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The transition from flying prop planes to flying the T-33 jets was exhilarating. Going through that experience, it stays with you forever. The best part of flying was the acrobatics and formation flying. I was about to be commissioned to become captain, but I didn't stick around for that."Ī: "Yes, I miss flying. I resigned to come home to Hawaii to take care of my mother, who was ill. "I was first lieutenant when I got out of the Air Force. As a couple of years went by, we had more Hawaii kids come in.
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For us, it was unique because when I got there, we didn't have a full crew. Just to say we could do that one time, with all the Hawaiian kids. Q: You had an all-Hawaii crew at Travis Air Force Base.Ī: "We had an all-Hawaii crew, and I had a crew, my co-pilot and my engineers and my flight attendants. Every plane was different, and every crew was different." The best duty that you could have in the Air Force at that time was the job that I had, flying the C-97s. occupation, and the yen was 360 yen to $1.00. It took about five to six hours, and sometimes eight to 10 hours, so we would stop over at Wake and fly to Tokyo and Midway and lay over. We were flying the C-97s, which were props. It was a long flight, keeping in mind that we were not flying jets at the time. The crew and I would always look forward to going to Tokyo. "The flights into Eniwetok and Kwajalein were kind of at the time when they were experimenting with the nuclear bomb, so I got to witness some of that. I never had an incident when my instruments malfunctioned or anything like that with the C-97s.
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The challenge is knowing how to handle crashes and emergencies. The flight simulators they have today provide an incredible way to become proficient. You become so good at it, it becomes second nature. At night, all you have are your instruments. Flying at night, you have to know your instruments. "I took a lot of pride in being able to fly at night. As a pilot in the military, you fly the best equipment, you have the best training in all facets of flying, and that's why I recommend if you want to be a pilot, join the military. By the time you get into the squadrons, you are trained in instrument flying, so you can fly through bad weather, and everything else. I was on a check ride with the chief pilot, and we had to fly at night. Q: What was it like flying C-97 Stratofreighters?Ī: "We called the C-97s the "Flying Cadillac." It got that name because at that time, it was considered the Cadillac of the sky. I was able to land on the ground in time." I did have a scare in Columbus with a tornado. They were also using those planes as tankers for refueling. Q: Did you do any combat flying? Did you ever fly in a storm?Ī: "No, I ended up flying the C-97s, which were the old Pan Am Stratocruisers. Of course, I was fortunate that I could crash on land and not in water." I'm grateful that I was taught well proper procedures on how to crash-land an airplane.
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I felt that I was better equipped to land the plane, then to jump out of it. I had a choice of bailing out or landing. I had to crash-land because I had a flameout. "The plane was up flying again in a couple of weeks. I flew over a cornfield and trees into a barn with chickens, ducks and cows. My whole life flashed before me in a split second, and then I pretty much relied on everything I knew to survive that situation. Q: What it was like when you crash-landed a T-33 in Texas?Ī: "I thought about God real quick, when I had to look for a place to crash-land. I would recommend to every kid: Go and try to be a pilot. As students, getting into a jet, it was everything we were looking forward to. They were good planes to land in, because if you could fly that plane, you could fly anything. Q: What were the PA-18 trainers and the other planes like?Ī: "The PA-18s were fantastic airplanes. I was stationed there for a couple of years." Sometimes Eniwetok, Kwajalein, Guam and the Philippines. The Korean War ended, and they didn't need fighter pilots, so I ended up coming home to Hickam and flying the line between Travis Air Force Base and Tokyo, Haneda Air Force Base, Wake Island, all the islands. After I graduated from there, I had basic training. We were trained in PA-18s and T-6s for about six months, and then we went to Bryan, Texas, where we got training in T-28s and T-33s. The instructors were taking up green kids like us, and they had to be firm. We were lucky to get experienced personnel training us.