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Runner

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Everything posted by Runner

  1. wow...does that video bring back fond memories. I remember when Brian sang that at a dining-in at Clark AB (ca. 1976) when he was Captain and assigned to the 21TAS
  2. The official cause of the 374TAW bird out of Andersen was "oculographic illusion". From what I understand, a very dark (as in no moon) night take-off, the aircraft over rotated on T/O, no ground visual references, the pilot sensing the pitch was to great and over compensated by pushing the nose down (hence the oculographic phenomenon), failed to maintain positive rate of climb, and then grantitis impactus off the end of the runway.
  3. Runner

    SEA

    FYI...the C-130E that was blownup (mortars) during Operation Frequent Wind while on the ground at TSN was not a 776TAS bird but one from the 314TAW/50TAS flown in from Little Rock. When it landed at Clark AB from the Rock, a 776TAS crew flew it into TSN. The AC was Capt Larry Wessels, whom I flew with at Clark and CCK. None of the LR crews ever flew into TSN, and I firmly believe the Herk was blown up due to misidentification by the NVM. You see, the 314TAW birds had the new MAC fin flash, yellow stripes bordering the black MAC, which is very similar to the ARVN flag. The mortar rounds tracked the C-130E while it was taxing into the ramp, so I think the NVM mistook it for an ARVN C-130. An interesting note: The C-130 loss report had the gross weight of the bird at >200K lbs...seems everything missing from the 374TAW was onboard the bird at that time...all written off due to combat loss.
  4. Over the years while Norty was flying in the 21TAS, I had the opportunity to fly with him on several occassions. On RONs, while most of the crew went out on "extra curricula activities", Norty was studying his Dash-1. Even back then, we recognized his leadership qualities and always remarked someday we would be working for him. Now, many years later, we're retired and he's still going. I teach leadership classes to students pursuing their graduate degree in educational leadership, and one leaderhsip philosophy I have my students read is Norty's epic speech on "The Chemistry of Leadership": http://www.aptusc.org/includes/getpdf.php?f=Lt_Gen_Schwartz_Speech_2003.pdf. No wonder that Sec Gates selected him to lead the AF.
  5. actually, if I recall, Norty was first assigned to the 776TAS (circa 1975) until it was deactivated and most of us "Red Lions" went over to the 21TAS (Beeliners). I recall flying with Norty into Saigon (Operation Frequent Wind) when he just pinned on 1LT.
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