"Big John" wrote in message
...
Dudley

Yep. Scott was CO for a year or so.Think he went to Washington when he
left?

That's right. It was there he got in trouble with the brass and then ended
up back at Luke.

We had jets at Willie but he had a P-51 that was pre-flighted
and pulled out in front of Base Ops every day. Never saw it
fly!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to get to fly it an hour a week to keep gaskets
in Merlin from going bad but no luck.

You would have liked it. I flew one for several years on the airshow
circuit. Great bird! Fun, like the 86!

You of course remember Leon (the Peon) Gray? Training Group Commander?
Lots of stories about him but not the place or time G

Just by reputation! Remember, I'm a civilian who just happens to have flown
a lot of military airplanes. I can't claim the official military time you
guys can.....although I seem to remember having a form 5 floating around
here somewhere with some "unofficial" time on it. I'm afraid all of my
thousands of hours in airplanes, were spent as a lowly civilian!!!
I understand the place and time though. Sort of like Creech in that respect
:-))

Don't remember the deaths you asked about.

Bill Spruance and Dave McAllister were coming back to Delaware in a T-Bird
in 61. They stopped at Scott to refuel. On takeoff, they flamed out. Dave
was killed outright and Spruance was burned so badly they gave him the last
rights at the crash site. He survived. He gave lectures for years on flight
safety issues. Dave was the CO of the 142nd FS Delaware ANG and a great guy.
His family was in the food catering business and manufactured the best damn
snapper soup ever to see the light of day. Dave used to fill the gun bays of
his F86H and fly the stuff all over the country to his buddies.



I did get a copy of the
Willie History with accidents and fatalities from Maxwell for a
Reunion of the Instructors we had 10 years ago. I'll list some of them
so all will know how dangerous it was to fly at that time and place.

MAJOR ACCIDENTS - July-September 1951

5 Jul TF-80A Stall, ground collision
5 Jul TF-80A Porpoised on landing
10 Jul F-80A Wheels up landing in cotton patch
17 Jul TF-80B Landed short of runway. hard landing
19 Jul TF-80A Hard landing
24 Jul F-80A Collided with T-33 in formation flight
Pilot killed
24 Jul T-33A Mid-air collision
26 Jul T-33A Explosion in plenum chamber
30 Jul T-6F Left wing tip struck ground.
T-6 rammed row of parked T-28's
30 Jul T-28A Damaged by T-6
30 Jul T-28A Damaged by T-6
7 Aug TF-80A Turbine wheel failure
7 Aug T-6A Controls jammed. Pilot bailed out.
16 Aug F-80A Explosion in flight. Student killed.
22 Aug F-80A Spin, wheels up landing, fire.
22 Aug F-80A Landed short, sheared left gear.
28 Aug T-6F Stalled on final turn, collided with
ground. Fatal
4 Sept TF-80A Ground collision. Fatal.

MAJOR ACCIDENTS - Oct-Dec 1951

21 Sep F-80A Spin. Pilot bailed out.
22 Sep T-6D Nose up landing.
24 Sep T-6D Nose up landing.
9 Oct T-6D Loss of control. Ground loop.
10 Oct T-33 Hard landing
15 Oct TF-80A Loss of control. Fatal.
16 Oct T-6F Wheels up landing
30 Oct F-80A Vertigo at night. Fatal
7 Nov T-6D Taxi accident. Hit truck.
19 Nov T-6F Wheels up landing
19 Nov TF-80A Compressor stalled. Fire on ground.
3 Dec F-80 Final turn spin. Fatal
4 Dec F-80 Fire in Engine. Pilot bailed ok
11 Dec T-6D Cart wheeled during formation take
off.
14 Dec T-6D Taxi accident. Hit right wing.
18 Dec T-6F Taxi accident. Hit another A/C and
nosed up

MAJOR ACCIDENTS - Jan - Mar 1952


9 Jan F-80A Final turn spin. French Cadet fatal.
13 Jan F-80B Stall in Final turn. Fatal Norwegian
Cadet.
16 Jan T-33 Tip tank came off.Fatal
Netherlands
Cadet
22 Jan T-33 Blew tires off R/W. Major gear damage.
19 Jan T-6F Ground loop
24 Jan T-6F Engine stoppage. Bail out.
29 Jan T-33 Inverted spin. Fatal
29 Jan TF-80A Premature pulled gear. Bellied in.
25 Feb T-33 Wheels up landing.
26 Feb F-80 Collision on final. No injuries
26 Feb T-33 Collision on final. No injuries
29 Feb T-33 Collision w/power lines. No injuries
29 Feb F-80A Flame out. Belly landing. No injuries.
7 Mar T-6F Wheels up. Pilot disabled by CO
7 Mar F-80B Ground collision cause unknown. Fatal.
7 Mar T-33 Collision on final. No injuries
7 Mar F-80A Collision on final. No injuries.
9 Mar T-33 Out of fuel. Belly landing.
12 Mar F-80B Formation midair. No injuries
12 Mar T-33 Formation midair. No injuries
27 Mar T-33 Fuel shortage. Crash land. No injuries
28 Mar T-6F Buzzing. Instructor critical injuries.


I have several more years of accidents with more or less fatalities
each month. We averaged 3-4 deaths (Students/Instructors) a month at
Willie while I was there.

I only lost one student while I was there. Night flight in a T-33 and
ran out of fuel just after take off because he didn't gang load his
fuel switches for take off.

That very well might have the problem with the J33 on Mcallister's T-Bird as
well......or emergency fuel select....God only knows!

As was said, luck and skill needed to survive when the students were
trying to kill you..

Sounds like you did ok getting through it all. :-)
Dudley