DC10FE Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 The ned of an era. Many fond memories. Too many rotes to count. The Bird in the Hand, Mickey's Tea Room, Top 3 Club, Sherwood Forest. Click here: Huge US airbase to close - ITV News Don R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdaley Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 USAFE News. Is sad, seems stupid! Bob http://www.mildenhall.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123435803 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EClark Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 The 61st and the 62nd out of Sewart AFB, Tenn. done two are three rotes each in 1967 and 1968 while was there as a crewchief!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Damm...this is sad news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railrunner130 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Well... Perhaps part of this is because Lakenheath is right next door. I'm not happy with it (like anyone gives a crap about my opinion...) but I get it. They really didn't address support issues, but I imagine airlift in that area will need to go to Lakenheath instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rw605 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 This link says the 135's will go to Ramstein and the SOG (130's and Osprey's) are going to Spandahlem http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/raf-mildenhall-to-close-amid-other-europe-consolidations-1.322825 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC10FE Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 I passed through there in my DC-10 a few times on AMC trips out of Charleston and McGuire. Even thoough I'm not flying anymore, I'm really gonna miss that place. Don R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimH Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I was stationed there with 5th Aerial Port in '73-'74. Married an English girl (we were married in the Mildenhall Chapel) - we just celebrated our 41st Anniversary in October.. Many memories for sure: "J" Block, the Base Theater (sneaking wine in with boda bags)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHeflin Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Heart broken to hear this news. So, so many great memories...... Bravo Rote in 75... stopping in multiple times during Delta Rote in 76... arriving at the Port for my PCS tour with the 67th ARRS at Woodbridge... flying in the Air Fete... flying in from the Rock and having my girl friend greet me when I got off the crew bus at Base Ops... arriving at the Port Space A a few months later in order to wed said girlfriend... waiting at the Port for Space A with my new bride and 2 parachute bags full of wedding gifts and seeing the look on her face when she climbed up into a 141 for the ride to Dover with an HR up front... in and out of MHZ on many, many occasions while flying with the 37th out of RM... 4 absolutely amazing years with 5th MAPS... moving the AD Flight from Alconbury to MHZ into the old 5th MAPS building... on and on. Was just there last April to meet with the AD Flight and it was so nice to be amongst them and share stories about the "good old days". And bloody good they were too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xzoomie32065 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Still have my Bird in Hand T-shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 My wife is especially disappointed with this news. While I was doing a tour at RAF Lakenheath she, as a civilian, worked at Mildenhall in what was then the 513th Supply Sqd. Because of this we connected equally with Lakenheath and Mildenhall. Many friends at both bases. Not unusual to reconnect with a past 36/37 TAS member on rote. After which there was almost always an over indulgence of food and drink. Usually at the Mildenhall Top Four. As I look back I think I have to rate this club as one of the better ones in the air force. As they began a major renovation and began uncovering structure they discovered deficiencies that prompted the engineer to remark he was surprised the building hadn't already collapsed. Not that anyone would have noticed at 0200 on a Saturday night. Great place..sorry to see it go. Congestion at Ramstein to get even worse. Anyone remember when Ramstein was an out of the way small sleepy F-102 base? And the ramp was such that with three or perhaps four big airplanes parked it was full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 In the early 80s there were more aircraft in the UK assigned to Third Air Force than in all of the MAJCOM PACAF. At the conclusion of the just announced "realignment", in the UK there will be but one wing possessing aircraft. Wow, talk about downsizing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdaley Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I did 2 2-month rotes there, in 70 and 72 and a couple of short ones plus a lot of overnights. I'll miss it. We used to hang in a pub long since gone the Volunteer Arms. Also the Bell in MLD and the Bull in Barton Mills. Great base, great people. Too bad the fighter pewks won again. They wanted to keep Spang open and could not justify it with only one squadron of F-16's. They didn't want to send the Spang F-16's to Aviano, so voila close Mldenhall. Can you imagine the mess when Spang and Ramstein are closed at the same time for fog. Oh well at least they saved the USAFE Band. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I recall a day in the early 60s when almost the entire continent was socked in. That day Hahn lost six F-100s. The fallout was the wing got a new commander and everyone who worked for him. Subsequently the air force installed a series of gas jets off the approach end of the runway. In foggy conditions these gas jets would be fired up burning the fog off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 [quote=bobdaley;36898I Oh well at least they saved the USAFE Band. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC10FE Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Here I go hijacking my own thread. A few years ago, I learned that members of the USAF bands enter the Air Force as TSgts and bypass the usual basic training. Check out some UTube videos of the band -- they're almost all Top 3. WTF? OK, back to Moldyhole. I wonder if the RAF will move in? I'm sure Brize Norton is pretty crowded with the C-130's & C-17's based there. Don R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdaley Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Don I just looked at their website and the AF is down to only 16 bands, 11 Active and 5 ANG. Basically anywhere there is a 4 star there is a band. Probably 1000 folks tooting and drumming rather than fixing or flying. Bring back sequestration! Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHeflin Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Now that really frosts my cookies. Never could understand how the AF could justify having more than 1 band and that one could either be contracted out to professional musicians, or be a primary mission of the AF Academy, or several ROTC units around the country. And don't get me started on the Singing Sgts, Tops in Blue, etc. or any of the other uniformed entertainers wasting taxpayers money. I remember being launched one night on Quick Alert, during a Bravo Rote and how we busted our humps to get airborne within the USAFE required 1 hr. window. We were briefed at Ops. to proceed with all speed available to Moron AB. Enroute we speculated that we must be moving some sort of spook unit on a classified mission. Upon arrival at dawn we were told by MAC Ops. that the T-29 moving the USAFE Band to Kenitra Morocco was tits-up and that our mission was to get them transported in time for the Marine Corps Ball being held that night. Needless to say we were pissed off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectre623 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Just googled requirements to get into the USAF band. Don you are half right. They go thru normal basic training then sew on E-6. And live happily ever after riding around on C-130's. Bill :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Wow, TSgt, that's a good place to start. It only took me 11 years to reach that rank. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GVS Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Yeah,E6, a great place to start.Reminds me of a Tech. with 11 years TIG.Made master and said at roll call on the day of his promotion " When I made Tech. and the orders said permanent,I didn't think it was going to be this permanent". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nascarpop Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 While on rote to Mildenhall one time, my plane and two others were selected to fly the AF band around Europe. We were gone a few weeks. Rome, Venice, Bern Switzerland, Copenhagen, and others. We were required to wear civies, not uniforms or anything military. Great duty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Podboy Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 OK I give up. Is Moldeyhole a town near the base, or a reference to something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry myers Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 OK I give up. Is Moldeyhole a town near the base, or a reference to something else? Bob, RAF Mildenhall is named for the nearby town of Mildenhall Moldyhole is GI slang for RAF Mildenhall that has to do with the generally lousy English weather. Cold, wet, lots of mildew. Often on a rare cloudless sunny day the highway asphalt would remain moist. On the rare occasion the temperture would reach 75 the locals would begain to suffer heat prostration. To this day when I get up, look outside only to find it's a lousy day, I remark to my wife, "ah, a typical beautiful English day". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC10FE Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 I remember a rote in the summer of 1976, it did not rain one day while I was there -- although I wasn't there that much. That's the rote I spent celebrating America's bicentennial drinking Heniken beer at the US Consulate in Dharahran, Saudi Arabia. If I remember correctly, the next day, we loaded up the airplane with all the empties (there were a lot) and dropped them in the middle of the desert. Don R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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