One day the Wing Commander showed up with a group of visiting congressional dignitaries to tour our facilities. Since the F-111A was a new aircraft to the Air Force inventory, we always had someone or another coming through to look at our operation. Since we were mostly in a training posture at the time, it really didn’t bother us too much.
So this one day here comes the Wing Commander and he is proud as hell. I was told to just “tag along” more or less, as “window dressing.” When we walked into the Weapons Release Shop – where we did maintenance on the aircraft weapons release systems – we saw Chief Lundwall working on a component of some kind or another at the workbench.
The Wing Commander made some kind of a big deal how specialized F-111 components were and how critical it was that they be maintained to the highest standards. He pointed out that in this particular case, a Chief Master Sergeant was working on this particular piece. He then asked Chief Lundwall exactly what he was working on. Without any hesitation at all, Chief Lundwall told him it was a 4-barell carburetor for a 1957 Chevy! And everyone laughed. Crap!
Yes, I got my ass chewed for that one…