On Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:38:18 -0700 (PDT), Shall not be infringed
wrote:

On Oct 21, 12:22*pm, Jim Chandler wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:55:23 -0700 (PDT), Shall not be infringed





wrote:
On Oct 20, 1:40*pm, Jim Chandler wrote:
On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:56:26 -0700 (PDT), Shall not be infringed

wrote:
On Oct 19, 3:15*pm, Jim Chandler wrote:
On Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:17:18 -0700 (PDT), Shall not be infringed

wrote:
On Oct 18, 12:13*pm, Jim Chandler wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:20:05 -0700 (PDT), rangerssuck

wrote:
On Oct 18, 12:05*am, rangerssuck wrote:
On Oct 16, 7:48*pm, Shall not be infringed hot-ham-and-

wrote:
On Oct 16, 7:22*pm, "Califbill" wrote:

"Shall not be infringed" wrote in ...

On Oct 14, 6:17 am, Cliff
wrote:
*http://rbogash.com/Plant%202/2Plant2.html
* "1944? *No - it's the year 2010"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36

This was my dad's favorite.

Beautiful airplane. *I remember those flying over us in the early 50's.
Later when I was stationed at Travis, they have a picture of a B-36 crash
landing and the explanation of why Travis has the thickest runways in the
world. *Broke up 3600' of runway. *The B-36 was so heavy that only a couple
airbases runways in the world could handle them

Yikes. *Rickenbacker had the lonest east of the Mississippi, but don't
know about thickness.

The life of a Cold Warrior... *My dad was also at Eniwetok for the H-
bomb.

I've landed at Travis only once that I can recall, in a C-5. *The crew
invited me forward for the landing, and we came in crabbing into the
wind. When the wheels touched, the plane pivoted and went straight
down the runway. *What a thrill

Did the C-5 have steerable main trucks? If not, the forces from a
crabbed landing must have been huge.

Answered my own question - The internet is amazing (been doing this
since way before it was popular, and I'm still amazed):

http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/c5.asp

Landing Gear - The enormous C-5 Galaxy has a very unique landing gear
system consisting of a single nose strut, four main bogeys and a total
of 28 wheels. The complex system offers "high flotation" capability
for unpaved surfaces, freewheel castoring to facilitate ground
maneuvering, and an offset swiveling capability (20 degrees left or
right) for crosswind landings**. The landing gear system also has the
capability of raising each set of wheels individually for simplified
tire changes or brake maintenance. Size aside, the aircraft can
takeoff or land just about anywhere in the world.
To provide maximum logistical flexibility, the C-5's landing gear
assembly also has a three-position "kneeling" system, which can be
utilized to lower the aircraft's cargo floor to truckbed height.
"Kneeling" of the aircraft is especially needed when loading outsized
or long wheel-based equipment because it reduces the angle of the
forward or aft ramp critical areas.

** Not adapted to the second production B-model aircraft, and has
since been removed from all A-models.

And then, if you want to know way too much about the C-5 landing gear,
take a look at:
http://www.baseops.net/c5/gouge/Section1.pdf

I was just reading through the last few posts of this thread and saw
that someone, I couldn't figure out who, had been stationed at Travis
in '65. *I went to Travis in August of '66 as a clerk in the 60th
Field Maintenance Squadron Orderly Room (a misnomer if ever there was
one). *I was grousing to a friend one day about being tied down in an
office and he said "Why don't you become a Loadmaster?" *Not having a
clue, I asked him what a Loadmaster was and he pointed to a C-141 that
was landing and said something to the effect that "They fly on those."
I went traight to personnel and applied. One of the better choices I
ever made.

Jim- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hey, Load!

That's definitely a travelling job. *My final assignment was at HQ AMC/
DO (formerly HQ MAC/DO). *I worked "plans" and Clinton kept us busy.
You would have liked it.

When were you there? *I was at Travis from 65 to 67. *I just barely
got Second Loadmaster qualified when they said, "Hey, boy. *You're
going to Vietnam!" *I spent a year there on AC-47 (Puff the Magic
Dragon) then went to El Centro (3511th Parachute Test Squadron). *I
got out for two years and was a cop in Richmond, Va, and went back to
Travis in January of 73 in the 86th MAS. *Got out in Dec of 76
(married a nurse and they frowned on enlisted/officer marriages) and
after the divorce in 79, went back in and went to Dyess on C-130G/H
models. *After they tried to kill me three times on those damned
things I told them "You didn't kill me in a year in combat and I'll be
damned if you're going to do it now" *Quit flying and went to Nav
Systems school at Keesler then got shipped to George AFB (Victorville,
CA) where I finished out my 21 years. *They tried to send me to
Fairbanks, AK for three years a year and a half before my retirement
but I told to put that assignment where the sun don't shine. *I don't
do cold! :-) * Been retired since '88 and have done several different
things but now I'm just retired. *I kinda miss the flying business
once in a while, but only on the C-141s. *I hated C-130s but I did
what I had to do.

Jim-

After basic training and wx school, my 1st duty assignment was
Petersburg VA, Ft Lee 1977-79. *Thank God the US Army had no field
commitment there. *They paid me back with *a tour to 2nd ID in Korea
10 years later. *Worked with a C-130 pilot in Mogadishu, del Solar, I
think he was from Dyess. *Retired from Scott AFB end of December 1996.

We have more ties than we know. *Do you remember the big concrete
block house at the end of (I think) First Avenue, on the Hopewell side
of the fort? *I spent three and a half years of my first four('61-65)
in that damned place. *

:^))

Yup... SAGE Blockhouse, 20th Air Division, third floor wx station.
AOR from ACY to EFD.

Army aviation at Blackstone and several other locations called us for
flight wx briefings, etc. *We had to predict lightning within 25 and
within 5mi. so the generators could be started and power switched
over.

One of the Colonels used to show movies of his gun sights over Vietnam
on the mid shifts. *Rockets, cannons, gatling guns, 500lbs, popcorn,
napalm from high altitude and low altitude. *You could see the good
guys and the bad guys in many of them. *That was umm, different.
You'd almost **** yourself when the tracers came flying by or evading
a SAM.

Grill on the 1st floor served "Lucky Lindy's;" a fried egg/
cheeseburger. *Yikes! *I've never seen that before or since. *Probably
a good thing.

Got out after getting married and was a cop in
Richmond for a year before re-enlisting and going to Travis. *Was a
member of the Fort Lee Sport Parachute Club for two years and, in

I was a member of the Ft Lee Rod n Gun club. *Very military-like.
Army doesn't know how to take their rank off when they take their
uniform off. *I kayaked and fished the Appomattox River. *Loved
Virginia.

fact, made my first jump there. *The club house was down in the old
hospital area. *It probably went out of business before you got there.

I dunno, but there was an aero club. *The same thing? *One of the Sgts
wanted to take me flying allatime. *I had excuses.

Jim

I think I was on the third floor also. *I worked s a clerk in the Dir
of Ops, right across the hall from the General's office. *I got out of
there for about a year and a half and went across the street to the
information office and helped run tours, write newspaper articles,
etc. *Enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than being in the blockhouse. *I
also worked in the snack bar for a while. *That about killed me though
because I was working nights and had to work days in the office. At
the time I was there it was the Washington Air Defense Sector
Headquarters and we were responsible for the ADC missions from
Maryland to Florida. *Got my first jet ride there. *I talked a Captain
White into letting me fly with him on a comm check flight out of
Richmond in the T-33. *We flew all over the place. *I left there in
April of 1965. *I had married a nurse from Richmond and was commuting
daily. *Not fun during the winter.

Jim

I recall the guys from "Heights/ID" cutting through our closet to get
to the hallway, literally moving our coats aside to get through. The
WX office was noisey with all the teletypes and big drum fax machines
(swish, swish, swish), so we didn't notice until the door slammed.

About quarter til 5 one morning the phone rang. It was the Army's
"Duty Officer" calling to get the weather. SSgt Streib answered and
said, "fly the little rubber flag" and hung up. The phone immediately
rings again and the Duty Officer starts his speil again, and again
Streib says "fly the little rubber flag" and hangs up. And so the
phone rings again. Streib says "Is it you again? It's going to rain
cats and dogs all day, so run the all weather flag up the pole. OK?"

I just knew I was going to questioned about this later...


That's a good one, "little rubber flag". The Army officer probably
couldn't figure that one out. :-)

Jim