THE HANGAR DIGEST IS A PUBLICATION OF TH E AMC MUSEUM FOUNDATION, INC. V OLUME 9, I SSUE 3 Hangar Digest J ULY 2009 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: INSIDE THIS ISSUE Inside From the Story Director 32 Inside Cruisin‘ Story with Jim 42 Inside Meet the Story Volunteer 42 Inside The MATS Story Story 53 Inside Artifact Story Fact 74 Inside Volunteer Story Goes to Sea 85 Inside Foundation Story Notes 96 Shown is the Museum’s C-133B Cargomaster S/N 59-0536, the last C-133 built. The C-133 helped to pioneer modern strategic airlift throughout the world in the late 1950s and 1960s before the introduction of the all-jet C-141 Starlifter. The Cargo- master was invaluable during the Vietnam War, but airframe fatigue problems LOOKING caused the fleet to be withdrawn from service in 1971. Photo: Editor BACK Some of us at the Museum have had difficulty not only com- Fifty-five years ago municating via email, but also in the inability to send, forward (26 June to 17 July, 1954) airlift aircraft or receive email attachments. And, internet research had be- from the Far East come impossible. That problem is now solved! Thanks to the Air Forces and the perseverance of John Taylor, Operations Manager, a Com- Military Air Trans- cast line has been installed which now gives us the opportu- port Service carried nity for unlimited email correspondence. Jim Stewart, Store 509 French Foreign Manager; Jan Caldwell, Volunteer Coordinator and I now Legion veterans of have Comcast access; so, for ALL future contact, please use the French cam- our new Comcast email addresses as our “dover.af.mil” ad- paign in Indochina dresses have been deactivated. Our new addresses can be from Saigon to Paris, France and found under “Contacts” on the Museum’s website. Oran, Algeria by Hal Sellars, webmaster, reports that we have had more than way of Tokyo and 37,000 visitors to our website since he developed it eleven Westover AFB, months ago. If you have yet to log on, you’ll see some great Massachusetts in photos by Ev Sahrbeck, fantastic graphics by Hal while keep- Operation Wounded ing up to date with all of the Museum’s activities. Be sure to Warrior. The 14,000- mile airlift followed navigate to Links for access to other great aviation adven- an eastern route due tures. Try it at: www.amcmuseum.org. to political consid- Our annual Fall Mixer is set for 18 September. See Founda- erations and the lo- tion Notes for information on this and other future events. cations of suitable airbases. Harry E. Heist, Editor Source: Toward the New Email: [email protected] Air Mobility Com- mand 1994 Revised. PAGE 2 VOLUME 9, ISSUE 3 Air Mobility Command Museum Mission Statement The mission of the Air Mobility Command Museum is twofold: ●The primary mission is to present the history and development of military airlift and tanker operations. ●The second closely aligned mission is to portray The Hangar Digest the rich history of Dover Air Force Base and Dover is published quarterly and Army Airfield, its predecessor . is dedicated to the preser- vation of our airlift and tanker heritage. All arti- Staff: AMC Museum Foundation cles, unless otherwise Director noted, are written by the Mike Leister Board of Directors: editor. All photographs Curator President Jim Leech Col Don Sloan, USAFR (Ret) are the courtesy of the Air Operations Manager Vice President Mobility Command Mu- John Taylor Col Richard Harper, USAF (Ret) seum unless otherwise Chief of Restoration Secretary MSgt Rick Veller, USAF Lt Col Phil White, USAF (Ret) designated. Collections Manager Treasurer Viewpoints expressed are Deborah Sellars MSgt Harry Van Den Heuvel, USAF (Ret) those of the contributing Archivist/Editor Hangar Digest Members Lt Col Harry E. Heist, USAF (Ret) CMSgt Donald ―Doc‖ Adams, USAF authors and do not neces- Museum Store Manager (Ret); Robert Berglund; Jim Douglass; sarily reflect the opinions Jim Stewart Dick Caldwell; Lt Col Paul Gillis, USAFR of the AMC Museum Educator (Ret); Everett ―Sonny‖ Kruhm; MSgt Dick Caldwell George Bailey, USAF (Ret); Col Ronald Foundation or of the Mu- Volunteer Coordinator Rutland, USAFR (Ret); Jack Carpenter; seum‘s staff. Janice Caldwell David Bever; Chaplain, Lt Col John Subscriptions are free Librarian Groth, USAFR (Ret) MSgt Bob Wikso, USAF (Ret) and are mailed via non- Membership Manager profit standard mail to Deborah Sellars paid-up members of the Website (www.amcmuseum.org) AMC Museum Founda- Hal Sellars tion, Inc. Contributions. Reader‘s From the Museum Store: comments, articles and Summer‘s in full swing and it‘s time to get into those shorts and T-shirts ideas are solicited for fu- along with that cool refresher by your side. So, check out the store for ture issues. Mail to: Harry your can and bottle cozies, BBQ items, Air Force theme summer wear, E. Heist c/o The Hangar flying models for the kids and books for your leisure reading. Digest, P.O. Box 02050, Contact store manager Jim Stewart by phone at (302) 677-5992 or by Dover AFB DE 19902- FAX at (302) 677-5949 and email: [email protected]. 2050; FAX (302) 677- Members, be sure to ask for your 10% discount when ordering. Not 5940 and email: yet a Friend of the Museum? Join now by filling out the Membership [email protected] Application on page 15. Correction to April’s issue: Dover’s 1737th Ferrying Squadron also flew T-33s,. HANGAR DIGEST PAGE 3 From the Director Sometimes we get lucky. In the last issue, we ran a photo of a crashed A-26 and discussed using it as proof that Dover A-26s had a top turret. Well, just by chance, a long time Museum supporter named John Bessette took a trip to the Air Force Records Center at Maxwell AFB in Alabama. That is where all of the aircraft assignment cards and squadron histories are kept. While he was taking a break from his intended research, he looked up the assignment card for the aircraft tail number in that picture. Not only was he able to find the assignment card he also found the complete accident report, which added a bit more to our understanding of Dover‘s Rocket Test Center and of aviation in general during World War II. John found that the pilot had made eleven firing passes when he developed engine trouble. We have a photo of a Dover A-26 with 20 rockets mounted under the wings in twin mounts so that checks out. A crosswind landing with one engine out and a general lack of emergency training procedures served to make that the last mission that particular A-26 flew. The pilot was injured in the hard landing because---unbelievably---Dover did not have shoulder straps installed in all of its aircraft. After that incident, it was mandated that all aircraft at Dover Army Airfield have shoulder straps installed and that they should always be used. One other interesting tidbit is a map that showed the position of the aircraft on the airfield and where the aircraft firing butt (backstop) and the ord- nance area was located. When you work on a military base, you get used to inspections. In basic training, I remember they used to inspect to see if your bootlaces were laced left over right. Not that it mattered to your feet; it was training to assure that you could follow instructions. The names of the inspections change, their importance also change, but inspections are a part of what allows our organizations to function smoothly in spite of the changing requirements. Dover AFB just completed a big inspection called a Unit Compliance Inspection (UCI). This one is much more serious than the old boot-lacing thing in basic. The base received an overall ―Excellent‖ and your Museum earned an ―Excellent.‖ This is no small accomplishment given the number of compliance issues we deal with every day. Thanks to our staff, paid and volunteer, for all their hard work!!! In April, right before the UCI, we needed a battery-powered am/fm radio to fill a square for emergency equip- ment. Therefore, I posted a request in the volunteer‘s office asking if someone might have one that he did not need. A visitor from Rockville, Maryland noticed the sign so he sent us a radio. As a former member of the Air Force, he wanted to help. He related his experiences flying in C-124s when he was in the Air Force Band. Not only are our volunteers great, now our visitors are getting in on the act! Now if someone would just donate a new hangar... NEWS FLASH—we just received notice that our KC-135E is released for delivery. This aircraft has a great history including an assignment at SAC Headquarters in Nebraska and one with the 2nd Bombardment Wing at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. It was, according to preliminary information, the first KC-135E assigned to Rickenbacker AFB in Ohio. It will also be the last KC-135E model to leave McGuire AFB in New Jersey. Amazingly enough the plane has been flying for 50 years, I can‘t really put that into perspective except to ask how many of you are still driving your ‗57 Chevy to work every day??? One very interesting note, that for a special event in 1998 and held in England, the plane sported a huge tiger on the left side that took up nearly the entire forward Our new KC-135E accession as seen at McGuire fuselage. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive on 7 August; how- AFB on 8 April 2008.