January - Contrails.us

OKW Newsletter
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© copyright 1999, Oklahoma Wing, Commemorative Air Force - Col Rich Lindsey, editor
Jan 2007
Commemorative Air Force
Oklahoma Wing
Staff Officers
Wing Leader
Home
Office
Col. Kathi Elder
376-5290 376-2440
cellular: 226-5873 fax: 376-2447
E-mail: [email protected]
Executive Officer:
Home
Office
Col Mark Howard
330-8519 749-5242
Mobile: 659-8988 eMail: [email protected]
Finance Officer:
Home
Col Linda Robertson
842-1202
E-mail: [email protected]
Office
Adjutant/Personnel Off: Home
Col Larry Hardin
721-5598
E-mail: [email protected]
Operations Officer:
Home
Col. Tom Rush
749-0510
E-mail: [email protected]
VOL. 23, No 1
OKLAHOMA WING CALENDAR
Please Note: All OKW General Meetings are regularly scheduled for the second Saturday of each month at 1030
hours. OKW Staff Meetings are regularly scheduled for the Thursday preceding the General Meeting each month at
1900 hours. All meetings will be held in the Headquarters hangar, unless otherwise specified. Work Parties are every
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from 1000 - 1700 hours.
OKLAHOMA WING CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Jan 11 - Wing Staff meeting
Jan 13 - Wing General meeting
Feb 8 - Wing Staff meeting
Feb 10 - Wing Awards Banquet note: There will NOT be a Wing
General meeting this date
Feb 16/17/18 - Winter Staff; Midland
Feb 19 - 50th Birthday of the Commemorative Air Force.
Office
202-8996
Maintenance Officer: Mobile
Col. Arnold Angelici
(405) 740-2340
Home- (405) 525-6595
Work- (405) 954-6025
E-mail: [email protected]
Safety Officer:
Position Open
Home
P.X. Officer:
Home 842-1202
Col Linda Robertson - see Finance Officer above
Public Information Officer: Home
Col. Graham Robertson
842-1202
e-mail: [email protected]
Editor/Historian
Home
Cell
Col Rich Lindsey
677-1802 401-7988
E-mail: [email protected]
Wing Chaplin
Home
Col Hugh Langston 405-598-2542
E-Mail: [email protected]
CAF Hangar phone number 205-7452
Check us out at:
www.oklahomawing.org
Douglas A-1H Skyraider NE/572 Paper Tiger II. When I ran the two front
page pictures of a Skyraider armed with a urinal in the November newsletter I
didn’t expect it to draw enough attention as to warrant a follow-up article giving more details but it has. For this reason I have decided to provide a little
more info on this weird (even for an American pilot) incident. See pg 4.
The above picture is in fact artwork that adorns the box top of a 1/72nd scale
Hasagawa plastic kit model. You can actually buy a kit of this airplane that depicts this incident, complete with a scale urinal included!
The Commemorative Air Force is an educational organization dedicated to the preservation of the great
combat aircraft of WW II, and a portion of our military aviation heritage. 1939 - 1945
OKW Newsletter
Editorial
Col Rich Lindsey
If you don’t think that time flies by then consider
this. Nine years ago this month
I turned out the first Oklahoma
Wing newsletter of my career
with the CAF. It was January
1998 and Volume 16, issue #1.
The one you are reading here is
the 108th issue I have written
… PHEWWW!.
I remember a pool party at
Lea Dixon’s home a few
months earlier, during the summer of 1997, when I was telling Col Sub Scott my
ideas regarding the format I would use if I did accept the job of editor. One thing I said was that I
would have each Staff member provide me with an
article each month and these would form the basis
of the newsletter. I remember Sub laughing and
wishing me ‘good luck’ with that dream. He assured me this would never happen in my lifetime.
Well Sub … it did happen. While two past staff
members (who shall remain anonymous at this
time) never provided a single report during their
terms, every single Wing Leader has; every month..
Col Tom Rush has been most faithful with his
monthly reports and was Col Rex Crewse during
his tenure. Although both saw a couple of months
where they had no columns in an issue, it was usually an error on my part (i.e.: I failed to pick up on
the report they e-mailed me) that caused the omission.
For all this dedication I thank you all. Without
you staff inputs each month this newsletter would
be little more than a low grade copy of an aviation
magazine the likes of Air Classics, Flypast or Warbird International while containing precious little
informational value to the individual wing members.
Thanks again Staffers!
As we find ourselves squeezed out of more and
more airshows we on the Staff are looking “outside
the box” for creative ways to generate more revenue for the Wing coffers. Look for some of these
ideas as they appear, possibly as early as the next
issue, of the newsletter.
See ya’all at the next meeting
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Wing Leader
Col Kathi Elder
Hello from Your Wing Leader.
Hope everyone had a
wonderful Christmas and a
safe and Happy New Year.
With the New Year in mind
I would like to congratulate
or console our new Staff
Members, Col Mark Howard will be our Executive
Officer and Col Larry Hardin will be our Adjutant Officer. GOOD LUCK
GUYS!!!
Our 2006 Awards banquet will be held on 10th
February 2007. I am working on the accommodations if you have any input please contact me as
soon as possible. There will not be a February
General Meeting. If you know someone that has
worked hard or really did a funny stunt or not so
funny put them in for the bent screw award. You
know we all love that one. I have to say I have got
it several times.
We will be going to Winter Staff in Midland
next month. If you have any ideas on changes that
you think need to be made let me know. I will see
that it gets to the correct agenda. If you are able to
attend you should.
Your 2007 dues are now being accepted by Col
Linda Robertson or me. Get them in it won’t be
long until we will be restocking the PX.
Happy January Birthday to Col Jim Dolan, Col
Doug Moler, Col Charles York.
Until Next Time “Keep your eyes in the sky”
Greeneyes
Think Dues
OKW Newsletter
Col Arnie Angelici
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Maintenance Officer
Happy New Year. Please work
to make it a safe one.
The PT-19 has been down for
maintenance the month of December. Fortunately, at the time
of this writing, Terry [Watson]
has reported no surprises. The
remaining items to be accomplished during this annual are the
aircraft’s brakes. They will be
rebuilt with new pads, springs
and expander tubes. We are also planning to replace
the radio, but this item will not hold up the completion of the annual. Other projects for the aircraft include correcting the number “78” on the nose to the
correct font, making a new brake fluid reservoir
cover and have it properly labeled, having the
proper “78” placed/painted on the aft fuselage and
adding other appropriate lettering to the airframe.
Col. Mark Howard and his PT have been a wealth
of information and inspiration for our to be brought
up to Army Air Corps standard.
Please be aware that there are several sticky traps
and bait traps placed about the meeting room and
hangars. I put the traps down about two weeks ago.
This was done to control the rodent population that
has moved into our hangar space since the start or
the cold weather. Please be sure to clean up after
yourselves to minimize the garbage that makes a
warm place more inviting to the rodents. The removal of the old couch eliminated a source of nesting material for the un-welcomed visitors. If you
find a trap occupied, please call me and I will remove and replace the trap.
Keep the ball centered and fly safe.
Editors note - At Arnie' s request I am repeating the footnote that
was carried in the January 2006 newsletter one more time.
“ Arnie' s father passed away on December 8th, 2005.
His 79th birthday would have been January 7, 2007. His
father was in the Army’s First Air Cav. during the occupation of Japan in 1946-47. He later enlisted in the Air
Force as a dentist and was stationed at such diverse
places as Williams AFB, AZ; the NATO base at Keflavik, Iceland; the Air Force Academy and Suffolk
County AFB, NY. He then entered private practice in
California. At the time of his separation he was on the
promotion list for Lt. Col.”
Your Editor was passing through the hangar a few
weeks ago when Terry was performing his ‘magic’ on
the PT that Arnie mentions in his report and I got this
shot of the airplane ‘unbuttoned’.
Executive Officer
Col Mark Howard
I would first like to
thank Rex Crewse for
his outstanding service
and leadership as Executive Officer. It is a
huge loss for the Oklahoma Wing to have
Rex and Retta move so
far away. We appreciate their service in so
many areas and we
look forward to seeing
them as often as possible in the future. Rex
has set the bar very high. I have a lot of irons in
the fire with operating my PT-26, setting up my
Cimarron Field Museum in my hangar, gathering
information for the history book I am writing on
Cimarron and Mustang Field, etc. so I will spend
as much time as I can to help out the Oklahoma
Wing.
As I assume this position, I have a few thoughts
and long term goals for the Wing. My goals are in
no way a criticism of my predecessors as officers
of the Wing. Many of these ideas are not my
original ideas by any means, but I would like to do
what I can to see some or all of them come to fruition. These are my thoughts and don’t necessarily
reflect the views of our other officers.
1) Construct a new CAF hangar with funds
OKW Newsletter
2)
3)
4)
5)
from major corporations. I know this project is already in the works to some degree.
Have a second floor meeting area to host
our monthly meetings and to create a museum area for displaying WWII aviation
artifacts and to increase the educational experience for guests and members.
Increase active participation by some of
our members who own their own warbirds.
Encourage them to fly their planes over for
the monthly meetings to create a fly-in atmosphere and give our guests more of a
flavor of what we do.
Try to attract as members other warbird
owners in the OKC area including Brent
Hisey, Peter Gill, the Beech AT-11 owner
at Wiley Post, etc.
Try to attract younger members to our
Wing and to the CAF. That is our future.
Try to attract corporate sponsorship for the
annual operating budget to lessen the load
on PX sales.
I am looking forward to serving the Oklahoma
Wing in this position. God Bless our Troops.
Mark Howard
Operation Sani-Flush
During October, 1965 the USS Midway (CVA
41) was operating on Dixie Station in the South
China Sea conducting air operations over the
length and breadth of South Vietnam. One of Midways assets was Carrier Air Wing 2. One squadron
of this group was VA-25, “The Fist of the Fleet”
flying the venerable A-1H Skyraider. On this date
a strike was drawn up for an area of the Mekong
Delta and one of the strike leaders was Commander C. W. “Bill” Stoddard. He was assigned
A-1H NE/572, named Paper Tiger II. His wingman for the mission was LCDR Robin Baker flying aircraft #577. Fortunately for history, aircraft
#577 was the last remaining airplane in the entire
Pacific fleet that still had a wing-mounted movie
camera attached.
CMDR Stoddard had been informed that his airplane would, on this mission, be carrying the
Page 4
6,000,000 th pound (3,000 tons) of ordnance that
would be dropped to date in the war. It was decided
that this was indeed a memorable event and should
be given special treatment. The urinal bomb was
thus conceived. An ordnance crew fabricated the
rack, tail fins and nose fuse. The ‘bomb’ was secreted
onto the
flight
deck and
surreptitiously
(very
very
sneakily)
hung on
# 572’s
right outboard wing hard point. Flight deck personnel in on the prank took up positions to block the
view of #572 from the Air Boss and the bridge as
the plane was moved forward for launch.
Just as CMDR Stoddard was launched a message
came over the ships 1MC from the bridge; “What
the hell was that hanging on 572?”.
Arriving at the mission bomb line the FAC was
duly called up and the flights ordnance package was
read off. When Stoddard ended with a single unit he
identified as ‘code name Sani-Flush’ the FAC pilot
moved in for a closer look and couldn’t believe
those Navy jocks.
The classified device was dropped with wingman
LCDR Bacon holding a tight wig tip to wing tip position to record the event.
When the ‘bomb’ came off a huge wind vortex
rammed through the inside hole causing the bowl to
flip violently upward narrowly missing slamming
against the bottom of the right wing. This could
have had disastrous results for CMDR Stoddard.
Can you imagine having to admit to anyone that
you were downed by a toilet!
Later the Air Groups Intel Officer commented
that he half expected the North Vietnamese to report to the UN charging the US Navy with using
germ warfare and offering up the fragmented remains of the ‘toilet bomb’ as proof. After many reviews of the film from this mission in the ships
various ready rooms the film disappeared and has
not been seen for years.
OKW Newsletter
The Saga of “Slip 57”-Another Aw S - - T tale
One of Murphy's most sacred laws is “If something can go wrong, it will.”
As hard as this story is to believe in this era of
flight checks, instrument check lists, cross checking, aircrew proficiency levels and hours of simulator, it happened.
On May 8, 2006 a B-1B Lancer, AF86-0132, radio
call sign “Slip 57”, belonging to the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing based at
Dyess AFB, Amarillo, Texas was inbound to Diego
Garcia at the end of an 11 hr flight from Anderson
AFB, Guam.
For some reason the pilot unexpectedly turned the
aircrafts control to the co-pilot on final approach.
The pilot then reported to the air traffic control
tower that he was ‘gear down’ despite the fact that
neither he nor the co-pilot had actually completed
the pre-landing check list. Mores the pity because
they might have picked up on the fact that neither
had actually lowered the gear. Moreover, the red
warning light in the gear handle was illuminated for
a full 4 minutes during the approach, indicating that
the gear was still up. No one noticed. Slip 57 slid an
impressive 7,500 feet down the runway on its belly
and engine nacelles before coming to rest.
All 4 crew members were able to egress the airplane safely with the co-pilot suffering a minor
back injury in the process. Damage totaled approximately $7.9M to the aircraft (B-1B cost in 1998
dollars is $283.1M per plane) with an additional
$14,025 in damage done to the runway.
The airplane laid there for a full 4 days before
crews could raise it onto its gear and tow it off to
the repair shops. Talk about embarrassing.
Amazingly the accident investigators concluded
that the cause of the mishap was both pilots failure
to lower the landing gear during the approach and
before attempting the landing. Contributing factors
for the pilots failure to lower the gear were the copilots task over-saturation, the co-pilots urgency to
complete a long mission, both pilots inattention to
their instruments and failure to complete the descent/pre-landing check list plus the co-pilots belief
that the pilot had in fact lowered the gear when he
reported this to the tower.
Talk about two guys who probably want nothing
less than to fall on their swords and end it quickly!
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B-1B Lancer Slip 57 AF86-0132 - Diego Garcia, Indian
Ocean May 8, 2006.
Another Aw S - - t story but closed to home.
Last month I reported on the saga of the B-17
Memphis Belle and how it is now in such good
hands at the Smithsonian. I only made one error and
our good buddy Dan Stroud, local radio celebrity
and airplane history expert caught it. Everything I
reported was correct EXCEPT the airplane has
never been the property of the Smithsonian. It is
owned by the United States Air Force and as such is
undergoing its restoration at the National Museum
of the United States Air Force (previously known
simply as The Air Force Museum) at Dayton, Ohio.
Danno even supplied me with some recent photographs of the airplane . It will be stunning when its
finished.
OKW Newsletter
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The ‘Other’ B-17 - The Story of Alexander the Swoose
When I reported last moth that Memphis Belle was owned by the Smithsonian. This was not correct. What is
correct is that the Smithsonian does own a B-17. They have Boeing B-17D AAF 40-3097 and she served operationally through the entire course of WW II from before the attack on Pearl Harbor until after VJ-Day and what
follows here is a condensed version of her remarkable story.
Boeing delivered B-17D s/n 40-3097 to the Army Air Corps 19th Bomb Group at March Field, CA on April
28, 1941. On the evening of May 31, 1941
Twenty-B-17D’s, including 40-3097 departed
Hamilton Field, CA for a 2,400 mile flight to
Hickam Field, Hawaii. It was the first mass flight
of land-based aircraft to Hawaii.
On September 5, 1941 a/c 40-3097 departed
Hickam with 9 other B-17D’s flying west to the
Philippines. Their arrival at Clark Field, the Philippines on September 12, 1941 marking the longThe lack of any visible armament as well as the post-June
est massed flight of land-based aircraft in history.
1943 star and bar insignia on the fuselage would seem to indiThe evening of December 5, 1941 found 40-3097
cate that this is a shot of the Swoose when she was a VIP transsitting on a partially completed landing strip on a
port
Del Monte plantation on the Philippine island of
Mindanao. There the crew of 40-3097 hastily applied a coat of Army olive drab paint over the once shiny aluminum finish. At this time the crew affectionately
named their airplane “Old Betsy”. They never got to add any nose art because less than 48 hours later they were
at war.
After December 7th (December 8th in the Philippines) Old Betsy made numerous combat flights around the
islands most likely the first U.S. bombing missions of WW II. These early B-17’s did not have a tail gunners position and sometime around December 18th the crew chopped off Old Betsy’s tail cone and rigged a .30 caliber
machine gun there and set to be fired remotely when triggered by one of the waist gunners. Less than one week
later Old Betsy flew a bombing mission over Davao Gulf arriving there after dark and dropping its ordnance on a
string of ships lights seen in the harbor. This was the first U.S. night bombing mission of WW II.
At the end of December, 1941 Old Betsy was
relocated to a new base at Singosari, Java.
During a bombing mission to Borneo on
January 11, 1942 Old Betsy was attacked by
3 Japanese fighters in a 35 minute-long attack. Two of the attackers were shot down
but Old Betsy was damaged to the extant that
her career as a bomber was ended. At this
point she was flown to Australia and an entire new tail from another B-17D (s/n 403091) was installed. It was about this time
Although this photo of the Swoose would appear to have been
that the airplane acquired the name The
taken
at about the same time as the one above left it was not. The
Swoose. The band leader Kay Kyser had a
presence
of the Fairchild C-82 just off the Swoose’s nose would date
popular tune out that went “Here comes little
this photo as sometime after the war, possibly during one of its deAlexander; What a funny looking gander;
livery flights in either 1948 or later, in 1953.
He’s half swan and half goose, Ha Ha Ha,
he’s just a swoose.” Considering that 403097 had just been pieced together from parts of several other planes, the name fit and The Swoose was born. On
March 17, 1942 the Swoose was in Melbourne for extensive engine work and it is thought that the under slung
fuselage ‘bathtub’, characteristic of the B-17D, was removed at that time. A new pilot, Capt. Frank Kurtz, became the Swoose’s pilot and the airplane became Lt Gen George Brett’s personal transport. At the time Gen
Brett was Commander, Allied Air Forces; Australia. In June, 1942, on a flight over Australia the Swoose became
OKW Newsletter
Page 7
lost when her navigation equipment malfunctioned. She made a forced landing on a sheep station outside Winton,
Queensland, just before she would have flown out into the Pacific and most surly, become just another missing
WW II bomber. One of the passengers aboard the Swoose on this flight was an obscure US Navy Lt. Commander
named Lyndon B. Johnson.
In May, 1942, flying without all her combat-related equipment installed, the Swoose took Gen. Brett home and
broke an existing speed record flying from Sydney Australia to Wellington, New Zealand. A few days later, departing New Zealand for Hawaii, the Swoose set another speed record upon her arrival at Hickam. When Brett
finally arrived at Hamilton Field, CA yet another speed record was set. Moreover, America’s first combat bomber
had returned to the States. This was almost 11 months before the Memphis Belle became famous.
The Swoose next took Gen. Brett to his new assignment at Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone and would remain his personal aircraft for the furation.
A routine inspection during February, 1944 found numerous small cracks in the main spars of both wings between the landing gear and the fuselage. Further inspection revealed severe corrosion in many areas and the
Swoose was grounded being declared as “beyond economical repair”.
As luck would have it the pilot, a Capt. Jack Crane, was also an aeronautical engineer and knowing of Gen.
Brett’s affection for the Swoose, he saved it. The biggest problems were inboard wing panels. While scrounging
through an abandoned parts depot Capt. Crane located a factory new set of panels built for a B-17B. Crane had
his mechanics fit these parts and then proceeded to bring the Swoose up the technical standards of a B-17E..
He even had an electric grill and an ice box installed on a floor in the right bomb bay position. Plusher seats from
wrecked C-45’s and a lavatory was also included. Even the original segmented nose of a B-17D was replaced
with the more updated 2-piece nose of a B-17F and three months later, on May 30, 1944 Gen. Brett was presented with his ‘new’ transport. With the war over, Gen. Brett returned to the United States in mid-October, 1945
and went into retirement. After several short trips around the country the Army also retired the Swoose, decommissioning her at Kingman AZ.
One of the Swoose’s most famous pilots was Capt. (later Colonel) Frank Kurtz. After flying the Swoose Frank
Kurtz ultimately took command of the 463rd Bomb Group, a B-17G unit based at one time at Kadena AFB, Okinawa. His personal B-17-G’s would all be named the Swoose. When his daughter was born on September 6,
1944 he wanted to name her Swoosie and his wife Margo agreed. Today Swoozie Kurtz is an accomplished stage,
screen and television actress; winner of a Tony Award, an Emmy Award and several Emmy and Golden Globe
nominations.
When Col. Kurtz heard that the Army was going to scrap the Swoose he arranged for the city of Los Angeles to
buy the old gal for $350 and create a war memorial using the famous airplane. The grand plan fell through and
Col. Kurtz again came to the rescue. He approached Paul Garber at the Smithsonian and that organization agreed
to accept the airplane. The plane was flown to the old Douglas plant at Park Ridge, Illinois in May 1948. The
Smithsonian had hundreds of airplanes stored there. In 1950, with the Korean War starting, the Air Force reclaimed the facility and everything had to go. Some very precious airplanes were lost at this time. The Swoose
was nearly one of these when an Air Force crew flew the old bomber to Pyote, Texas on January 18, 1952. It is
claimed that for awhile she sat wing tip to wing tip with another rare ‘bird’ called Enola Gay.
Finally, the Air Force agreed to move the bomber to Andrews
AFB, Maryland and store it there for the Smithsonian. On December 3, 1953 the Swoose began her last flight but it wasn’t
a really smooth ride. On the afternoon of December 5th, two
engines quit in flight and just before touchdown at Andrews
the third one shut down. For the next 6 years the Swoose was
stored outside and fell victim to the weather and vandals and
was almost picked clean. Finally, in April 1961 the Swoose
was disassembled and trucked to the Paul Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility at Silver Hill Maryland.
The Swoose had come full circle and was finally safe. At this
time I am unaware of any decision on the part of the Smithsonian to fix a date for her turn at restoration.
Boeing B-17D 40-3097 The Swoose - home at last
OKW Newsletter
Page 8
The Boeing B-17 is alive and well and living all around the world. We all know the highly visible ones like
Thunderbird, Aluminum Overcast, Chucky, Texas Raider and Sentimental Journey to name a few. But
where are Prestons Pride, Wicked Wanda, Return to Glory, The Pink Lady, Mary Alice or Sally B and a
dozen more?. Well check out these pictures
Above left - B-17G-105-VE 44-85738 Preston’s Pride is at the outdoor AMVET Memorial in Tulare, CA while
Wicked Wanda, above right, B-17G-95-DL 44-83863 is at the Eglin AFB museum in Florida. This picture was
taken in 1979 and today the airplane is repainted as Gremlins Hideout.
Above left - B-17G-50-DL 44-6393 Return To Glory can be seen at the AFB Museum in California. Above right - is
B-17G-85-VE 44-8846 Pink Lady. This is the only B-17 on flying display in France. Her civil number is F-ADZX.
The circular insignia under the navigators window is an eagle with the legend Mother and Country on it.
Above left - Boeing B-17G-95-DL 44-83735 Mary Alice is on permanent display at the Imperial War Museum in London, England. Above right - Boeing B-17G-105-VE 44-85784 Sally B, is owned by B-17 Preservation LTD in England
and has been on the European air show circuit for years. Her British civil registry is G-BEDF
Great News Department - Just heard that the 3 guys who sponsor the CAF’s P-63, presently on display at
Doc Hisey’s hangar, flew in last week for a meeting. Results - The P-63 will be stripped to the bone for a total
rebuild here. Rick Schenholtzer will do the engine rebuild and the plane will retain its Limited category
OKW Newsletter
Page 9
I have had the pleasure of visiting with Col Don Miller at his home and watch the evolution of his labor of love, his
Vultee BT-13. Here are a couple of photos of it spanning a year from 2005 to late 2006. It is a beautiful bit of work
and the quality shows in every piece of equipment and every nook and cranny; all done to perfection.
OKW Newsletter
Page 10
Boeing B-17G-95-VE AAF44-85583 served with the Forca Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) and is on display
in very good condition at Recife, Brazil. Apparently the Brazilian Air Force did not follow the practice of painting
‘nose art’ on their airplanes and this one, though stripped with bright yellow fuselage and wing bands and vertical fin,
has no individual markings visible. It looks good but I don’t know how complete the inside of this airplane is.
The funding for this issue of the Oklahoma Wing Newsletter is made possible
through the contribution of Col Arnie Angelici in memory of his late father who
was born this month in 1928.
COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE
OKLAHOMA WING
P.O. BOX 42532
7100 NW63, PWA Hangar 301
Oklahoma City, OK 73123-3532
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