Airman Edgar Darden joined me on that TDY. Nicknamed “Dude”, Airman Darden was the senior airman and a pleasure to work with. We only flew on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we had a lot of time off.
There was an English Rover four-door sedan that passed from one detachment to another during each TDY. Another airman and I bought the car and split the cost of $120. Since he and I did not hang out together, we made a deal to share the car every other day. The steering wheel on the right side took some getting used to. I always said that just because I was left handed did not mean I liked to drive on the left side of the road. We had to put in a new clutch while we were there, but we did the work ourselves and saved some money. When we left Australia, we sold the car to two new airmen for $60 each. What a lucky deal that was.
I met and dated a young lady soon after I arrived there. She was in the Women Royal Australia Air Force (WRAAF) stationed at Laverton. She had bed check at 10:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Only once did I return her late to her barracks. It was my last night there and the car became stuck in the sand on the beach, but I managed to dig us out. We spent a lot of time in Melbourne on weekends. It was a very nice city and the people were friendly. It was hard to leave when my tour was up. That was a memorable TDY because I turned 21 while I was there.
A group of us went to a night club for dinner and a show. The show featured a female impersonator. None of our group knew except me because my lady friend had told me. From our seats, the impersonator looked like a beautiful movie star. One of our airmen seemed to be smitten with the performer and I have to admit I encouraged him. At the end of the show, the wig came off and the top of the gown came down showing everyone the performer was a man. Needless to say, our airman was truly embarrassed.
We returned to Davis Monthan in early September 1964. I was outside on yard detail and I heard a “thump.” I looked to the runway and saw smoke where the aircraft would be on final approach. A short time later I learned one of our pilots, Major Primrose, has crashed.
While I was in Australia, one of the Republic of China Air Force pilots bailed out of one of our aircraft near Tucson in August 1964. Then on December 19, 1964 the very same pilot bailed out again near Tucson. He was brought back to the hospital on the base. I was directed to go to the hospital and stand guard outside his room. My instructions were not to let anyone in other than medical staff and 4080th SRW personnel. When I arrived at the room, the door was open and the pilot was face down on the bed with his butt uncovered while a medical technician removed cactus needles. An Air Policeman arrived shortly after to relieve me.
While at Davis Monthan I frequently worked the afternoon shift starting at 2:00 p.m. Monday and ending when the last airplane landed about midnight. The shift was actually very slow; once the airplanes were launched there was not much to do until they returned. The remainder of the week we worked from noon until about 8:00 p.m. It was a long shift each Monday when most of the night flights were scheduled. PSD had a dining area for the pilots to eat their pre-flight meal and we knew the cook. He was free to leave once the aircraft had launched. We asked him to leave a large pot of coffee with milk and sugar for us. Soon after that PSD had a lot of visitors from OMS and FM who stopped by for coffee and chat. That is when I became a lifelong coffee drinker.
While waiting with the OMS and FM guys visiting PSD on Monday evenings, we played some card games, the favorite being Hearts. One crew chief, “Catfish” Davis, liked to play practical jokes. His favorite was to tie the shoe laces together on anyone who dozed off while waiting for the aircraft to return. He was one of the frequent visitors to PSD for cards and coffee. One Monday evening he had not yet arrived, but three of us were playing cards. A chair was left for him at the table and I put a thumb tack on it. It was out of character for me to do something like that. Davis did not show that evening and in the heat of the card game, we forgot about the tack. Captain Ray was the mobile officer that night. He came in, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat in the chair that had been reserved for Davis before anyone could say anything. Captain Ray did not see any humor in the prank and demanded to know who had done it. I confessed and explained what it was about. Thank goodness he was very understanding, but he asked that we not do anything like that again. A couple days later he walked through our duty section and rubbed his behind as he passed through. I was embarrassed.
PSD techs had a lot of friends on the flight line, especially in the heat of the summer at Laughlin and Davis Monthan. The tarmac would reach well over 100 degrees. The PSD vans used to transport the pilots to their aircraft had huge air conditioners. In addition to a single seat for the driver, the van had bins for equipment and a Lazy Boy chair for the pilot. We took the van out on the flight line an hour before the aircraft returned and recovery procedures began. It did not take long for the OMS and FM guys to realize our van was running and the air conditioner was on. They drifted over for a break from where they were working on the flight line.
While I was in PSD, I gave numerous demonstrations of the partial pressure suit. I was always the one who dressed in the suit. Periodically the Air Force would send a full pressure suit to replace the partial pressure suits, but they never worked out. I dressed in the latest model to test it out in the aircraft. The cockpit was so small that not one of the full pressure suits would fit during the time I was there. If I could manage to squeeze into the cockpit, I could not move to do anything. I was six feet tall, about 180 pounds and I was told that was why I was chosen.
Before I made a firm decision about re-enlisting, I was nominated for Airman of the Month in January 1965. Five other airmen from different shops were also nominated. After the interview process, another airman was selected. I understood he got all the votes on the selection panel; I can say I was nominated once for Airman of the Month.
I took my discharge on August 7, 1965 with mixed feelings. The guys from the shop threw a party for me with cake and a lot of goodies that I truly appreciated. At that time I was not sure what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to leave a job I loved and people who were so congenial to work with. I am very proud of my service with the 4080th SRW.
Two weeks after I returned home, I applied for a dispatcher job with a large tank truck company. I was hired and began work there on August 25, 1965. I worked my way through the ranks there and up into management. After 44 years in the industry, I retired in October 2009. After a few months off, I'm thinking of starting another adventure. I wonder if the 9th Recon Wing is hiring.
Dragon Lady Doctors
“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
Voltaire
Robert W. Paret
Knoxville, Tennessee
In 1952 I flew 100 missions in Korea in the F-84A, C and G. When I became a physician, I transferred to the Medical Corps of the Air Force and became a Flight Surgeon. I regained my pilot rating and became dual qualified shortly before I left active duty and joined the Texas National Guard. Through the ANG I was appointed as Assistant to the USAF Surgeon General for ANG Affairs with the rank of Major General USAF MC.
I was one of the Flight Surgeons who supported the 4080th SRW through the Physiological Support Division. There were at least two and sometimes three Flight Surgeons assigned to the Wing. First names that come to mind are Bruno, Doug, Bob Self, one other whose name is lost to memory, and myself. One Flight Surgeon was required to remain at Laughlin AFB to support the remaining pilot cadre when temporary duty units were in action.
Robert W. Paret MD.
Before every flight, the pilots began their preflight at PSD. The first item on the preflight was a physical exam consisting of the usual vital signs. Through questions and observation, the Flight Surgeon would determine if any additional exams were necessary to approve the pilot for flight. If there was any problem identified in the exam, the pilot would be grounded and a replacement scheduled. Following the exam and clearance to fly, the
pilot went to the dining area for his high protein meal. After dining, he was given some relaxation time before getting into the partial pressure suit with the help of the PSD technicians. Oxygen pre-breathing followed. The technicians then connected the pilot to a mobile oxygen tank and he was transported to his assigned aircraft in an air-conditioned van. The pilot was helped into the cockpit by the same technicians who quickly connected his suit to the aircraft oxygen system.
Bob Paret preparing for a flight.
Most TDYs required a Flight Surgeon to accompany the detachment if high altitude physiological support was not available at the remote location. When time was critical, a PSD technician took vital signs freeing the Flight Surgeon to proceed with the physical exams. I went on TDYs to Howard AFB, Panama, East Sale, Australia, Alaska, Fiji Islands and Hawaii. Some of the other Flight Surgeons supported the Cuban Missile Crisis from MacDill AFB, Florida.
Dragon Lady Caregivers
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Maintenance
Once there was a very pretty young thing nicknamed “Dragon Lady.” She was extremely lithe and graceful, yet gorgeous and ugly at the same time. Her personality could go from the fairest lady in the world to the biggest screaming banshee one could imagine. The guys who gave her this strange name were themselves called “Dragons.” Some liked to take her up, up and away to glory and beyond. Some had the enviable job of being with her every day. Dragon Lady was also mysterious and tried her best to hang around all those handsome Dragons. Ah, what a lady! And, at over 50 years, the Dragon Lady is aging gracefully and hanging on to her loveliness; she is still one heck of a girl. The Dragons, most of whom have not aged nearly as gracefully, still love her deeply.
Glenn Chapman, TSgt. (Ret.) USAF
Author, Me and U-2, My Affair With Dragon Lady
The Dragon Lady at rest in the hangar, pogos in place. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin Co.
U-2 maintenance operations. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin Co.
It took a team of well-trained men and specialized equipment to support the U-2 program. Although the job duties varied greatly, no one took their work lightly. The 4080th SRW consisted of only 900 people comprised of pilots and navigators, in addition to the operations, maintenance and support staffs. The Wing Commander was directly responsible for the entire cadre of personnel. He reported to the Strategic Air Command Headquarters. In 1962 Air Training Command (ATC) assumed control of the base, and support units then rolled to the new command. However, units directly involved with the U-2 support (food service, motor pool, finance, personnel, civil engineering, etc.) had a TOP SECRET area called “Warehouse B”. Direct duty of operations and maintenance squadrons were the primary units of the 4080th SRW. The 4080th also had its own Security Police and Medical Units separate from the ATC support unit.
In addition to the 4080th Wing Headquarters, these support units were Operational Maintenance Squadron (OMS), Field Maintenance Squadron (FMS) and Armament and Electronics Squadron (AEMS or also known as A&E) which performed direct maintenance on the U-2 aircraft. Assigned to each of these maintenance squadrons were civilian Technical Representatives (Tech Reps). They were employees of and supported contracts for such vendors as Lockheed Aircraft Company, Pratt and Whitney, Hycon, Perkin-Elmer, and TRW. They were not specifically “hands on” maintenance workers; they were the “answer men” when problems arose in the equipment of the company they represented.
Organizational Maintenance Squadron
OMS was responsible for all Airplane General (APG) maintenance ensuring the aircraft was always fully flight ready prior to being scheduled by Operations. With exception for a few administrative, supply and support staffs, OMS was made up entirely of specialists known as Crew Chiefs. Two Crew Chiefs, a primary and assistant, were assigned to each aircraft and ensured that their designated aircraft was fully flight ready.
Field Maintenance Squadron
Jet Engine Build Up (JEBU) was comprised of specialists who worked on the J-57 and J-75 engines of the U-2. This was not a flight line function, but was performed in the shop. Engine changes were the primary work performed by JEBU which could be the result of periodic maintenance required and certain inspections. Changing an engine was a difficult job. It required precision teamwork to complete the job correctly and safely.
Sheet Metal: Sheet metal specialists spent most of their time working on the aircraft itself. Repairing damage or replacing pieces lost in flight were things the specialists dealt with daily. Sheet metal specialists worked with very precise tolerances. They took great pride in their skills and were indispensable to the program.
Machinist Shop: Almost 100 percent of the machinists’ time was spent on the aircraft or the ground support equipment. It was a common occurrence for specialists to strip a screw head while attempting to replace a panel on the fuselage. A machinist would be dispatched to remove the screw so the specialist could finish the work order.
Hydraulics Shop: The hydraulics specialists actually had the dirtiest job. Everything they touched used hydraulic fluid that leaked on them regardless of the precautions they took to prevent it. There was a Murphy's Law at the Hydraulics Shop that stated, “The hydraulic fitting that was leaking was always the most difficult to see, access and repair.”
Pneumatic (O2) Shop: The responsibility of the Pneumatics Shop was to repair anything to do with air supply system difficulties. The biggest responsibility of that shop was pressurization of the cockpit. If the cockpit lost pressurization, the pilot's partial pressure suit would instantly inflate to provide 14 pounds per square inch artificial pressure.
Instruments Shop: Technicians of this shop maintained all instrumentation in the aircraft, including the Optical Sextant, which was the primary navigation reference for night missions.
Egress Shop: Better known as the “ejection seat” that hurled the pilot from the aircraft in an inflight emergency, the Egress Technician's primary area of expertise was the maintenance and operation of the ejection system.
Armament and Electronics Squadron (A&E)
Radio Shop: The Radio Shop, better known as Comm, maintained all radios in the U-2.
Radar Shop: Like Radio, Radar had only a few units that were their responsibility. The primary unit in the early days was the ARN-6 Radio Compass Unit. It was a small unit set in area. It used conventional AM radio stations as a navigational aid.
Auto Pilot Shop: When the U-2 came to the 4080th, there were no auto pilot specialists in the Air Force. In 1958 the Air Force authorized a new Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) called Automatic Pilot. The auto pilot system was considered more electrical than electronic so the personnel were assigned to FMS and later became part of A&E.
SFERICS: This was the cover name for the electronic countermeasure equipment carried in the U-2. In reference books it was described as “the study of lightning.” However, with the 4080th SRW, it was the gathering of electronic intelligence or ELINT. The main SFERICS platform that went into the equipment bay was System 4, a more passive ELINT system. System 9 and System 12 were also used but carried a higher level of security classification.
Nephography: See Section “What is Nepho?”
Ivory Tower: Ivory Tower was the name of a weather platform that was carried in the U-2 equipment bay. It appeared quite primitive to the naked eye. It was nothing more than a piece of three-quarter inch plywood cut to fit inside the Q-Bay with a variety of weather equipment on the platform.
James E. Ballard
Ashland, Alabama
Top row, left to right: Unknown, Capt Marsh, Capt Blum, last two on right Unknown; kneeling, left to right: Unknown, James Ballard, Jim Wemple, Sgt Harris.
TDY to England
On January 14, 1959 I went TDY to RAF Brize Norton, England with our RB-57D-2. The officers that accompanied our detachment were Edward Abrams, Joseph Roure and Capt Wilkerson. We only flew our birds a
t night while we were there. January in England was cold, foggy and mostly wet. One evening we were towing one of the birds back to the hangar, three of us on the tug and one other maintenance tech in the cockpit riding the brakes. There were no taxi lights on the aircraft. A security vehicle with lights out was parked at the edge of the taxiway in the grass. The taxiways at Brize Norton did seem a bit smaller than ours back home. The long wings on the RB-57D-2 collided with the security vehicle, an almost predictable result given the situation. The security guys were upset about their vehicle being damaged, but we were more concerned about our aircraft. The wing was damaged, and I knew the aircraft was scheduled to fly the next day.
Only one thing to do, fix the aircraft. We put the aircraft in the hangar and notified our commander. He wasn't angry; he simply wanted it fixed as soon as possible. It took a little time to locate the sheet metal tech; he was at the club hoisting an adult beverage. He returned to the hangar and started to work. It took several hours to complete, but the wing was fully repaired. The aircraft was ready for the scheduled mission the next day.
Hugh W. Bell
Remembering the Dragon Lady: The U-2 Spy Plane: Memoirs of the Men Who Made the Legend Page 24