1685FCC Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Just thought I would share a little information. I am currently going through school here at LR for FE retraining and I've had the pleasure of having Mr. Sam McGoldrick as our instructor. He is getting ready to retire at the age of 71 and next week is his last of work. He told us a story today about a plane he was on that crashed in Kadena when #4 engine throttle cable broke and sent the engine to full power. The plane was tore all to hell and was deemed unrepairable (from what I've been told). The way he told the story was pretty amazing that no one was killed. The plane sounded like it was pretty well spent after all it went through. Anyway, I just thought if any of you out there would like to share any stories about Sam that would be pretty cool. He has over 50 some years of experience with the Herky Bird and I just think that is something amazing. Have a good one!! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenFE Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I don't remember the tail # or the year it happened but I have seen the pictures. It was a class A mishap, nose gear ripped out, buckled and broken open around FS 245 and the left side wheel well area and wing badly burned. They ran off the runway and hit one of the concrete drainage culverts along the runway at Kadena. Sam has lots of great adventures he could tell you. And I promise you guys who flew with him at CCK, Yakota and Little Rock he hasn't divulged any names. There is not much of anything that Sam didn't know about the C-130. Sam told me he first turned a wrench as a crew chief on an 'A' model in May of 1959. I was at Chief McGoldricks Air Force retirement in 1988 and got to wish him many happy shamrocks this month after 22 years at the "schoolhouse." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spec13fe Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Sam gave me several checkrides when I was at Yokota. Always learned something new when I flew with him. He knew the nuts and bolts of the C 130. The crash he was involved in at Kadena was a bad one, when the nose gear broke lose it hit the LOX converter oxygem and Hyd. fluid caused a "blowtorch" fire. Mike Thompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC001 Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 I'm glad to see Sam make it to retirement. I have had the privilege over the years of having Sams brain to pick. He's been a goldmine of information. I spent many a night with him and a bottle of Scotch having him beat systems into to me when we were at Yokota. Enjoy retirement "Old Man" ,you've earned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeyglenn Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Got to fly a shuttle, to TSN with Sam in 72, The AC's name was Pat Maher, if I remember. correctly. One evening after returning to TSN, we had some folks from Langley TDY to CCK, Sam and I met another Scot. a LM named David Rae. When David and Sam got to speaking Gaelic. I figured it was time to leave. I got a spot on my shoulder for carrying him around, That is one character. Rg Glenn Secrest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Davenport Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Got to fly a shuttle, to TSN with Sam in 72, The AC's name was Pat Maher, if I remember. correctly. One evening after returning to TSN, we had some folks from Langley TDY to CCK, Sam and I met another Scot. a LM named David Rae. When David and Sam got to speaking Gaelic. I figured it was time to leave. I got a spot on my shoulder for carrying him around, That is one character. Rg Glenn Secrest yep your memory is correct we (37TAS) from Langley were there TDY and a fun time was had by all until the Wing King cnx'd my mission to Hanoi to take the peace delegation in and that was after I was inbreafed on the mission. A$$ hole!! I made such a stink he was said to have said that SOB will not get a mission north. I didn't but mannaged to get my crew on one :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff Millen Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 I posted a couple of days ago but the post disappeared. Tell Sam congratulations for his great service to this country. I was stationed with Sam in the 70s at CCK. He is a great guy and probably has forgotten more than and ten engineere ever knew. Stare enjoying the good retired life Sam...but make sure you are close to a herk base so you can hear the great sound of freedom. Best to ya Sam Muff Millen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rescue fe Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 I first met Sam in 1960 in Tachi. Then again at Pope in 66. Sam has a great personality. I hope is going to attend the 815th Reunion at the Rock at the end of this month. It would be great to see him again after thirty some years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcticFox Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 Had the privilege to be under his tutelage for a while up "on the hill" at the LM school house. Great guy - has one hellova sense of humor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeyglenn Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 Tell Sam that I talked to his old friend, and guy who used to give him check rides Chickypoo, He says it is about thime that Sam,, retires and Congratulations. Rg Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbob Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 Good luck, again, to ya Sam! Now someone ask him why he can't go back home to Scotland! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Just thought I would share a little information. I am currently going through school here at LR for FE retraining and I've had the pleasure of having Mr. Sam McGoldrick as our instructor. He is getting ready to retire at the age of 71 and next week is his last of work. He told us a story today about a plane he was on that crashed in Kadena when #4 engine throttle cable broke and sent the engine to full power. The plane was tore all to hell and was deemed unrepairable (from what I've been told). The way he told the story was pretty amazing that no one was killed. The plane sounded like it was pretty well spent after all it went through. Anyway, I just thought if any of you out there would like to share any stories about Sam that would be pretty cool. He has over 50 some years of experience with the Herky Bird and I just think that is something amazing. Have a good one!! Dave I knew that little "Focker" when he was an E-4 right out of maintenance when he first started flying at Pope. He had just come back from Tachi, Naha or somewhere and went to flight mechanic school. He, Wayne Binkley, Don Sweet, Don Wright (who was shot down on Blind Bat), Roy Cattel and several others came into the squadron about the same time I and a bunch of other guys from OMS who were crosstraining to loadmaster did. Sam lived in the barracks and we all ran around together. He is the one who got me to drinking hot tea. He also advised me that Scotch is a drink and a native of Scotland is Scottish. One of my favorite memories is of one night when we were in the bowling alley snack bar at Kadena while on TDY. He and Binkley had been to the Airmen's Club and were loaded. Sam ordered a chocolate milkshake and passed out while he was drinking it. His nose went right into the glass! That woke him up and he raised his face up. There was ice cream all over it! It makes me laugh everytime I think about it. By the way, Binkley told me recently that McGoldrick probably has the longest history with the Herk of anyone who ever lived. He started out on them at Ashiya in the late 50s on the flight line and has been with them ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I knew that little "Focker" when he was an E-4 right out of maintenance when he first started flying at Pope. He had just come back from Tachi, Naha or somewhere and went to flight mechanic school. He, Wayne Binkley, Don Sweet, Don Wright (who was shot down on Blind Bat), Roy Cattel and several others came into the squadron about the same time I and a bunch of other guys from OMS who were crosstraining to loadmaster did. Sam lived in the barracks and we all ran around together. He is the one who got me to drinking hot tea. He also advised me that Scotch is a drink and a native of Scotland is Scottish. One of my favorite memories is of one night when we were in the bowling alley snack bar at Kadena while on TDY. He and Binkley had been to the Airmen's Club and were loaded. Sam ordered a chocolate milkshake and passed out while he was drinking it. His nose went right into the glass! That woke him up and he raised his face up. There was ice cream all over it! It makes me laugh everytime I think about it. By the way, Binkley told me recently that McGoldrick probably has the longest history with the Herk of anyone who ever lived. He started out on them at Ashiya in the late 50s on the flight line and has been with them ever since. I failed to mention that we were all in the 779th TCS at Pope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEFEGeorge Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I was LRF when Don Sweet and Linda divorced, Don married a captain (I think she was), and then Don was killed when some Arkansas redneck in a beat-up car turned in front of his motorcycle in Jacksonville, around 1981. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 I was LRF when Don Sweet and Linda divorced, Don married a captain (I think she was), and then Don was killed when some Arkansas redneck in a beat-up car turned in front of his motorcycle in Jacksonville, around 1981. Don and I were crewed together at Pope. The last time I saw him was in 1966 when I ran into him in a bar in Koza when he came through there on one of the first Stray Goose crews. We had a lot of good times together in France, then out of Kadena and Mactan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 Got to fly a shuttle, to TSN with Sam in 72, The AC's name was Pat Maher, if I remember. correctly. One evening after returning to TSN, we had some folks from Langley TDY to CCK, Sam and I met another Scot. a LM named David Rae. When David and Sam got to speaking Gaelic. I figured it was time to leave. I got a spot on my shoulder for carrying him around, That is one character. Rg Glenn Secrest Dave Rae was in the 41st at Evreux, Lockbourne and Naha. He had a Swedish K he had picked up in the Congo when he was there in the early '60s. He had it in his locker the night they came after the Blind Bat enlisted crewmembers hooch at Ubon in the spring of '66. It was the only weapon anyone had. Fortunately, the Nung guard they killed got off a round from his shotgun and they ran off. Otherwise, God only knows what would have happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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