TALL TALES II CONTEST (Read 22,393 times)

actually they were called "daisy cutters" that were used for clearing jungle landing pads....MOAB came later into the 80's and 90's...


Steve

www.nd.edu/~techrev/Archive/Spring2002/a8.html

is a good explaination of the daisy cutter...


:us_flag

[Pat wrote on Jan 18, 2010
Hi genej50 & Steve,
That was the 10,000 pound bomb I saw at Cam Rahn Bay. The crew chief said they also had some 15,000 pounders, both left over from WWII.

I also heard that term "Daisey Cutter" used by bomb troops as they would weld a 2-3 foot pipe on the detonator of a conventional bomb to make it explode above ground. This was due to heavy rains making the ground very soft and muddy during monsoon season. Often conventional bombs would bury up in the mud before going off which would absorb a lot of their energy.

Also, when I was at Ubon, unbeknownst to me at the time, my former 456th CO, John Marcotte, was in charge of the F-4 outfit there and they were testing laser guided bombs. During a visit with him several years ago, he drug out some battle damage assessment pictures of the first bulldozer he nailed with a LGB. I never knew we had that technology back in the late 60s. He said the only problem was that you had to have a guy on the ground to highlight the target with a laser.

The Vietnam war led to a lot of innovation in firepower in later years. Even the AC-130 Spectre gunships we had there have changed a lot in today's version. One of the Spectres we had at UBON "Azrael - Angel of Death" is now on display at the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton - I have a picture of it somewhere. Here's one from the museum. Note: the picture below was taken after the AC-130 Spectre was taken out of the WPAFB museum for use in the Gulf war and later returned to museum.]

Thanks for the additional info.
Pat P.

Move over MOAB here comes MOP. Last summer the USAF placed an order for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. A 30,000 lb bunker buster said to be able to penetrate through 60' of reinforced hardened concrete. One per B-52 or B-2.

i think the daisy cutter was intended to clear a large area for the purpose of an L.Z. and the other was a bomb intended for blowing things up... and now back to TALE TALES....

Tale #13


The Base: Minot Air Force Base

The Unit: 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

The Duty Site: The Maintenance Hanger Phase Dock

The Head Man in Charge: Lt. Col. Jack Broughton, Squadron Commander

The Big Boss: Lt. Col. Richard Chandler, DCM

The Grand Poobah of maintenance: CWO-4 Richard “Dirty Dick” Dalton

The Maintenance Honcho: SMSgt Joseph “Shaky Jake” Scott

The Little Boss: TSgt Jim Osteen – Hanger and Phase NCOIC

The Night Dock Chief: A1C Jim Scanlon

Night Maintenance Officer: 2 Lt. Adair (Fuzz)

The Aircraft: F106A

The Job: Inspect Speed Brake hinges.

The Method: Remove Speed Brake hinge pins and dye check the hinges, on the Speed Brakes and the yoke.

That is how my night began.

Simple job?

Well, yes.

Sometimes.

On the night shift I usually had two young airmen working with me on the Phase Dock. We did the things the day shift didn't get done, or maybe started a new part of the Phase Inspection.

Speed Brake NDI was a new job for us to do that night.

The bird had been in the Phase Dock and the only thing left to be done was the Speed Brakes NDI of the hinges.

The bird had been moved from the corner where the Phase Dock was, to the opposite corner, nearest the Flight Line Office, as another bird had been moved in to the Phase Dock.

We got to work that evening, Jim Osteen briefed us on what we needed to and we were left alone to do our duties for the evening.

Seeing the Speed Brake NDI was not a three-man job, I sent one of the young airmen to prepare to pull the Speed Brakes.

That meant pulling the Drag Chute out of it's hole, disconnecting the Speed Brake actuators from the Speed Brakes and taking the safety pin out of the bottom of the hinge pin.

Our intrepid young airman got all that done and came over to the dock to let me know he was ready to pull the hinge pins.

I finished up the job I was doing on the inspection of the other bird.

By then it was time for a break.

So we went in to the Maintenance Office for coffee and a smoke for the one guy who used them.

Lt. Fuzz was at his desk and wanted to talk to me about something. Can't remember, but it must have been important.

Lt. Fuzz was a very nice young man.

He had graduated from the University of Utah with an engineering degree of some kind. The Air Force thought that qualified him to be a maintenance officer.

Like I said, he was a very nice young man.

About, the only thing he knew about airplanes was that they flew.
He was willing to learn and asked lots of questions and spent time in the hanger observing and learning.

Back to the hanger and time to get the pins pulled and the Speed Brakes removed.

Whoops!

Intrepid young airman took a drift pin punch and began to take the hinge pin out.

That's when the problem began.

The pin wouldn't move.

Took a ball peen hammer, regular, not industrial size, and tapped the pin where it extended from the hinge.

Nothing.

So, using typical logic, if a small tap wouldn't work, then try a harder tap and move the Speed Brake back and forth to try to help the pin along.

Nothing.

The next step was to give the pin a really hard whack.

Still nothing.

Well, let's try the left Speed Brake and see if that pin will come out.

Nope.

It was just as tight as the right one.

What was the next step?

I know, call the Sheet Metal Shop and have them come take a look at it.

Went in to Maintenance Control and talked to the controller and had him give a job order to the Sheet Metal Shop.

The Sheet Metal man came over to the hanger and took a look and did some tapping and whacking.

Nothing.

He went back to the shop and came back with a can of graphite lubricant. He sprayed a little on each Speed Brake hinge and worked them back and forth to get the oil/graphite mix down in the hinges.

Took another whack with the ball peen.

Nothing.

We discussed the problem and decided to consult with Lt. Fuzz.

He came out to the hanger and looked.

His response was a question: Do you have to remove the pins to do the NDI?

The sheet metal guy and I showed him the printed procedure. It stated the pin was to be pulled, the Speed Brake removed and taken to the Sheet Metal Shop for the NDI.

So, the decision was made, by Lt. Fuzz.

Use an air gun to drive the pin out.

The sheet metal man went back to the shop to get his pneumatic gun and some punches.

The electric air compressor was pulled over to the plane and plugged in to the wall. Turned on and built up pressure.

When the pressure was adequate, the sheet metal man got his gun and hooking it to the hose, climbed up on the stand to the begin the Speed Brake removal process.

Blatt, Blatt, Blatt.

Nothing.

The pin still wouldn't move.

Lt. Fuzz is standing there as the sheet metal man used his gun, and saw what was going on.

He made a “command” decision.

“Get the pins out”.

So, the gun began it's clattering and banging until the pin finally began to move.

But it wouldn't move up in to the hinge, so we could get a driver on it to get it all the way out.

More banging.

Finally, it began to move.

That's when the real problem began.

As the pin began to move, so did the bottom section of the hinge.

Not the part on the Speed Brake, the part on the airplane.

It moved and then cracked.

Whoops!

We had a problem of gigantic proportions and Lt. Fuzz gulped. I gulped. The sheet metal man gulped.

The good thing, if there was one, it allowed the pin to be removed.

It took about two hours to drive the pin out.

As it began to move further up the hinge, we saw why it was not willing to move.

The pin was bent at every point that it was engaged in the airplane part of the hinge.

I called Jim Osteen to let him know what had happened, and that I had already ordered a new yoke.

He told me to go ahead and get the sheet metal guy to take out the broken Speed Brake yoke, and clean it up.

So, I told Lt. Fuzz what Osteen said and he thought that was good.

Lt. Fuzz was tempted to call Col. Chandler, but decided he would leave a note on his desk.

Guess he didn't want to hear what the voice on the other end of the phone would have to say.

So, yoke, removed, Speed Brakes removed and taken to Sheet Metal Shop for NDI.

New yoke ordered.

Midnight.

Couldn't do much more damage that night.

So closed up the dock office, told the control room we were going home.

I called Osteen the next morning and asked him if he got all of the information I left him.

His response was to laugh and let me know the roof of the hanger didn't fall in when Col. Chandler read the note from Lt. Fuzz.

I told him I would be coming in early, as I had some other stuff on base I needed to do.

I got to the hanger about 1500.

I was expecting the worst.

Osteen told me to let Col. Chandler know when I got there.

Oh, Oh!

Deep Doo Doo?

The colonel met me at the airplane.

He smiled.

That was always scary.

He asked me for a complete story of what happened.

When I got done, he looked down at me and told me to get the yoke out of the trash can.

I did.

Then he told me to get a rope and tie it around the yoke and hang the thing around my neck.

He said I was his Ancient Mariner and would be wearing a Speed Brake yoke rather than an Albatross.

Then he told me both Speed Brakes failed the NDI. They had multiple cracks on the hinges. Old cracks.

He told me to meet him in his office and bring my coffee with me.

I didn't know what to expect.

He told me to sit down and we discussed the Speed Brake hinge NDI program.

Ended up very good for me.

Out of our discussions on that and other maintenance issues he transferred me to the control room as night controller and got me promoted to Staff.

Lt. Adair (Fuzz) was apprehensive, but the colonel told him he did the right thing, but to call him next time something like that happened.

The Six sat in the corner of the hanger for some days, until the new yoke and Speed Brakes arrived and were installed.

That was one NDI that ended up being a DDI (Do Destroy Inspection).

Jim Scanlon

SHOW ME THE GOODIES!

What's at stake in the tall Tales II Contest, you ask?

Well, let's take a peek in the Old Sarge's shop...


Jan 2010: As you can see, The Old Sarge has a number of clocks under construction


Jan 2010: These are the Old Sarge's awards under construction for the Tall Tales II contest winners. Left is the 1st place wall hanger and right is the 2nd place desk clock. Whoever wins should be ready to send pictures to post on the forum. Thanks Jim Gier for all you do for others!

Good Luck writers!

Pat P.

:us_flag

Tale #16
It was Dec 7, 1967 at Castle AFB, CA. Aircraft 57-2469 had just come out of dock inspection and was off on a FCF and I believe Maj. Merle Gresham was the test pilot flying her that day. I had been in MARS for about a year after cross training myself out of the paint shop.

About mid-day we received word that the aircraft had crashed in a field while coming back to Castle. Thankfully, the pilot had ejected successfully and was not hurt.

Then the crash investigators showed up. Our first impulse was to run to the records office and see who worked on it last… but the I-Team was already there. Meanwhile, the newspapers carried pictures of the wreckage and stories about the good fortune of it crashing in a farm field and the pilot getting out OK.

Several days later, the I-Team showed up in the MARS shop with the aircraft forms. “Airman Perry, did you sign off on this cooling turbine replacement on such-and-such date?” To which I replied Y-yes sir. “Did you know this Marmon clamp was over torqued?” I replied N-no sir. They showed me the clamp and asked if I had used an inch-pound torque wrench. No, I said, we don’t have one.

Then I got up the nerve to ask if that was the cause of the crash. They smiled and said NO. (whew!). Turns out the engine had been time changed during dock inspection and the replacement was freshly rebuilt from depot inventory. The n2 compressor stage quill shaft had broken and the engine flamed out. The team had taken time to go around to every shop and question troops on their recent hands-on experience with this aircraft. This visit served to reinforce the fact that fear is a great motivator.

I excused myself to go look for an inch-pound torque wrench which I never found and consequently never used. Seems we weren’t authorized to have one. After that, I replaced a lot of Marmon clamps and paid particular attention to NOT over-tightening them with my 3/8” ratchet.

To this day, I probably over-think safety… thanks to my USAF training and OJT.

Pat P.

Tae #18
NATO BOMB & GUN RANGE

The annual deployment schedule for live fire at the Zaragoza Bomb and Gun Range was announced for April of 1980. It was a very long deployment and the maintenance personnel were divided into two teams, thus shortening the family separation time. One team would go for the first half of the deployment and the other team for the second half.

This was a tough choice for me. I did not go the year before as it was my first year on the flightline. This time I had no choice, I had to go.

My wife was pregnant with out daughter and if I chose the latter part of the deployment I would be gone during our child’s birth and I did not want to miss my second child being born. Besides I figured my wife, baby, and young son would need me more then. The military hospital was a least a 45 minute drive or more depending on weather. Who would drive them if not me? So I decided to go on the first part of the deployment. I made arrangements for a few friends to check on my wife and son while I was gone.

Tthe above decision was very often threw up in my face by my wife. How I left her when she was pregnant with our daughter. She refused to believe that I did not have a choice, to go or not to go. I had to deploy one way or the other. Most maintenance technicians where told when to go. Because my wife was pregnant, I was one of the few technicians that had a choice of when to go. We separated about a year later and divorced. I got sole custody of my two children and entered single fatherhood.

We were deployed to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain with half of our aircraft. Us maintenance support technicians flew there in a C-130 cargo aircraft; I was lucky and got to fly back to Germany in the co-pilot’s back seat of one of our OV-10A Bronco’s.

These deployments to the bombing range were a nice exciting operation for maintenance troops as we operated like we were at war. We helped each other out and it didn’t matter what your job or career field was, you pitched in where needed. On this deployment I refueled aircraft and loaded rockets when I wasn’t repairing and servicing the turbo-prop jet engines.


It was my turn to go on a flight to the NATO Bombing Range located about an hour’s flight time from the Air Base. Our OV-10A Bronco aircraft flew at around 175-230 MPH so it took us over an hour to fly there. The jets got there in less than half the time.
Spain had some good flying weather when the wind wasn’t blowing. This part of Spain was dry and sandy so wind kicked up dirt and sand. But this day was great for our flight, just a slight breeze.

Pre-flight and take off went without any problems, and our four aircraft joined up for some formation flying.

We flew in a V formation for a while and then went tactical formation. From my observation we had 2 aircraft in front spread about a ½ mile to a mile apart and the two other aircraft about a mile behind trailing, also split apart, but the two trailing aircraft crossed back and forth to check the 6 o’clock position against simulated fighter aircraft attack.

As we got near the bomb range and the target, we went into a trail formation which was basically a follow the lead with a mile or two separations into the target.
At this point our four aircraft went into a dive down to brush & cactus level until we hit the bomb range. Our target was at our 9 o’clock position (off left wing tip).
The pilot then pulled the aircraft upward until we hit maybe 1,000 or 2,500 feet and then banked sharply to the left and dove at the target and leveled the wings.

As we swooped in at the target (Big Bullseye in the dirt) the pilot fired a few 2.75 rockets at the target and then banked sharply away, and once again headed for a low level departure to hide from simulated anti-aircraft fire as if in a real combat area.

We repeated this pop-up attack six times until all our rockets were all expended. Each time a rocket left the tube I could hear the whoosh sounds. I never got to see the impacts as we were diving away from the target with evasive action. It was a blast!

After our flight finished at the bomb range our aircraft formed up again in a V formation and headed for the base.

After a few minutes flying time the pilot asked me “Have you ever done any formation flying?” We were at maybe 3,000 or 4,000 feet and the air was rough. Turbulence was in play, and the aircraft were sliding up and down as we flew through the air in tight formation. I thought it over for a second or two and replied something about it looked pretty rough and we were pretty close. My pilot said, “You should give it a try and see how it feels.” Not wanting to be called a chicken after we landed I said, “OK I’ll give it a try.”

He told me, “Pick out a rivet, chip of paint, or some other marking on the aircraft next to us and keep it always the same size and in the same location.” I said “OK Sir.”
He said “Take the flight control stick in 3, 2, 1, and you got the aircraft.” Our aircraft was on the outboard right side of the formation, and I flew formation for 10 -15 minutes.
Let me tell ya! It’s not as easy as it looks like on TV or at military air shows. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life looking at one tiny rivet and trying my best to keep it in place while our four aircraft were bouncing around.


At one point while I was flying I heard over the radio from the Flight Leader, “What’s up number 4, you have the Sergeant flying?” My pilot laughed and replied, “Roger that.” Seems that I was drifting just a bit out away from the formation and it was being noticed by flight lead. At the end of the 10 minutes I was glad to hand the control back over to the pilot, as my hair was wet with sweat. Like I said, “It is not as easy as it looks.”

I then asked my pilot, “Could we move out away from the other 3 aircraft so I could take a few pictures of them in formation?” He checked with our lead aircraft and we were given the OK. So I got a few minutes to take a few photos.


Then another radio call from the flight leader, this time the order was, “Follow lead!”
At this point the flight leader put his aircraft into a dive toward the ground and banked hard left above the terrain followed by #2, #3, and then us.

It was rock & roll, yank & bank, through the valleys and up over the hills. Positive and negative G-Forces and my stomach was not very happy with it all. My pilot came over the intercom and asked, “ Sarge, Are you doing OK and still with me?” I replied, “Yep but my stomach is not.” He told me, “Keep your barf bag ready and don’t throw-up inside the cockpit, the crew chief will get very mad at us.” He added, “Even pilots get sick at times in the back seat not knowing in advance what the aircraft is going to do especially with negative G’s.”
He suggested, “Flatten out the palm of your hand and rest it slightly on top of the flight control stick so your body will know what the aircraft will be doing next. That way your stomach will not get surprised.” After about 10 or 15 minutes of this low level follow the leader flying it was time for base approach and landing.

The flight lead climbed and instructed the aircraft to join on him, we were maybe five minutes from the base. Just before we got the base in sight we went into a landing formation and as we flew down above the runway the lead aircraft banked to the right away from the runway, flightline, and control tower followed by the rest of us for landing.

After landing I thanked the pilot for the flight and the control stick time. My next stop was the life support shop to turn in my flight helmet, oxygen mask, and helmet liner to be cleaned and checked as other maintenance troops would need the equipment to go flying.

Then of course, right after work I dropped off my film to be developed, showered, had dinner, and then headed to the Non-Commissioned Officer’s Club (NCO Club). Oh, what a day! I met up with a group of co-workers and we had a great time.