The White Falcon - 12.06.1992, Side 1

FALCON
Vol. 51 No. 23
NATO Base, Keflavik, Iceland
June 12,1992
Fund Drive/Mediathon *92 nets nearly $96,000
was
m
By JQ2 Sue Hallden
Round and round the barrel goes, what’s the
lucky number, who knows. That’s how the 1992
Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Fund Drive
came to an end last Friday with the seven lucky
numbers drawn out of more than 80,000 tickets.
This year's chairman, CW02 Rene M. Cao,
said that the fund drive went very
well. “We had a few fund raisers
like a volleyball tournament, two
bowl-a-thons, a car wash and sold
tickets at the Navy Exchange. I
never knew how long it took to
count 6,000 one dollar bills.”
There were a few challenges
this year. One came from SHCS
Marian Heideman. Shechallenged
the senior enlisted of the NATO
Base to come and help unload
produce at the Commissary. It
was a $10 contribution for every
Iper that showed up. “We had
ut 10 takers on the deal,” said
ideman. “I didn't have to pull
my people from their other duties
and we also helped out Navy-
Marine Corps Relief.”
He added, “The first two weeks
went very slow, but during the last
two everyone was buying tickets.
I think they all wanted their tickets to be near the
top of the barrel instead of on the bottom.”
Mediathon '92 officially wrapped up also.
When all the contributions were totaled there
were about 2,000 pledge sheets, totaling nearly
$ 16,000. “That brings our grand total to approxi-
mately $96,000,” said Cao. “That’s $5,000 more
than last year’s total.
Pull, pull, could be heard from bystanders as the Marines were challenged to a
tug-o-war. Marine muscle prevailed and they were the victors. (Photo by J03
Colleen C. Casper)
“The key to our success this year was public-
ity. The jeep was around at various locations and
people knew what was going on and took an
interest. I would like to thank all the people that
contributed their time, effort andmoney in making
this year’s fund drive a memorable experience.
Special thanks is extended to all the command
representatives for their determination and en-
thusiasm.”
The seconds ticked by slowly
until, at noon, reaching through
the vast pile of tickets, the first of
seven tickets was drawn. Here
are the seven lucky winners:
1. Jeep Wrangler-
LT Mary Hill-NAS Admin
2. Computer -
AE1 Edward Johnson-VP 45
3. Video camera -
LCpl. Hemani Azevedo-Marines
4. TV-
OTASN Dwayne Duncan-
NAVFAC
5. Video recorder-
AN Lynette Hall-Air Ops
6. Portable stereo -
PN1 Cheffie Williams-Security
7. Compact disk player -
AOAA Lonya L. Smith-Weap-
ons
WWII Liberator stops in Keflavik for repairs
By J03 Colleen "Ghostwriter" Casper
The crew of a WWII B.24 Liberator arrived at
Naval Air Station (NAS), Keflavik,
at approximately 10:30 p.m., June
4. Originating from Iqualuit, Can-
ada, the crew flew more than eight
hours only to discover, halfway
through the flight, that they were
experiencing engine trouble.
Alan Stricklin, pilot/navigator.
Confederate Air Force, ordered the
faulty engine to be shut down.
“When an engine has a drastic oil
loss, the main bearings can seize in
a matter of minutes. The end result
will be the possibility of the whole
jt shearing off its mounts,” S trick-
,iid.
ter the engine was shut down,
e aircraft lost 60 feet of altitude
andawindspeedoflOknots. Strick-
lin related, “The plane is designed
to operate on three, and even two
engines, in emergency situations.”
The 51 year-old aircraft, named
“Diamond Lil”, was on its first leg of a six-week
tour throughout the United Kingdom and Eu-
rope, commemorating the 50th anniversary of
^Mutsl
«v
the ai
The 1941 .Consolidated B.24 Liberator, "Diamond Lil", awaits the arrival of
a replacement Pratt & Whitney rotary engine. (Photo by J03 (SW) Andreas
Walter)
the United States Army Air Force in Britain.
During 1943, the squadron, to which “Dia-
mond Lil” was attached, was stationed in
Reykjavik. Since the runways were
too short for the heavily-laden air-
craft, they would often take off from
Reykjavik, low on fuel. The planes
would then land in Keflavik and be
fueled and loaded with depth
charges for missions which would
sometimes last for 14 hours.
These so-called, “long range”
Liberators, closed the “Air Gap” in
the middle of the North Atlantic
trade route. The squadron sank 12
German submarines and severly
damaged six.
Aftermany phone calls and hours
of negotiating, the new engine ar-
rived at NAS, Keflavik, Monday
afternoon. The crew of the Libera-
tor plan to continue with their sched-
ule as soon as all repairs have been
made.