All in the Game

All in the Game


There appears to be a tendency amongst professional aircrew to partake in silly and often irresponsible activities. This seems to infect fliers of a previous generation more than the pilots of today which is a pity. The camaraderie so very common in the sixties and seventies has all but disappeared.

Admittedly, some of the games, many originating in the Officers’ Mess had the possibility, indeed, the probability of inflicting significant injury and frequently involved the shedding of blood. One of those rather lethal games was a competition known as Deck Landings and was taught to us by some Norwegian pilots during a diversion to their base with a very sick engine.

To set the stage, two long tables were placed end to end and the surfaces liberally lubricated with beer. Participants stripped to the waist would run around the circumference of the room with arms outstretched sideways, making engine noises. Approaching the tables, they would ‘launch’ into the air, landing on the table face down. An acceptable ‘Deck Landing’ would be accomplished by sliding the full length of the two tables without sliding off the end.

As the game progressed and a certain degree of competence was gained, the test became more serious in that Blind Deck Landings were demanded. This was accomplished by the ‘pilot’ running round the room blindfolded, relying on a trusted accomplice to give directions. Sounds easy? Read on.

In the spirit of true competition, the directions given by the trusted accomplice would be distorted by false instructions shouted by competitors. This sometimes meant that the ‘pilot’ would either miss the ‘deck’ altogether or launch too early or even a combination of both. Apart from a few bloody noses, the most serious reported injury was a broken rib according to our Norwegian friends. It was fairly easy for the Norwegians because we could only shout confusing instructions in English and that was easy to ignore. They, of course, could take we Brits off course in our native language. Although somewhat bruised, I am happy to report that we all survived mainly unscathed.




Comments

  1. Peter Bainbridge24 June 2020 at 15:23

    The H&S Nazis will no doubt have killed such activities off now.

    ReplyDelete

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