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E-Flight Jon

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  1. E-Flight moved to CCK spring of 1971. The initial crews where put together with people who already had Top Secret clearances. Over the next few months we expanded to 5 aircraft as they returned from getting painted shiny gray. We also were converted from the 346th TAS, 314 TAW, to the 21st TAS, 374th TAW. We're under 374 Special Projects Office. We flew both TS missions and normal trash hauling. One of our aircraft bellied in while doing touch and goes at Tainan. Non E-Flight crews didn't get to fly our birds for quite a while after that. I was on the last E-flight crew to leave Taiwan in November 1973 when the wing had to abandon Taiwan. We moved E-flight to Clark with the 21st and 776th TAS. The 345th headed to Kadena. I left Clark n November 1975. They already were in the process of camo painting the birds and installing dual rails. It was funny that we actually had to turn a mission down because it would not fit inside the rails.
  2. Actually, all the E-Flight birds had the rails removed until late 1975. We used two rows of triple skate wheels to load anything on pallets. Everything had to be strapped or chained properly. The incident which destroyed FS 245 was caused by an approximate 4 foot stack of 4'x 8' sheets of teak/mahogany plywood (our primary pallet material) which was incorrectly secured with a single 5000 lb tiedown strap. I had personally warned that Kicker on a number of occasions to not secure it that way. Since the skate wheels only left a tiedown access between them, he would just throw the strap down the middle and left it at that. When they landed, they made two mistakes. First, they land hard and fast. Then they did maximum braking and reverse to make the first turnoff. That shifted the plywood at an angle, cut the strap and sent the stack flying all the way forward and push 245 all the way to the nose gear access window. I guess I could have said, "I told you so!"
  3. Our E-Flight birds had slick floors the first 4 years I flew on them. We used skate wheels to load everything using teak/mahogany plywood as our pallet and then loaded warehouse pallets side by side on them. Got lots of practice with chain gates!! Loaded many loads of RVN troops either floor loaded or on bare pallets with straps for lap belts. My favorite place to sit was on the aft overhead escape hatch step. I could lean back and just keep my pistol on my belly in case someone wanted to be difficult. Never had to use it on a passenger, but used the fire extinguisher on some unruly prisoners one time. The huge (for a Vietnamese) QC guard was clubbing them with his baton, so I thought the fire extinguisher would work better and maybe keep someone from getting beat to death. Worked great and the QC was appreciative. I very seldom used the J-bar on C-130s but used the hell out of it on C-5s.
  4. Just a quick note on the Airlift squadrons assigned at CCK. When I got there in late 1970 (and was told the war was over) I was assigned the the Black Knights 346th TAS. The four squadrons were 50th TAS, 345th TAS, 346th TAS and 776th TAS as I recall. When E-Flight was transferred from Okinawa, the 346th was deactivated and the 21st TAS and 374th TAW were assigned there. I was proud to have been in E-Flight from early 1971 until I left Clark in late 1975. Because my log books were all in classified operating locations and reconfigured identifications, I can't accurately remember specific tail numbers. Several were 40515, 21859 and 40497. We flew those birds all during my tenure. With us aircrew, tail numbers were not all that significant. Our E-Flight maintenance men were some of the best in the business and our reliability rates proved it. In almost 5 years of E-Flight missions, I never had one scrubbed due to maintenance. Great professionals who could do with bailing wire and chewing gum. Somewhere in my attic I believe I have some pictures of some of them. Hopefully, I will find them one of these days. A big shout out to any CCK vets. It was the greatest assignment of my career and even the skirmish we were involved in didn't change that. Jon Andrews, former E-Flight Loadmaster
  5. I don't think it was, but it is possible. He was already at CCK when I got there in 1970. He stayed overseas for many years and went to Hurlburt SOS I believe in 77 or 78. I know he was at Hurlburt until he retired. He was black, but not heavy set. Super nice guy and a helluva common sense loadmaster. We used to fly some of the tougher EFlight missions where no one was sure it would fit on the airplane. We made it work every time.
  6. I was at Tahkli when I woke Tom Warya up from a somewhat inebriated stupor and told him the battery was dead on the MD3. He got out of the truck, grabbed the hand crank and spun it up. We had been trying for half an hour and couldn't even turn it one revolution. I flew on Happy Hap's crew with Carlus Traylor (FE) and Jim Hinderhof (Pilot). I also flew with Don Birdsong, Jackie Wilson FE's. I stayed in touch with Birdsong until he passed away last year. He flew for the Saudis for years after he retired and would stop by Dover when they came to the states for their shopping trips. Wesley (Spoon) Witherspoon and I flew with E-Flight from the initial crews at CCK until I left Clark in November 75. Larry Brown was the commander at that time. Spoon was involved in Desert 1 rescue try. I last saw him at Hurlburt in early 1980s. Carlus Traylor just contacted me before Christmas and is still living near Little Rock. I was in the flight line snack bar in the mid 80s here in Dover and ran into Jim Hinderhof who was flying C130s out of Willow Grove and 747s with United Airlines. By the way, you can google earth and see the runway and ramps at CCK still. It is not real clear but you can definitely make out the runways, taxiways and the road out to the Vinnel area. One of my favorite memories of the gray birds was when we got either the second or third one painted gray. When we went on the mission and began the reconfiguration, it turned out the camo paint was still there under the star and bar. I believe I have some pictures of some of the gray birds. I will try to dig them out when I can find them and I have a converter for slides to digital. Jon Andrews Dover, DE Retired Air Force Loadmaster C141A, C130E, C5A/B
  7. I was on the all instructor E-Flight crew from 1971 to 1975. The information on the 374 SPO is mostly accurate, but I am unsure just how much has been declassified. We had to sign disclosure agreements when briefed out and, as I recall, we would receive written notice if our missions were ultimately declassified. I fondly recall telling my C5 squadron Security officer that I was told my TS clearance had to remain. He kindly told me there was no such thing as a permanent clearance. Several weeks later, he asked me what I used to do in SEA, because he had just been notified that my clearance was not downgradeable. Ultimately, that same clearance got me involved in some very special "things" and I eventually lived with a TS/SBI-SCI. Some of the best years of my life were in E-Flight. The "contract" people we worked with were both courageous and scary, but seldom broke the airplanes. Running off runways was somewhat of a specialty, but only did serious damage a few times. I remember being asked questions about our special birds but people who were not all that bright. One wing loadmaster talked to me at Utapao as we were transiting back to CCK. His aircraft was parked next to mine and we were smoking between them. He faced my bird and I faced his as we talked. He was asking me about our low profile special tires with the special groves and shape. They had been damned near shredded during the mission and we had not aired them up. He then called me a liar because I told him we did not have -15 engines. He said he had it from a reliable source. I just couldn't bear to say anything because I was looking at his #3 engine which was one of our gray ones. I would love to hear from other E-Flight Cobras. Somewhere in my attic I still have my red baseball cap with our crew patch of two white rats in black bermuda shorts stabbing each other in the back. What a proud crest. Jon Andrews 374 SPO 21st TAS/346 TAS Ching Chuan Kang AB, ROC Clark AB, PI
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