WHEN THE NAVY was developing helicopters in the 1950s to track submarines, our Florida-based test squadron had to be innovative. Because the copters lacked sufficient lifting power with test equipment on board, weight was reduced by removing the metal skin from the aircraft. The result was an aerial apparition of two rotors connected with a frame of pipes, an engine and a pilot sitting in the open air.

Once, a test pilot had to make an emergency landing in a field, and a farmer drove out in his pickup to investigate. He walked slowly around the helicopter and then said to the pilot, “Build  it yourself, sonny?”

–Contributed to “Humor In Uniform” by VAdm. R.A. Miller (Ret.)