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Besides the "Sandbox",where were some of the strangest TDY's or Depolyments with the A-10 you ever been on or your squadron went on?

GrandForks AFB ND in NOV for "SNOWFOX" in NOV 86 was the COLDEST DAMN TDY I ever went on.
We were there with the HOG's to be "RUSSIAN" Bear Bombers for Mountain Homes ORI and were with the T-33'S(F-80's) out of Alaska.
Most of the guys except for us "Yankees" had never seen snow let along "TEMPS -0 and Windchills in the -40f's". The coldest day was
-18F with a windchill of -51F.
We had to put heaters up in the APU compartments to warm them up, then start them,then motor the engines 2x before starting them-up to get the oil flowing.
You could only work for 15mins at a time outside and the Buddy system.
The jet would return and if you didnt take "JOAP's" asap the oil would almost freeze in the tubes.
One of our pilots on that TDY got a F-15 Gun Kill while he was flying in formation,due to the F-15 pilot lining-up on the head HOG for a gun kill,but was ruled "OUT" since he was a Bomber.

The AMU also went to "TOP-GUN" for being "Clay birds" for the NAVY , and the Strangest one,I didnt go on this one but for 90 days we depolyed 4 A-10's to the Northwest for "SGT YORK" testing.
The SGT YORK AAA gun platform the A-10 was its "Clay Birds" but get this the Hog was "TOO FAST"<img src=newicons/anim_shock.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>
so for the crews to lock on to the HOG to fire they had to fly
STRAIGHT,LEVEL, with their "WHEELS DOWN" in order for them to aquire the target.
I guess thats why we didnt get the system.
Those were the strangest I heard of from us.
Unless you condsider not getting to go to ARUBA
<img src=newicons/anim_cussing.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/madani.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_bs.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/spit.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_furious.gif border=0 align=middle>

Goose

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin,
(1706 - 1790)

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

Damn Goose,

Sounds like you had all the "Fun" ones. While I weas in the 75th we only had the Patrick, Tyndall, Eglin Circuit. Also Ft Irwin for NTC a few times and Nellis for Red Flag. Best for me was the month we went to Bentwaters in '83. A couple weekends off there, gave me time to go and visit my grandparents, which turned out to be last time I saw my grandfather before he passed.

Were they still doing the "Day Trips" when you got there? Send your bird out in the morning and recover it late in afternoon. Morning it flew down to Florida and made a pass or two then did a midday turnaround to fly a mission enroute back to EAFB. Or the Ft Hood flight as well, pretty much same thing.

I cant say I went on any strange ones. Unless you consider Wright Army Airfield strange? Hinesville Ga, and crawling with Army types, I guess you could say that was an adventure.

Fender

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Hogsnort,
I went to NTC 4x times, RedFlag 2x,Ft Rucker 3x,,
FT Steward 2x's,Leck AB Germany 2x's. Hurri-a-vaced to McConnell AFB Kansas 3x's,Kirkland AFB 1 time,Holloman 1 time,Little Rock 2x's,GrandForks 1 plus the "Sandbox Tour"

But we had TDY's to TOP-GUN,Tyndell,Aruba,Alaska,McCord,Battle Creek,and Green Bay but didnt have my Jet on those.

I did get to go to Tyndall AFB while at FT Rucker after we all had an "All nighter" the pilots came back with "1.2 liters of LOX" left after the 1st day and FT Rucker couldnt Fill bottles,the the USAF DET Commander (L.O.) stationed at Rucker a Full Bird Col, EX- F-100 Pilot got us a Huey and flew me and Smitty down to Tyndall with the LOX bottles strapped to the floor of the Chopper and looged it in as a "Training flight"
We landed at TAFB, He went to Op's and TA took us over to the LOX area we filled them -up,went back to the Chopper strapped them back in went got "Box Nasty's" and he picked-up the TAB after the Msgt Threw Smitty and me out the 1st time "YOU KNOW YOU DAMN TDY GUYS CANT USE THE IN-FLIGHT KICTHEN"!GET-OUT!
We ran into the Col outside and he wanted to know "Where's is my #3"?
we told him and he went in with us right behind him and the rest is history,but they sure pack ALOT in those boxes there,everything you wanted!
Then we got to the Chopper and the W0 who was flying the bird said "Saftey Officer came by and wanted to know about if these things were" safe like that?,hazardous, etc....... and to Stay -put until we got an OK from QA.The Colonel said "Chief, what do you think"? I told him "We flew down here Sir with them,plus with the doors opened I'm not afraid Sir" he replied "Just making sure because I'm not either and lets get going "!

QA showed-up in time to see me waving "GOOD-BYE" from above and flying past them with our doors opened<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

Needless to say , ALEX had a DSV Report from TAFB waiting for me when we got home, but I was just "Following Orders"
That was the best chopper ride I had in the USAF,not Smitty's though,his box lunch ended -up somewhere over Ga ,

Goose


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin,
(1706 - 1790)

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

Fender...

When were you at Wright? I was there in '83 from the Beach. Demon section. We were there twice actually. The first time we stayed in the NG training area. The second we stayed at a motel up near Richmond Hill.

Damn Goose, sounds like you guys took on alot more TDY comittments after I left. I never had the pleasure of the Ft Rucker trips....Thank God! I heard horror stories from some of the Amry Post trips some different guys were on.

Box Nasty's were surely packed very full, and surprisingly werent usually that bad, as long as they was fresh.
Best mess hall type stuff I ever had, had to be at an Italian Airfield while stationed in Aviano.
Myself and another guy were requested by the British Red Arrows to accompany them to an Air Show for 3 days! We had befriended a few of them while the practiced in Aviano a few times.
We drove down with gaseous oxygen and gaseous nitrogen carts to assist them, but never even unloaded the carts! Spent 3 great days on the ramp with the Reds and some great nights partying with them in the local watering holes!
Anyway their dining facility there was awesome! Tableclothes and Wine on every table. Everything was fresh cooked to order. Couldnt beat it!

Although my last assignment on the Nellis range wasnt bad for a dining facility either.
We had Giant T-Bones every Wednesday night and accompanied by lobster tails or crab legs. The tails and legs rotated every other week.
Tough duty that was!

I almost forgot........we did get to chase a few sheep while on an overnight enroute to Bentwaters. We stopped at Lajes in the Azores. LOL

The clay bird trips with the navy..........was that one of the trips I think Country went on in Red? Went to Lemoore NAS in California?
Said they got tossed outta the club for "Harpooning Whales"! LOL
Guess the navy guys were deployed and the women were running wild. Said they was some rather "big" girls and they acted like they were harpooning them as they walked past, while another guy was behind pushing the chair as if he was being drug by the women "Whale"!LOL

Early Days of Political Correctness? LOL

Went to Cold Lake, Canada with the 358th way back in (78?)

Eagle, I got to Demon Section in 87 and stayed there until they closed the place down. I cant remember what year I went to wright, I do remember staying at the Shoneys in Hinesville,

Fender

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Hogsnort,

That was the TDY, that Country,Duff and a few others went on and got kicked-out of the club,the bowling alley about everwhere.
As soon as the fleet went out,the club was Jammed pack with the Wifes and Girl friends they said and they Ht on any guy in site.

Rucker TDY's where pretty good,off base housing and 4 hr days,and LONG DRUNKS.

I spent 5 of my 11 yrs in MAC and the best box Nasty's where oversea's and the best was #3 Fried Chicken! ones,then the Ham&Cheese sandwhichs.
Now Yokota AB had its own FLT Line Chow hall,either take-out or eat there and it was better than the Main Chow hall by far!
Basically anything you wanted and had Rib-eye sandwhiches that were Great!.

Ft Steward TDY's were good,they had us down town <img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle> at Shoney's the only TDY I ever got stuck on base was 1 RED Flag,That SUCKED! but so did the SLEEZY 6 at NTC/GAFB,next to Bob'sBigBoy.
Carl was on some of those with me,and lets say"They were event-ful!"
Dye-markers,MrBubble, crap so many things happened to that pool,and that Golden Flow getting off the Jet at home was my last one.

Black had some good TDY's too.But we got most of the small ones.

Goose

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin,
(1706 - 1790)

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

Pool Problems huh?

I remember us getting kicked out of a place in Vegas during Red Flag for damaging the hotel pool. Damn I lived in Vegas 18yrs and cant remember the name of the damn place now! LOL

Anyway they wouldnt open the pool for us......about 115+ days......so a few set a dumpster on fire and pushed it into the pool! They didnt take kindly to that one!<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

I dont remember if we got im more trouble for that, or having an Air Force Van towed away from the Crazy Horse 2 parking lot! <img src=icon_smile_blackeye.gif border=0 align=middle>

I wasn't there! I never saw a van! What Van? Crazy Horse 2, Whats that Sir? Strip Bar, Oh No Sir thats definately against my religeous convictions!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

When you mention "Swampbird" are you talking about Dave Crain? Chubby ssgt with glasses and a "Big Snozz"? LOL

Yes
the same person,When I first got to RED, I was his Asst. on 2653,then Spud who was DCC on 0166 and Us switched 2 months later due too GunSmoke and in Aug85 Swampbird went to "Supervision" Then I took over 0166.
Which section launched the Jet during RED FLAG, that they left the forms on the nose gear and it even went thru EOR AND ON TAKE-OFF THE FORMS BINDER FELL OFF THE GEAR AND WENT EVERYWHERE!!?
It wasnt RED, I think we went later on because Capt.(?)which was from EAFB was then stationed at Nellis gave us a safety briefing on it.
So you guys were the ones at the Crazy Horse with the Van,
<img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle> cant be no worst then the folks who went "FOUR-WHEELING" and got the Van stuck in the desert at NTC,or better yet the ECM shop guys who put Gas in the Coleman's radiator,then didnt even have a license for it.<img src=newicons/anim_shock.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=newicons/anim_lol.gif border=0 align=middle>

Goose


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin,
(1706 - 1790)

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

BUZZARD FROST 85

It wasn't a strange TDY, but it was unusual. In 1985, the 510 TFS from Bentwaters was tasked to support a AFNORTH exercise in Norway, the tundra version of REFORGER. In Sep 85, we took 12 jets and about 150 folks to Bardufoss AB Norway for two weeks of flying and drinking. The flying was awesome! The best part was that the beer was highly taxed up there, $4.50 a bottle in 1985! But since we were there for NATO, we were given tax exemption, so I bought 80 cases of the local brew at $1.00 a bottle! Needless to say, we would get very prepared in our camp before venturing down town to interface with the natives, especially since we were only getting field conditions for per diem.

Best mountain, glacier and fjiord flying I've ever done! The CAS was fun too...the RNAF flew their FAC-A's in O-1 Bird Dogs, just like the 'Nam only with snow.

Every time I hear Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", I think of this TDY. The Norgies loved that song and played it several times a night in every disco in town.

Our billets were in a private fishing camp one mile off the end of the runway...the arrival ceremonies were legendary!

Coach

When I was an E-1 I think, we took two jets from Spang to Nea Anchilos AB in Volos Greece. The Greeks had never seen the A-10 fire the gun before. So after a training flight which consisted of aircraft from about 8 different countries, our hogs remained a couple miles out while all the other aircraft landed at the base. They had two old "unimog" type trucks sitting on the beach just to the north of the runway, and our two hogs fired on them with TP from about 7000 ft. It was an awesome sight. We later went to the trucks and took some pictures, as well as dug out some of the 30MM lead from the beach. If anyone's interested, I'll dig out some photos and post them.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>If anyone's interested, I'll dig out some photos and post them.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>Now there's a stupid offer!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> Start digging 966...

The Second Amendment: America's original homeland security.
Ya just can’t take life too seriously, because you aren’t going to get out of it alive anyway.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>If anyone's interested, I'll dig out some photos and post them.

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Photos, we love photos. Post away.

Fender

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Okay, how do I post a picture? I feel retarded.

How do I post a picture?

Got photobucket, etc?

The Second Amendment: America's original homeland security.
Ya just can’t take life too seriously, because you aren’t going to get out of it alive anyway.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Guys,
I dug out a few pictures. I just posted them on my business web site though. Here's the link.

http://www.poweredpresentations.com/A10

Thanks, Chief!

The Second Amendment: America's original homeland security.
Ya just can’t take life too seriously, because you aren’t going to get out of it alive anyway.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Nice pics Chief.

Fender

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Thanks for posting the pics Chief, love to see the Hawg past and present!

Ugly But Well Hung

Went to RAF Conningsby (probably no where near correct spelling) to refuel 4 A-10's from a C-130 bladder bird. That was indeed interesting. The best...with out a doubt was at Lake City, Fla. when we closed the A-10 Demo team here at Moody. My wife was on scene with the pyro guys and got to shoot the grand finale for our show!!!!

Global Yankee st Fort Drumm in 1994. Five days of intense rain. No flying because the range was closed, and I had to sit in a mini van for five days with three smokers. We called it the carcinovan. The range did open for a short time in the middle of the week. As soon as it opened a pair of F-16's that were participating broke the airspace (seems they didnt get the new flight schedules)and proceded to bomb the range tower. One of the jets pickled off all six 500pound BDU's at once. A couple of them went through the bottom of the range tower taking out a desk, a computer room and a humvee parked outside. We collectively renamed the excercise Global Disaster.

"By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a peerage or Westminster Abbey !" Nelson the Immortal Memory

_________________
YGBSM !

I was in the 355th AMU both times I was at the beach.

I was on a couple of those Ft Rucker trips. Six guys in a Dodge sixpack, load of tools in the bed and 2 jets.
At Ft. Knox, we hit the head of the chow line and I almost cleaned out the place when I said "The Air Force is taking this place over"
Many Nellis TDYs, being the only single autopilot guy, I'd stay for all the rotations.
When Grissom, IN (917CAMS,IIRC) transitioned from the A-37 to the A-10, almost totalling my bike on the way back to the beach. I think they taught me more about A-37s!

My best one, I PCSed to the Bach, Falcons came over that January, I got to crew my old plane that STILL had my name painted on it.

354AGS, MBAFB 77-79
Det 1. 81TFW 79-81
354AGS, MBAFB 81-86
Automatic Flight Control System Technician.
76-0519,77-0181,77-0196

Edited by - 79cb750f on Mar 12 2006 08:18 AM

_________________
76-0519/77-0181/77-0196
354TFW/354AMS/354AGS
Detachment 1 81TFW
Automatic Flight Control Technician
Big Green Loud Kawasaki Rider.