Jump to content

Sleeping on the hercules


lorencooper
 Share

Recommended Posts

The only beds I knew about was the Strecher above the pax seats right behind the 245 on the right side of the cargo compartment. I put a skeeter net over it and used it lots. I even used some empty pallets and tied myself to them so I wouldn't float away.

Not long before I got out I think they started makeing the Pax use the back of the C/C and the cargo was up front. Something about if we crashed the cargo wouldn't hit the passengers???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I did sleep on the Herk. At Danang even.

I got some orders where I went in country with you for 24 days from Naha.

edevers.

Did you by any chance keep any of those old orders?

Don

Everyone but me were in the 35th TCS and I was in the 61 st oms at the time. 15 Feb 66.

I am the last name on the back page.

Edited by donwon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember being so sleep deprived I could sleep on anything. Troop seat, litter, cargo. It didn't matter. Once we were coming back from Thailand and we had a pallet of cargo nets. It made a nice bed but I was "on duty" and some grunts staked out the "bed". When we landed and off loaded the pallet we noticed something moving. It turned out to be a 12' King Cobra. The "grunt" that was sleeping saw the snake and about fainted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember sometimes it would get so hot overnight at Cam Rahn Bay that I would grab something for a pillow and lay on top the airplane and try to sleep with one leg hanging down through the overhead hatch above the flight deck! The plan was that I would wake up before I rolled off the plane!

As far as sleeping on the plane in Viet Nam, where else would you sleep? We practically lived on them! If your plane was O.R. and had a scheduled flight early in the morning, you couldn't leave anyway!

But, thinking back, out of the almost 3 years of inputs to CRB, I probably didn't manage to actually fall asleep for over ten minutes at a time!!!

What memories, wouldn't trade them for anything,

Ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sort of along the same lines. I remember a load telling me a story about some space-A folks that he hauled some where...some time. The story was this female dependant/spouse wanted to use the latrine and asked the load where it was. He pointed out the honey bucket, and offered to lower the privacy curtain. The "spouse" looked at the honey buckey, and said something like, "Okay. That's the passenger latrine. Where is the crew latrine? That's the one I'd like to use." According to the load, this passenger decided to cross her legs together and hold it!

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always took along a hammock you could always find a place to hang it.

One tdy that I will always remember was a week long tdy from Rhein-Main to

Incirlik, Turkey. We had a total of 4 birds there, my bird was always the first one to take-off each morning, early morning (dark) back in the days of MAC,

(Midnight Air Command) :) After a week of flying during the day and fixing, rigging, fueling at night I was pretty worn out. When it was time to head back to Rhein-Main, right after take-off, I climbed into the upper bunk and was out probably by the time we leveled off. About an hour later I awoke, rolled over to see what was going in in the flt deck and only saw the co-pilot flying the aircraft, the pilot, flight engineer and nav chairs were all empty.

My first thought was that we were going down (ditching) and the crew didn't want to wake me up (not enough parachutes) I jumped out of the upper bunk, down the flight deck ladder in one leap and around 245 to find the the pilot, FE, nav and LM working on a young airman that had stuck his finger in the AWADS cooling fan that was located on the back of FS 245 right over the first troop seat on the right side of the cargo compartment. They got the bleeding stopped, got him calmed down, and then they had to work on getting

clearance back into Athens, this took alot of effort since we we coming from Turkey and wanting to land in Greece. As everyone knows Turkey & Greece don't get along real well, something about a Trojan Horse (No not the virus).

We finally got diplomatic clearance and landed off loaded the airman, fueled up and headed back to R/M.

Just one of the stories that I remember well.

73, Rex

Edited by herkfixer
add text
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone, new here.

I'm a vet but also a parent. My son is a load at Pope and just got back from his first real TDY, a week in San Diego. Not a bad place to have to spend a week but being just 19 he was mostly the DD. LOL. He's hearing he'll be deploying around June.

Anyway, after those 7 hour rides coast to coast he told me how nice it would have been to have had a hammock. Does anybody have links to someplace on-line where he or I can buy one? Also any advice about brands, styles, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone, new here.

I'm a vet but also a parent. My son is a load at Pope and just got back from his first real TDY, a week in San Diego. Not a bad place to have to spend a week but being just 19 he was mostly the DD. LOL. He's hearing he'll be deploying around June.

Anyway, after those 7 hour rides coast to coast he told me how nice it would have been to have had a hammock. Does anybody have links to someplace on-line where he or I can buy one? Also any advice about brands, styles, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Check army/navy, sporting goods and hunting stores -- I got mine in Nam and it was small enought you could roll it into a ball the size of a baseball. I would say the smaller the better. I used a pancho liner. I laid in the hammock got in wrapped it around me pulled the sides of the hammock over me and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Everything was OK until a crew member not to be named tried to duct tape me in :) -- he got his just reward. He had to pee sometime on the flight. Standing on the ramp in full stream trying to hold to both his manhood and the ramp support when he was floating in mid air --- damn must have been a airp pocket! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Ken, you just reminded me of the nights I spent on top of my Herk in Cam Ranh Bay. One difference though, I would on occasion lie next to the Vertical Stabilizer. I had my pillow and was quite comfortable. I would wake to every truck that went by.

Me and Assistant CC spent 3 days broke at Da Nang. We had an engine or prop problem. Engine shop said it was a prop issue and Prop shop said it was an engine issue. We spent the whole 3 days running engines while each shop tried their magic. Finally did a Prop change which fixed the problem. We slept on the plane for brief periods for a total of maybe 2 hours in that 3 day time period. Wewere pretty ripe after 3 days with no showers. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner was Peanut butter and Crackers and Tang.

A funny story from CRB. The AirPolice used to borrow the exhaust on the Power Unit to warm up their C rats. One night the AP came over with a new AP and was showing him how to get a delicious warm meal. The next night the new guy asked if he could use the Power Unit. I told him to help himself. I was inside doing something when I heard an explosion. I ran upstairs and killed the lights, then ran out to kill the Power Unit. New AP was standing there with Pork and Beans all over the front of his jacket. Seems he missed the part about venting the can before heating it. I sent my Jeep to the flight line snack bar and had him bring back a burger and fries for the hungry young AP. Take care and stay safe.

Wil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone, new here.

I'm a vet but also a parent. My son is a load at Pope and just got back from his first real TDY, a week in San Diego. Not a bad place to have to spend a week but being just 19 he was mostly the DD. LOL. He's hearing he'll be deploying around June.

Anyway, after those 7 hour rides coast to coast he told me how nice it would have been to have had a hammock. Does anybody have links to someplace on-line where he or I can buy one? Also any advice about brands, styles, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

This is pretty much the standard hammock that you find in aircrew helmet bags.

images%5C30221.jpg30221a.jpg

http://www.uscav.com/Productinfo.aspx?productID=10619&TabID=1&CatID=54

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny, a few years ago, looking through some of my stuff I actually found my hammmock from Nam. Showing it to my grown son, we took it to the back yard for me to show him how well it worked. After finally getting it stretched out and tied to a couple of trees, I, in my smart a.. way, hoped right into it. It seems my hammock didn't age any better than I did, because as I settled in, it broke out. There I was laying on the ground, my son doubed over laughing, saying,......"so that's how you survived Vietnam?".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the herk from CCK to Clark, I managed to sleep in a washtub.

Slept like a baby.

'Course I was a baby.

I do however have a compulsion to doze off when I hear a herk droning overhead. Or if I am over at my mother's house in Albuquerque, and they are doing a run up. Maybe it is the noise.

I think we need a Hammock thread. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...