Good use of a $20 "Box" saw.

[046bigsaw]

Way back in the day.... mid 80's my dad bought an $20 box saw from a dealer. It was an 850 McCullough. It had one very slight scratch on the cylinder. He smoothed it the best he could an put new rings on it. He also cut the entire "case out of the saw so that he had just the case and cylinder intact. He then mounted it on the front of his 9' wingspan P51 fighter plane. He was a world war II P51 pilot. Another friend of his bought a $2500 racing motor the exact same size(CC's) as my dads $20 850 McCullough. The $20 motor would turn the same prop about 8700 RPMs and the $2500 racing motor would only hit 6700 RPMs. Needless to say the guy that bought the high dollar racing motor was a little peeved! He could have bought a new chainsaw for $600 bucks and cut it up and still saved a pile of money.

In the center of the picture is the nose of the plane with my dad, and down in the bottom right is the plane again. Just thought you guys might like story.

 

[jchipps]

Very cool story!

My Dad also fought in WW II.
Began his tour on Utah Beach in Normandy.

Those of that generation, growing up during the Great Depression, were very independent and intuitive in making-do with what they had on hand.

 

[046bigsaw]

Very cool story!

My Dad also fought in WW II.
Began his tour on Utah Beach in Normandy.

Those of that generation, growing up during the Great Depression, were very independent and intuitive in making-do with what they had on hand.

Yes they were. The Great Depression is usually tied to the stockmarket collapse, but what many don't know is the catastophic drought is what made it what it was. Most people don't realize how close to that same type of drought we were in in 2012. Scary when all water and animals dissapear. My dad went to work in a radio factory in KC MO at 14. This taught him a ton about electronics. He actually built his own radios to fly planes with before they were commercially sold.
Very sad to see the "greatest generation" disappearing. They deserve a lot of respect!

 

[jchipps]

Absolutely!

 

[rancher2]

Great post my dad and four of his five brothers were in WW II and grew up in the depression without a dad he had been killed in a truck mishap when the youngest was a baby that uncle served in Korea. They knew what not having much was like. My dad died at 48 and never talked about the war or depression he was in the service at the tail of the war. The oldest live to be 98 and still had his mind. In the later years I had lots of good visits with him about the drought, depression losing his dad and his mom selling the farm moving to town and them trucking all the time to make ends meet. When I was a young man I used to run threw Salina Ks at lot. I drove for a grocery wholesaler and would haul meat from GI Ne to Okla city OK. We were based out of Lincoln Ne.

 

[Toyboy]

Very cool story!

My Dad also fought in WW II.
Began his tour on Utah Beach in Normandy.

Those of that generation, growing up during the Great Depression, were very independent and intuitive in making-do with what they had on hand.

My dad was 2nd wave Omaha Beach and survived.

 

[046bigsaw]

My dad was 2nd wave Omaha Beach and survived.

Awesome stuff. The younger generations who never knew any of these WWII heros personally, have definitely missed out on great blessing. My uncle also spent a couple of years living in foxholes and shooting bombs out of the sky.
True heros!!!

 

[spyder62]

My father was a combat veteran of ww2 also. Naval air corps in the pacific. Hardly ever spoke of the war. They were a tough breed of men. I can’t imagine being at d day or being an island hopper in the pacific.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

My dad was a tail gunner in a B-17. One story he told me once was meeting an infantry soldier back in London on R&R. The infantry guy said that looking up, he felt sorry for my dad because he was a sitting duck for anyone that wanted to shoot at him. No cover or concealment on a clear day. My dad felt the same way about the infantryman because if dad made it back from his mission, he was eating a hot meal and sleeping in the barracks in London that night. Perspective is everything. He said that he saw bombers land so shot up that the blood from the crew was coming out of the bullet holes in the belly.
He told another story about an unfortunate ball turret gunner. If you know anything about ball turrets, you have to climb down into the ball, and shut the door behind you. To get out, you have to be able to move the ball into the stow position so that the door is facing the crew compartment. One plane came back with both the landing gear and the ball turret controls shot out. He couldn't get out and they had to do a belly landing. They circled the airfield while comm got a short wave signal back to the states so he could say goodbye to his family before they landed.

 

[Toyboy]

My dad was a tail gunner in a B-17. One story he told me once was meeting an infantry soldier back in London on R&R. The infantry guy said that looking up, he felt sorry for my dad because he was a sitting duck for anyone that wanted to shoot at him. No cover or concealment on a clear day. My dad felt the same way about the infantryman because if dad made it back from his mission, he was eating a hot meal and sleeping in the barracks in London that night. Perspective is everything. He said that he saw bombers land so shot up that the blood from the crew was coming out of the bullet holes in the belly.
He told another story about an unfortunate ball turret gunner. If you know anything about ball turrets, you have to climb down into the ball, and shut the door behind you. To get out, you have to be able to move the ball into the stow position so that the door is facing the crew compartment. One plane came back with both the landing gear and the ball turret controls shot out. He couldn't get out and they had to do a belly landing. They circled the airfield while comm got a short wave signal back to the states so he could say goodbye to his family before they landed.

My father was Army in Europe
His brother George was AAF Navigator/Bombardier on a B29 flying out of Tinian Island on bombing missions to Japan
His brother Joe was Navy Chief Petty Officer - can't recall the ships
BIL Frank was a Marine in Pacific
And they all returned in tact.

 

[CR888]

Really cool story about cutting up a junked Mac & giving the big boys a run for their money. Kinda says a lot about life that story.