Drinking and flying

why not?

"eat, drink and be merry... for tomorrow we die!"

the scots never went into hand-to-hand combat sober -- and the english call gin "dutch courage" for a reason.

even the romans enjoyed weed before facing the horrors of war.

wouldn't you?

Can't say I blame them...

Just enough in the morning to calm the nerves, and more in the evening to deaden the emotions. Flying every day in a 1917 high-performance military aeroplane, with no radio or parachute, against guys shooting machine guns at you was a stressful business.