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The Patches that I knew


Mt.crewchief
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While stationed at CCK my room-mates acft. 62-1854 was shot up real bad at Quan Loi RVN and was rebuilt and flown out later. It seemed like several months, but I am not sure. I found the pics in the gallery. More under (3818) His name was John Rosenfeld--From Denver

Ken Carlson

http://herkybirds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=86&stc=1&d=1234929383

Edited by Mt.crewchief
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"Nothing related but 1855 as far as I knew never had that much "fun". Totally off-subject I know."

Not sure if the crew that flew on the day #1 prop went to reverse in flight would agree with you or not!

Edited by Ronc
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They were mortared on their way out of Quan Loi in ~Nov '69. The loadmaster Norm Thomas was killed (346th crew). They had just picked up an A model crew that had broke down. Norm and the A model loadmaster were standing in between the paratroop doors tieing down the chocks when Norm was hit with a piece of the mortar round. He had a daughter that wasn't a year old at the time.

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"Nothing related but 1855 as far as I knew never had that much "fun". Totally off-subject I know."

Not sure if the crew that flew on the day #1 prop went to reverse in flight would agree with you or not!

Nor the crew that decided to fly 1855 INTO the thunderstorm, that plane had more bondo on it than any five cars I had in my younger days (and they were ALL bondo).

Dan

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest cobra935o

I never really liked 1855, as all gunship crew chiefs they would try to get us out there and do some kind of rig on it in the back, and none of us could ever figure out what went where, like a bunch of monkeys and a football, hehe. When I left Hurlburt, I never thought I would see 1855 ever again, but much to my dismay there it say on the ramp at Kadena when I arrived. We finally got rid rid of it about 3 years into my tour at Kadena. We offered that thing up to anyone who wanted it, and had no takers, so we brought it to the boneyard, wasnt there too long before Little Rock came and got it.

Yes dan, 7898, was a piece o crap! I think that had more to do with 16 SOS crew chiefs maintaining 1855, and the 8th SOS crew chiefs maintaining 7898, they were never that good over there! Hehe, JK!

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  • 3 months later...

I was the pilot on 62-1854 the day it took a hit by a 122MM rocket at Quan Loi, 17 November 1969. I helped carry Norm Thomas out of the burning aircraft; a day I shall never forget. Our squadron commander told me his survivors would want to know exactly what happened from someone who was there. Writing those letters to his parents and his wife were probably the most difficult letters I ever wrote. I was aware Norm had a daughter not yet a year old and in fact my daughter was born four days later. Norm was only 21 at the time. Living within an hour of the Vietnam War Memorial, I never miss an opportunity to vist the wall and look at Norm's name.

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I was the pilot on 62-1854 the day it took a hit by a 122MM rocket at Quan Loi, 17 November 1969. I helped carry Norm Thomas out of the burning aircraft; a day I shall never forget. Our squadron commander told me his survivors would want to know exactly what happened from someone who was there. Writing those letters to his parents and his wife were probably the most difficult letters I ever wrote. I was aware Norm had a daughter not yet a year old and in fact my daughter was born four days later. Norm was only 21 at the time. Living within an hour of the Vietnam War Memorial, I never miss an opportunity to vist the wall and look at Norm's name.[/QUOT

Wow, I can't even explain or put into words what admiration I have for you and all the vietnam vets out thier. That day had to be hell on earth as I am sure there were many days that would seem to linger forever. Thank you for everything you have done.

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That airplane was called the Quan Loi Queen and was supposed to go to the Air Force Museum when it left active service, but it was hit again by rockets in 1972 and written off and left in South Vietnam. I was at Cam Rhan the day that airplane was hit and will never forget seeing Norm Thompson's best friend moping around the barracks that afternoon and evening.

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The loadmaster on the A-model crew was Bob Gable. He pulled Norm Thomas out of the burning airplane and hurt his back in the process, and was given a Silver Star for it. There was an article about Bob in PEOPLE magazine back in the 1980s. He lives in Florida, or did at the time of the article.

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  • 3 months later...

I just joined this group and was chatting with Sam about this Herk. I was stationed at CCK and worked on "Patches" as an AR Specialist along with a sheetmetal guy for about a week trying to patch the over 300 holes and seal them well enough for the return flight to depot. If I remember correctly, a C-130 pressurizes until the safety valve pops at 14.1 inches of mercury, but the most we could get was something like 3.5. Those were the days........ working a minimum of 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week if we were lucky and the only sleep we got was riding on the "Smoker". I was stationed there right out of tech school in late 1969 to 71 and then again 74 until closing in 75 (total of 27 months) all in the AR Shop / Crash Recovery / Transient Alert. I was the crew chief on "Big Sam" & "Big Bertha" (the 50 ton LeTourneau - Westinghouse crane. The Taiwanese guards never messed with me when I would take it for a spin around their side of the base and runway. I have pictures to dig through and will post when I find them.

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  • 9 months later...

They were mortared on their way out of Quan Loi in ~Nov '69. The loadmaster Norm Thomas was killed (346th crew). They had just picked up an A model crew that had broke down. Norm and the A model loadmaster were standing in between the paratroop doors tieing down the chocks when Norm was hit with a piece of the mortar round. He had a daughter that wasn't a year old at the time.

That airplane was caught in another rocket attack at Kontum in 1972 and this time it didn't survive. In fact, it was the last C-130 lost to ground attack during the American role in Vietnam. (Yeah, I know, an airplane was lost at Saigon at the end of the war but the US had long since pulled all military units out of the country.) I saw a picture one time that identifed a C-130 as the Quan Loi Queen and claimed it was with E Flight. But if it was, it had been repainted in camouflaged by the time it was lost. I do have some pictures of it after it was flown out of Quan Loi and before it had been repainted. Al Steed, who was the senior loadmaster in the 346th, told me that it had been identified to go to the USAFM as the most heavily damaged airplane to ever be returned to service.

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  • 5 years later...
On ‎6‎/‎29‎/‎2009 at 3:38 PM, lhari said:

I was the pilot on 62-1854 the day it took a hit by a 122MM rocket at Quan Loi, 17 November 1969. I helped carry Norm Thomas out of the burning aircraft; a day I shall never forget. Our squadron commander told me his survivors would want to know exactly what happened from someone who was there. Writing those letters to his parents and his wife were probably the most difficult letters I ever wrote. I was aware Norm had a daughter not yet a year old and in fact my daughter was born four days later. Norm was only 21 at the time. Living within an hour of the Vietnam War Memorial, I never miss an opportunity to vist the wall and look at Norm's name.

I was one of the two army OH-6A crew chiefs wounded at the same time by the 122 rocket that hit your C-130. We had just finished closing up our birds and walking away, waving at the load master (whom I now know as Norm Thomas) when the whole world turned upside down. I was blown over the revetments where the Lochs were sitting.

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On ‎3‎/‎14‎/‎2009 at 8:14 PM, Guest cobra935o said:

I never really liked 1855, as all gunship crew chiefs they would try to get us out there and do some kind of rig on it in the back, and none of us could ever figure out what went where, like a bunch of monkeys and a football, hehe. When I left Hurlburt, I never thought I would see 1855 ever again, but much to my dismay there it say on the ramp at Kadena when I arrived. We finally got rid rid of it about 3 years into my tour at Kadena. We offered that thing up to anyone who wanted it, and had no takers, so we brought it to the boneyard, wasnt there too long before Little Rock came and got it.

 

Yes dan, 7898, was a piece o crap! I think that had more to do with 16 SOS crew chiefs maintaining 1855, and the 8th SOS crew chiefs maintaining 7898, they were never that good over there! Hehe, JK!

I was the FE that picked it up at DM, did a full-on FCF preflight & engine run....perfect!  All while mx was struggling to get 2 or 3 active birds to pass an FCF back at LRF.

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Kontum 72 ...... not sure what the tail number was. I am sure we left it at Kontum when the base was over run. 865 was also damaged there, but it was repaired and flown back to TSN.

%7Boption%7D776kontum3x2.jpg

Also see;

The links are not working right. You will have to paste the URL into the browser. This links to an old copy of the Det 1 Report that I saved.

http://www.tanwater.com/834/det1-pg1.html

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