DC10FE

donwon, Disregard my last post. I just read your post again -- you're probably thinking of Dyess AFB. Dyce was fun, though. Don R.

Are you referring to Dyce in Aberdeen, Scotland? I had a great week long TDY there dropping the US Navy SEAL teams. Those SEALS know how to party!!! Don R.

One of my best TDY's was back in the summer of 1964 and I didn't even leave the base! I was a young A/2C at Langley and was sent on a 60-day TDY to the civil engineering squadron to drive a farm tractor pulling a huge lawn mower. The best part of that was being sent over to the Capehart base housing to mow the common areas. I was dating one of our flight chief's daughters and would hang out with her most of the day. Didn't get much work done on those days. As for my worst TDY, I can't really think of any. Some were not very pleasant, but all memorable. I do remember celebrating the bi-centenial (1976) at the US Consulate in Dharan drinking Heinekin beer. Don R.

Thanks, guys. I was pretty sure SAC's tankers were the only ones without an FE. I seem to remember being told many, many years ago that LeMay wanted an all-officer cockpit. I guess that's why there's no FE on the B-47 or B-52 either. That would make the B-36, or maybe the B-50, the last bomber with an FE. Don R.

I know there are people here on this board with experience on varied types of airplanes. Here's my question -- were the SAC KC-135's the only ones with no FE? I know the Andrews 135's had an FE, but what about AWACS, etc? Thanks in advance, Don R.

Tiny, Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a 37th bird. I remember the FE was named Fred something; an ex-C-141 FE that couldn't get past a checkride & was finally put into maintenance control. Don R.

Check out 3086 in the production number gallery. It has some photos of N116TG with the French Securite Civile titles on it. Don R.

Back in the late 1970's we had a 37th crew depart Rhein Main to do some short field work at Grafenwoer & when they landed there & reversed the props, the radome blew up and locked. I'm sure some heads rolled on that one, too. Don R.

I got the following from a pilot friend of mine. Although it's written from a commercial aviation point of view, most of the observations could apply to the military PIC, too. Don R. BEST CAPTAIN-ING ADVICE Go ugly early; Never turn down a motel room from the company; Never answer your phone on Christmas; Always tip your van driver; Always buy the first round at the bar during a layover; New hires never pay for a meal when you are around; Weather is always better avoided than penetrated; Speaking of penetrated, if you want to retire with any money, keep wife #1; Speaking of weather -- don't ever push it. Five years from now nobody will remember being pissed at you for being two hours late because of weather. Their families will remember forever if you pushed it and killed their relatives; Never attend an ALPA or company meeting on a nice weather day off; You can never get back a Christmas you missed with your young kids if you were stupid enough to go junior; Ten knots too fast is way better than ten knots too slow; Never give a flight attendant your phone number; Never eat Mexican food at a non Mexican restaurant; Don't brush your teeth in India unless it is with a new toothbrush and beer; There is not ever a situation in which being on reserve doesn't suck; Peanuts and black coffee from a vending machine isn't breakfast; Every airplane, even the 777, feels like crap if you are flying it at 3 a.m.; Don't poop in the airplane lav -- ever; Never slip a Boeing 727 to a landing. A 767/757 is OK to slip a little, but never a 727; If a senior company official ever asks what you really think, don't tell him; Never drink with a line check airman or the FAA; Don't trust a Chief Pilot with anything; Try not to kill anybody or bend any airplanes; and Deny, deny, deny!

Kurt, Did you get the article on SR111 that I emailed & if you did, what did you think? Don R.

Sam, The DC's had an extended nose radome. In the production number gallery, check out 3662, 63, 81 & 87, 3713,14 & 16. Don R.

He told me in an email that he got the color scheme from an A-model (3192) on display at the Minnesota ANG Historical Museum. I think he's now going to put the markings of either the Philippine AF or the Jordanian AF on it. Don R.

Thanks, Dan. Lino's was the gift shop I was thinking about -- globe bars that you'd lug halfway around Europe before getting home. Don R.

A fairly new member to this site from Sarasota, FL sent me these photos. His name is Frank Kagele. It's quite a project and will hopefully fly this sometime in the next few months. It's built in 1/12th scale and has a 134" wingspan. It has functional fowler flaps, ramp, air deflector doors and an engine sync system. It's powered by 4 English 4-stroke .91 ci engines and weighs about 50 pounds. He's also fitting it to do a LAPES! Frank, if you have anything to add, please join in. Don R.

Mario's was the gift shop, right? Haven't been to Aviano since the mid-1980's, Back then, it was the only place in Europe, besides the BX, that would take a personal check! Don R.

That was the funniest thing I've read in a long time!! I was a crew chief for many years before crosstraining to FE. I can relate to a bunch of things he wrote about. Don R.

Casey, I've thought about inviting him here, but Phred is a man of few words when it comes to a keyboard. Emails from him consist of the barest of essential words -- like "called you - no answer - call me." He'd rather use his phone to call a friend in Johannesburg than an email. Don R.

Bob, You're right -- Phred is an icon in the gray world of the non-skeds. He's probably got way more hours than the 25,000 hour plaque you guys gave him, although he hasn't flown in quite a few years. I think the last airplanes he few were Botswanan B-models; around 1997, I think. Don R.

Kurt, I just tried to send you the SR111 article, but the mailer demon bounced it back saying your address was "unavailable or access denied." WTF? Don R.

Well, it's not really much of a story, but "there we were." Back in 1985, when I was flying out of Khartoum to the Darfur region with St. Lucia Airways, my captain was an ex-Transamerica capitan named Fred Kreppein, aka Non-sked Fred. He spent 4 years in the USAF as an instrument specialist and got out as a 2-striper. That was back in the early 1960's. After getting all his flying certificates, he started flying as a Connie FO up on the North Slope of Alaska. He also flew Khadaffi's C-130's, Bird Air's C-130's & some other "interesting" stuff for Southern. Anyway, to make a very long story a little shorter, he used to love wearing his A2C rank insignia pin, especially when he had some retired colonel pulling the gear for him. In Africa, he used to jump all over them whenever an African controller would ask us what type of airplane we were. If the colonel said we were a C-130, he would go ape-s**t & jump on the radio & say we were an L-382 since, as a C-130, the controllers would assume we were military. Don R.

Kurt, Could you send me your email address again? I found that article on SR111 that crashed off the coast of Newfoundland. Don R.

Bob Daley has an interesting story about that photo. He's on dial-up right now, so it may take a while for him to respond. Bob? Don R.

Not to take away anyone's thunder, but Skip Davenport posted that video about 3 weeks ago in the "Off Topic" section. That was the first time I'd seen the video, but I have it on a cassette tape along with a humerous interview with a College Eye Connie pilot and also the radio recording of the crash of Misty 21, an F-100 Fast FAC. Don R.

So, what's it sound like? I've heard the J-model sounds like an ATR-72. Is that correct? Don R.

Much better. Thanks, Casey. Actually, if I remember correctly, it had the black radome when it was that ridiculous baby-blue livery and when they repainted it in early 1987, that's when the painted the radome white. Don R.