| A nice Panama City sunset. Both Fighter Lead-in (T-33) and F-106 School
were at Tyndall. The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the
SMELL!!! There was a paper mill nearby that was unmistakable in its aroma.
The only good thing about the paper mill was that it was located right under
the Final Approach Fix - just keep smelling the air on final and when the air
took a turn put the gear down :) |
When we first arrived in town we looked all over for an apartment. The
housing situation was not good. We finally found one out on Transmitter
Road about a 15 minute drive from work. After UPT at Willy we had 7
weeks until Lead-in School started. We got absolutely no help from the AF
moving folks at Willy. They said our furniture would get there when it got
there. So we lived like paupers for over a month. We took a couple of doors
off the hinges and set them on moving boxes. Those were our tables. A
couple of beach chairs and we're living in style :) I do have to hand it to
Bernie Hollenbeck (my Flt Cmmdr at home) called and I mentioned our problem.
He gave Williams AFB a call and our stuff was delivered 3 days later.
Carol - after a shopping excursion in our old Datsun pickup
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We got to Tyndall with just what we could stuff into the back of my truck.
Just the essentials, you know, the stereo and all my record albums! |
Carol relaxing in the lap of luxury |
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| Finally - some furniture! |
My first front seat ride in an F-106 as a real pilot :) One thing that was
different was that at Willy there was absolutely no weather to contend with.
In Florida there was always weather. On my first front seat ride we were
sitting "In Position" on the runway when the controller asked if we would fly
chase for an F-102 drone. It was flown with a pilot and when he lowered the
gear only one main came down. He couldn't get it down so he ejected. The
drone then proceeded to fly around on its own for a while. We watched as it
flew right down the runway so we took off to follow. Just as we got airborne
it took a nose dive and went into the trees just off the departure end. Big fire
ball and debris in the burning trees. Very exciting first front seat ride! |
One of my early front seat rides. The day I soloed was the day of the very
first Space Shuttle launch. We all had the option of taking the day off to go
over to watch but I figured I could always go and see it some other time. You
only solo once, right? I never did get to see a Shuttle launch but I loved every
single F-106 launch!!! Who didn't get a fright on your first night solo when
the F-tank started banging. Airplanes always make scary noises at night,
don't they? |
Here's Carol getting ready to cook up something in the kitchen. Boy, those
appliances are sure 70s! |
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| George and Nancy Vida. George was in my UPT flight at Williams. He went
to Tyndall to fly T-33s. We would get together on the weekends to have
dinner and play triple-yahtzee. He lent me his car when we all came back to
Tyndall in 1982 for William Tell - it did not end well for his car. Oops! He
broke his elbow by falling off a T-33 wing doing a walk-around in the rain. |
Clyde Paris, one of my F-106 classmates married a nice lady from Iceland.
I was in a panic since I was having trouble getting into my suit pants just
before the ceremony. This is a long term mystery as all of my flight suits,
uniforms and other clothes still keep shrinking while sitting in my closet.
What's with that? |
My favorite memory from Tyndall happened in the Officer's Club at lunch one
day. If you were active duty AF you had to be a captain and fly the T-33 for a
few years before you could go to F-106 school. So, being a butterbar at F-106
school I got a lot of dirty looks. I went over to the Club for lunch with a
couple of classmates. As we were looking for a table with our trays I heard
from across the room, "Hey, Ron - over here." It was BGen Pat Markesano from
back home sitting by himself at a big round table. I responded with an equally
loud, "Hey Pat," just to mess with the active duty guys. Sure 'nough - a brownbar
calling a general by his first name did the trick. The room went silent like an
E.F. Hutton commercial. That was fun!!! :) |
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