This is an old thread but thought I would add something to it. I was stationed on Guam from Dec 73-Mar 75. I remember the crash discussed here. It happened on a Saturday evening. I was standing in line at the base theater with a friend who worked in the Civil Engineering organization. Every Saturday they would do a "sneak preview" at the base theater. You never know what movie they were going to show but it was always something new, and this showing was always popular. It started at 9:00pm and you needed to get there early to get in and get a good seat.
While standing in line just before 9:00pm the sky lit up - extremely bright - sort of a yellow orange color. There was no discernible explosion or noise - just the sky lighting up for about 30 seconds. People basically looked around and there was a buzz of conversation, but no commotion. The line kept moving and we went inside to claim our seats. Shortly after the National Anthem, during the previews of coming attractions, a notice went up on the screen that there was a Civil Engineering recall and my friend had to leave. I can't remember what I did after that, but later learned that it was a C-130 that crashed on take-off. I recall one of the pilots at the golf course telling me later that for some reason it cartwheeled after take-off. Also later in the week it was written up in the local newspaper and they reported that the lit sky could be seen all the way down into Agana.
BTW - my unit on Guam was the 605th MASSQ. I worked in the Avionics shop - radio repair - on the local WC 130-H's and also transient C-5's and C-141"s.
