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Who woulda thought these guys had a sense o' humor?
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"A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit."
- Army's magazine of preventive maintenance
"Aim towards the Enemy."
- Instruction printed on US rocket launcher
"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend."
- U.S. Marine Corps
"Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground."
- USAF ammo troop
"If the enemy is in range, so are you."
- Infantry Journal
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."
- U.S Air Force Manual
"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
- Gen. Douglas MacArthur
"Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo."
- Infantry Journal
"You, you, and you... panic. The rest of you, come with me."
- U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sgt.
"Tracers work both ways."
- U.S. Army Ordnance
"Five-second fuses only last three seconds."
- Infantry Journal
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."
- David Hackworth
"If your attack is going too well, you’re walking into an ambush."
- Infantry Journal
"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection."
- Joe Gay
"Any ship can be a minesweeper... once."
- Anonymous
"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."
- Unknown Marine Recruit
"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you."
- Your Buddies
"If you see a bomb technician running, follow him."
- USAF Ammo Troop
"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ... I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."
- At the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base, Kadena, Japan
"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."
- Test pilot Paul F. Crickmore
"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."
"Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky."
- From an old carrier sailor
"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter — and therefore, unsafe."
"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."
"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, the pilot dies."
"Never trade luck for skill."
The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?" "Where are we?" and "Oh Shit!"
"Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."
"Progress in airline flying: now a flight attendant can get a pilot pregnant."
"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"
"Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries."
"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
"Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day."
"When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and gently as possible."
- Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII
"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you."
- Attributed to Northrop Aviation test pilot Max Stanley
"Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you."
"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."
- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.
"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
"Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
- Basic flight rules
As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, "What happened?" The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!"
- Attributed to Lockheed test pilot Ray Crandell
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