[Boatanchors] THE VIKING II AND FRIED HAM

[Stephen Haines]

SNIP

The next day all the trainees were there and the new LtJG strutted 
over to the big transmitter shouting "Group around men!"
Then he held the rack door open with his left hand and took out his 
pencil .Jim could foresee the outcome and jumped back out of the 
launch path.. At his point in the story I could barely understand Jim 
as he was laughing so hard with tears rolling down his
face and his huge stomach heaving up and down. Jim said the huge rf 
spark launched the young Lt. clear across the room
and slammed him against the wall. The new JG never bothered him after that.
73 Pete NV4V

Years ago I worked at Hardin Electronics in Fort Worth. Several regulars had been B-36 crew members. One told a similar story about a new radioman who was really impressed when he saw the current operator draw an arc off the final with a pencil, and proceed to light his cigarette from it.

The next day he called a couple of buddies to watch him do the trick. Producing a fat cigar from his pocket, he licked it up and down, and said, "Watch this." The old hand backed off, and when the wet cigar hit the arc, there was a quick flash . . . The OT said, between fits of laughter and crying, that if it hadn't been for the bulkhead, the newbie would have set the world record for the unassisted stogie spitting contest!