Girls, girls, girls
Where there are warriors, there are girls
Attitude adjusters at the conclusion of a day or night in a supersonic office. All pictures in this gallery are courtesy of Dick Hammaker and are used by his permission. This slide show starts and advances automatically; or you may control it manually with the buttons and controls below.
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This aviator is on a very short final for a night carrier landing (see “Barrack Room Ballads” in Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid). The actors are wearing Party Suits, sewn to special order by local craftswomen (men). Maroon identifies members of the 14 TRS; 11 TRS party suits were blue.
The bar girls may have been agents for an enemy power (some surely were), but that did not deny access to the flight line and airplanes. Typically, the bar girls came out for an end of tour event (at Udorn, 100 missions over North Vietnam or, after the bombing halt, serving a designated period of time). Their purpose was to add pulchritude and pour champagne (more on the raucous deeds associated with 100 mission festivities in “Barrack Room Ballads” in Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid).
Nan, the bar girl second from right in the preceding flight line picture, gets married c. 1972; her spouse is not identified. Nan served drinks at the officer’s club bar since at least 1967.
This picture and the one following: between combat missions, recrational diversions were available at the officer's club. Enlisted and officer alike, through their respective clubs, were offered escape and evasion training in a cabaret environment (more in "Barrack Room Ballads" in Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid).
Aircrew preternatural visual acuity was not always available on demand. Those suffering from myopia induced by taxed liquids were accommodated (more detail in “Barrack Room Ballads” in Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid).
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