Winter 1984          Joe Stein

As of this writing, Christmas has just passed by here in the arctic Midwest. And I thought I left the sub-zero temperatures behind me in northern Maine–wrongo moosebreath! Well, in spite of the cold, it’s been a very busy and happy time of year. And best of all, Santa brought me a very timely present–a pack of letters to share with you.

Grenada Grunts: Probably the most interesting news of all came from Dave and Sandy Beatty. ’75 must have won the top Air Force award for combat action in Grenada. Steve Groathouse jumped (combat, parachute type) into action with the Rangers on the initial assault. He was soon followed by Bob Awtrey who landed on the first C-141 as an ALO for the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne, and Bill “Wad” Stephan, an ALO for the 3rd Brigade. Unfortunately, two days after his arrival, Bob had to head home with Purple Heart in hand; however he was replaced by Dave Beatty. Dave says AK-47 rounds make a peculiar sound, somewhat (but not quite) reminiscent of the notes in Jungle Bells. Thankfully, it appears that our combat veterans were successful and we didn’t lose anyone.

Jeff and Debby Hackett also took time to write and fill us in on the happenings in sunny Tempe. Jeff spends most of his time working as a program engineer for Garrett. His main project is the ADATS missile program, a surface-to-air type, which raised a few questions in my mind about his loyalty to those of us still slipping the surly bonds. However, my fears were allayed when I learned he still keeps his Air Force ties as a USAFA/ROTC liaison officer (Reserves). The two women in Jeff’s life also appear to be doing quite well. His wife, Debbie, is climbing up the corporate ladder at Bullock’s, an exclusive department store in Scottsdale’ and the 4 ½ year old daughter, Tiffany, sounds so adorable she must have mom and dad wrapped around her little finger by now. To close things out, Jeff passed on some late-breaking news about a few other folks spread around the globe. Chuck Holland is now married (Kimberly) and stationed in Germany as an exec to a SAC general (7th Air Division CC, I think). Brian and Sandy Gomes are still at Mather (T-43s) and they are expecting a visit from the stork very soon. Wayne Willis also has a bambino on the way this spring (his fourth). He’s passing away the time until then flying ADTAC F-15s at Langley. Rich and Mary Chanick continue to astound the business world with their successful Phoenix corporation. And finally, Kent and Carol Traylor will be coming back to the States this spring after three years in Okinawa (F-15s).

Our long distance news comes from Jim and Naomi Marshall. They’re still living the good life in an old-world, thatched cottage in England. Jim’s flying commitments occasionally force him to go TDY to many unpleasant locations such as Italy, Germany, and Oslo, Norway (where he tried his best to avoid the nude beaches–riiiight!). However, Jim and Naomi still found time to increase the size of their family. Their most recent arrival, Colin Patrick, is now four months old and is vying with their daughter, Sarah (2 ½), for most lovable child award in the Marshall household. The photo I’ve included below will probably embarrass them, but why not.

Jim and Naomi also sent words on a few more of our number. Ron and Susie Doeppner are living in Mesa, AZ, and have two daughters, Kelly and Sarah. Tom and Linda Smura are masquerading as civilians in Webster, NJ, and apparently enjoying it–they now have five little ones running about. Lamar and Donna Lewis and their three sons, Scott, Kyle, and Daniel, are calling Altus home now. And Chris and Barb Fillar, together with their kids, Jeffrey and Amy, are enjoying New Jersey life at Mcguire.

Live Appearances: Every now and then it’s nice to actually see some of the old USAFA crowd. Well, I suppose I finally got my fair share of in-person visits during the past few months. I bribed Jed Vanden Dries into coming up and amazing the cadets in my squadron with tales of the world’s greatest F-15 pilot. Since that also happened to be the last home football weekend at USAFA, we decided to take a break from our hard work and watch the Falcons demolish Hawaii. Little did we realize that halftime was to bring us not only another stellar performance by the Cadet Drum and Bugle Corps, but also a visit from that arch-fiend found at all football stadiums–the klutz who trips and falls flat across you while trying to get back to his seat. Just as I was making a solemn oath to never, ever watch another Chevy Chase movie, I looked up and got the surprise of the day. The stadium tumbler was none other than always well coordinated (?) Mike “Fig” McClendon. Mike had come back on a sponsor trip to another one of the squadrons in the wing. To bring you up to date on him, he and Adrienne are stationed at Eglin, and Mike is an RF-4/A-10 test pilot. My visitor list was filled out when Bentley and Debbie Rayburn were able to stop by for an evening. They are still stationed at Hill and claimed to be visiting their mountain hideaway here in Colorado. But you and I know better–they were embarrassed into coming by that earth-shaking news I released in the last edition. Seriously, they really looked great, and I’m convinced they haven’t aged a single day since graduation.

Whatever Happened To…We struck gold in this department over the past few months. Not only did we learn the whereabouts of several lost (not any more) sheep, but some of them even wrote personally. Mike and Ann Gill fall into that category. They’re at Nellis now with the 4450th TFG. While there (about a year now) they’ve run into several people. Carol and Billy Thompson have joined them at Nellis. They have two children, Lance and Lindsey, and Billy is flying the F-16. The Gills’ other contacts include John Wissman at Mather, and Bruce Fritzsche who’s due for a Red Flag visit soon. Bruce is now flying the F-106 at Minot.

Bob Miglin also ended his exile and brought us up to date. He spent 2 ½ years in F-111Es at RAF Upper Heyford with the NATO Tigers of the 79th TFS before returning a little over a year ago to join the AFIT crowd. Just after that he had someone join him when he was married to Susie, a gal whom I’m sure is too good for him. Bob came up with a unique way of making sure he remembers his anniversary–they got married on New Year’s Day, ’83. They should be leaving Wright-Pat this March and the current betting line says they’ll wind up at Eglin. Bob also located another “What Ever Happened To” star. Steve Tibbitts graduated from Tulane and is now Dr. Tibbitts. He married Mrs. Dr. Capt. Tibbitts a few years back and the happy couple is now stationed somewhere in Texas. Well, partially located is better than completely lost. Maybe we’ll get more clues in the next few months.

The final letter in this area came from Terri Meyer Jackson, an ’80 grad at Seymour Johnson. She located Marinus Bosma (or Abdul Ben Bosma, as he’s now called) and I’m extremely grateful to her. It seems Bos’ just left the 336TFS at Shady J for a go at civilian life. He’s alive, well, married with two kids, and is now flying A-7s for the Ohio ANG.

Since we’ve located a few folks, I’ll add a couple new names to the list. I’ve had a request from the field to locate Dale Hanner, Chris Soto, Joe Siniscalchi, and Duke Duhachek. Send out the bloodhounds!

Movers and Shakers: The winter season brought a whole stack of change-of-address cards, confirming that our class is being spread more and more to the four corners of the globe. Since I’ve taken up so much already, I’ll hold it down in this area. Those listing locations only are: Al Green to Holloman; John and Rebecca Owens to Olympia, WA; Dave Defoliart to Champaign, IL; Mark Jefferson to Yorktown, VA; Tom Summers to Wayne, PA; Martin Stytz and Mike Reese here to the Springs; Bill Davis to Phoenix, and Walter Burns to Alconbury. Those sending a little extra information: Jim Marburger is now a student at the University of Texas Law School in Austin; Steve Pitotti is an A-10/F-4E test pilot at Niceville Air Patch; Joe Benner is an aircraft maintenance officer at Fairchild; John Fouts just arrived at Shaw and is flying the O-2; and Jeff Graves is working for the FAA as an air traffic controller in Columbus, OH. Finally, our “Welcome Back to Civilization” award goes to Tom Knabel who returned from one year as the chief, OB-GYN Services at the USAF Hospital in Incirlik, Turkey. He now calls Luke home.

That’s all for now. Keep your spirits up until the summer fun begins again. Writing a few cards or letters will help the Dark Ages speed by. Aloha!

 

Jim & Naomi Marshall,
with Colin Patrick & Sarah

Spring 1984          Joe Stein

Spring has arrived at USAFA and the bad weather is still going strong. I think someone forgot to tell the man upstairs to turn off the snow machine. But I’ll try to thaw out long enough to fill you all in on the latest happenings in ’75.

Mailbox: “Boo” Butalla is my nominee for the “Most Meaty Letter” award. I’ve never seen anyone fit so much about our class on a single sheet of paper. He, his wife, Chrissie, and their four-year-old daughter, Sara, have spent the last three years at Davis-Monthan. Boo and Chrissie have a second child on the way, and he/she should arrive this May, just before their next anticipated move. Boo has been serving as the flight safety officer and one of the Head Hogs at DM. Being at the RTU put him in a great spot to catch the latest news about ’75 and he was good enough to pass it on so I have something to write about (whew!). If you can remember the old fire hose approach the dean used to use, get ready! That’s how this news is going to come.

First, here’s the scoop on DM. Both Mark Skattum and Ollie Lorenz have recently joined Boo as Hog Trainers. Jon Stapely is working in the hospital out there, and those just passing through for training include Foster Bitton (on his way to Bentwaters) and J.P Owens (going to Eielson–brrr). Even when Boo went to SOS, he couldn’t get away. It seems Bill Dalson, Dave Barnthouse, and Buzz Sawyer have taken up residence as section commanders out there. In the around-the-world department, Joe Carrol is an F-16 pilot at Kunsan, Randy Davis is a C-5 pilot at Travis (married to Patricia, one each USAF nurse, captain type), Al Colley is in F-4s at Seymour-Johnson, Mike Crider is flying F-106s at Griffis (also recently married Patty), Gary Matson is a T-43 pilot at Mather, and Rich Wilson is flying RC-135s somewhere in the Pacific.

Boo also gave me a location on Steve Groathouse (see last issue). He’s working with the Ranger unit at Ft Carson. The rest of the bunch include Mike Peters at Nellis in F-16s, Dan Kraft doing big-time basketball coaching at Dartmouth, Al Bready on his way to Clark as an F-4G EWO, Chuck Molzon in T-38s at Sheppard, Steve Blackburn instructing in CT-39s at Scott, and Randy Mason acting as an F-16 SPO at Wright-Pat. Finally, Boo passed on some interesting news about Al Limanni, but you’ll have to read further to catch that.

Camp USAFA: In this area, I’ve got some new arrivals, a few who have been here that I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, and a few people passing through or leaving. Scott Smith is our new arrival. He’s now working as a Soviet history expert on the dean’s team. Scott also took a few minutes to stop by and place some folks. Chumley Collins is at Wright-Pat working a C-130 test bed. His wife, Jackie, is also working at Wright-Pat in the B-1 SPO and they are expecting their first child soon. Speaking of firsts, J.T. Wolter just completed his first alert tour at Grand Forks. And to think he volunteered for the great northland. If anyone else up there is reading this, have a little talk with him, please.

The last of Scott’s news is that Duck Layman is now working in the missile office at Offutt. Rumor has it he has the smallest desk in the office, but he’s working on it. Others in the area include Bob Akers downtown working Space command business, and Mark Wells, Rich Bowers, and Doug Williams working on the dean’s side. Frank Dubuisson hasn’t made a PCS to USAFA, but he has gotten credit for a TDY tour here. He’s a T-38 instructor at Reese, and recently dropped by on a squadron sponsor visit to USAFA. I bumped into him on the terrazzo just before a cadet parade. I think he was trying to slip into a squadron and march along for old times sake?! Mike Anderson also called one day and said he may end up as an AOC a year or two in the future. I think he’s trying to break out of the Wright-Pat mold. My final news in this area concerns Bill Spencer. He will be giving up his AOC black hat this summer and will be setting sail with Kathleen for Okinawa. We’ll all be sorry to see him go and the class will sure miss his representation on the AOG Board.

Movers: Just a quick note this time on those moving on to new horizons. Mark Jefferson is on his way to Bitburg; Dave Tillotson is still roaming the D.C area, but has apparently gotten a new job; Charles Schmeling and Mark Nelson are both on their way to Kirtland; Dave McCarthy is heading for Luke; John Jenson to the Pentagon; Terry Kemp to Offutt; Craig Christen to Scott; and finally, Al Stoddard is shipping his doctor’s shingle to Anchorage.

Whatever Happened To… Tom Knabel took time this month (after being honored in the last issue) to take pen in hand and fill us in on life of the “whatever happened to” clan. Alex Limanni is a doctor working as a flight surgeon at Incirlik. His wife, Linda, is also a doc and the chief of internal medicine there. Here’s where Boo’s earlier news fits in. He sent me a nice article on Al outlining how he was one of the first three medical folks on scene at the Beruit bombing. The follow-on with that mission took him aboard the USS Iwo Jima and over to Germany before returning to Turkey. He had some real good words to say about the Marines during that tragic time. Tom also had seen Duke Duhachek at Luke. Duke was upgrading into the F-16 and will be leaving Minot for who-knows-where soon.

Other news from Luke includes words on Bob Lynn, who’s an IP in F-15s. His wife, Sandy, is going to school while trying to keep up with their three daughters, Carmen, Morgan, and Whitney. The last words from Tom included a claim for a ’75 record. He delivered both of Art and Wendy Billingslea’s babies. Anyone else had their kids delivered by a classmate?

There’s only one more thing to include before closing out. I forgot to mention that Dave and Nancy Schmitz and their girls are on an exchange tour at RAF Chivenour, UK. He’s currently flying the Hawk at fighter lead-in and enjoying it. That’s all for now. See you next month.

 

Summer 1984          Joe Stein

Once again it’s time to take pen in hand in the thunderstorm capital of Colorado. This issue’s column is being dedicated to those brave members of our class who are risking their lives daily to expand our service’s knowledge of advanced flight characteristics. Yes, you’ve guessed it! I’m talking about our heroes in Test Pilot School. Why just the other day I received a visit from two of those intrepid warriors–Tom (Mr. No Operational Experience) Darner and Perry (Lots of experience, but …) Lamy. They and a few other guys in their class were roughing it up in Denver on a TDY to fly the United Airlines simulators and they managed to slip away for a day down to the Zoo. From what they tell me, Edwards is becoming a home away from home for a lot of old ‘75ers. John Howard, Eric Hoganson, and Craig Christen are also in their class; and Sam Ryals will be leaving the U-2 at Beale to join the group in January. For those interested in contacting any of these folks, don’t worry. I understand they’ll be staying at Edwards for a while–most of them will move over to Test Ops after their class is completed. Seriously, both Tom and Perry really looked good, and they seemed to be enjoying and maxing out the program. Tom also passed on the whereabouts of Ron Doeppner. He’s now an IP at Willy.

Mailbox: This time there’s very little news of those actually on the move. Mark Rogers has just moved to Milwaukee and has probably had more than enough time to start sampling the wide variety of refreshing drinks in that area. Mike Heil is not too far away. He’s moved within the city limits of Dayton (probably still at AFIT or just getting into a follow-on at Wright-Pat). Don Ellis has also joined the AFIT ranks, but for the time being he is living in Pottstown, PA. Brent Hall is another one of our number who’s had a change in lifestyle lately. He’s left the scene at Tempe to join the night crowd in Las Vegas. And Mike Dehart made the move to El Segundo, CA, to set up shop with Hughes Aircraft (as USAF liaison, I think). But this issue’s award for most intriguing move goes to Craig Matt. He sent a card listing his new address as an APO Box in the South Pacific somewhere, but when I checked with the Post Office to find where that “somewhere” actually was I got a surprise. They said that number wasn’t listed in the books, but there were a few hush-hush operations in that area that are unlisted. So, if you happen to be wandering through the jungles of Southeast Asia and you stumble upon a secret U.S. listening post or whatever, ask if Craig’s around.

I’ve received a few letters in the past three months, but undoubtedly the proudest one came from Dan Burkett–he became a proud papa on April 28. Dan and Liz really pushed creativity to the limit when they decided on a name for the new Baby Burkett. How does Danny Lee III sound? For those of you that don’t remember, Dan is still pounding the halls of the Pentagon. He’s often seen in the company of rogues such as Dave Tillotson, John Jenson, and Dale Meyerrose; and he’s been know to arrange clandestine meeting with Scott Arnott, whose an occasional visitor from HQ TAC. Dan also passed on some words about Mark Volcheff. Mark is the exec for the MAC DP and he moonlights as an advance agent for presidential missions. For those that know him well, he’s still a confirmed bachelor. Obviously that’s an honor bestowed upon him by all of the women of the world.

Brian Barnes also took pen in hand to let us know what’s been happening to him in times past. He married his lovely wife, Teri, in June of ’80, and put time in as a 135 driver at Travis until December of ’81. At that time he separated from the service, and now he’s located at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He’s in charge of training Saudi in the Learjet 35 (MedEvac). They are on one-hour alert for worldwide missions. For those just passing by the area, you can reach him through their radio room and he’ll give you a good tour of the area.

Chuck and Donna Molzon were our next writers. Chuck is a T-37 flight commander in the Euro-NATO program at Sheppard. His four-year tour there is coming to a close soon, and the family will be moving on to greener pastures at Plattsburgh (where Chuck will transition to the FB-111). You noticed I said “family” in the last sentence. Chuck and Donna have been married for eight years, and they’re expecting their first son/daughter (pick one) about a month before they move. Of course, they already have a family of Persian cats. They also keep up very well on the whereabouts of those in ’75. The next plethora of information comes from them.

Steve and Diane Tibbitts are now residing in San Antonio. Steve is working on his residency in radiology, and Diane has left the service to become a civilian nurse. They have no children, but are into Afghan dogs big time. Art and Wendy Billingslea are the ones with the kids (two little girls). They are also at Sheppard. Art is a T-38 IP who’s just moved over to physiological training. Before Sheppard, Art was in B-52s at Carswell. Bill and Cindy Kurey are also at Sheppard (he’s a Tweet Stan/Eval IP), but they’ll be heading for Alaska and Eagle jets this fall. Bud and Valerie Crist round out the Sheppard crowd. He’s a T-37 assistant flight commander and she’s a realtor. The Molzon’s also sent some words on other folks. Steve and Barbara Palmer spent a tour in Hawaii with the Marines before leaving the service. They are now living somewhere in the wilds of Virginia. Dale and Sharon Smith are enjoying the life at Columbus. He left his job as a 135 driver at Pease to become a T-38 IP. Finally, Stan and Karen Gorenc (plus kids) left Sheppard last year for the ATC Stan/Eval team at Randolph.

My last letter came from Tim Murphy who had the nerve to doubt my close blood ties to Sherlock Holmes. It seems he has some knowledge about a few of our “whatever happened to” folks. Dale Hanner left the F-106 at McChord to become an F-16 IP at MacDill. Tim says his pulse went over 40 for the first time in 10 years when he got his news of the new assignment. Tim also located two other lost sheep: Chris Soto who’s flying weasels at Clark, and Duke Duhachek who’s into the F-16 at Hill. Tim, himself, is an F-106 detachment commander at Davis-Monthan, and he had an interesting story about Bob Turner who was recently TDY there from Minot. It seems that an early morning scramble rudely awakened Bob from his sleep and cause an amazing regression. One of the maintenance supervisors found him in the hall running in place in his skivvies with his chin neatly tucked in. What do you think?

Well, unfortunately this column must now dome to an end for two reasons. One, I’ve run out of information. And two, the Checkpoints editor has just put out a contract on me because I’m past my deadline. So, if I can avoid the bloodhounds just salivating to collect the $1.98 on my head, I’ll see you in a few months. By then I might also have the Test Pilot School mass photo Perry Lamy promised me (hint, hint)!

 

Fall 1984          Joe Stein

Returning To The Nest. Where did the years go? It seems like just yesterday that we were tossing our hats in the air and getting ready to head out and find out what the “real” Air Force was all about! All of a sudden it’s almost time to return for our 10-year reunion. The guys in ’74 are just about ready to kick off their celebration, and planning has already started for ours. In case you’d like to make sure that “Best Alive” homecoming tops all others, we could sure use your help making it happen. For those willing to volunteer their time, our BMOC and CINC-PARTY is Tim O’Connell. Tim is working here in the Military Training Division. He’s trying to set up 13 reunion committees dealing with areas ranging from the Jabara Banquet to the annual golf tournament. Sign up now and avoid the rush (I know which one I’m going for).

Fighter Pilots Do It Better: If you can clear the cobwebs out of your mind and remember back three months you’ll recall that I ended the last column with a note to jog Perry Lamy’s memory about a picture he owed us. Well, lo and behold, Perry came through. Pictured below is the Test Pilot School’s rogue’s gallery. For those of you who can’t remember (or are trying to forget) who those folks are, here’s the list. Starting from the left we have Perry “Golden Hands” Lamy, Kevin Burns (DG and top pilot in the class), Tom “Mr. No Operational Experience” Darner, Dan McCrory, Mike “Fig” (ask him about it) McClendon, Steve Pitotti, and Roger Keith. Not shown (but in the stealth configuration) is Brian Duffy. The four guys pictured on the left are staying at Edwards in Test Ops, while the rest are at Eglin Test Ops. Two other ’75 alumni currently at Edwards are Chris Glaeser (TPS instructor pilot) and John Deloney (TPS instructor test nav). And finally, for those of you who are wondering if the picture below is off center, you’re just imagining things. Test pilots are always on target!??!

New Horizons. We didn’t have too many from ’75 hitting the road over the last few months. Wright-Pat seems to be the biggest recipient of the Best Alive talent, though. Jim and Sharon Hamilton and Ken Schnell joined the “brainy bunch” out there recently. Others moving on to new horizons included Marv Cox to Mather, Bran McAllister to ACSC at Maxwell, Jim Heriot to San Antonio, Scott Swanson to Silver Spring, MD, and Steve Haas (civilian, one each) to Somerville, NJ.

The ’75 Elite. It seems that nary an issue can go by without someone winning another prestigious award. This issue’s hero is Bob Edmonds. He was recently selected as Junior Officer of the Year at Langley. Bob is an F-15 pilot and chief of squadron plans and mobility for the 71st TFS. He’s been burning up the program out there, and the only trouble he’s had recently happened, of all time, during the ceremony for the Junior Officer of the Year award. While they were reading the names of all of the nominees, Bob’s name was accidentally left off the list. But his friends were able to revive him in time before they announced he had actually won the competition. Whew! For you sentimental types, I’ve included Bob’s combat hero pose which was printed in one of the local papers.

The Utah Connection. Buck Rogers dropped me a line to spread the word on the Hill crowd. Last issue I mistakenly published his home of record (Milwaukee) in the column. Little did I realize he was having a great time flying with the F-16 gang at Hill these days. For those who haven’t seen him in a while, he’s been happily married for six years to Suzie, and they’ve added two little girls to the family in the last few years–Megan is three, and Jennifer should be about six months old when this column finally hits the streets. Others flying high out there include Charlie Parsons, Bentley Rayburn, John Steward, Randy Sheppard, Joe Carroll, Duke Duhachek, Mark McConnell, and Dave Herlong. As I understand it, Dave’s wife, Beth, is due to give birth any minute now, and by the time you’re reading this he or she will be well established as the most important member of the Herlong clan.

Flying High. Before we get too far off the subject of F-16s we really can’t overlook two classmates who just reached the top of the heap in the flying business. Mark “Buzz” Masters and Dave Commons were recently selected to join the Thunderbirds for the next few years. Buzz will be flying as the opposing solo, and Dave will take over duties as right wing. Way to go, guys!!!

Mailbox. I’ll wrap this month’s column up with news from a few other folks who took time to drop a line. The first came from Bruce Mitchell who’s been hiding across town here in the Springs. Bruce is now working for Ford Aerospace, but he keeps his finger in the “blueberry pie” (as he calls it) by working with AFRES. Bruce also passed on words that Curt Osterheld is alive and well and flying Blackbirds. Apparently Curt has tons of SR war stories for anyone who can pin him down on the ground long enough to tell them. Finally, the last letter came from Mike Goyden who’s just started in on one of the best “boondoggles” going these days. He, his wife Jan, and their three kids (Christopher–5, Jennifer–3, and Kelly–8 months) are now attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. They and about 100 other Air Force families are roughing it in the California sun while they pick up postgraduate degrees.

Anyway, as Mike was on his way out to his hardship tour, he ran into quite a few other people along the way. Tom Finn is stationed at Andrews now, is a navigator in the 89th, and spends his spare time flying the Vice President around. Rumor has it he wears a coat and tie when he flies, and stays at all the same hotels as the VP and his crowd. Tom Peterson is another one Mike bumped into who’s in a related line. “Pete” had been flying RC-135s at Offutt, but now he’s moving over to the Airborne Command Post. He’ll spend his time following the President around, but since he’s only following, he still gets to wear a bag and stay at the nearest military base. Others Mike sent news about include Brad Lindsey who’s flying for People’s Express out of Newark, NJ; Paul Kent who is a C-141 IP at Altus; John and Diana Barrowclough who are still out in the Pacific fooling around in weather C-130s (incidentally, they now have a one-year-old daughter, Rebecca); John Santer who just completed his seminary schooling and is on his way to be a priest at a parish in Missouri; and Steve Wojcicki who just completed a Defense Management School at Maryland and is on his way to Cleveland. Steve will be working with the NASA types as a project manager for some sort of satellite upper stage booster (it’s over my head). I suppose I also owe some mention to Mike and Gwenda Rosebush who just had a new daughter, Krista, join their family. Mike is burning up the program here as a counselor for cadets, and he’s got big things in store for him in the future.

A serious note received as class news deadline arrived: Jeff Hackett found out in late May that he has cancer. The outlook is reasonably positive but there’s still a lot of therapy ahead. In support of the Cancer Center handling his therapy, Jeff will be part of a “Run Against Cancer” this fall.

One final word of congratulations goes to the guys who just made major on the last list. My sources say those lucky few are as follows: Bob Akers, Dave Commons, Chip Diehl, Stan Gorenc, Mike Heil, Mark Holmes, John Ladieu, Rick Layman, Steve Redmann, Jim Ruttler, Mark Schoening, Joe Stein (who?), Carl VanPelt, Mark Volcheff, and Glenn Waltman. Please let me know if I missed anyone. Good luck to all until next time.

 

Test Pilot School Rogue's Gallery
Perry Lamy, Kevin Burns, Tom Darner,
Dan McCorry, Mike McClendon,
Steve Pitotti, & Roger Keith
(See Extra, Below)

Bob Edmonds

Checkpoints Extras

Perry Lamy on Test Pilot School

 

Field Trip Itinerary

Perry Lamy: I love this photo. [It was] taken on 17 Feb 1984 during our Test Pilot School (TPS), two-week field trip. The missing guy is Brian Duffy (who was TDY as I recall). Four guys on the left were TPS students in Class 83B (began in July 1983 and graduated in June 1984) while four guys on the right were the graduated members of Class 82B (July 82 to June 83). These two classes produced 8 test pilots from USAFA Class 1975. Photo taken in front of Test Operations at Eglin AFB and guys on the right were assigned at Eglin. As I recall, we took this photo just prior to our departure from Eglin on our C-135 airlift, enroute to Dallas to visit the Texas Instrument Plant in Richardson. Brian Duffy missed the photo and so we left a space for him besides Mike McClendon.

As the four ’75 guys from the prior class were assigned to Eglin AFB following their graduation from TPS, the four ’75 guys from the following class were all assigned to Edwards AFB after completing the TPS.

The field trip was a highlight of every TPS class as it was 2 weeks away from the academics and tests, test reports, graded flights, etc which were part of the curriculum at TPS. I must admit that TPS remains the most grueling mental & physical experience in my life…graduates have likened it to completing grad school, pilot training, and USAFA all in a 11-month period. Never was there a day (including weekends) that you didn’t have something to do: study for a test, complete a report, prepare for several flights, study bold face and emergency procedures (every pilot was dual qualified in the T-38, A-37, F-4, or C-135). Our class trip included a weekend stay in Copacabana Beach (in Rio) as we had two Brazilian students in the class. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Rio and then flew over to Sao Jose dos Campos, which was the Brazilian Air Force test center where we flew some of their aircraft. We then flew overnight from Rio to Eglin arriving that Wednesday morning, 15 Feb, mid-morning to a coffee and donut reception at the Test Wing. The wing had scheduled a full day of flying to include bomb drops at the range but after the Wing Commander took a look at this tired, ass-dragging bunch (how well can you sleep on the floor of a C-135?), he scratched the flying for the day so we could all get rested up.

 

Album

1. Jim Corrigan, circa 1984.  

2. Duane Lodrige, circa 1984.  

3. Tom & Cindy McKee with friends Ken & Elena Schuenemeyer at a going away party in Germany, May 1984. (Mark Scull)

4. Stan & Patti Jones.

 

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