The White Falcon - 11.12.1965, Side 3

Saturday, December 11, 1965
WHITE FALCON
C-47 Dakota, *01dtimer Reborn,’
Doing ‘Dang-Cp” Job In Vietnam
by John Maffre
Washington Post Foreign Correspondent
(Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the Washington Post, Nov. 2, 1965,
and should be of informational value to personnel at Keflavik).
SAIGON, Nov. 23 — The Air Force has transmogrified the oldest crate still flying
into the slowest gun in the East.
Seriously, they have reincarnated the ancient C-47 Dakota transport as a ground
attack plane that actually fires'®'
machine guns.
The old bird cannot attack
straight ahead like a fighter, so
three machine guns of the 19th
Century Gatling type are mount-
ed to fire out the sides.
self of a gas pain with a monu-
mental burp.
It is a very effective burp. This
reinvigorated Dakota with its
three machine guns can spew out
7.62 mm. rounds at the rate of
OLD CRATE STILL STINGS—This is a shot of a C-47 Dakota taken
at the Naval Station. Planes like these are being rejuvenated and used
in combat support missions against the Vietcong in Southeast Asia.
She Has Punch
The pilot—who may well be a
grandfather—zeroes in by dip-
ping his wing toward the target.
Then be squints awkwardly to the
left through a World War II type
gun sight, wrestles the ungainly
C-47 into position and presses the
button on his control wheel.
When all the guns go off at
once, it sounds as if the flying
museum piece were relieving it-
57th Cited;
Flies 3 Years
Accident Free
The 57th Fighter Interceptor
Sq. received praise this week from
Brig. Gen. Archie M. Burke for
completing its third consecutive
accident-free year.
In a message to Lt. Col. Joe H.
Joiner, 57th FIS commander, Gen-
eral Burke, who heads the vast
Goose Air Defense Sector, said:
“Congratulations to the Black
Knights Squadron for reaching a
new milestone in unit flying
safety.
“This date—Dec. 6—marks the
third consecutive year in which
the 57th FIS has maintained a
flawless flying safety record while
meeting its demanding role in
aerospace defense. I am well
aware that this accomplishment,
toaling more than 16,000 flying
hours, was achieved despite ad-
verse weather conditions, extens-
ive foreign development, frequent
personnel changes and its inflexi-
ble mission as the easternmost and
northernmost fighter squadron in
the Air Defense Command.
“This latest feat adds new
lustre to the long and proud his-
tory of the Black Knights.”
General Burke went on to add
laurels to the ground crews of
the 57th who must keep the F-102
Delta Daggers flying in all kinds
of weather.
Flight safety officer for the
squadron is Capt. Samuel Hauck.
Maj. Philip W. McIntosh is opera-
tions officer.
18,000 a minute.
Dakotas Form Squadron
A number of reporters flew
aboard one of these Dakotas when
they finally took the security
wraps off her. She has been tes-
ted for nearly a year, and
now they have brought in an en-
tire squadron, the Fourth Air
Commando (fire support) Squa-
dron.
The first of the creatures has
been nicknamed Puff, the Magic
Dragon.
There are 20 planes, all through-
ly overhauled and all painted in
motley deep green and beige
camouflage, the way they were
dressed in World War II. The
squadron will be used throughout
South Vietnam to supplement
strike aircraft and to provide
long-endurance escort for con-
voys.
Carry More Ammo
Their advantage is that they
can carry a whale of a lot of
ammunition and that they can re-
main airborne far longer than any
fighter. Their disadvantage is
that they are vulnerable because
of their slowness. Therefore, they
must remain at least above 2,000
feet.
They have already proved
themselves at night. On one re-
cent occasion, they broke up four
attacks on remote fortresses by
pouring in a lethal stream of red
tracer shells at the attacking
Vietcong.
This makes something of a rec-
ord for the lumbering Dakota.
Thirty years ago she was the last
word in airline travel. Twenty-
five years ago she began a fabul-
ous career of carrying everything
from paratroops to supplies
across everything from the Burma
Hump to the Alaska panhandle.
Now A Fighter
Today this perdurable old
bucket is all gussied up like a
fighter plane.
Aeronauticially, she is an out-
rage. Watching her perform is
something like seeing an impro-
verished duchess dance on a
table top for cigarette money. But
she does it well, the way she has
done every other role that has
been foisted on her.
The aging crop of pilots who
have been given this new role are
delighted with her. Their average
age is about 43, and a few in
fact are grandfathers.
As one veteran pilot said about
her, “When I first flew one more
than 20 years ago, the damned
windshield leaked,” he said. “It
still leaks. She’s a wonderful
plane.”
AOC Campaign
A Success;
Men Praised
The American Overseas Camp-
aign is over and the station can
be proud of the final result. There
were 101 keymen and 1,683 enve-
lopes containing voluntary con-
tributions were collected. The to-
tal amount contributed was
$2,367.36. “The sucess of this
campaign is attributed to the dil-
igence of the keymen and the
high morale that exists among
the troops in Iceland,” was the
comment of the Chairman of the
campaign, Cdr J. L. Sullivan. The
tally is below; how did your unit
do?
Activity Amount Contributed
Iceland Defense Force .. $107.50
ComFairKef Staff....... 48.31
Naval Station
Air Operations ........ 22.50
Security .............. 32.66
Comptroller ........... 66.50
Public Works ......... 148.13
Aircraft Maintenance
Dept (AMD) ......... 125.73
Operations Maintenance
Division (OMD) .... 82.25
Medical............... 112.60
Supply ............... 200.00
Industrial Relations .. 45.00
Weapons ............... 22.35
Dental ................ 40.00
Navy Exchange ......... 45.00
Commissary Store .... 13.60
Executive and Admini-
stration 31.00
Air Forces Iceland .. 68.10
667th AC&W Sq
(H-3) 38.50
57th FIS 195.42
H-2 21.50
Marine Barracks 142.49
NavCommSta 221.86
NavSecGru 64.25
Fleet Weather Facility 57.47
Resident Officer-in- Charge of Construe-
tion 46.00
U.S. Coast Guard .... 8.00
Navy Counter Intellig-
ence Support Activity 19.50
SIO/AFRTS 16.00
CommSta Grindavik .. 37.74
GCA Operations 9.00
Civil Engineer 3.00
Operations (Medics) .. 3.75
Supply (H-3) 24.03
CommSta (Wardroom) 84.00
“O” Wives Club 25.00
NCO Wives Club .... 25.00
VP-21 92.82
Dining Hall S/S 9.30
Unidentified 11.50
Total $2,367,36
3
DOING THEIR PART—College students like these young men and
women from all over the campuses of the United States are doing
their part by donating blood for the American fighting man in Vietnam.
College Blood Donors Supply
Life To U. S. Fighting Men
College blood donations for U.S. servicemen fighting in
South Vietnam have reached 8,100 the American Red Cross
announced Nov. 24.
This is an increase of nearly 5,000 blood units in less than
two weeks. The blood is being collected by the American
Red Cross at the request of the Department of Defense.
Blood collected is being turned'®’-; ; :
over to DOD, most of it as blood tions. This has been done at 7
fractions, for use by American Nood banks to date.
servicemen in South Vietnam and
in U. S. military hospitals at
home and overseas.
More Colleges Donating
To date, 31 colleges and uni-
versities have donated blood, most
of it at regularly scheduled Red
Cross bloodmobile visits. An
additional 167 schools have re-
quested blood collections and are
being scheduled by the Red Cross.
The collections are being made
through the American Red Cross
regional blood centers and blood-
mobile operations around the
country.
Individual arrangements are
worked out by organized student
groups and local Red Cross Chap-
ters. In areas where the Ameri-
can Red Cross has no blood pro-
gram, the ARC contracts with
local federally licensed community
blood banks for the blood collec-
Contributing Universities
The colleges and universities
that have contributed are as fol-
lows: University of Scranton,
Washington State University, St.
Olaf College, Bradley University,
University of Indiana, University
of Mississippi, Alabama St. Col-
lege, University of Florida, Ohio
State University, Otterbein Uni-
versity, U. C. L. A., Fordham Uni-
versity, Stevens Institute of Tech.,
Morehead State College, Howard
College, Indiana State College,
University of Arizona, San Jose
State College, Fisk University,
University of Illinois, University
of California, King’s College,
Stanford University, Harding
College, Nazareth College, New
York University, Armstrong Col-
lege of Savannah, VMI, Los An-
geles Colleges (9), Troy State
College and Yakima Valley Col-
lege.
BULL ENSIGN—U. S. Naval Communication Station Iceland’s “Bull
Ensign” (center of picture) is being transferred and the axe of office
is given to Ens Michael F. Clarke (left). Cdr. F. N. Colvin, executive
officer of NavCommSta, is shown lecturing Ensign Clarke as to his
duties and responsibilities as Bull Ensign while Ens Michael B.
Tepovich prepares to give Ensign Clarke the ceremonial axe. ...