The Woman Behind The Goggles

I just got off the phone with the woman up there wearing the goggles. I've known this woman for 17 years. She was born July 1, 1920 ... 89 years ago and I am still amazed at what she has to say, teach and offer of herself. Her name is Barbara Jane (BJ) Erickson London ... and she is one the coolest women I've ever met and probably ever will meet. She flew for the U.S. military during WWII as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron.

I called to tell her I'd finally ordered a digital voice recorder so I can record all our telephone conversations. She's been telling me stories for years ... and they are stories that you want to remember.

Tonight we talked about the new movie "Amelia".... P-38 emergency procedures ... losing your sense of self and all those things that you think define who you are ... how the real Amelia was actually not so great a pilot ... packing up the P-51, living your dream and then having it taken away ... barking dogs ... RONing ... flying granddaughters (cool band name?) ... and a woman named Del.

Amelia (the movie): I told her ..... it sucked! Well, I don't use words like that with BJ ... but I let her know ... it was terrible, terrible, I say! I rambled on about how the director set us up with a situation that never had a pay-off (super annoying) ... I got bored (Amelia's life was not boring and they found a way to make it so), not enough conflict and by God, Hillary Swank, wipe that goofy smile off your face and stop giving us the Amelia we see in newsreels (actually, I blame the director for this, not Hillary - she did good with what she was given) ... and Amelia why are you never dirty ... pilots get dirty ... your coveralls are white, perfectly white ... no grease ... nothing! And director woman ... shame on you for not having the cojones to actually place blame where it partially belonged .... Amelia made some stupid decisions - like, lets see ... not taking the trailing antennae even if it could possibly save your life! I bet she really wished she'd had that sucker at the end.

Moviemakers are supposed to give you at least, at least - one character in a movie to care about ... I don't care about any of you. The real Amelia had an ego too big for her own good (as in got her killed), but she did have guts and she did open a huge door for women in aviation .... and she did have a really cool plane (Electra) ... and really cool clothes....and did I mention ... the real Amelia really, REALLY loved to fly - not so convincing in the flick. Director lady broke the movie making rule ... "show don't tell" ... she .... "told and didn't show".

But ... hey ... I'll go see it again .... it's a VERY pretty period movie and you can't beat the planes in it!

P-38 Emergency:

The P-38 is the coolest plane in the world ... at least I think so. First time I saw one fly, I was in love. It has Pratt & Whitney engines that puuuurrrrr like a kitten and it moves through the sky like smoothy silk butt-tah.

One night, back in '43, BJ was on a night flight in a P-38 over the LA basin area (she was the WAFS Commanding Officer at Long Beach Air Field). She had taken the plane up to get a few hours of night time ... as in night "flight" time. She'd been flying around for awhile and when she came back to base to land ... she extended the landing gear and .... she only got 2 green landing gear lights to come on ... and that's a real bummer. It's totally awesome with 3 green lights because you just ... land... the gear is down and locked into position. You get to walk away and think to yourself ... jolly good job, chap ... I just greased a P-38 landing ... I'm definitely hot shit. With only 2 lights on ... well ... you will end up having to use one of the wings as a wheel and it rarely works out very well ... like not at all well ... and you get to walk (hopefully) away thinking to yourself ... I'm a piece of crap ... I just wrecked a million dollar airplane .... I'm screwed." Again, 2 green lights = holy shit! ~~ 3 green lights = hot shit.

So what did Barbara do when she saw only 2 green lights? Everything in the book. First of all she flew back out over the Pacific and trouble shooted the situation. Sometimes you can take the plane and jerk the controls around which jerks the plane around and sometimes you can "knock" the wheel into the locked position. Or you can use a CO2 cylinder to get it in place. BJ worked her fanny off ... still no third green light ... double bummer.

Okay, so now you start thinking ... 2 wheels down and locked ... 1 wing scraping along the runway trying with all it's might to be a wheel, sparks flying ... fuel tanks in the wing, possible fire ... maybe explosion .... no problem. Any landing is a good landing ... right? Well, like a smart pilot ... Barbara flies around over Catalina Island until her gas tanks are practically empty. Not as much gas in the tank ... not as big a fire. Makes sense.

Here she comes ... on final approach ... still only 2 green lights ... hoping, praying, maybe, just maybe, please God let it be so ... light number 3 is just broken. The gear really IS down and locked ... the problem is in the cockpit ... not the gear. She's just about to touch down, 10 feet, 5 feet, 2 feet ... it's like being at the dentist ... waiting ... waiting ... just waiting for that sharp jolt of pain that might or might not come ... cringing .... and then ............ a smooth as silk landing. All 3 wheels down and locked! This is when you start getting reeeeaaally pissed at the mechanics that should have changed the frickin' 5 cent light bulb!

Okay ... I'm not going to finish my list of "Things I talked to Barbara about on the phone tonight" .... but maybe tomorrow.

Goodnight, Amelia ~~ Happy Landings & Hefty Tailwinds and trailing antennaes.