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Looking for info on 69-6578 61st TAS, LRAFB


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Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR Major Paul S Friedler Take Off

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR Capt Laurence F Asher

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR Capt David C Moule

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR Capt James B Raycraft

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR 1 LT Michael W Hodge

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR 2 LT William R Gamboe

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR MSGT Orville D Gearhart

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR TSGT Emory V McKee Jr

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR SSGT William H Dintleman Jr

Nov 12 1971 69-6578 Little Rock AFB AR SRA David M Bloomberg

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Thank you!!! You confirmed it for me....he was on that flight.

From what I understand not all on the flight were originally scheduled to be there....I wonder if he was or not? There was also a lone survivor, correct? A loadmaster.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello,

My name is Steve and I served in the Air Force at Little Rock from 1970-1974 with the 62nd Tactical Airlift Squadron, and I knew A1C David M. Bloomberg as a good mutual friend in our loadmaster section along with CMSGT Eddie B. Creer as the head loadmaster NCOIC at the time. Yes this was a very long time ago, and I will never forget it as long as I live. David Lived across the hall from me in the barracks, and we flew together several times across the country, and TDY's on the same C-130E's out of Little Rock to Rhein Main AFM Germany on one occasion. I remember David well and have a lot more information that I need for my memoirs, and detail of the incident report if you have it. Thanks for your information and hope to talk with you soon. I have waited a long time to be able to discuss this with somebody out there..

Steve (805) 358-6416

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  • 3 weeks later...

Daddio can you contact me please? I'd like to say hi to your mother.

I am David Bloomberg's sister, Lynda Bloomberg. I had the accident report many years ago but decided maybe it was time to put it in the past. There was one survivor but I do not know who it was. My brother was one of the Loadmasters on the flight. He was not originally scheduled to be on that flight. I was 8 when this accident happened. I later in life became a KC-135A crew chief and eventually was transferred over to a unit at Nellis AFB. While at Nellis I ran into the chief who had been the assistant crew chief for this aircraft. He said it had not been scheduled to be flown that day and they did a last minute tail number swap. The aircraft crashed as he was coming onto the base for work. The assistant crew chief's name was Fred Coates.

My email addy is [email protected]

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Hello Steve,

I was a 3 month old baby when my father Orville Gearhart lost his life on that flight, forever changing the lives of my 8 sibling and his wife (my mother) of 20 years. I know very little about him and would be forever greatful for any memories of him you could share.

Thank you,

Melanie Gearhart

[email protected]

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  • 1 month later...

My father Loadmaster Louis F. Hribar was the only survivor of the Little Rock accident. He was not originally scheduled for the flight but switched to that flight at the last minute. I would love to share any info I can to anyone interested. After suffering severe burns on his face and hands and spending months in the hospital at burn center in Texas, he was stationed in Dover, DE until he retired. I am so glad to have found this forum.

Amy Hribar

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  • 1 month later...

I was a witness to this crash. The 130's were doing touch and go training sorties.

I was standing on the tarmac across from it. It went down on the runway directly in front of where i was standing. The 130 in front of it had touchdown and took off. This 130 was right behind. It looked like it stalled out in the wash of the previous 130. It didn't gain much altitude. The belly wasn't too far off the runway (maybe 20 feet). It rolled left. The left wing hit the ground. The belly slammed into the ground. Instant,massive fire. I wanted to jump in a work van to see if I could help,but none were in the immediate area. I started to run across the tarmac,but soon realized I wouldn't get there in time to be of any use. I felt horrible, small and

impotent in my inability to do anything but stand and watch it go up in flames.

One guy survived the crash with burns to his face and arms. I didn't know him personally. He came down to the shop to say farewell to his buddies before getting reassigned.

This was the first of two crashes I saw during my four year tour of duty.

As a sidenote, some of the guys I served with at Little Rock AFB were:

George Battle, George Hamilton,Jeff Villenes,Scott Petersen,Melvin Slayzyk,

Chief MSgt. Bouchard,Robert Gerkin, Glen Hendersen, Jerry Laria

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  • 6 months later...

I have two things to mention. First, I just want to remember William H. Dintleman Jr. He was probably not well known at his new duty station as he had only left our 36th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (in Japan) a short time before the crash. We used to yank each others chains in good natured fun (I was an Airborne Rescue Radio Operator,) and the crash was a shock to all of us at his old home base. He was missed.

Second, I distinctly remember that (not sure to how many variants of the C-130) there was an Air Worthiness Directive (or stonger, as I seem to remember an immediate grounding) to check some part of the rudder assembly. I always assumed that that was the cause of the crash. I remember how vulnurable I felt knowing that a reliable, long term active aircraft, could suddenly show a flaw after so long a time in service. Hopefully that saved lives down the road. Regards to All

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  • 2 years later...

Dusty, my name is Danny Dintleman and I am William Henry Dintleman's half brother. I was 6 months old when he died. I would love to hear anything you know about him. Thank you.

Ken hasn't been the site in a couple of months (at least not logged in). I would suggest sending him a PM to make sure that he is aware of your post.

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  • 2 months later...

I am the daughter of 1Lt. David C. Moule. I was 7 months old at the time of the accident. I have always wondered about the other families that were effected by this accident that took place on November 12, 1971 and how all our lives were changed that day. My husband contacted the air base and we were pleased to find out that they have a memorial for the airmen lost. We hope to someday go and visit the base and see this memorial. I am sorry for those of you who had to witness it, but want to thank you for sharing your accounts and providing insight as to what took place. I am open to contact from any family members or witnesses tied to this tragedy. I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to communicate with all of you and hope to speak with you in the future.

Jennifer Moule Cesena

Email: [email protected]

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  • 7 years later...

 My name is John Duncan I was a  SSgt in the 61st technical airlift wing I was a hydraulic technician on the C-130.  I installed a defective hydraulic rudder boost package on that aircraft the night before the crash. I was on the evening shift when I heard about the crash I went to the base that morning. It was an awful sight the rudder and a small section of the tail was standing up that's all that was left. Later when I heard it was the rudder that possibly cause the accident my heart sunk. I'm thankful the tail section was still intact because later I heard it was the pins in the rudder that wasn't installed properly or left out by a&r that caused the rudder to lock to the left everything was okay with the hydraulic rudder boost package. I was relieved that it wasn't the hydraulic rudder boost package.that was an  awful day I will never forget. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families. I seen on the website that first lieutenant Hodges lives in Salem Illinois and that is only 50 miles north of where I live.

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My name is John Duncan I made an mistake in my post. I stated I installed an defective hydraulic rudder boost package. I meant to say I removed and replaced a

3 hours ago, John Duncan said:

 My name is John Duncan I was a  SSgt in the 61st technical airlift wing I was a hydraulic technician on the C-130.  I installed a defective hydraulic rudder boost package on that aircraft the night before the crash. I was on the evening shift when I heard about the crash I went to the base that morning. It was an awful sight the rudder and a small section of the tail was standing up that's all that was left. Later when I heard it was the rudder that possibly cause the accident my heart sunk. I'm thankful the tail section was still intact because later I heard it was the pins in the rudder that wasn't installed properly or left out by a&r that caused the rudder to lock to the left everything was okay with the hydraulic rudder boost package. I was relieved that it wasn't the hydraulic rudder boost package.that was an  awful day I will never forget. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families. I seen on the website that first lieutenant Hodges lives in Salem Illinois and that is only 50 miles north of where I live.

My name is John Duncan. I made a misprint in my post. I said I installed an effective rudder boost package. I meant to say I removed and replaced a defective rudder boost package. Sorry for the mistake.

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  • 1 year later...

I was stationed at LRAFB from '70 to '72  I was crew chief on ST 69-6577 and I was on the flight line on 11/12/71 and witnessed the crash of C-130E 69-6578  The one thing that confuses me is the photo of the crash that shows the tail section and it looks like the letters in the tail code shows SR not ST  Is the photo not of that particular crash or is it the way the tail is sitting?

FB9B391A-2F41-43AE-8CE5-A50D6CB72276_1_201_a.jpeg

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