WINTER 2009
Greetings friends,
Seems winter is in full “bloom” all over this great country of ours. I can imagine our alumni in the Dover area are dreaming of the good times to come in Orlando Florida. Meanwhile it’s a balmy 60 degrees today in sunny Summerville SC (but I won’t rub it in).
As always, I have a few favorite quotes, appropriate for the season:
“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these
let you savor a bad mood”.
~Bill Watterson
“To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring”.
~W.J. Vogel
One more;
“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat”.
~Author Unknown
The cold weather (relatively speaking) here in Summerville SC, and the picture I see featured in our 2009 Calendar of a C-141 parked on the snow, had me thinking of a cold weather mission I was part of long ago as a newly minted First Engineer. The mission itself seemed fairly straight-forward; a CDS (container delivery system) airdrop of supplies. An interesting twist; the drop-zone was near the North Pole, with our aircraft pre-positioning in Thule, Greenland.
Oh yeah, did I mention it was the dead of winter? Loading of the CDS supplies (heating oil, hydraulic fluid, food and other equipment) was pretty straight forward. Since I had never operated the aircraft in such severe weather (not to mention I figured it’d be a great mission for a flight examiner to jump me), I pulled out the Dash-One and read over the cold weather procedures. Now, it’s been a while, but I remember reading about ensuring the engine instrument circuit breakers were open when first applying power to the aircraft . . . otherwise you’d be likely to snap the tape gauges, such as EPR/EGT and such. Other helpful advice ranged from removing the aircraft battery, to constantly exercising the flight controls. The gist of what I had read led me to the conclusion that I better pack extra long-johns, and be ready for just about anything.
The flight to Thule went without a hiccup. I remember short final to this new pin-on-my-map; the runway was painted white, since bare blacktop would absorb heat, melting the permafrost below and thus causing the runway to buckle. Nice.
Did I mention it was the dead of winter? Now, I had experienced cold weather ops in beautiful Goose Bay, and can remember thinking that Goose seemed pretty warm in comparison. I’ll fast forward . . . we’re drinking at the club (naturally), getting close to the time when we’d be “in the window” when one of our crew-chiefs finds us to report our number two engine has a bad oil leak, caused no doubt by the nice minus 28 degree heat wave we were experiencing.
Two days, and many brain-cells later, our aircraft (now in a “heated” hanger) is repaired and ready to go. O-dark-thirty, and time to preflight. Boy, if I thought we wouldn’t explode, I’d of loved to refuel right there in that hanger! After towing and fueling (I was out front on the scanners cord, enjoying the now minus 31 degree morning) I went to roll-up the scanners intercom cord. It broke into about twelve pieces. Did I mention it was the dead of winter? Hey, the Dash One didn’t say anything about the cord shattering . . .
The
flight to the North Pole was OK, up to the time when we were about to start
running the CDS airdrop checklists. A Master Caution light accompanied by a Low
Oil Pressure light, number two engine. A quick panel scan showed other engine
instruments to be normal. “What’s the book say eng?” the pilot asks. “Says
. . . shutdown if not needed for flight . . . but seein’ how we’re over the
North Pole . . .”
Well, needless to say, we kept that engine running, the checklists were completed, and a successful airdrop to some very thankful folks on the ice-pack occurred.
Just for fun a short while later the navigator had us make a long slow left turn and said “Hey, we’re flying around the world right now!” Technically right, we were circling the pole.
Now this could be deemed another dubious “war story”, but as fate had it, I had purchased a new-fangled video recorder, and have the entire mission on tape. I’ll bring it to the reunion, as long as Dean Brady promises not to retroactively bust me!
Alumni Officers
While our Brothers and Sisters in uniform may have a new Commander in Chief to salute, our leadership remains intact:
President
John Mellert: 914 S. Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483
843-871-2407
Email: dave747fe@bellsouth.net
Vice President
Pete Thode: 5452 Roxbury Drive, Charleston Heights, SC 29481
843-207-7084
Secretary/Treasurer
Kaye Mellert: 914 S. Main Street, Summerville, SC 29483
843-871-2407
Email: kimellert@bellsouth.net
Editor/Webmaster
Warren Graf: 413 Branch Creek Trail, Summerville, SC 29483
843-873-9403
Editor@20thAlumni.com
Unofficial Officers
Chaplain
Lee Drangstveit: W. 11477 S. River Rd., Taylor WI 54659
Parliamentarian
Elmer Andrews: 898 Seahouse Dr., Port Lucie FL 34983
Reunion 2009
Our next reunion, Thursday 8 October to Sunday 11 October 2009 in beautiful, sunny, warm Orlando is on schedule, and promises to be one to remember. Our Reunion Czar (Elmer Andrews) needs to hear from you now if you even think you may possibly attend.
Email: ElmerAndrews@aol.com
Phone: (772) 878-2486
~or~
Elmer Andrews
898 SE Seahouse Dr.
Port St. Lucie, FL 34983-4693
As a reminder, the reunion will be held at the Rodeway Inn, 6327 International Drive, Orlando Florida.
20th Airlift Squadron Alumni Website
A few more folks have made a Touch & Go at our website; 20thAlumni.com. Take a minute to look at the comments in the Guestbook. You may recognize an old 20 crew-dog. Additionally, the most recent addition to the 20th online store is a 2009 calendar featuring many photos of our wonderful aircraft.
Charleston Members
The next alumni meeting for members in the Charleston area is Sunday February 15th, at 2:00pm at the Ladson VFW Post 3343, 10154 Bellwright Road. If you haven’t attended yet, please do, because Sam’s stories are getting old . . .
Presidents Corner
Hope all had a good Holiday Season. Kaye and I spent it in Anderson, SC where our granddaughter’s husband is now stationed. No more Hawaii.
I received correspondence from Mr. Steve Collier, Public Affairs Office, Peterson AFB, CO. The 20th AS looks to be in place and operating by late summer 2009. I gave him our web-site address so he could keep up with the latest information from our organization. They would like to include some of our articles in their base internal magazine, The Front Range Flyer.
I talked with Elmer Andrews earlier this month. All is well with the upcoming reunion. He would like to have the names of those of us that are planning to attend. He is trying to get a head count so we know approximately how many meals to plan for the banquet and welcoming get together. Still to be worked out is the registration cost. I promise it will be as reasonable as possible.
I'm sorry we are a month late getting this newsletter out. Kaye and I have been gone and Warren's work has him in and out.
Please visit the 20th web-site and order stuff from the store. Kaye has received the first royalty check from the company that handles the merchandise.
All for this edition; BE GOOD, BE SAFE, BUY BONDS.
Remember When . . .
The Airlifter
September 6, 1968
The 9th is gone.
Aircrews from the 9th Military Airlift squadron have flown 88,908 C-141 Starlifter hours for the wing since April of 1966. The unit is now non-existent; the last 9th MAS mission (pictured above) departed Dover Tuesday afternoon. Deactivation of the 9th, however, does not mean oblivion. It simply involves a dormant period preluding the arrival of the C-5 here in 1969 when the 9th will be reactivated as a Galaxy squadron.
During the interim, the 9th’s 19 C-141s and 125 of its flying personnel have been transferred to McGuire AFB. NJ to form the 18th MAS. Other personnel formerly with the 9th will join the ranks of the 20th here.
Reactivated and organized at Dover AFB on New Years Day in 1965, the 9th MAS was then a C-124 unit known as the 9th Troop Carrier Squadron.
The Squadron received its first Starlifter in April of 1966, and became C-141 operational the following month. By September of the same year the unit - - then known as the 9th Air Transport Squadron, completed its transition from Globemasters to the new, all fan-jet Starlifters – ahead of schedule.
By the end of 1966 the 9th had tallied 18,071 flying hours, a figure that was more than doubled in 1967 when 9th crews flew 42,992 hours to points throughout the world.
This year the squadron has amassed a total of 27,845 flying hours, not counting the last 9th Starlifter that lifted off the Dover runway Tuesday.
That aircraft, after it has been piloted to Clark AF, P.R., will be returned to Dover and its crew will sew on 20th MAS patches.
Members of the crew are: Lt Col Alden A Scott, aircraft commander; 1st Lt Richard R Lanoue, pilot; Capt Harold L Arner, navigator; SSgt Larry K Fields and SSgt Walter H Smith, flight engineers and SSgt David V Euley, loadmaster.
The familiar blue, white and yellow patches of the 9th MAS will not be seen for awhile.
But the nig nine will be worn again when the worlds biggest aircraft arrives at Dover AFB next year.
Farewell Friends ~ Last Post
TSGT George F. Gourley Jr, USAF (Ret.)
George F. Gourley Jr., 73 died Friday, December 12, 2008, in Magnolia, Delaware. Mr. Gourley was a 20 year veteran of the United States military, starting with a tour in the U.S. Navy and then with the U.S. Air Force where he served as a C-141 flight engineer until his retirement. After leaving the Air Force, he worked for the state of Delaware as a marine policeman.
He is survived by two sons, Keith Robert Gourley of Pflugerville, TX and George F Gourley III, of Austin, TX.; a daughter Lisa A. Osborne of Pflugerville, TX.