I crawled out from under a rock 52 years ago.
One of my earliest fascinations was with aircraft. I don't know if it was due to a trip to the airport, dreams, or whatever - I had to get involved, somehow. My Dad humored me, and built a plane "hobby horse" for me when I was around 4 years old, made of a 2x4, with 3/8" plywood wings, rudder, and elevator assembly. All was rigid, of course - but I had dreams of putting a lawnmower engine on it with a propeller....
My first electrical experiments that I can remember involved magnatism; many turns of insulated wire around a large nail, powered by a doorbell battery. A doorbell battery was a huge thing compared to today's batteries; a single cylindrical cell rated 1.5v, perhaps 2.5" diameter and 10" tall. I haven't seen one like that for many years now, so my dimensions may be skewed quite a bit; I haven't seen one in perhaps 45 years.
Anyway, I didn't understand how electromagnetism worked; the insulated wire mystified me. I thought it would work much better if the current could actually get to the nail, so I stripped off about a foot of insulation from the wire and wrapped it around the nail. I was quite surprised when the nail started getting hot due to the current flowing through it.
I kept tinkering with electronics, mechanics, fluidics, hydraulics, target shooting, skiing, sailing, and dreaming about airplanes.
Got an offer from a US Marine Recruiter to enlist as a helicopter mechanic.
I accepted.
After Boot Camp, reporting to training at NAS Memphis, I got an offer to switch to avionics. I accepted
Here I'm working on the aft missile station of one of the Warlord's birds in '76:
Just for fun, took this pic a few years back:
For you blokes in the UK, that's an '88 XJ-S with full petrol, caravan accessory attachment, buttoned bonnet, hood aft, boot secured ammo/weapons high-speed carrier.
One of my earliest fascinations was with aircraft. I don't know if it was due to a trip to the airport, dreams, or whatever - I had to get involved, somehow. My Dad humored me, and built a plane "hobby horse" for me when I was around 4 years old, made of a 2x4, with 3/8" plywood wings, rudder, and elevator assembly. All was rigid, of course - but I had dreams of putting a lawnmower engine on it with a propeller....
My first electrical experiments that I can remember involved magnatism; many turns of insulated wire around a large nail, powered by a doorbell battery. A doorbell battery was a huge thing compared to today's batteries; a single cylindrical cell rated 1.5v, perhaps 2.5" diameter and 10" tall. I haven't seen one like that for many years now, so my dimensions may be skewed quite a bit; I haven't seen one in perhaps 45 years.
Anyway, I didn't understand how electromagnetism worked; the insulated wire mystified me. I thought it would work much better if the current could actually get to the nail, so I stripped off about a foot of insulation from the wire and wrapped it around the nail. I was quite surprised when the nail started getting hot due to the current flowing through it.
I kept tinkering with electronics, mechanics, fluidics, hydraulics, target shooting, skiing, sailing, and dreaming about airplanes.
Got an offer from a US Marine Recruiter to enlist as a helicopter mechanic.
I accepted.
After Boot Camp, reporting to training at NAS Memphis, I got an offer to switch to avionics. I accepted
Here I'm working on the aft missile station of one of the Warlord's birds in '76:
Just for fun, took this pic a few years back:
For you blokes in the UK, that's an '88 XJ-S with full petrol, caravan accessory attachment, buttoned bonnet, hood aft, boot secured ammo/weapons high-speed carrier.
