Newsgroups: sci.military Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!cbnews!military From: elp@sauron.Columbia.NCR.COM (Ed Peebles x6423) Subject: Re: Side arms for Fly boys. Organization: E&M-Columbia, NCR Corp, W Columbia, SC Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 18:15:57 GMT Approved: military@att.att.com Message-ID: <1990Oct19.181557.17233@cbnews.att.com> References: <1990Oct15.033827.12908@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct18.021255.6938@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Lines: 59 From: elp@sauron.Columbia.NCR.COM (Ed Peebles x6423) In article <1990Oct18.021255.6938@cbnews.att.com> baldwin@usna.NAVY.MIL (J.D. Baldwin) writes: > > >From: baldwin@usna.NAVY.MIL (J.D. Baldwin) > >In the referenced article, cbl@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu (Chris Luchini) writes: >>I was watching the ABC news last night and noticed that of of the >>crew members climbing into a f111 (?) had a revolver in a shoulder >>holster. Are side arms standard issue for Jet-jockies? > >The U.S. Navy standard flying sidearm is the execrable .38 revolver. >(Ugh. Spit. Ptui!) The little pouch in the LPA/survival vest is >designed for it, though it can hold a larger weapon if desired. > >[delete] I would be *very* very surprised if overland >flights from SA (and even the naval missions, these days) did not >require the crew to carry sidearms. >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Speaking from personal experience (F-14) while flying missions in and around Lebanon, my squadron or air wing never had a requirement that aircrew carry sidearms. It was always a personal decision. Depending on the scenario, a sidearm can sometimes cause more trouble for a downed aircrew than its worth. >I am intrigued, however, that the weapon was being carried in a shoulder >holster and not a pouch built into the survival vest. I wouldn't put >it past the USAF to stage a "cowboy" shot for the press (pilot straps on >sidearm and flies off to face down the Iraqi hordes), with a prominently >placed pistol in a non-regulation shoulder holster. It seems to me that >actually to do this would be a safety-of-flight hazard of some sort. >Does anyone know about *this*? Not only can a sidearm get in the way in the cockpit if its in a shoulder harness, said sidearm and/or shoulder harness will probably be sucked off to never never land during an ejection. Luckily I never had to eject, but having gone through the physiology training and having known several people who did eject, ejection from a tactical jet is not unlike manned space flight without the comfort of a mission capsule. Things like watches, helmets, etc. can be easily separated from the aircrew, particularly since an ejection over hostile territory will probably not be a controlled, center of the envelope ejection. Ed Peebles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Peebles (Peebs) | Never ask a man what kind of plane he E-Mail: elp@sauron.Columbia.NCR.COM | flies. If he flies fighters, he'll tell Phone: 803-739-7413 | you. If he doesn't, why embarrass him? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The opinions expressed here are mine. I thought of it, I said it, I take responsibility for saying it. The End. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------