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4/12/2025 3:26:44 PM
 
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Section 21: Firearms: Law/Politics/Society Subject: Suppressors and Hearing Protection Msg# 1223588
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OMG.  That flightline duty sounds FAR worse than merely shooting off guns on the firing line. And to think that I complain about jets from the nearby Wright-Patt AFB flying circles around my neighborhood because they are practicing touch-and-goes at the base. 
I still have my issue earplugs too. Mine aren't the same. One is light blue with angled fins and one is orange with inline fins. My ear canals must be different sized. |
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For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: I was issued the same ear plugs and still have them. Mine are white in color and the largest they had in size. I still have the green plastic twist-open container they came in. We wore them on the flightline with Mickey Mouse headsets over them. They worked pretty well as long as you didn't have to remove them or there weren't too many aircraft in close proximity. My B-52 wing deployed to Guam joining two other wings already there in the winter of 1966. 12-hour missions started launching before daylight and it took about an hour to get all of the planes up. Trucks from the various field maintenance shops ran up and down the lines of bombers fixing problems as they worked their way to the end of the runway. Each B-52 had 8 engines and the rising and falling scream from them was literally deafening as they ambled down the taxiways to the end of the runway. When your truck got to an aircraft reporting a problem you had to remove your hearing protection and put on a headset plugged into the plane to talk to the pilot. During all this, planes were lined up as far as you could see in front of you and behind you, and one was taking off nearby every minute or so. On takeoff, the engines were at full throttle with water injection added that contributed a definitive crackle to the roar. |
