Bullhunter
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318th FIS Jet Shop 1975-78
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Post by Bullhunter on Mar 26, 2016 17:03:36 GMT 9
I figured I'd start a new subject thread. This way it will be easirer to find subject stories. I'll start if off.
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Bullhunter
Global Moderator
318th FIS Jet Shop 1975-78
Currently: Offline
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Post by Bullhunter on Mar 26, 2016 17:05:21 GMT 9
I'll add to this Story as I write it.
England & Ireland March 2016
I've been watching KC-135 missions out of Fairchild Air Force Base for 6 weeks. I'd signed us up on Febuary 3rd for a mission to RAF Mildenhall in England for a departured on or about the 20th of March.
I planned on flying to Spokane on Alaska Airlines because they were offering tickets for $63.00 but when I check back a few days before our trip the tickets had increased to $209.00 which I figured was to high. There was no guarantee that we could get on a mission the day or week we wanted.
So I went to Plan B and rented a vehicle from Enterprise in Bremerton, the next day we drove to Fairchild and met up with Mr & Mrs Earl Hoal for Breakfast the next morning. That afternoon we met Mr & Mrs Bill Worthington for diner at a place called the Rusty Moose near Fairchild Air Force Base. After diner we returned the rental vehicle and went back to Fairchild where we had a billet for two days in a Tempoary Living Quarters. Two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, & livingroom. The next morning we all had breakfast in the Air Force Dinning Facility. It had been many years since Belinda , Bill, or I had eaten in a military chow hall, it was a first for Treva. After breakfast Bill & Treva dropped us off at the Base Passenger Terminal.for our flight to England. They departed for home in Idaho because it started snowing and Idaho had 3 inches on the ground already.
The snow stopped later that morning after a few hours. It was nice too see snow as we hadn't received a single flake in Port Ludlow, WA all winter. Roll call for our flight was right on time at 1:55pm for 10 firm seats. Thirteen people showed up for the mission to Mildenhall, UK. I had signed us up for the space-a list on the 3rd of Febuary over the internet. When we checked in they had us listed for the 10th of February, but I had our e-mail print-out so they changed our sign up date to the 3rd. One person just showed up so they didn't have a sign up date at all. The other two that did not make the flight had a sign up date that did not get them a position on the flight.
We were taken out to the KC-135 maybe an hour later and we boarded the aircraft and picked our seats. We had ordered Inflight Box Lunches and they were handed out before we took off. We picked Turkey sandwiches, and they were pretty good. |
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Post by Gene on Mar 27, 2016 2:06:20 GMT 9
back in the 141 days there was a weekly flight from tcm to fairchild for the altitude chamber... dont know how spaces a's went. on the 141 side we used to have full loads so no seats were to be had...the pax people were always looking to get space a accomodations. between load planing and atoc we tried to reserve one mission with all center loaded rolling stock or floor loaded cargo. that way the sidewall seat could be used for pax...
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Post by pat perry on Mar 27, 2016 3:53:02 GMT 9
Had a few hops in my short 4 year career.
KC-135 from Castle AFB to Bunker Hill, IN. The crew cleared customs at Castle, we took off and out came the speed handles unbolting the floor plates. Followed by cases of booze. That was a great flight. Apparently there are no Duty Free stores in Thailand where their flight originated. Then I caught a Memphis ANG C-124 Globemaster from there to Memphis. After that flight, I knew very well why they called it Old Shaky.
The worst long flight I had was when we went to William Tell in a C-119 from Castle to Tyndall. It took us a day and a half with the fuel stops and mechanical fixes. We could have rented a U-Haul box truck and got there faster.
Going from Cam Ranh Bay to PI in a C-130 we lost #3 engine and feathered the prop. We were carrying a spare engine in the cargo bay. The crew chief noted I was a little nervous as we were 900 miles out of PI. He grinned and said don't put your Mae West on until #4 goes out.
Would love to have flown in a C-5 or C-17. Like flying in a warehouse with wings.
Got to fly in a U-3A but never in a F-106... damn it.
Pat P |
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Post by Mark O on Mar 27, 2016 4:07:11 GMT 9
Going from Cam Ranh Bay to PI in a C-130 we lost #3 engine and feathered the prop. We were carrying a spare engine in the cargo bay. The crew chief noted I was a little nervous as we were 900 miles out of PI. He grinned and said don't put your Mae West on until #4 goes out. I lost track of how many times I had to shut down an engine in flight when I was an FE on Herks! We used to say it was "a three-engine plane, with a spare" anyways! Mark O Engine #4 shut down somewhere over North Carolina in 2010 flying back to Pope AFB during the Haiti earthquake missions...  |
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Post by LBer1568 on Mar 27, 2016 6:09:58 GMT 9
For the 3 years I was at McChord the C-141 troops would fly 2-3 aircraft dedicated to HI so the HI Reserves could do local flights to keep current. Those flights were always booked by local squadron people and families. It was dedicated training flight round trip and had PAX comfort pallots loaded. I had four young kids at the time and couldn't find time/money to make the trip.
Lorin
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Post by Jim on Mar 27, 2016 7:02:37 GMT 9
This isn't a "space a" story because it happened before "space a" existed. We called it "Getting a Hop" There was no such thing as calling any place other than Base Ops or Base Flight to see if the wing's C-47 was going anywhere near where you wanted to go. Base Ops would tell you if they had anything inbound that might be able to take you. If it had room for a passenger, you could fly. T-6 (the real one), T-33, L-20, C-45, C-47, B-25,B-26 (bombardier's seat was beautiful!!!) C-119 and C-124. rare to ever see a C-54. In April 1954, I was headed from GeorgeAFB to Lakeland, Florida to get married. I caught a C-47 (my own as a flying C/C) to Clovis AFB to Tinker AFB. Uneventful.... From Tinker I caught a Troop Carrier Command C-119 with a stop at McGee-Tyson AFB in Tenn. Uneventful.... Bound for Donaldson AFB Greenville, SC.. 2 hours out (2200 hrs) the lights begin to flicker and the flight engineer is trying to switch over to the other system and it won't stay on light. He tells me to leave the flight deck and get strapped in. I can hear a rough running engine and looking out the window, you can see the exhaust changing color- blue,pink and yellow and back again... The c/c / load master came down and told me to sit with my back against the fwd bulkhead and hold on to some cargo tie downs because it might be rough on touchdown... It was......... And scary!!!! The engine either quit or was shutdown on touchdown, and as we turned off the runway, the temperamental engine caught fire. Needless to say that we got to hell off in a hurry... No more hops heading near Florida, so I get a ride from the Air Police out to some highway that joined up with US 301 pointing towards Lakeland. It is 0230 hrs, dark and all sort of noise coming from all around me. About an hour later I get a ride down the road about 10 miles. Further out in the middle of no-where and 50 miles more to go. Catch a ride in a farm truck going into a small town and the farmer buys me a cup of coffee and piece of pie and gets a friend of his to take me out to the intersection with 301 (20 miles). It is now daylight, I have a clean pair of khakis on and my B4 bag with a sign on it saying "Lakeland". I just barely got my thumb out and a car picks me up - going to Lakeland. Bought me lunch and took me right to Dad's front door.....
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Post by Gene on Mar 27, 2016 12:09:59 GMT 9
thats the only way to go...sweet
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Bullhunter
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Post by Bullhunter on Mar 27, 2016 19:33:00 GMT 9
And the flight continues:
Last time I was on a KC-135 was the mid 1970's and I had forgot about the noise the APU makes when it starts. Starts off with kind of a bang, and it caught me by surprise. On this trip I had two pair of ear defenders that I had when I was in the Air Force working the awe taxied out to the active runwayircraft flightline. Was glad that I decided to bring them on this trip. We also had a matress that our Pastor & his wife let us barrow for our flights. Belinda and I both got some shut-eye during the 9 hour flight.
Engine starting went pretty quick and we taxied out to the active runway. As soon as the pilot or co-pilot turned onto the active runway the throttles were pushed up and the KC-135 roared down the runway and lifted into the air. Landing gear retracted and we were on our way headed eastward. Our pilot was a Major and our copilot was a young female. She was in training and likely flying our missiom for experieance.
It was about 4 or 5 PM now, we had breakfast at 9 AM, so we broke into our box lunches. After eating some of our food, we settled in for the long flight. We visited the flight-deck several times and the boomer's station once. The aircraft toilet was right next to the two aircraft batteries. I joked with Belinda that we needed to be careful not to fart using the toilet, because one battery spark would surely be trouble.
Later into the flight the boomer came around and told everyone that the northern lights were visible. He then turned down the interior lighting. I looked and saw the lights, but they were pretty dim and my camera just wasn't catching it. By this time we were well over the north Atlantic.
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Post by Gene on Mar 28, 2016 0:50:03 GMT 9
never flew on them, but, loaded and unloaded cargo... usually very light pallets or rolling stock. always felt a little cramped when inside.
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Post by Tom Dlugosh on Mar 28, 2016 3:54:09 GMT 9
Took an emergency hop from Lowry to McClellan in early '64. I believe the A/C was the military equivalent of a DC-3 (not too sharp on non-fighter A/C) that was set up for nav training cadets from the academy with several stations and a stellar bubble in the ceiling. The crew chief handed me a parachute when I got on and instructed me on how to use it. I promptly put it on the floor next to me at the nav station they assigned me to sit at. I would NOT be jumping out of any airplanes! This was only the second airplane ride I had ever taken with the first being the trip from Oakland to San Antonio when I enlisted.
Somewhere over the Rockies at night the ride started getting pretty rough and I wasn't feeling too hot. I was watching the instruments on the nav station to keep my mind off my stomach when we suddenly took a huge 3000' drop in altitude. My stomach was still 3000' higher. Although I didn't get sick, I sure wished I could have and maybe felt better. On top of the rough ride it took nearly 8 hours to get from Lowry to McClellan because we zig-zagged all over the West for the nav training.
Luckily, over the years, I got used to flying, but that's a trip I'll never forget.
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Don Fletcher
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Post by Don Fletcher on Mar 28, 2016 4:39:33 GMT 9
I only had an opportunity for one space A flight during my four year hitch, but it was a beauty. During the mid course break during MA-1 tech school at Lowery I caught a hop from Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs to McChord AFB in a T-39 Saberliner. The pilot was the ADC commander Lt. General Terrel and the co-pilot was a full bird Colonel and they were in a hurry. For a poor little Airman E-2 being served coffee by his MSgt Aid, I was very impressed. That was the only time that I have been over 50,000 feet in altitude and the flight was less then two hours long, the best flight that I have ever had.
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Post by Gene on Mar 28, 2016 6:04:29 GMT 9
i definitely agree with you Don... that t-39 was like a 4 seater fighter... the pilots who flew Gen. Young around loved to put it thru its paces...the Gen. loved it to!!
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Post by Jim on Mar 28, 2016 10:17:34 GMT 9
i definitely agree with you Don... that t-39 was like a 4 seater fighter... the pilots who flew Gen. Young around loved to put it thru its paces...the Gen. loved it to!! |
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Post by Mark O on Mar 28, 2016 12:39:26 GMT 9
Only flight I ever had on a T-39 was a Space-A from Kirtland AFB, NM to Norton AFB, CA in 1981 when I was a Civil Air Patrol cadet attending the Pararescue Orientation Course at Kirtland. Nice ride! I had taken a bus down to Sacramento from Moses Lake, WA (my home), then caught a C-130 from Mather AFB to Kirtland. (First time I flew on a Herk! Who knew, eh?!) BTW, from Norton I caught a C-141 to Travis, and from there a C-5 to McChord. Took a bus home to Moses Lake from Tacoma. Boy, was my dad pissed (as usual) because he expected me home much sooner, but I had a great time! First time flights on FOUR types of aircraft in about three weeks! Pretty cool for a 17-year old CAP cadet! Mark O T-39 on display at Dyess AFB...  |
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Post by Mark O on Mar 29, 2016 7:48:20 GMT 9
Took an emergency hop from Lowry to McClellan in early '64. I believe the A/C was the military equivalent of a DC-3 (not too sharp on non-fighter A/C) that was set up for nav training cadets from the academy with several stations and a stellar bubble in the ceiling. Hey Tom, could it have been a Convair T-29? (It was developed from the Convair CV-240. The cargo version was the C-131.) The T-29 is the aircraft they used to train navigators until replaced by the Boeing T-43 (737) in the early 70s. Lots of pics here... www.convairt-29a.blogspot.com/Mark O Convair C-131 wiki page... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_C-131_Samaritan |
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Post by Jim on Mar 29, 2016 8:12:02 GMT 9
Took an emergency hop from Lowry to McClellan in early '64. I believe the A/C was the military equivalent of a DC-3 (not too sharp on non-fighter A/C) that was set up for nav training cadets from the academy with several stations and a stellar bubble in the ceiling. Hey Tom, could it have been a Convair T-29? (It was developed from the Convair CV-240. The cargo version was the C-131.) The T-29 is the aircraft they used to train navigators until replaced by the Boeing T-43 (737) in the early 70s. Lots of pics here... www.convairt-29a.blogspot.com/Mark O Convair C-131 wiki page... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_C-131_Samaritan |
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Bullhunter
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318th FIS Jet Shop 1975-78
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Post by Bullhunter on Mar 29, 2016 8:16:05 GMT 9
I worked on them at Norton AFB, CA 1972-73,,,,,,, T-29 or T39 whichever they are called.
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Post by Jim on Mar 29, 2016 11:02:52 GMT 9
I worked on them at Norton AFB, CA 1972-73,,,,,,, T-29 or T39 whichever they are called.
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Post by Tom Dlugosh on Mar 30, 2016 0:49:36 GMT 9
It's been more than 50 years, but I don't think it was a tail dragger so it was probably a T-29.
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