gizzard

That is what I figured it was about, but we ever got was told to stand here, give us, that, etc. If i remeber right, the sky cops were all around the plane when we got to the ramp. Must have had some idea about what and where to look. thanks

Like Pat, I was issued a 38, etc, from CCK. Had one for each crew member, along with the usual survival vests, etc. I had a web belt with holster . My AC required that i carry it like that, especially with PAX, and make sure they saw me load it each time. I took some of the cartridges and cut X's into the tips, caught pure hell for that when we went back to CCK. The stuff was carried in a big ammo-box like thing, if i remember right, and when we flew out of NKP, I always had to take it to Life support and check it in and then check it out to go aviatin.' Can't remember what i did other places.Once when we came back to CCK, I don't know why, but half the sky cops in Taiwan surrounded our plane, checked each of us out, for what reason, i still don't know, heard they even took the insulation blankets outof the airplane, got into the dry bays, all that. When i carried the gear box in, they took all the cartridges, and used an inertial bullet puller and took them all apart. Anybody got any idea what all that was about????????

Last I heard from him, he was fixin' to get retired. he was a boomer on KC-10's, I think. NOW THAT is scary!!!!!!!!!!! I did get to spend some time with him seceral yeasr ago when he stopped by my fire station on a trip he was making to deliver travel trailers. With Mike, you never knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But no recent contact with him. His old email was, I think, KC10boomer @aol.com, but seems to me that it is no loner active. One thing for sure, whne they made him, they broke the mold, but he was always on speed for a good time. I enjoyed his company. load clear Giz

I sure hope this thing goes well, 'cause I can see some grand times comin'.

Yup, thast is how it was back in the 'Nam era,,,,,,,,,I think it took ten combat mission for permanent award, if you hadn't made the three years first. Anybodfy know how many missions it took back then to get an air medal???????????? Seemed like fightter pukes got one a week and trash haulers often flew the same mission number for days if not weeks, no matter how many sorties.. Different standards I guess......

I got a phone call last friday from gerry and apparently hti sreunion is for the entire 316th, (36, 37, 38, maintenance squadrons). Sounds like it is gonna be good, i am gonna try to get there. As one of my contacts said, though, "Wish it was at Buckroe!!!!!! load clear Giz

Now THAT would have given the term "LOAD CLEAR" a whole new meaning.................LOL Giz

Roger that, Smokey, Roger that!!!!!!!!! load clear Giz

DGW, know just how you feel with my experience last weekend at martisnburg. That old e model will soon be scrapped, but it sure took me back to once again, and most likley for the final time, be on board a C-130E, that I may have actually flown, but guess i can't ever ebsure because iwas too dumb to keep any such record. One thing, though, I find it common among flight crew members and maintenance folks( who I ALWAYS had great respect for,because if they didn't work their asses off in all kinds of conditions, i could never have had so much fun) they remember so much from so long ago. I think that is,in part, due to the training and experience, just like ridin' a bike. Whaddya think? load clear Giz

Sam, sometime around early "73, at least with the 316 TAW, we stopped using chutes drops and we had the restraint harness, which basically looked like a chute harness with an adjustable strap with a hook for the anchor cable. Giz

Yup, now that you write it out, I remember, looked sorta like an orange lollipop, back then. But it still seems to me that there was some procedure to deactivate above a certain altitude if you were flying missions, like HALO. I think i recallit bein' a checklist item, but my lists for that are long gone. Giz

Hey, Pat, yep we did wear chutes for quite a while after we started flyin', but it seems to me around the end of '72, maybe (?), the 316th at least went to restraint straps. Of course there is the story of the load who jumped after the paratrooper, and he must have been wearin' one of the airplanes chute........ kinda makes me wonder, though, if you were at, say, 1200 agl or so, how you would have enough time to get into any kind of postion that you could pull the cord and still be able to make a decent landing, much less kick a guy's butt. believe me, bad landings HURT.........And to add to my initial thread, didn't be have a baraometric opener that had to be fiddled with, somehow, for high altitude drops, like HALO????? Just wonderin'. Giz

Sam, I sorta remember a way to release them, without cuttin', like Charlie said, but I could be wrong. I think I still have my knife also, as Bob says, ya couldn't sharpen the thing worth a hoot, but the hook made an excellent gut knife for deer skinning. I tried usin' it for rigging purposes, but only the hook was much count, and i didn't want to dull it, so I ended up carryin' a hunting knife like a bunch of us did way back....Some where in all my old stuff I have a card that states I am 'authorized to carry the MC-1 survival knife" or somehting to that effect. It was on my physiological training card. Why? Who knows!!!!!!! Giz

Yup, I sure did. Maybe I make too much of stuff like that, but I think I understand the WWII guys devotion to their birds. That will probably be the last time I ever get to set foot on an "E", but I think it was amazing, that after all these years and as frazzled as my mind gets some time, it was like I had never been away, and I felt like I was fixin' to go make noise ouitof kerosene one more time. Now THAT woulda topped the cake......... load clear Giz

Guys, I got back from Martinsburg couple hours ago. There WAS a C-130 there, and it WAS an "E", AND there is a big possibility that I may have flown here at one time, based upon thehistory I got of her. The loadmaster told me she was due to be retired in about six months. I spent maybe half anhour or so on her, just lookin' and rememberin'. Lot of stuff came back for sure. I talked to the loadie, the co-pilot, and the FE, all WAY too young to be playin' with big airplanes, but all three were most gracious and courteous to an old crew dog. I still can't get used to bein' called "Sir." These guys were from the 61st, and if they are any example of what is out there carryin' on our legacy, this country is in mighty good hands. Thanks guys, you made my day big time. I hope someone from Little Rock reads this, finds out who they are, and passes this on. Just sad to know that that great old bird has just about, like so many of us, reached her end. load clear Giz

Charley, as soon as i read your post, i remembered the loops. I was thinkin' there may have been a primary release of some type, but 36 years has pretty much evaporated a lot of things i once knew...........As for the knife openin' in the zoom bag, well it was definitely in an area that one would be very careful with. I cannot imagine a Camillus vasectomy!!!!!!!! Thanks for the refresher.. load clear giz

Skip, I had never heard about the reversal of the blades for spring loading, but it never made sense to me why it was like that. Now I know.......

I just posted this , and it disappeared. let me try again..........Like i said before, you gutys know my mind can wander all over the place and all kinds of crazy stuff pops up, so bear with me........Every thursday I do a volunteer day at the local hospital helpin' out at the diagnostic center there. Yesterday this guy comes in, has a basic parachutist badge tatoo, asked him about it, turns out i very well may have dropped him down at Bragg about a hundred years ago. We talked abiout jumpin' and chutes and herks and things like that. Later, somewhere out of th blue came a recollection about the "four line cut." Now this, as I remember, was supposed to, when acomplished, release the last two shroud lines on either side of the back center of the chute we had on board,(it was what a C-9?), which created a bubble in the skirt of the chute, supposedly givin' some degree of maneuverability. As I recall these lines were marked red some how, either by tape or cord or something. The hook blade on the orange handled survival knife was used for this purpose, but was there any other release mechanism other than cutting? Do they still issue this knife? Did the process work??? I never heard,best i recall, if it did or not. I jumped a T-10 with double "L" cutouts, which gave it some steering but don't know about the other. Thanks..... load clear Giz

Absolutely fabulous!!!!!!!!! It proves ANYBODY can become President of the United States. This guy was elected, remember, more people voted FOR him than for his opponents. I really don't know how you guys still serving can swallow this crap. Of course, the two before him were not prizes either. Where did my country go??? load clear Giz

I guess this is especially to the WV guys at Yeager, but anyone can chime in. This comin' weekend, there is goin' to be a big airshow and flight demos at Martinsburg, WV. The guys there have transitioned to C-5's, and the herks are gone. I was wonderin' if any 130's are gonna be there on display. It has been a LONG, LONG time since i have been on one, and hope to see one there, probably on Sunday. It probably wouldn't be an "E" like i flew but she would still have PROPS!!!!!!!!! I'd like to meet some of you on this board there as well....... load clear Giz

Workin' on the railroad,??????? As I remember that was about the same as sleepin' formal, with a TIE (sp) around your neck? My gosh, I ain't thought of those phrases in years!!!! LOL load clear Giz.

Jack, are you anywhere near Maple Grove racetrack??? I drove a dragster up there last fall...........talk about a kick in the butt!!!!!!!!! Sorta like a super hard assault landing, except in reverse.. load clear giz

I want one, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!Probably bring back memories of things that sorta hide for now. It is great people like you are writin' the stuff down. All too soon there won't be any of us to remember it, personally. load clear Giz

thanks, loadsmith, I couldn't remember seein' any accounts of this before. Interesting stuff, ain't it??? Sorta rings the old "But for the grace of God go I" bell. Sad outcome tobe sure Giz

Watchin' some drivel last night about worst airports of ther world, several I been to, and one of them, Tegucigulpa, Hondorus, supposedly had a USAF plane crash there, in, I think, 1996. The video showed what looked for all the world like a Herk vertical stabilizer. The story stated 3 crew died. Knowing how freely and inaccurately Discovery, History, TLC and the like display historical information anymore, I was wonderin' if anybody out there was familiar with it. I was there atleast twice, in 1973, don't recall any particular diffciulty gettin' in, course I had a Ding How crew, but I DO remember the big black container that we hauled in on one of the missions. Dunno what was in it, but a bunch of strangely dressed people took it over once it was unloaded................. aboard, closed and checked Giz