The club manager and the bartender jumped on his back and Buzz bounced around the room doing his best imitation of a Brahma bull trying to toss off not one, but two riders. Herb and I helped subdue him. We convinced him, for his own wellbeing and for the sake of his Air Force career, that he should go to bed. We escorted him back to his room on the second floor of the BOQ, got his keys away from him, and locked him in his room. Our work having been accomplished, Herb and I returned to the club.
The club manager was so shaken up that he called the SPs (Security Police) and had them stand guard at the main door of the Officer’s club just in case Buzz returned. The club manager’s hunch was correct.
Buzz did not give up easily. After just a few minutes of lying in bed he decided to head back to the club. Finding his door locked, he figured he’d just go out the window. The drawback to this was that he was on the second floor. Not a problem for Buzz; he was a pilot — he could fly. He jumped out the window.
Luckily a tree broke his fall. He managed to climb down from the tree. Scratched up but undeterred, he made his way back to the club. He spotted the SPs at the door so he devised an alternate strategy of getting in.
The bar had a large plate-glass window that looked out onto an expansive lawn. Buzz wanted into the bar and the only thing between him and another drink was that window. He jumped through it.
The crash got everyone’s attention. From the pile of broken glass and upturned tables and chairs, rose Buzz. Cut and bleeding from a hundred different places, he calmly dusted himself off, walked up to the bar and ordered himself a triple scotch. Buzz spent that night at the base hospital getting stitched up.
That was the last time I saw Buzz until many years later when I was flying for Eastern Airlines. It was the summer of 1986 and I was laying over in Miami. I was relaxing at the hotel bar and looked up to see Buzz sitting across from me. We spent the next couple of hours catching up.
Buzz had left Pope and gone to Vietnam to fly the AC-130 gunship, a truly fearsome flying death machine. The weaponry is mounted to fire from the left side of the airplane. The gunship crew would pick their target and do a standard turn around the target to the left, and it would rain down the lead. It was armed with two 20-millimeter M 61 Vulcan cannons, two Bofors 40-millimeter auto-cannons and one 105-millimeter cannon.
After returning from Vietnam, Buzz left the Air Force and got a job with the CIA. When I met him in Miami he was flying missions for Southern Air Transport, a CIA run air cargo outfit.
About three months after our chance meeting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua shot down a C-123 aircraft flown by Buzz. He was trying to deliver supplies to the Contras. Both pilots and a radio operator were killed in the crash. The only survivor was the loadmaster, Eugene Hasenfus. Hasenfus had disobeyed orders and wore a parachute on the mission. When Sandinista missiles struck the aircraft, Hasenfus jumped out and lived to tell about it.
Things quieted down in Mildenhall after Buzz went on his rampage. During my downtime I kept busy by reading books and articles to pass the time. One book that caught my interest was, “Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident.” Francis Gary Powers wrote it.
The U-2 is a high altitude, single-pilot reconnaissance aircraft that operates above 70,000 feet. It played a vital role in the cold war. Every pilot dreams about flying his or her ultimate aircraft. For me, the U-2 was that aircraft. It was exotic, mysterious, and very difficult to fly. It operated well above the range of both commercial and military aircraft. The U-2 program was extremely difficult to get into, but the rewards of flying this bird made all the work worthwhile. The U-2 pilot performed an important national defense mission and was rewarded with a view of the earth that few people ever had. I admired the mission, the aircraft and people that flew it. Powers’ book started me thinking that I could become a U-2 pilot. I didn’t have the requirements needed to get into the program but began to plan my future around my holy grail of joining the elite U-2 program.
Our rote car, the leaky Jaguar, always needed some attention. Driving back to the base one night from Surrey, we hit a pothole that disabled the headlights (good old Lucas wiring). We continued down the road waiting for them to come back on but then we hit a large tree branch in the road, which we couldn’t see without the lights. The jolt of the impact forced my foot down and through the floorboard. Because we had such nice floor mats, we hadn’t noticed that the bottom of the car was rusting away. My right foot was now dangling between the car and the roadway. The driver and the other three passengers thought I had twisted my ankle, not put it through the floor, so on they went. Twisting and turning, I pulled my leg up but it remained jammed in the hole. The interior lighting was also out, so I grabbed my flashlight and lit up the problem. One giant yank and twist and my foot was free, but without my shoe.
Waving my shoeless foot around finally convinced the driver to stop. Everyone piled out, flashlights in hand, scouring the roadway for my shoe. We found it not too far back in the middle of the road. We continued on our way.
The next day we consulted with our maintenance guru, Sgt. McDermott. He was able to scrounge some sheet metal. We cut the pieces to fit over the floorboards and his buddy at the hangar welded them in place. The Jag would live on. We had to keep the car in running condition so we could pass it on to the next rotation group. If we didn’t, we would lose our investment.
Chapter 9
As we geared up for our next trip, our Aircraft Commander, Herb, had to return to Pope to be with his wife after she underwent an emergency appendectomy. His replacement was Mike Langley. Mike was a sharp pilot and an easygoing guy. We got along well.
The next mission was to the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. The US Navy has a base on the island at Souda Bay, on the north side. The plan was to fly down there non-stop, deliver our cargo, and spend the night. Just as we began our descent, the number four-engine oil pressure started dropping out of the safe range. We throttled back on Number 4 but kept it running. The landing was uneventful.
Maintenance determined that one of the oil pressure transmitters had gone bad. They needed a day to have it repaired. It meant we got to spend an extra night on the island. It was a great place to be stuck.
There were several excellent restaurants within a short drive from the base. The restaurants specialized in fresh lamb dishes and what is now known as the “Mediterranean Diet.” Both nights we feasted on the wonderful food and the delicious Greek wine.
Crete was the best place to buy a genuine Flokati rug. This is a handmade rug made from shag wool. The rug’s backing is also wool and the shag emerging from the backing can be up to six inches long. After the rug is woven, it’s placed in a cold river to fluff the shag. I bought one and still have it today.
With our airplane fixed and shopping complete, it was time to head back to Mildenhall. Just before departure, we received a message asking us to stop in Athens to pick up an Army General and his aide. We made the quick stop in Athens, boarded our passengers, and were off to England.
Before our arrival, the weather had deteriorated at Mildenhall. The English weather is challenging; especially when the fog rolls in. This fog bank covered the entire southern half of the country. This happened to be where all of the bases were. We checked the Mildenhall weather just prior to leaving Athens and even though there were low ceilings and visibility, it was good enough to try an approach and landing there. The problem was that it was trending worse and it was widespread. We loaded as much fuel as possible and listed our alternate airport as Ramstein Air Base, Germany. When the weather drops below certain ceiling and visibility minimums an alternate airport must be listed in the flight plan. This was the closest base with decent weather so we would head there if we couldn’t land at our destination.