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Herk bites


Mikey_G
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Don't know which bites were worse....the Herc or the Phantom. One thing about the Herc..at least most of the bites healed. The Phantom on the other hand has caused perpetual back problems and knee surgery. Kneeling in the cockpit without the seat out for hours on end makes the body feel old now. But even with all the body aches and pains when I was with the Idaho ANG and was given the choice between working on the A-10's or Hercs, it was a no brainer. Go back to the Hercs!!!!!

Rich

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  • 2 months later...

Winter 1966 at Forbes was working on the 245 bulkhead. I bent over to pick up something and when I raised back up the door/panel had swung open and I hit the edge solid with my head. 44 years ago and it is still fresh in my mind. Still get a head ache when I think about it. Another time at CCk at nite I jumped up a ladder to do a engine inlet inspection. The bridge of my nose connected with the edge of one of the prop blades and knocked me cold. Still got this great dent on the bridge of my nose from it. Those were the days

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  • 9 months later...

Preflt. on a cold Wisconsin day, common procedure to free up a frozen chalk to the ground was to use the 'J' bar. Entering the crew entrance after the task carring the bar required a little twist to make the turn into the cargo comp. There goes the back, that was the worst 2.5 AFTP in my life, one cheek on the seat the whole flt. Time heals lesson learned.

Steve

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The one incident I'll never forget 1969. I believe it was an AR troop. Phase docks (hanger) CCK he was working on the rudder with all pumps off and tagged. Some yahoo turned them on. When the rudder centered his fingers were in the hinge system. Never did hear how he came out. Anybody remember the incident or who it was?

The crap that happened to me was just that compared to what this kid must have gone through.

Edited by The Red Stuff
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While on a rotation to Germany in '71, Mike Rose, a load from the 37th TAS tried to stop a moving pallet with his foot, caught his heel in the rail and broke it pretty bad. OUCH!!!

That was Mike Roe. I flew with him a lot. Great guy. He was originally from TN. Last I heard he was a plumber in New York.

Bob Daley

Edited by bobdaley
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Interesting reading about all the things that happened to other Herk folks. I thought I was the only one who got bit regularly. Along with all the scratches and scrapes the incident that I will never forget. I was at CCK in 1967. I was running the panel on a refuel. After we had loaded fuel on board I pulled the handle to close the manifold valve. When I unlocked the hose it dumped all the fuel that was in the manifold in my face. It seems a piece of the manifold had broken off and wedged the valve open. Anyway I swalowed and inhaled quite a bit of JP-4. I was soaked in Jp-4. Had a real bad rash for several weeks, a cough that lased months and red itchy eyes for quite a while.

Take care all and stay safe. Wil

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Back in the winter of 1963, while sweeping snow off the wing of a B-model at Langley AFB, I fell off the wing not once, but twice! I was a 4th wiper 1-striper just weeks out of tech school and I had the meanest, hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, 19-year SSgt crew chief named Willie Cool. Yeah, really -- that was his name! When I fell the first time, SSgt Cool asked me if I was OK and I said yes. He then got right in my face and said, "Well then, what the f**k are you doing down here?" I got up on the wing and started sweeping and slid off again! Both times, I slid down the flaps into big piles of snow and wasn't hurt. Then SSgt Cool told me to get the biggest screw driver out of my tool box and get up on the wing again. He said if I started sliding again, I'd know what to do with the screw driver.

I was gonna refer to a photo in the production number gallery, but I guess Casey hasn't reloaded the 3600 series numbers yet, so here's a photo of SSgt Willie Cool and his crew. I'm the 1-striper on the left with just one button on my shirt. Willie Cool is on the right with asst crew chief A/1C Joe Mobley and A/2C Stingley.

Don R.

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Don, What a great photo!! Brought a big smile. A typical TAC herk ground crew that would do what ever it takes to get thier acft in the air. And led by a caring professional crew chief.:D Where would the zipper suited gods be with out the grunts in the photo?

My falling-off-the-wing story involves a B-47 and a stubborn acft. commander. It was winter and the wing was very slippery. I had serviced the tanks myself and was confident they were full. Although I advised otherwise, he was insistant that he must ensure the water/alcohol tanks were full. The only way to do this was to remove the cap/s and peer into the tank. The acft. had two 300 gal. tanks accessed on top of the wing near each wing root. I was my job to stay with the AC as he preflighted the acft. so, like a dumb ass, I followed him up the wing. As we approached the fuseledge he begain to slide off. I grabbed him but he begain to drag me with him. I thought why am I allowing him to drag me off the wing, so I released my grip and he fell off the trailing edge of the flap and broke his leg. Ops took the cx. for this sortie.

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  • 10 months later...

I have been bitten numerious time by C-130's but the funniest time was while on rotation to Mildenhal with the 37th in 1967 Myself and another troop were at the Flight line shack one night and were told to check the fuel load on one of the Herks on one of the had stands. The fog was so thick that you could barely see the taxiway lights. When we found the right hard stand we turned the bead truck in and creeped along until I got nervous and told the driver to stop. I got out walked around the front of the truck to find the acft. rhe guy driving said that i disapeared into the fog and fell back out right away. I ran into the radome. lucky for me the bill of my hat hit first or it would have knocked me cold as it was I had a nice knot on my forhead.

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