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In fact, my first ever flight in an EB-66 was in Southeast
Asia. We EWs only got to "fly" in a simulator at Shaw AFB, SC before
deploying to SEA. On that first "orientation" flight - we did come
back on one engine, so the while the airframe was quite good (and strong - could
do a split S in this twin engine bomber), the engines sucked - but, not all the
time {:>)
Thanks for the link to the history of the aircraft,
Kelly
Ed
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 10:56 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Ed Anderson's old "ride", off
topic
Ed,
Were you trying to say that the Allison J71 did not give you
a warm fuzzy feeling of confdence??......................<:)
Kelly Troyer
On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 7:50 AM, Ed Anderson <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
wrote:
Yes, we envied the Navy guys as the AD1 had a much more powerful (and
reliable) engine than the Air Force B-66. I remember seeing many EB-66s
sitting on the ramp with one or more engines missing. Wasn't this later
called the A3D? As I recall the Navy guys said it stood for "All 3 Dead"
- the SkyWarrior normally had a crew of 3.
We used to joke about having two engines was good. Two to go out on
and one to come home on.
I lost a friend due to those lousy engines. As was not uncommon, he
was returning on one engine at night, attempted to make a go around and the
other engine blew - no time for anyone to get out. Aways sad to lose a
friend, but particularly due to faulty equipment.
Ed
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 7:12 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Ed Anderson's old "ride", off
topic
The aircraft was actually developed for the Navy as the AD1 Sky Warrior.
Then later mods for the Air Force as the RB66. I watched many launch and
recover from the USS Forrestal.
Lynn E. Hanover
AO3 USS Forrestal
Actually, Bill, being the EW, I flew to the right and back
of the pilot in
the E model - so that was the seat cushion that needed
replacing {:>).
The interesting thing is that when the crap hits
the fan, your training
kicks in and you are so busy twisting
knobs, making radio calls, listening
to the radar and missile guidance
signals to tell what mode they are in
....etc, that you really don't
have time to get scared. Its not until you
get back and down that
the reaction kicks in. I guess in my case, at least,
it was the
old - it won't be me they get. I mean how could you really go
back
out day after day unless you believed that.
But, after returning from
that long 11 hour mission (several air
refuelings), I got debriefed, got
a bite to eat and hit the Officers club
bar around 1100PM. Had a
few drinks, went to the bungalo - slept 45
minutes, woke up wide awake
and couldn't go back to sleep for 48 hours. Its
when things get
quite that the reflection takes ahold and you relive the
incident - with
enough time to get scared.
Actually, I have been more scare flying my
rotary powered aircraft - because
in a 12 mile guild for example, you've
got plenty of time to think
{:>)
Ed
--
Kelly Troyer
Dyke
Delta_"Eventually"
13B_RD1C_EC2_EM2
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