The Early Days of the Blackbird and the 4200th SRW
CMSgt Bill Reynolds provides more information for this time frame:
In another near disaster, Fuels Specialist, Eldon Rohm had entered a fuel tank to do repairs. He was shortly overcome by JP-7 fumes and passed out within the fuel tank. Alert personnel nearby was able to rescue and revive him.
The tolerances on many of the machined parts was so close that up to 17,000 pounds per square inch of pressure was required to lubricate the fittings.
TSgt Carmon Dwain Allen is shown here in the very early days of the SR-71 program. Sgt. Allen was a Blackbird Crew Chief on tail #962. He is wearing the 4200th hat denoting the short lived 4200th Squadron that later became the famous 9th SRW. He was one of the first Crew Chiefs assigned to a Blackbird. The first Squadron Commander, Colonel Douglas T. Nelson is shown here. He autographed this photo and commended TSgt Allen for his dedication and fine work while assigned to the Blackbirds. (Photo courtesy Dwain Allen)
Quote from TSgt Allen: The one of Col Nelson and myself was taken
at Palmdale when we were getting ready to bring #962 to Beale. That is
#962 in the photo, and Col. Nelson flew it to Beale. Editors Note: The black
circle on Allen's left pocket is a dosimeter that detects radioactive exposure.
This
photo shows Major Franklin D. Shelton, Pilot,
at Kadena AB, Okinawa after his first OL-8 Operational Mission over Vietnam.
TSgt Dwain Allen is cutting the tie (required
attire) after completing the mission. Looking on is his Reconnaissance
System Operator "RSO", Lawrence L. Boggess
who is next in line for the tie cutting ceremony. (Photo courtesy Dwain
Allen)
Here
Major
Franklin D. Shelton makes the payback to Dwain
Allen, cutting off his tie. Notice that it takes two officers to
perform the surgery. (Photo courtesy Dwain Allen)
First Operational Sortie refuel over Southeast Asia, SR-71 #976
(Photo submitted by Ron Girard)
From: Dwain Allen [habu@midsouth.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2001 12:30 PM
To: Ronald J. De Lozier
Subject: Re: Memory
Ron, Yes we painted the bunny on #978. All three of the paintings
happened around the same time. I can't remember for sure which one was
first. I believe we did #974 then #978 with the help of the guys in the
paint shop. We got the stencils made and I remember we did #978 in the
early morning hours before the brass came to work. I remember we thought
they would raise hell and it would be taken off before it ever flew but
everyone went along with it; the crews really liked it. I think that is
what saved our butt. As you know when they stopped everyone from doing
the painting, the original three got to stay on. I have a Polaroid picture
of me pointing to the bunny right after we painted it. I'm still looking
for it. It's here somewhere. I'm sending you some pictures I'll send a
couple at a time . These are one of a kind pictures.
The ones of the Goony Bird on the landing door is a story in its self. Tony Bevacqua, Pilot and
James
Kogler, RSO were
in #974 and they lost a generator. They landed on
Midway Island, so we jumped on a KC-135 to go get it. We changed the generator
and had it "OR", in no time. Well, we were stuck there for 4 days, weather
and then tanker scheduling. Bevacqua and Kogler had met this Navy officer and his wife at the club. She was an artist and
they brought her out to the ramp and she spent about 4 hours painting the
Gooney Birds on both landing gear doors. We got the all clear to launch
and the runway was so short that we had to back the bird all the way back
onto the overrun to launch it. Then we barely got off the runway with the
tanker. The Gooney Bird wasn't painted in heat resistant paint so it was
painted over after we got back to Kadena. There are two photos of #974.
I'm sending you both taken on Midway. The one of Col Nelson and myself
was taken at Palmdale, when we were getting ready to bring #962 to Beale.
That is #962 in the photo, and Col Nelson flew it to Beale. The black and
white photo is me launching #978 from Beale. The ones of me cutting off
Major Shelton and his RSO's tie then they cut off mine is taken after their
first hard mission at Kadena and #978's first "hard" mission.
Dwain
TSgt Carmon Dwain Allen preparing to launch SR-71 #978 at Beale AFB, Ca.
The 4200th SRW was established on January 1, 1965. Commanded by Colonel Douglas T. Nelson, he selected only the finest Crew Chiefs in the Air Force inventory to Crew the all new SR-71 Blackbirds. The following USAF photo depicts these Crew Chiefs in late 1967 prior to the first Kadena, Okinawa OL-8 Operations.
Original
Crew Chiefs not pictured:
Gene Patrick (17956), Bill
Bell (17961),
Don Carey (17959), Duane
Rentz (17964), C. F. "Chuck" Carter
(17965), Charlie Bell (17974), Bob
Chatterly (17963). Pictured
with an "*" were among the second group of Crew Chiefs picked for the program.
An Email received from MSgt Don Person , Crew Chief #969 shown in the photo above follows:
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 13:11 MSgt Don Person (Retired) Writes: I was the first crew chief on #969 and watched
production at Burbank and then to Palmdale before it flew up to Beale in late 1969. I was on the Habu SR-71
program 1966 to 1970 as a crew chief and then quality control inspector. Was nice to see
Carmon Allen's response as we were both original crew chiefs. The first aircraft I worked on was #960 with Bill Bell before going to Burbank
to follow #969 thru production. I keep in touch with CMS (Ret) Bill Gornik and several other Habu's and have
attended several reunions in Reno. One story I remember is the day I returned from Palmdale and before going
home, base housing, I stopped by the NCO club as all crew chiefs would be there for a cold one. I made a mistake
and wore a tie. Bill Gornik spotted me and before I knew it he had cut it off just below the knot. At the time I was
really mad as it was a Christmas gift from my wife Fran. Just so happened this was the very first tie on the
"Fakawee" flag pole. On 2 April 1969 Bill cut another tie, Senator Barry Goldwater as the Senator had just
completed a Mach-3 orientation flight flown by Major John Storrie (M/Gen ret). Since retirement in 1976 I joined
McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing as a field service representative and spent time in St. Louis, Cold lake Canada,
Baden Baden West Germany, Zaragosa Spain and now I am in New Orleans as the Boeing representative at the
Naval/Marine Reserve Headquarters as the F/A-18 advisor to the admirals staff.
Don Person, MSgt USAF (Ret)
E-Mail: person@cnrf.nola.navy.mil
A current entry from Don Person Follows:
Fri, 13 Apr 2001 08:06 Mr Donald Person
Writes: Leland, another great SR-71 site. Dwain Allen gave you some great pictures. I had forgot about the landing at Midway and
Dwain's pictures refreshed my memory. I also knew Gen Doug Nelson
and have several stories. In 1964 I was stationed at Walker AFB Roswell NM in Base Flight on T-33's. Col Nelson was a good friend of our Wing Commander, Col Hoban and having to launch our T-33; supporting the Wing & Division Hqs I became friendly with the staffs. One night I had a call to go to Col Hobans house immediately. It turned out that Col Nelson was visiting Walker AFB and looking for the right individuals for a future classified assignment. I had just been accepted for the Thunderbirds, but the
challenge of the unknown grabbed me and I accepted his offer. It was several months before I saw a small picture in the
Air Force Times of a new recon aircraft and I put two and two together. I still have the picture. The next is all history arriving in Beale May 1965. Was selected as the 12th crew chief
# 969 and went to Burbank to follow her in through final assembly. Followed it to Palmdale where nose radome, outer wings and etc were installed. Fuel system was serviced, systems checked and calibrated and first flight . Returned to Beale for arrival of
# 969. # 969 had numerous major fuel tank leaks in the #1 cell. It spent the next three months being towed in and out of the fuel repair hangar. It was such a hangar queen that one morning I came in and someone had attached a small plastic lemon to the pitot boom. We all got a big laugh. In fact
# 969 was selected to be photographed for the front cover of the Beale AFB welcome booklet. The picture I sent to David Allison in www.habu.org is the same picture. Picture was taken on one of the occasions we had her outside. It was towed up between the B-52's and KC-135's in the 456th parking ramp area. After three months it was ready for its first local flight. Col Nelson was selected to fly her. Everything went normal during launch, but when I disconnected from ground intercom and turned around I noticed a group of our crew chiefs and maintenance
troops were lined up on the flight line outside the shelter. # 969 taxied out and made the left turn. They all came to attention and saluted. By the way the series of pictures taken for her first launch are in the 4200th/9th history books.
# 969 returned from flight with no write-ups.
Another great story. Early on not sure what date or year but suspect 1966 or 1967 we had a great picnic with Kelly Johnson in attendance. All of the original crew chief wives were called onto a makeshift stage including my wife Fran. Kelly Johnson presented each of them with a small ruby eyed "Skunk" pin. Fran still has hers and extremely proud of it. I have so many great memories and your latest site refreshed it. Have a great week.
Mr Donald Person
Email: PERSON@CNRF.NOLA.NAVY.MIL
An Email received from Marcus Mitchell, Crew Chief #971 shown in the photo above follows:
Sat, 28 Oct 2000 21:07 TSgt Marcus Mitchell Ret, USAF Writes: Having served in the United Stated Air Force for
17 Years, 6 months, I was a member of the 4200 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. I was the 13th original Chief in
this Wing which later became the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. I received Aircraft #61-7971 from the
Lockheed Factory. I made the Air Force Acceptance Inspection on it. The Aircraft only had 14 flying hrs. logged in
its records. In 1968 I prepared it to go back to the factory for IRAN it had 250:00 Flying hours logged in the 781
Aircraft Records. I launched #971 nine times in succession and it landed after each mission with OK Flights written
up in the 781A. That was a record that no other Chief matched while I was in the organization. I was nominated for
the Master Chief Award and received it. I can prove it, but because I was Black all other Chiefs received the same
Award without having the same record documented. I retired from the USAF on June 01,1970. I was in the
organization 1 year before we received the first Aircraft which was #61-7956B. I would like to locate
CMSgt A. J. Smith
From: TSgt Marcus Mitchell Ret, USAF
Email: aspen38@midwest.net
Note: Information accuracy provided by Don Person, Dwain Allen and Ron De Lozier
(It has been 30 years since events took place. If you are aware of any corrections that need to be made to the SR-71 Blackbirds website contact me: Leland Haynes, Webmaster, SR-71 Blackbirds, Email: sr71webmaster@sr71.us
SR-71 #981 was a hybrid trainer aircraft (SR-71C) from salvaged parts of YF-12A, 60-6934 (rear half) and functional engineering mockup of the SR-71A forward fuselage. The plane was a major fuel leak due to the mockup portion never being sealed when manufactured. Just the same it flew as a trainer aircraft at Beale AFB. Shown here in 1969 is Crew Chief Claude Nickerson (Top Rt) and Lockheed Tech Rep Bill Brown (Top Lt). The plane was known as "The Bastard".
Dining Facility at Barksdale AFB on an SR-71 Recovery Mission in November of 1981. Chief Campbell on the right. Lieutenant on the left is unidentified (enhanced image shows the last three letters "zen" on his nametag. Branzen maybe).
TSgt Chuck Dodgins Photos of the Early Days at OL-8, Kadena
Assistant Crew Chief to Patrick and Smith on #956 1966
Crew Chief #958 @ Beale
Crew Chief #980 OL-8 (second rotation)
Email: cwdodgins@netsignia.net
Click on Image to Enlarge
dodgins001.jpg 49.40 Kb 1st SR-71 Arrives at Beale AFB, 1965 |
dodgins002.jpg 64.83 Kb 1st SR-71 Arrives at Beale AFB, 1965 Crew: Nelson and Haupt. I became assistant Crew Chief for training purposes. My main purpose in life was to service the CSD's over and over again (Dodgins). |
dodgins003.jpg 48.01 Kb TSgt Chuck Dodgins after launch of #980 |
dodgins004.jpg 54.42 Kb Lt to Rt, Maj's Hudson and Budzinski boarding 962 during Col Minters reign as crew chief. SSgt Countryman in the background |
dodgins005.jpg 49.66 Kb Lt to Rt: Unk, Maj. Hudson, Maj. Buddy Brown |
dodgins006.jpg 31.42 Kb Colonel Minter: Crew chief for a Day at OL-8, August 1969 |
dodgins007.jpg 38.21 Kb Buddy Brown wearing TSgt Dodgins uniform and Col. Minter wearing SSgt uniform -- during Crew Chief for a day at OL-8 |
dodgins008.jpg 49.34 Kb Col Minter ready for the launch process |
dodgins009.jpg 47.22 Kb OL-8 gang watching the Col launch SSgt Countryman's jet |
dodgins010.jpg 36.29 Kb Left to right, Bledsoe (959), Dodgins (958), Nickerson (? and then 981 C-Model), Spangler (957 before crash) |
dodgins011.jpg 33.44 Kb House girls cleaning OL-8 T-hanger halls |
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