Have been "Boomed" several times. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

(Written on 2015年01月09日)(Permalink)

Interesting back and forth talk. As a cop for a while, the same incident is really only one way but may be seen differrently. It's all good. The Chevy chasers were special. I'm not sure but I believe there was a rule about the chaser being behind the U-2 and he couldn't catch and pass. I know they drove just off center line behind the bird. I watched that tons of times. The pogo recovery team was always in a pickup truck. They were wreckless many times but as Security Police. we left them alone. I did see many a U-2 hook one of his skids on the runway. They just went too slow to hold up the wing tip. The crew didn't always get there spot on. I know the U-2s we had at first were U-2B models. Just as I was leaving DM in Dec. of 69, the first U-2R model came in. Now I'm saying R but it wasn't exactly like the R model I have here in my office.. Preacher, I'm out of the hospital. Got out at 5:00 yesterday. Scare of my life. Breathing isn't anything to mess with. Think was

(Written on 2014年03月22日)(Permalink)

The air police barracks was just west of the chowhall. I tried not to eat there too often. I did go to midnight chow a lot. Our barracks had it's dayroom on the 2nd floor. I lived on the 2nd floor for a while then moved down to the first floor in a room with a view of the chowhall. I got married in '68 and moved off base to a small apt. near Speedway and Craycroft Rd. I moved back to Calif in Dec. '69. I did go back to Tucson many times in recent years to ride a bike in the El Tour de Tucson Bike Ride. You know that one I'm sure. It's the day we screwed up traffic all around Tucson. I'd like to get back down there someday. I now live in Idaho, near Boise.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

Monroe, for some reason the site didn't come up. Maybe flightaware doesn't allow posting of emails or sites. I do follow on Facebook if you ever go there. I have 3 email addresses also. One is at reagan.com and another at gmail. I'd like to continue the conversations. My emails are steve5744@reagan.com and 57steve44@gmail.com.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

You've got the story just the way I heard it. We used to laugh about the Asian seeing a redlight on the dash and they would immediately punchout. That U-2 crash was shortly before I got there. I signed on at DM in the later part of April 1966. We were all sent there from basic OJT. I had no idea what 803rd CDS was until someone said here's your rifle and 38 pistol now go protect the Titan IIs and the flightline. I made E-4 under 2 and was given leadership right away. I lead SAT 7 the immediate security response team and then was communication plotter for a number of years. I had to lead the security response to the anti war protestors that gathered at the main gate on a Sat. or Sunday. That made us so mad until the base commander treated us to a steak dinner at the officers club. It was a hot day.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

The B-58s came in to DM in groups of 2 or 3 at a tiime. I watched a military channel show on them some time back. I find all the stories so interesting about all the planes. One night at DM we had a mystery plane land and it was taxied right to a hanger in MASDC. We were later told it was an F-111. The hanger was super secret and guarded by MASDC civilian guards. They wouldn't let us go in. Strange how the AF treated certain aircraft.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

I recall one night a private plane, like a Cessna 172, landed at DM by mistake and parked in with a row of F-4s. That was the weirdest thing I ever saw. The private pilot was just in a state of shock. We took him to base ops to arange fuel and flight plans back to Scottsdale where he thought he had landed. OSI somehow got involved but I wasn't privy to what they did.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

There were no relatives of mine in the AF. There was a Strickland at DM when I was also there but he was a K-9 handler. He went to Viet Nam in '68 or '69. All the Stricklands in the Southern US are related somehow, My dad had 7 brothers and a sister. He had an uncle that lived in NC and one or two from east Texas and Mississippi. All these stories that are being related here need to get written down. I doubt they will get related to the future generations. It would ne nice to have all this put in print. Real history. Real stories.

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

The U-2s were being flown by some non-US pilots for a while when I got to DM. It seems to me they were Asian, maybe South Korean? The darn guys crashed or crash landed one or more. One U-2 was gliding in from Texas or elsewhere and couldn't make DM. It went down not too far from Benson. Darned thing I ever saw. It looked like it just dropped from the sky. I'm sure it was damaged beyond repair but it looked like it could still fly. Those F-4s when they broke over the base had a certain sound. The one that crashed on base made a totally different sound. I know the guys in our barracks all heard it at the same time and were either outside or at east facing windows in a flash. We use to like to watch the C-130s come in from a long ways off. They took forever to get to base after we spotted their lights. The F-4s came down like a rock while the U-2s seemed to turn forever before they lined up to land. It sure was fun to watch all the different planes. Even the day all those B

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)

You've got a great memory for all that. The on base crash happened in either May or June of '66. I saw the F-4 out of my barracks window. It was headed straight down. We were told the pilot was a Major and punched out after he got the plant redirected. Trouble was he was upside down. The co-pilot came down with a barely opened chute. I think he landed near the base finance building. The wreckage was not really too wide spread because the jet went in a such a straight angle. The shopping center crash was so weird. I was with my future wife driving back from Morenci, Az. and just about 5 or 6 blocks from the site. Two F-4s took off together and one went into a downward track. I remember tell my future wife that something isn't right. Then the flame of the crash went up hundreds of feet. We drove by the scene and headed back to base. I was in air police so I knew there would be a recall for all people for security. I quickly went on base and gathered up clothing and other art

(Written on 2014年03月16日)(Permalink)