I was sure I was going to SAC but ended up leaving New York on Dec. 9 1951 aboard the USS General Bunter, a twin screwed troop ship. We had 5,500 troops in the back 1/3rd of the ship and 450 dependents had the other 2/3rds with the navy. I volunteered for watch duty, as it was 4 hours on and 4 hours off for the total trip. You didn’t have to sleep 2nd level in a 4 level stack of cots with a bunch of sick troops. On watch under the close surveillance of a Marine Sgt. We soon discovered that we were there to protect the poor troops from being ravished by oversexed dependents. The rough seas of the North Atlantic in December, seems to make some females hotter than the best dinner, wine and dancing. We landed in Bremehaven on Dec 18th and were to Sonthofen the next morning. I got to Rhein Main just before Christmas and since I didn’t have enough time in the unit had no pass. I stood Line CQ for Crumb on Christmas Eve. He did not have an overnight pass so when he came back he brought me one of those half liter bottles of Cognac. I was afraid to drink it on duty so I had it on Christmas.

The next day I went to work in the first dock on the R2800s of the C-82. I have no idea how it happened but very shortly they made me an engine inspector and gave me a desk among all of the M/Sgt. inspectors. Boy did I take a razing over that. I believe the line Sgt at that time was S/Sgt. Blount. I can’t remember the Maintenance officers name but though he looked nice he was a real tight ass. S/Sgt. Blount had the permanent rank of M/Sgt. A little later he was called to the Squadronn. Commander’s office and when he came back a couple of days later he was wearing a Lt. Colonel’s oak leaves and came to say goodbye. They had re-commissioned him to the last rank he had held. Then they transferred him to another outfit, which was the practice when that happened. The maintenance officer had a really different approach to Blount on that last day, much more respectful. ‘Twas fun to watch.

Before the 119s showed up we went on a mission to Toul-Rosier Air Base, France. The runway there was PSP as were the taxiways. The PX was a semi van, the housing was 15 man tents and the weather was mud. I learned there and at our maneuvers in the French Occupied Zone that there is one thing you will never be able to do unless you are French, and that is to “out sneer” a Frenchman.

I don’t know if the specifications for the 119s or Fairchild had screwed up but we got them with standard fuel cells meaning they would light up like a roman candle if hit with tracers. So I ended up on a crew that replaced all of the fuel cells, left and right inboard and outboard, on all of the 119s we had just received. We drained them as well as we could, opened the inspection plated, crawled through them into puddles of 115/145 to reach the far upper corner bolts, unfastened all of the bolts, then came the hard part – collapsing the d—n things small enough to get them out of the inspection plate hole. The new ones came bundled small enough to get them through the hole but you better have them facing the right direction because if you didn’t them you had to rotate them after they were expanded. We had one of the first troops to get in the cell pass out and we had to drag him out. I then took n oxygen mask, hooked about two lengths of hose to it and let it trail out the inspection hole so one could breathe un-gassed air. I usually just held my breath long enough to do each bolt and then would drop out of the tank for a breather before going back in.

There was a 119 went down in the Alps that was reported to have run out of gas. I still think they had plenty of gas on board; they had just screwed up using the fuel transfer valves. I think the group lost a plane for various reasons every January for at leas three years running. I can’t remember if it was an 82 or a 119 that got flipped over (became inverted) on a trip to Belgium. The pilot managed to roll it back to right side up but all of the loading ramps had broken loose from their tie downs and wrecked havoc in the bay. Then one time on one of the aircraft (I think it was a 119) a hotshot pilot got into a dog fight with a B26 flying over Belgium and turned inside of the 26 which bent a wing spar and we had to send it to depot for repair.

I finally was a crew chief on a 119. I can’t remember if it was #130 or not but that sticks in my mind. They had put the crew’s names in little name holders on the front door. Ours read, Ledbetter, Quakenbush, and Huetson. Should have been either a firm of lawyers or accountants. There are hundreds of stories lurking in these damaged brain cells. The absolute worst chore with a morning hangover was helping the engineer tie down either aircraft tires or earthmoving tires. It would take at least twenty well-timed pulls on the oxygen to get through it.

Some of the missions that the 12th TCS took part in were:In 1952 we evacuated the British from Egypt when the July 23 uprising of the Society of Free Officers overthrew King Farouk and named Maj. Gen Mohammed Naguib commander in chief. That was a C82 mission. It was fairly hazardous for the flight crews.

There were regular flights down the Berlin Corridor with both the C82s and the C119s as we were a major link for some types of supplies, even after the airlift.

In 1954 we brought the French Foreign Legion troops from Africa to Orly Field in Paris along with weapons and other gear. The material was reloaded on to the C124s at Orly and flown to Vietnam. I think this was about the time of Dien Bien Phu.

I believe it was in 1954 that the group flew disaster relief into East Pakistan following severe flooding. As I remember all but one of the planes were stocked with medical supplies, tents, food, and water furnished by the German Salvation Army. The other plane had a coffee wagon provided by the Red Cross to make coffee and snacks available to the rescue workers.

There was a regular route that the 119s flew weekly. I am not sure that my memory is totally correct but it involved something like a crew flew from Rhein Main to Marseille and over-nighted there. The crew there took the aircraft on to Sidi Slemaine in North Africa and over-nighted there. The crew there took the aircraft to Athens Greece and over-nighted there. The crew there flew to Rome and over-nighted there while the crew in Rome brought the aircraft home. I may have the sops wrong but in general that was what they did. It was not popular with the flight crews because it meant flying other aircraft than their own.

One last tale and then you will have to pull the rest out one at a time as you remind me with your tales of adventure. When the last engineering officer that I remember rotated back to the states the line was missing a three-wheel trailer. It was Capt. Keith Johnson (I believe the same one that piloted #259 through the head on) and they were threatening to charge him with $1700 for that missing trailer (maybe only $1200 but I know it was over a thousand). I can’t remember who I got together with but I was hanging with Joe Vernon and Gabe around then. Anyway we decided that we would go around to all of the maintenance sites on the base and find it one-night after dark.