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| Mac-Douglas F-4(-) Phantom Ugly as a mud fence but a real work hoss |
| Convair F-102 Delta Dagger - 1st operational delta wing interceptor. Worked on at R-G AB Mo and Clark AB RP |
| Convair F-106 Delta Dart. Operational 1959 I was on upgrade team at Duluth AB Minn in '59 incorporating TCTOs etc after mfr. |
| Fighter-Interceptor Acft in my Resume', '63 to 75 |
| My experience w/the Dagger was brief, was Q Engr at R-G AB when USAF equipped the bird w/IR swighting device in '64. As well, one of my favorite cousins was a Dagger jockey over in GB for a number of years. Of course our own President G W Bush was a Dagger jockey in the USAFRes and I'm bonna tell ya, it takes more than a twinkie to handle on of t those tricky jobs!!! |
| One of the best kept secrets of the war in SE Asia (yes, there were important secrets that did not get into the hands of the media). The potting material in the electrical connectors of models of the F4 operational at that time in SE Asia - (and any modern acft life blood flows thru elect cabling), reached an age, coupled w/SE Asia heat/humidity that the material liquified and ran out of the connector shell - put the entire fleet out of biz. Had that word gotten into the hands of the NVAF, they would have an open shooting gallery into US bases in Thailand and 'Nam.. A MacAir team came to Clark at warp speed, I had my hands full w/ground electronics - but this job had a prioritiy I had never seen before. It was necessary to strip each bird to its airframe, re-pot all connectors. |
| A friend, VNAF Lt Col Quang flew A1s out of Bieh Hoa. He had a special likeness for Chevis Regal Scotch - I wanted to fly combat missions in that hog - biggest, heaviest single recip engine bird ever built. VNAF 3rd AD at Bien Hoa had a couple B Models (side by side seats), equipped for combat. He would load one w/everything the bird would stagger off ground with (250#ers & 20mm ammo). We would go up around Black Virgin Mtn and in the old Iron Triangle area and raise hell - there always seemed to be some black pajamaed fool on the ground that could not resist taking a shot - usually his last. Of course this was totally illegal on my part. Had my superiors learned of it, there was not an airplane in SE Asia fast enuf to get my butt back to the States. What a thrill for an old Army First Sgt - even when he would pull a left chandell, my eyeballs would roll back - crazy stunt but fun!! |
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| A1Skyraider, artists rendition |
| Grumann F5() Freedom Fighter. I saw VNAF Fighter Jocks crash 3 of these and VC rice farmers nail three of them w/one B-122 rocket (after peace in '73!!) |
| Never made any fingerprints on the bird itself, but did some work on the F-100 Fuel Control for the F-15 engines (at Bendix SouthBend '75) |
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| All Pages - click index |
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| This page |
| Many of the photos have been deleted from this page but are stored in web site archive - see pg 12 for explain |