The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-06-01

ing and walls, or even stand on the
wings OF a dive bomber as 1t goes
screeching toward its target at 400
or 500 miles an hour.
Every British pilot has his per-
sonal Gremlins. Airmen will sit at
tea or at beer and talk about their
Gremlins by the hour. Where
Gremlirs came from originally, no
body knows, nor who saw them first.
But right after the war broke out,
young lads Of the r. A. F. begin
to see Gremlins dancing on their
plane wings as they flew of to Ger
many with their loads of bombs, or
they would find Gremlins in their
pockets, or upsetting their beer at
mess.
Gradually the stories about the
Gremlins began to grow until, to-
day, they constitute an amazing and
fabulous folklore of flying. British
pilots going out to Libya, the Near
East, India or Australia have found
that their Gremlins went along, so
Gremlins are now practically all
over the world.
The Gremlins are not Nazis. Oh!
definitely notl And they are not
bad either. Just nischievous. For
instance, Gremlins like to jam the
triggers on machine guns. When a
pilot has to bail out, the Gremlins
like to keep the parachute from
opening. Gremlins like to fray
strands in control cables, and jump
up and down on struts till they
weaken them to the breaking point.
Gremlins also like to break sections
of the transparent cowling, so that
pilots and bcmbers catch cold.
FULL OF TRICKS
Gremlins like to crawl inside CYL
inder heads and foul the spark
plugs. Or get inside the recess of a
retractable landing gear. and just
when the pilot gets ready to land,
the Gremlins will brace their feet
against the wheel to keep it from
being lowered, SO that the pilot will
have to open his throttle, circle the
field and come back to make a
crash landing. When Gremlins. be-
have like this, you have to talk to
them and explain very patiently
that they mustn't do things like
that again. Gremlins can be trained.
There are even good Gremlins.
From incidents like these, you
begin to see why the Gremlins came
into being. They are psychological
letdown for young pilots, to relieve
them from the. greatest, most con-
centrated nervous strain known to
man. Gremlins are something to
help a young birdman explain away
his troubles and laugh about them
They are change of subject from
this gruesome business Of war.
Gremlins are fun. But If you want
to get pedantic or didactic or psy-
chiatric about them, you can say
that the Gremlins are one Of the
greatest psychological allies the
United Nations can possibly have
For instance. Suppose a young
flyer comes in from job with a
few bullet holes in his wings. He
has had tough going on this mis-
sion and been straffed plenty. He
doesn't want to report to his flight
mechanic that he was hit, that he
Unanswered his plane badly, that
he didn't see the enemy that got
him. That would be bad for his own
morale. The human element must
be considered. Young pilots must
be kept relaxed and self-assured.
So, when the airman comes back
with a hole or two in his wings, he
Is apt to talk to his mechanic some
thing like this:
Sergeant, I'm afraid one of my
Gremlins is up to new trick. While
I was out over Sid Darrani after
that convoy, saw the Gremlin walk
out on the wing there. A moment
later I noticed he had brace and
bit and was boring a hole through
the wing. Frightfully sorry! I spoke
to him on the way back, and hes
promised not to 90 1t again. Cheerio!
And that's that.