gizzard

the second one is the right one for the time period, Casey.........I think the round one is what the 36th today, which I thi k flies out of Yakota, wears.................. Giz

Never thought about that, but yep you're right........

Sir, I will have you know I was a truckie, meaning I never had good sense, the dainty little fellers had to have a hose line with them, we opened the doors and searched the buildings and all that, with only an axe or halligan bar, an obvioius transition from a loady wouldn't you think????????????????? Giz

Yeah, and the next thing you know there won't be any navigators or flight engineers!!!!!!!!! giz

Yeah, that would be the case, I just couldn't remember for sure.......this is great work, Casey.. I definitely appreciate it... Giz

what an extraordinary narrative, I think anyone reading it, who is anywhere familiar with the aircraft can appreciate what you encountered.. and I noted, too, the ages of the kids who lost their fathers......means most of this crew was relatively young, also.... guess the typical crew of the times......let's not forget these folks and all the others like them.....only by the grace of God was it that any of us could have encountered the same fate.... as much fun and all we had, it was definitely a serious business we were in.. This helps remind me how lucky I am to still be around..... Giz

Hope tinwhistle ain't readin' this, he'll want our address book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A shrewd loady would always be courteous to his senior nco and put the nose gear pin in for him, also a secreted grease pencil could be used to " adjust" the parking position, so to speak.....Had a co-pilot on a turkey trot once that bought for four consequtive days........oh, and sometime you could get the crew to use the grease cap, with could rotate......Load adjuster, adjuster load, seems related....... Anybody doubt I had a ball back in my day????? Miss'em greatly Giz

Casey, some how the photo of the plane has disappeared from this thread, but loking at your artwork, it looks great, except, and I could be wrong, the wing patch was more forward.........I seem to remember them at the crew entrance door, but I could be mistaken, I just can't find any picture to verify it.... Giz

Heard that a guy I was in tech school with had an issue loadin' pax and all their crap, and ol Papa-san wanted his buff on board, no way that was possible with everything else, so the guy pulls his 38 and makes the buff into baggage......real shit pile came out of that apparently, cause the old man was the village chief.....I seem to remember that there was a threat of article 15 and all that, but I believe it got resolved by a few MPC.....Never got to talk the the guy to see if this actually happened, but knowin' the guy, it is real possible

Dunno, I always had good luck with sheep, though!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yepper, Don, that's it.............. can't advise about the colors either. but do any of you remember the heraldsry description of the old TAC patch, which I guess is the same as the AMC or whatever???? Blue is for the oceans we never cross Red is for the blood we never shed The sword is for the weapons we never use The yellow wings are the reaons for all of the above. Dunno who wrote that, or who told itto me for that matter, but us trash-haulers know the fallacy, but apreciate the humor Anyway, casey, ol' cripple 8 looks good so far, just a whole lot cleaner lookin', fabulous work load clear Giz

Nope, the 316th at that time was a tact airlift wing, and it's patch had a blue field, with nine white deployed parachutes ( eight and a streamer if you had one of Col Brevig's) the rest was similar to the one you have here. If you like I can try to scan mine and send it to you.....................This patch you show is for the 316 wing at andrews, Also, the old gal had a plain red stripe on her vertical stabilizer, not th e black one...... no border or anything, just ared stripe, the 36th's squadron color...... This old bird has quite a history for me, she once gave me and my crew a real fun ride for a while on a ferry trip to CCK. we ended up takin'her home and gettin' another aircraft..... Giz

l cripple 8 did not have ACM patch, it was TAC, and their was no Military Airlift Command on the wheel well, either, unless the artwork depicts her after she left Langley................ Giz

that looks like rhien Main and ol' cripple 8 waddlin' by a KC-97,,,,,,,,,,,any date on that???? Heck, I could be on it Giz

Nope, that is the 316th TAW, on a 36thTAS bird.. I have a lot of hours in that particular old crate Giz

some of that may be okay, and probably the worry of system failure is somewhat over-emphasized, but I off the foloowing.. related I guess... I talked to a land surveyor a while back, talkin' about the differences between the old transit and chain operations to the single station of today.. he told me many survey students now a days are never trained in the old methods, what happens if the satellites, etc crash for whateve reason..... then another story.. several years ago, in , a huge waste of money, Maryland installed some experimental GPS type crap on some of my department's ambulances, and we could track them on the web.. imagine my surprise to see one of them doing 223 miles an hour,nearly 15 miles away, all the while sitting on the apparatus floor............. And some of you old loadies can remember that POS weight and balance computer behind the left wheel well, that never worked, but we had to pre-flight it anyway............. Giz

hey thanks, guys I don't feel so feakin' old now!!!!!!!!!!!! well, almost giz

well, a slipstick, a pencil, and a checklist in hand do not need batteries. but then I'm way old school!!!!!!!!

Sure con't give a nice image, does it??????? LMAO!!! Giz

To do what, cut 550 cord, 80# tape, and ticket #5 cord, or help some damsel in distress????????????

So did I, George. It was real handy for airdrop riggin, and once for freein' a fouled paratrooper......Then, I used it to jump the poles on the solenoid on a sweet young thing's Mustang, at Hickam one warm tropical night..... The arc knocked the hell out of the blade, that was the end of that story.....Oh hell, she probably looks like a tater sack full of door knobs now, but back then........................ Giz

Today my wife and I were clearin' some stuff out of our attic, yeah really, and came across a bunch of stuff from my AF days..... a couple of travel orders, a passenger manifest between Ban Me Thouh and Saigon, with four Vietnamese troops on it ( I guess they were on our side), set of the texts from loady school in 70, a complete set of airdrop checklists, in the blue plastic spiral book, a copy of the order that had us stop using parachutes on airdrops and usin' the harnesses instead, that was 1973......My God, I can't believe I used to know all that stuff....................What a trip back in time an old cardboard box provided load clear giz

Yeah, if ya have a hammer to drive it through........now the shroud line cutter is wicked sharp!!!!!!!!!!! Giz

I have a card, slightly smaller than a credit card, made of paper, of course, stating I had completed phyisiological training, and therefore was authrorized to care the MC-1 switchblade knife as part of my flight gear.. you know the orange one with the spring loaded knife blade, but the shroud line cutter had to be dug out with an ungloved hand...... HMMMMMMMMMM!!!! I MAY even still have the knife somewhere. I think I have an 8x10 or whatever blue certificate as well, and it is noted in my Form 8 file that I have, noting my re-cert at Langley Giz