My 'Dustbowl' story:
Vance AFB, USAF pilot training, Enid, Oklahoma, 1963
A brand new pilot trainee I checked into my BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters) in mid August. Moved my stuff in and took a around look at where I would living for the next year. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a 'living room' which I'd be sharing with another student pilot. I noticed the crevices around all the windows were taped.
Sealed shut.
Hunh?
Came October and the weather was nice. Mid 70s. I ripped the tape off and opened my windows. Breezes wafted in. Fresh air. Nice.
A few weeks later I was up flying and got a call on the radio.
"All aircraft return to base. I repeat: All aircraft return to base."
What's up with that?
I turned back towards the base and then saw this huge blackish-brownish cloud north of the base.
At first I thought it was a tornado.
Anyway, I got the bird on the ground, no problem, and then the dust hit.
Leaving the flight line on my way to the officer's club for lunch, the visibility went to 1/2 mile.
I decided to weather the storm at the club.
Hey, they had BEER!
Around 5 p.m. the wind died out and things settled down.
I returned to my quarters.
And that's when I saw why the windows had been taped.
There was a layer of fine brown dust on EVERYTHING.
Every horizontal surface was covered with it.
It had even seeped into my closet and clothes.
Into drawers.
It took two days to get it all cleaned up.
Now I knew what dust storms can do.
It ain't pretty.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yup, you got a good taste of a dust storm.
I'm glad you weren't hurt.....people died in those storms!
One of my buddies, a classmate, was from there.
We'd been to his folk's home for the week end.
They were really nice people and we had a great time.
I fell in love with his younger sister.
He had an older Corvette ragtop.
Of course the top wasn't air tight. Dust settled over the dash...everything.
yuck