xzoomie32065

We left Langley about noon and flew to Pope. The aircraft was rigged for a full load of paratroopers. We left Pope and proceded to fly in very rough turbulence caused by the aircraft ahead of us. All over the sky you could see rotating beacons as everyone tried to find a little les chopped up air. About halfway into the flight I was told by the A/C to tell the senior army officer onboard we would land the troops instead of dropping them. He insisted they would jump and it took the copilot to come back and tell him personally. We dropped the troops off and went to Ramey.

Took part in a drop in Turkey in 65. I think it was called "Deep Furrow". Must have been about 100 C-130's dropping troops and equiptment.

When we were doing PLADS into special force's camps in 66, we did not wear chutes or retaining straps. An extraction chute was reefed and dropped , when the green light was illuminated a squib was fired which cut the restraing strap on the load. At the same time we made a swipe with a large knife at the strap. Usually the sqib fired.

Without a doubt, Ramstein. Besides flying all over Europe and other places there are wine fests, beer fests, and great bratwurst.

I left Mactan and went to Travis in Nov 1966. For a loadmaster the C-133 was a much more difficult aircraft to load, long math no slipstick, but was more comfortable when flying. The loadmaster had his own bed downstairs in the nose. Also MAC per diem and crew rest was much better than TAC"s or PACAF's.

I only filed, or left, a form F at some of the major airfields in SEA. However I almost always slipped the load before engine start. And I checked the height of the crew entrance door most times. When I went from the C-130B to the C-133B I was surprised to learn every form F was figured by station and LOOOOOOOOONG math. Except for certain missions the C-133B was a one loadmaster aircraft.

When I rotated back from Mactan in Nov 66 I was offered the chance to fly as a crewmember on a unit aircraft going to the states for repairs. I got the tent boy to make me a large box with no top, drove my Honda 90 cc to the aircraft ,drained the fuel, strapped it down on the cargo floor and put the box over it. When we got to McClellan I got some fuel from a line truck, filled it up and drove it to Travis, my next duty station.

Sam,

I was in the 05th from Jan 69 until Dec 72 and was the Chief LM FE for about 3.5 years. Never heard of the type of operation in the Congo.

Here is a website http://7499thgroupreunions.com/default.aspx

Any new winch should have a level wind feature like the C-133 winches had.

Is the reunion for the 97 guys also?

Looking at the crew, only 5 have patches on their flight suits. The rest have \"clean\" flight suits.

Taking the ferries to Cebu from Mactan.

Drinking at the Blue Diamond.

Eating at the rooftop restaurant of the White Gold.

Slapsie Maxie #1 and #2.

Unloading the bladder bird at various locations.

Easter morning\'66 at Qui Nhon watching the A1 people painting the bombs on the planes like Easter eggs.

The passenger runs hauling Viet Namese civillians.

Plads drops at the special forces camps.

Tuy Hoa when it was a PSP strip.

The smell of the empty aircraft.

The air evac trips back to Clark, then cargo and mail to Mactan, made it a long day.

Site looks good. :)