanna know.
