[Vwdiesel] Interesting history leasons

[Val Christian]

I did ask one of the older local hams about Dick yesterday, and found out that
he moved back to Rochester NY from NC, and actually stayed with family 
about 4 miles from my house.  I am not as active on ham radio as I used to be,
and did not learn that he became a silent key about 4 years ago.

He was a joy to talk with, and he was a innovative guy who was always 
thinking of new ways to do things.  

The older local hams have assured me the supplemental hydraulic fluid 
story was only one of Dick's B-29 "keep em running" stories.  

Years ago, Dick told my daughter, when she was getting ready to learn to 
drive, that walnut oil worked great in diesels.  She always wanted to 
try walnut oil in the '91.  I know she did corn oil (I was told about it 
post facto).

> 
> Reply to Bud. Some very interesting comments. Now at age 78 & was a kid
> growing up during WW2 in Eden Prairie, Minn. when it was just farm land. Now
> it is an upscale suburb of Mpls. I love watching the History Channel & have
> learned some interesting things about WW2 that were secret back then. One
> very interesting event in WW2 happened just 2 days before Japan's surrender
> that most people never heard of. Japan set off a nucular device sinilar to
> what the USA did in New Mexico about a month earlier. Go Google "Japan's
> Atomic Program"  if you want more info.
> A major earthquake occured in Minnesota on 9/3/1917. Most Minnesotans  think
> earthquakes have never happened in Minn.
> For those interested in automotive history, most do not know that Henry Ford
> founded Cadillac. After the failure of Henry's first automotive venture
> failed, the Detroit Auto Co, in 1899, he got into racing, & beat Alexander
> Winton, then the most prominent auto manufacturer in 1901. This win enabled
> Henry to atract investers & then founded the Henry Ford Co. in 1902. Henry
> wanted to continue racing to promote his company. He also designed a 2
> cylinder car he wanted to put into production. The investors didn't like
> Henry's 2 cylinder engine nor his continued desire to continue racing, so
> they they fired him giving him either $800 or $900. Henry took with him the
> plans for the car he designed which became the 1903 Fordmobile Model A which
> he put into production after incorperating the Ford Motor Co. on 6/17/1903.
> This forced the investors in the Henry Ford Co. to find a new name for their
> company, so they named it after the French explorer who founded Detroit,
> Cadillac. The investors also brought in Henry Leland, who later founded the
> Lincoln Motor Car Co. who saved the re-named Henry Ford Co. They also
> installed a one cylinder engine of Leland's design, in a car that otherwise
> designed by Henry Ford. I have seen in museums, a 1903 Cadillac exibited
> next to a 1903 Ford & they look almost identical. Incidently, in 1903, a new
> Cadillac sold for $750 whereas the 1903 Ford sold for $850, $100 more.
> Do you think the Toyota Prius is new? In 1900, Dr Ferdinand Porche (here is
> the VW connection) designed & built a hybrid. It had an engine which powered 
> a genberator which ran two electric motors, one for each of the front 
> wheels.
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bud" <budski at gmail.com>
> To: "Val Christian" <val at valchristian.com>
> Cc: "vw fans" <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:43 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Silicone Brake Fluid (fwd)
> 
> 
> Amen to that (driving an old VW).
> 
> Once had an aircraft come in on SDLM(Standard Depot Level Maintenance)
> and we were adding antennas to the inlet lips.  I get a tag that the
> substructure wasn't to B/P.  I had the sheet metal guys rip the rest
> of the inlet apart.  It seems something must have struck and damaged
> the inlet and the only material they could find was the stainless
> steel coffee pot aboard ship.  Gotta love ingenuity, probably had over
> 5K hours with the coffee pot repair on it and some pissed off cookies.
> 
> Bud
> http://www.rhinocat.com/cvaf4u/
> 
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Val Christian <val at mongo.mongobird.com>
> wrote:
> > The plane left Geneseo years ago after the Elmira group took over part of
> > the show. They lost the plane, and the last I heard someone in LI
> > had it. But I don't follow it. Dick moved to NC, and I am not
> > sure whether he is a silent key or not.
> >
> > I think there are other, more famous, and more ingenious WWII stories.
> >
> > Several years ago I was at Ft. Knox, for work, and I was introduced to
> > the Abrams tank simulator. I had two buddies there with me, and we teamed
> > on the tank. Never done tanks, only aircraft (we were all pilots).
> > So they let us loose with the rest of the class, and in the end
> > we had 3 bad tanks, and no friendlies killed. That was the tangent,
> > and here is the part which is VWdiesel relevant:
> >
> > The instructor talked about the history of tank warfare, and by more
> > detailed example showed how yankee ingenuity helped win the war.
> > For example, Germany had the best machinery and the best mechanics.
> > But their soldiers couldn't touch the mechanics, and were sitting
> > ducks waiting for a mechanic to do a house call on the battlefield.
> > In contrast, the love of cars in the US hit just before the war, and
> > GI's were empowered to do whatever they could at war. So they'd swap
> > engines out of Jeeps, under oak trees, fix things, adapt things, etc.
> > All of this gave the US some kind of advantage where it appeared that
> > none existed.
> >
> > The vwdiesel group, regardless of where the readers are, use that same
> > kind of understanding, and teamwork to solve their problems. Which is
> > why I'd drive a smoking old 1.5l bunny over a Prius.
> >
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