Mt.crewchief

Sam, Thanks for the info, as always, you seem to be able to contribute accurately! I and Chris Carter are examples of maint. men becoming flare kickers TDY. We both jumped at the call for volunteers and the 35th let us go only because we had our 5-level training done. We had to go to Kadena for the Physiological Training and the altitude chamber. We also had to qualify on the range again this time with the revolvers also! We didn\'t know what crew we would be on until the day we left Naha. I was thinking we flew three training missions with another crew, but it might not have been that many! I do remember at least one of the training missions, and it scared the crap out of all of us--including the crew training us! If I remember correctly, we flew 40 missions altogether. At least, I received two Air Medals and was told you got one for every 20 combat missions! I posted a picture of our crew on the Blind Bat section, and still have never found out much about what ever happened to all of the guys on the crew! We did have guests at times. Once there was an important General that flew with us (I can\'t remember his name), and once a combat photographer. He also took our crew picture! Thanks for reading this, Ken

I don\'t ever remember being in a squadron picture, but I know I didn\'t get one if I was. I would sure like to see it if one ever shows up. I was in the 3774th Training Squadron and started Basic Jan 04 1967. I KNOW the date is right, but I am not positive about the Flight Number. The rest of the pictures look like a fine bunch of gentlemen!--especially the guys that ended up in the C-130 related career fields! :lol: Ken

Do any of you guys remember the newer modern hotel on the right side of the highway going to town from Naha AB. If I remember right it was pretty close to the Army Base, The Naha Wheel which was on the port? If some of us guys were home on pay-day, we would go to that hotel cafe, and get a delicious Filet Mignon and drinks before heading into town to raise hell and chase the \"local lovelies\" The steaks we got there were as good as any I have ever eaten since--even the Angus Beef here in Montana! I think a large Filet Mignon with drinks was about $9.00. A lot of money on our pay!!! Somebody has to remember the name of that hotel. Ken

donwon, I did a tour of swing shift on the tow-refuel/defuel team and also on the flightline \"specialist\" dispatch truck or van! Working swing-shift was always the best for the night-life! I don\'t ever remember ever having curfews or base passes, but would probably have ignored them anyway. We did get caught a few times in bars after hours by the CP\'s (civilian police). Several of us did get caught in a bar downtown on Kokusai Street, which was off-limits. The AP\'s took us to the AP Shack in Naminoue and released us after calling 1st. Sgt Galloway. We got a free ride to Naminouie that evening! It was a good thing most of us Maint. guys were TDY most of the time, or we would have gotten in a lot more trouble--or worse!:laugh: :laugh: Ken

Hey, thanks guys, those posts are just what i was looking for. It was a pretty high powered bunch on that flight! I wonder why there were so many people aboard. Most of the time we flew, there were just the 7 of us. Sometimes we had guests though! I knew a Knebel at Naha, I went through tech school with him, but he was a two striper the last time I remember, and his name was Johnny. I did lose a good friend in 1970 on a gunship in Laos. His name was Ronnie Hensley. He was in the 35th with me and when I went to CCK, he went to Ubon. I didn\'t know what had happened to him until a year ago when I started looking up the losses on the Hercules Headquarters forum. Thanks again, Ken

Sonny, Thanks for your reply. Do you have any more info other than the date etc? I'm looking for more details such as crew members etc. You know official write-ups etc. Do you happen to know the crew-chiefs of 0477 at the time? I was at Naha at the time, and I am starting to remember some of the details, but have always wondered what I have forgotten. Thanks for any more info you might have, Ken

I thought I would post a picture of the Main Gate. Somewhere we all saw or should have seen as we returned to the base from Naminoue in a \"skoshi-cab\" or one of the blue Ford Fairlanes base taxi\'s!

You know, I was going to mention the Turkey Farm, but thought I would keep this forum clean!!! When I first got to Naha, there was a rusted out Plymouth(probably a 1960) with \"Momma Do-rights\" Turkey Farm painted on the doors. I learned later that the Turkey Farm could be found out the back-gate. Not first hand of course!!:laugh: :laugh: I do remember the New York Steak House and ate there a few times. I used to have a bunch of business cards the bars gave out. I will see if I can find any of them! Do you guys remember what Naminoue looked like in the daylight? Ken

While looking at the list of missing pics of Bob Daley's gallerys, I can't remember the fate of 56-0477 c/n [cn]3085[/cn]. I am having a hard time believing that I don't remember it or what happened to it especially since I was involved in Blind Bats etc. during the time it was lost. Was it a Naha bird or was it from Tachikawa? I'm assuming Naha, and thats why I can't figure out why I don't remember it! If any of you have the complete story on it, I would like to hear it. Thanks, Ken

Muff, I don\'t recall that place. Unless I knew it by one of our own made-up names! What evening entertainment establishment was it closest to?:laugh: Ken

This view of the trip to work/flight-line is taken from my barracks---I think. Either that or from the gun hill across the street! Ken

Yes, it was just up from the chow-hall, and below the gun-hill. I will try to post a picture of two of the barracks etc. Ken

Oh yeh, how could I forget the egg-burgers! Also, the grilled ham & cheese was good!:laugh: Do any of you guys remember the big snails that left the slimy trails across the sidewalks and streets. They were usually moving when we walked to the flightline to work in the morning! Also, how about the crabs that ran around over in \"easy area\" Ken

When I was there, from 67-69, we shared the barracks with the 51st. civil engineering squadron! At least thats what i thought it was. I think most of the top floor above us maint. guys was some or all of the 35th loadmasters! I had to do 30 days \"noise free duty\" as a CQ in the barracks, and had to maintain a wake up list for the loadmasters upstairs. I had to answer the phone calls from the girls downtown to their boyfriends. Of course most of the guys no-stay anymore!!!!! The barracks had a snack-bar run by Michiko, a little tiny local girl. There was a pool table right off the snack-bar, and in the other room going towards the 51st. was a TV room! I don\'t think it got much use as most of the guys were always downtown in Naminoue unless they were in-country with their airplanes! At least I don\'t ever remember watching any TV!!!! Good old days huh?:ohmy: I think there was also a barber shop over on the 51st. side! Ken

Yeh, I know it is not the official squadron patch, I have a few of those also! The one I posted is one of the many things you could get made downtown! The patch I posted is about 8\" across!!! I had a green 35th hat also, but managed to lose it over the years! Were any of you guys in 35th Maint. during the years 67-69? It would be nice to hear from some of you on this forum! Thanks for looking, Ken Carlson

Don, good question! I got carried away with copying slides & posting them, that I didn\'t not only put them in order, but I forgot to mention where they were taken! So, they were all taken at Naha in 1967-1969. The squadron party was taken outside the barracks that we(35th TAS) shared with the 51st Civil Eng. Squadron. I think the party was in Nov. 1968 while I was back to Naha on an R&R from the Blind Bat mission at Ubon! I will be posting more of the Naha pics etc. in the future! I can name the names of most of the people in the slides, but can\'t put a face to the names!!! Make sense?? Thanks for your reply, Ken

This picture of our 1st. Sgt. Msgt. Galloway. He lived in the barracks with us until his wife came over and then he moved downtown! Gary Levesque and I took over his room---We had a sink and a refrigerator! We stacked the beds three high so we had more floor space for a carpet etc. Nobody ever moved in and took the top bunk! It was about 3ft. from the ceiling!! I would post these pics all in one post, but I can\'t seem to go back and forth from Photobucket! I do have some more that i will post later! Ken

Here\'s another one! I remember most of these guys, but sometimes I can\'t put a name on them! All fine young gentlemen of course!! Ken

I\'ve got quite a few of this party taken in Nov? 1968! I will post some more of them soon! Ken

I scanned some old slides tonight and thought this one would look familiar to some of you! Ken

Rick, Thanks for downloading the CCK paper to PDF. I did just that and then sent a copy to Steve Mudge who was stationed with me at CCK in 1969 and 1970! We were very good friends while there, and we made contact last year on the Hercules Headquarters forum. We have been in touch since then. He was also stationed there a year or two earlier when the base was fairly new!! When we left there in 1970,we were still with the 314th OMS! Before I was stationed at CCK, I was in the 374th at Naha! Thanks also to Fraulein for coming up with that old newspaper!!! Ken PS I am always looking for old friends from Naha and CCK :cheer:

Thanks for the quick replies. Bob, I do have some pics of 475, but will have to scan some of them, and copy from slides the others. Some of the pics are of the bullet holes taken on the top of the wing. One of the bullets went into the left life-raft, and we had to replace the raft and found the bullet in the survival gear in the package! One of the bullets went through the floor and into my tool-box which was secured to the 245 bulkhead. My crew-chief Willard kept all of the recovered bullets and wouldn\'t give Lafferty or me any of them!!! I\'m still pissed about that! We plugged the hole in the fuel tank with some little wooden dowell looking things and some tank sealant we we accidentally took from Fuel Cell! I was \"third wiper on the crew, and three of us went on the CRB Input, and it was my first time in-country and I was gung-ho as hell! The time I was flying that day was my time off! Needless to say, Willard made me work the next day! Didn\'t see the fart-sack for several days, but the experience was worth it!!! I think that was before Herky Hill was built, and we stayed in transit barracks on the main base! After that, all of my next inputs from Naha, and CCK I stayed on Herky Hill! About the awards and decorations, I found out later that we could have put in for medals or whatever when I flew Blind Bat! I got an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster for that!!! I would suppose that it is too late to see if I am qualified for any awards, but it was nice to hear that I could have been! The only thing I regret about my Air Force tour, is that I didn\'t make a career of it!!! Ken

I am amazed at how much you guys can come up with in regards to C-130 missions! Is there a way to find out specific dates of missions in Viet Nam? For example, on Jan. 1st. 1968, I was flying on my acft. 56-475, and we were shot up at Katum! I was flying as assistant crew-chief, just for the hell of it--for excitement!!! We usually didn\'t go in-country from Cam Rahn Bay with our acft. Any way, we made it out after plugging bullet holes in the wings(with fuel running down our armpits) etc. and after transferring fuel with the GTC blowing in the spilled fuel! I am curious if that mission was ever recorded and if so, could the paper-work be recovered. I am pretty sure the flight-crew got medals for that mission, but us crew-chiefs didn\'t know anything about how to go about getting any recognition! (As in awards and decorations)!!! It\'s no big deal, but I am just curious! The other crew-chief with me was Sgt. Lafferty. The main crew-chief was Sgt. Willard. We were in the 35th TAS at Naha, and I was there from 1967 to to 1969!!! We had thirteen bullet holes altogether! Thanks for any info you may have, Ken

Damn, I don\'t remember taking one of Msgt. Haskell out Flight Chief! But there he is!! Ken:) :)

When I left Naha, I was the recipient of one of the 1st. Consecutive Overseas Tours, and I ended up at CCK a few hours later! Within two or three days, I was back at CRB on an input with an E-Model! I learned the differences between the A and E models in the next 15 days!!! I didn\'t know any of the guys from CCK yet, so I bunked with my old friends from Naha on Herky Hill! I ran into my 1st.Sgt from Naha there, and he tried collecting my houseboy dues from me! He didn\'t even know I had checked out from Naha!!! Anyway, I had another 15 months of CRB Inputs to enjoy!!! So much for the \"Dream-Sheet\" I filled out while at Naha. I have quite a few slides I can copy and submit taken at Naha if anybody wants to help identify some of the guys!!! Ken