It reminded me that as a Navy airplane mech by a buddy from MN and I would often double up on replacing the low point drain on the belly tank of our squadron planes, which was a "down gripe" if they started weeping. This was a 3" bung that had a spring loaded plate that rode on an o-ring, and each pre-flight inspection there was a fuel sample pulled to check for water, so it wasn't uncommon for them to weep a bit. Now procedure was to have the plane tow'd out to the remote line, call a fuel truck to pump the tank empty, change the drain, and then call the fuel truck back to re-fill so it could be checked. Pete (Peterson) & I would tag team the job, with him clipping the safety wire, loosening the drain and getting it backed out, holding by a thread while keeping tight upward pressure to hold back the gravity pressure, with me holding the re-built plug just beneath, ready for the lightning fast "pull & stab" with an immediate spin to engage threads and get it seated. We got pretty good, and could swap out a 3" low point drain without more than ~1/2 cup of fuel lost, and we'd do the job with the plane parked on the line, which was a big no-no. We got pretty good, and got to the point where just about every belly tank low point grip came to us, because the one to four hour job was done in less than 1/2 hour, that is until the day on the Skipper's plane, which parked in spot #1 right outside Maintenance HQ.... The Skipper was scheduled to fly, and the pre-flight downed his plane with only an hour before flight time. No sweat, right? Pete pulled the plug, I stabbed and spun, but the SOB wouldn't thread in, so 1/2 cup became 2 cups, then Pete had to stab the old one back and he was the "puller"... Checked the replacement, everything seemed OK, so another swap, and another "no-joy" Third time I got it past the rough spot on the belly tank bung, but by this time we had a couple of gallons of high test av-gas spreading across the tarmac. Everything turned out OK, the Skipper flew on time, and nothing burned. Sure made us a little more cautious WHERE we pulled that little trick after than, though.

OK, sorry for the Hijack, but it sure brought back good memories for me