xzoomie32065

This may stir some memories. It did for me. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=13.432367%2C107.424316&msa=0&spn=12.457797%2C21.643066&mid=zQJPAeunyYc4.koiZlsflHgOg

The Bird in Hand is close, good inexpensive rooms, decent food and bar, andit has rental cars

Still have my Bird in Hand T-shirt.

10% hearing - 10 % tinnitus over 7500 hours flying

We were 18 hours into a 12 hour crew day in Dec 65. Landing at Tuy Hoa South, before the hard surface runway was built, we all fell asleep. It was the middle of the night and there were only 3 fires to mark the psp runway. We landed about 2500 feet short in a paddy, bounced over a railroad embankment and got stopped on the runway. We tore out the Korean's barbed wire fence which was wrapped around the gear. No damage to the plane.

I think he was at Mactan about when I was there. I just ordered it.

IHD and PC

How did you get your VSM with stars? Did you get them recently or were you awarded them years ago?

Remember before they fixed the "B" model fire warning system the fire warning lights would illuminate when the aircraft was climbing towards the sun?

Sam, Some of us left Langely in November 65. First to Clark and then to Mactan. Our crew was shuttteling between Tuy Hoa South and Phang Rang and Nha Trang Hauling in army artillery and some troops that night. There were only 3 bonfires marking one side of the dirt runway. Well past the end of our 12 hour crew duty day we hit way short of the runway and tore out the Korean marines perimiter wire. No damage to the aircraft but a lot of wire was wrapped around the gear and doors. Tuy Hoa South became Tuy Hoa.

Much better per diem in Germany. Desert = sand, cactus, snakes Germany = Beer, Broads and Bratwurst. Take Germany and see Europe!

One of the best rides the troops liked was the R&R flights to Bangkok. The one they disliked was the one back to RVN.

I'll bet the drone pilots "office" doesn't smell like a plane did after hauling kia's who had been in the field for several days.

Not only the beer was good but do any remember Thai Heaven? Must have been about 200 tourist guides there :-))

Seen This? http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=543119865721169&l=817f6711df

I can see these units competeing for an "Outstanding Unit Award" and some individuals possibly being awarded a "Commendation Medal" or "Legion of Merit" but it is BS of the highest order that this award outranks combat and significant hazardous flying awards.

I thought the hook end was for sharpening a pencil if you were departing a place that required a form "F".

Log on to this site and read the different headings. This site helped me understand the VA and how the system works. The guys on it are very knowledgeable and very helpful. http://vets.yuku.com/

The animal had a handler. We had the handler make the animal lie down on the cargo floor with the family jewels close to a tie down ring. Tied the jewels to the ring with 550 cord, put a net over the animal and strapped it down. The water buffalo would only try to get up once before we let it.

We carried chickens and ducks in bamboo and wire cages. We carried pigs in woven straw and reed baskets. The question is how did we tie down live male water buffalos?

Took quite a while but got mine straightened out and now it goes to the bank. Check this out for a time line. http://www.stripes.com/news/waiting-for-help-tracking-veterans-disability-claims

Did a couple of GPES at Eglin. The microphone was attached on the bottom of the hook which was attached to a rod that went off of the ramp. The mike made noise so the pilot could tell it was on the ground and would hopefully engage the cable. Only did this about 2-3 times. We started to do Lapes when they decided Lapes were easier and safer. A 123 outfit had a crash when the hook failed after the load started moving. The rod flipped back into the plane and jammed the load. this caused an extreme aft cg wwhich made it pitch up and stall. I think several guys in the back of the 123 were killed.

I was on some plads drops in RVN in 1966. These were at special forces camps. We never dropped more than two containers on one mission. The extraction chute was reefed and deployed about 1 minute out, if I remember correctly. The retaining strap was cut by a squib. Also we carried a large knife and cut on the drop command in case the electrical squib did not work properly.

Anybody remember the "Saigon Tea War" in the bars on Tu Do street? Or hauling civillian rice from Nha Trang to Saigon and then loading military rice and flying to Nha Trang? Or hauling pallets of sand to Cam Rahn Bay for the runway?

When the 29th went to Clark in 1966 it did have some ex SAC pilots who complained about the fields we were operating into and out of in RVN.