OCR Text |
Show HILL TOP TIMES Page 20 June 27, 1963 LEADS MANY LIVES Legendary vGooney Bird' Still Flies, But Faces Extinction In Space Age By Darlene Galbraith tween Air Corps stations in the western United States. Tribune Staff Writer A mission of mercy, "Operation 7, Haylift" earned the ageless "Gooney Bird" a place in Utah history. When severe weather complicated by deep, drifting snow, threatened annihilation of Utah's deer popuPilots who fly the dependable craft contend that its lation in the winter of 1948, flew to the chances of joining the ranks dependable rescue. Crews from Hill AFB of the vanishing1 Americans airdropped 5,000 bales to the "The only way to isolated deer. The are slim each with a capacity of 60 bales, replace a Gooney is with another Gooney." made 94 flights, logging a of 112 hours to fly the But even its staunchest sup- total food to the starving animals. porters must admit that in a day of speed in space, their beWeekly loved bird is, in a word, "slow." Today there are no based at Hill, but once a week Skytrain Called the "Skytrain" by the the drone of the Gooney's twin, horsepower engines manufacturer, the "C-4by its arrival as the old, signals "R-4the Air the Force, by familiar craft makes a brief the Navy and the "DC-3- " by a navigational training the airlines, the Gooney has stop on from Mountain Home proved itself as a rugged and flight to Nellis AFB, Nev., AFB, Ida., dependable aircraft. via Hill. In the since period Two it first took to the air, the tain Home as basedofattheMoun67th part Gooney Bird" has been used Combat Support Squadrons as a search and rescue craft, a reconnaissance plane, a staff alternately make the weekly flight, serving as plane, a glider tow plane, an training couriers and transporting perairborne early warning station, sonnel. flight trainer, an air ambulance, an antisubmarine craft Pilot Lt. Col. Ted Remaklus, and a troop transport. who has logged more than hours in the remarkable It has been fitted with pon- 2,000 describes the craft as bird, toons and made to land on reliable." water; the wheels have been "highly torn off and replaced with skiis. Reliable It has had its engines removed to be made into an experiCol. Remaklus points out mental glider. In one instance, that while this rugged plane is the interior was fitted with the "not as fast as some of the proper fixtures to make it into other aircraft" he has flown, a flying laundromat for the the 7 gets there when other troops stationed in isolated isspeedier craft may fail. lands in the South Pacific. The possibility that the two Grandmother planes at the Idaho base may be replaced with has In the Southeast Asian conbeen discussed, but is not yet flict, the little old grandmother a reality. of the skyways has taken up In southeast Asia the arms and joined the fight playrole new in a new a war. ing Known as "Puff the Magic is equipDragon," the AC-4- 7 gat-lin- g g with three ped each of pourguns, capable ing 6,000 rounds of ordnance into a target each minute for complete saturation. The guns are aimed and fired by the pilot while flying in a tight left pylon turn. n Flown today by pilots, the "Gooney Bird" lives on proof that old aircraft never die, they just change their names and find a new job. Military and civilian records reveal that more than 60 different versions of the famed aircraft have given years of faithful service. e The "Gooney the Bird," legendary leads many lives yet it must weather the constant danger of extinction. man-mad- C-4- C-4- 7s C-4- 7s, C-4- 7s Flying Boxcars" also are being gun-ship- s. converted into AC-11- 9 In contrast to the "Gun Gooney" which is a low wing aircraft. High Wing has a The new AC-11- 9 high wing design which gives the pilot a virtually unobstructed view. These are being added to the fleet of gunships, but Gooneys known as "Puff the Magic Dragon" continue to do their job. Pilots who fly the ageless maintain that while the dependable planes may be replaced in some roles, the remarkable Gooney Birds will fly on to eternity not C-4- 7s "GOONEY" PILOT Lt. Col. Ted Remaklus of Mountain Home AFB, Ida., flies the 7 to Hill AFB, to Nellis AFB and k back to Idaho on a schedule. still used in the Air Force, date back 35 years. C-4- once-a-wee- 1906th Celebrates 7" D" 35-ye- Eighth Birthday Tuesday will mark the anniversary of the Air John M. Kresl. The local squadron, a part of AFCS since its beginning, has the mission of providing air Col. traffic circuits. The most familiar function of the 1906th is its responsibility for the base's more than 10,000 telephones and two World-wid- e, JET ASSIST This jet assist for the famous 'Gooney Bird took place in 1948 in muddy fields of Illinois. The pilot was n Capt. James Doolittle Jr., of AFB, Ohio. The 7 was equipped with JATO, for the jet assist take-of- f. Wright-Patterso- C-4- 19 , ! Force Communications Service as personnel prepare to continue serving the needs of the Air Force and promocommunications ting reliable facilities wherever Air Force personnel are stationed. honor Uniform while participating ceror joint honor blue Previously uniform was the uniform for honor emonies. V i Win! ir me 19. '"J zzz. ::z:z:Tncei a,re,r the probed command sonnel. Installation to ers are authorized prescribe blue and seasonal wear of the tan honor guard unworn faiin C-3- .- "k Air rsonnel 4 T'IERS- These are but a few of the functions of the 1906th and the -- C-4- L service maintains more than 250,000 telephone lines and over 325,000 telephone instruments. WASHINGTON (AFNS) The tan summer uniform belt, (1505) with white scarf, white and gloves, aiguillette been approved has cover cap for wear by honor guard pe- In 1941 mt 5,200 lines. communic- Honor Guard third-generatio- t with the ations side-firin- . navigational mmunications through government owned and leased wire 9s . control, aids, ground radio maintenance repair, and wire and voice co- C-4- . Force Service, with headquarters at Scott AFB, 111. The AFCS command, is represented on Hill AFB by the 1906th Communications Squadron, under the command of Lt. C-4-7s The first version of the 7 to land at Hill Air Force Base arrived a 3 transport at the Utah base April 5, 1941. The plane and its sister ships, part of the 8th Transport were transferred Squadron, from San Antonio, Tex., to move men and materiel be- - eighth Communications ar C-1- s, he Kor..n Conllct, a "Coowy Bird' on wi,h a ,Md of woundd n .rrand of |