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Pease AFB C-130 rescue squadron


gizzard
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I reckon this is the place for this question. If not, Casey, just put it where it belongs. Anyway, way back in 1970, I graduated tech school with a guy named Stoddard, who I think, went to Rescue Herks , at Pease AFB, NH. He was from new hampshire to begin with. Am I correct in the base and so on??? Is it still active???? I am gonna be up in that area in a few months and would like to look him up, if he is still in that area. Anything anybody can tell me would be appreciated. thanks

giz

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Giz,

Yep, it was either the 54th or 53rd ARRS (????). I remember they had a brand new HC-130N 69-5820 (overall ARRS grey) on the ramp, and she was factory fresh without a speck of "work dirt" on her. If my memory serves me correctly, the sq. didn't last all that long up there. Maybe a few years or so, and 5820 went on to the 676th ARRS at Woodbridge in the UK where she spent most if her future life. I wonder where she is now ?? At the time, Pease was home to the509th BW(M) with FB-111's and 135's. Pease was closed during the first round of BRAC chops and was turned into Pease Industrial Trade Port with the NH ANG maintaining a 135R op there.

Regards

Frank C.

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Went to Dover AFB after Clark and when we junked out the C-133's in 1970, I got to pick my next base, Rescue at Pease or Hill AFB Ut. Sure glad I chose Hill. Best assignment of my career as far as a fun place to be...shooting, sking, fishing and hunting, dune buggining, mountain camping... oh yes and the Rescue 130's ,Utah has it all. Bill

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Frank,

According to Lars' book, 69-5820 is now a gray MC-130P with the 9th SOS at Eglin AFB, FL.

Don R.

Don,

I have added 4367 (69-5820) to the C-130 Database. Looking at Lars' book, it was on loan to the 5th SOS 0403. Did it return to the 9th SOS on 0912?

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I know they were there in June of '70, 'cause that is when stoddard was assigned there, but i never knew what ever became of him or the planes.How far in-land was the base????? Just seemed like a strange place to put a rescue squadron. I guess it worked out for him, though,but I mis-stated his home state, he was from Vermont,

Giz

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Giz,

Pease is just a few miles inland from the coast and was a busy jump off point for many of the pond crossings. One of it's greatest assets was the POL pipeline that fed the base pol farm. fro Delaware (?) The 54ARRS was only there a few years as I mentioned and covered the east/west transits until the Keflavik based contingent picked em up or handed em off for the rest of the legs. They closed Pease in early although the 54th was long gone by that time.

Bill,

I'm glad that you enjoyed Hill, but the only thing that you gained in Utah was the Dune buggying and you missed out on some great deep sea fishing !

Frank

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Hey Frank I guess we can't do it all but I liked Ogden Ut so well I went back for 4 more years after I got off active duty. That's the neat thing about this great country it has so many great places to visit and live....worth fighting for and sometimes dying for huh? Bill

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Bill,

I shot allot of military aviation photography back then, and the Hill flight line had one of the most BEAUTIFUL backdrops I've ever seen. The sunlit gleaming snow covered mountains were truly awesome..

Yep, Gods' country (and ours) . Chamber a round, it's worth fighting for..

Frank

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I seem to remember when I went to the HC-130 school at Hill, sometimes a flight would be canceled because of winds even though there was not even a breeze on the ramp. It was the winds coming off the moutains and across the runway. True, or another old age mind game?

Don R.

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You are right on Don. The winds coming out of Ogden Canyon could blow a C-5 off final as I witnessed during the big supply effort for The Yom Kippur war in 1973. All who were familar with Hill's runway knew you had to be set up for the huge 90 degree crosswind in the morning about 1000 hrs. This one wasn't and we were watching from our Hotel2 truck on the Rescue side of the flightline. When he got hit with the crosswind he almost lost it and cobbed the power and came right across our flight line at about 2500 feet. Talk about a scare....we just knew we were going to see a crash but the pilot did a good job on the go around and was set up right for the next landing. I saw a lot of strange things during my 3 years at Hill...mainly due to the 60+ helicopters in our unit. Bill

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Back in 1974, I had orders for Pease on F-4s, the Test Wing at Wright Patterson, and T-39s at Ramstein which all arrived withn 3 days of each other.

The orders for Ramstein were issued first, so I went there for 3 years.

I would have like to have gone to Wright Pat also, but I'm sure glad the ones for Pease were canceled.

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Back in 1974, I had orders for Pease on F-4s, the Test Wing at Wright Patterson, and T-39s at Ramstein which all arrived withn 3 days of each other.

The orders for Ramstein were issued first, so I went there for 3 years.

I would have like to have gone to Wright Pat also, but I'm sure glad the ones for Pease were canceled.

I was stationed at WP twice, 69-70 and 72-75. Nice base but way too many civilians and Generals. Mostly worked in Area C, the main base area, but worked in Area B a few times - mostly when doing mods on the JC-131B's, and then again on the VC-118A's. A lot of history in Area B. If you believe TV shows, that's where the aliens (not the illegal kind) are being kept. Saw many of the older aircraft being rebuild in Area B for the museum. Had a close look at a ME109 that was torn apart.

Also cut the foam and packed the fuel tanks in an AC-130A. I think it was the initial test but could be mistaken.

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