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IffU'NDt ll'tlIt'O$- -.- ---.. , - .

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Maj. Gon. WILLIAM C. GARLANDDlroctOf of Il'IformotlQn. OSAfCol. LEO I. BEINHORNefil.1. I"l.rnal InJormotlofl

Maj. JAMES H. TAYLOREditor

THEODORE R. STURMAuoc:iote Editor

Capt. ROBERT P. EVERETTbKUti ... Editor

Maj. GEORGE N. WINKLERArt Director

NORMAN J. LANEProduc1ion ManogerMSgt. DAVID L MAYHEW

Stoff PhQtQgropner

TrlE AIRMAN '$. oubtn;.hed mr;nthh by InternalInfcrmohon D"",,\,ol'l Dlfectorcte of ll ' tormo-: ,or Ofh;:e e>f th e Secreter"_ 01 tl'\e A, r ForceAs lhe oH,(,ol crOQO:""'C *1 th e l :r l led StalesA" ;QfcC " IS p ~ ' m a r d .. 0 me e T ~ Q n , . . t ' 1 Ril'aders or e cnc)l",raoed to.... ~ m . t O",C ' in ' ; r ! s"biet;! \ ph0 lug lnph ,..,nd o r t w o r ~ AI , c:;mlfrDutool":S .... ,1: be (0 " -

$ aered S...OQes'on5 o" d n ' r ' l ' ~ m ~ ar e ...elc:)med OP,I"IICnS e:>:ore-;sed b> md"",duol c o n ~Inbcltor:s do "c l " ' e c e H o r d ~ reflect th e OffH.:_'oi.'ewoo,r'\t " f 1Me OeportmCf'\t 01 the A " ForceTHE AIRMAN IS ovoolot;ie or liul;r$Crlp,q.n fo r5350 pe r veor d r ; ' r n e ~ t ' c $4 75 f ~ r " , Q " 35.:pe r CC>Oy thrvugh th e !rupenfitenden' of Ooc-umerts. GoVer"

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Coye, Gi,1Sir: Curiosity has gotten the bestof me! \Vho's the pretty WAF on thecover of your June 1968 issue?Sgt. Fred NesmithAPO San Francisco

She's Sgt. MartM J. Santora. asSigned to Andrews AFB, Md. So,.,. 'bout ," ,o tSir: We 01 Det. 3, 1381st GeodeticSurvey Squadron agree that the coverof your June issue was especially interesting. Ou r only objectiOfl. however, was that the instrument was ootproperly set up for any type of surveying W 0 r.k ex c e p t extending astraight line. And, the Wild T2 Theodolite is hardly the instrument to usefor such a simple joh.The best solution we have to offer

to CQrrect the situation is to send the

"I'm from TH E AIR.MAN magazineand I'd like to ask you . . ."

Almost anytime a fellow may comeup to you-wherever }'OU may be s t a ~tioned-and introdm:,e himself in sucha manner. Another may start takingpictures.

As of this writing. we have a w r i t e r ~photographer team in South Amerjcadoing a series of photo-features thatwil1 start appearing in the near future.\Ve have another writer in Puerto Ricotrying to chase hnrricanes, along withchaSing other stories. And by the timeyou read these lines a writer-photographer team will be in Enrope collecting stil1 other stories from that areafor future editions.

But we is improperly dressed lor LOX transfemng. Para. 4-14b. TO-OO-25-172 requires a long sleevl3 shirt or jacket.In event of an a ( ' ( . ' i d e n t ~ proper dothing might prevent an injury_TSgt. Donald P. SmithNellis AFB, ~ e v .. . .

A ....zing AircroftSic: I'm a Civil Air Patrol cadet in

BEHIND THE SCENESAsia. A majority of our writers havemade at least OTle trip to SEA. OurExecutive Editor, Capt. Bob Everett,and Staff Photographer, 1>ISgt. Dave!.tavhew. recently retnrned from a

m o ~ t h and a half in SEA and in Korea_ The first 01 their stories from thistrip appears as the cover feature inthis issue. ~ l o r e will follow,

These 'two assiduous reporters traveled by whatever means available,whenever it was available. over whatever routes available, In ('oHe(.'tlngmaterial for \-i..tlWm Airlift I , A Hu-man Tl.ing, they at one point heganto wonder if Vietnam airlift wasn't a"bovine thing:' On this Q('(:asioll thcyshared a rnerdlessly long night withthree somewhat odorQus-even natulent-(.'Ows whose stand

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-A I r,"

PENTAGON PERSONALLATEST DATAON PROliOTIONil..IGIBILITY

NO NEED TO "SAVE"VA COLLEGE BENEFIT

0SIl RECOlIIIEMJSSOURCE OF VOTINGIIlFORIIATION

REVISED RETRAlNlNGIlANUAL PROVIDESMORE OPPORTUNITIES

AIIUIEII GET BARSTIiROOOH BOOTSTRAPCOMMISSIONlNOPROGRAII

Oc1olle, 1918

I f you're looking fo r that next stripe (and who i sn ' t unless they haveeight?) YQU probably already know that tour changes have been made inth e promotion el ig ib i l i ty cr i ter ia . The rollo-ing chart gives you thestory fo r each grade (E-4 through E-7) during FY 692 and 69-3 cyclesand fo r E-8 and E-9 during th e CY 69 eycle:To Grade ~ TIG Reg rIG Cut OfrE-4 69-2 8 months 1 Jan 68E-4 69-3 8 months 1 May 69E-5 692 12 months 1 May 69E-6 69-2 18 montbs 1 May 69E-7 69-2 24 months 1 May 69E-8 CY69 24 months 1 Dec 69E9 CY -69 24 months 1 Dec 69

P..romotlon Dates1 Oct 681 Jan 691 Feb 691 May 691 Dec 691 May 691 Dec 681 May 691 Dec 681 May 691 Jan 691 Dec 691 Jan 691 Dec 69

I f you haven't finiShed high school and are .orr ied about depletingyour GI Bill college entitlement before you get to college, forget 1t.Last year Congress passed a law that permits you to receive a VAeducational assistance allowance '$130 a month fo r a Single veteranin Cu11time training) while you complete high school. And t h ~ _ ~part is , it won't be charged against Your ful l entitlement to 9911egelevel training under the GI 8i11.You can get unbiased. impartial voting information from The League ofWomen toters of th e United States. 12QO 17th Street , N. ' . Washington.D.C. 20036. According to the Federal Voting Assistance Coordinator,Office ot th e Secretary of Defense, this i s th e best source torinformat1on on candidates and issues.I t you have neither seen nor heard about th e revisions to AFM 39-4, ~mi&bi be miSSing some new opportunities for retraining. Tbe revisedmanual opens some doors previously clOSed. For example. there 's somenew guidance on retraining airmen .ho got 10' AFQT scores. Also, i fyou are one of those airmen determined unqualified for retention ofyour AFSC or continued training, you will find a l i s t ot certain AirForce Specialties (AFSs) you may now train into through OJT or formalt r a i n i n g ~ First-term airmen can now apply fo r OJT retraining intocertain AFSs. Airmen with more than 16 years' service who are notqualified for continued duty in their CAFSC can now retrain throughOJT or formal schooling. (They previously were restr icted to OJT only.)There are other changes, dealing with balanced AFSCs and so on, bu t i tyou are interested in retraining, your best bet is to have a chat withyour CBPO. New t i t le at m a n u a l ~ by the way, is Airman RetrainingPrograms.Iou shouldn't overlook the Bootstrap Commissioning Program, designegmainly to r career airmen with more than tour Years' service. I f youf i t this category, have a baccalaureate degree (o r can get one in 52weeks or less) you ca n apply. You must be commiSSioned by age 34,

fcanti:nued on Page 46,3

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- The statistics may be stallerlnl. but one trip on the Caribou will _" Ince you thatIS A HU AIN

by Capt. R08!ItT p. tvERETTHI G

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P h ( ) l l I or MSjI,t. David L. Mayhew

WHO would want a cargo aircraftwith only two engines (oldfa shioned piston type at that); anaircraft that grosses out wi th a mere5,000 pounds of cargo ; and sportinga maximum speed comparable toIhe venerable C-4 7 "Gooney Bird"?Who would?

The United Stales Air Force,that's who.Why?STOL, that's why. STOL slandsfor short take-off and land in g andyou do a lot of Iha, in Vietnam.STOL i, one olllslanding capabililyof Ihe DeHaviliand C-7 Caribou. Soif there's such a thing as the rightairplane for some very specia l air-Iih jobs in Vietnam, the Caribou hasgOI 10 be it.

The C-7 is one of Ihree primaryIypes of aircraft flying Ihe airlift mission in Vielnnm. Together, theseIhree aircraft- Ihe C-7, Ihe Fairchild Hiller C-123 Provider. and IheLockheed C- )30 Hercules - havevirtually wrought air lift miracles inSouth Vietnam.A Caribou day . It ,ok., on 0 lood of freshvegetobles, which the flighl engineer / load-moste r checks for weight and bolonce whilepilot an d copi lot 5con mops; then torriesgroup of opprehen.ive paratrooper1 10 dropzone lo r their fiut jump from 011 aircroft.

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More than two and three...quarter billion pounds of cargo airliftedin a year. An airlift lakeoff or landingevery 38 seconds, around the clock. Nearly four million peopletransported in a 12-month period.That's just a sampling of the imposing figures being tabulated by thepeople who do the airlift job in Viet.nam. Dozens of other equally impressive stalistics could be Cited, but

all the figures in the world couldonly tell part of the story. But moreimportantly. there's another storybehind those figures, a story thatdeals with response, priorities, management and--mostly-with people.Response is the Key

The fact that you haul a thousandtons of cargo to a battle area doesn'treally mean a thing if you get itthere too late to do any good fOIthe ground force commander whoneeds it. Response is the key. Whena ground force commander says heneeds ammunition, weapons, s u p ~plies and troops, he also says whenhe needs them. Usually it's rightnow. And if you're the guy whopushes the airlift button, you ye gotto get the goods to him on time.That's where you succeed or fail.

The man who pushes the airliftbutton in Vietnam is Maj. Gen. BurlW. McLaughlin, commander of the834lh Air Division at Tan Son NhulAB. He bears responsibility for allin-country airlift. The R34th's Airlift Control Center (ALCC) is thenerve center of all airlift operationsin Vietnam. It's where the groundforce commander's request is t r a n s ~lated into cubage, weight and sortie.Specialists take the airlift requests,which have been approved by Military Assistance Command, Vietnam,and program them against theiravailable resources.6

When you talk about availableresources of the 834th Air Division,you're talking about those three reliables, 'he C-130 Hercules, C-123Provider and C-7 Caribou aircraft,all assigned to or under the operational control of the 8341h AD.A LCe's job is to match the rightaircraft 10 the righl requirement.This is to insure maximum, efficientuse of Ihe aircraft. YOil don'l senda big C-130 with only a ton of rations to an outposl any more than youtry to send 150 troops in a C7.Once the mission is scheduled theA LCC continues to monitor it untilit is completed. Thus. the ALCCcommand post can tell you at anymoment precisely where each of itsaircraft is located, what iI's carrying,where it will land and when it willcomplete its mission. On a Iypicalday the command post controls morethan 1,250 sorties. It's a big job.and a neeessary one that insuresquick response to vital demands.

Take an emergency medical evaeuation request. The AI.CC couldquickly unload cargo from a lowerpriority mission and launch the aircraft to meet the need but a morelikely response would be to divertairborne aircraft near the injuredman. An emergency call for ammunition from a besieged outpost wouldbe similarly handled.Ai.plones on

"Big Daddy" of the Vietnam airlift is the ('-130. It moves most ofthe lonnage, averaging more than74,000 tons a month. The C-130IS a big airplane, nearly a hundredfeet long. It can carry 16 tons ofcargo. And even though it ' wingspanis 132 feet, it can still operate fromabout RI airstrips and runways inSouth Vietnam.

The C -130s and crews in Vietnamare under the operational control of

'he 834th Air Division, bUI helong10 the 315th Air Division. Theycome to Vietnam from 315th unitsthroughout the western Pacific. EachC130 and crew normally flies missions in Vietnam for two weeks.then returns to its home base forfour or five days for maintenance.A middle-aged airlift bird that reocently got a rejuvenation treatmentis the C123 Provider. Auxiliary jetengines were hung under its wings.giving it a short-field takeoff capability and increasing its cargo-carrying capability. The Provider canhaul five tons. There are three C -123squadrons at Phan Rang and one atTan Son Nhut. All are assigned tothe 31 5th Air Commando Wing.

Newcomer to the US Air Forceairlift neet in Vietnam is DeHavilland's C-7 Caribou. received fromthe Army on January I, 1967, asthe result of a fixed wing/ro tarywing agreement.There are about 90 Caribous inVietnam, assigned to the 483d Tactical Airlift Wing at Cam Ranh BayAB. Six squadrons have the Caribous, two each at Cam Ranh Bay,Phu Cal and Vung Tau.Caribou missions differ from Ihoseflown by the C-130s and C123s because much of the work of the 483dis under the category of dedicatedaircraft. That means the aircraft isallocated to fill the airlift needs 01a specified organization, such as theAnny's 1st Air Cavalry or IOlst AirCavalry Division. The Caribous alsosu pport Special F orees throughou tthe country. The C-130s and C-123s,on Ihe other hand, 0 pe r a te on a

" ~ c o m m o n user" basis.Co.ibou A Busy Bird

Col. William H. Mason is commander of the 4R3d Tactical AirliftWing. He puts his mission in thesimplest terms: "The continuing

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goal of this wing is to maintain cus-tomer satisfaction by providing safe,reliable and effcctive airlift."Performing the mission is a groupof people the composition of whichis, in itself, something of an oddity.First off, it includes more than 50lieutenant colonels ("granddaddiesof the Ca ribou fleet"). Then thercare a half dozen Ph .Ds., in fieldsranging from sociology to geophys-

,

Chute of ne)(l-IoI(1II1 man foiled to open proper.Iy. VelerCln US parotrooper behind him managedto grob th e st,eaming canopy Clnd pop it open.

ics. There's an ex-Thunderbird pilotand a former NASA pilot. One ofthe lieutenant colonels was a doubleace in World War II ; another asingle ace. Still another was pilot ofan ultraspeedy 8-58 HU .I't/er before"moving up" to the Caribou. Air-craft com manders run the grade ladder from first lieutenant 10 colonel.During 1967, these people andtheir Caribous racked up more flying hours ( 100, 159 ) and more sorties (157,576) than either of theother airlift aircraft in Vietnam. Forthe first half of 1968, both figuresOctober 1968

were up abou t 20 perccnt. As if toremind thc Ca ribou pilots tha! Iheirnew records wer e being se t und ercombat conditions, 23 Caribous tookhits from enemy ground fire in thefirst 60 da ys of 1968 alone.

The Caribou ca n take off andland on an 800-foo t strip . Thatmeans it can operate from about160 runw ays or ai rstrips in Vietnam- f a r more than can either the C- 130

There or e mony techniques for ge"ing oorgo oul of Ihe Caribou. At Dok Seong, 0 re mole Spec:iolForces camp, the cr . .... demo nitrated Ihe Ground High Speed Offload method . At the Coriboulurches forward, pallets fly oul the rear door. Pallets held fiber bog$ for .andbogging Ihe far1 .

or C-123. It is , therefore, the onlyfixed-wing aircraft that can flytroops and supplies to man y of theallied outposts dOlling the Vietnamese countrysid e.Like the forts of the ea rly American West, thcse Special Forces outposts are islands of relative safetyin the heart of enemy territory. Forairplanes to operate from their airstr ips, pilots must make dangerou sapproaches and c1imbouts over enemy territory. And every day's missions include SlOpS at these SpecialForces ca mps.

7

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A Caribou 'DayCaribou crews go to work carly.A 5 a.m. crew briefing is routine.Let's follow as the airplane moves

down the runway at Cam Ranh BayAB and lifts easily into the earlymorning sky. First stop will be NhaTrang, just a few miles up the Viet-nam coast.

By 6 o'clock, the Caribou is onthe ground at Nha Trang. A sistership is ncarby, taking on cargo forthe Special Forces camp at Ban MeThuot, some 70 miles to the west.The cargo consists of a small amountof ammunition, a large amount offresh vegetables and three livecalves. That's a fairly typical loadfor a Carihou. The flight engineer /loadmaslcr is accustomed to handling live animals and quicklyspreads heavy plastic sheet.s acrossthe airplane floor . Calves, after all,arc not house-broken. The odor inside the cargo compartment i s -well-pungcnt. Thc crew ddays theclosing of the rear cargo door tu thelast possible moment. Finally it isclosed and the sister Car;hou is offfor Ban Me Thuot.

By now OUT Carihou has offloadedpassengers Clnd taken On others. Thismorning's mission will not involvehauling cargo. Instead. the planewill fly to Pleiku AB to pick upVietnamese paratroopers for a practice jump.

That's another leature of IheCariboll. It can quickly be convertedfrom cargo to passenger configuration. The large cargo door at therear is an excellent jumping positionfor paratroopers. When opened inflight it adds not a whit of controlproblem lor the pilot.

Touchdowo at Pleiku is under ahot midmorning sun. Within min-utes the paratroopers are on boardand the Caribou is headed for thcdrop zone. Th e jump is routine. TheCaribou returns twice to Pleilru foradditional loads.

8

Oak Seang resemble$ a fori of the early American Wesr. The uHrounding territory is not, .cure. Caribous frequently draw fire on takeoff Clnd landing, but pilots call it routine .

When the paradrops are finishedthe Caribou returns to Pleikli. Crewschange and the bird is made readyfor its afternoon mission, a resupplyof the Special Forces eamp at DakSea n g, not far from the Laosbordcr.

C ariholl pilots land routinely onthe scveral hundred feet of dust andgravel at Dak Seang. But putting afully loaded airplane on that shorl,narrow airstrip is hairy. any wayyou cut it. Thc plane barely touchesground beforc the props arc reversed.A cloud of dust engulfs it. Therough, hilly airsnip alone point be-comes so narrow that the whcels ofthe Carihou barely clear the ditchon the side of the runway. The pilots call it a routine landing.Nowhere in Vietnam can you see

more vividly the effect of airlilt onpeople than in the resupply of theseisolated Special Forces camps. Be-fore the plane touches down, all thecamp's vehicles-two trucks and ajeep-are moving to meet it. A US

Special Forces sergeant jumps fromthe back of a truck ooto the plat-form of the Caribou. He spots along-awaited package and ShOllts,"The hot water heater is here!"

The heater and a pallet of ricearc unloaded. But in unloading theremaining two pallets of fiber sandbags, the c r e ~ demonstrates one ofthe Caribou's special extraction techniques-Ground High Speed Off-load. The chains securing the twopallets are removed and the enginesare revved up. Then the pilot re-leases Ihe brakcs and the Cariboulurches forward. The two pallets flyout the rear cargo door, remainingin an upright position, and slamdown on the ground. It's a teetmiquethe Carihou pilots can use whenthey're under fire and have to getout of a place in a hurry, or to expedite offloading when a forklift isnot available.

Taking the empty airplane offfrom the Oak Seang airstrip somehow lacks the drama of the landing.

The Ainnan

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The maintenance man is the mG,t impGrtant guy in the life Gf a Caribou. PrGleuiGnals G1i, they make pouible Ihe record. the airplane hos set.

The Caribou heads for the nextcamp. The pilots refer to it as aninternational airport; it has a 2,000-foot paved runway. Compared t.oDak Seang, the description is apt.

Plciku is again a pickup point forthe last mission of the da y; a supplyparadrop at Dak Pek , scene of intense fighting between South Vietnamese forces and North Vietnamese regulars . No landing will be attempted at Oak Pck, but a coupleof tons of supplies and equipmentwill be airdropped.

The area around Oak Pek hasbeen an enemy stronghold and contains several suspected 37mm antiaircraft gun emplacements. Flyingaround it is especially hazardous .But today the drop is made withoutencountering enemy fire. The slowmov ing Cariboll comes in at about300 feet over the drop zone andmakes a gravity air drop. It's an efficient, accurate means of puttingsupplies on target.October t968

By now the sun has sct and it'stime for the long flight back to CimlRanh Hay. One day has seen the airplane earry paratroops on a practicedrop, bring needed supplies to Spe-cial Forces camps anti drop ammunition and food to allied troops onan active battlefield.

Other days bring other chal-lenges; moving an entire orphanagefrom war-torn Ban Me Thuot to asafe area , making the first landingat (l new or recaptured airstrip inthe A SI1

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10

"T GHTS!" the director orders. You swing into action, operating the noods for aL night baDet at the largest outdoor theater of irs type in the world,As the lights go up, you are standing two fcet from eternity, suspended 4,500 feetabove the ground. Nothing but a nylon cord prevenrs you from fallingThe platform from which you work is a C-130 Hercules ilareship. When the director signals "Action!" the star performenr-four F-IOO Super Sabres-appear stagecenter over the 2.8 million acre Gil. Bend Gunnery Range Complex. The ballet is entitled Night Owl. It is night combat crew training for Tactical Air Command studentpilots from the 4510th Combat Crew Training Wing, Luke AFB, Ariz.Night Owl is designed to prepare student pilots for the night attack missions used inVietnam. In the training mission, as in combat, a continuous series of well-timed, wellplaced flares illuminate a target area.Preparation for the night training mission began hours before at the Luke AFBramp parking area. It began when magnesium flares were loaded into special woodenracks in the cargo compartment of the big Hercules.The flareship and crew are from the 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron at Sewart AFB,Tenn. They operate from Luke AFB on seven days temporary duty during the NightOwl training.Capts. Lewis T. Holt and Larry R. Harmon, pilot and copilot, were grabbing aquick cheeseburger at the flight line grill. Between bites, they retraced the Night Owlmission plan.

Once the nareship reached the range. an orbit would be established to take the aircraft across the drop zone every 2 minutes 45 seconds. Depending on the type of ord.nance to be delivered by the FlOON I9htOw I students, between two and fournares would be dropped on eachpass.1st Lt. Robert F. Tennentjoined the two pilots, As the navigator, Tennent's job was to establish and maintain thelatitude of the drop While Captain Holt held to longitude. Before the night's mission wascomplete, 150 nares would be released,Each of the 27-pound units burns with an intensity of two million candlepower,or roughly equal to the light produced by 15,000 hundredwatt bulbs. All of the naresexpended that night would produce lighting equivalent to 2,250,000 such light blubs.That evening's show was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. so by 6:30 the C130nareship was on its way to the gunnery complex, 56 miles southwest of Luke.Approaching the range, Captain Harmon radioed for clearance to enter the restricted air space. The air space is restricted for the safety of civilian aireraft, just as therange land is posted to prevent desert drivers or hikers from wandering onto a targetrange, Since some Arizonians like to motor through the desert in sand buggies, old ja 'lopies with oversized tires. there are occasional violations,Two such fun seekers one day ignored the warning signs posted all around thegunnery complex and parked at the end of a simulated convoy on the Applied TacticsRange. When a flight of Super Sabres picked that convoy as their target of opportunityfor the day, the fun-seekers discovered they had the fastest sandbuggy in MaricopaCounty, Ariz.Cleared, the C130 crossed the target range. The loadmasters prepared to drop a

test nare to record wind direction and velocity. They would do the same on an actualcombat mission.When the six-minute warning came over the intercom, one loadmasler removed thenares from the storage racks and passed them to a second, He and a partner placed thenares in launch tubes. The cover was removed and the nares armed. The laller is asimple technique. The loader merely attaches a detonation cable to a small hook on thelaunch rack and pulls the safety pin on the nare, As the verbal "Go" signal was given.the loadmaster turned a handle and the nare fen clear of the aircraft to begin its descent. The launch tubes were emptied by the pun of gravity.

by Sgt. LOU STALSWORTH, L .... AFB, Ariz.

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Ten seconds after each flare was released, a se lf-contained parachuteblossomed. The nares ignited soon afterward. Two minutes 45 seconds later-1 5 seconds before the flares burned out- t he C-130 returned to the dropzone. Four more nares tumbled toward the Sonora Dcscrt floor.

The drop procedure is simple, yet effective. Captain Holt maintainedconstant communications with the range olTicer in the control tower and thepilots of the fighter aircraft. When the time came, he directed the loadmasters10 release the flares."Leader's downwind," a voice called over the radio.

"Four good ones. Nice drop, flareship!"Now Ihe ballet began . The lights were up. The prima ballerinas approached.Out of the darkness appeared the red and green running lights of theSuper Sabres. Nearing the targets , the jcts broke into the near sunlight ofthe flares, expended their ordnance and pulled back into the darkness. Thered and green lights slipped off into the wings, exiting stage right.Observed from the orbiting C-130, the air strikes were noiseless , adding pantommle quality to the perfection of the delivery. The program for theevening reads: Act I, dive bombing; Act II, air-to-surface rocketry; andAct III, air-to-ground strafing.For the f1areship crew, the action is repeated time after time, with the

same cues, following the same stage directions. Each pass is nearly identicalto the preceding. At last, the student pilots complete their delivery runs andturn for Luke AFB.As Captain Holt has said, "We arc here for the fighter pilots' benefit."So now all that. is left for the HerclIles crew is to tidy up and follow thejets home, bringing down (he curtain on another night's perforrnam;c. ~

12 The Airman

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CLO CKWISE FROM LOWER lE nflorin Dr. loa ded aboa rd Cll0,Special rock. hold the," . e (UU t Inflith!, th , n ,h,y are p l D ~ e c I inlou n(h tub,., .. ICII'lyatd h aH Dchedand the sol.,y p1n pwU.d. Closeleomwork is requ ired wh . n the dropbegin. If 0 flo"'8 Ig nited premahsre.Iy, it could burn ,luCHlgh 'he oircroftfloor in three seconds. Minion complete , Coptoin Holt checks hi , instruments before leo ..;n9 the oircroft.

October 1968 13

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14

, . ""I I"'" ~ nn ,....

ill .. I.....-t"""'!I o o ~ _ ~ J L.l I..COM'ES ALIVE

by Maj. STUART W. SHADBOL THq USAF

The Airman

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A HIGH-PITCHED whine louder than a thou

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Tne giant, dominating all around it, had been fueledand thoroughly preflighted before sunrise. Once againit was released to the flight crew.By 7: 15 engines were whining. The VIP stands filled

once more, with sleepy-eyed distinguished guests.In spite of the early Sunday hour, curious fans beyondthe fence again lined the highway. A chorus line of photographers, unshaven, sunburned, and played out, tookup their well rehearsed pusitions beside the airstrip.At 7: 35 Galaxy eased into motion. Once more it

taxied slowly toward the western end of the runway_ TwoT-33 jet trainers followed the C-5. One turned onto theactive runway and took off. It would be in the air to diveafter and "chase" the great bird. The second would follow after Galaxy took off.Across the field an Air Force H-43 rescue helicopter,a ball tank of fire foam dangling beneath it, lifted intoa hover.Anticipation mounted.By 7 :45 Galaxy was turncd into position. Its massive engines were pushed to full thrust. This time therewould be no taxi tesl. This time it was going to fly. Tension drove all weariness out of the anxious witnesses.At 1:46 the brakes were released. Galaxy rolled forward, gaining speed, screaming louder. At 3,600 feetdown the runway the nose lifted .More than 164,000 pounds of thrust drove the gianton. At 4,000 feet the great main gear stretched to itslimit and left the ground. Th e time was 7:47. Galaxywas airborne! Th e largest airplane in the world was fly

ing for the firsl time![t streaked past buildings and parked planes. Gathering airspeed and altitude, it roared over the heads ofthousands. Cameras panned with it. Some spectatorswaved and cheered. But the takeoff had been so smooth,t6

.-.

so n a l u r ~ l J that most of the awe-struck crowd failed toreact. No one missed the emotion of this moment.Trailing tour gray contrails, its 28 wheels still hanging, the giant soared gracefully into the sun like an immense, 'homesick angel.The first flight was underway . Th e first tcst of a giantthat will open a new era in airlift capability. There wasno doubt now that the 250-ton C-5, which had just liftedoff so beautifully, could fly as easily loaded with anothcr

50 tons of military cargo.Its lan9ing. 1 hour 34 minutes laler, was almost anticlimactic. Th e pilot, whQ made the takeoff seem routine,topped his own act by greasing Galaxy onto the runwayin less than 1,200 feel. The puff of smoke that squirtedas tires kissed concrete was almost unnoticeable.T r a d i t i o ~ a l l y a well-earned fanfare followed. Flocks

of frantic photographers, fellow workers and jubilantfamilies engulfed the crew as they emerged from thegiant's side.

At a postflight conference, anticipated accolades:" She handled beautifully" ... the flight was "real great,better, even, than the simulator" ... "she's a reaJ. flyingairplane. ""Just sorry we couldn't have stayed up longer," commented LI. Col. Joe Schiele, only Air Force pilot of the

crew, "but we planned for an hour and a half first flightand that'S what we flew."In less than an hour after its first solo, the now provenC-5 was towed to its parking place On the ramp.

No crews busied themselves beneath il. No busytechnicians climbed in or out of the tiny hatch. No firetrucks stood by.Only one man, a burly guard, pulled his camp stool

into the shade of the giant's nose to sit in solitude beneath the largest airplane in the world. Its first flight washistory-its future assured. eo.

The Airman

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AFHF - WHY JOIN?by eMS,t. PAUL W_ AIREYChlof _ . .. So. . . . . . aI .... Ai. Fo. . .

My association with theAir Force Historical Foundation (AFHF), as a member of its Board of Trustees,has made me acutely awareof the important role it fillsin perpetuating the historyand tradilion of our AirForce.I strongly believe that thisindependent nonprofit or ganization deserves the suppon of each and everyoneof us in its efforts 10 help dispel mylh with fael andreplace historical distortion with truth. We, and the airmen who follow us, are Ihe beneficiaries of Ihe effortsof AFHF-bencfils Ihal are the source of a chesl fullof pride.The Aerospace Historian, the Foundalion's quarterlyjournal, is dislribuled free to members. Through its64 pages, even Is from ycslerday to yesteryear come 10life. Reponing little-known bits of well-known deeds hasbecome Ihe magazine 'S Irademark, as has ils style of

October 1968

presentation. The s t o r i e ~ march to a quick rhythm thatcarries the reader into the past, instead of just presenting historical fact.

The Foundalion was eSlablished in 1953. And .mceIhal lime, it has been providing a cOmmon groundwhere the old-timer, the scholar, Air Force people activeand retired, cao meet , discuss, and consider the successes and failures of Ihe past in Ihe conlexl of loday andtomorrow. li s archives have buil! up rapidly and ilsjournal has sleadily improved.

Neverlheless, the Foundalion is in danger of goingunder from lack of members and active support. Itneeds the help of bOlh officer and enlisled people fromthe active and retired ranks. Out of an active enlistedforce of 750,000 and many more retireds, only about600 are members of the Foundalion.Since 1953, every Air Force Chief of Slaff has urgedAir Force people 10 join the Foundalion. Can Ihere bebetter testimony to an organization's worth? Won't youconsider joining? Mail an inquiry 10 AFHF , Building819, Bolling AFB, D.C. 20332 and help assure ourfuture by preserving our pas!. eOa17

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AIRFORCEREPORT- WORLDWIDE AIR FORCE NEWS IN BRIEF

OCTOBEB EVENTS. A trio of B295 commauded by Lt. GeIl NathanF. Twining landed in \\'ashington.D.C October 20. 1945. after blazinga new tral) from Guam hy way of India and Germany. Flying time was .59hours 30 minutes for the 13.167 miles.On October I. 1947, the prototype F86 Sabre;ct flew for th e first time. Afew years aiter, it made aerial histuryagainst enemy airuaft over Korea.The Thunderbirds ha\ e aerial demonstrations scheduled this month atSeymour Johnson AFB. :\.C . October3; Quanah. Tex October 6; Columbus, ~ 1 i s s . , October 12 (ColumbusDay); and at Lanc.,ter. Calif., October 1920.Th e US Air For('e Concert Bandand Singing Sergeants begin their1968 fall tour (October 6 through 1'0'"ember I ) a('ross the Great Plains andnorthwestern states. They11 performin ~ I i n n e s o t a , l'(orth aud South Dakota, ~ f o n t a H a . \Vyoming, Xebraskaand Iowa.

TO P HONORS. Officers assigned tounits of the Aerospace ~ l e d i c a l Division have ra'civet! the Scientist andthe Nurse of the Year awards for 1968from the Texas Chapter of the AirForce Association. ~ l a l . George L.Anstadt, chief of the Surgery Support Branch, Veterinary Sciences Di\-iswo, Air Force Sehool of Aerospace

~ l e d i c i n e , was named Scientist of theYear for the design and developmentof a mechanical ventricular assister. Itprovides mechanical assistance to theheart v.'itoout extravascular circulation. Maj. Lola Ball, a generalsurgery ward charge nurse at \VilfordHall USAF Hospital. Lackland AFB.Tex., was named r-;UTSe of the Yearfor her outstanding devotion to dutyduring 18 months of serviee on airevacuation flights tn and out of theRepublic of Vietnam.

COFFEE DANGERS. Recentground and flying safety publicationsh.ve cited the profound effeets thatmay result from drinking too muchcoffee. Granted that coffee is a good"pickef-upper" in the morning, andan occasional coffee break is good formorale. But the experts say that theperson who drinks 15 to 25 cups a dayis often so preo

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Kennedy overhauled it themselves.The two School of Aerospace ~ l e o i -cine airmen did the job il l 10 daysand saved the Air Force about $1,000.TOP CONTROL. The Da N a n ~ ABapproach control facility was seleded the Air Traffic Control Facility ofthe Year bv Air Force Corllmunications S e r v i c ~ . It is operated AFCS'1972d l .Ommllnications Squadrml.\[Sgt. Charles T. Scott of Shaw AFB,S.c., was llamed Air Traffic Controlierof the Year. He competed against morethan 6,000 controllers ill the worldwide communications cOlnm:lll(l.FLY BY WIRE. Electrical and electrOilic signal win's that rf'pl;Jee mechanical links hetweell a pilot's control stick and control surface actuators is the coming thing in aviation.The first phase of test ni?;hts of a flyby-wire flight control program wassllccessfully completed this summer at\Vright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The systf'ITI is said to he ahle to mf'et flightcontrol demands of advanctxl aerospace vehicles better than rnechallicallinkages, cahles and feel springs thatart' part of a maltllal system. TIle wire

BIG SHORTCUT

system decreases complexity, weight,\ 'Uhll i le aHo cost of the flight controlS\'stcm, and increases flexibilitv andr ~ ~ l i ; J b i l i t y 01 aircraft controls. Additional te'sts ,ll'e planned.UNIFORM TEST. Lt. Do" " aAlev

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WOLF WELCOMES DOG

10

WOLF WELCOMES DOG ... A IC Kenneth Neal, dog handler with the 8thTactical Fighter Wil\g Wolf Pack atUbon Royal Thai AB, gives the newcanine arrival the traditional Thaiwelcome lei. Rinny, one of 20 newsentry dogs, arrived aboard a C-141in near lOO-degree weather. The dogs,all' German shepherd s, are the first tobe assigned to a Thailand base. Theywill pull more than the normal oncyear tour, but they won't be expectedto go to work until they bec:ome usedto the bUlnid Uban eiim ate.FLIGHT LINE DETECTIVE .. Checks,rechecks an d inspections are some ofthe senets of safe flying. The 15members of the 31st Tadit:al Fighter\Ving '!'i (iuality control team be"ievethat, amI in three months time theychecked out 125 planes for qualitymaintenance. Their biggest challengecomes in the hangar, however. There,after every complex maintenance job,the team carefully inspects the aircraft bolt by bolt before i t is given anokay. Here TSgt. Richard H. Fow!.erc.:hecks for hydraulic leaks on the underside of an F-100 as it sits on theflight line.

THE EQUALIZER Capt. Hemy B.Steidl, "Dragon - ship" commanderwith the 14th Air Commando Squadron, explains how a 7.62 minigunequalizer helped keep a Vie tn amese21-man Popular Forec outpost alive. Acompany of VC, using B-40 and B-41rockets, attacked the outpost eightmiles southeast of 13inh Thuy. Drilgonships continually flew ove rh e ad ascrewmen provided iIluminrttiOh andfire from their miniguns while Popular Forces men fought building-tobuilding inside the outpost. 'A 'hen thebattle ended 32 Viet Cong lay dead.In apprcciation for the Dragon-shiphelp , Vietnamese Army Capt. DanHu n Binh pre..o;ents " c.:ap tu reu AK-47weapon to C,lptain Steidl.LOVE AD Ey en war didn't makeCapt. Richard B. Clement forget hiswedding ann iversary. Clement, a staffbriefing officer for Seventh Air Forceheadquarters, di d it up big (or theforce fighting the "waiting" war. Th ehalf-page ad he inserted in his wife'shometown ncwspaper may have givenher a shock, bu t could rtnyone denythat it was a pleasant one?

I EIIES FiliiFLIGHT LINE DETECTIVE

THE EQUALIZERLOVE AD

,

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LADY TO THE RESCUEI . First le mule to join the ranks of

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A CES' Top fighter pilots? I had met many of thcmhefore. Silver wings lopping rows of impress ivedecorations, proclaiming valor in two wars? Yes, I hadseen those before, too. Tall, husky, handsome men?And generals, or men with the bearing of generals?These also I have encountered, as well as those whocould lay claim to being husbands of Hollywood stars.I have even met, on one or two rare occasions, AirForce officers who could recite, verbatim, the Airman 'sOath of Enlistment.

But I had never met anyone man who qualified forall these distinctions.Never, that is, until I met Brig. Gen . Robin Olds.You don't really meet Gencral Olds. You e.perieoce him. And the ex perience is at once disconcertingand comforting. It is disconcerting because there, s t a n d ~ing before you is the embodiment of thc AmericanEagle; the man every American male at one time or another dreams he is, or will become. You feel , as thisman's outstanding accomplishments run through yourmind, that if Walter Mitty were a real person and haddone all he had dreamcd, his name might have beenRobin Olds.

The ex pcricnce is comforting because you know thatthis man, in his relatively new job as Commandant ofCadets at the US Air Force Academ y is in a pos ition toexcrt great influence on future leaders of the Air Force;leaders upon whom the sccurity of the United Stateswill one day rest.Yet thc vivid recollection of a mustachiocd, hell-forleather, Mig-killing fightcr pilot makes it difficult forsomc people to equate thc demands of his present jobwith the role he has fulfilled during his 25-year AirForce career. This is why I had come to the Air ForceAcademy (0 talk to General Olds.When word of his new job as Commandant of Cadetswas announeed-a job which , among many other things,entails the instilling of discipline in the Co rps of Cadets-some people saw what they thought was a paradox."Fighter pilots," some said, "arc probably the mostunruly, undisciplined lot of people ever co mmissioncdby the United States Government." Patent non scnse, ofcourse. Yet images die hard and are often formed byminute glances of parts which in no way represent thewhole.Still , could it be that the concepts of discipline in cadet training were undergoing a changc? Was there perhaps a germ of truth in the thought that mcn who hadspent thcir careers as Air Force fighter pilots are some-

BGen Robin Old, meets CIC Fred BaueTt,first cadet to 5010 in USAFA's PilotIndoctrination Program. Lower left. thenColonel Olds ouure 5 hi. crew chief, AleRicha rd Wollace. thot his aircraft wo.okay. As commander of 8th Tactical FighterWing. he wa, based in Thailand. At right,he puts up 22nd fed liar on 81h TFW ',Mig Koreboord.

An Interview With Brig_ Gen. Robin Old.

DISCIPLINE: KEY TO AIR fORCE SUCCESS

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by TED R. STURM

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thing less than ideal proponents of strict military discipline? Who could better answer this and other relatedquestions than General Olds?

We sat in the general's attractive office at the Academy, comfortable in modern chairs neither too severenor too sumptuous. I had Ihought out Ihe first questioncarefully. It could sound imperlinent.

"Sir , how do you equate the carelree, high-nying lifeof a fighter pilol wilh Ih e rigid type of discipline youmust now enforce in an institution whose very foundatiOn is discipline?"He looked al me very deliberately . "A fighler pilotin Ihe Uniled Siaies Air Force is one of the mosl highlydisciplined peop le in the world." His answer was calm,absolulely assured.

"Every aspect of a fighter pilot's life demands thestrictest discipline," he went on. "Flying, itself, takes discipline. It is, in facI, bOlh the end result of disciplinedIraining and the constant application, through self-discipline, of the lessons of that training .

"But there are many kinds of discipline-many definitions and shades of meaning. Sometimes you can getlost in the semantics of the question like when you tryto equate surface appearances of fighter pilots with fundamentals taught at the Air Force Academy. It's likecomparing the one-two-three discipline of a studentmusician with the free-flowing, scemingly easy performance of a Pablo Casals."

"What you are saying then," I interjected, "is that wemust define Our term s when we talk about discipline?"

"Essentially, yes.""General, do you have a definition of discipline?""Wcll, I agree with everything the dictionary says dis-

cipline means. But yes, I have a pet definition. To me,discipline is what makes a man do th.e proper thingunder many different circumstances."I wasn't sure what he meant by that. "Do you meaninstinctively? Maybe what a man thinks is the properthing, really isn't."

"No, I don't mean instinct. If it were instinctive, youwouldn't need me in this job. To do the right thing, youmust be ab le to analyze and judge a situation accurately , make the right dccision as to the proper course ofaction . To do this takes training. For tomorrow's AirForce officer that training begins right here and rightnow. We teach and train SO that these m.en can analyzeand judge; can make the correct decis ion. Then-andhere's the pay-off of discipline-he takes the proper action under the circumstances.

"Don't you think it took disc ipline in Korea not tochase the Migs across the Yalu? Don't you think it takesdiscipline in Vietnam to break off a hot engagementwhcn you get too close to China, or rcstrictions seem tointerfere with what you would like to do? In fact, don'tyou think it takes discipline simply to get into the airplane each day and fly a combat mission?"

His questions were rhetorical, naturally, and I didn 'tanswer them. The general shifted in his chair, and leaned forward ."When you talk about discipline," he said, "you're

talking about adherence to a standard-an acceptedstandard, a set of rules and regulations that you believein and take an oath to obey. For the man in uniformthat standard is the Constitution of [he United States

Commandont of Code", aGen. Olds visi" daolies encampment, talks toCadets John Davidson, Dennis Hall and Edward Cole, upperdossmen .

and the rules and regulations derived from it. I, as anofficer of the government that administers thc affairs ofthis nation in accordance with the Constitution, mustcomply with the principle implicit in its provisions. Youremember the oath of enlistment?

hIt goes in part, '/ do solemnly swear or affirm thaI 1will support and defend the Constitution of the UnitedStales against all enemies, foreign alld domestic; that /will hear true faith and allegiance to the same; lindthat I will obey the orders of the President of the UnitedStates and the orden of the officers apfJointed over me,according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Mili-tary Justice, so help me God: Now when I administcrthat oath, I make sure the man taking it understandsevery part of it. I make sure he understands that he hassworn to 'obey . . . orders of the officers . . . according toregulations . . .

"That doesn't mean that when I givc an order mcnquestion it to see if it is 'according to regulations.' Theydarn well better carry it out! But it doe s mean that 1. andevery other offieer, must act and give orders in accordance with regulations and our own oath of allegiance.This is th e standard. These arc the governing principlesby which we weigh every decision and cvery act. This iswhat discipline is. I '

I thought about that as General Olds relaxed a moment. To mc. it put many things in proper focusprovided a goal, an objective; a standard that eliminatesthe need to try to develop you r own.

"But, ' I asked, "I havc seen many Air Force organizations and commanders with many differcnt degrees ofdiscipline. You know, some commanders arc known as'easy' others as 'Iron Tails.' Sometimcs VOLI would neverknow they were using the same s t a n d ~ r d . "

"Oh, sure! Rigidity in discipline can be as bad as nodiscipline. The strongest tree is the flexible trec. Sometimcs discipline must be applied like a sledge hammer.Sometimes you apply it like a feather. It depends, again.

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Here the Commondont checks on progre" of dooliei sol ..ing a problemin group reaction course . Whit. shined upperclau cadets ad as umpires,

on the circumstances. Like I said, the pruper thing underdifferent circumstances."Remember, today we are dealing with a kind ofyoungster different from the kind we were dealing with25 years ago. They are more intellectual. They are morehighly skilled as technicians. This applies to our yuungofficers as well as our young airmen. They are productsof today's society, and I'm sure you'U agree that therehave been some big changes in our society ovcr the past25 Or 30 years."

"1 can't give you any arguments on that score," I answered, ""and I'm sure few people would. Sillce you mentioned today's society, could you comment on how yourremarks on standards of discipline might apply to theproducts of today's society?"

"0 11 I could comment, all right , but it would probab lyget me into dcep trouble! I will say this. Hippies, dopesters , draft-dodgers, riots, violence and so on, are indicative of what happens when you don't have diSCip line.These people have forsaken all moral standards and areeither living without any or are trying to develop theirown. I f they have any kind of standard by which theylive, it seems to be based more on what's good or plc,",s-ant Or gratifying tu them, rather than what's good for society. In a land where law is made by the majorily ofthe people, it is supreme, and must be obeyed. Wherethe law is bad, it should be changed through orderly,established procedures. When you try to make yuur Ownlaws, you end up in chaos,'"

" Doesn't this get into the question of morality? Ofmoral law?"

" It can . But I'm not talking about that . I'm talkingabout the discipline that makes you obey the rules,whatever (he rules are, whatever their sou rce. don'tmean blind ubedience, of course. There arc bad Jawsand bad rules, and .these should be brought oul, examined, and changed. But in the proper way. You know,you can even have a highly di sciplined criminal:-onewho knows and complies with the standards that insure

competence in bank robbing. That certainly isn't moral,but it is discip1ine ."Look at it this way. Whether you are talking aboutdivine law. moral law, religious doctrine, jurisprudence,Air Force regulations or squadron SOPs the principleis the same. They represent accumulated, superiorknowledge of the subject, they are adopted as a recognized way of accomplishing a given objective and byand large they are accepted voluntarily by members ofthe organization or community they govern. Adher-ence to them brings reward, even though adherencemay at times be extremely difficult. Deviat ion fromthcm usually brings punishment of some sort. But compliance because of the fear of punishment is a weakdiscipline. Compliance because of one's conviction oracceptance is true discipline."

"What about this question of punishment? Can youenforce discipline without punishment for infrac tions?"" If everyone was self-disciplined and totally dedi

cated to the principles involved, there would never beany infraction and consequently no need for punishment. But we haven't reached that state yet . in societynor (he Air Force. So there must be punishment es tablished for infractions of law and order. To let recalcitran ts violate orders with impunjty would encourageothers to do so. Such permissiveness leads to indirection, divisiveness, and a breakdown in urganized effort. That is bad enough in our communities, but it isabsolutely intolerable in a military organization."

"It seems to me, sir, that what you have said appliesnot only to society, fighter pilot s, and Air Force Ac ademy cadets, but to the whole Air Force. Noncommissioned officers, airmen, civilians-the entire force.""I think so. You hear complaints from old-time

NCOs that young airmen aren't respectful, don't respond like they did in the old days . I say those NCOsshould take a hard look at themselves. Are they in stilling the proper sense of discipline? Are they tOO rigid',too lenient, out of step with the times? Sometimes ittakcs a real training job to convert a young man from,today's permissive environment into an airman with asense of duty, responsibility and .elf-diseipline.""W hat do you think the answer is to the problem ofdiscipline , General Olds?""I never said there was a problem of discipline . But

if there were. the answer lies in what we are doing. Weteach (\ man to be an airman . or an o ffice r. That embedies training in many different sk ills, and educationin many different subjects. Perhaps the most importantof these subjects is teaching the man how to applyhimself; to motivate him so that he believes in what heis learning, doing, and will ultimately apply. I f yousucceed in doing that you have instilled self,discipline,because he believes that what he is doing is right andproper according to standards he accepts and lives by.The result? A determination to carry out hi s responsibilities even when it means giving up his life. This isdiscipline. That is what we endeavor to instill at the AirForce Academy. That is wh at makes the United StatesAir Force function."

I now knew what I had come to find ou t. Likewise, Iwas anxious to gel it down on paper. That would be atask, but I knew what it would take-discipline. Pureself-discipline. As I left the Academy I wondered howmy wife would react to a moustache. ~

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26

(Editor's Note: This article was unsoliciled. II ar-rived in our edilorial o/ficI!s jusl as Ihe Ocloberissue was being PUI 10 bed. Slruck by ils obviouscorrelation wilh Ihe comments of Brig. Gen. RobinOlds in Discipline: Key to Air Force Success, page22, we haslened to include il in this issue. Wehope it gives you the same feeling of pride thaIil gives us.)Last March I was privileged to serve personnelof the United Stales Air Force by conducting re-ligious missions at bases in Turkey and Libya.

Theseal"!fchDrTrutt i

While at Wheelus AirBase in Tripoli, a youngairman, a reporter for thebase newspaper, request-ed an interview duringw h ie h he asked me tocompare the airmen I hadmet with the universilyCollege stueients and airmenare both looking for answers.But there's a differencein haw they go about it.

by Rev. THOMAS G. SAVAGE, S. J.Auociote ProfeuOf' of Eft9ldh

Xavier UniversityCi ..cinnoti, Ohio

undergraduates I knew.My initial reaction to the query was to declarethat there really is little difference between theyoung airmen I had met and the average under-graduate with whom I deal every day. Both groupsexperience the same diff;';ulti.. in moral, psy-chological, religious, and philosophical areas.Human nature on the college campus hardly differsfrom human nature on the air base. Both airmen

and undergraduates share a common concern aboutGod, about sex, about freedom, and about author-ity. Both groups tend to oppose the traditional wayof doing things.But for all the similarities between the two

groups, there are, I believe, some significant dif-ferences. Although both groups ask roughly thesame questions, their tone of voice differs. Theairman generally lacks the strident tone in whichthe undergraduate often p h r a s e s a question.Whereas the airman betrays a refreshing humilitywhen posing a problem, the undergraduate often

lie Aitaan

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is leading a crusade or a chargeThen, t o o ~ when an airman proposes a questiona difficullY, he appears genuinely interested inif he may rejectwhereas when an undergraduate questions you,often auempling 10 back you into a corner.

It frequently

graduate would only cynically sneer. Inthan are college undergraduates. and less flip

My informal conversations with airmen in sriackin chapel offices revealed that although

or at least aof their situation. Of enin order to em barrass a

or to hear themselves talk. The airmenme l were without exception interested SOlely in10 grips with contemporary problems.A most encouraging aspect of dealing with air

or suggestingto an airman, I never felt that he in

or a college professor Or because I happen toor college

p re sen ted by aIf a

the undergraduate reacts to him.Perhaps the most significant difference between

1Ic101lo. 19&1

airmen and college undergraduates was the attitudetoward a system of values. Most airmen withwhom I discussed philosophical Or religious queslions willingly accepted some code or a seriesof guidelines. No airman I met felt that his ownemotional reaetions or visceral rumblings substituted for an objective value system. I t is preciselyhere that the airman sharply and significanlly contrasts with the college slUdent. The latter not onlytend 10 reject any system; they literally substitutetheir own romantic notions for any code or sys-tem. The airman is willing to accept a norm distinct from his own personal feelings as a guideto philosophical and religious mailers; rather foolishly, and naively. the undergraduate wants togo it alone. The airman seems fundamentallymore mature, even if less sophisticated, than thecollege student today.

Encouraging to a cOllege professor was theairman's eager interest to widen his intellectualhorizons through reading. Any number of airmen with whom I spoke requested tiUes of bookson a variety of religious and philosophical subjects. This thirst for knowledge was inspiring, andI could nOl help but think that this spirit contrasted with college undergraduates who frequentlygroan when urged to read anything beyond thebasic textbook for a course.I do )lot wish to imply that all undergraduatesare party boys living from one weekend gathering to another. There are serious students onevery campus, But it was a pleasant surprise tofind serious thought about important moral, philosophical, religious mailers current in the minds ofthe ainncn f encountered.For a civilian clergyman-professor, it was extremely gratifying to be made aware of the intellectual vitality manifested by young men servingour country in the United States Air Force, of their

m a t u r i t y ~ and of their interest in solving currentproblems in an intelligent way. .0 .

21

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SCARECROWStory and photos by TSgt. HANK BOWDEN

Mather AFB, Calif

TOP: lO

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Sg '- William McClu,key ho , a dual role at 'h e Por t Co b riJlo site, He ',a full time de fe rue l y, lems traioer specialis' oo d port. 'ime !upply mo o ,

Fort Bragg, Ca lif. , a town of loggers , fishermen and , toquote one of the men, "ua rn nice civ ilians." Fort I3mgg,a comm unity of some 4.500 pcop le, is located ninemiles north of the s ite. The surrounding. area has someof the mOSl heautiful coastal and woodland scene ry innorthcfIl California.

WHOIS

THISAIRMAN?

This officer has no pcer. She's onc of a kind.She sla nds alone in her position of leadership, Herdynamic, but subtle aggressiveness has comp letelyrevolutionized military thinking abou t lhe role ofWomen in the Air Force.

She has a "gel-it-done" philosophy--one lhalhas hroughl about an ex pans ion in the WAF,crcatcd new job opportunities and assignm cntlocations for e n l i s t ~ d women, and onc that hasresulted in the deve lopment of new and modernuniforms fo r the WAF .She began her military caree r as a ve hicle op

eralo r, graduating al the lOP of her Motor Transportation School class . Staturc W(lS her on ly problem, She had lrouble reaching lhe c lutch and brakepedals on the 2 V2-to n trucks .

October 1968

SiTe perionnel not only operate th e electronic equipment, th ey allio muin loin il. SSg '- Dole Owem; bring' a campanen' back to peok efficiency.

In Ju ly 1962 the Poinl Cabrillo sile wenl inlo ope ralion in support of the airborne portion of the 35371hElectronic Wlrfarc Training Squiluron's program. Thesitc workcu its first mission aircraft on August 7. ISince that lIarc, men assigned ( 0 the sile have eonlro lleu over 35 ,000 bomber defense runs , eo.

Shortly after entering the WOOlcn's Army AlI xiliary Corps the pretly young WA AC from Portland, Ore., was selected for OffLcer CundidakSchooL She gradualeu as a "Third Officer" inJanuary 1943,

Fo r a time she c o m m a n d e d WAAC basictra inees at Fort Ogletho rp e, Ga. , an u Fort Lee,Va. Leaving the Arm y as a captain, she attendct..lLewis and Clark College in her hOlllc luw n for twoye"", Then came the Berlin Crisis o f 1 9 4 ~ andshe was rcca llcll .

Transferring to lhe Air Force in she wasassigned To th..: Erlling Air Depot in Bavaria , thefirst ill a se ric :\ of s laff pos itio ns in plans, progrmnming, aoll Ill

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W nl effortless gra ce a metal bjrd circles in thethin ai r of the Colorado sky. Gradually it spir.lsupward toward the base of a billowy white cumuluscloud. The met al bird is a sailplane-or gJida, if youprefer. And it is riding the same invisible thermal updraft that is forming the cloud.Pilots who soar aloft in these motorless craft seek Outand depend on the updraft-or similar variations- forsustained flight. Finding these unseen thermals is athrilling ar t requiring a specia l skill, One not usuallyfound in any other form of winged flight.

Gliders - or so a r i n g - is what the Air ForceAcademy's Navigation Soaring Program is all about.Th e extensive training program started at the Academyin the summer of 1967 when 21 members of the ClassSoaring pilots surf in silent gliders on invisiblemountain WQves or thermal updrafts to fly

UP,UPAND AWAYI

by Cadet ELBRIDGE L, SNAPP IIIUS Air Force Acodemy

of 1969 were selected to participate. Five weeks in duration, the training gives cadets hal[ a day in classstudying Navigation 470--and half a day at the BlackForest Gliderport learning to soar.

Student soaring pilots fly with officers from theAcademy who are FAA-rated soaring instructors. Theexhilarating training program offers the cadets l!xperience jn flying gliders, and gives them the basic fundamentals of navigation . Year-rounu weekend flightsare possible for the student pilots, who enter the program in the fall of their third class year, by enrolling inAirmanship 451 , a one-semester-huur course. This l:onsists of a we_kly ground school- lesson on soaring techniques and theory that prepares students for their written FAA flight exams. A demonstration ride sometime30

during the ground school pa n of the course gives eachcadet the opportunity to expl!ricnce these tel:hnilJ.ues inaction. in whar is one of the most exciting aircraft rides.Flight training comes (tfter c O I T I p l ~ t i o n of the groundschool, and begins wilh dual instruct ion. The fledgling's first solo usually is about his 20th [ime aloft. After50 flights and 10 hours of soaring, he eagerly ac ceptshis private pilot's certificate and often the "C" badge ofthe Soaring Society of America, which attests to hishigh level of a_h ievement in the world's most enjoyable fo rm of flying.By thi s time the student pilot thoroughly understands[he theories and techniques of soaring. Give him half a

chance and he'H describe these to you in glowing phrasesand paint pictures of such flights with his hands while

he's doing so .Design for Lifting

Th e modern sailplane is an outstanding example ofaeronautical design. It features an extremely clean con figurat ion and u n u ~ u a l l y long wings. The sailplane derives much of its remarkab le ability to stay aloft fromthe long wings that give it a tremendous gl ide ratio. Abasic training sai lplane may glide on ly 12 feet forwardfor every fo a l of altitude lost, but a high-performancesailplane may ha ve a glide ratio of beller than 40 to I.Most commonly flown sailplanes fall somewhere withinthese ex tremes.

A beginner first climbing ab oard will be amazed atthe simplicity of the sailplane compared to powered air-The Airman

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craft. The familiar stick and rudders are there, but thesurprise is the uncluttered instrument panel. Only analtimeter amI an airspeed indicator are mandatory, butother instruments-such as a rate-of-c1imb indicator orvariometer are usually included. (This last instrumentis worth special mention.)

The variometer is an instrument peculiar to a sailplane. It consists of tWo vcrticHI, tapered glass tubesabout three inches long, one lubl,.': containing a reu pdlet and the other a green pcllet. Th e tubes arc connectedto an air reservoir at one end and vented to the ambientair at the other. As the sailplane rises the pressuredrops, allowing air to flow out of the r c ~ e r v o i r andthe green pellet rises. Should the sailplane faU out ofthe rising air, the green ,pellet falls to the bottom of

the tube, and, if the sai lplane then encounters sinkingair, increased pressure causes ai r 10 flow back into thereservoir pushing up the red pellet. Fo r the experiencedpilot, the variameter is the primary flight instrument.

His first concern, however, is getting up there.Having no motive power of its own, a sailplane mustdepend on other means to be launched into the air.

There arc three commonly used methods : the aero tow,the winch launch, and the auto tow. Th e sailplane-attached by cable to a small , single-engine tow planeflies in normal attitudes familiar to the pilot and thetow pilot. An acro lOw can rake the sailplane to highL:raltitudes to more favorable soaring conditions. Thisgives the sailplane pilot a much greater chance of having a flight of longer duration.

Octob" 1968

A winch launch, Oil the othcr hand, is performed byattaching the sailplane to a long cable connected to amotor-driven winch located several thousand feet away.At a signal , the winch operator reels in the cable at therate of ahollt 50 miles per hour. Th e plane rises at anangle of around 60 dcgrees to the horizon to attain aheight of well over 1,000 feet above ground by thelime it's over the winch and (irops the launch cable.

Th c third method, al l to tow, launches the sailplaneby a inng ~ a b l c attached to the rea r of a tow car, whichthen drives down a runway or flat track. Altitudes ofovcr a tholl.sanu feet above ground are common forthc auto tow.

Once thc sailplane is off tow it begins sliding downa long indined plane of air to the grounu . I f the metal

bird is aero-towed to an altitude of 3,000 feet aboveground, it may spcnd about six minutes on tow. If air;is stable the plane will bc baek on thc ground about 20minutes aftl,.':r takeoff.

Th e pilot, of course, wants to maintain his releasealtitude or increase it, to up as long as possible.The only way his motorless aircraft can gain height isto enter a stream of air that is rising faster than theheavier-than-air sailplane is sinking. That can be tricky.

First, y ()U have ,to know where to look for the invisibleupdrafts. An understanding of how and where they arcformed gives you the

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three common examples. Most soaring today is done inthermals. These are the result of the sun heating theearth over certain areaS such as a plowed field or apaved road, which usually heat up more than adjacentland areas.

The air above these hotter surfaces becomes warmerthan the surrounding air. This warmer air then may detach itself from the ground and rise. A sairplane catching this "elevator" will also rise. As the air rises itcools, and may form a cumulus cloud. Clouds just beginning to develop have the strongest lift , which diesaway gradually as the cloud grows . matures, and dissipates. But there are other causes of rising air besidesthermal lift.

When a wind blows against and perpendicular to aridge, the air is turned upward near the ridge producing

Capt . Wesley H. JargeMen (J) and Capt. Gilbert K. Sf . Clair (r) briefeager sooring club. memben on how la know when yov pan thai turnpoint.

a steady, rising current. In ridge soaring the pilot flieslong figure eights, staying close to the ridge. He mayget a flight of sevcral hours' duration but of little distance. Auto or winch launches are commonly used tolaunch the sailplane over the crest of the ridge intothe lift.

If the wind blows against a mountain range insteadof a ridge, then a mountain wave may be created . Thistype of wavc has never been completely explored, butits strong updrafts can produce lift at thl.: rate of sevcralthousand feet per minute. (The world altitude record of46,267 fcet was set by Paul F. Bikle, who rode aloft ona mountain wave at Bishop, Calif. B i k l e ' ~ plane wasstill in strong lift when he broke away, but he had

a limited number of interested cadets. Conditions inColorado are excellent for the sport. The thermals arelarge and strong, and the mountain wave-largely a winter qccurrence-is considered the second strongest in theworld. Thc soaring program has a fleet of four sailplanesthat are owned by the Academy.For basic training. cadets use the SGU 2-22- a twoplacc, dual-control trainer with tandem seating. It hasa glide ratio of 18 to I. Thi s is not outstanding, but it isexcellent for training.

The Academy pilots, after being certified solo, mayny one of the two oxygen-equipped single-place SGS1-26s. The 1-26 is a medium-performancc sailplanewith sensitive handling characteristics and a glide ratioof 23 to I. Furthcrmore, this plane is fully aerobatic.Maneuvers up to plus 5 or minus 3 Gs may be safelyperformed.

Cadets Paul Men;ce ond Michael lind.1I ore waiting for the "Launch,launch, lauroch" from the tailplone before Harling the 10llnching winch .The fourth plane in the Academy fleet is a two-place,

fully instrumented SGS 2-25 . Only one 2-25 was everbuilt. It was a prototype for a higher-pcrformanceplane nOw on the market, but th.e prototype itself alsohas very high performance characteristics. Its 60-footwing span and clean configuration give it a glide ralioof 30 to I. The 2-25 is also oxygen-equipped for highaltitude flight.

Each of these craft has a special place in the Academy's soaring training program, and each offers snmeof the most enjoyable experiences to be found in theart and science of soaring. There's nothing quite like