Unusual Damage

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Thomas Stillhere, May 13, 2022.

  1. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    vikingsm-gigapixel-scale-4_00x.jpg The civilian contractor Lear Sigler did all the airframe and bullet hole repairs. This photo is damage sustained from a Duck !!! Not a very big Duck at that. My ship never hit any Ducks but we did have one fruit bat spread across the left seat's windshield without cracking or damage. When we landed back at the airfield we just pulled him off. They look like a Fox and live upside down, even raise their young upside down. Large 3 foot wingspans and you would think the wings were made of leather. They come out at dusk foraging for food and naturally our airfield recon starts at just before dusk which is why we hit one, there were thousands living around the airfield with a large group living at a Pagoda just a mile from the end of the runway.
     
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    Last edited: May 13, 2022
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Fruit bats are not small creatures, as you said.

    With all the civilian air travel there is, these accidents are incredibly rare.
     
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  3. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    They aren't native to the orient and came into Indo-China during the early French occupations, they were sold as food to the natives and I read that they also came into ports in the hole of cargo ships. They originated in Europe of all places. The natives have strange diets and eat things I would never eat even if I were starving. They are harmless and a freak of nature, it's like they stopped evolving for some reason. Possibly because there was a lot more food of their liking millions of years ago and the food became more scarce so their population dropped enough to stop their evolving along with other species. It is amazing to watch a mother take care of their young, and we think we have it bad. ;0) There was a very large group living at that Pagoda just down the path from our airfield. The Buddhist didn't mind their occupation. Our recon every evening before dark was extreme low level and tree top, we had about a file mile race track that we knew where in the past mortars had been setup. It was designated a free fire zone because there was no farming out there, just over brush and trees. I remember one evening we flew over an old abandoned French Plantation home that had the roof missing from age and all the wet weather. The floor was a beautiful red white checkered pattern, I never forgot that. Today the country has healed and even if it is communist controlled it is repopulated and just about all rice production for the world. I loved it there it was so pretty even if a war was going on. The people never wanted a war to begin with, this one was in the democrats back pocket as usual. It takes a while to learn the truth and in this particular case it was caused by the closing of WWII when the Japanese surrendered. Instead of Vietnam being rescued with their own freedom, they brought Japanese prisoners back into the country to be policemen until the French could come back and restart the rape of their country again. It was never about communism, it was about not getting their own country back and whole. Ho Chi Minh was not a devout communist, he was forced to take assistance from the other communist and today we know what happened.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I thought this sub-topic could use some photos. Strange to think that they'd cause so much damage, though.

    1200.jpg fruit-bat-nr6uwey15t73jp9pf71v73socbzczp3jodb2p999vk.jpg
     
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  5. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    The photo is a duck strike, the bat is about 3 times larger in mass. The bat we hit covered the entire windshield on the right side. Amazing it didn't break the plexiglass.
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I like bats. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they are flying mammals, and they used to freak out my sisters when I was a kid. Fascinating creatures.
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I guess we all know that airports go to great lengths to keep the geese off of their property. Being on the greens and putting into poop ain't nothing compared to a mid-air collision.

    Friggin' protected species my butt...
     
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  8. Thomas Stillhere

    Thomas Stillhere Very Well-Known Member
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    If you look closely at the avionics cover that has the Viking you will notice the original Viking was larger than the replacement avionics cover. The duck did a lot more damage than the photo shows. I doubt they sent this ship back home to be repaired and the contractors repaired it right there in the hangar. We only had about 16 gunships for both companies and the operations were always scheduled two weeks in advance, the company commander tells operations I want this many ships available for this mission, no excuses because they start firing the help from his slot on down if they don't get their requested number of ships. I have no doubt the ship had not been released to the hangar for repairs and it was done during hourly hangar maintenance. Some of these photos show the new glass installed and you can tell by the white trim color, they had little time to paint anything. Occasionally it was from bullet damage but more often it was shrapnel from the rockets because we were so close to impact. I had one pilot that was really nearsighted because he would always bust out the chin bubbles by hitting the trees. It is a real chore to stay out there after dark and help replace one. It wasn't the work but the fact after hours things start to happen. ;0)
     
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