Warbird Information Exchange

Hey Randy, how long were you at England AFB and how was it there back in the day?? How many A26's did they use for training besides 679? Do you remember where the ranges where for shootin the 50's? JR

Here is a good shot of some of our neighbor airplanes. The Beech 18 behind K was originally an exec transport for the Champion Spark Plug Co. in 1946 and was never a military bird. Rand is in the cockpit working his magic on the instrument panel. We are trying to keep it as original as possible.. not new, but clean looking and fresh. Be sure to come see us this coming Saturday at the hangar at Meacham before or after visiting Spring Fling fly in and car show!!

I arrived at England 1 Jan 66, about a week after most of the others got there, but that's another story! We deployed to NKP June 6, and I returned Thanksgiving day, or the day after. I remained At EAFB until around the end of June 67, when I was given orders back to Udorn, Thailand. I took about 30 days leave starting the first part of July, and reported to Udorn about 9 August.
England AFB as far as I was concerned, was great duty. Nice accomodations, good food, nice Airmans Club, lakes all around the base for swimming or fishing, you really couldn't ask for more. (check out the pic of our room, but not too close!)
Prior to my leaving for Udorn in mid-67, I had a job that consisted of about 45 minutes to 1 hour of "work" a day. That went on for about two months, until those little bomb toten' A-37's showed up, and that changed to about a 9 or 10 hour shift. But that's another story for another time.
All in all, England AFB was great. Walt got there about 2 weeks before me, and when I got there, he told me, "You're not going to believe this place!" What he was referring to was the fact that no one else there had apparently heard of the Air Commandos. We were the only unit in the AF at the time that had the "cowboy hats", bloused trousers, and blue scarfs, and the other personnel didn't know what to think of us. Rumor spread quickly that we were the "badest of the bad", and of course we did nothing to dispell that rumor!! It was fun for a while to say the least!

As far as how many A-26's that were there, I couldn't be sure, but there were lots of them. According to the book though, there were ten A-26's never went to NKP: 640,647,655,656,657,658,659,663,674 and 679. Five more were held at DM storage for spare parts until Oct. 69

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Do you remember where the ranges where for shootin the 50's?................
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OOPS, missed the last part of your question. I do not recall the name or place of the ranges they practiced at. I do know that Ft. Polk wasn't too far from us, and I know we went there sometimes to drop/shoot stuff. Time was, when someone in the unit made Airman of the Month, you got a ride in a 26 in the jump seat (behind the nav) on a live fire mission. The guy I worked with on the guns at NKP had made AOM, and was telling me how great the ride was, seeing the guns fire, the smell of cordite, etc, etc. When I got back, I busted chops to make AOM, and eventually did, but guess what-they stopped the free ride business and instead I got a $25.00 savings bond! That was definitely my biggest disappointment while at EAFB.

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Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

Randy, I have heard others say that England AFB was good duty so you are in good company. Now, maybe we should ask what you spent the $25 on.... beer and pin ups?? Ah, the life of the young airman!! I definitely remember the Beer Garden at Amarillo AFB and the "Flameout" in downtown Amarillo back in the 60's. Somehow, duirng all of the airshows we have attended at military bases the past several years, they sure have changed a lot. Not sure all of it is for the good as previously discussed. Made some good situations for making good friends. The kind that last forever. Oh well. Guess we can just chalk it up to another thing the politicians have screwed up. They can't run wars, they can't run beer halls, heck, in Nevada, they couldn't even run a legal brothel. Why don't we just fire em all and start over?? Maybe they would get the message next time?? If going to war, use everything you got and win .... or don't start nuttin. JR

Thought for the day!!! I saw on another thread that the Collings Huey formed up with the B-17. Bet that was interesting. Reminds me that I would love to overfly a home game at Kyle Field with our DC3, B25 and A26 in formation for all my Aggie buds. If a Huey can fly with a B-17, the 26 should be able to fly with the DC-3, right?? JR

Jim, this isn't just ANY Huey ! It's an E model gunship, sans guns. Our VNE is 140 kts, we weren't pulling high torque and Mac pulled it back a bit so we could hang.

The question is can you pull the 26 back for the DC-3, she don't like to go slow !

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Hi Rick... yeah, I think we can do it. Our DC3 is not stock either. It has 1475 hp per side and is purty lite wt. Faster than your average Douglas Racer. I can hang with it in the B25. The A26 being empty should be able to slow to 130 knots with some flaps without much problem. Maybe we could get a shot of your Huey with the 26? Wouldn't that be awesome!! Just makes my day!! JR

Our very own Hawkeye Poole has put together this time lapse video of one day in the life of our A-26 restoration team. Notice it starts very early where most of the hangar is not lit up very well. That is because the real JR shows up about 7 am or earlier to get started. There are a lot who join him about 8 am and keep coming until about 10:30 am. Oh, almost forgot, JR was also joined by a gnarly looking raccoon that wondered around the K and gave his stamp of approval before retreating back outside. At first, I thought he was making some offhand reference to CrewDawg, but no, he really meant a live raccoon. He probably heard we wanted to have a cookout and is waiting for his share?? Anyway, Hawkeye sped this up, but JR usually works at about this speed too!!! Hard for the camera to catch him working on the rudder early in the morning. Good work, Hawkeye and also the rest of the team. I had to be in NJ this past weekend, but am now back in the Grand Republic, the Lone Star State... home. The other JR

ck this out... be sure to turn up the sound...look for time lapse restoration

http://www.youtube.com/user/hawkeyepoole

Great job, Hawkeye! Very interesting. Thanks.
Randy

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

But Randy, Inquiring Minds wish to know what you did with the 25 dollar savings bond?? Or is that classified information?? JR

I know I'm getting old, but not senile...I recognize most of those posters. Had them on my walls also. Don't make girls like that anymore!

OBGF... sure they do make em like that still. Where have you been hangin out, the old folks home? They show up at the hangar all the time to see our guys sweatin and straining rippling muscles hammering on the airplane. Lately, they have been showing up in short shorts and halter tops. Talk about the real JR having a problem keeping the guys' minds on the work... wow. But he gets it done. Meanwhile, I have to talk to the ladies to keep them informed of our very important work and keep them occupied so they don't interfere with same. I know, tough job, but somebody has to do it. I took one for the team. I am just hoping that when Randy gets here in May that he can take over for me so I can get some stuff done!! the Other JR

.......... Inquiring Minds wish to know what you did with the 25 dollar savings bond??
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I really have no recollection of what I did with it, but it probably was left at the Airmans Club over a period of several nights! That would buy a lot of beer back in the day.
As far as the pinups, they also adorned our walls at NKP. This one has to be my all time favorite-Sally Duberson, Playmate of the Month, January, 1965. Still got the center fold, magazine and the sword. (talk about a pack rat!)
Looks like it's my turn to be "Stuck" somewhere. We're leaving for Dayton Ohio in the morning. Guess I'll be stuck at the AF Museum Thursday and Friday. I really didn't want to go, but the wife insisted, so what's a guy to do. Seeing 676 will give me a "fix" till I can get back to Ft. Worth.

_________________
Randy Ryman
Project Big Eagle
NKP Thailand 1966
http://www.coastcomp.com/av/florence/florandy.htm

[quote="NImrodA26"].......... Inquiring Minds wish to know what you did with the 25 dollar savings bond??
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I really have no recollection of what I did with it, but it probably was left at the Airmans Club over a period of several nights! That would buy a lot of beer back in the day.
As far as the pinups, they also adorned our walls at NKP. This one has to be my all time favorite-Sally Duberson, Playmate of the Month, January, 1965. Still got the center fold, magazine and the sword. (talk about a pack rat!)
Looks like it's my turn to be "Stuck" somewhere. We're leaving for Dayton Ohio in the morning. Guess I'll be stuck at the AF Museum Thursday and Friday. I really didn't want to go, but the wife insisted, so what's a guy to do. Seeing 676 will give me a "fix" till I can get back to Ft. Worth.

Wow, that is some gal on the wall there. Now what were you saying about all that?? Which one would be harder to talk you out of, the sword or the mag? I am guessin that is you in the pic about 65 lbs ago?? Well, if you gotta be stuck at the AF Museum, be sure to go by and give 676 a pat on the nose and let her know what 679 is up to nowadays, will ya? Might get some good mojo working between them?? Can use all the help we can get, so why not give it a try? BE careful and safe on that trip up Nawth. Those Buckeyes can be hard to understand sometimes. Do you have one of those translation apps on your Ipod... just in case?? See ya, JR