Ron W wrote:
"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...
After my time. I was there from '51 through '55. I was with the 344th
TCS, a tenant outfit flying C-46s. The rest of my outfit were at Brady,
down near Fukuoka (Kyushu). We moved up to Tachi in Dec. '51, when the
124s were all grounded due to inflight generator fires. For a while, our
46s and the 54 squadron were all there was available for intra-theater
traffic in and out of Tachi. The 344th deactivated in '55 and became a
Flying Training Squadron which eventually turned our aircraft over to the
Japan Air Self Defense Force. We had the distinction of being among the
very few AF people in the world who ever flew airplanes with the Rising
Sun insignia on them

Hello George. I was right down ther road from you at Yokota flying
WB-29's and Wb-50's from 1954 to 55, when I was grounded for a
bad eye! Also checked out in our C-54. I learned how to land it
the Berlin Air Lift way: 800 ft final, nose touching the runway, cut
power, full flaps & cowls, gear and nose down. Flare and land on the
stripes. It took a while to get one's courage!

How could we forget you guys at Yokota? Every time you were getting ready to
drop some iron on NK, the preflight noise would start up at about midnight or
so, and there was no way to hide it, and we'd be waiting for the news later in
the day praying that you hadn't had to leave any behind up there.


They certainly were. Originally (before my time), the entire TCWg at Tachi
was a C-54 unit. I think they replaced three 54 squadrons with two 124
units, obviously with no loss of airlift capability.

I was on base at the time one of the 124s crashed on the outskirts of the
base, with a loss of 129 souls. It was the worst air disaster in Japanese
history up till then. Did you ever hear anything about that one?

I think I remember that one. Didn't the farmers riot against the Base?
I think it was weeks before we could use the road to Tokyo.

Yeah, and I never understood what it was that got their undies in an uproar. It
wasn't like it was anything that we wanted to have happen. Maybe they were just
****ed because we were occupying space that they'd rather have had available to
them for more paddies. Tough! If that was the only price they had to pay for
losing the war, they got off scot free.

...When I
was leaving Larson AFB in Dec 53 for flying school, a 124 crashed after take
off. The control lock were still on. I was an RO
in the 56th FIS then.

I once flew a gooney bird from Naples to Nice, France with an aileron lock still
on. No harm done, but it sure was an uncordinated flight experience.

Were you there when a Tachi staffer landed the C-47 on the top of
Mt. Fuji?

I think the word was, when I heard about it, that that was one of those rare
gooney bird landings that nobody walked away from. Actually, one of the guys in
my squadron turned north at one of those islands in Tokyo Bay that had those
strong magnetic anomelies on it thinking he was at the Oshima beacon, and ended
up leaving about ten feet of C-46 wing near the top of Fuji, but he was able to
get back to base without further damage. I still remember his name, but I don't
think I want to give it to you because he (or his family) might suffer some
embarrassment from it. All I will say is that he was a Sergeant in the NYC
Police Department who had been recalled to AD with my AFRes outfit, and he never
lived it down as long as he was with us.

......The first time I pulled AO, another Tachi staffer landed at
Yokota rather than Tachi, and even pulled up to base ops. He said he
thought the building looked different. We had a number of touch
and go's. since, as you re-call, the runways were 3mi(?) apart and
in line.

George Z.