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Mt.crewchief, As far as I know none of the gunship guys spent time on the ground but if I recall correctly I heard some of the MC-130 Talons did, just hearsay, this was between my two trips and most folks involved had already rotated back home. Glad you liked the site, a lot of good historical information there. Regards, Jody

I was in Brindisi a couple of times and know the gunships and talons participated, here is a link with some good information and photos about the H model gunships. http://www.spectre-association.org/bosnia.htm

Done.....RIP Dan.

http://www.spectre-association.org/iraqifree.htm good one of 574 on the above page.

Love the site and have been following for the last year through all the changes without responding because I have forgotten so much. However this topic reminded me of a personal experience and spurred my earlier response. From what I have noticed on this site most responses are based on personal experiences and even though there are disagreements they are normally constructive. Therefore I figured that I would share this one even though it may not be completely on point. I was a very young mechanic on AC-130\'s on my first TDY and a crew came out to do a -1 just as we finished refueling. They were in a hurry so the crew split up the inspection duties. The old (at least what I thought at the time) IO (LM) asked me why I did not drain the SPR manifold. Of course I sat there with the deer in the headlights look. He let me know in no uncertain terms that I screwed up and that he was the one that would have to put out any fire that may occur and if he ever came out for a -1 and got wet from the poppet valve he would kick my a__. I got a bucket pretty quick. Needless to say I drained the manifold after the next refuel but much to my dismay there was a good bit of fuel that came out during the next -1. After the 2nd chewing out I learned to do it right before the crew showed so there was nothing but a drip when checked. Before the flight home the IO pulled me aside and asked if I drained the manifold. When I said yes he explained the reason that he was so hard on me was that he believed if you took care of all the \"little\" things that the big things would take care of themselves. He did not check the poppet valve then and never did again but it was a running joke for years between us. I learned two things from him on that trip: 1. If you are supposed to do it - do it. 2. If you don\'t do it - let those that it may affect know it. Those two lessons have served me well over the years. Unfortunately the person that taught me those lessons is no longer with us. His name is Roy Duncan and perished on Jockey 14. On the lighter side of things, it does not matter if you drain the manifold on UARRSI aircraft or not because the flight engineer will not like how you configured it and is going to transfer on taxi so he will drain it before takeoff:woohoo: (Had to get a litle poke at the eng.) Jody

It does sound senseless until you have to put out a fire in that area for whatever reason. What little fuel may be left over may make a big difference.