Mt.crewchief

Dan, Thanks for the "heads up"! I have an FFL, and I would rather not complicate things any more than I have to!!! Maybe I will have to think about it for awhile!!!! Ken

Don, your "money pits" are beautiful. Kind of a "wuss" word for some fine looking vehicles! Ken

Thanks Muff, I am going to take your advice! I also have what I think is a PTSD problem that I think is service related. I will check into that also! I served 33 months in and out of Vietnam out of my 4 years in the USAF. Thanks again, Ken

Muff, How hard is to get on the VA medical system? I have thought many times over the years that I should get on it, but the way it looked, I was in the category that would make it very hard to do! I think it was Cat. 8. I am about ready to retire from my current job, and will need the medical. Let me know if I am making sense!!!! Thanks, Ken

While I was at Naha, I went to the Bob Hope show on a Marine base up towards Kadena! I think it was 1968. He was accompanied by Ann Margaret, Rosie Greer, and the Gold Diggers. I do have quite a few pics of the show, and I was using a 200mm lens on my camera and they still look a mile away! Later, probably 69 or 70 a CCK bird carried the show to Viet Nam and back. My buddies also remember going to a show at CCK one of those two years, but I guess I must have missed it! I do remember the plane carrying the show coming in to CCK one night, and I saw Connie Stevens who was one of the show members. According to the crew chief on the plane the people in the show sat on the web seats and Bob Hope had some kind of compartment to sleep in!!! I will have to talk to my friends and get the exact dates and locations of the shows they attended! They did mention the show at CCK being of a football field or something like that! Ken

Thanks Dan, Mine is different from the gyrojet as mine has threads and you just screwed them in and cocked and fired! I think they also had a primer that looked almost like an ordinary primer! The flares were in a cardboard box and it seemed each box had the color marked on it! The Okinawan guards at the back gate went nuts trying to figure out where they were coming from! I wish I would have saved a few!!! Do you suppose there are some "stealable" ones out there???? hint hint! Ken

I was recently looking at some of my old Air Force memorabilia, and ran across this handy item that somehow moved from my mesh survival vest to my personal belongings. I acquired it while flying Blind Bat missions at Ubon in 1968! I know most of you guys know what it is, but what I really need to know is if any of you know where I can find the other components to make this work!!! It seems I used them all up one New Years Eve. at a friends apartment just outside the back gate at Naha. Are they still in use? Thanks for your replies, Ken

Okay, I'll bite! What I see is side-cutters, sanding disc, and a file!!! Now I am sure this is not the answer you are looking for!!!! Ken

I worked/lived on both A's and E's, and I never saw either of their cooking facilities in use!!! I think that was mostly because the longest flight we ever went on was from either Naha or CCK to Cam Rahn Bay, or Bangkok. Now, I did do a little meal preparation on the MD-3!!! I do remember drinking the left-over coffee on the E-Models. I guess they were plugged in somewhere in the galley??? I do remember the galley floor--especially from the bottom side!!! Ken

Dan, I believe that is probably your best post yet!!!! Keep em coming! Ken

Damn Dan, I don't know about the rest of the guys, but you are always coming up with the " I wish I would've said that" comments!!!! Another good one, Ken

No, but they both look familiar. Is that taken in front of my old hang-out, the Bamboo Club? Ken

Tom, You and I should know each other. I was 3rd. wiper on 56-0475. My crew-chief was Willard and the assistant C.C. . was Lafferty do you remember them? Just in case you haven't read any of my posts, do you remember 56-0475 getting shot up at Katum Jan. 1st. 1968? Lafferty and I were on it that day. What is your last name, and who was your crew-chief? Did you live in the barracks/ Also one more nagging question, who lived upstairs in our barracks? If you have answers to my questions, I would appreciate reading them! Did you know me?, Thanks, Ken Carlson

You do an excellent job Casey!!! This place is like my "home away from home" Keep up the good work!!! Ken

I've been on a couple times today, and have had that page only come up twice! If you hit the back button and try again it works the second time! It hasn't done it at all to me tonight!!! Ken

Keep em coming---all of us old CCK guys like to see new pics. I like the ones of the base especially, as I took very few on base!!! Do you have any of the tent barracks?? Ken

I'll bet the guys at the range were quite impressed with him!!! You've got to really screw up to break a "29" like that!!!! I hope somebody stripped some of the useable parts from it before it was disposed of!!! Ken

While I was at Naha 67-69, 56-0471 was in the 35th TAS. One of my friends was Crew Chief on it!! I do think that it had it's belly painted black later for Blind Bat use, but I don't remember it ever changing squadrons! At least until I left for CCK in Mar. 69. I think I have seen pics of it in a book somewhere but not sure where! And, the way things are going, I probably won't ever remember!!!!!!! Ken

Wayne, Nope I wasn't the one. Naha was my first tour--Dover was my last!!! Ken

I find that this site is working much better today!---So, please don't change, I like this one the best so far!!! Most of the Outdoors and Firearms related sites are on V-Bulletin and work great!!! Ken

Frank, I can't place your name right now, but I tried to keep a low profile! I kinda went hog-wild downtown (mostly at GG's) and Rehoboth Beach, and wasn't exactly the model Airman!!! I did get promoted to SSGT while there, but got out mostly due to having to work on those hogs!! Also, after being overseas (Naha & CCK), I just couldn't get used to all of the rules and regulations & alerts etc. Some of my best friends were John Eggers, Terry Walden (my roomate) Rudy Rossen, Larry Hinch, and the rest of the names I can't remember right now! Do you remember any of those guys? Also, we had two Chiefs in the squadron do you remember their names? Also a maint. officer that drove a Jaguar! If you have any pics of those days at Dover, I would like to see them if possible. Ken

Wayne, after I left CCK, I went to Dover to work on C-133's. I was a crew chief on one of those hogs for about 2 or 3 months in the fall and winter of 1970! I wouldn't fly on one of them because I was ---I guess I would call it chicken to! Every time I went to work in the morning, and boarded that acft. I felt like I was walking into a barn! I could have gone to Turkey on my plane once but backed out. Why fly on something that was having belly-bands installed for a one-time flight to the "boneyard" I guess I should have gone as it made it over there and back!!! You didn't miss anything, Ken

I live in Columbus Montana, and as many of you know, there isn't a Herc around for hundreds of miles unless there is something going on. Whenever one goes over which isn't very often unless there are forest fires around, I can hear them coming and head outside and start staring at the sky! The neighbors look at me like I am some kind of fool! I swear I haven't missed one going over in years and I can't hear shit normally!!! A few years ago, one flew right up the Yellowstone River over town refueling two helicopters! What a sight! The last one I saw on the ground was a Marine bird at an Airshow in Billings. It was parked next to a C-5A and I had it all to myself! Hell, when I walked in, it felt like I had never left them! Ah, the sweet smell of hydraulic fluid!!!! Enough of this crap, I am going to re-up!!!!! Ken PS What kind of job could I get now??? Greeter?

I got a call to report to the Maint. Officers Office one day at CCK and I wondered what I had done wrong. To my surprise, he handed me this note and wrote another one himself! I guess all of that cleaning and preparation for the flight crews paid off!! To me it was like a medal. Later on I went to Misawa Japan with the same flight crew and was treated very nicely. Got to stay in the same quarters as the whole crew did!! Of course to show my appreciation, I helped the loadmaster short sheet the officers beds!!!!! The Capt. got the Acft. number wrong,(it was 62-1804), but I have hung on to the letter all of these years. Ken Carlson

Wayne, I sent you a PM with Levesque and Lafferty pictured! I moved into Msgt. Galloway's room when his family came over! Gary and I stacked the beds 3-high so we would have more room! We had a refrigerator and sink! As far as I can remember, nobody ever had to use the top bunk which was up next to the ceiling! One more question, who lived upstairs? I am sure it was flight crews but Sam McGowan says that isn't right! Do you remember? PM me with your answers, I think this thread has gone far enough with our chatter! Ken