In 1968 I was stationed at Carswell AFB, Fort
Worth, Texas, working as an Electronic Warfare (EW) Technician on
B-52D aircraft. It was hot as hell working inside that airplane on the ramp in
August and July. They eventually relocated the whole B-52D Bomb Wing from Carswell
to Pease AFB, NH. I then found myself freezing to death in those same airplanes
in December and January in New Hampshire. Eventually the B-52D’s were replaced
by the new (it was new then) FB-111 aircraft. I was retrained for the EW
equipment on that plane and continued working out in the weather. My four-year
enlistment was finally coming to an end so I had to decide to re-enlist or get
out and work as a civilian (with no job prospects). I decided to re-enlist but
I was not going to work as an EW Technician any longer. The re-enlistment guy
gave me a list of available jobs and I quickly spotted “Air Traffic Controller.”
I said that’s for me and that’s how I made the transition between jobs. It
really wasn’t that simple. I had to go back to an 11-month technical school in
Biloxi AFB, then be reassigned to a new AFB. I liked New Hampshire so I got a
meeting with the commander of the Pease AFB Air Traffic Controllers and he
agreed to request me by name so I could return. Eleven months later I’m now
working in the Control Tower on Pease AFB with a hot cup of coffee in my hand
watching those poor suckers working in the snow on the ramp. Life is good!
B-52D
aircraft:
This
blog tells some of the interesting things that took place during my couple of
years working there as an Air Traffic Controller.
Lost
FB-111 aircraft:
New
Hampshire can get some pretty serious snowfall. The plows would keep moving it
to the side of the runway and in the middle of winter there would be a 10- to 20-foot-high
snow bank on both sides of the runway. One dark night I had an inbound FB-111
and the weather was not good, close to minimums with ice on the runway. Our
visibility was pretty bad and we were lucky if we could see the airplane
landing lights when they broke out of the overcast at the end of the runway that
was at least a mile from the control tower. He was on a radar approach so was
talking to the radar controller until he was almost to the runway. He called me
about half mile out and I gave him landing clearance and saw his lights come
out of the clouds. I then saw him make a dive towards the runway then I lost sight
of his lights and all radio contact with him. I kept trying to get him on the
radio with no luck. We alerted the firetrucks and they asked where he was and
we said we have no idea, that’s why we’re calling you. We had the trucks enter
the runway and drive the full length looking for the FB-111 but they couldn’t
find him! They finally started backtracking and looking more closely to the
sides of the runway. They spotted a skid mark from the middle of the runway
into the snowbank on the side but there it disappeared. They started digging
into the snow and found the aircraft totally covered with the crew trapped
inside. The FB-111 is a two crew aircraft and they sit side by side. The
cockpit has clamshell tops that lift up and hinged in the middle. When they
went into the snow it covered the clamshells plus prevented any radios from
working. The accident investigation stated that they broke out of the clouds
and saw the runway and basically dived down trying to make a landing in the
marginal weather conditions. When they hit the nose gear on the runway, it
collapsed and then the aircraft slid on the ice into the snowbank. Pretty sure
they got their butts chewed out for that landing.
Presidential
Candidate Musky:
I
was working the night when Presidential Candidate Musky was due to land for a
campaign rally. Again it was a miserable winter night and the airport was close
to shutting down due to ice on the runway and very bad weather conditions. The base
commander called the tower several times and told us to tell the pilot of Mr. Musky’s
airplane he should divert. The pilot finally said he was landing and the
weather and ice wouldn’t be a problem. Interesting that all the Air Force
planes were grounded but this guy was flying. They were in a Lockheed Electra,
which was a four turbo propeller aircraft. The pilot made a perfect landing
even on that very icy runway. He used differential engine control to maneuver
the airplane off the runway and to the ramp where he parked right in front of
the control tower (very nice job). There were a lot of dignitaries including
the Base and Wing Commanders ready to meet Mr. Musky when he walked down the stairs
that had been rolled up to the aircraft. The base commander had told us to keep
the huge spot light on the Control Tower roof on Mr. Musky as he walked down
the stairs and to his waiting limousine. We controlled the spot light from
inside the control tower. The first people off the airplane were several young
ladies and they started down the slippery stairs so as they descended, we moved
the spot light down the stairs so they wouldn’t fall and for good measure we
moved it all the way to their car as they crossed the ramp. They waved good-bye
and then we moved the spotlight back to the bottom of the stairs where we see Mr. Musky and
the Base and Wing Commanders staring up at the control tower. We knew we were
in deep trouble at that point.
SAC:
At
the time of these stories Pease AFB was one of many Strategic Air Command (SAC)
bases. SAC controlled all the nuclear bombers and missiles in the USAF. They
clearly had an important responsibility but it also meant SAC was a bit
paranoid about almost everything.
SAC
aircraft and aircrews would continually train for nuclear war. They would
rotate between being in the alert ramp for a week ready to launch for war in
minutes to flying simulated war missions without real bombs. When they had a
launch time for a training mission they would not launch early and they better
not launch late or there was hell to pay. One day we had an FB-111 at the end
of the taxiway next to the runway waiting for his launch time. We also had a C-130
cargo aircraft in the same location that would be departing shortly. Both of these
aircraft would be on instrument flight rules (IFR) which means they are totally
under air traffic control and must follow strict separation rules. The Wing
Commander had a habit of sitting at the end of the runway in his staff car and
monitoring the radios of his aircraft. This day we could see him down by the
FB-111, which means he could hear us talking to the FB-111 and C-130. We knew the
FB-111 only had a couple of minutes before his official launch time and if the
C-130 called up first for departure there was going to be a conflict. We called
the FB-111 and asked can he take an early departure and of course he said no
since his boss was listening. Of course the C-130 then called up for departure.
For an IFR departure we would call radar on the landline for approval to depart
and they would approve then start looking for the aircraft to come off the end
of the runway. At that point they would direct it onto its route of flight. As
soon as the C-130 moves onto the runway for takeoff the FB-111 calls up for
departure. We taxi him into position and hold while we called radar for launch
approval. As it happens both the C-130 and the FB-111 were taking the same
departure route and the C-130 is much slower than an FB-111. The official
launch time came and went and the FB-111 is still waiting on the runway. We
kept talking to radar telling them what was happening and they said too bad,
they can’t launch the FB-111 until they have prescribed separation. We then got
a call from the Wing Commander on our air traffic control radio frequency
asking why we were holding his scheduled SAC departure! He wasn’t interested in
hearing our sorry ass excuses and said he would be in the tower in five minutes
and to have our commander meet him in the tower!
We
could see his staff car speed down the taxiway towards the tower. We called our
commander who was in an office building next to the tower and said he was
commanded to come to the control tower to talk to the Wing Commander who might
be a little pissed. He was not real keen on coming to the tower under these
circumstances but said he was on his way. By this time we had gotten approval
to launch the FB-111 but about 10 minutes late. The Wing Commanders car
squealed into our parking lot and we watched him slam the door and march up to
the tower door. BTW we controlled the electric lock on that door from the
control tower for security. We also had an intercom box next to the door where
anyone wanting into the tower would contact us. We did not unlock the door automatically
and was waiting for him to buzz the intercom. Instead he grabbed the door
handle and jerked it so hard he bent the door but it still didn’t open. I asked
the crew chief should I ask who was at the door wanting in but he said “just
open the door.” Which I did.
Our
commander was still not in the tower, but we could hear the Wing Commander
storming up the stairs and as he came to the tower cab he was breathing so hard
he couldn’t speak. He slammed his hand held radio down on the desk and it
immediately bounced off and under the desk. There was four of us in the tower
cab including our crew chief who was about to mess his drawers. I retrieved the
radio and put it back on the desk and when the Wing Commander could finally
talk again he screamed “Tell you commander to be in my office in 10 minutes,”
he then went back down the stairs. We four just looked at each other and grinned,
then the crew chief called our commander again to break the news to him that
his presence was requested in the Wing Commanders office immediately. Our
commander told us later that he was yelled at for 10 minutes until he finally
got a chance to advise the Wing Commander that he had no priority over the air traffic
control operation and it’s first come first serve, which resulted in another outburst
of profanity. It was a learning experience for the Wing Commander because even
though he controlled the airbase, as soon as his aircraft left the runway they
were transferred to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controller and they
could care less what the Wing Commander wanted because his aircraft had to take
their turn like all the airliners using the same airspace.
SAC
cold be pretty paranoid. By this time I have my own crew in the tower and one
slow evening we were watching a small TV since there was no traffic to deal
with. Pease AFB is about 50 miles from Boston. All of a sudden we see a huge
mushroom cloud and explosion on the horizon towards Boston. I immediately called
the SAC Command Post located on our base and said “We just saw a huge explosion
and mushroom cloud form over Boston!” The local SAC Command Post has a direct line to
the main SAC Command Post buried deep in the Rocky Mountains somewhere. As you
can imagine there was a lot of concern because we actually though a nuclear
explosion had just happened over Boston. SAC was about to send out alert
messages to all its bomber and missile sites when we saw a news flash on the TV
that said a huge propane storage facility had just exploded on the outskirts of
Boston! I immediately called the Command Post again and said don’t launch the
missiles or something similar to that, I was pretty excited at the time. I told
them what the TV was reporting and to this day, I’m not sure how close we might
have come to an actual launch.
Traffic
could be pretty slow on a Sunday afternoon so we would kill time having a
cribbage tournament (a card game) in the tower. My crew chief at the time was
an expert and the rest of the crew could never beat him. I was standing next to
the two players watching their game when something caught my attention towards
the runway. I looked up just in time to see a World War II German Messerschmitt
BF-109 with all the Nazi markings and camouflage making a high-speed low
approach down the length of our runway. I yelled “What the Hell is that?” and
everyone else looked up but too late to see the Messerschmitt since he stayed
low even past the end of the runway until out of sight from the tower. No one
would believe me when I kept saying a BF-109 just made a strafing run on a
United States SAC Air Force Base (that had numerous nuclear armed bombers on
the ramp). They all went back to playing their card game. I knew what I just saw
so I picked up the direct hot line to the FAA Air Traffic Control Center and
asked if they had been working any German fighters in our area. The guy sounded
surprised but said “Yes we were but he cancelled his IFR flight plan and
descended out of their airspace.” I then
asked if it was a Messerschmitt BF-109 and he said “No, it was a Messerschmitt
BF-108.” I told him that it just made a high-speed low pass down our runway
without approval. He got a big kick out of that but this did cause a problem
for me. The BF-108 is a two seat trainer that looks a lot like the BF-109 and
this one had all the markings to further make it look like the real thing. This
guy was overflying our site and saw that it was a military air base and decided
to make a run on it just for fun. I finally got the rest of the guys in the
tower to believe me then we had to decide what to do about it. Our air base is
in protected air space and no aircraft is approved to enter that airspace
unless approved by the tower. In addition, it was a SAC air base with nuclear
bombers. We actually could have reported him to the FAA and USAF SAC Command
and he would have been tracked down and paid a pretty heavy price for that fun
run. This would all be based on my testimony because there was no other way to
prove it happened. I finally said if he had the balls to do it I wasn’t going
to be the one to have them cut off, so I dropped it.
BF-108:
BF-109:
UFO:
My
last story from Pease AFB happened one dark night. I had a single FB-111 in the
pattern and he is making multiple touch and go’s to our runway, meaning he kept
flying a box pattern around the airport. Our runway was only a few miles from
the Atlantic Ocean coast and aircraft in the air were only a short flight from
the shore. My tower crew noticed something very strange toward the coast that
none of us had ever seen before. It was a bight object about the size of your
thumbnail if you hold it arm’s length. This object became visible as if it was
coming out of the ocean on the horizon and then would go several thousand feet
in the air, hold for a few seconds then descend again to go out of sight on the
horizon. It did this several times. I called the FB-111 in our pattern and
asked if he could see the same thing and if so can he identify what it is. He
said he could see it but had no idea what could be doing that. He asked for
permission to fly out towards the ocean to try and get a better look. We
coordinated with our radar for his deviation plus asked if they were picking
any targets up to the east. They gave permission for the flight deviation and
also said their radar wasn’t picking up anything unusual out east to the range
of their radar (about 40 miles). The FB-111 headed directly to the object at
high speed but stayed on our radio frequency. He reported that he could see it
clearly and it looked like a very bright disk or a disk with bright lights on
it but he couldn’t tell how far away it was and he didn’t appear to be getting
any closer to it. He finally decided to return to the pattern and after about a
half an hour the disk finally stayed below the horizon. I spent many nights in
a control tower over the nine years I was a controller and that was the
strangest thing I ever saw.
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