Favorite Aircraft

[Jerry D]

revwardoc : One of the unique Chow hall meals I enjoyed was a few years back around 1988 the Army was having an exercise and were coming over to McChord to camp out and there was a few Army Soldiers visiting the Chow Hall and they enjoyed the food enough the Visiting groups commander bought a few cases of Steaks for the Chow hall next to my barracks. And they were commercial grade Good steaks and we all enjoyed the meal the Army provided .That was good memory of the chow hall

[revwardoc]

JerryD; The worst AF chow hall I was ever in was at Chanute AFB in Rantoul, IL. Damn! That was some Gawd awful crap! Once I found fingernail clippings in the soup. Another time, at breakfast, I got some pancakes and, instead of syrup, they poured on cooking oil! Do you have any idea what that tastes like or feels like going down? And speaking of breakfast, not only were the eggs runny but that's what you felt like about an hour late and wished you were near a latrine. When they had SOS I think it was real shit on a real shingle. We used to use the burgers to pave the walkways. Even the birds refused to eat the toast if it was tossed to them, and you had to be careful when you did toss the toast 'cause if you hit someone it could be considered assault with a deadly weapon. Fortunately I was only there for just under 4 months; good thing, too, 'cause I damn near starved to death!

[MORTARDUDE]

AF dudes :

Really enjoyed all your posts.....

My picks :

Fighter prop

P-51 ... just about perfect for its era
runner-up P-38 a bad mutha

fighter jet

F-4 tough

Bomber prop

B-17 rugged as hell

Bomber jet

B-52 still going strong after 50+ years and will likely go another 50

Transport

C-47

all around kick-ass

A-10


Recon

SR-71 still way ahead of everything

[Jerry D]

MORTARDUDE: I personally prefer prop aircraft and think the B-17 bomber was definitely one of the sturdiest planes built the only other airplane to touch its stay in the air toughness is the A-10 Warthog A crew chief I met while stationed in Turkey once told me a neat Quote it was " I would rather screw my way around the world in a C-130 the suck and blow in a C-141" BTW if any ones ears are turning red these are actual aeronautical terms for aviation and refer to how air flows on Jets and prop engine planes

[revwardoc]

My dad enlisted in the Army just after Pearl Harbor but developed appendicitis during infantry training. By the time he got out of the hospital his unit went elsewhere and he was offered a change of assignment. He chose the Air Corps and asked to be assigned to a B-17 flight crew. He was sent to McDill Field in Florida for training only to "volunteer" for another assignment, North Africa. He was put on a ship bound for the Suez Canal and issued a British uniform. It seems the "tommies" were short of experienced truck drivers (its amazing what havoc can be caused by a truck convoy being savaged by Stukas). When he finally linked up with American troops he continued as a truck driver but would occaisionally fly on bombing missions over Italy and the Balkans in B-17's or -24's, taking photos. It wasn't extremely dangerous when the AA guns were manned by Italians who, at that point, were sick of war and Germans and had basically enough of the whole affair. Then came his last time up. Italy had surrendered and unbeknownst to him and the flight crew, Germans had taken over the air defense. So there he was, in a fortress, when all hell broke loose, ME-109's, accurate AA fire, the whole ball of wax. He was forced to man a waist .50 when one of the guys was killed. Then the plane was hit by flak. Most of the instruments were shot out and the pilot had a hell of time keeping the bird in the air. The made it back to North Africa but were forced to make a one-wheel, dead sticklanding 100 miles from the base. They had 2 killed and 3 wounded on that crew and my dad got back behind the wheel of his truck...and stayed there!

[Jerry D]

That was one eye opening tale revwardoc. Your dad had quite the adventure .

[BLUEHAWK]

My personal sentimental favorite is "The Provider", the old C-123, noisy, dirty, cold, simple, reliable, strong.

My aesthetic favorites are, the F-4, SR-71, C-119, P-38, F-111

[Dragon Lady]

I have a very personal love for the B17G. It wasn't until I was grown up and had already served 8 years in the AF that I found out my uncle had spent the last year of WWII marching across Germany as a POW with a broken back. I remember riding in a three-wheeled cart down the flightline at Tachikowa in Japan in the late 60's, but I never new of his secret pain. He was a flight engineer/Top Turret gunner on "Pistol Packin Mama" and flew out of Framingham. He was on his magic mission (#25) when he took a direct hit on his turret. The plane broke in half and he fumbled for his chute & toolbox. He didnt wear his chute because there wasn't enough room in the turret for him to maneuver with it on. He landed in a farmer's field and the old man turned him in. Roy was half blind from the hydraulic fluid and was banged up, but he was alive! Poor Mama tried so hard to bring her boys home and she almost made it.
Although he didn't talk about it for so many years; he was able to forgive and make peace with the people of Germany. He worked the museum at Davis Mothan and if he heard a tour of Germans were coming in he was right up front to greet them.
Last year Roy was finally awarded the Bronze Star, 50 years after the war was over. His brothers in arms fought for many years with the military to see that he was recognized for his efforts to help save some of his crewmen.
I can't help but think of him every time I see a picture of that old plane. He had some great insight when we worked on ShooShoo Baby.
Roy Bass had ALWAYS been my personal hero and his story just clinched it all the more for me. When he passed away earlier this year, I cried for a week. A painting of him was commissioned and was hanging in a museum in Tucson, AZ.

May God hold Roy Bass lovingly in his arms as I know he does with all of his heroes!

[revwardoc]

A former co-worker's father was a tail gunner on a -17 and was also shot down over Germany. He managed to parachute safely and, like your uncle, came down in a farmer's field and was quickly surrounded by several of the farmer's neighbors. He dropped his pistol and raised his hands (in the traditional French salute, figuring they'd recognize the gesture) only to find himself on thesharp end of their pitchforks. By the time the Home Guard arrived he had been stabbed several times. He spent the next 10 months in a POW camp hospital ward where they had to remove his spleen and a kidney. Fortunately the camp'sdoctor used the Red Cross penecillin on him instead of sending it to the front. He survived the war but was physically never the same and endured several more operations in VA hospitals. Unfortunately he chose the bottle as a way of life and died as a result of liver damage. War is hell, as well as its aftermath.

[Dragon Lady]

Doc,
You are so right war stinks! This is a family venue so I cant really use the words that are spitting out of my mouth right now to describe what I really think of war. I currently have friends in Iraq & Kuwait and I dread the news every day because I don't want to hear that another soldier has died because of a war. But I support those kids with all my heart and I appreciate their willingness to sacrifice their personal freedoms for what they feel is right. Who knows the path we would choose if faced with the same situation. Here were two men faced with the same hell and one was able to heal his emotional wounds to some extent and the other continued to bleed. I am sorry for the personal hell your friend's father lived through. But I am also very thankful that he fought that ugly fight so that each of us today are able to make the daily decisions that keep our lives worth living.
My husband is one of those who has chosen to give up a part of his life in the service of his country. He recently found out that he was selected for promotion to Chief Petty Officer. And I couldn't be more proud. He has worked so hard to for this and we made little sacrifice along the way. Heck we even rescheduled our wedding because his reserve unit had to go to Corpus Christi, Texas that week. By today's standards THAT was a sacrifice! :-)