Odd things one finds from time to time...

[GeneralDynamics]

So my dad and I were out and about in north Arkansas a few weeks back and stopped at his friend's store where the guy sells a little bit of everything. In a pile of assorted junk, I spotted this old corroded brass plaque. Taking a closer look, I noticed the word "Pilots" and something written across the top in Arabic which I assumed also translated to "Pilots" and later found this to be the case. Weird... I had to have it. I ask my dad's buddy, the old trader that he is, how much he'd take for it. He says twenty dollars. I'm like, yeah, twenty bucks is a little steep... I flipped it over and there was a sticker on the back that said $5. So I said, "Uhhh, there's a sticker here that says five bucks." He says, "Ok, I'll take five dollars for it then." LOL! Sold! It now hangs on the wall in my sim area. No clue where this thing came from and I often wonder what the story is behind it, and how on earth it ended up in a junk shop in Northern Arkansas. It took a considerable amount of polish and elbow grease, but it looks half decent now I think. It starts a conversation every time someone sees it, which usually begins with "I have no idea..." from my side of the exchange. So, thought I'd share it with the community. I'm open to theories people might have regarding its origin:-)

Edited November 7, 2015 by GeneralDynamics

[Kuky]

Surely someone that speaks Arabic will know what it means, I would like to know also.

[xray20]

It says Pilots in Arabic. I just googled it. Probably from a door to the pilots office (somewhere in the middle east) ......

[GeneralDynamics]

The lettering is hand engraved and then they filled it in with black paint. I can tell it was done by hand by inconsistencies in the lettering and in the black engraved border around the outside of the plaque, which is hard to see in the photo. No way it was made by a machine. Somebody sat down and made these things by hand one at a time... somewhere.

 

One theory I had was that maybe it came from a military base overseas someplace, and perhaps some soldier or airman nabbed it and brought it back home with them.

Edited November 7, 2015 by GeneralDynamics

[xray20]

On 6th April 2003 a C130K of the 314th Operations Group out of Little Rock AFB was the first aircraft to land at Baghdad International Airport during the second Iraq war. The co-pilot Maj Ray Campbell having a few minutes to spare while the Aircraft was being unloaded, went into the airport terminal and found the pilots lounge on the second floor. He removed this plaque with his penknife and took it home as a souvenir. It sat on the drinks cabinet at his home until he was sent on overseas deployment to RAF Mildenhall in the UK. He went on ahead while his wife cleared their service apartment before leaving to join him. It was put in a box (by mistake) and sold with two ornamental lampshades and a George Foreman grill to a junkshop by the contract cleaners. After lying in the shop for 3 years you found it. And the rest is history...

[GeneralDynamics]

@xray20... ROFL! Your investigative skills and powers of deduction rival that of Sherlock Holmes, my friend! I'm glad we can now put this mystery to rest. When people ask about this goofy thing in the future, I can "honestly" relate said story and mention someone on the DCS forums solved the case. Love the detail you added!

Edited November 7, 2015 by GeneralDynamics

[NoJoe]

That's great, I'd love to have one to hang up on my wall!

 

Arabic trivia: it's a form of the word for "airplane", which is roughly transliterated to "Tah-iraa" depending on dialect. The word you have is roughly "At-Tahyaa-roon", meaning "the pilots" or just "pilots". In standard Arabic it'd be "At-Tahyaa-reen", so your sign is probably from somewhere other than Saudi Arabia, but I'm not familiar enough to pick out which dialect it's from. I should ask my former Arabic teacher!

[GeneralDynamics]

On 6th April 2003 a C130K of the 314th Operations Group out of Little Rock AFB was the first aircraft to land at Baghdad International Airport during the second Iraq war. The co-pilot Maj Ray Campbell having a few minutes to spare while the Aircraft was being unloaded, went into the airport terminal and found the pilots lounge on the second floor. He removed this plaque with his penknife and took it home as a souvenir. It sat on the drinks cabinet at his home until he was sent on overseas deployment to RAF Mildenhall in the UK. He went on ahead while his wife cleared their service apartment before leaving to join him. It was put in a box (by mistake) and sold with two ornamental lampshades and a George Foreman grill to a junkshop by the contract cleaners. After lying in the shop for 3 years you found it. And the rest is history...

 

@xray20 - I am familiar with C-130 operations out of Little Rock AFB, but I didn't know it was the 314th until I looked it up, and it IS the 314th as you stated. A friend of mine lives just south of the base, and we've spent many a night watching the C-130s flying overhead training. Those guys train long and hard.

 

Now, the next part of your "story" is also correct. The first USAF aircraft to land at Baghdad Intl was indeed a C-130 and on 6th April 2003 during the second Gulf war just as you reported! But I have not been able to find any information indicating it was a C-130 from the 314th? I'd be curious to know if this was indeed the case?

 

You seem to have a great deal of knowledge in this area. I'm assuming you have either made a study of the conflict or perhaps you were involved in some way?

 

Forgive me, but I had assumed you had done an excellent job of fabricating the whole thing, but I see now that some parts are indeed true fact which contributed to making your narrative that much more believable. I'm quite amazed that being from the UK, you knew about the 314th, where they are stationed, and also about a C-130 being the first coalition aircraft to land at Baghdad Intl!

Cheers,

Neil

Edited November 8, 2015 by GeneralDynamics

[GeneralDynamics]

That's great, I'd love to have one to hang up on my wall!

 

Arabic trivia: it's a form of the word for "airplane", which is roughly transliterated to "Tah-iraa" depending on dialect. The word you have is roughly "At-Tahyaa-roon", meaning "the pilots" or just "pilots". In standard Arabic it'd be "At-Tahyaa-reen", so your sign is probably from somewhere other than Saudi Arabia, but I'm not familiar enough to pick out which dialect it's from. I should ask my former Arabic teacher!

 

Thanks so much for the info NoJoe! If you do check with your teacher, it would be very interesting if he could attribute the dialect to a specific region:smilewink:

[cichlidfan]

On a regular basis, I become more and more convinced that, collectively, the members of this forum know absolutely everything. :)

[NoJoe]

I just heard from my old Arabic teacher; he says he "has a hunch" it's Egyptian Arabic, but he'll check with some family members who would know better. He himself is Iraqi, and doesn't recognize the spelling as Iraqi. So that starts to narrow it down! :)

[GeneralDynamics]

I just heard from my old Arabic teacher; he says he "has a hunch" it's Egyptian Arabic, but he'll check with some family members who would know better. He himself is Iraqi, and doesn't recognize the spelling as Iraqi. So that starts to narrow it down! :)

 

Awesome NoJoe! Thank you, and please pass my thanks along to your teacher as well :thumbup: