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I notice there is no mention of using a seat rod!!!!!!!!!!! Honest to God, guys, and some of you old Langley guys may remember this, sometime, I wanna guess early 73, we had a freezing rain in the Hampton Roads area, that made the place look like a glazed donut. Some moron had us called in, almost like a recall, and we were told that when we got there, we were to go out to the airplanes, get a seat rod, and start "tapping" the ice off the birds. I was living close to Pat Henry airport at the time, and by the time I got to the 36th,or maybe we had actually gottern out to the airplanes, I can't remember, the plan had been dropped. Can you imagine the damage to the aircraft skin??????? Giz

Thanks, DONWON, for standin' in for all of us on this board, at the service. Guess the Joe Public people has never seen a decent man show his respects in such a manner. You did us all proud. Maybe some day there will not have to be any more military funerals, but the actions over the past couple days just says "look out there may be more." May our brother airmen rest in peace, with the knowledge they had a whole lot more guts than the slimy bastard that killed them.......... Giz

And so many of us gave a portion of , and in some cases, ALL,of our lives to protect the rights of these slimeball sonabitches. AND the damn court says it is their right, which I guess, technically, it is. But is there no decency in this country anymore??? And to say this is a church, and they are doing this crap in God's name, well that just turns my stomach. This is even more wretched than the way so many of us Nam vets were treated. If there is a God, I hope he shows up as an AC-130 blows these pieces of crap to hell!!!!!!!!!! Sorry about the soap box rant, but thtis how I feel. My other comment is this.....these airmen were from Lakenheath goin' to Ramstein, I think it was. Why then,were they goin' through a civilian airport? Why weren't they flown directly from Lakenheath to Ramstein??? I know if can be done, because I have done it................Ijust don't undertsand iguess Giz

SECOND best job I ever had, just was not smart enough to keep the BEST one when ihad the chance. Giz

We had to have something to maintain and to fly. right guys???

Now THAT is an excellent idea, Tiny. Maybe we could all get together and make a road trip....we could help look for the stickkers!!! Giz

Well, I think you better know this, and I am sure others on this board will agree, once you have been a C-130 person, you can never not be one, sorta like bein ' a marine i guess, once and for always. Good luck to you, and thanks for all you did to help keep our old girl goin'. Giz

Yeah, that's what I remember, too. Now i know this is spreadin' off the original post, but my mind gets stimulated from time to time from this great site and bunch of people and i seem to recall this.......A control knob, I guess sorta like a rheostat, on the headset junction box by the crew entrance door, that would turn if the corresponding one in the cockpit was turned. When i was in CTF at Langley, in '70, the ground instructor we had, I can't for the life of me remember his name, but he put you in mind of Bud Kates, who was a TV weather or sports guy down there then. Anyway, he showed us this and said it could be used to amuse people, by sayin' it operated by telepathy or something. Maybe i am just senile or whatever. Maybe 26 years of runnin' inot places everybody else was runnin' OUT of is finally takin' a toll. Thanks for toleratin' me Giz

I can remember usin' another style of this thing, but we never carried them. used the ones that came out with the K-loaders, if they came at all. I'm talkin' about the forklift rigs, now. I think I MAY have seen a couple of the pyramid wooden ones, but for the most part, I think I used wheel chocks. Authorized or not, it got the job done when you had nothin' else. I think we did a lot of improv back in the day, and bet a lot goes on now. Like the time I had to use a boom-type wrecker to unload a 105...... The South Vietnamese wanted that gun REAL bad, so anything that worked.............. couldn't find THAT in the -9. Giz

Best it has looked yet, outstanding job , Casey. My thanks, also, for the stickers. Giz

What was the history of this bird???? Any siginificance to ti bein' at WP? or just happenstance? Giz

This is something I been meanin' to do for a while, but just never got around to it...........How many of you old guys out there remember my ex-brother-in-law, Tommy Warne? he was a crew chief from about 65 to 69. Went from langley to Naha from sometime early 68 to 69. Not exactly sure of the months. he got out around June or so of 69. I guess if there is anybody to blame for me becomin' a loadie, it would be him. Best thing he ever did for me,t hat's for sure load clear P.

Larry, as much as I hate to admit it, you may be right. There WAS a time, though, there was a time. let's just hope that the young ones doin' what we did then can make it to the age we are now, and have great memories of the trip............

One question.. why do all those troops look so damn YOUNG????????????????? Great video. Thanks, Koen load clear Giz

Hey. Mt. crewchief, I still have my old wallet like that, too. Glad ya reminded me. Matter of fact, I have it here on my desk right now. Boy did they stink when they got sweaty............. I think it was my FE who told a young crew chief it was madef rom an elephant's foreskin, and that if you stroked it several times, it turned into a leather B-4 bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!! Some good times back then, all things considered................

Trash hauler goes to flight surgeon, says,"I have trouble with my toe." The doc says,"what's the matter?' Trash hauler says,' It keeps gettin' dripped on." VD is nothin' to clap about. And then there is the army VD training movie ' Saving Ryan's Privates." Sorry, couldn't resist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Giz

Bil, I am kinda jumpin' in here over Bob, but jerry's address has Haines gerald A Civ USAF AFRC 445 MOF/MXOOS on it. Hope that helps ya Giz

Okay, guys, here's one for the 70's group. When i was in tech school at Sheppard, spring of 1970, there was one of the "ropes"(remember them?) who supposedly had been airborne, got out of the army, enlisted in the air force, and became a load master. I cannot remember his name, but I heard, many years ago, that he had went to 141's out of McGuire. There he supposedly was on a trip back home from europe,and somewhere along the way, he opened a container of some kind of toxic liquid, put his oxygen mask hose in it, and essentially asphyxiated himself. He was, I think, from the Gore, Va area, which is about 45 minutes or so from where I live now. I don't know if this is true or not, or even if I am remembering it right. Can anybody out there give me any clues??? With the wide range of experience andknowledgethe peopleon this site have, i am sure somebody can comeup with somethin.' thanks load clear Giz

I thought somewhere I had read that, Bob. Didn't want to tell them anything incorrect.. BTW, I am sure you will remember two fo these guys, both 37th loadies, Terry budge and Will Guidry. They hadded the 38th to the 316th around '71 or so , didn't they??? Giz

yep, got it, too. I have forwarded it to several members that I know. I plan on bein' there.. One point, haven't got to ask jerry yet what is the 463 connection?? Giz, 36 TAS 70-74

Yep, if ya had the choice, that did the trick, but there were times that you had to just hope for the best, and the old girl came through. Good judgement was the key,though.

We had those useless gray boxes on the E's we had at Langley. If I remember, there was a pre-flight check list section dealin' with it, even though they never worked. I can't remember if all the CCK birds had them or not. Good old 'load adjuster". slip stick, slide rule, or, perhaps how high the crew entrance door was above the ground ( rumor has it :-)) did the trick....... giz

Darn guys, sounds like I opened up a whole new can of memories. some of the stuff you guys mentioned, I had forgotten about. I could add llama rugs from peru, brass "pizza" plates from turkey. Greek urns, molded calcium statues from italy, I must have gotten my mother forty or fifty different sets of salt and pepper shakers for her collection. As an afterthought, does anyone out there remember the name of the place, in Madrid, where you could get a kilo steak, yeah 2.2 pounds, that they served on scalding hot metal plates and you cooked the meat as you sliced and ate it. They kept bringin' new plates. I wonder if it is still there. Keep the things comin' in. You young guys, I hope you have and are enjoyin' what you do as much as we old timers did, most of the time

Any of you old guys remember any of these things????? I would like to find a picture of one of those horrible Buffies, you know Big Ugly F***** Elephants. Anybody have one. How 'bout the other stuff. just another old memory came back, and thought it would be a good one to share with everyone. load clear giz