Spectre623

1962 basic, then Jet over two engines (B-47) at Amarillo then straight to the C-130 school house at Sewart AFB TN. After 30 years on the old gal and almost 3 years building H models at Lockheed I still get a thrill when I see one fly by or when I pat Ghost Rider on the nose at the Marietta Museum. Also she put a lot of beans on my table. Bill

I sure remember Luther from CRB. When he screwed up the movie everybody would holler "ATTA BOY LUTHER" till he got it fixed. Loved sitting on the out door bleachers like at a ball game. Also remember the M-113 APC's would pull up and park like they were at a drive in movie. Crazy days fer sure...sorta miss them. Bill

Great to see this sort of thing happen. A very good friend I worked with when he was a C-130 crew chief at Dobbins ARB, Ga. was finally awarded his Silver Star about 30 years late also. He was a crew chief on "Dust-Off" Hueys in VN. His whole crew was awarded the Silver Star but he had left the Army before it was awarded. He was sent a letter some time later which he did not open. Years later he found it and opened it to find out his AC had asked him did he get his Silver Star. We went to see the 22nd AF Commander at Dobbins who followed up to see if it was real...it was, and I had the honor of putting together the ceremony and the Maj.Gen. pinned the Silver Star on my friend . A nearby Army Guard Dust-off unit flew a Huey to the hanger. After the ceremony which included his AC and medic, all got into the Huey and flew off. Quite a sight to see. So what did he do to be awarded the SS? His crew landed in a hot LZ where he and the medic left the Huey ( Which is normally NOT permitted) and in knee deep mud and under fire carried several wounded GI's to the aircraft and then to the hospital. All this was done with no guns on the Dust Off chopper. Lots of heroes in VN that didn't get the medals they deserved. Bill

Gee Bob, they must not have any C-130's in the bone yard to choose from to put on display. Bill

It is a HAPPY GIANT MAN standing in front of a weird C-130 or, it is a C-130 that was picked before it got ripe. Bill

GTC oil tank goes from inside cargo cmpt. to inside WW pod on APU. Bill

Ha Ha great ones Sonny...that's us. Bill

Nice pic Billy...you dress like that at FedX ? Congrats on keeping a job at the same company for so long. Ha Ha Bill

Thanks Mike for the timely info. I went thru the paper drill with the gubberment but thankfully I had copies of my travel vouchers for all the TDY's from Clark AB to Vietnam. They grudgingly said I was boots on the ground, am sure it ruined the paper pushers day when he had to do it. Ha Ha Bill

Neat pics NASCARPOP but who is the kid with the battle damage to his face and how did it happen? Bill

Abode SH, the off load valve is only to keep the SPR manifold dry like NATOPS 1 said. It does NOT reduce refueling truck pressure. If you are pumping at 200 PSI look for big trouble. Pump at 60 PSI max at 600GPM. Bill

Wow ! Bet it will take max power to taxi to the terminal after that landing. Guess he forgot to put on his skis. Sad. Bill

Herky400M, so the copilot has all the same functions (except nose wheel steering) that the pilot has for normal and emergency flying and landing. This IS a combat aircraft and there is the chance the pilot could be injured to the point that the copilot would need to operate and land the aircraft...ie, needs to stop. Bill

Naw...guys you know the Navy has the best PR guys of all the services and they wanted to see which way looked best...with fender skirts or without! ha ha. Bill

Oh the concern... the intrigue...the horror of it all... are those bombs under the wings....oh wait it's just a cute little Herk. Never mind. Bill

Might as well say goodby to old 1686. The gubberment has spoken. Sad. Bill

Dang nice vid Casey...almost makes me want to enlist and be a plane fixer....naw just kidding. Bill

Well said Fritz. What is the latest on this bird...anyone? Bill

What a movie. True story and the script stuck very close to the real story. Been doing some research on line about this brave man. If the Hollyweirds don't blackball him, Mel Gibson will get an Emmy for this one. SEE THE MOVIE, you will be glad you did. Don't wait to see it on TV, it needs to be seen in a theater for full effect! Bill

I heard about the hail and oil coolers on an A model flight years ago as a 1 striper...about 1964. Could have been the same flight. Bill

Happy Birthday Casey. Have a great one ! Bill

JimH, thanks for the great pics. That was a brave thing my friend did, to crank and taxi that bird to save it while all hell was breaking loose. Bill

Don from what I can pick out on the net the Blackbirds were forward deployed to Na Trang from CCK and then to CRB. I couldn't figure out how to break the code to see if they went PCS to VN or were TDY. Maybe Bob Daley would know. Bill

Jcapsarkchaser I remember when you guys from Naha landed with your A models and the E's left. Didn't make any sense to me as the only thing in common was the old single disk brakes and the ice tires. Oh I guess the fuel,oil and hyd. fluid was the same, ha ha. Much more commonality between the B's and E's. You do remember the ice tires right? With all the wires in the rubber to tear your hands to shreds. But being a spark chaser you may not have changed any tires...lucky you. Those were the days. Attached is a pic of me enjoying CRB... yea right. Bill

Hello Billy Lang. The only C-130's stationed PCS in VN were the Rescue C-130's. I worked at Hill AFB in the 70's with a CC type who was stationed in Tuy Hoa 39th ARRS and received the Bronze or Silver Star for cranking and taxiing a 130 from between 2 other 130's that were burning from a sappers attack. He didn't have time to pull the intake plugs and so 4 eng. changes but saved the airframe. They had 11 HC-130's at Tuy Hoa. This outfit moved to CRB in 1970.These are the only 130 guys I have ever heard were PCS in VN. The birds that were lost in that attack were 62-1861, 66-0214 and 66-0218 in July 1968. Hope this helps. Also the reason we 130 trash haulers weren't PCS in VN is that Pres. Johnson didn't want us to be included in the troop count in VN as he was catching heat from congress for so many troops in VN. As a Crew Chief at Clark our routine was 16 day rote to CRB, burn up allocated flying time plus 10% over, return to Clark for 21 days for Phase Insp. of my bird then back to CRB then repeat, repeat, repeat. We also had specialist and APG maint. troops who went to CRB on 55 day rotes. Bill