Another YJ write up from my dad...
More Yellow Jacket Stories
In one of the seasons while Bill Waites and Bill Cooksey were the YJ pilots, they decided to get a little fancy and do some aerobatics.
The simplest stunt they could imagine was to have the two YJs, flying in formation, to do simultaneous, (and completely separate), inside loops. The procedure was for the pilot of the leading plane, to say, “One, two, three, LOOP!” and this, both planes would begin a standard inside loop.
But alas, it didn’t go exactly that way. Waites said. “one, two, three, LOOP!”, and started his loop. But Cooksey waited another two seconds before starting his loop. Waites, by this time was at the top of his loop and descending as Cooksey started ascending, thus the two loops inter-twined, and the two pilots became wide-eyed spectators along with all of the fans in the stands. The control lines crossed, jerking the control handle out of pilot #1’s hand. Thus, YJ #1 dove straight into the ground. Meanwhile, YJ #2 staggered straight up, then fell back to earth. … disaster complete!
On another occasion, when Tech was playing Duke, the Duke “Blue Devil”, in his devil suit, and his pitch-fork, (made from a broom), decided while the planes were flying, to share the field with the Yellow Jackets, and he ran out into the circle, jumping and poking with his “pitch-fork” , up at the airborne YJs and their lines. What a disastrous victory he would have had if he had downed a YJ! So, on my next lap around, I came around at an altitude of about three feet … and going sixty miles per hour. I pulled up at the last second and the Blue Devil dived, trying to get under the grass. Victory YJs!
Once, the Yellow Jacket had a close call when our few seconds of the half-time show was coming up. The band cheer leaders, and majorettes were ready to exit the field, from the west side to he east stands, and we were prepared to crank-up and take off, flying over them on our first lap. The young majorette nearest me was nervous, fearing I would not get up over them. Then, BLAM!, she accidentally dropped her baton right on top of my YJ. A close call, but no damage.
Tech played Pitt in the 1955 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans . The YJs, as “members” of the band, were provided with box lunches and a tickets on the band train. But the pilot of YJ#2 did not claim either of these “perks” because he had a higher priority: his girl friend.
But, to our surprise, he showed up at the stadium with his plane, for the pre-game practice. Both YJs started and flew perfectly. Then, as the band marched into the stadium, pilot #2 headed to the hotel to pick up his gal. It was his intention to be back, before half-time to fly. But what we did not know, was that Tech’s “half-time” show was rescheduled to BEFORE the game. That is why Tech had only one YJ that day. But, thank goodness, that one flew, and Tech won the game.
