V.1, i3 - 49th Fighter Squadron Association

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49TH FIGHTER SQUADRON NEWS
VOL. 1
http://members.bellatlantic.netl-mradle/49.htm
Bear HunUng
ISSUE 3
support the funding for the Air Force brass.
and the ANG was pushing hard for new
Squadron Style
equipment as well, and needed all the "real
Circa 1981
world"justification they could muster. So
our treasured "active air" scrambles had
y the spring of 1987, the 49th FIS
tapered off significantly as the year wore
had the honor of being the last of the
on and we faced the squadron stand-down
Century Series active duty fighter squadin July 1987.
rons. Getting the most out of our F-I06
But. as that famous avaiation beagle
Delta Darts, while dealing with the polifriend Snoopy is fond of starting all of his
tics 'of the day (the squadron closing vs.
famous novels, our moment of glory came
possible squadron conversion to F-15s,
one "dark and stormy night ..."
and fully assimilating into the Tactical Air
The usual East Coast Air Defense
Command from Air Defense Command)
alert locations were all under the weather,
kept the entire squadron hopping. How- so to speak, but the very real, very active
Soviet TU-95 Bear F threats were flying
ever, with 20 jets to maintain our 24/7
their CONUS missions nonetheless. Enalert status at our home station, Griffiss
ter the fearless 49th, with alert pilots MaAFB, NewYork. and our deployed location
jor Bob "Battlin' Bob" Pedtke, and Capt.
at Loring AFB, Maine, as always; in true
Grant "Stump" Bruckmeier. But, before
49th fashion, the mission came first!
we join our fearless aviators. some quick
And our mission was the air defense
background is in order.
of the continental United States. against
For you engineering majors, geothe still very alive. very active threat from
graphically speaking, Griffiss sits about 45
the Soviets and the USSR. As I said, the
politics of the day played a role in our ev- miles east of Syracuse, which makes it
about 250 miles to feet wet. For you hiseryday lives right down to how often we
tory majors, this meant even in the longwere scrambled off alert. The Air Defense
legged F-106, any full afterburner scramble
mission off the east coast was being
handled primarily by a political pincer of to feet wet offthe East Coast, was going to
newly equipped F-15A Eagle units at Ice- make fuel a very precious commodity. And
with the limitations of ground based raland and Langley, and the Air National
dars sites ranges, accurate target tracks
Guard (ANG) units stationed directly on
outside the CONUSADIZ(AirDefense Identhe East Coast. Of course the new airplane squadrons needed the press to 1 tification Zone)was also a major challenge.
49th Fighter Interceptor
B
Sticking to the old adage, you fight
like :you train, the 49th had prepared for
this mission in the months prior. Looking
at the threat the Bears posed, with long
range cruise missiles, and where they
"hunted" our sub fleet, we knew we would
need both Tanker and the (then) relatively
new AWACSto prosecute this long-range
mission from home station. So we put together what we called Hunter-Killer packages, of tankers and AWACS, got target
support from our bro's in the bomber world
and took the whole show hundreds of miles
East and North, to demonstrate the F-106s
still robust value to the CONUS Air Defense mission. Our trusty MA-1 radars
were old, they were pulse based (vs. the F15s Doppler) and could not "see" a cruise
missile in flight ...but we damn sure could
find the bomber Mother ships, and if we
demonstrated fully, that if we could catch
them far enough out, we would make sure
they went down with their loads still in the
weapon bays!
So back to our heroes. Pedtke and
Bruckmeier executed the real intercept
mission on the real Bear F's in almostletter-perfect style. Grabbing gas from a KC135 tanker off the coast of Virginia, and
hooking up with the AWACSoff the coast
of North Carolina. Bruckmeier flying wing
position snagged the first contact 80 miles
from what would turn out to be a subhunting Bear F. Flight lead Pedtke closed
to visual range and recorded the Soviets
door numbers for Intel reports, while
Bruckmeier kept them honest from the
right wing "cover" position. (From this position abeam the target's cockpit, the
quickest attack we could make with the
M61Al Volcan Cannon equipped Dart, was
to turn hard into a bomber, and rake the
target from cockpit to tail with 20MM HEI,
all the while staying well outside the Bears
tail gun range, before re-attacking from the
stern with the short-range, but highly accurate AlM-4 F/G radar and IR misstles.)
Bruckmeier, not willing to come all
that way to sit 9,000 feet away from the
enemy, as Pedtke slid back off the Bear,
then closed close aboard for the second
most important part of the mission, the
color photos for the Squadron bar+much
to Flight Lead Pedtke's surprise! But to
Bruckmeier's dismay to this very day, a
small matter of camera "f-stop" produced
one, very washed out photo of the Bear.
As they came off the Bear, Bruclaneier realized his mistake. took an excellent picture of his flight lead+alone in the blue
sky ...but his chance to be the provider of
the 49th's final going away picture was lost
forever.
Note: Special thanks to LtCol (ret)
Grant "Stump" Bruckmeier for his
notes and input for this our first
circa 1980s Vintage 49th FIS "as
God is my witness true stories of
aviation wizardryl" If any F-106
Delta Dart or T-33 T-Bird pilots/
maintainers have any good stories
you want printed in the 49th FSA
newsletter, get in touch with LtCol
(ret) John "Jazz" Jannazo, at
[email protected]. If you are shy
or don't want to put the story in
newsletter form, I will be glad to
flnish your tale and get it into the
newsletter editor.
2
Word From The Orderlv Room
·
W
I know some of you can't make every reunion but tell me that this newsletter keeps you up-to-date. I hope the newsletter keeps getting bigger and better with
many of you sharing our past and encouraging our future. Whatever your reason
for not being a part of the 49th again, we
wish you well in the years to come. To
those of you that I have talked with on the
phone or have met in person and are not
joining, thanks for spending the time reliving our past with mental pictures.
Thanks for all the memories.
-Lee (Breezie) Briner, Sec./Tres.
ell 4gers - This is our 3rd newsletter
to hit your mailbox. I have been looking at the records and there are still some
of you who haven't sent in your dues yet.
Those of you who spoke with me on the
phone or emailed me r: we haven't received
your dues yet. Please remember that all
members, except WWII veterans and all
widows, MUST pay dues in order to stay
on our mailing list. If you want to be removed from the mailing list, let me know
here in the orderly room. Not paying dues
or not communicating in some way is a
sure sign you do not want to be a part of
the 49th family. Don't let that happen!
Welcome to the
49th Fighter Association
Tony Asterita
Joe Chatfield
Darrell Fisher
Bradford Goudy
James List
Dick Miller
This will be Ihe last newsletter for Ihose of YOU who
havenl sent in Vlur does! .
For a lot of us, the 49th was our first
assignment. Deactivated after WW II, the
49th got new life from us as fresh graduates from flight or ground support school.
In 1987, the Air Force again deactivated
the 49th as an interceptor squadron. In
1993, however, the 49th was recognized
as an important part of the Air Force and
was reinstated as a Fighter training squadron. The 49th is still going strong at Moody
AFB in Georgia. So, no matter when you
came into the 49th family, you have been
a vital part of extending its longevity.
Our hope is to make the 49th the
longest running association and we can
only do this with your membership. I have
heard some of you complain that you just
don't know anyone anymore. I think that
is just an excuse. After all you probably
didn't know anyone when you joined the
Air Force or when you first went into town.
My guess is you ended up knowing a lot of
great people after a while. So the people
from various years might know everybody
else but they, like me, look forward to meeting each other.
Henry "Hank" Prentiss
Leo Rosnick
Louis Zelko
A.K. Smith
(Former Sqdn. Comd.)
Reunion Alen
f you took your basic training at
Sampson, they are having a reunion of
all airmen September 4-7, 2003. For more
information contact:
I
Chip Phillips
PO Box 331
Williamsville, NY 14231-0331
Phone: 716/633-1119
Email: [email protected]
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Enoa's Coruer
Barbara stated. RicbardH Dler has motorized help
to get around on. His back problems seem to be
worsening with age. GeOrge Hunler is battling
Alzheimers. "Arlene and BeltV, Doc's widow, are
doing fine, he said." I tried several times to call
Norma Jackson, but her phone was always busy...that
tells me her vocal cords are still working. Gladvs
Kishbaugh is doing well...sings with a group which
entertains out and about. You can bet they don't
call their group THE HOOTERS.
We called John Mennaugh recently after a
tornado hit Lawrence, Kansas. He was o.k. and
might move to another state (?) to be near a son.
Charlie Enloe is still kicking around and tcotin' his
trombone. Bless "Snuffy's" heart! Maurine is losing her battle with Alzheimer's disease. He says,
"We're alright." Jack and Doris Scheller keep busy.
Jack has designed an elevator for his church, overseen its construction, and now is spearheading a
drive to pay for it. Ross Swinford wrote telling about
their move into a retirment dwelling. "Wise move.
Doing o.k." SparkY wants us Texans to have a mini
reunion, and several are in favor of that. Maybe
that would be a good transition for a lot of us. Each
state or area could plan their own reunion, and no
one would have so far to travel and yet we wouldn't
have to quit reunions "cold turkey".
You ask how GUV and I are doing? Answer:
"Which part of which day?" HA! We are fine. I'm
working in Vacation Bible School now, president of
my garden club, etc. Busy! We attended the
Sheppard Air Show last weekend, and Guy was
asked for his autograph several times. There are
some perks to being an OLD HERO. We, with
Amber and Bob, are optimistically planning to be in
Bangor, Maine on May 20-23, 2004.
Remember, this newsletter will be published
quarterly; so get your news to me by September 15,
so I can pass it on. We are all interested in YOu.
(Letters are great).
Thank you Lee, Paul and Fred for giving us
this space to keep in touch and thanks for your fine
work with the Association Huff would be proud,
and so are we.
God bless each of you and yours. We love
you, Erma and Guy Hester
-Erma Hesler
reetings from Burkburnett, Texas, Here is
an account of the "Old Folks' News" as has
been reported to us:
G
First, I want to thank Don Luorell, Cliff
Bailev, Frank Mullinax, Moose and Judith Musgrove
and Snuffy Johnson for attending Huff's funeral and
supporting Shirlev, Bum, John and Marv and for
representing the 49th FSA who couldn't make it.
We would ALL have liked to be there. Don said ,
"If there is such a thing, it was a very nice funeral."
How could it not be?
We called ShirleVafter ANOTHER tornado
hit in the Huff area to see if they were o.k. She said,
"We were caught at Sears, and they steered us to
safety." After the storm, she, Buffi and John learned
it had missed their houses; so they just continued to
shop. Think South-Central folks aren't resilient?
They are adjusting very well.
lola McBride's granddaughter is legally blind
from diabetes; so Lola is the official driver for her
and her children who are very active in outside activities.
The McBride family are heavy into
rodeoing. One of the girls had made it into the
NATIONAL FINALS! Frenchie and Bea La Bauve
met Lola, then they all went to see TInv linscomb in
Orange, Texas. The report is that they are all doing
great. What wonderful news.
We recently met CliHBailev in Bowie, Texas;
had a good visit with him. He looks and acts years
younger than his 83 (?). Had a letter from Don
Lumell recently. He seems to be doing exceptionally well and said he communicates with Roger
Weatherbee, "Moose" Musgrove, "Snuffy" (Roy)
Johnson, "Sparky" Sparks, and Frank Mullinax.
They have sort of challenged each other to go to
Bangor, Maine next May 20-23. I think Don told
Roger, "If you'll go, I'll go." Then "Moose" told
Don, "If you go, I'll go." And so on. That's the
way to do it.
At the time we lost our dear comrade, Huff,
we talked to several members, trying to get the word
out. At that time, John Sears was feeling kinda
punk. "His diabetes is still his worst enemy,"
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HistOry
Corner
-Paul Scoskie, Squadron Historian
O
n February 8, 1955, nineteen pilots
and fifty-nine airmen ofthe 49th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron received orders to go
TDY to Burlington, Vermont. With their
F86-D aircraft, they were sent to cover the
37th FlS while that unit was in Yuma, Arizona for gunnery qualifications.
For A2/c Richard Gulbrandsen, a Radar
technician, this was a welcome assignment. His home, in Ogdensburg, NewYork
was only a four hour drive from Burlington.
He saw it as a chance to go home and do a
little fishing with his Dad. That opportunity came on Febraruy 25th. As he headed
home on Route 11, little did he know that
the events of that day would eam him a
medal.
On June
27,
1955 Richard
Gulbrandsen was awarded
Richard Gulbrandsen left the Air
Force and went on to become Vice President ofToolEngineering and Design at Precision Twist Drill Company in Illinois. He
designed drill bits for companies such as
Catapillar Tractor and Boeing Aircraft. He
is the owner of several patents. Richard
passed away in 2000 at the age of 67 after
a short bout with cancer. He was predeceased by his wife Phyllis. Their daughter
Sonja is an honorary member of the 49th
Fighter Squardron Association. Of her
father's medal, she said, "Dad really didn't
feel it was a big deal. He was just doing
something that needed to be done and he
just happened to be there to help. That's
the kind of man he was."
The Soldiers Medal lor HeroIsm at Dow Air Force
Base, Bangor, Maine.
The Citation accompanying the medal reads:
Airman Second Class
Richard C. Gulbrandsen
distinguished himself by
heroism involving voluntary risk of life on 25
February 1955 at East Dickinson, New York.
Discovering a fire engulfing the premises of a
general store, Airman Gulbrandsen kicked
open the door of the building and shouted
the alarm to the residents who were sleeping
on the second story. Without thought for his
own safety, he forced his way into the blazing
structure and, despite the flames and smoke
from the conflagration, persevered in his efforts to assist the mother in saving the lives of
three of her four children. By his courage
and selfless humanitarianism,
Airman
Gulbrandsen has reflected great credit upon
himself and the United States Air Force.
Sr. Airman Gulbrandsen receiving The Soldiers
Medal for Heroism.
5
49th FIghter Squadron Warblrds
-Fred
Vollbach, Editor
,
he North American F-86 Sabre entered service in 1949 and was one of
the best subsonic fighter aircraft. of the
early 1950s. Hundreds of Sabres were provided to many Allied nations under the Mutual leleBse AssiSUBce 'regram (MDAP)' The
appearance of swept-wing Soviet-built MiS15s in llrea in late 1950 quickly led to the
transfer to the Far East of an F-86A wing,
to be joined in 1951 by the advanced F86Es and in 1952 by the F-86Fs. Thus began the long months of MiG-Sabre dogfights in UMiGAlley"along the Yalu RiVer over
M.rthllfea. As a day fighter, the airplane
saw service in Korea in three successive
T
series (F-86A, E. and F) where it engaged
the Russian-built MiG-15. By the end of
the hostilities. it had shot down 792 MiGs
at a loss of only 76 Sabres. a victory ratio
of 10 to 1.
The Sabre evolved through anumber ofmodifications that enhanced its overall performance and ensured its reputation as an outstanding jet combat aircraft.
It was also one of the most prolifically produced combat aircraft, with a total of9,502
built by North American, besides being
built under license in Japan, Canada, Australia, and Italy. Powered by a 5,970pound-thrust General Electric J47 engine
,the, F-865F was capable of 690 mph and
"had a ceiling of 50,000 feet.
U.S. AIR FORCE
1
49TH FIGHTER SQUADRONASSOC.
C/O LEE BRINER
914 RED HILL RD.
DAUPHIN PA 17018
J ", 1
~. -s
"
JOHN CARTER
81 DEERFIELD DRIVE
VERNON, CT 06066
6