jconner2

An awful lot of guys had them custom made as has been said. In the Philippines, there were usually shops right next to the bases that specialized in making them. I'm sure Naha was the same. Saigon was also loaded with shops where you could get lighters engraved, parachute material suit bags, jackets, flags, hats etc. with the squadron logos and any number of sayings on them. Too bad you can't find a picture of him wearing the hat. I still have my 772nd orange hat. The squadron patches were often modified as well. Ours was the Hallmark Squadron, if you care enough send the best. Some of us had patches made that said If you care enough send someone else, I've already been. I know your Dad will appreciate the effort.

In 1965 at my Shepard Loadmaster class was a Navy guy. We drove to California together after we finished and he was going to be stationed at Moffett NAS flying Hercs. I was jealous because I lived about 10 miles from there and I was heading back to Dyess after leave.

Love the photos and the work you guys are doing. Wish they could all be saved but glad at least a few are. John

She was a staple in the training program at Dyess 65-66 for 346th & 347th crews. Lots of low level routes, touch and goes, air drops and other training missions. Does anyone remember if 7's went to Evereaux or Mildenhall on Cross-switch rotation in 66? I certainly logged some hours on her at Dyess.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcchord_air_museum/sets/72157649055714123/ Great shot of the nav station in the photos of the restoration done at McChord.

That's what we called the rotations at Dyess and seems it has a history. It is what was on my TDY orders when we went. For a second I thought I had CRS about that. See below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_Airlift_Squadron Beginning deployments In 1964, the 40th began Operation CROSS SWITCH Rotations to Europe. During these rotations, the entire Squadron deployed for two to four months each year from Ohio to Europe to augment the theater airlift forces. At first, the rotational base was located at Évreux-Fauville, France, but after the French left NATO in 1966, the rotation was split between RAF Mildenhall, England, and Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany. At the same time that the Squadron began its regular rotation to Europe, it also began a regular rotation of crews and planes to Panama. The rotation to Panama continued into the 1980s when the Air National Guard assumed responsibility for it. In October 1965, a C-130 Replacement Training Unit was established at Lockbourne. The 40th devoted a portion of its training to the unit.

I came to Dyess in December of 65. 1966 was basically an air crew training year. Big buildup for SEA support. The two squadrons (C-130) were the 346th and the 347th. We flew lots of training missions; which included both logistics (trips) and air drop (trying to support the landowner next to the Tye Truck stop by hitting his expensive used cars). Lots of low level navigation training runs around the area as well. In the summer to fall of 66 we started operation cross-switch rotations to first Evereaux France and then when Charlie kicked NATO out, we moved over to Mildenhall. There we flew all sorts of missions in support of USAFE and that included Berlin support and the infamous Turkey Trots. There were lots of specialized missions out of Dyess; which included support for the Domincan Republic conflict, trips to Fort Campbell to drop airborne trainees, test drops at the Yuma and Pope airdrop training grounds and I even got to go to Africa in support of Gemini IX under temporary assignment to NASA. In 67 many crew member got overseas assignments to Mactan, Okinawa and CCK flying in support of SEA operations. At Dyess the Cross-switch rotations continued and there was that Detroit thing which involved flying troops from Ft. Campbell to Detroit and I'm sure more of the same training stuff. After I got back to Dyess, I went on a Cross switch rotation to Mildenhall in early 68 and then rotated back to Dyess to be re-deployed to Clark for a 90 day rotation with the 346th. I remember being sprayed for Mad Cow Disease at Dyess, having our booze confiscated (Bermuda duty free), one night to unpack and re-pack and off to the Phillipines (again). Came back from that, made a couple flights here and there and then got an early out in 69. I'm sure others have lots of similar experiences along these lines.

Bob, Do you have a count of how many B's and, or E's are still flying? When we had our Loadmaster reunion at Dyess in 2005, the E's were mostly grounded for wing box cracks or limited load capability. Like Jim, I was really sad to see so many birds go to the bone yard. John

http://www.amazon.com/Lars-Olausson/e/B00JQR26ZA/ Seems to be one available http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/olausson-lars/ Updates

If you use Google Earth, you can e-mail a jpeg image to yourself. Also for everyone, Google Earth Pro is now free of charge and offers lots of extra features that are fun and helpful. http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-free.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/sets/72157632972169348/ Images of Ban Me Thuot. One C-130 overhead, the rest show Caribous and C-123's.

I'll PM you but why not post it on Youtube with a link?

http://www.c-130hercules.net/archive/index.php/t-3232.html Several of the old guys had copies. Here is a thread in the old archives.

Went to the Dominican Republic in early 66 and managed to score a big stalk of Bananas; which I put in the door (I didn't want to have to share them) and stored the truck ramps in the cargo area. Landed in some civilian airfield coming back to the states and customs and agriculture came out to inspect the plane. Apparently I was not supposed to import bananas on a C-130 into the states. They took the bananas and sprayed the entire cargo compartment with bug spray. Threatened to tear the blanketing off the walls to look for other contraband. A/C calmed everyone down and no serious result. I caught some crew grief. They liked to sing "Day-Oh, Day-Oh, Daylight come and the bananas don't go home". I was also referred to as "Airman Banana" for quite awhile. The Nav would call over the headsets "Airman Banana bring me a cup of coffee please" and they would all burst into the song.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/vietnam/airfields.htm Lists most of the operational airfields and gives coordinates. Some of the jungle cuts were temporary for operations support. Come in over the trees, flaps to 50 , cut power and full reverse on impact. Shake your teeth loose.

Glad that was never on a test!

A day late, but hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and best wishes in the New Year. John

Great subject! I slept on top in Kano, Nigeria during Gemini 9. I don't like spiders and snakes. We were there for a week and It was too hot to close up the bird to sleep, and I wasn't going to do tents so I climbed up top. I also slept on top in Puerto Rica. We came in late and I loaded until about 3:00AM. The rest of the crew had left and I was too tired to head in to quarters for a couple hours sleep, so I climbed up top watched the stars for a while and went to sleep. Crew used to have to find me sometimes because I could always sleep during flights. I was the poster boy for "wheels up, eyes shut". I also lost my advance on slot machines in the Azores drinking green beer on St. Patricks day. We were support for the Thunderbirds and went to Nice, France and several other great stops for air shows. The crew stayed in nice hotels and I slept on the plane. The first time I was in-country and we went to Bin Hoa I got out and walked around the plane and a 150MM fired outbound. I dove under the plane thinking it was an incoming round. I sure didn't sleep though.

I never threw up on a C-130, even low levels during august in West Texas. I loved it when it got all bouncy. I did throw up on a glass bottom boat sailing around St. Thomas looking at coral and fish. Really impressed my wife and the other tourists. Figures.

Good website. Regular hot bed for trying bad methods that seemed to work. Lots of rapid off-loads where you would land, release the aft rail tension and then the A/C would give it power to use gravity to offload skid pallets. Sort of like touch and goes. LAPES was used but it took a lot of gear and rigging time so it was easier to just push the stuff out the back or use the rapid offload method to get in and out quickly. I remember they used the bulldozer to push the pallets off the runway to clear it for the next flight coming in. Real adrenalin rush doing the rapid offloads. Don't know if anyone ever hung a pallet because of slop in the rails, but I sure thought about what I would do if it happened ( bend over, put ........ and kiss it goodbye).

I have access to high resolution satellite imagery as part of my work. I sometimes deviate from finding oil wells to finding old airstrips and airbases looking to see if any Hercs are around. With Google, you can sometimes switch to street view and see some of the tails if they are parked near a road. Great tools and yes you can spend too much time hunting.

My first flight out of Dyess I wore a winter flight suit because they hadn't issued me a regular one yet. I looked like an idiot in 80 degree weather. I was told I could wait until they got some in and I said no way, I wasn't going to miss a chance to fly on the Herc. We did a training mission out over the Gulf of Mexico and back. Pretty exciting for a kid who had just turned 18 and I can still remember the flight. Found my spot by the rear door and claimed it for the next 4 years.

Thanks for posting, Good site and some great photos.

Wonder if mine worked because I go direct to the forums and then hit the home button to get to the pictures?

Tried several and worked OK. I'm using Firefox. Perhaps you have a browser issue?