Moving a NASA 747 to Permanent Display

Click on this link to watch an amazing move of one of the NASA 747 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) to permanent display at the Houston Space Center.  Click here for a more complete history of the 2 747s NASA has used over the past 40 years.  I’m particularly fond of this aircraft because it was built right here in Everett, Washington.

Super-Sized Formation Flight

I found this video online yesterday and I thought you'd like to see it too.  It's a flight of five brand new A350-900s.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4jWYZLeHQ

My Dallas Reunion Experience by Steve Sachs

Brenda and I have gone to 6 reunions, but decided to pass on Dallas.

About three months before the reunion, I got a call from Dave Nelson, one of the TO’s I had flown with in the 225th in Viet Nam.  This is the first time I talked to any of the TO’s in 45 years.  He had just heard about the Association and happened to come across my name. He contacted several other TO’s and they were going to Dallas. He asked if we were going. I said I would go.  Much to my surprise, there were 4 other TO‘s, a tech-supply specialists and of course, Gordy Darragh from the Photo lab, Sgt Perez, Cpt Baugh and others.  All in all, about 35 folks from the 225th came to the reunion.

When we met in Dallas, I am embarrassed to admit, I only recognized one TO - Arlan Lando.  This is really bad.  He saved our lives, but I didn’t know his first name.  We flew together many dark nights.  On an IR flight, we were in the central highlands and I fell asleep.  When I woke up, Arlan had made a 180-degree turn and had us on the correct heading for our next leg.  If we had just continued on the heading, we would have crashed.  I don’t remember what I said to him, but a belated thanks is in order.

When we returned to Phu Hiep to debrief, I looked at the dirty coffee cups, the sour cream and stale coffee. I just pushed it all off the table onto the floor.  My roommate was Capt. A J McAllister, the head spook.  He was responsible for the nasty coffee.  He never said a word about my juvenile behavior, but we had fresh coffee, clean cups and fresh cream from then on.  I don’t remember falling asleep on another IR flight.

We went to a ranch in Dallas Friday evening.  TO Dave Nelson was the gentleman that danced with the young lady leading the festivities.  Brenda and I ended up the only couple on the floor for one song.  We appreciate all the thunderous applause at the end of the song, but Dancing with the Stars has not called.  We were invited to sit with the TO’s for the show and supper and had a great time.  Dave sent me a few pictures from Phu Hiep playing volley ball.  Man, that brought back memories.  In one picture, there was a wall between two of the barracks.  None of us remembered the wall.  One person suggested that was Officer Country.

Dallas caused me to think. In Vietnam, I had never appreciated the work these folks did to make our flights safe.  I know I never thanked them before I left.  45 years too late. We are doing well, getting older and have different recollections of what happened years ago.  Thanks Dave, Bob, Arlan, Gary and all the rest for a great time in Dallas.

More to the point ... THANKS for all you guys did for us 45 years ago.

Steve Sachs, a very old gray haired 225th Mohawk pilot.

Association's 25th Annual Reunion in Dallas

Our 25^th Annual Reunion in Dallas was simply an amazing weekend for me, and I suspect for many others who were there!  Over the course September 4 thru 7^th I counted 40+ Blackhawks/Phantomhawks among the more than 280 folks who attended!  That’s the most members of the 225^th Surveillance Airplane Company I have seen in one place since George Drago flew me to Cam Ranh Bay to catch my DEROS flight home in June 1970!  A highlight for me was meeting for the first time a guy named John Britten!  John’s MOS was 84G20 (Photo Lab Tech) and I was his replacement in February ’68; he had left Phu Hiep in December, so I had never known him!  What a kick!

I also met a man named Jim “Doc” Rose.  Bill Page had asked me several times over the past months if I remembered Doc Rose and I had told him that I didn’t have a clue who that was.  Well, I met Doc Rose on Friday night after a great Texas BBQ at the Circle R Ranch (that’s where I met John Britten too). Bill and two other guys were BS’ing over drinks in the hotel lounge.  Always interested in meeting new guys at our reunions, I invited myself into this high level meeting.  The two other guys were Bobby “Bear” Sieker, a former 225^th pilot, and Doc Rose, Phu Hiep’s Flight Surgeon.  I had finally met Doc Rose!  He swears that he remembers me from the Photo Lab, but I still don’t remember him.  I also didn’t remember Bear Sieker.  No matter, friendships have been renewed 45 years later! 

On Friday morning as I was talking with Ron Gronith in the hotel lobby, Steve and Brenda Sachs walked in the door.  They had not registered for the reunion, but decided to catch a flight from Nashville that morning.  It was great to see them again; you’ll remember that Steve took Alex Berkeley and me on separate rides in his Stearman in 2010.  That morning they invited me to go with them to the Frontiers In Flight museum at Love Field.  Go to Flickr to see some photos I took.  This is a museum that, in part, showcases Southwest Airlines’ history, and also the history of flight from Kitty Hawk to the present. That evening we piled aboard chartered buses and went to the Circle R Ranch for the Texas BBQ, more beer and some brave souls even ventured to learn line dancing!  It all was great fun!

On Saturday morning we went to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum where we wandered through several hangers of beautifully restored WW1 and WW2 aircraft from all theatres of those wars.  The highlight for all of, though, was an OV-1 Mohawk that looked very much like it just rolled out of Grumman’s factory on Long Island.  The museum was kind enough to open the display so we could walk right up to it, touch it, and even attempt to climb into the right or left seat!  For me it was just an attempt; I don’t fold up like I did in 2001 when my son Tim and I were able to have our pictures taken sitting in the right seat!  Nevertheless, it was wonderful to see one of those beautiful birds up close again.  Here are some photos...

Former Observer Glade Merkeley told me the story of him being approached at his hotel (he was staying at another place) by a hotel maintenance man o asked him if he flew Mohawks because he saw Glade’s Association hat.  This man said he was a retired Russian soldier and that (I’m paraphrasing) “We were really afraid of the Mohawks” when he was a soldier in Eastern Europe.  What a wonderful story from this now US citizen!  I told Glade to see if he could find him and sign him up as an association member.

Of course, the Reunion wrapped up with a banquet that was very fun!  All in all, it was a very good 25^th Anniversary Reunion where we renewed old friendships, made many new ones from the 225^th and other units, drank too much beer, stayed up way too late and had way more fun than guys our age should be allowed to have!  I’d highly recommend that you attend our next party in San Diego in October 2015.

A Prayer Request...

The evening of July 1^st our friend Bucky Buchanan called me with a prayer request about a friend of his who was very ill.  Norma Glish, worked at Fort Huachuca as the aircraft dispatcher, records keeper and secretary of the Intel School (which later became the Combat Intelligence School) in flight operations while Bucky was there for 11 years in the early 1970s thru 1982.  Bucky and many friends of Norma and her husband Pete have kept their friendship alive over all these years.  Pete called Bucky with the news that Norma had Chemotherapy in Tucson for a week and was going to be admitted as an outpatient at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix on July 2^nd for further treatment of a very aggressive form of leukemia.  

According to Pete, the prospects of a favorable outcome from this type of leukemia were not real good.  When he called me, Bucky asked that I put a note on the 225^th Observer blog asking all of you to pray for healing and peace for Norma, and peace for Pete.  They both know that God is in control and in the middle of their circumstances, but that also it does not make their situation any less stressful.

I had written a short note and had sent it off to Bucky for proofing; in the meantime we had gone camping and had not gotten the revised note online.  Then on July 9^th, Bucky sent me the following:  “Gordy, Some very sad news.  Norma Glisch just passed away at 1.10 PHX time today.  NO plans as of yet.  Pete (her husband) called me and Larry Wilkerson to tell us and asked that we pass the word.  Pete will call me once he makes some preparations as to where and when they may have a ceremony.  I called Terry Clark, who also lives here in Jacksonville, and he is waiting for the obit or anything Pete will tell or send me and will then put it in the next Mohawker that goes out.  So for now just keep Pete and family in our prayers as we know that is the BEST help.”

I’ll keep you all posted on this blog and please also check the OV-1 Mohawk Association’s newsletter for Terry’s article.  And please keep praying for Pete Glish as he copes with Norma’s passing.