Re: First CHL in Space is a Russian
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:13 pm
I got a survival kit from an OV-1 for my birthday one year. It was the late 60's and my dad was an engine mechanic on leave from Vietnam. No sidearm, but it did have a cool machete/axe and some morphine injectors.jimlongley wrote:I also recall when my childhood next door neighbor's daughter was marrying a fighter pilot (lost in 'Nam, but that's a whole 'nother story) he was trying for astronaut and he told us some stuff about the emergency survival kits they had, which included handguns and rifles.
When I flew CH-47's on active duty, every pilot had a holster attached to his survival vest. It's just another piece of survival equipment; like the flares/whistle/mirror/compass/etc...
I would have been suprised if their survival kit did NOT include a sidearm. Don't know if it is still the case, but I believe the Russians used to drop into Siberia when they came back to earth. Missing your landing area and getting stuck in the wilderness would really be a pain without a fully equipped survival kit. A sidearm, and possibly a rifle, seems reasonable to me.