Someone recently added a comment to my USTDC Compound Today post. The writer was a dependent at the time and mentioned the loud noise of the low-flying passenger jets on final approach to the airport.I've written about that noise before, but I recently (vaguely) remembered attending softball games in the compound while jets passed overhead.
It seems to me that umpires used to call a time-out when the aircraft were close to the field -- you could hear them coming from quite a distance -- and then would resume play after they passed over. This often happened several times during a game and everyone would stop and plug their ears until the noise subsided.
As I wrote some time ago, the absolute worst (that I recall) were the Cathay Pacific jets that screamed as they flew overhead. Someone once told me that their aircraft had Rolls Royce engines on them and of course aircraft noise wasn't widely regulated in those days. I presume it's at least a little quieter in the skies over Taipei these days.
Living in the Signal Compound Barracks, one of my hobbies was to spot the approaching aircraft and identify the airline. Did this daily. Yes, I remember them coming in over the softball field with engines screaming, they became my friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories.
Especially looked for one of the loudest and best daily, Northwest Orient 707s with the red tails. I guess I looked forward to the Northwest Charter flight that would take me back to the States (Seattle) for discharge back on January 1st, 1967. Never forget it.
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