BCF Military Service Poll?

[AngliaGT]

Rob,

Did you ever notice that the Navy videos always seem to come from aircraft carriers?

- Doug

 

[jaybird]

jjh>>>

Serious?!

My husband did the same bloody thing, same danged areas. USN 68-72, radio control operator, P3-Orion. Based out of JAX.

 

[sunkissedhealey]

Navy, 4 years active duty--LT. Black shoe in the gator Navy.
LKA-115 USS Mobile.

 

[JacksonMG]

My dad used to fly C-47's over the hump. He was stationed in eastern India along the Bramaputra (sp?) River. He used to talk about shooting at the enemy out the cargo door with an M-1.

 

[eejay56]

OK here's my Dad story, He amazes me. He enlisted at 17 and flew as radioman/tailgunner on a torpedo bomber on a carrier in the Pacific. His ship was hit by a Kamikaze. He has Zippo lighter with a bullet dent from that time. Then he was in MI in Europe in 48-50 doing spook stuff on the East-West German border. In 56-58 he was back in Europe doing Intel stuff in Hungary during the leadup to the Hungarian Revolution. My older brother and I were both born in Germany during those tours. Later he went to Army infantry and spent a year in Korea around 1960. When he retired he was commanding an infantry training company at Fort Ord on the Monterey Peninsula.

 

[bugimike]

Thought some might find this interesting. This is a portrait of my Gramps done at Stalag 10 (Nieburg) in 1943 by a German officer.

 

[BobSands]

Yep- even after I was "out" I used to enjoy just driving thru base to look at the interesting stuff on the flight-line (before they fenced the whole place in!).
Probably my biggest kick there was "back-seating" an F104 during an Armed Forced Day show and going supersonic when out "fighter-flight" (at 10,000 feet) almost hit the "C5" flight and we were ordered to "get to 20,000 feet- NOW", was fun!
Bill

Hey Bill,...gonna show my ignorance, here, but are crewmembers ever offered flights, during training? Seems like it would be frustrating, working on all this high performance machinery, and never being able to see what it will REALLY do.
Thanx Bob

 

[Steve]

Thought some might find this interesting. This is a portrait of my Gramps done at Stalag 10 (Nieburg) in 1943 by a German officer.

Mike, that is a wonderful thing to have. Absolutely great! So, at the time he was a Captain? I assume that he must have survived the war......where was he captured? Unit?

 

[DrEntropy]

Geez, Mike, that looks like YOU!!!!

Bob: Rarely would ground crew get the opportunity (within reg's) to get a ride. Sometimes the the rules got 'bent' somewhat, tho. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

As Aircrew we were *required* to fly some number of hours monthly to receive flight-pay and stay "current". Tough duty. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

 

[Billm]

At my station the crew chiefs occasionally were allosed to fly back-seat on FCFs (functional check flights) up until about 1972 (I got to Eddies in July 1972 and missed that) but I made "airman of the month" in May 1973 and was allowed to ride during an airshow.
Even if we couldn't fly in them many of us could "run & taxi" them (a high-speed taxi down the runway to check for a "shimmying nosewheel" was a moderately common occurance)and that was pretty neat too!
I am the only guy that I know of who got a speeding ticket in an F4 (doing 35 in a 5mph zone on Eddies taxiway early on a Sunday morning, clocked by an AP up in the tower!!).
Bill

 

[BobSands]

At my station the crew chiefs occasionally were allosed to fly back-seat on FCFs (functional check flights) up until about 1972 (I got to Eddies in July 1972 and missed that) but I made "airman of the month" in May 1973 and was allowed to ride during an airshow.
Even if we couldn't fly in them many of us could "run & taxi" them (a high-speed taxi down the runway to check for a "shimmying nosewheel" was a moderately common occurance)and that was pretty neat too!
I am the only guy that I know of who got a speeding ticket in an F4 (doing 35 in a 5mph zone on Eddies taxiway early on a Sunday morning, clocked by an AP up in the tower!!).
Bill

I guess things are more stringent now...Chuck Yeager talked about checking f-86's out to go fishing, in the '50's.
A couple of years ago when the Blue Angels were here, one of the guys had had a death in the family and didn't make the trip. My first thought was, "I wonder if he got to take the "Company" jet home?"
Take care Bob

 

[bugimike]

Thought some might find this interesting. This is a portrait of my Gramps done at Stalag 10 (Nieburg) in 1943 by a German officer.

Mike, that is a wonderful thing to have. Absolutely great! So, at the time he was a Captain? I assume that he must have survived the war......where was he captured? Unit?

He was captured in Greece when the Germans paratrooped behind the allies and cut them off. I believe that was in 1939! He was a Captain in the Cyprus Regiment (Transport & Supply). He was decorated by the Queen! He did survive the war and lived to be 98 (He died just short of the millenium and really wanted to see in the new century!). He spent four years as a POW, being a thorn in his captors side, attempting numerous escapes. They finally incarcerated him in Colditz Castle (notoriously escape-proof, even though he was involved in attempts there also) until they were liberated! A good friend that he had made while a POW was RAF Ace Douglas Bader (the Legless Airman, who was immortalized in the old movie "Reach for the Sky"!) whom I had the honor of meeting a few times as a child in the '50s! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

Doc. It's that paternal gene or summat! We all tend to look like time-lapse photos of each other. I pity my poor sons!! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

[rulle7]

Just came across this thread, non-US counts as well I hope.
I spent my military years in the Royal Swedish Navy, Muskö Naval Base, doing Submarine surveillance.

 

[MGTF1250Dave]

25 year of service in US Navy, 67 thru 92. Surface ships on both coasts and several deployments. A trusty Shellback, Golden Dragon and Bluenose. A few ships entrusted to the care and feeding of Marines.

 

[vping]

Aside from the BCF, I noticed a lot of military guys into LBC's. I wonder why that is.

 

[Bayless]

Three years Army, '50-'60. Anti aircraft artillery, Nike Missles, defended the city of Pittsburgh. Proud to say not a single enemy bomber made it through on my watch.

 

[DrEntropy]

Nike Missles, defended the city of Pittsburgh.

You're from da 'burgh?!? wutta yins doin' out 'err in Oklahoma an' 'at?!? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Anti aircraft artillery, Nike Missles[/QUOTE]
Back in the early '70's, I commanded a Nike Hercules unit in Germany....

 

[Bayless]

Hey Doc, that's a pretty darn good written representation of "Burgh Speak." I can still recognize it now. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif Actually I've been an Okie most of my life. Just spent the military time there. From all I hear and read lately, I'd like to make a trip back just to see how the city has aged.

I was just a grunt Tony, just drove the missle. Did get to shoot down a drone at Ft. Bliss once though. The whole AAA Group (12 batteries) initially just had Ajax missles. The Hercules was deployed some time in '59. It was funny that they never would tell us whether we had nuke warheads but all the newspapers and civilians knew it. They did put up heavy security when the new stuff came in: MPs, guard dogs, double row 12 ft fences, sawed-off shotguns loaded with 00 shot. The warheads were delivered separately by helicopter.

 

[PATR8]

You might want to know that up to recently alot of the old Nike sites around the 'burgh were converted to National Guard armories. I spent a year with one located on a nike site near North Park, and of course the one in Oakdale.. Lots of Steeler fans on here apparently