Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff 
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075 
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF
NBA: Spurs
NFL: Niners
MLB: Giants
NHL: Penguins
|
Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 24, 2009 9:37:06 GMT 9
The Old Sarge said:
On 22 April 1954, I reported to the 14th FIS at Sioux City Air Base, Iowa. I had been at SCAB since November 1952, working on T6, C45, C47, C82, C119, L20 and F51 aircraft. I had spent a total of 5 days in Tech School at Shepherd working on Jet Propelled airplanes, F84A.
When I reported to the 14th, it was a quick stop at the orderly room to sign in and then to the hanger to meet the line chief. There were a bunch of us who were signing in that morning. We got to the hanger and MSgt. McGintly, the Line Chief, introduced himself and took us for a walk around an F86D-15. He then assigned each of us to a crew chief for OJT. We went to supply and were issued our new tool boxes, filled with lots of brand new tools. Then we were each handed a Dzus-all. I think I still have one in an old blue footlocker. This multi-purpose tool was designed for working on airplanes. It was used for opening panels, flipping up fuel caps, turning fuel caps, and making holes in the pockets of your fatigues (one piece). We then went out on the flight line and walked through a pre-flight. I assisted in a launch. I got to pull the chocks. Then when the planes landed, I was instructed on how to hook-up the single point refueling and then pull out my Dzus-all and open the caps on the drop tanks and refuel them.
That was just the beginning.
We had NO FTD School, no special training. No text books. We did have the regular set of tech manuals to read through in between other things. Mainly, we just went to work and learned as we went along. We didn't even have a tech rep. We did have lots of supervision. The prevailing thought was, these guys are airplane mechanics, the F86D is an airplane, so put them to work. We went to work.
When we started to get rid of the -15s and get -25s, we did get some additional training. We were shown how to install a drag chute. The earlier models didn't have the chute, so we had to learn a new skill.
I never went to an FTD for F89 or F102 at the Goose. I first saw an FTD school at Nellis, when I was going to work on the F105D. When I got to Minot, I went to FTD school on the Six and before I went to Ubon, I went TDY to Mt. Home to go to FTD on the F4. That's it.
Maybe some of us Tire Kickers, Ramp Rats, Bug Wipers, Crew Dogs, etc., didn't know much about the Hughes E-4 radar system, but we spent a lot of time under the hood with the radar guys. In those days a crew chief was just that, a Crew Chief. He supervised everything that went on on his machine. That meant we learned a lot of skills, like pulling a bad Maggie and installing a new one, or pulling a Black Box and handing it to the guy in the pickup truck to take it to the shop.
Well, I know all that was in the "Old Corps" and things have changed since then. However, one thing has not changed, people are still people and need to work together if the mission is going to be successfully accomplished.
:god_bless_usa
|
|
|
|
Post by Jim on Aug 25, 2009 3:46:53 GMT 9
Graduated from Gen. Jet School Feb '53 after accelerating a full month and headed for my first assignment- 302nd Tac Recon at Shaw AFB...RF 80,RT-33 RB-26.......... Being brand new we got the usual Jeep treatment and the 360th TRW was heading for Sembach Germany- but they weren't going to take the 7 new jeeps.. We didn't even get to go anywhere near the jets.......... Left to fend for ourselves- Fireman- kept the boiler fires going,barracks guard during the day, etc......... I knew the crew chief on a RB-26 and wanted a ride, so I hung around with him and wiped struts and refueled and kept the oil tanks full and got my ride....Xsfered to George in April and got the same treatment as Jim did, and was assigned to the 416th FBS on a T-33 as an asst to the asst crew chief- yep, I drug the oxygen cart around, pushed and pulled MD-3s and was even allowed to drive a tug!!!!!!! The sqdn still had a few Mont. ANG P-51s and because the sound of that Merlin engine sounded so much better than the J33-35 did,I spent a lot of time around them until they were flown away.........Going to count time on the RB-26 and P-51...The T-birds were xsfered to base flight and we went with them and formed the wing instrument flt training branch.......Base flight had T-6s (2), 2 C-47s and 2 L-20s, because round engines with sticks on them intrigued me, I spent free time with those guys to learn all that I could and wormed my way to being a flying crew chief on a C-47 and a 43151W afsc... The 21st FtrBmrWg transfered to chambley and I found myself back as a crew chief on the T-bird, in the 72nd FtrBmrSqnand then as a crew chief on an F-86F. In '56 I rotated and enlisted for the 27thFIS at Griffiss with F-94C, and got a ride using JATO for Armed Forces Day Open House ( I already had about 20 hours in the T-33), When he kicked in the afterburner on that 94 - that was a real kick in the a$$, but you didn't really notice the JATO bottles when they fired...........Then we got the deuces and later went to Loring and we got the SIX.......... Then to Misawa and the 21st Tac Ftr Wing and my second experience with OMS- because the previous 7 years experience in PE, I became a dock chief on F-102,RF-101, T-33 , F-100 and T-39 and a bit later because I was wt and bal. qualified, I once again was in quality control..... From Misawa to Tan Son Nuit and the 460th, where I had to become somewhat knowledgeable on the RF-4C - still in QC, I was the wt and bal guy for the RF-101 and the RF-4C _had the most screwed up wt and bal configurations of any a/c.......... I was also an inspector along with the other stuff. Then to Yokota and the F-105 Thud and the F-4C and the dripping potting compound problems.........
My first encounter with FTD was when the 21st in France formed their own training program. An old (compared to me at the time ) TSgt Jess Newell even made a cut away of a condemned J47 engine...The next FTD was to learn how to be a Load Chief.....Went Amarillo for both the Deuce and the Six......... My next encounter with FTD was at WAFB for the T-38 and F-5...............My assignment was as an adviser to the 5th FtrWg ROKAF at Suwon AB, Korea one of my jobs was to coordinate the salvaging of F86K and Ls with San Berdu AD..... There wasn't much to do with the AT-33s that they had.......... Then back to WAFB, Az and the T-38 and F-5.......... So, counting tech school starting with the F-80 and F-84 (model unkn), RB-26 (helped on engine change), T-33,T-6, C-47,L-20,
P-51, F-86F,F-94C, F-100,RF-101,T-29,RF/F-4C, F-105, (I also did the weight and balance for the EC-130s at Yokota), T-38 and the F-5..........
Damn, no wonder I feel Old..............The Old Sarge OBTW- 2 rides in the TF and 1 in the Six
|
|
|
|
Post by jimpadgett on Aug 25, 2009 7:39:16 GMT 9
Fond memories of the reverting potting compound. They say the rubber was trying to crawl back in the tree. But Jim.... a T-33 with an afterburner??? Well like the crows sang... "I've seen everything when I see an elephant fly". Though a hot start on the J-33 looks like an afterburner wanna be.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jim on Aug 25, 2009 9:39:37 GMT 9
Thanks, Jim (how many Jims do we have?), now corrected:
F-94C, and got a ride using JATO for Armed Forces Day Open House ( I already had about 20 hours in the T-33), When he kicked in the afterburner on that 94 - that was a real kick in the a$$, but you didn't really notice the JATO bottles when they fired........... The Old Sarge
|
|
|
|
Post by lindel on Aug 25, 2009 10:59:00 GMT 9
I only worked on the Six when I was in, but I always enjoyed listening to the stories of other aircraft the guys in the shop had worked on.
|
|
