AF Survival Kit?

[bill2054]

Anyone here old enough to remember the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove? I found this quote from the movie.

Major T. J. "King" Kong (Slim Pickens) to crew of the B-52: "Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

Sounds more like an urban survival kit than a wilderness kit, doesn't it?

Greg Davenport, was this what they put on a B-52 in the sixties

bill

 

[Greg Davenport]

Originally posted by bill2054:
"Survival kit contents: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings."

Greg Davenport, was this what they put on a B-52 in the sixties

bill

A lot of the supplies were more for trading then for adapting to the wilderness. If shot down (or crashing for any reason) in an unfriendly area... the ability to trade is an important need for the survivor to meet.

The rubels, gold, lipstick, chewing gum, and nylons were for trading with any locals that may opt to help you. The condoms.... welllllll. The other stuff was for personal survival use.

This would not have been out of the ordinary for the times....

For those who are bound to read this and say... welp, I could meet many survival needs with those trade items... yeah--you could

but that probably wasn't the intent--trading was.

------------------
Greg Davenport
Simply Survival's Wilderness Survival Forum
Simply Survival's Web Page
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[x39]

My guess is that the nylon stockings were intended to be worn as a disguise while holding people up with the .45.

 

[bill2054]

Greg D., I want to apologize- I posted this in jest, and did not mean for anyone to take it seriously. I certainly meant no disrespect toward you or the USAF. I hope you didn't take it that way.

Yes, bailouts over unfriendly areas involve as much evasion as survival, if not more so. Scott O'Grady's book makes this quite clear. Hence it makes perfect sense to carry a good supply of bribes, er, barter items.

I wonder, do fliers carry a modern day version of the WW2 blood chit? It could be in the form of a document in small print in 20 or so languages, printed on Tyvek or something similar, promising a big reward for the safe return of the flier. Just a thought.

Thanks

bill