Index

100330 - Badger refueling -- Hopkins
100326 - Tull Rd
100323 - Taps_Barrett
100323 - SAC Memorial Tribute ..  Robb Hoover
100318 - Gottenberg
100317 - RC hits 50k

 

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From: Robert Hopkins <cobraball@mac.com> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:27:49 -0500 Subject: Anecdotes You asked for anecdotes about flying Offutt/Affiliated 135s. One of my favorites.... For many years the RC-135S COBRA BALL flew operational sorties without ever being intercepted by Soviet MiGs or Sukhois. Beginning in 1988, however, with the arrival of the MiG-31 FOXHOUND, we began to get the occasional "visitor." The FOXHOUND was a large airplane, and up close with a full load of armed missiles it made quite an impression. During October 1988, while flying RC-135S 61-2662 with "Mad Jack" Elliott, we had an unusual escort. While clearing for other traffic I noticed a small silver glint northeast of our position, which appeared to be a high-winged transport such as the IL-76. It passed south of us and we continued our mission. A few minutes later I looked out the window and was startled to see a Tu-16 BADGER flying in tight fingertip formation with us. The crew was friendly and waved, but oddly enough didn't leave. The BADGER stayed tucked in formation for the better part of two hours. By this time we were low on fuel and it was time to hit the tanker for an onload. As we turned east to meet the tanker the BADGER disappeared, and we figured he headed for home. About a mile behind the tanker the boomer radioed, in a nervous high-pitched voice, "Uhm, COBRA 09, uhm, you have company in trail. What should we do?" I replied, "If he pulls up into position, give him some gas..." The BADGER quickly parked off our wing during air refueling, this time with a motion picture camera and operator in the upper observation blister, apparently filming every step of our air refueling. When we had taken our onload we slid to the left, leaving space for the BADGER to move into the pre-contact position. At first we thought he would, but I guess better judgment overcame him. Still, the image of a BADGER preparing to air refuel from a KC-135 would have made a great cover for AvWeek. Robert "DrBob" Hopkins

From: Jim Maloney Date: March 26, 2010 Subject: Harry Tull Road This is from the Offutt AFB Base paper today....

From: Sheldon Barrett <sheldon_barrett@hotmail.com> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:54:00 -0700 Subject: Death of Burton S. Barrett (Col. USAF Ret.) I'm sorry to inform you of the death of my father Burton S. Barrett. He died after a brief hospital stay March 19th in San Luis Obispo, Ca. after a trip to see his children and grandchildren. He was a proud member of the 55th and attended most reunions including the last one in Reno, Nv. He will be buried in Las Vegas with his wife and parents and siblings. Should you require more information please email me at the above address. Sincerely, Sheldon Barrett top

From: Robb Hoover            Date:  March 23, 2010                            subject:   SAC Memorial Tribute, March 21, 2010                                                  The SAC Memorial Chapel at Offutt AFB held a tribute on March 21, 2010 to those who served in the Strategic Air Command on the 64th anniversary of the founding of the Command. Reg Urschler was among the speakers who provided memories of SAC. His remarks included this poem , which he originally penned within days after the SAC stand-down ceremony on May 31, 1992. It reflects the strong emotions of many who attended that rain-swept ceremony 18 years ago at Offutt. REMARKS GIVEN AT THE SAC MEMORIAL CHAPEL ON SAC MEMORIAL SUNDAY 21 MARCH 2010 PRECEDING THE POEM "THE NIGHT SAC DIED". "I DON'T MIND BEING TOUGH...BECAUSE IN THIS RACKET IT'S THE TOUGH GUYS WHO LEAD THE SURVIVORS" ....end quote;     GENERAL CURTIS LEMAY (My first boss in Strategic Air Command) I AM HONORED TODAY TO STAND AMONG THE SURVIVORS...THE MEN AND WOMEN AND FAMILIES WHO SERVED IN ARGUABLY THAT WHICH WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST... MOST PROFESSIONAL... DEDICATED .... REVERED.... RESPECTED ... ENVIED ...EFFICIENT....POWERFUL...CREDIBLE...AND FEARED MILITARY UNITS IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. AND WHAT IS IT...YOU MAY ASK..WHICH IDENTIFIES A "GREAT" UNIT. I SUBMIT TO YOU....GREAT UNITS ARE NOT CONSTITUTED MAGICALLY OR BY ACCIDENT.  GREAT UNITS DO NOT HAPPEN BY DESIGNATION OR UNIT NUMBER. GREAT UNITS OCCUR ONLY BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WITHIN THEM WORK AS A TEAM....WITH PRIDE... ESPRIT....HIGH MORALE...DETERMINATION...DEDICATION....PATIENCE..DISCIPLINE AND YES....SACRIFICE. GREAT UNITS ARE INSPIRED BY THE BELIEF IN THEIR MISSION....AND THEIR TRUST, FAITH AND CONFIDENCE IN THOSE WHO SERVE NEXT TO THEM....AND IN THOSE WHO LEAD THEM. THAT WAS STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND! quote...."PEOPLE FIND OUT (I'M DYING) AND KEEP WANTING TO APOLOGIZE. I END UP LAUGHING AND TELLING THEM TO BE ENVIOUS. MOST OF THE THINGS I'VE DONE...PLACES I'VE BEEN..THINGS I'VE SEEN...THESE PEOPLE CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE". end quote     AL MOORE'S FINAL WORDS FROM HOSPICE. AL MOORE...THE 19 YEAR OLD B-52 GUNNER ON WHOSE CHEST CINCSAC...GENERAL JOHN. C. MEYER... PINNED A SILVER STAR FOR SHOOTING DOWN A MIG DURING LINEBACKER II. I AM HUMBLED AS I STAND HERE TODAY IN THE SHADOW OF THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED IN STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND.... AS REPRESENTED BY THE MEMORIAL WINDOWS ADORNING THE WALLS OF THIS SACRED PLACE OF WORSHIP. MEN...WOMEN...FAMILIES...PERHAPS LOST IN TIME....BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.  "PEACE" MAY HAVE BEEN THEIR "PROFESSION"....BUT "FREEDOM" WILL BE THEIR EVERLASTING AND ETERNAL LEGACY." IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO ENTER PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE AND NOT BE MOVED EMOTIONALLY. MEMORIES OF MY TWENTY SEVEN YEARS IN STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND BEGIN IN 1955 AS A JUST- TURNED-TWENTY-YEAR-OLD FORMER ENLISTED MAN... NEWLY MINTED AS A SECOND LIEUTENANT AND PILOT...THE YEAR BEFORE THIS CHAPEL WAS CONSTRUCTED. WHEN THE RUMBLE OF AIRBORNE B-36'S SHOOK THE GROUND....B-47'S BY THE HUNDREDS FILLED THE SKIES WITH CONTRAILS....AND THE VENERABLE, PROPELLER DRIVEN KC-97 WAS THE WORKHORSE TANKER OF THE DAY. MY TEACHERS, MENTORS AND ROLE MODELS WERE THE OFFICER'S AND ENLISTED MEN WHO ALREADY HAD FOUGHT TWO WARS....WW II AND KOREA...WHILE I HAD BEEN IN GRADE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL. AND WHILE BOMBARDMENT AT THAT TIME WAS THE PRIMARY MISSION OF THE COMMAND, FATE INITIALLY SOUGHT FIT TOPLACE ME IN ONE OF THE FEW PHOTO RECONNAISSANCE UNITS...AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE ONLY ELECTRONIC RECONNAISSANCE B-47 UNIT IN SAC...THE 55TH STRATEGIC RECONNAISSANCE WING, WHERE I VERY SHORTLY FOUND MYSELF FLYING TO... "FARAWAY PLACES...WITH STRANGE SOUNDING NAMES". SHANGHAI, PORT ARTHUR, DAIREN, VLADIVOSTOK, PETROPAVLOSK, MURMANSK AND EVEN "BANANA ISLAND"...WHICH BY THE WAY...IS NOT IN THE CARIBBEAN...ESCORTED TOO MANY TIMES BY FIGHTERS CARRYING A STAR INSIGNIA...A STAR...BUT NOT A WHITE ONE...MIG-15'S...-17'S...-19'S...AND YAK-25'S IN THE COLD SPACES OF THE ARCTIC. IN AREAS OF THE WORLD WHICH I PREVIOUSLY ONLY HAD STUDIED IN GRADE SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY.. THE GULF OF TONKIN....THE SOUTH CHINA SEA...THE YELLOW SEA... THE GULF OF CHIHLI..( IT WAS HOT, BUT NOT FROM SPICES)...THE SEA OF JAPAN... OF OKHOTSK...THE BERING...LAPTEV AND KARA SEAS...THE BLACK... THE BALTIC AND THE BARENTS... WHERE IN THE EARLY SIXTIES THE RUSSIANS SHOT DOWN ONE OF OUR RB-47'S. WE LEARNED A FEW APPROPRIATE RUSSIAN WORDS...VISU...SLEEZU...PONYO...PROTEVNEK. WE CARRIED OUR 45 CALIBER PISTOLS AND ESCAPE & EVASION KITS...AND WE WERE TAUGHT DEFENSIVE JUDO AT THE FORBES BASE GYM BY THEN...AIRMAN 2ND CLASS JOHN FRADY. FROM THE SUEZ CRISIS...TO THE HUNGARIAN CRISIS...TO THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS.THIS WAS MY INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMAND WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY PROVIDED THE SECOND LEG OF THE TRIAD...THE LAND BASED ICBM. THE COMMAND WHICH LATER AFFORDED ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN... EXPERIENCE ... RESPECT...AND APPRECIATE THE CHALLENGES OF BOTH MISSIONS. FROM THE JUMP SEAT OF A B-52 ON A PITCH BLACK..MOONLESS-NIGHT....ON A LOW LEVEL, TERRAIN - FOLLOWING RADAR MISSION IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN NEW MEXICO AND SOUTHERN COLORADO...A GUARANTEED "HEART-STARTER" IN ANYONES LANGUAGE (AND THOSE OF YOU WHO FLEW THEM KNOW OF WHAT I SPEAK...) TO THE BOREDOM OF THE MINUTEMAN SILO'S IN NORTHERN MONTANA...WHICH ONLY MISSILEERS REALLY UNDERSTAND AND COMPRHEND..TO THE BMEW'S AT CLEAR ALASKA...AND THE HORRIBLE FLYING CONDITIONS ON THE ISLAND OF SHEMYA...AND THULE GREENLAND... TO BEING MOTIVATED AND INSPIRED BY THE MAINTENACE TROOPS FIXING AND GENERATING AIRCRAFT...ON ANY GIVEN RAMP...ON ANY GIVEN DAY...UNDER THE WORST POSSIBLE CONDITIONS TO ADMIRING OUR SECURITY POLICE "WALKING-THE-STONE" IN MID-WINTER GUARDING THE ALERT BIRDS AT MINOT... TO THE FRUSTRATION OF SERVING IN THE COMFORT OF THE SAC UNDERGROUND COMMAND POST HERE AT SAC HEADQUARTERS... UNABLE TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO RESCUE TWO SECURITY POLICEMEN TRAPPEDTHEIR CAMPER IN THE MIDDLE OF A NORTH DAKOTA BLIZZARD ENROUTE TO DUTY AT A REMOTE MISSILE SITE. THIS IS WHAT MADE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND GREAT....HER PEOPLE...OF ALL RANKS AND SPECIALTIES... WORKING TOGETHER....PROVIDING ONE OF THE KEY, CRITICAL INGREDIENTS OF DETERRENCE...THE "WILL" TO EMPLOY IT! TODAY WE REMEMBER NOT ONLY THE FOUR RB-47 AIRCREW MEMBERS FROM THE 55TH WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN JULY 1960 IN THE COLD BARENTS SEA ...BUT WE REMEMBER... HONOR...AND CHERISH...THE MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AIRCREW...OF ALL RANKS... WHOSE NAMES ADORN THE MEMORIAL WALL IN THE ENTRYWAY... WHO PERISHED DURING THE FORTY SIX YEARS...FROM 1946 THROUGH 1992 ..IN PEACETIME AND CONFLICT ...WHILE SERVING OUR NATION IN STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND. NOW I FEAR I MAY HAVE REMINISCED MUCH TOO LONG...BUT WITH YOUR KIND PERMISSION...IN CLOSING I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU THE THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS WHICH REMAIN INDELIBLY ETCHED IN MY MIND...AND THE MINDS OF COMRADES WHO SERVED NEXT TO ME... OF A DREARY, MOONLESS, WET, MISERABLE NIGHT IN 1992...IN THE E4 HANGAR HERE AT OFFUTT ON THE SOUTH RAMP... WHEN THE COLORS OF OUR BELOVED COMMAND WERE FURLED AND CASED FOR THE FINAL TIME: THE NIGHT SAC DIED by Reg Urschler                                                             IT WAS THE END OF MAY IN '92, WHEN WE ALL CAME TO SAY "ADIEU", TO OUR OLD FRIEND, TRIED AND TRUE, SHIELDING OUR FLAG, RED WHITE AND BLUE AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. SOLDIERS, GENERALS, AIRMEN TOO, AIR CREW, GROUND CREW, MISSILEERS WHO, ALONG WITH CIVILIANS AND FAMILIES GREW TO SUPPORT AND SERVE THEIR FREND, THEY KNEW, THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. WE STOOD AND WATCHED 'NEATH DARKENED CLOUD, ON A MOONLESS NIGHT AS GUN FIRED LOUD. THE PIPERS PLAYED..THE DRUMMERS BEAT, AS RIFLES TWIRLED, BAYONETS UNSHEATH'D. AS THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. THE ANTHEM PLAYED, THE FLAG MARCHED BY. WE ALL STOOD TALL, OUR HEADS RAISED HIGH. WHEN FROM THE MURK WE HEARD THE CRY, OF THE BOMBERS ROAR INTO THE SKY. AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. OH, CALL THE ROLL OF THOSE WHO PASSED, OF MEN AND WOMEN, ALL STEADFAST. THEIR SACRIFICE SHALL EVER LAST, 'TIL ALL WE STAND A'FORE THE MAST. AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. WE SHALL REMEMBER EVERMORE OUR FRIENDS AND COMRADES GONE BEFORE. SPEAK THEIR NAMES AND LIGHT THE FLAME, SHINING BRIGHT, REFLECT THEIR FAME. AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. THEN THE ROCKETS IN THE SKY, FELL TO THE EARTH AS IF TO CRY. THE BUGLES BLEW, THE ECHO CAME, THE HEAVENS OPEN'D...UNASHAM'D. AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. THAT WASN'T RAIN FROM OUT THE SKY, NOR MIST NOR FOG, HOW HARD YOU TRY. MAKE NO MISTAKE FROM WHENCE IT CAME, THEIR SAD EMOTION COULDN'T TAME. THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. GOOD-BY OLD FRIEND, YOUR MISSION DONE, PUT TO REST, THE "COLD WAR" WON. YOUR FIST OF STEEL, YOUR DOVE OF PEACE, YOUR OLIVE BRANCH, OE'R GLOBE DID REACH. AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. AND DAILY AS OUR LIVES WE LIVE, IN REME MB'RING NOW--WE FIRST MUST GIVE. THE FREEDOM WHICH IS OURS TO SHARE, THERE IS NO OTHER TO COMPARE, AND THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. --- IT WAS A SADDENED DAY IN '92 WHEN WE ALL CAME TO SAY "ADIEU". TO OUR OLD FRIEND, TRIED AND TRUE, SHIELDING OUR FLAG, RED, WHITE AND BLUE. WHILE THE ANGELS CRIED...THE NIGHT SAC DIED. DEDICATED TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED IN STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND. top

From Jim Maloney Date: March 18, 2010 Subj: Will Gottenberg    Will was a piulot in the 38th SRS ****** U-2 Pilot Reaches 100 Combat Missions: Maj. William Gottenberg on March 9 returned from completing his 100th combat mission in the high-flying U-2 reconnaissance aircraft on a sortie over Southwest Asia. Gottenberg, who is deployed from Beale AFB, Calif., and switched from the RC-135 to the U-2 in 2005, said the time flying the U-2 at 70,000 feet "goes by really quickly once I get on station … interacting with guys on the ground providing them with actionable, near real-time intelligence." Lt. Col. Kirt Stallings, commander of the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron from Beale, thanked Gottenberg, saying his "100 [combat] sorties in the U-2 is a big deal." Gottenberg believes the U-2 "in the last three to four years … has revolutionized itself in how we employ it." (380th Air Expeditionary Wing report by MSgt. Scott Sturkol) top

from:  Errol S Hoberman <SAC-EWO@mchsi.com> date:  Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 3:22 PM Possible NOTAM Make That Two: An RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic surveillance aircraft in service since 1962 surpassed 50,000 flight hours during a mission over Afghanistan March 4, becoming the second Rivet Joint in the Air Force's inventory to reach this milestone. The first Rivet Joint hit this mark in March 2008. "With only 17 of them in inventory—and about 25 percent of the fleet here [in Southwest Asia]—it is an indication of how valuable an asset the RJ is to operations," said Lt. Col. Richard Linehan, 763rd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron commander, from an air base in the region. One of many examples demonstrating the importance of the RC-135 to supporting ground troops took place in February during the Afghan-led Operation Moshtarak in southern Afghanistan when intelligence provided by an RC-135 thwarted an insurgent plan to ambush US helicopters, said Linehan. (379th AEW report by SSgt. Kelly White) Errol top