Spectre623

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

He wants to get all his free stuff from uncle sugar before he breaks ties with US. Typical banana republic. Bill

 Good eye Bob, it is easy to tell it is an L-100 because it has no lower kick windows. The fact that it isn't even a -20 stretch model makes it more rare. Normally they would not have had paratroop doors. This one must have been a mod. Looks like it has air deflector doors and JATO brackets also. Bill

Wasn't that called the Aero Port Hotel. Spent many a night there as FE on C-141A's.  Bill

Sad, sad, sad....now it really is called NO HOPE POPE! Glad to have pulled my tour of duty at the pea patch. Not one of my favorite posts but glad I filled that square there. 1968-69, 777Th.  PB on the tail. Bill

Thanks Lars...and Godspeed. Bill

It sure is Bob. Just google earth and you can still see the outlines of our barracks foundations. That's good news as we will be able to build them back where they were, ha ha. Can't wait. Here are a couple of pics one of the CC's on this board sent me of Herky Hill Bks. Bill

Yes and they hung A model engines on the wings and the cowling don't match up correctly. Still, all in all a pretty good museum piece...and well worth saving. Bill 

I remember going on board this fantastic flying machine when I worked at Lockheed in 1984. It was still on the flight line then and mostly complete except for the rockets. The engineers overhead panel was an eye full as it had so many extra switches and stuff. It had dual flap indicators also as it had double articulated flaps. It had the hyd. valves on the inside left aft side of the wheel like the tankers but used the system to run the extra flap actuators. I worked with the old timer who did the flap rigging on these birds. He said they swore him to secrecy and he worked several months just on the flap system. There was a set of beams inside the cargo compartment that ran from front to back and a tail hook on the aft belly as I remember. It didn't have a bunk up front but an extra seat near the nav. seat with a computer keyboard and screen. Here are a couple of pix of the model Lockheed built that are in the Marietta Museum. Bill

Good link you posted Sam and a mighty fine story you wrote in this months AF Association mag (April 2016) about the Commando Vault mission. Bill

When do we get the swept wings? Bill