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Slyoldawg

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Everything posted by Slyoldawg

  1. I was in SAC during the Lemay years and he did not care for enlisted Airmen being flight engineers. He wanted all flight crew to be in the officer ranks. Most officers I spoke to during the year I was assigned to B-36s did not like being a Flight Engineer because as a Scanner they had to crawl all over, in and around the aircraft. It was too dirty for them. Eventually even SAC went to all enlisted Flight Engineers. I was a mechanic on B-36s, then went to FE school.. My first assignment was the C-124. Eventually I flew as FE on C-130, C-141, C-5, B-727 and the B-747 with UPS after retiring from the Air Force in 1981
  2. I joined the Air Force in August 1955. Started Tech School at Sheppard in March 1956. Went to school on the B-36 that was on the Sheppard flight line. First assignment after Tech School was to a B-36 Bomb Wing that was TDY to Ramey AFB Puerto Rico. Rode in the jump seat on several long missions on the B-36. The AFSC at that time was 43151B for multi engine recip. We had to go to jet engine classes along with recip engine classes. I tried to become a Flight Engineer on the B-36, but ended up as an FE on the C-124 instead
  3. I did my time as a Flight Engineer on C-124 - C-130 - C-141 and C-5s before retiring from the Air Force with 26 years, I then went to work as a pilot for Flight International, Continental and UPS Airlines for another 26 years. My entire civilian career was spent as an IP on the B-727 and the B-747. I state this experiance because I know many would disagree with me when I say that the "Rudder Fin Stall" was a design deficiency in the C-130 that could not be corrected. Lockheed was still working on the problem when the Test Bird crashed in the Hospital Parking lot at Dobbins AFB around 1991 or 92. They were testing modifications to the rudder on that flight, that day. When I went through C-130 training at Little Rock in 1974 we were not supposed to do two engine out approaches, yet the IP on one local training flight did just that and we nearly lost that aircraft before recovering. Two engines out on the same side and the student pilot could not hold the rudder. The G force of the sudden turn pinned me to the FE seat. I never flew with that IP again and soon went back to C-141's. We were not supposed to do no-flap takeoffs at that time either, but the IP's did that also at the base I was stationed at the time. I came to the conclusion that the C-130 was a great plane, but the pilots I flew with on it were hot doggers and were frustrated fighter pilot wannabes
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