venom 66

I just thought I'd ask these questions to see what kind of trips you all had in the past. My best was from Pope in '93 on a St.Croix channel.The whole crew was extremely cool,got to spend a night in Jamaica,and even got to fly the acft (on autopilot of course) for about 5 minutes on the way back to Pope, and the worst was; on an out an' back mission in Desert Storm when a tac gen went out in Oman.The omanis wouldnt let us borrow a maint stand,so me an the other CC,Steve Moles, had to use the ladder fully extended,leaned up on the prop cowling trying to change that damn thing! We used all of the gen pads & ran the eng each time to no avail, and had to spend the night there and NOBODY brought a change of clothes,so we had to shower at the hotel,then put our dirty ass flightsuits back on an go eat dinner.We played musical pads again the next morning with no luck,so we bagged both cannon plugs and flew as-is.The worst part was,word somehow got back to King Fahd that we broke because we didnt have a tac gen sling!!!

One funny story about one of the greybirds; one nite me and Tsgt Don Herlacher were tasked with walking around and changing the scroll checklists in the flt deck (anyone remember those things?) and we had just left one acft and walking to another,when about 0130 hrs, I turned to look behind me and one of those 'horror movie' fogs comes rolling in over the flt line.Just about the time the fog envelopes the acft,one of the main struts settles,and me and don damn near knock each other over trying to run away!! We didnt stop running till we was almost to the section!

From what I knew when I was at Yokota,1597 & 1598 were painted all over glossy grey with no exterior markings at all.The acft went on what was called 'SAAM' missions,that they flew into places that only the flt crew knew about.There used to be a place on the fuselage just aft of the paratroop doors,that a panel with the 'star and bars' painted on it can be installed with a bunch of screws,so the acft could go on normal missions.Also, the acft had no data plates in the flt deck.

Back when I was at Yokota, jan 90 to jan 93,we had 63-7803. (which was sold to Tunisia a couple of years ago) It was nicknamed "ghostrider". And even had a pretty cool mural painted on the NAVs table.The story I heard bout that bird was; on a mission in Vietnam,the acft landed after a mission,taxied to the end of the runway,shut down the engs and just sat there.When some folks went to investigate,they opened the crew door to find the whole crew still in their seats, dead. Does anyone know this story or more importantly, what really happened?

I was wondering if anyone knows if 73 models (super E's) 1597 and 1598 are still at Yokota. I was there from jan 90 to jan 93. I had to pull 'SAAM' preps a couple times on those birds with Tsgt Don Herlacher. What fun that was. A 3 day BPO!!

I agree with you 100% Dan. How @#*#*& stupid this guy is!! I hope he's happy with the knowledge that he just threw his freedom AND an Air Force career away for pure BULL----!!!

Ive heard a story or two that a B-52 went down on takeoff from Anderson on a misson in vietnam. Heard that all the crew and full bomb load is still on the acft.

I read that letter in my local newspaper,and it moved me to tears also. Afterwards I got to thinking how sad it is that MJs death was front page news everywhere, and everyday that we lose one of our brothers,it gets pushed back to page 6 or 7 in the newspaper, and maybe right before a commercial on the TV news!

sorry metalbasher, he was a crew chief,drove the 5 truck on the line.

I worked with a then Ssgt Mark Ramey (aka Gunny) at Yokota early 90 till 93 jan.I know he PCS'd to Scott AFB about that time.Anybody know his whereabouts? I would love to talk with him again. thanks to all.

hey agarrett. My 64 model (64-0556) had that placard and light.I always wondered that too. by the way;check your messages.

When I was in Desert Storm with the 345th TAS,I was assigned to what was known as 'quick turn'. For about a week,we worked 2-12 hour shifts doing nothing but catching 130's,parking them,looking them over,fixing any little problems,fueling them,and blocking them out. No matter what squadron, wing, or branch they were assigned to. Anyways,I had an idea one day waiting to move the power unit after eng start.There were two other guys to help with the cord and power unit, so after I told them what to do,when the taxi light came on we all snapped to attention (we were standing straight off the AC's left shoulder,but out beyond the left wingtip) then we saluted,and then did the ZZ Top circle with our arm thing,and then wave.I guess word got out because after a day or two,there was cameras and video recorders in the pilots and flt eng's hands as the acft blocked out. Anybody have any of those pics? I would love to see some! thank to all,keep up the outstanding work!!

hello all, with the absolute wealth of knowledge of all the members of this great website, I have an idea and would like to get some feedback on this: instead of retiring all the F-15's and F-16's, why not have the Boeing and the Lockheed Martian companies restart the 15 and 16 assembly lines to produce 'new build' acft to replace the 'high time' acft.The new fighters can receive all mods to have them all up to date. Instead of having the USAF having only the F-22,just have a few sqaudrons to serve along side the 'new' acft.It would create a lot of jobs in the civilian sector and keep all those flight and maint crews in the service.

1597 & 1598 WERE ALL OVER GLOSSY GREY ACFT WITH NO MARKINGS.THERE WAS A PANEL WITH THE STARS AND BARS ON IT THAT COULD BE INSTALLED ON THE FUSELAGE JUST AFT OF THE PARATROOP DOORS WHEN GOING ON \'NORMAL\' MISSIONS. THEY WENT ON \'SAAM\' MISSIONS.I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE OR WHERE THEY WENT,BUT THE CREW CHIEFS HAD TO HAVE TOP SECRET CLEARANCE TO GO ON THOSE TRIPS. WE HAD TO DO \'SAAM PREPS\' ON THEM BEFORE THE MISSIONS. JUST BASICALLY A REEAALL THOROUGH BPO THAT LASTED FOR 3 DAYS!

I JUST SAW A PIC OF POSSIBLY 73-1598 WITH DYESS MARKINGS. IS THAT THE SAME 1598 THAT WAS AT YOKOTA? IF SO,THAT WAS ONE OF TWO \'GREYBIRDS\' WE HAD OVER THERE.THE OTHER WAS 1597.

This is Woody looking for any maint personnel assigned to Yokota AB from 90 to 93.

My name is David, went by the nickname Woody,and I was assigned to the 2nd AS from jan 93 to aug 94. Crewed acft 63-7807 (as ACC) then acft 68-0942. (the bird that got hit by the F-16)

I was at Pope ffom 93 jan to 94 aug, with the 2 AS.That was when it was the 23rd Wing with the A-10s and F-16s, and all the acft had the sharks mouth.It was cool, because ive always wondered what a hog would look like w/ sharks teeth. And just as i suspected, a big rabid pig!! Got some pretty cool reactions to it while on the road.On a TDY to benning to drop some jumpers, we almost hit 5 OH-58s egressing the LZ.The pilots came in to the BK on post at Benning and confronted us about the near miss.(jokingly of course)I told them they should see the helo kill markings we have painted on the side of the acft & the AC goes,\'now you see why we have the teeth\'! Also, my bird,68-0942 was involved in that collision with the F-16.Had to FODwalk the entire length of the runway 3 times to pick up all the pieces.

Hello all. been quite some time since ive been on. Hey muff, fellow tampa native here, your post reminded me of a website i recently stumbeld upon an saw that acft 63-7879 is still in service at Yokota. Then looking at the gallery, i see a pic of 63-7865 is still there too. Looks like its the wing or squadron bird. I worked on both of those acft when I was at Yokota from 90 jan to 93 jan. Its amazing to see those birds still in service!! My bird, 64-0556 I think is at Hurlburt as a ground trainer.