ADC TDY's to Tyndall AFB (Read 945 times)

The only TDY I pulled was to Tyndall in 66, I think, and we flew a Dogpatch Airlines C 54 from somewhere out of the south. We were having a great time with our box lunches (no food, just the box). But it rattled the hell out of us when the pilot came back through the passenger compartment with his white scarf on to go to the bathroom. He relieved himself and managed to find a lunch box with some real food in it (a baloney sandwich and an apple if I remember). We noticed that the crew chief disappeared when the captain went back, but it didnt sink in until we asked the pilot how the autopilot was doing. He mentioned that it wasnt working, and the crew chief was flying the bird. We laughed a lot until the pilot went back to the cockpit and the crew chief came out and we saw he was sitting in the pilot's seat. We laughed a lot less when one of our guys got the maintenance log book, and the last entry was, in fact, AUTO PILOT INOP, signed by the pilot on the morning we left.

That was my last trip on a prop plane, either military or civilian.

With all the electronic geniuses on that plane, not one of us could have fixed a damned thing on it if it broke.

I never got to Tyndall.

When I was at The SCAB we went to Yuma, and to Yuma, and to Yuma.

One year I was there 4 times.

We went for rocket firing our Saber Dogs out over the Sonora Desert Range.

There were also birds firing guns of one sort or another.

In 1958 there was a small group of 104s using their gun to tear up the sand.

Going to Yuma, we always had a number of people take POVs, and at least one passenger in each car.

The air transportation started out as the base C-47, but it didn't hold that many, so we also used the base 119s.

I much preferred the Gooney Bird. It didn't vibrate near as much as the 119.

One time we left for Yuma and hit bad weather as we were crossing in to Arizona. So, we circled above St. John, Arizona for over an hour, waiting for clearance to head to Yuma.

There is nothing to compare to the sound of ice being thrown off the props in to the side of that big aluminum box.

We never had any mechanical, or electrical problems on the 119s, just weather.

When the 119s were moved to another base, we flew in 123s.

Yep, slower than molasses.

They were, however, a pretty stable plane, once in the air.

One trip, we landed at Kirtland for an overnight stay.

They next morning there were strong cross winds.

So, we didn't go anyplace for two more days.

The 123, with the narrow gear, didn't do well with a cross wind.

We also went to Duluth, to fire out over the Lake Superior range.

Went there in Summer and Winter.

Winter was not much of a problem on the lake. Summer the Coast Guard had to clear the range area.

At Duluth we used B-26s with target rag coming out of the bomb bay.

At Yuma we also used the B-26. Early on it had the rag, then they began to hang a Firebee under each wing. It was released and the fighters would try to shoot it down. When it ran out of fuel, it rode to the sand on a chute.

The first 123s were, indeed, gliders with engines. However, they never were put in to service. Henry Kaiser was building those. He got in to some political tussle, lost the contract and Fairchild picked it up.

The ones the Air Force put in to service were the same basic design, but were built to have engines, R-2800, the wings had rubber bladder fuel cells, plus the under wing tanks.

We had to follow a careful refueling process. First the internal tanks, to give some weight, then we filled the underwing tanks using two men and two hoses.

A 123 just doesn't look right sitting on one underwing tank after someone filled just one side. The bottom of the tank had a heavy seam to prevent damage from going down to the ramp.

We never had them, but some versions had a J-85 under each wing, and some were capable of carrying JATO equipment.

That's my history lesson for to-day, from the mid to late 1950s in ADC.

Jim Too

:god_bless_usa

Ahhhh Dogpatch! Went to and from Tyndall 4 or 5 times and Richards-Gebaur once. Used C-119s, C-123s, and Gooneys. Origin of trips was Duluth and McChord. Think Dogpatch was Hq at Hamilton and RG. Thankful to have survived.

Back in the late 60's a guy was fishing out in the lake behind Capehart housing on Tyndall AFB. He fell out of boat right into a coil of snakes. He was kiled by getting over a hundred bites. They put lake off limits until they could get a "trapper" in to rid most of the snakes out.
We also had an MA-1 MSgt's wife killed when a tornado hit the same housing area. I had to go out as part of rescue party. We had to dig through about 25 homes to look for people. Lucky for me I didn't find her.
The MSgt asked for a humatarian transfer and the day it was refused they found him dead as well. Took his own life.
I never understood why they didn't transfer him after such a tradegy.