Planes and Stories...


 


The images are not the greatest but the negatives are approximately 25 years old.

The stories? You decide.



This is Ronald Reagan's Air Force One or a Back-Up.

The story: During the 1984 campaign President Reagan was in Dallas. I assume that the 'real' Air Force One was there. While he was there, the plane above was at Dyess AFB (where I was stationed). It was at the far North-end of the flightline. It was there for 3 days and the whole time at least one engine was running. One afternoon I thought I would go take a picture or two. I put my camera right up to the fence and began shooting. I had about 10 images shot, when a Secret Service Agent (I think) walked up, from somewhere, and very calmly told me to stop taking pictures. I asked why. He said, "because this plane is classified." I stopped. Got in my truck and left. If memory serves, these planes were brand new to the fleet and I guess they didn't want images getting out.





This is the very first B-1 delivered to the USAF.

The story: Dyess AFB was a SAC base. There were many B-52s there. They even had '8 Alert BUFFs.' We were told that they had nukes on them. I don't know if that is true, but they were in a special area and would periodically go on an 'Elephant Walk' (Maybe I will tell you that story sometime.). I don't how many because the squadron I was in was a MAC 'guest' on the base (We had 50 C-130Hs, see the image below.). But we still got to see cool SAC stuff. We found out that the B-1 was coming. Also, the base would be closed as it landed and only USAF personnel were allowed to be around. Afterward, the public would be allowed to come see "the replacement for the B-52." I grabbed my camera, flightline badge and headed out to get some images. We were told that Commander SAC, probably a 4-star, was flying the plane. I don't buy it. On approach it did a number of cool maneuvers. Slow passes. Wings back. Slow passes. Wings forward. Fast passes, both ways. It was very cool! It was a test-pilot or someone that was flying because 4-stars don't fly much. At least I don't think so.





One of Ours. Tail number 1676.

The story: I think this is in Greece based on the images that surround it, but I am not sure. Anyway, the tall dork on the right is me. The flight crew left a helmet in the cockpit and we thought it would cool if we acted like we were the crew (dorks indeed). I remember the others in the image, but not their names. I do remember that the Sergeant next to me was our direct supervisor because I had to tell him about a drunken fall from the 3rd floor of our hotel because I was hurt (Again, a story for another time.).





SR-71

The story: I went TDY 4 times to Mildenhall, England. It was great!! Good beer. Good friends. Cool planes. Anyway, the first time, circa 1982, we were told in a briefing that the SR-71 was not there. Even though we heard and saw it many times. The second time, circa 1983, we were told it was there, but not to talk about it. The third time we were told nothing about it. The fourth time, circa 1985, it was on static display at an airshow. To me, this means they had something new, but I don't really know if that is true. On the third trip I started asking if I could take some images. The first answers were always NO. But, I used the good old 'Chain of Command' and finally found a 'Bird-Colonel' that said yes. He gave me a red flightline badge and at 0500 one morning I went out and shot a few dozen images. It was/is the loudest plane I have ever heard.

All images © 2007 Scott Boone

Posted: Friday - February 16, 2007 at 21:12          

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