To Texas Rick: I am Darrell Fransen, I was the Crew Chief of record on 1841 when it went down, my name was in the 781's!. Due to an impending PCS out of Clark AB; I was not able to accompany "my bird" back for PDM. It was on a ferry flight to Warner Robins. Al (Amos) Newsom took my place on that ill fated flight; his wife had recently given birth (to a girl as I recall) and he was over-joyed at the prospect of seeing his wife and new child. I still get weepy when thinking about this. I did not know any of the flight crew. I remember that I was staying off-base and someone got word to me that I was needed immediately at the squadron. I had no idea what new I would get, but when they told me, I sat down and cried. I used to have a copy of the preliminary accident report, but many years of moving have taken their toll on many things that I tried to keep. The night vision problem and impacting the runway after take off are fact. I pray that this ads a little humanity to the facts.
