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AC-130W Stinger gets bombs


Spectre623
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Is this an Argentinian Herk? Some mod they threw together during the Falklands War?

Yes, the Argintines did try to do a dambusters-style bouncing bomb, but it didn't work.

However, if you overlook the word "pushed" in the original post you quoted, you can easily lump the BLU-82/B and MOAB in with those.... ;)

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Larry, I agree that the photo of 528 looks "photoshopped."

Didn't one of the squadrons also fly C-118's out of Wiesbaden? I have a photo of one with a bogus tail number. The tail number it's wearing is actually of a crashed C-121.

I also have a photo of a couple of EC-97G's parked at Wiesbaden. This was before the extreme paranoid security of today. There are no fences and there is a young boy wandering around the ramp.

Don R.

Don, At the time of shootdown, 528 had only been in service eight or nine months. And in those early days photos were strickly forbidden. I recall a photo of an 06 acft., on final, appeared in a local German newspaper causing a big flap in air force and German security.

There were a lot of different acft. assigned to Wiesbaden AB. I recall the 07th had other acft. other than the 97s assigned but don't remember how many and what kind. Keep in mind that, at the time, Hqs USAFE was just a few miles away at Lindsey AS. So a number of the C-47s, C-54s, C-118s, C-131s, T-29s T-33s, T-39s ect. were in place to provide VIP transportation and so the Hqs staff could maintain currency. There was also a Flight Facilities checking outfit there flying C-140s.

Unlike RM, Wiesbaden AB was a very sedate place. After a two week Reforger exercise there with the 37th we told to leave and never come back.

The altered tail number doesn't surprise me. There were a couple of Heavy Chain/Combat Talon acft. flying with tail numbers belonging to other Hercs. We, at times, temperarily applied bogus tail numbers to our aircraft.

Couple times a year we flew missions from Bodo, Norway. Before departing Rhein Main all members of the crew below the rank of SSgt were temp. premoted to SSgt. This was done so they would be assigned decent quarters and have access to the NCO mess. We always cautioned them not to get too used to the rocker. And you'd better like fish as you got it three times a day.

Recall looking at the chart over the nav's shoulder as we were flying north over the Adratic Sea. The airway we were on was clearly marked in bold red, "Prohibited to USAF aircraft". We routinely flew this route from Rhein Main to Incerlik and back.

BTW, at Fort Mead, MD there is a C-130A II replica of 56-528 honoring the crew that was lost. It took lengthly negotations and several years before the USSR returned the flight crew remains and to best of my knowledge the back end crew was never returned.

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Larry

I could tell you a hundred stories all of them true about why the 37th was asked not to come back to Wiesbaden. But a few names might help, Bob Craft, Tom Blake, John Simon, Don Maw, Jack Jordan, Bill Stevens, an innocent Bob Daley and the infamous Don Lehtola. What a great rote!

Bob

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  • 2 weeks later...

Larry

I could tell you a hundred stories all of them true about why the 37th was asked not to come back to Wiesbaden. But a few names might help, Bob Craft, Tom Blake, John Simon, Don Maw, Jack Jordan, Bill Stevens, an innocent Bob Daley and the infamous Don Lehtola. What a great rote!

Bob

At long last the perpertrators have been identified. Let the article 32 procedings begin.

It must be stated at this point no maintenance personel were involved in the above shanagins. Our usual impecable deployed behaviour was attributable to our fine upbringing. Further, in our left breast pocket, over our hearts, we were carrying Amy Vanderbelt's latest guidance, How to Win Friends and Influence People at the Deployed Location. There may have been one alleged minor incident of dancing on tables, later proven untrue.

As far as Daley being innocent...no way no how.

As you say Bob, for sure, a great trip!

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