THE C7A CARIBOU A GREAT AIRCRAFT

I never put anything on this blog about my time spent in Vietnam but here are some memories from a long time ago. I took all these photos.
If you want to learn more about the caribou check out our organization The C7a Caribou Organization and learn about the missions the Bou flew.
http://www.c-7acaribou.com


THE "BOU"

I was an Aircraft Electrician in the 483rd CMS Squadron from November 1970 to November 1971. I worked at Cam Ranh, Bien Hoa, and Can Tho. I spent a lot of time at Bien Hoa and did a lot of field trips to repair broken aircraft. Some of the photos, below, are from one of the more memorable of those field trips. I also did a lot of morning launches, riding around in the maintenance launch truck, helping to blow out mags and get engines started.

Working on the Caribou was a great job, and the guys I worked with in country were the best. Some of the places the caribou flew were really isolated and doing any type of field maintenance in the field was challenging at the best. But we always seemed to get the work done. I can really say we jury rigged a lot of stuff just to get the aircraft back to base. I remember working on a starter problem at a place called Song Be, up along the Cambodian border. There was no maintenance stands to work with, so I used a 55 gallon drum to stand on. It was a weird problem as the starter lead was just not making contact with terminal stud. An infantry officer came over to me and was asking in a round about way of how long was it going to take me to fix the aircraft and get this “MORTAR MAGNET OFF HIS BASE”. Well as dark was approaching my incentive to get the aircraft fixed was doubled. Anyway I fixed it by squeezing the terminal lug with some water pump pliers. Power got to the starter the engines started and me the two pilots and an engineer were happy and flew back to Bien Hoa. And so was the grunt officer!




KA147 (62-4147) on the runway at Chang Mai, Thailand without use of the landing gear. The scuttle buck was that the overhead hatch blew open during the takeoff and the pilot set the aircraft back down on the long runway, forgetting that he had already retracted the gear. Summer 1971. Some of our missions was to fly to different diplomatic spots in Thailand. Chang Mai is in Northwest Thailand, a very beautiful place.The only other aircraft Isaw there were Air America Pilatus Porters.


Its good the Bou had a flat underbelly. There really wasn't much sheet metal damage.




The major damage was done to the engines and the props as can be seen here..Sudden stoppage of the engine is not good. Actually some the prop was sent through the fuselage.
http://www.c-7acaribou.com/album/album.htm



We worked all day getting the aircraft back on its gear. As can be seen we used air bags and jacks. We had to tie and strap the props on so they wouldn't fall off. The nose box on the engine was completly wrecked. Once the aircraft was up on its gear we towed it to the ramp and worked on it for a couple of days changing both engines and doing some sheet metal work. We then flew it back to Bangkok and then on to Cam Ranh Bay were it was checked over. This was a gravy job as it was out of Vietnam and in Thailand, so we tried as hard as we could to extend this TDY trip. It was the best trip I had in Southeast Asia.



All day long we had a bunch of Thai kids and workers watching us get the aircraft off the runway



This is our Operations shack at Bien Hoa, Vietnam. The black tar spots are holes from a 122mm rocket that hit in front of the shack about an hour before the guys would arrive. At Bien Hoa we took a lot of Rocket and mortar attacks.


One of the Bunkers at Bien Hoa on the east side of the base.

ARMY B-6 BOMBER CRASHES IN RAIN STORM NEAR PINE GROVE, APRIL 5, 1936

KEYSTONE B-6A BOMBER

ARMY B-6A BOMBER CRASHES ON MOUNTAIN
WEST OF PINE GROVE.
APRIL 5, 1936

The headline in the Pottsville Journal stated, “ARMY PLANE FALLS NEAR COUNTY LINE”
5 Airmen burned to death in crash on Blue Ridge Mountains not far from Pine Grove.

One victim was a Berks Countian,

Craft was driven far off course during Last night’s rain storm during training course.

Fredericksburg, Pa. April 6, …The bodies of five army aviators, charred beyond recognition, were removed today from the wreckage of a two motored bomber that crashed last night on the Blue Ridge Mountain.

Army officers from the Middletown, Pa. field listed the dead as Lieut Stetson Brown, St, Johnsbury Vt. Pilot, Cadet Paul Anspaugh , Cleveland, Ohio, Pvt. William Yost, Maine, Pvt. Arthur Metz, Chambersburg, Pa. and Staff Sgt. Ernest Endy, near Boyertown. The bodies were brought here.

The plane was enroute to Langley Field, Va. Via Washington from Pottstown.

Officers who arrived at the scene of the crash identified the plane as an Army B-6A by the aerial numbers on the engine. The remainder of the plane a mass of twisted and charred wreckage.

The fliers were on a routine training cruise.

Lieut. Brown had piloted the plane from Cleveland and had stopped at Pottstown to pick up Endy who was visiting his wife. Endy, the officers said was the only one married.

After leaving Pottstown the plane ran into heavy rain and was driven 60 miles off course. Officers said it crashed into the side of the blue Mt. between 8:30 and 9 P.M. an hour or more after leaving Pottstown.

An investigation will be undertaken by the army officers stationed at Middletown. It was said , failure of the ship to report by radio after it was apparently driven from its course led the officers to believe it had radio failure.


TAG PHOTO TO ENLARGE

COUNTY FOLK VIEW THE WRECKAGE

Many residents of the West end of Schuylkill county today visited the scene of the fatal plane crash two and a half miles west of Pine Grove just over the county line.



The plane nosed deep into the soft earth and its charred tail being discernable from a distance. Broken tree tops in a straight line about 500 feet from the wreckage indicate the course of the plane prior to its crash.

Many Farmers in the West End of the county heard the crash and saw the resultant flames.

When it was learned that the plane had come from :Langley Field, Va. Considerable concern was felt in Pine Grove since “Buddy Hartzel” of that town is a student flier there.

A detail of men from Middletown airport, under command of an Army officer, arrived at the scene and made an examination of the wreckage. The instruments were salvaged and then the wreck car from Middletown prepared to pull out and cart the remains of the plane back to Middletown.

Captain Derwister, USA was in command of the detail. He said the plane was flying by means of the Newark radio beam. Some charred personnel effects of the five men were found including several wrist watches.

A newsreel man took pictures of the wreck as did many photographers. Trees around the wreckage were not burned. State Police finally had to close the road to keep spectators from blocking the highway. Many motorists drove to the scene during the day.

Three of the bodies were found in the rear of the fuselage, the pilot and radio officer were in the forward part. The radio operator’s headphones were in place. Lieut, Brown was a newcomer to the service just receiving his commission only a short time ago.



Editors Note: Talk about being off course! This aircraft was about 50 to 60 miles off course. If it was heading toward Langley, Va. From Pottstown that had to be one hell of a storm. The B6A was the last bi plane bomber the Army flew.
Sometime this summer I will make a trek out to the area were this aircraft crashed and see if I can find any artifacts or parts of the aircraft.
A couple of years ago I went to the crash site up in Aristes, See my Blog {THIS IS AN EMERGENCY DESECENT THE CRASH OF UNITED FLIGHT 624). There I was able to still find parts of the fuselage of the DC-6, actually lying on top of the ground.

U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet
KEYSTONE B-6A







The Keystone B-6A was the last biplane bomber purchased by the U.S. Army Air Corps. The conservative Army leadership was slow to accept new design concepts in aircraft construction and tended to favor traditional and proven designs over radical unproven ones. This resulted in a design stagnation of about 10 years. The basic design and performance of the B-6A was little different from the Martin NBS-1 ordered in 1921.

The acceptance of the single-wing bomber would be slow. The B-7 and B-8 bombers were ordered in 1929, but they were originally designed as high-speed observation planes. The conversion to the bomber role was done while the prototypes were under construction.

Some Keystone bombers remained in service until the early 1940s, serving in secondary roles such as observation and reconnaissance.

Type Number built/
converted Remarks
B-6A 39 Production Y1B-6


Serial numbers: 32-142 to 32-180

SPECIFICATIONS:
Span: 74 ft. 9 in.
Length: 48 ft. 10 in.
Height: 17 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 13,350 lbs. gross
Armament: Three Browning .30-cal. machine guns and 2,500 lbs. of bombs
Engines: Two Wright R-1820-1 radials of 575 hp each
Crew: Five

PERFORMANCE:
Top speed: 120 mph at sea level
Cruising speed: 103 mph
Service ceiling: 14,100 ft.
Range: 825 miles (approx. 350 miles with full bomb load)

Click here to return to the Early Bomber index.

Schuylkill Boys at Vicksburg, Miss. 1863

SCHUYLKILL BOYS AT VICKSBURG.

General Ulysses S. Grant endeavored to take Vicksburg Miss. numerous times, constantly resulting in failure. The Vicksburg campaign was started on the 16th Of October 1862, the day he became commander of the Department of the Tennessee. This campaign lasted until the 20th of December 1862 ending in failure.
In the spring of 1863 Grant would change his strategy and attempt to take Vicksburg from the west bank of the Mississippi and attack the city from the south and east. The drive on Vicksburg started on May 14th with the attack on Jackson, Mississippi cutting of Confederate General Joseph Johnson from General John Pemberton and isolated Pemberton inside the heavily defended Vicksburg for the remainder of the campaign. Under the command of General Grant are Generals William Sherman, General John McClernand and General James Mcpherson. On the 16th of May the battle of Champions Hill was fought which became the most arduously fought battle of the Vicksburg campaign. The Union casualties exceeded over 2800 and the Confederates lost over 3850 men. Grant's forces moved closer to the fortifications outside of Vicksburg and on the 19th of May made a grand assault by Generals Sherman, McClernand and McPherson. The outcome of this failed attack would cost the Union close to 1000 men. On the 20th Grant met with his commanders and agreed the attack of the 19th failed because of the natural strength of the position and the nature of the ground. They were limited to attacking the most heavily defended points. They decided to attack again on the morning of the 22nd, with Sherman attacking on the right flank and McPherson in the center and McClernand on the left.
Fighting under the command of General Sherman was his old regular army regiment the 13th U.S. Infantry. Among the members of the 13th Regulars were 15 Schuylkill countians who were in all the engagements of the Vicksburg campaign. The 13th Regulars suffered heavily on the engagement of the 19th and while trying to plant their colors on the rebel works, they would lose three color bearers, and their colors would be pierced by fifty-five balls. They would once again be engaged on the charge of the 22nd.


On the 21st of May,1863 William R. Griffiths wrote a letter to his parents in Jalappa, in the Borough of Pottsville from Vicksburg, Mississippi: It was reprinted in the Miners Journal

There is nothing here at present but blood,
blood, blood; nothing but the continual roar
of cannons, musketry, gunboats, etc. We attacked
Vicksburg on the 14th. We have been fighting
almost day and night. We are in possession of
Jackson, and I hope and pray that Vicksburg
will be ours soon. We have whipped them almost
at every point, capturing thousands and
thousands of rebels, and have taken hundreds of
their largest guns. You can think yourself how
we have fought, when they had for 15 miles all
around the city, breastworks after breastworks
and our brave boys have driven them into within
one mile of the city. Gen. Grant has command.
Our regiment is under our favorite, General
Sherman. He has done his duty. Day before
yesterday Sherman's army corps took Haines
Bluff of which you have read about, with 9000
prisoners; but hundreds of our brave boys bit
the dust. Dear Mother I have stood before secesh
lead before but it was nothing to this time.
We have traveled for the last two days with
blood and mud and water up to our knees: but
we have won the laurels. We have driven them
over twelve miles in seven days, which they have
been fortifying for the last two years. Gen.
Pemberton, their commanding General was put in
irons by his own men because he wanted to
surrender the city three days ago. Gen. Taylor
old Zachariah Taylor's son has command in his
place. Yesterday they sent to General Grant
that they would surrender the city if he would
let them get all of their men out, but he would
not except it.
There are a great many of our brave boys in my
regiment killed. Our flag floats on the next fort
to the city, and before another sun sets Vicksburg
I hope will be ours. Our men are in great spirits
and put great confidence in Gen. Grant. It is true
a great many of our brave boys are killed, but not
near as many as the rebels.


The Coat of Arms 13th U.S. Infantry

The 13th U.S. Regulars, General William T. Sherman's favorite regiment performed a military funeral for his son, Willie, who became sick and died from the effects of typhoid fever on October 3rd 1863. General Sherman wrote a letter to the commanding officer of the 13th battalion tellling him that

"Willie was, or thought he was a sergeant
in the Thirteenth. I have seen his eyes brighten,
his heart beat, as he beheld the battalion
under arms, and asked me if they were not real
soldiers. "

General Sherman conveyed to the members of the Thirteenth battalion that in years after if they:

"Call on me or mine, and mention that
they were of the Thirteenth Regulars when
Willie was a sergeant, they will have a key to
the affections of my family that will open all
it has; that we will share with them our last
blanket, our last crust!"


June 13, 1863

Among the number of brave soldiers that fell at Vicksburg on the 22nd ult. Was James Robertson, Captain of Co. I 22nd Iowa Volunteers, while gallantly leading his men on the enemy’s works. Capt. Robertson has been in the service of his country since the breaking out of the rebellion, having been a member of Co. B 2d Regt. Iowa Volunteers during the three months service and was engaged in the battles ogf Dog Springs and Wilson’s Creek. While under the lamented General Lyon at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, he was slightly wounded. He was a brother of Mr. Andrew Robertson of New Philadelphia, Schuylkill County in which town he was brought up and lived. His age was twenty six years and during the last seven years he was a resident of Iowa.

Help This American Soldier Captain Roger Hill

PLEASE WRITE THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY AND HELP THIS SOLDIER

I know this story has nothing to do with Schuylkill County soldiers but this story is a travesty to the American fighting man. This American soldier defending our way of life and protecting his men is once again caught up in this anti military liberal hatred of the U.S. Military and it makes me sick. Please read this story and act appropriately in contacting the Secretary of the Army or even this new President. Captain Roger Hill fully deserves an apology and his Honorable Discharge.
Capt. Hilll
Help Captain Roger Hill
by Lauren Hill


I am writing on behalf of my husband, Captain Roger Hill, and our entire family. Roger is now home (Fort Campbell, KY) awaiting the characterization of service from the Army. He expects to know something between four to six weeks from now.

You may have read about Roger's circumstances in either the Washington Post or World Magazine. They detail the challenges he and his men faced while in Wardak, Afghanistan this past year. Wardak is the province the Army has chosen to begin its spring 2009 troop surge into Afghanistan. Over 1,200 Soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division are now surging into Wardak as a replacement to the 89 Soldiers of Roger's company. Wardak is the size of Connecticut.

Roger is facing an Other Than Honorable discharge from the Army as a result of the events outlined in those articles. All the people I have spoken to about this situation feel that Roger's actions were more than honorable as is his total time in service.

We hope to enlist your help in joining our letter writing campaign to the Secretary of the Army. The Human Resource Command (HRC) will review Roger's discharge packet and make a recommendation as to the characterization of his service to the Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.

Here are the facts.

1) Overview:

Captain Hill has served three overseas tours including his current tour as an Infantry Company Commander in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in 2008.
Captain Hill also completed a twelve month combat tour as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). For his duty and performance in Iraq, he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. While in Iraq, he served on multiple Transition Teams based out of Qayyarah of the Nineweh province and Ar Ramadi of the Al Anbar province. He mentored and fought alongside Iraqi infantry units from the platoon level up to brigade level staff.
In addition to the above awards, he is also Airborne, Air Assault and Ranger qualified. Captain Hill has been awarded the Expert Infantryman's Badge, three Army Commendation Medals, and three Overseas Ribbons as well as a number of other awards and medals during his over twelve plus years of collective Army Service.
He also served in the U.S. Army's prestigious Old Guard as a platoon leader and executive officer from 2002 to 2004. Captain Hill was hand selected to serve as the officer in charge (OIC) for the funerals of many dignitaries and fallen comrades. One such privilege included serving as the Guard of Honor OIC for former President Reagan's funeral (see pictures attached). Captain Hill's dress blues uniform coat, along with his commander's awards and decorations, was selected for permanent display at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
He also served as a platoon leader (mechanized and rifle), Assistant Battalion Operations Officer and as an Infantry Officer Basic Course Instructor where he trained and mentored dozens of Infantry Platoon Leaders that are currently fighting the Global War on Terror.
As reflected by all of his many officer evaluation reports (OERs), he was considered a top performer in every position that he held all with "promotion" designations.
He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point) with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Environmental Engineering.
2) Highlights of Current OEF Deployment (2008) with events that led to the Article 32 pre-trial hearing:

Captain Hill's company, the smallest infantry company in the brigade, was responsible for the entire province of Wardak. Wardak is equal to the state of Connecticut in total area with a population of 527,000.
Wardak is also one of the most kinetic operating areas for the brigade. His company suffered thirty wounded in action (WIA) and two killed in action (KIA) during their first six months in Wardak. This was approximately one third of Captain Hill's less than ninety man infantry company.
Despite the casualties, Dog Company's reenlistment retention rate was the highest in the Brigade.
In mid-August, Dog Company suffered the worst possible outcome in combat. First Lieutenant (1LT) Donnie Carwile and Specialist (SPC) Paul Conlon were killed in action (KIA) in an intricately planned and complex ambush along HWY 1. SPC Conlon and 1LT Carwile died from wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device (IED) just days before the events in question.
After verifying with several classified sources, Captain Hill along with a temporarily attached counter intelligence (CI) team, confirmed that there was an intelligence leak on forward operating base (FOB) Airborne. Through the use of classified technologies, Captain Hill and his CI team collected incontrovertible evidence against twelve Afghan spies who were providing intelligence to the enemy.
A feint operation to the same location SPC Conlon and 1LT Carwile were killed was conducted to verify that the infiltrators on the FOB were giving information about troop movements, locations and movement times. The enemy was waiting for the Soldiers on patrol that day just as they were the day SPC Conlon and 1LT Carwile were killed in action.
Repeated calls were made to Dog Company's battalion headquarters to coordinate for transfer of these twelve infiltrators to the battalion's custody in accordance with standard protocol. As evidenced in the Article 32 hearing, Dog Company's requests for assistance and/or guidance went unanswered. Soon those spies would be on the streets due to a theater wide time constraint on the custody of detainees.
* Captain Hill did not consider the consequences of his actions with respect to his career. Rather, his focus was on the possible consequences to his Soldiers if he took no action. None of the twelve detainees were hurt. This was confirmed by the base physician assistant's examinations, the battalion's Executive Officer who examined each detainee before transfer and in a personal written statement given by one of the twelve detainees.
After the Article 32 hearing was complete, the Article 32 officer stated that he found no indication that the actions taken by Captain Hill, First Sergeant Scott or their Soldiers were by nature unusually cruel, sadistic or that they were amused by what they did.
The Article 32 officer also stated that Dog Company was extended beyond its capabilities and that he believed that their actions were taken with a sincere desire to protect their Soldiers.
Captain Hill's actions resulted in obtaining valuable and potentially lifesaving intelligence.
The interrogations lasted less than thirty minutes.
3) Personal Considerations:

Like all military families, Captain Hill's wife and family have sacrificed much for the Army. He has spent almost three of his six years of marriage preparing for, and deployed overseas in combat. As Dog Company's Family Readiness Group (FRG) leader, his wife, Lauren, played an active role in the lives of every Dog Company family. Lauren's many duties included assisting with casualty notifications to the families of Soldiers of Dog Company who were either killed or wounded in combat. Dog Company suffered more casualties than any company in its battalion. Lauren volunteered to do all of this, in addition to her full time career as a public servant. She is a Masters degreed teacher of children with special needs at a public elementary school outside of Ft. Campbell. She has volunteered to bear a heavy burden for the Army and its families. The Army and infantry life style has also taken a heavy toll on Captain Hill's body over the past twelve years. Early in his career, he sustained a cervical spine injury in an Army combative course. His injury was misdiagnosed by the Army health care system at the time of the injury. By the time a proper diagnosis had been rendered, years had passed and irreversible damage had been done. Despite the injury and misdiagnosis, he completed every duty that the Army would ask of an infantry officer. An Other Than Honorable discharge would certainly limit if not eliminate the Army's responsibility for continued care.



An HONORABLE discharge is the only decent resolution to this case. Please write Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and express your opinion that this good soldier deserves an honorable discharge on behalf of his service to his country.