 Proudly we hail. From New York City, where the American stage begins. Here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time has been made available by this station to bring you this story, as proudly we hail the United States Air Force. Today is entitled, Grandpa Jumps, and is about a member of our modern younger generation in conflict with a rather surprising grandparent who wears Air Force Blue and her realization that glamour is not something that youth alone can claim as their hallmark. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment. But first, trim as an arrow and faster than sound. That's how the view high-flying jets of today's United States Air Force measure up. They soar through the skies around the clock, constantly on the alert protecting America's frontiers. And you can help keep them there. And at the same time, build yourself a highly rewarding career. How? By paying a visit to your local United States Air Force recruiting station and enlisting in the United States Air Force as a key man on the Air Force team. Yes, become an airman, and you too will be proud to wear the Air Force Blue. For the exciting details, visit the friendly folk at your local United States Air Force recruiting station. And now, your United States Air Force presents the proudly-wailed production Grandpa Jump. Well, all those guys can really go. They were really jumping. They're gone. That's absolutely gone. Put another record on, Janie. That's enough chatter. Well, Jane, just because your mother's out for the evening is no reason to tear the roof down. I've been sitting upstairs trying to get some work done and all I hear is that concert music. So just let's hold it down in here. And, uh... I think you'd all better wind this up by 10 anyway. You understand, Janie? I still got that test next week in my mind. I wanted to go over those wind tunnel reports again. You're going down to Eglin, aren't you, Center? Oh, we got that shallow Florida Bay area down there. No cloud cover. Makes for almost perfect conditions. I don't think you'll have any trouble. Are they all gonna be live ejections? Mm-hmm. All of them. I don't think we can do any more with the dummy than we've already done. I don't have to ask you if you're going to make any. You don't have to ask me. Colonel, I don't mean to intrude. All right, all right. Stop right there. You sound just like my daughter. But, Bonner, aren't you getting a bit old for that sort of thing? Well, look, Kelly, these jumps are things where experience really pays off. The first jump I make down at Eglin will be my hundredths worth. I've got so I can feel and sense what's gonna happen as it's happening and come up with a solution at the same time. Then I usually let some of the other boys on the project take over. Me, for instance? Why not, Kelly? You've jumped before. I'd like to get you in on some of this down with ejection stuff. Think you can be ready by Tuesday? Ready and waiting, Colonel. Better not mention this to my wife yet, Terry. Mm-hmm. Still under wraps. If everything goes all right down at Eglin, we should be able to release it. That'll be a relief. I'm getting to think I've got a blonde on this drink. My mother, he was terrible, just terrible. He came in and stormed and screamed at us. He made Carol and Arthur go home at 10. That doesn't sound like your grandfather, Janie. That's exactly what he did. Janie, I try to understand your point of view. But sometimes it's utterly impossible. Uh, finished with the dishes? It's the last one, mother. Good. Now, come on over here and talk to me. You're not a child anymore. It's a very hard lesson for parents to learn that their children are growing up, especially in your case. I don't understand, mother. Growing up without a father the way you did. And he died soon after you were born. I thought the world was at an end. But the world didn't end. And here you are, almost all grown up and pretty nice too, most of the time. Well, you've never talked to me like this before. I've never felt that we understood each other before. Janie. A father brings certain things to a daughter, not presents as such, but companionship, love, understanding. You've been very lucky, Janie. You mean in having grandfather living with us? That's right. Gee, he's not like a real father. He's deaf. Being different doesn't necessarily make somebody objectionable. Mother, you make me feel awful. It isn't just that grandfather is anything like that. He talks about anything. He just goes out to the base and comes home and goes out to his room with some work. He never says what he's doing. Security, keeping secrets, is a part of being in the Air Force too. Mother, it isn't. The Air Force has been glamorous and wonderful and all sorts of things like that. The only thing we know about Grandpa is that he works in the Aero Medical Laboratory with test tubes and stuff like that. When Grandpa was younger, I know he used to do a lot of flying. He even jumped with a parachute a couple of times. That was years ago. Look, Janie, I can't put Grandpa on the first rocket to the moon. I just think you're very fortunate in having him here to help you grow up as nice as you are. Well, I just guess there's nothing much I can do about it. I just wish he wasn't such an old foggy. Hello, Dad. Hi, Lydia. Oh, you look tired. Well, it's been a long day at the base. Where's Janie? She went over to Carol's house. They had some studying to do. Can I bring you anything? No, I had some supper at the base. Wouldn't mind a fresh cup of coffee, though. Won't sleep? Maybe the only thing that would keep me from sleeping tonight would be an A-bomb in our backyard. All right. Come in the kitchen while I make some coffee. Um, had a long talk with Janie tonight after supper. Oh, yes, I, uh... I meant to tell you about those kids Friday night. They were raising an awful ruckus downstairs while I was trying to do some work. Pop, you've got an obligation to Janie. I don't think you're conscious of sometimes. Obligation? You're the man in her life, Pop. I hope that someday Janie's going to meet some nice young fellow and go off and make a home of her own. But she's got to have some sort of standard on which to make that judgment. Since Janie didn't have a real father to grow up with, that standard is you. And what you're saying is that I... I don't quite come up to stand. Pop, don't get me wrong. The last thing on earth I want to do is hurt your feelings. Don't come on, Lydia. I'm not that sensitive. But if anything's wrong, I'd like to know about it. All right, then. I'll put it to you straight. Right now, more than ever before in her life, Janie needs understanding and help. It may look like it, but adolescence is never fun. I try to do the best I can, but it's not enough. She also needs your understanding and your help. All right, Lydia. It's as good as done. But, uh, it'll have to wait a while. I'm pulling out in the morning. No! There's going to be coffee boiling over. You still want some? Coffee? Oh, yes, sure. Lydia... It will wait until I come back, Wanda. Sure, Pop. It'll wait. I feel like slowing down, so slow down. You're in a foul mood this morning. Rush, rush, rush. That's all we ever do around our house. If there's a mother going off to work, it's my grandfather going off somewhere. You're absolutely right. My grandmother made me set the table for breakfast this morning. Golly, I think I was a waitress or something. I'm telling you, I just don't care anymore. I wish he'd go away on one of those tips and never come back. Janie, what are you saying? I mean it, every word of it. I wish he'd go away and never come back. Excuse me, Kelly. I just thought I'd catch me 40 winks while I could. Once we get down to Eglin, there won't be too much time for sleep. You should do the same, Kelly. It's a funny thing, Colonel. I spent five years in the Air Force in World War II. I have my commercial pilot's license. I checked out a jet aircraft, my reserve unit, and I still get as nervous as a cat when someone else is flying the plane. I guess you know what I mean then, when I say I have to make the first jump. What do we do at Eglin? In about two hours. Want to go over some of this stuff again? Can't do it too many times to suit me, sir. Yeah, what if the man says, know your equipment thoroughly, use it properly, and enjoy a long life. Check me out of that one, sir. That should be the project engineer's credo. All right, here we go again. Now, everything is automatic, right? Right. You fire the seats. The lap belts, the parachutes are automatic. Our objective is to develop a foolproof way of giving air crewmen a more positive way of escape. Now, if everything goes all right, our plan's called for 12 ejections with two subjects that each be selected. You are listening to the proudly-behaved production Grandpa Jumps. We'll return in just a moment for the second act. Are you interested in a career with a promising future? There are hundreds of jobs ranging from administration and accounting to electronics and construction open to you in the United States Air Force. A handy new 84-page booklet entitled Pocket Guide to Air Force Opportunities gives you the complete story. Everything pertinent to an Air Force enlistment is covered, from basic training to promotion and travel information, and there's a special section where more than 100 technical training courses are described and illustrated. For these and many other interesting facts on what the Air Force can mean to you, pick up your absolutely free copy of Pocket Guide to Air Force Opportunities from your nearest Air Force recruiting station. You are listening to Proudly We Hail, and now we present the second act of Grandpa Jumps. A lot of Mike, will you turn that thing off? I can hardly hear myself think. That's better. I'm sorry, that's the kind of music my granddaughter plays. What do you call it? Jump music? It's jumps or... Do you have any other family, sir? No, just my daughter and my granddaughter. I live in a woman's world and don't think it doesn't have its problem. You're not telling me a thing I don't already know, sir. I have three daughters. Good morning, sir. Hope I'm not late. No, no, Kelly. I think we're all a little early. Oh, Captain Ruskin, this is Kelly Watson, who's acting as project engineer on this job. You better be careful and keep us on the true course, Captain. Kelly here is an Air Force reservist who flew mustangs in Germany during World War II. I don't think I can fly anyway, but straight, sir. All right, then. Let's get started. Captain, do you have the mask? Right here, sir. Now, this is most of the area we should be involved with. Where are you planning on making a run? Right along this coastal area here. Now, this is Choctawatchee Bay. If we make our runs at 10,000, as you've indicated, a normal 10 to 12 knot wind should lift you right over this area here, where we can facilitate pickup by helicopter rather easily. Mm-hmm. Good. Looks fine. So why don't we take a couple of dry runs over the area, and if it all looks as good as this in the flesh, we can set a time and date for our actual drop-off. You have any problems, Kelly? None whatsoever, sir. Even though they've assigned a new crew, in B-47, we were working on it right pat out in the runway. And, uh, since they haven't run a ring on it, there is no problem. Okay, then. Let's go. It's a good idea. I think you should be briefed. There's nothing you have to do with the aircraft, except to bring it out of the way after ejection so we can have a line of sight of the parachute going down. I understand that the man to be ejected will always be wearing a red flying suit for tracking purposes. We won't be able to miss him. Right. Well, this is it. The hot seat. Doesn't look very formidable. Yeah, fit of it. No, thanks. I don't care to be blasted into the atmosphere without a parachute. No, no. Go ahead. Sit of it. We'll remove the hatch of the actual drop. There's no charge in the ejection mechanism. Now, anyway... Okay. This plane leads to the later conditions that exist for the man who occupies this plane. Our triple threat man, B-47. Combination, bombarding. In this case, acting as triple threat, completely fixed the seat with shoulder harness and automatic lap belt prior to take off. I understand. Now, this here is called a D-ring. Just plane letter D. That's it. This D-ring is your triggering mechanism. When you pull this, the hatch blows up and fires the ejection seat. Something I'll leave alone. Now, follow this. When the seat leaves the aircraft, activate the cartridge, which in turn initiates the gas-operated lap belt mechanism. Two seconds later, the belt fires, opening the belt, and allowing the shoulder harness and lap belt tie-down straps to slide off. I get it. And the occupant leaves the seat in midair. Right. By the combined forces of gravity and drag, the greater the speed, the more forceful the separation of the seat. And the para... I'm coming to that. The lap belt has a key that remains attached to the belt, and by means of a lanyard is attached to the automatic parachute device. As the seat leaves the individual, it pulls this device and the parachute begins to develop. The parachute timer also has a two-second delay so that in six or seven seconds following the ejection, you are dangly under an open canopy. Oh, here comes the colonel. I'm sure he'll have some more to add when he plugs in on the intercom. How'd you like to try our little device, Captain? No, thanks, but I'll leave the experiment to you, people. Oh, by the way, I think your copilot has turned back to the people. Well, I'll plug out and go up there. Incidentally, Kelly, thanks for the briefing. And one thing more. Has anyone ever... That's what we're here for. I have to be home before supper. Isn't that gruesome? Leave your books over there if you won't forget them again. Okay. Do you think there's anything in your fridge to eat? I'm starved. I thought you had to get home for supper. I do. All right, come on. Go ahead, look yourself. I don't think I want anything. Well, there's a couple of pieces of fried chicken here. You think your mother'd care if I had one? Oh, no, go ahead. She wouldn't care. Get around here. My grandfather's gone to Florida. On a vacation? No, I'm business. You're lucky. I said you're lucky. But what's the matter with you? You've been so funny all day. The things I said to you about it's going away and not coming back. I feel terrible. Jenny, what made you change your mind all of a sudden? It was so nice the morning he left. We talked about the Air Force and things like that. He even kissed me before he left. He doesn't sound like my grandmother at all. Well, I just know he's in terrible danger on some secret mission. I just know he is. You mean he's not with this one? Well, what he's doing is classified. See, that means he could be working with spies or anything like that. He's got to come back. He's just got to... A rather thorough briefing on what's to happen here today. We all know our assigned roles and what our exact job is to be. Once we're in the air, control of the operation will fall on the hands of my aircraft commander, Captain Ruskin. Okay, Don? All set, sir. And that's about it. Stay on the ball. Alert to anything that might stand in the way of a successful ejection. Any questions? Okay, then, let's go. I'm glad I got this altitude suit on, though. This might be Florida, but I'll bet it's mighty cold up here. Just all at one, yes, sir. We're about one minute from the final run. Okay. Hey, can you see the tracking lens? Roger, in-house. Whizbang, too. Back to the ground, unit. It's their old set to make the pick-up wherever he lands. We've got a chopper standing by the left back at the base before you are. That's not best. You're on. All right, we'll cover me, Don. I'm cutting out now. We'll answer no more voice communication. And for some reason, it doesn't sound as bad as it did. Maybe it just needs getting used to him. Uh, go ahead, sir. You were describing the sensation. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I guess the best way of telling it is that it's just a sudden swish and you're gone. Was there any jolt? No, almost none. No, none of that sickening feeling you get when you're in an elevator coming down from a tall building. Did you black out? No black out. No red out. Just a few moments of confusion. By the time you can move your head to look at the belt, the seat is gone. You're free falling. The parachute opens. You find yourself just as easy as anything swaying in the breeze. That's how the chopper's swinging and get you. You're up and out of the water in less than 30 seconds. Oh, incidentally, Kelly, you can go ahead and call your wife if you want to. The whole operation has been released to the press and she might get a kick out of hearing from you. You're calling your family, sir? No. No, I think I'll wait until morning. Then I'll call. I just want my granddaughter to have a little time to react to the headlines before I call. So you know something that's amusing? Isn't too bad. It kind of, how do you say it? It jumps a little, doesn't it? It's so wonderful. Look at what the paper says. He's tense to middle-aged. You see the morning paper? Isn't it simply wonderful and dangerous? You said he was a spy. When Arthur delivered the paper this morning, he rang the bell and I guess I told him a singer's poo. You know, they might even offer him a movie contract. Well, I have to be going. We're all leaving for the country for the weekend. My grandmother said that if I wasn't back in 10 minutes, she'd see that my... Well, I better be going. And congratulations, Jane. It isn't every girl whose grandfather gets to be a movie star. Do you have to slam the door? Who was that? That was Carol. She said that Grandpa might get a movie contract. You'll be very pleased to hear that. He's on the phone, wants to talk to you. From Florida? Yes, from Florida. Well, go ahead, silly. Hello, Grandpa? Hi, Jenny. Grandpa, we read about the first downward ejection in this morning's paper. I know, your father told me. Grandpa, did you really do all that? Being shot out of a plane and all that? Not bad for an old man, huh? Old man? Why, Grandpa, how could you say such a thing? You're the most. The greatest. Grandpa, one thing more. Yes, Jenny? If you do go to Hollywood, will you take us with you? If I go to... What? Opportunities by the hundreds. They're opening now in the United States Air Force. You can take advantage of these opportunities and build yourself a highly rewarding career. In the Air Force, you'll find a specialized career to suit every aptitude and interest with special emphasis on leadership and rapid advancement. You'll train in the world's finest technical training schools, and when you graduate, you'll be a proud member of this high-flying defense team. Now is the time to get complete information on your career in the United States Air Force. Pay a visit to your nearest Air Force base or your local Air Force recruiting station today and talk it over with the friendly people there. This has been another program on proudly we hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station. Proudly we hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center in New York for the United States Air Force, and this is Mark Hamilton speaking, inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on proudly we hail.