1 00:00:01,484 --> 00:00:05,450 (Airplane engine starting) 2 00:00:05,450 --> 00:00:09,810 - T-6, I believe was our first aircraft that we got 3 00:00:09,810 --> 00:00:14,033 in the early part of 1948. 4 00:00:14,870 --> 00:00:19,870 Some of our early pilots, they started a training program 5 00:00:22,185 --> 00:00:26,500 and then shortly we had the second T-6. 6 00:00:26,500 --> 00:00:29,720 So that was our airplanes that we really started with. 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,453 - I joined the International Guard in 1948. 8 00:00:33,830 --> 00:00:38,830 And in summer camp of 1950, I applied for 9 00:00:39,750 --> 00:00:44,290 the pilot training slot with the International Guard. 10 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:49,290 It was accepted and went to GoodFellow Air Force Base, Texas 11 00:00:51,180 --> 00:00:56,180 in January of 51 and started flying the T-6 at that time. 12 00:00:56,950 --> 00:01:00,580 That was the first airplane you flew in pilot training. 13 00:01:00,580 --> 00:01:03,640 - On our own we set up our own training programs 14 00:01:06,849 --> 00:01:10,380 and in fact, General McDonald was in our class. 15 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,230 When we got to a certain point, 16 00:01:14,230 --> 00:01:19,230 we would let the students sit in the cockpit 17 00:01:19,420 --> 00:01:22,210 and start the airplane and run it. 18 00:01:22,210 --> 00:01:24,643 And I remember the night McDonald did that, 19 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,770 he says, "Boy". He says, "I gotta fly one of these". 20 00:01:29,770 --> 00:01:32,620 - Summer camp of 49, summer camp of 50, 21 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:37,620 why, I was working on airplanes. Fred was the line chief 22 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,060 and was the big Guru and knew all about the airplanes 23 00:01:41,060 --> 00:01:46,060 and so, basically he'd have classes and teach us. 24 00:01:47,650 --> 00:01:52,280 I had a crew chief in 51 who didn't like 25 00:01:53,190 --> 00:01:54,600 to get up early in the morning. 26 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,880 So, he checked me out on how warm the 51 up, 27 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,020 so I'd get up at 00 dark 30 and go out. 28 00:02:01,020 --> 00:02:03,830 Pull all the covers off, start the airplane up. 29 00:02:03,830 --> 00:02:07,590 Get all nice and warm, make sure fluid levels were all up, 30 00:02:07,590 --> 00:02:11,750 gas, oil, all that. And then some pilot would come up 31 00:02:11,750 --> 00:02:14,810 and take my airplane and fly away. 32 00:02:14,810 --> 00:02:17,230 And I didn't like that, so that's when I decided 33 00:02:17,230 --> 00:02:18,673 I wanted to be that pilot. 34 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,247 When I got to Korea. Why they said, 35 00:02:23,247 --> 00:02:25,510 "No we don't fly the 51s anymore, 36 00:02:25,510 --> 00:02:27,050 we're transitioning into jets. 37 00:02:27,050 --> 00:02:29,470 How much jet time do you have?". 38 00:02:29,470 --> 00:02:33,160 And I said none, cause I hadn't flown a jet. 39 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,410 And they said, "Okay, well we'll send you to Mosquito's". 40 00:02:36,410 --> 00:02:38,227 I said "What's a Mosquito?". They said, 41 00:02:38,227 --> 00:02:43,227 "That's the T-6 liaison airplane that's used for 42 00:02:43,682 --> 00:02:47,128 directing strikes by fighters and marking targets 43 00:02:47,128 --> 00:02:50,530 and things like that. Well, it wasn't what I wanted to do, 44 00:02:50,530 --> 00:02:52,540 but that's the assignment I got. 45 00:02:52,540 --> 00:02:54,763 We were called Foreign Air Controllers. 46 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,030 And that's basically what we did. 47 00:02:58,030 --> 00:03:01,687 Is we controlled the fighters. We picked the targets 48 00:03:01,687 --> 00:03:06,687 based on the ordinance they had then controlled them. 49 00:03:06,910 --> 00:03:09,870 So, they couldn't drop any ordinance between 50 00:03:09,870 --> 00:03:13,320 the front and what they called the bomb line. 51 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,860 The aircraft that was controlling the whole thing, 52 00:03:16,860 --> 00:03:19,657 the C-47, would call us and say 53 00:03:19,657 --> 00:03:22,360 "I have a flight of fighters for ya". 54 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,800 And so the fighters would come in 55 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,200 and we'd tell them where the target was. 56 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:30,550 See if they could pick it up. 57 00:03:30,550 --> 00:03:31,880 If they couldn't pick it up. 58 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,000 Why, we would try and mark it with either 59 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,700 our Tory smoke or we had white phosphorus rockets 60 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:41,310 on a T-6 we could fire into the targets 61 00:03:41,310 --> 00:03:43,510 or as close to it as we could. 62 00:03:43,510 --> 00:03:46,440 And when they got done, why then, we'd go back over 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,720 and assess the target. So I flew the T-6 64 00:03:52,670 --> 00:03:56,370 bout 25 missions. And then I spent 90 days at the front 65 00:03:56,370 --> 00:03:59,000 and then came back and flew some more missions. 66 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 I finally ended up with 34 combat missions in T-6, 67 00:04:05,540 --> 00:04:06,840 bout 100 hours. 68 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,284 (airplane engine roaring)