Yo, Dragon Lady! You worked on 141's? So did I, but at Norton AFB in San Bernardino, CA. I should say the "late" Norton AFB since it's now San Bernardino International Airport. I arrived there in February '69 and it remained my primary duty station until my discharge in September '72, though I went TDY to many other bases (some AF, some Navy, some Marine, some Army, national and international) from there. I remember the first time I took part in a towing operation. It was in March of '69 and I shouldn't have even been on that crew since I hadn't yet gone to class to qualify. Ya know how you have to disconnect the nose gear steering arms, well they used my belt to hold up the lower arm but didn't show me how to re-connect them. When the 141 was towed to its proper place on the flightline I just went and retrieved my belt, leaving the gear disconnected. Later that day the plane was supposed to fly a mission to 'Nam but when they went to block out, the pilot turned the steering wheel in the flight station and it just kept going straight. Then the hammer fell. Since sh*t rolls downhill, guess who it rolled onto.
NOT ME!! Once they found out I wasn't qualified to be on that detail they came down on my crew chief, the shift chief, the line chief, the flight engineer, etc., everyone
but me. After that, I was quickly scheduled to attend every class they had available. Another snafu bullet dodged. My crew chief got it hard, he had to forfeit a week's pay and work his days off for a month. He then decided that my life should be a living hell for the next year (his last in the AF) and put me on every sh*t detail he could think of (greasing the gear and the horizontal stabalizer actuator, draining the fuel cell sumps, etc. and not just on the aircraft for which we were assigned, but for all others), all for something that wasn't my fault.
Fortunately his actions were noticed and the shift chief told him to cut me some slack. He finished his last 6 months behind a desk.
I'd like to hear some of your 141 stories, too, since you're the first gal I've heard of who worked on a flightline.