Monthly Archives: December 2019

The ‘Mexican Standoff’ in New Hampshire

In 1977 Col. Wilson C. Cooney was assigned to Vance AFB, OK as our Director of Operations (DO). As he was settling in to the operations he wanted to visit our ACE* (Accelerated Copilot Enrichment) bases. I was a T-38 … Continue reading

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‘Hardturn’

I just received notification of the passing of Colonel Tom Ardern, USAF/Ret. I met Tom when he came to “O” Flight at Vance AFB, OK in Oct 1977. I was his Flight Commander for about 6 weeks before moving on … Continue reading

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“RSUs”

This is an “RSU,” a Runway Supervisory Unit: They typically sit at the approach ends of runways at Air Force pilot training bases. During student training operations they are usually manned by a crew of 4: a Senior Controller, an … Continue reading

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I Sell Laxatives Too…

I happened in to my barber’s this morning and Tom shared a great story with me; too good for me not to share! It seems a while back this guy owned a drug store in Bowling Green, Oh, near the … Continue reading

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“Two, stop hitting Lead…”

One day “PF” was the IP on a student two-ship (T-38s) training flight. The pilot on his wing was a solo student pilot. At some point during the mission, PF checked in on the SOF (Supervisor of Flying) frequency, callsign … Continue reading

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“PF”

“PF” was an IP who worked for me when I was the Chief of Check Section in the 560th FTS (Flying Training Squadron, T-38s). He was a good IP, and I liked him well enough. But PF was a talker! … Continue reading

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