My Very First Warbird

Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:41 pm

I was a young 18 year old Crew Chief in the Air Force and this was the first airplane that I ever had the honor of painting my name on the side of. She flew in Desert Storm and was then retired. One of the few cool things that my ex-wife did before we split up was to send a letter to the Public Affairs office at DM and request information on my BUF. Some fantastic person went out into the desert and found her and took these pictures. These were taken probably about 8 years ago, so I don't know if last beer can I drank out of was her reincarnated. :cry:

IMG]http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss129/bgorin/Untitled-13.jpg[/IMG]

I was at Barksdale AFB and she went to Castle AFB just prior to the boneyard, those are the Castle AFB Crew Chiefs names.

Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:55 am

Very cool Bill.
You would think every one would be too busy to do that for someone but I am glad they did.
I like the bomb mission markings on the side, very neat!
Regards,
Mark

Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:54 pm

Dumb queation Bill, is that nose piece hydraulic operated or can you lift it with a couple guys and it stays with the rods?
Thanks. When I was in A&P school we had a guy that was C.C. on one of the newer ones on display at Pima when we went there for a field trip.

Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:59 pm

Not a dumb question at all. It's totally manual, open some latches and get someone to help you lift it and secure it in place with the rods. We used to tell ghost stories on grave shift (yes we got real bored sometimes) about a BUF crew chief in Vietnam on Guam that had one accidentaly drop on him and cut him in half. Probably totally urban legend, but it was fun to mess with the new guys heads!

Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:10 pm

Thanks Bill,
Ya always gotta mess with the F.N.G.'s

Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:40 pm

wow... that's 1 butchered buff!! great pics though, i'm used to pics of the big guillotine from the crane.