Hello Bill;
I guess it took long enough to get this up. But
better
late then never. Please feel free to edit any part or
all of this, delete, add or anything else.
It is obvious that you have put in many hours on the
12th TCSq page. You have done a bang-up job. It
brings
back a flood of memories, some good, some bad, some
funny and some not so funny.
The bad ones are like
the '82 that went down into the mountain top in the
Rhone Valley, killing all crew members and 42
troopers.
The radio op had sent in a position report just 15
minutes before the crash showing they were on
course,
They THOUGHT. They were 50 miles off course to the
left
in route to Marselle. The funny ones like:
One day
during a baseball game between RM/Neubyberg, a C-82
flew over the ball field dropping parts off the
plane,
right onto the field. Three parts hit the field. The
plane landed ok, then before it could taxi off the
runway one of the booms just dropped to the ground.
Still no one was hurt.
The a not-so-funny (then, but
funny now): We were
grounded at Wheelus Fld, Tripoli for parts. I had a
schedule to call group headquarters each day at
13:00, by CW. One day the
engineer and myself went to
the plane to make the call. I went on up the ladder
to
the cockpit and the engineer started the APU.
When he
hit the on-line switch the right gear
collapsed.
(see
picture) What a sound
and a mess!!! Besides
what is
shown in the picture, it put the right wing tip in a
90 degree up angle. Someone had removed the pin out
of the right gear and when the power was turned on it
started to retract. They had to class 26 the
aircraft. Strange thing is I never heard about a
accident investigation being made.
On the memories page one you ask if anyone can
identify any of the other cars in the picture. That
is my
1933 German Addler in the background. I bought it
from Bob Belcher in the 11th squadron and them sold
it back to him.
I first came to Germany when my squadron was
transferred from the Philippines to participate in
the airlift. After the lift I was assigned to the UN
Truce Supervision team in the Palestine. From there
to
the 60th group in the 11th squadron and then the 12th
squadron. I was in the 12th for
about two months and
a group of very bright young RARAR maintenance men
arrived and I was told to make airborne radio
opperators out of them. I did just that, and thanks
to
their intelligence and willingness to learn, it was
an easy task. McDonald and Krynski are two of
them. I
left Germany in '52 and ended up in Korea went into
OSI for awhile and then to Turkey, two more tours in
Germany, two tours in southeast Asia retirng in 1974.
Went back to my home town in Tennessee and met a girl
who is now my wife, Bernice. We are presently living
in Athens, Alabama.
I wonder what ever happened to the OIC of
communications, Lt. Dugolpolski. Boy, he sure didn't
like me. Or what happened to the 12th Commander, Lt.
Col. Kidd. He did like me because we were the first
squadron in all USAFE to reach it's full quota of
Class One Radio Opperators.
All in all it was a great experience and it gives me
much pleasure to relive a little of it each time I
look over your home page. (I
also bore a lot of
people, I am sure, showing off the old 12th
squadron).
Remember what I said, please feel free to edit this
in any manner you wish. I am well aware it is much to
long to print verbatim.