Stories of the 68th AREFS
Page 5
"AN EXCITING DAY"
We were at Harmon AFB, Newfoundland, in the spring of 1958. Sgt. Broussard was the crew chief on aircraft 828, and I was his assistant. We flew missions everyday, for a period of time, while there.
One day, when the aircraft returned, the engineer wrote up that the # 3 engine was backfiring at any manifold pressure setting above 35 inches. We worked along with the engine shop all night, and couldn't duplicate the problem. The engine shop said it must be the altitude compensator, since we could not get it to malfunction on the ground. They changed the altitude compensator, and the best I can recall, the carburetor had to be removed to get it changed - it was a big job.
The next day, the airplane took off with no problems on the take off roll. Then at about 300 feet off the ground, # 3 began to backfire with big puffs of black smoke coming from the exhaust. They were taking off toward mountains that were solid rocks, and the airplane was not gaining altitude, as it should, and appeared from where we were standing, to be heading into the mountain side. Sgt. Broussard and I, along with everyone else, were almost in a state of shock and panic, thinking the aircraft was going to crash. Somehow, the airplane gained enough altitude to clear the mountain top, but then we couldn't see them anymore. Sgt. Broussard was holding onto me, and said, "Ed, they have crashed!" I said, "I don't see any smoke." Sgt. Broussard couldn't believe I was so cool about it, but I knew if the aircraft had crashed we would see some smoke.
After what seemed like an eternity - but was probably only about 5 minutes - the aircraft came back over the Bay, with the boom down and fuel pouring out. They landed safely, and we breathed a sigh of relief. The boom operator said when the pilot ordered the fuel to be dumped, they were too low over the mountains to let the boom down. He said that all of the people manning the radar sights were outside watching the plane.
Later we found that # 3 engine had swallowed a valve, which happened sometimes with these engines. Needless to say, we were all thanking the Lord that everyone involved was safe, and although it was exciting, we didn't need anymore close calls like this.
And I still maintain that if it had crashed, we would have seen smoke!!
Ed
A STORY SUBMITTED BY FLOYD BURKS:
I was transferred to the 68th Air Refueling Squadron, around February 1954, and was assigned as a assistant Crew Chief under T/Sgt Walter F. Julius. He was the Crew Chief of 51-190, which was a ‘E” model KC-97. So I was getting to really work on the plane and getting to fly also. Now I was happy.
In April of 1954, we were deployed to French Morocco. Mary was pregnant with our 1st child, so she did not want to stay by herself and went home to her folks in Abilene. We left Lake Charles for Goose Bay, Labrador for our next refueling stop. Before we got to Goose Bay, we lost # 4 engine. Main oil pump went out. So at Goose, there was only one KC-97 Engine in a fly away kit. It was an inboard engine. We needed an out board engine. So we had to change the engine over to an outboard. Difference was some electrical and hydraulic systems had to be changed. So after a week the change over was complete, the new engine changed out.
So after the engine checked out on a one hour test flight, we loaded up and departed Goose for Africa. About one hour or more out of Goose, the new engine failed and we had to shut it down. The Aircraft Commander, 1/Lt Libman said, "No use going back to Goose, so we are heading for Africa". We went on with 3 engines, but if we had a problem with another one, we would have been in a hurt. But we made it fine and arrived at Nouisuer AB, outside of Casablanca, French Morocco.
As time went on and we continued making Goose Bay our second home, back and forth to Lake charles.
In October of 1956, we were scheduled to Goose again, so as I was slated for discharge in December, Mary and the girls went back to Abilene to stay until I got back. We were trying to fly missions out of Goose, mainly for the B-52 Airborne Alert that were constantly in the air 24/7. It was hard to get off that time of the year as the weather was bad. Some planes could not produce enough torque to get off. Reject torque was higher that what was available, so most of the time it looked like a merry go round. My ship came back in and swung the tail out over the sand and started to dump some fuel to get the weight down. The engineer put too much fuel pressure on and broke the flex coupling in the boom. Fuel went everywhere so they shut down the engines. More work for us. They also wrote up all 4 engines had “low torque”. So that meant that 56 spark plugs times 4 engines would have to be changed.
After I had re-enlisted at Dyess, I took over the Back-line coming out of Periodic. So I ran the Back line for over a year then one day I was called to the “Line Chiefs” Office. He informed me that I was being taken out of the docks, as I had been a Crew Chief before, would be assigned to a plane again. He said that it should be landing shortly. So as we walked out to the flight line, I looked at the runway and said, “Crap, I know that plane”. He said that I could not tell that far out. I told him that when it came in to look at the nose wheel fairing, It would have “Old Rattler” on it that I put on in 1955. Sure enough, in taxied 52-2832 and I got her again. The 68th ARS was switching over to KC-135’s so they were sending the 97’s to anyone who needed them. She was a replacement for 308 in Alaska. We had another 3+ years together.
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