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Culpepper, even while coping with the unrelenting pressuresof his daily duties at the Octagon, had providentially foreseen this exactpossibility. “Lefty” Gardnerwhile single handedly saving various WW II fighters from Yankee smelters andsuccessfully returning them to the fledgling CAF at Mercedes.) In fact, aperusal of the photo on page 64 of the hard cover 1975 CAF history bookindicates that Col. (Doubters may refer to early CAF recordsconcerning the trials and tribulations of one M. We had proudtraditions of the corps to uphold. Well, never fear, this intrepid CAFvolunteer recovery crew had faced problems like this before.
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You can imagine the consternation the nose tire caused when itlet go during the pre-start checklist. In fact, a pre-flight picture hastily taken ofthe flight crew shows it in my hand while we impatiently watched the nose wheelchanging process.
#WERE THE FLIGHT CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY SOCIALPATHS MANUAL#
Serendipity had intervened and the night before I had finally obtained a copyof a flight manual for the B-29. We had spent a good portion of thenight pouring heavy weight non-detergent oil (only obtainable in quart cans inTrona “just up that there highway over the next mountain towards DeathValley”) into the 80 gallon tanks. With the only navigational gear being a B-16 wet compass Lloyd Nolenalways claimed was “last swung over the Yalu River.” I had an earnestdesire to “get gone.” We were all highly trained, motivated andequipped with freshly packed parachutes. The only communications was a portableVHF radio hastily jumper wired to a spare terminal on the flight engineer’spanel. Myers says, the numerous weapons firing ranges surrounding China LakeNAS would become “hot” at 0800. I think the USN was very happy to havesomeone else’s markings on this derelict.Īs Mr. In the CAF tradition of firstthings first, we purchased half a dozen spray cans, then masked and painted”CONFEDERATE AIR FORCE” on both sides in 117 heat just in case itmight be the only time we ever flew her. (Youknow, now that I give the matter some thought, the check rides did seem to gettougher along about that time!)Īt any rate, in large part due to the intensity of Vic Agather’s perseverance(another story), we finally did obtain an airframe, (#44-62070, tail # 31 whileat Randolph AFB) and after nine weeks of preparation, “Fifi” (yetunnamed) was ready to leave for her new home. I assume that observation will be good for several moreyears of salty inter-service comments in the Officer’s Club at Midland. Thusly allowing the CAF a choice of several relativelyunscathed airframes. As an aside, I once mentioned to our airline’s chief pilot, ArtHinke (USNR), how fortuitous it was that they were used as targets by the USNinstead of the USAF. They did,however, have nearly fifty “devices” appropriately identified on theircomputer inventory lists as “targets.” They had silently slept forseventeen years, abandoned with controls unlocked, at the mercy of the wind andthe desert. So technically, the USN was right, they didn’t have any B-29s. The USAF had disposed of them in 1954 as “Government issued property- aircraft” and the USN had taken them on strength as “Governmentissued property – static ordinance testing devices.” In truth, everyone turned out to be partly right after all had been said anddone. Finding a B-29 was very important to the CAF, Lloyd Nolen’svision of a completed collection could only be satisfied with this acquisition.(I’ll leave for another time or story just exactly what was Roger doingon/over/in the vicinity of a secret military installation.) Vic Agather, however, kept insisting that they must have because Roger Bakerhad seen them. That appears to be the reason the USN insistedthey didn’t have any B-29s in their possession. I’d really like to know more about those records, we weretold at the time that the Navy had burned all the B-29 records since they werenot considered to be aircraft. He mentions that records indicate the USN received several more B-29sthan were requested. In “Mail Call” Jack Myers mentions watching our activities at ChinaLake Naval Weapons Test Center while preparing “Fifi” for the trip toHarlingen. I thought I might add a few insights and corrections tomake things technically accurate. While reading, I noticed a few things that caused me to reminisce about thetrip and the people. Sometime I should show you some of the CAF stuff I’vesaved going back to 1965 if you don’t already have access to it. I just received the Winter issue of the Dispatch, the publicationlooks better each issue. TO: Tina Stewart – Editor Dispatch, 15 Jan 94