LOGBOOK Volume 15

Editor’s Note: You may have noticed there was a bit of a time lapse between the end of Volume 14 and the start of Volume 15. Allow me to explain. Many of the folks who help put together LOGBOOK magazine, besides being avid aviation history enthusiasts, are, or were, commercial pilots, and for a time several of us found ourselves flying gigs outside of the United States. While the flying was a lot of fun, it kept us out of the office, which put us increasingly behind our publishing schedule. Rather than turn out hastily assembled and shoddy issues, we decided LOGBOOK should take a bit if a hiatus, until such a time as we could give it the proper attention. We have been publishing LOGBOOK since 2001, and we are not about to stop now. Our emphasis on working with a wide variety of authors continues to bring us, and you, some really great stories.

I am happy to say that we are back on schedule. Again, thanks for your support.
Please feel free to drop me a line anytime - I always have time to talk flying.
Fly Safe,
Dave Powers

Volume 15, Number 1

Feature Articles:

The Fleet Spreads Its Wings
by Brian Miller

  ON 30 DECEMBER 1920, THE BEHEMOTH FLYING BOATS NC-5 AND NC-6 LUMBERED SKYWARD FROM THE WATERS SURROUNDING WHAT IS NOW NAVAL AIR STATION (NAS) NORTH ISLAND, IN SAN DIEGO BAY. IT WAS THE START OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS UNDERTAKING EVER ATTEMPTED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD OF AVIATION UP TO THAT TIME.
THE PLAN WAS SIMPLE:  NAVIGATE IN FORMATION ALONG THE CENTRAL AMERICAN COASTLINE TO EACH OF EIGHT PLANNED REST/REFUEL STOPS AND JOIN THE FLEET FOR MANEUVERS IN PANAMA BY THE 15TH OF JANUARY 1921.
DUBBED THE “LONGEST AND MOST HAZARDOUS TRIP IN [THE] HISTORY OF PEACETIME AVIATION” BY THE SAN DIEGO WEEKLY UNION, THIS ENTIRE EXPEDITION WAS UNDER THE OVERALL COMMAND OF CAPTAIN HENRY C. MUSTIN, COMMANDER OF NAVAL AIR FORCES PACIFIC. IT WAS MUSTIN’S OBJECTIVE TO VALIDATE HIS BELIEF THAT HIS NAVAL AIR FORCES COULD SELF-DEPLOY TO SUPPORT THE FLEET IN RESPONSE TO A CRISIS IN THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE. 

Introduction to the McDonnell F-4C Phantom II
by Val Johnson

 THE 497TH FIGHTER-INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON (FIS) HAD RECEIVED ORDERS TO TERMINATE OPERATIONS IN EUROPE, AND TRANSFER ALL OUR CONVAIR F-102 DELTA DAGGER FIGHTERS TO THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD AT BOISE, IDAHO. THE SQUADRON WOULD NOW BE DESIGNATED AS THE 497TH TACTICAL FIGHTER SQUADRON (TFS), AND WOULD BE LOCATED AT GEORGE AIR FORCE BASE (AFB), IN VICTORVILLE, CALIFORNIA. SQUADRON PILOTS HAD THE OPTION TO REMAIN IN EUROPE, BY TRANSFERRING TO ANOTHER F-102 SQUADRON IN GERMANY, OR ACCEPTING A PERMANENT CHANGE OF STATION (PCS) TO VICTORVILLE. THE 8TH TACTICAL FIGHTER WING (TFW), PARENT WING TO THE 497TH TFS, AT GEORGE AFB, WAS SCHEDULED TO RECEIVE BRAND NEW F-4C PHANTOM II FIGHTERS FROM THE MCDONNELL FACTORY, AT ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. ALL PILOTS WHO TRANSFERRED TO THE 8TH TFW WERE TO BE UPGRADED, AT DAVIS MONTHAN AFB, IN ARIZONA. IT WOULD BE THEIR FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO FLY THE NEW PHANTOMS.

 A Little Mystery - The World War Two Airfields of Efate Island
by David G. Powers

  EFATE ISLAND - ÎLE EFATE IN FRENCH - IS LOCATED NEAR THE MID-POINT OF THE NEW HEBRIDES ISLAND CHAIN, NOW CALLED THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU SINCE GAINING INDEPENDENCE ON 30 JULY 1980. IN ITS COLONIAL DAYS THE NEW HEBRIDES WERE CLAIMED BY BOTH THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH, AND SINCE 1906 WAS GOVERNED UNDER WHAT WAS CALLED THE “ANGLO-FRENCH CONDOMINIUM” SYSTEM, WHERE JOINT RULE WAS ADMINISTRATED BY BOTH COUNTRIES. DURING THE WAR, THE AMERICANS MOVED IN AND MADE EFATE AN IMPORTANT STAGING POINT TO FURTHER THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC, ALTHOUGH EFATE WAS NOT QUITE SO WELL KNOWN AS ANOTHER, BIGGER ISLAND UP THE NEW HEBRIDES CHAIN, NAMELY ESPIRITU SANTO. EFATE SAW THE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO SHIP HARBORS, A SEAPLANE BASE AND THREE, OR PERHAPS, FOUR AIRFIELDS. IT’S THESE LAND-BASED AIRFIELDS, AND THEIR NAMES, THAT PRESENTS A BIT OF A QUANDARY.

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 15, Number 2

Feature Articles:

VT-27 and T-28 Trojans
by James Stevens

Captain James Stevens (USNR Retired) pinned on the coveted wings-o-gold back in 1971. The is a first person story about what it was like to be in the training command back in his day - both as a student and as an instructor pilot.
Captain Stevens: “I will focus on the early part of that era. I will explain how I got into Naval Aviation, some of my training, the squadrons involved, and changes culminating in the transition of Training Squadron TWENTY-SEVEN (VT-27), stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Texas from the twin engine Grumman TS-2A Tracker to the North American T-28 Trojan. My discussion is primarily about T-28 training around 1973 to 1974. During these years, the role of the T-28 relative to the Naval Air Training Command, and the aircraft’s future were under serious review. Basically, this is a brief recollection from one who lived that adventure.
“As the story of Naval Aviation goes, the only constant is change, and the Navy is constantly changing the way things are done. Budget concerns, personnel in a position of author- ity, world and national affairs, public relations, and a whole host of other factors drive the nation’s military forces. The story of the transition of VT-27 from the multi-engine advanced TS-2A trainer to the single engine T-28 basic trainer is one example of how things changed in Naval Aviation.”

Money Play Gets A New Name
by Jon Goldenbaum

Those of us who flew in the Viet Nam air war suffered through a variety of discomforts: heat, humidity, skin rashes, tropical sores and worst of all, dysentery. Most lost at least 30 pounds over a year of combat flying. No matter where you were stationed, you never escaped heat and sweat. Of course our conditions were far superior to our brother grunts on the ground, and we all recognized their miserable circumstances. Living conditions for airmen varied, some had it great: air conditioned sleeping quarters, party bars, laundry and maid service. Others toughed it out in tents or improvised open hooches. But no matter where we served, every day we went down to the flight line to strap into our aircraft for hours of sweat, hard flying, and tension. The guys who had it worst were the low and slow aviators in helicopters, forward air control airplanes, and Skyraiders who had no fancy on-board air conditioners like the turbine powered Thuds, Phantoms and Huns. To further challenge our health, we drank and smoked too much, ate mostly unhealthy stuff to include unknown delights from local street food vendors. Few exercised or ran; we didn’t spend too much time on healthy lifestyles, given the circumstances life was more important than style.

So with this stage of discomfort set, on to our story:

All we Lieutenants in the squadron thought he hung the moon. He was the only Major who recognized our existence; most senior officers ignored us unless we screwed up or needed a haircut. After all, we were really college boys who had been in the Air Force less than two years. We sort of knew how to wear a uniform, salute and say “sir,” but that was about the extent of our military skills. We had no grasp at all of the political things needed to do to get promoted or have a successful career. In fact, we could care less about a military career at that point, all we wanted was to do a good job, not look bad to our peers, and survive the war. Our efforts in the Air Force to that point had been in learning to fly at UPT (Under-graduate Pilot Training), then trying to master bombing and strafing in an operational attack aircraft. We were pretty green, but we made up the majority of the A-1 Skyraider pilots in the 1st Special Operations Squadron, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, toward the end of the Viet Nam war.

The major in question went by the nickname “Money Play.” Jon Goldenbaum tells of the life of a Skyraider pilot during the Viet Nam war, and one particular mission where Major Money Play got himself a new nickname.

The Miracle at Issoudun
by K. E Bevier

When the United States declared war on the Central Powers April 9th of 1917, the extent of U.S. air power consisted of 131 officers, fifty-six of which were low-time pilots, and a small number of simple training aircraft. A short seventeen months later, at the time of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the U.S. Air Service had, in France alone, almost 5,000 officers and 47,000 enlisted men, with another 9,000 officers and 80,000 enlisted still in the United States, somewhere in the training pipeline to Europe.
The 3rd Aviation Instruction Center was to be created at Issoudun and would be come a center for advanced training in chasse (pursuits as fighters were called) and observation missions. It was located near Issoudun, a sub-prefecture capital of the Indre department, in the Loire river valley approximately 140 miles south of Paris, and 60 miles south-east of Tours. It would become the only training center operated exclusively by Americans.
In barely a year, Issoudun had grown from nothing to a center where 5,125 enlisted men and 1,030 officers prepared for duty at the front. Among the 29 separate organizations, which were there at the Armistice, there were 2 repair squadrons, 4 supply squadrons, 15 service squadrons and 8 mechanics companies. There were 1,022 aircraft of which 560 were in flying condition. There were 91 hangars, over 150 barracks buildings, and scores of miscellaneous support structures. Within 4 years after the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, all evidence of Issoudun had ceased to exist, the airfields reverting back to farm land. The buildings and equipment had been transferred to the French government in July of 1919, and provided a critical source of raw material for the reconstruction of the local French economy.
Author K.E. Bevier tells the story of this amazing achievement.

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 15, Number 3

Feature Articles:

The USS Langley and Pennoyer’s Missing Accelerometer
by Leo C. Forrest, Jr.

“I HAVE THE DUBIOUS DISTINCTION OF BEING THE FIRST MAN TO GO OVERBOARD ON ANY OF OUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS. BUT I GOT OUT AND THEY FINALLY SALVAGED THE AIRPLANE. BUT THE ONLY THING MISSING IN THE AIRPLANE WAS THE NACA ACCELEROMETER.” SO SAID FREDERICK W. PENNOYER, JR.

WITH CLIPBOARD IN HAND, LIEUTENANT FREDERICK W. PENNOYER, JR., U. S. NAVY AVIATION TECHNICAL ADVISOR, IS STANDING FRONT ROW TO THE FINAL PREPARATIONS BEING MADE FOR THE FIRST AIRPLANE FLIGHT FROM THE U. S. NAVY’S FIRST AIRCRAFT CARRIER, THE USS LANGLEY (CV-1). LANGLEY HAS BEEN AT ANCHOR SINCE STEAMING INTO THE YORK RIVER ON 28 SEPTEMBER.PROBLEMS, YES. BUT...PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS! AND SO EARLIER, ON 4 JUNE 1922, LT PENNOYER WAS ASSIGNED TO LANGLEY.

AUTHOR LEO FORREST RELATES THE VERY EARLIEST DAYS OF U.S. NAVY CARRIER OPERATIONS

And, Now America, You’re In North Africa With The Men Of The United States Army
by The LOGBOOK Staff

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO A READER SENT IN A SERIES OF SCANS OF A TRANSCRIPT OF WHAT APPEARS TO BE A SHORT RADIO SPOT - DATED 16 AUGUST 1943. ALTHOUGH THE TRANSCRIPT IS RELATIVELY SPARSE WHEN IT COMES TO DETAILED INFORMATION, IT IS CLEAR THAT THIS IS AN INTERVIEW WITH A B-26 MARAUDER PILOT, AND THE GROUND CREW CHIEF ASSIGNED TO TEND TO THE AIRCRAFT. IN THIS CASE A B-26 NAMED THE LADY EVE. APPARENTLY PRODUCED BY THE STAFF OF THE ALLIED FORCES HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, IT SEEMS THAT THE RADIO SPOT WAS BROADCAST VIA THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPO- RATION (BBC), IN LONDON.

LASTING A MERE 4 TO 5 MINUTES IT IS A GREAT FLYING STORY, HARROWING TO BE SURE, BUT ENDING WELL. SO, HERE AROUND THE OFFICE WE DECIDED TO DELVE A BIT DEEPER INTO THE BACK STORY SURROUNDING THIS RADIO PRESENTATION. WE WANTED TO FILL IN A FEW MORE OF THE DETAILS. WHAT WE DID KNOW, FROM THE RADIO PRESENTATION, WAS THE NAME CAPTAIN CURTIS MILLER, A B-26 NAMED THE LADY EVE, A MID-SUMMER 1943 RAID ON NAPLES, AND A SINGLE ENGINE RETURN FLIGHT TO NORTH AFRICA. DIGGING AROUND, WE DID A GOOD JOB OF FILLING IN THE BLANKS.

The Making of a Mercenary Air Force
by Dan Hagedorn and Mario Overall

THE CARIBBEAN LEGION, AN IRREGULAR MILITARY GROUP OF SEVERAL HUNDRED EXILES, WELL·ARMED BY CENTRAL AMERICAN·CARIBBEAN STANDARDS, HAS FOR SOME TIME EXERCISED A CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE ON THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF THE AREA. IT HAS PLAYED A PART IN CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT AND WAS A DECIDING FACTOR IN THE 1948 COSTA RICAN CIVIL WAR. IN RELATION TO THE COUNTRIES WITHIN WHICH IT OPERATES, THE LEGION IS A SUFFICIENT FORCE TO BE A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN THE CALCULATIONS OF THEIR GOVERNMENTS RELATING TO AREA FOREIGN POLICY.

AT PRESENT, THIS GROUP IS PRIMARILY MOTIVATED BY A COMMON DESIRE FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE SO-CALLED “DICTATORSHIPS” - ESPECIALLY NICARAGUA AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. IT IS THEREFORE ALIGNED WITH AND HAS BECOME A CLANDESTINE INSTRUMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY FOR THE “DEMOCRACIES,” PARTICULARLY CUBA, GUATEMALA, AND COSTA RICA. THE LEGION AS SUCH HAS, HOWEVER, NOTHING LIKE A CLEARLY DEFINED IDEOLOGY, AND MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GOVERNMENTS AS DICTATORIAL AS THOSE WHICH IT NOW SEEKS TO DESTROY.

THE PRESENCE IN THE CENTRAL AMERICAN-CARIBBEAN AREA OF THE SELF-STYLED “CARIBBEAN LEGION” IS A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT FACTOR FOR CHANGE AND CONSEQUENT UNCERTAINTY IN AREA INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS. AT THE PRESENT TIME, THE REPUBLICS IN THE AREA TEND TO GROUP THEMSELVES INTO TWO RIVAL AND COMPETING BLOCS OF POWER WITH CUBA, GUATEMALA, COSTA RICA (AND NOW POSSIBLY EL SALVADOR), THE SO-CALLED “DEMOCRACIES,” IN OPPOSITION TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, NICARAGUA AND, TO A LESSER EXTENT, HONDURAS, THE SO-CALLED “DICTATORSHIPS.” HAITI’S TRADITIONAL RIVALRY WITH THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MAKES ITS ATTEMPTS TO REMAIN NEUTRAL DIFFICULT.

THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION WAS FOUNDED BY JUAN RODRÍGUEZ IN 1947, IT WENT BY A COUPLE OF DIFFERENT NAMES BEFORE ADOPTING THE ONE THAT MADE IT FAMOUS. AT FIRST, THE NAME ADOPTED WAS “EJÉRCITO DE LIBERACIÓN DEL CARIBE” OR CARIBBEAN LIBERATION ARMY, AND ITS MAIN OBJECTIVE WAS TO GET RID OF THE DOMINICAN DICTATOR RAFAEL TRUJILLO. IN TIME, THE NAME WAS CHANGED TO “EJÉRCITO DE LIBERACIÓN DE AMÉRICA” OR AMERICA LIBERATION ARMY, WHICH REFLECTED ITS CHANGE OF OBJECTIVE, SINCE NOW THE IDEA WAS TO GET RID OF ALL THE DICTATORS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. THE NAME “LEGIÓN DEL CARIBE” OR CARIBBEAN LEGION, WAS ADOPTED DURING THE CAMPAIGN TO OVERTHROW COSTA RICAN PRESIDENT TEODORO PICADO IN 1948.

CO-AUTHORS DAN HAGEDORN AND MARIO OVERALL TELL THE STORY OF THE OFTEN SHADOWY EFFORTS OF THE CARIBBEAN LEGION TO ORGANIZE AND OPERATE ITS OWN AIR FORCE. THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE AUTHORS’ HIGH RECOMMENDED BOOK “THE CARIBBEAN LEGION.”

The F-82 in the Korean War
by David R. McLaren

SUFFICE IT TO SAY, THE NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION F-82 TWIN MUSTANG WAS THE ODDEST APPEARING AIRCRAFT TO EVER SERVE IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE. NOTWITHSTANDING A CERTAIN AES- THETIC APPEAL, IF ONE MUSTANG IS GOOD, THEN TWO HAVE TO BE BETTER. THE RESULTING AIRCRAFT CERTAINLY DID CATCH ONE’S ATTEN- TION, YET ITS HISTORY ALWAYS HAS BEEN A BIT OF AN ENIGMA.

ALL FORTY-FIVE F-82GS WERE ASSIGNED TO THE 347TH FG(AW), BASED AT ASHIYA AIR BASE, JAPAN, AND ASSIGNED TO THE USAF’S FAR EAST AIR FORCES. AND HEREBY COMMENCES THE TALE OF THE SINGLE FIGHTER GROUP TO FLY THE ODD-APPEARING AIRCRAFT IN ITS MINUSCULE IF NOT IMPORTANT ROLE DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF THE KOREAN WAR

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK

Volume 15, Number 4

Feature Articles:

The Bird and Snake
by James L. Brown

21 January 1953 - Korea - Winter War
Night Fighter Team “George,” of Composite Squadron THREE (VC-3), operating from the USS Oriskany (CVA-34), in the Sea of Japan.

Excerpt from Combat Strike Report:

“Like all hecklers this period, had only few min. darkness over targets. Saw 75-100 trucks on G-3, 7 trucks seen damaged.  Meager to intense AA, much rifle fire seen. Plane hit by 30 cal. Item - Lt. James L. Brown, USNR assigned F4U-5N #124713. One night landing aboard without incident. 2.6 combat hours.”

Combat strike report comments, like that above, were distilled from the intelligence officers debriefing of pilots from returning strikes and later filed with higher command.  They in turn used these reports from the pilots who actually flew the combat missions, and reported what happened, to plan later strikes, select subsequent targets, and subject to political considerations, the overall conduct of the war. Seldom did they tell what actually happened.

It was just as well. Here is what really happened that night.

Scouts Out - A Kiowa Warrior Pilot’s Perspective
of the War In Afghanistan

I stood in a snow flurry upon a cold patch of concrete, staring at the immense and ancient Hindu Kush mountain range that surrounded my new home for the next 12 months. The sign before me read:
Welcome to Bagram Airbase, Parwan Province, Afghanistan
by Ryan Robicheaux

  Through the vantage point of a U.S. Army Air Cavalryman, the book “Scouts Out! : A Kiowa Warrior Pilot’s Perspective of War in Afghanistan,” offers a truly unique view of the war. This is accomplished by revealing a deeply personal journey through two deployments, documenting the day-to-day life, struggles, combat, and extreme challenges faced. The after effects of these experiences can be witnessed as my outlook and very personality are forever altered and changed in unexpected ways. Drawing from copious journals and notes, everything captured in “Scouts Out!” is raw, real, and in-the-moment. In addition to my writing, other Kiowa pilots have contributed written accounts which add further balance and enhancement to the story. This includes a terrifying helicopter crash and fight to escape and survive the enemy.
Presented in this issue of LOGBOOK is just one of these stories.

Wake Island and “The Ghost of Drifter’s Reef”

  Our story chronicles the last flight of our wayward aircraft commander in a Douglas C-124 - “Ol Shaky,” - Globemaster II, and his return as a ghostly apparition that appears from time to time in a seaside bar on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. During his spectral visitation he has a message to those folks still flying the missions. In poetic form, here is the tale of:

The Ghost Of The Drifter’s Reef

By

Major Grover C. Tate, Jr.

77th Troop Carrier Squadron
Carswell Air Force Base, Texas - January 1966

Critical to the any trans-Pacific flight plan of the era was a fuel stop on one of the small mid-Pacific coral atolls, like Wake Island. Even early jet airliners and heavy lifting military cargo aircraft were still required to gas up on Wake.

  Today, although most modern transports and airliners simply overfly Wake, the airfield is still operational. Under the control of the U.S. Air Force - the Pacific Air Force Support Center, 11th Air Force - since 1972, there is a small cadre of military personnel and civilian contractors stationed on the island to maintain the facilities. For trans-Pacific flight crews, Wake is always open for emergency diverts, or an occasional fuel stop. Regardless of the reason for stopping over, flight crews looking for a bit of relaxation during their crew rest can stop by the only drinking establishment on the island - the Drifter’s Reef. Although information is somewhat contradictory, it appears that Drifter’s Reef opened for business in November 1949, and is still open for business today. And, as noted above, occasionally over the years a ghost appears in the bar, to impart his hard-won knowledge to the young flight crews

  Have you been to Drifter’s Reef? Got a story? Drop us a line.

Plus - News, The Aviation Library, Museums, Still at Work, Preservation, The LOGBOOK, and More.
All great aviation history in this issue of LOGBOOK