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There are other problems. My Dad had an engine fire in his RAF Vampire over East England, didn't have an ejector seat, and decided it would be better to belly-l
by zabzonk 5y ago
There are other problems. My Dad had an engine fire in his RAF Vampire over East England, didn't have an ejector seat, and decided it would be better to belly-land the thing, which he did, succesfully, in a cabbage field.
He got out of the Vampire and trudged over to an old yokel who had been sitting watching all this.
Dad: Is there a phone around here?
Yokel: You'm will be paying for all them cabbages?
- upofadown 5y agoA reaction like that implies that the farmer was screwed over in a previous incident or has heard of someone that was.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dev_tty01 5y agoOr, more likely, perhaps he just has a typically dry British sense of humor.
- rendall 5y agoHmm. Was the farmer compensated?
- zabzonk 5y agoNo idea. I'm not sure he should have been, but he very probably was - but my Dad was risking his life to protect the farmer, so Dad would not have paid for it. And as far as I know people were compensated for RAF crashes on their property - they certainly are now today, though RAF pilots do everything they can (up to their own deaths) to avoid militraliry accidents.
- sealeck 5y agoHow was he risking his life to protect the farmer?
- zabzonk 5y ago
- mechanical_bear 5y agoYou could just answer the question. Obviously there are many readers here not intimately aware of RAF history.
- SirYandi 5y agoI assume they were referring to the blitz in WW2, where the RAF defended Britain from Nazi bombing runs.
- wtallis 5y agoThe plane in question doesn't seem to have entered service until shortly after the end of WW2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire
- zabzonk 5y agoThe question is really not about a particular fighter, but about the RAF.
- mechanical_bear 5y agoSo…rather than us guessing about which particular piece of information, you could just tell us and stop being so cryptic?
- hnbad 5y agoSo if this wasn't during WW2, how exactly was he protecting the farmer other than in the same generic sense in which the farmer was feeding him? Most Western militaries spent most of their time after WW2 doing other things than defending their nations' citizens so the question seems valid. I'm not initimately familiar with the UK's 20th century military hijinks but the only two significant conflicts I can think of were the Falklands (which seems to have pretty much exclusively been fought overseas) and the Troubles (which fighter planes wouldn't have helped with).
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago> I'm not sure he should have been, but he very probably was - but my Dad was risking his life to protect the farmer Why not? It's not your father who should compensate the farmer but the government. And if government property causes damages to a citizen's livelihood, then the government should compensate them. At least, in a civilized democracy.
- zabzonk 5y agoAnd that's happens in the UK. Of course, the farmer has to put in a claim, and I mean't that I do not know if he did so. Hence: > but he very probably was
- Sebb767 5y agoI think you're missing a comma: > I'm not sure he should have been To > I'm not sure, he should have been Otherwise it reads like you think he shouldn't have been compensated.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- wolverine876 5y ago> my Dad was risking his life to protect the farmer The farmer is an equal citizen with equal rights, regardless - that is what the pilot was protecting.
- scarier 5y agoThis is supposedly where the idiom "bought the farm" comes from.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoI don't think so. It came from the life insurance paying off the family farm (if I understand correctly).
- ILMostro7 5y agoCloser to "not in my backyard", until and unless it absolutely and directly benefits ME
- InCityDreams 5y agoA lot of people sure don't get British humour, with a 'u'.
- JJMcJ 5y agoHence the old term "bought the farm" for a crash landing.
- Sebb767 5y agoFascinating, I always thought this referenced retiring on a farm.
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y agoClose. The term originates from payments the War Department (now DoD) made to families after someone died in combat. In some cases the payment was enough for the family to pay off the mortgage, so the dead person was said to have "bought the farm."
- JJMcJ 5y agoExact origin is obscure. Some think it relates to paying a farmer, some that it refers to a death benefit.