Australia, 1968, Part 2
Dave Kutulis, CMS (RET)
In October 68 I made my second trip to Australia along with another crew chief
and a crew from either the 14th or 15th MAS I’m not sure which but the Aircraft
Commander on this crew was a 180 degrees different then the one on my first
trip. He was an older Lt. Colonel who looked like he had a few miles on him.
He was courteous, did not raise his voice but once on the whole trip and treated
everyone the same no matter what their position. In the right seat we had a
Butter Bar who though he knew the ways of the world. Leaving Norton we headed
to Travis to pick up our cargo, which consisted of equipment for the NASA
tracking station at Alice Springs. In route to Hickam the two guys in front
where in heated debate with the old guy making a statement and the kid telling
him he was wrong. It’s night, no it’s day light, that’s water down there no it’s
cloud cover. Finally the rest of the crew took off their headsets and let them
have at it.
Leaving Hickam the next day after we leveled off the old guy asked the
loadmaster for a cup of coffee. The load responded with “we are not having
coffee on this leg, I don’t drink it but have been serving it for years, we are
serving iced tea”. Could have heard a pin drop. After a few minutes the
intercom came to life with the old guy asking the load to bring him an iced tea
when he had time. You could feel the tension drain. Our arrival at the speck
of land in the middle of the ocean was uneventful but this time I made sure some
one would get food for the other crew chief and my self. While we were
preparing to depart a guy who looked older then the old guy showed up and asked
which way we where going. He was wearing one-piece white coveralls with T/SGT
stripes on the sleeves. His story was he was the last of a deployment of the
58th WRS that had been doing high altitude air sampling of the latest French A
Bomb test. He had fuel bladders full of fuel and equipment that needed to get
back to Kirtland AFB and he could not go home until the task was complete. The
old guy told him that presently we were supposed to be empty on the return trip
but that he would see what he could do. When we reached cruising altitude the
load announced that he would now be serving coffee. I think the Flight
Engineers told him bad things would happen if he served tea again.
On our decent to Richmond we had to put up with some pretty high winds. The
Butter Bar was at the controls and the old guy kept telling him to “get it down
Lt. your too high” after the third “get it down “ the old guy said “my airplane”
and pushed the control column forward. I was in the jump seat and the corn
stalks in the field at the end of the runway were coming up pretty fast.
Finally he pulled back on the controls and set us down as if nothing had
happened. Later that night in the hotel at Kings Cross the TV reported winds in
excess of seventy miles per hour. The next day at Alice Springs everything was
fine until it came time to crank the APU, seems someone with FE after his name
forgot to build up hydraulic pressure for the #3 system before he shut down the
power. It was well over a hundred degrees and we all shared in the hand
pumping.
Fast forward to the little spot in the water. When we landed we were directed
to the fuel bladders were a thirsty sliver bird had her fill. While we were
refueling everyone on the flight with the exception of the navigator (he was
sleeping) became airfreight specialist pushing and pulling all the rolling stock
on board. I told the old guy that the nose tires were pretty beat up and I
thought that they should be changed but he said as long as they had air in them
they would be fine. As we taxied out that old T/SGT waved goodbye. Little did
I know that in a few years we would become good friends.
At Hickam I told the other crew chief to take off and I would handle the plane,
after refueling they towed me off the pit to 24 row next to a EC-135P doing
engine trims. I had to use the radio and have Hickam ground contact the MAC
maintenance control when ever I needed any thing since not at any time did an
expediter stop by. I was stuck there all night. Since two years earlier I
crewed the 135 parked next to me I spent some time talking with them (didn’t
know any of them) but they ran me to the terminal to get some food and coffee.
I was not a big fan of the enroute support at Hickam. The next morning the old
guy was concerned when I did not show up to meet the crew bus and no one know
where I was. When the crew showed up the old guy took me to the terminal for
breakfast. Sometime during the night the load got switch and we left for home
with pallets.
The day before I left on the trip I was told in no uncertain terms that I better
not bring the plane back with Red Kangaroo’s painted on it like on my first
trip.
In 1971 I was assigned to the 58 WRS and met up with the old T/SGT, we spent two
ten-day deployments at Mendoza Argentina together courtesy of the French and
their toys.
A check of the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia shows that France did not sign or
ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty until 1992.
Dave Kutulis CMS (Ret)
63rd MAW 67-71
58th WRS 71-74
62nd MAW 74-75
Lancaster Ca.
Last Updated: Friday, May 22, 2009 08:42 am