Gary Davidson

I keep telling him to keep on fighting. When he gets done with his "military memories" next week I'll see where he sits with his VA claims. He's going through the Boneyatd at DM right now. They may make their way to Wright Pat before this trip is over. I say they because he is with a guy that we have known since I was about 2 and I'm 43 now so at least they are having reliving times of the past. Thanks Giz for offering on the advice. I'll let him know.

Congratulations Giz.... maybe this will encourage my dad to keep trying to fight these people. Right now he isn't to "bright eyed" on the outcome. So maybe this will give some glimmer of hope.

Any C-130 Dyess maintenance personnel able to help give just a short tour of a J-Model sometime this evening April 15th 2013?? My dad and a friend of his both retired from Dyess one in '76 and my dad in '87 both was on the H models at Dyess in 463rd which I understand is the 317th now. They are on their way to Az to go thru the boneyard and do some retiree rememberances and stopping at Dyess for an overnight stay . I know its short notice and all but they would greatly appreciate it. Ron told my dad it would be his last ever TDY . Thank you in adavance for any information ..... Gary

I thought it was a good thing .... so I'm for keeping it

Um just talked to my dad.... he said FB was Forbes AFB Dyess had 63 model 130s.... e said Little Rock had some 64 models if this helps happy hunting

Ok help the CRS memory. Whats a forms 5? Have a good one yall.

Keep trying Sparks..... I got my dad to finally fill out his SF180 they sent every bit of his records from when he entered till the time he retired. They said he needed orders or travel vouchers to send in the corresponding number off his records and they would send more of the travel vouchers orders or any corresponding records. So we will see what happens in the next few weeks.

Type in AngelFlight on youtube and they show the 130s in actual flight if you watch the one with Darius Rucker on it.. They tell the story of Angel Flight and what it means to them (Darius Rucker Radney Foster and Darden Smith) either one the video is really touching.

Thanks for some clarification Bill. After reading what you had said I asked my dad how long was he at Tachi.. he came back and said well it depends when he was first there he stayed one day then went to CRB then flew to guam then back to Tachi for one day then went back to CRB then went here and there. Thanks again for your clarification. Gary

Ok here we go. Can somone explain to me not in great detail but just give me a clue as to how the Agent Orange was loaded onto the acft. like was it in bags, barrels. My dad doesnt talk to much about it and I think all I'm doing is spinning my wheels on the net just trying to get some kind of clue to help him. Our deal is he had orders to Tachi and then rotated to Cam Rahn Bay. Im also trying to understand how he said sometimes he would go to all these different places as a crew cheif when someone needed a CC ugh im confused. Giz I just got him the ppwrk for that sf180 and he mailed it off today so we will see what happens if he can get his travel vouchers. But if someone could just give me some more advice I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks guys for all your service. Oh yeah his time at Cam Rahn was late May to early Sept 1968. Just in case they changed how things were being done through the yrs in VN.

Hi everyone... I'm doing this on behalf of my father Joe Davidson. Trying to find the blanket orders with his name on them for VA benifits. He has prostate cancer and they will not give him the credit for being at CRB because he has no food vouchers or the orders that came with them. He has had 2 people that went with him to CRB to send in certified letters saying he was there at the same time with them even had his former supervisor send in a letter to no avail. The 2 people that was with him were Chuck Miller and his brother Al Miller they was on the 2nd sheet of the orders but my father was on the first sheet. If anyone knows of anybody who was in the Crew Cheif part of the squadron that may still have the full set of orders or just the first page please ask them it would surely be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the service you have done and still for us. He also has a campaign ribbon for when he was there for the Tet Offensive Gary Davidson

To get back to the topic. Nice job on the report Chris thumbs up

Wow Dutch never thought of it that way. I was born in Sept of 68 so I was really to young to even know what all the to do about the protests and things against the military was about. My dad was TDY to Vietnam and got back 2 days before I was born, so as far as my experience with dad being gone it didnt play a factor. He wont talk about it all I know is he was just a 21 yr old kid.. I guess all you guys was kids. Brings a tear to my eye thinking how everyone was drafted to do it, and the ones that serve today volunteer not that one is better over the other. To me theres a difference between the 2 generations you guys didnt look for apreciation but sometimes i think the kids now want the recognition instead of being humble and thankful to serve the country. Maybe Im off on a rabbits trail somewhere I dunno. Just my .02. But to you who served WELCOME HOME Guys and thanks for doing what you was called to do.

I do hope that some of you who was there can mark up what you remember about CRB.. I showed it to my dad earlier today and he couldnt remember nothing just that the barracks was north of the runway. He said he didnt remember any trees being between the flight line and the barracks he was in just lots of sand and it was within walking distance. He said this morning it sucks getting old when you cant remember like when you was younger.

Boy I remember when my dad was stationed at Eglin in 81 to 83 they had the little rinky dink museum right there by the back gate going to Niceville.... went back about 2 yrs ago for a bowling tournament in Ft Walton bout fell over when I seen what they had built and all the Acft they had aquired. Nice job Eglin and surrounding area. Just about one of the best ones I had seen. Been to the one at Davis Monthan in Az they had a nice one wish there outside dispalys was as nice as the inside displays if you get a chance to see it you have to pay the extra to tour the boneyard. Another nice one was at Hill AFB Ut ... best part of it I was with my dad made it cool going to miss him when that day comes.

My dad was stationed at Dyess in the 347th TAS in 1968. He never had the actual orders to Vietnam because it was a blanket order that the squadron was to be deployed to Tachikawa Japan with a 90 day rotation to CRB Vietnam. He was a crew chief on C130s. Well with the VA trying to get as much information on whether he was there or not (he kept none of the travel vouchers sad to say) they asked him if he could get 3 letters of people who knew he was there in Vietnam that it would help his chances on the Agent Orange case. In 2009 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer had the chemo treatment and has since beaten it. Well he has his 3 letters and will be heading to Oklahoma City for about 3 or 4 more couselings with Drs and VA representatives to see if he does qualify for the Agent Orange case on disability. Good luck to all of you trying to get this and thank you for your service you deserve everything entiteled to you.

Thank you so much for all the advice . Ihave used it all and am still in the process of trying to learn more about the side of aligning myself on the runwa and also maintaing the altitude with out alot of jarring on the A/C controls. In about 2 months I will be setting it up to start using fuel so I will be watchful of that so I can set a flight plan from Dyess to somewhere in Maine to Mildenhall England and hopefully land in both places on the correct runways. I know this sim isnt the real deal but for someone who has never flown but has been around the C-130 it really puts what I would think would be some realism into the life of those who have crewed these airplanes.

Well landed at Tinker and didnt have the control tower tell me I wasnt cleared to land on that runway (which has happened to me before) so something must have clicked . I do have several questions though... when you guys fly these things whats a good cruise alt and cruise speed I havent set it up on any payload amount and also have it set for non useable fuel so I can fly anywhwere with out stopping lol What I did tonight was set my throttles just aboveflight idle condition levers on run. Next thing is when using the auto pilot do you use the heading set knob i guess the heading bug to turn the A/C or do you use the bank knob on the auto pilot? Do you guys turn your auto pilot on before taxiing or turn it in flight? Not sure if this is right but on my auto pilot it has a power button a engage button a height button a track button and a glide button I do know that if I turn it on and engage it I set my height button and track button I cant do anything with the glide button if a real 130 has anything like that what does that glide button do? .. is for making landings simpler cos man the tower tells me to descend and turn turn to this heaDING im like stressin just to keep the thing level lol. Also Radar Altitude what does it do besides mess with me on the controlability of the A/C did it unstabalize the control of a real 130 if so how do you fix it lol. Anyone know of a TCAS radar system or is just part of the game Ok my NAV1 makes beeping noises I have a tower like radio it has 5 stages 1 is NAV1 it was set on 113.70another is NAV2 set on 110.65... 2 VHFs one is 132.500 the other is 130.800 128.250 127.900 then I have an ADF that has a loop turn knob a sharp and broad toggle switch a BFO and off toggle switch the a selector switch that has off ADF and loop my ADF numbers are 0284.0 with 3 rotating knobs under that really confussing but if someone could try and put it in plain english it might make a little more sense to me . On my flaps with 0 load should it be ok to to land that way or what % would you recomened. what do you look at upon final approach all instruments only or at the runway itsself theings happen so fast for me it makes my plane look like its going in and out of a valley . When the tower says expect vectors ILS runway 35 approach is he speaking english whats he telling me? One last thing about my auto pilot it has a selector knob one for GPS I know that one VOR/ ILS1 VOR / ILS2 and HDG what did or do you guys put it on or does it make a difference? I know its a long post but man im confussed on alot of things and try to come to where I know someone could help me I would have loved to be a pilot but some can and some can not I was one of the can nots

NATOPSI Im using Microsoft Flight Simulator X (10) Gold Edition and have C-130 Hercules as an add on by Just Flight can chk it out at www.captainsim.com. Its really cool it gives you several 130's some from CCK one from Little Rock even has Fat Albert of the Blue Angels with it being an English deal has a few from The Royal Air Force. An AC 130 gunship that you can fire guns shoot flares even JATO with Fat Albert. But since I cant land yet lol I better try and stick with just the basic stuff and try your ideas thanks for the help and even more advice will be greatly appreciated. Every time I see a 130 flying I tell myself they make it look easier then what it is my hats off to all who have ever crewed these planes Ive had more Fin stalls then I know what to do on final approach that made me crash guess I need more time itll come when things start clicking for my "pea brain" :)

Like I said Im more confussed whats the the 2 dials on the Horizontal Situation Indicators one says course set the othe is heading set .. whats the difference in the 2? Also Automatic direction finder controls what did you mainly set those on ugh so many knobs can get me in trouble thanks again for any help

Ok I have a C130 simulator game. It starts with a cold bird you have to put the lights on start the GTC flip all kinds of battery switches etc etc. My knowledge of the 130 is Ive grown up in the Air Force and been around them all my life and thought this game would be fun . Little to my knowledge its been more of a challenge and still been fun. I have questions about the instruments like how does the directional indicator work to find out where in the world is the A/C going how or what do the pilots set the auto pilot on? The auto pilot I have has a few selections depending on what you want. My radio has several different options as well I know im vague on this discussion but if I wasnt so confused Id know more about what to ask lol. Ive taken off about 300 times and only landed on the runway 4 times cross landed the runway twice hard landed all the times lol and crashed all the rest. Any advice besides dont fly em at all would be really greatful. How long did it usually take to go from a cold 130 to being on the runway ready for takeoff anyways? Fastest Ive ever done it has been an hour and a half im worn out even before I start Once again thanks for any advice