An Airman's story Part III

At Randolph we were assigned to a “casual” flight while awaiting crew up and the start of phase one or transition flight phase. Even though RanAn Airman's story Part IIIdolph was a modern base with Spanish motif architecture we were put in old open bay wooden barracks. If, as often happened, we casuals were not assigned to some make work project such as KP we spent the day swimming , golfing, playing basketball or bowling at the bases extensive recreational venues. It was great fun while it lasted but we were impatiently waiting for the start of B-29 transition training.

At Randolph we joined by radio operators from Keesler AFB, Gunners from Lowery AFB at Denver and pilot, navigators and bombardiers. Many of the rated guys were recalled reservists from WWII.

As A/2c we were not allowed to be full members of the great NCO club but in order to bolster membership we were made associate members. At the club we were able to mingle with the ladies from the WAF detachment as well as local girls bused in for the Saturday night dances. One highlight of the week was when the word spread that the Lone Star or Pearl beer salesmen were at the club and buying rounds for all comers.

While in the casual flight a civilian brother of one our barracks mates came to visit. Due to the ever shifting personnel in the flight no one noticed when we gave him a bunk with name tag and a set of fatigues He lived with us for a while and. for $10 he would pull KP in our name.

During this time we made several trips the bass personnel office, showed them our contract from Sheppard and asked them when we were going to receive our promised promotion to A/1c. The response was always check back later.

After a month or two we were finally ordered to flight operations to begin combat crew transition training. We were placed on flight status that gave us a significant pay raise. We were so proud of our newly issued wool flight suits, fur collard jackets that we wore them around the base. After all we were grizzled, fifteen month members of the USAF Training Command.

The first day of the transition course included the crew-up meeting where we met remote turret gunners from Lowery AFB near Denver, radio operators from Keesler AFB, Mississippi as well as pilots and navigators from all over the Air Force including recalled reservists from WW II. All new crewmembers were given a test developed by psychologists called the Human Resource, Reliability and Compatibility (HRRC) profile. This was a concept that attempted to place crew member of similar cultural, geographical and psychological backgrounds together as a cohesive combat crew.

Transition training -so named because it’s purpose was to train pilots from other aircraft types- consisted primarily of practice take offs, landings around the flag pole of the western of the two Randolph runways.

Finally we were setting at the engineer’s panel, a position that we had been training a year for. With back-pack chutes strapped on and throat mikes in place; turbo boost set to seven producing 47” of manifold pressure; the fuel injected R-3350 engine at 2800RPM off we roared. We were now truly Airman.

On the B-29 the cockpit area was connected to the rear compartment by a narrow tunnel that passed through the un-pressurized bomb bays. One of the training requirements was for the student to make a tunnel crawl. During a night crawl my back pack brushed some wires and I noticed a shower of sparks behind me in the tunnel. The tunnel went dark and when I emerged into the pitch-black cockpit I noticed the instructor engineer with flashlight in hand replacing a fuse. I said nothing.

Flying safety in those days was at best a secondary concern of the powers that were trying to build the cold war bomber force. During my time a Randolph a 29 struck a broadcast radio tower during landing and crashed and burned at the end of the runway. Another bomber landed while on fire and subsequently burned up on the runway as a result of a propeller deicing fluid tank explosion. On another occasion an instructor gunner fell to his death when a hatch separating the rear compartment from the rear bomb bay blew out throwing the gunner through the doors and into the Gulf of Mexico. His body washed ashore a few weeks later. That same year an F-84 struck one of the towers on the Taj Mahal like base headquarters and crashed in front of the base chapel.

After accruing 45 of the 50 hours required for advancement to phase two, strategic bombing training, the axe fell on the entire B-29 training program. With the end of the Korean conflict the need for new crews ended. The 29 was being phased out to be replaced by the B-50, B-36 and the new jet powered B-47 aircraft. What did this development portend for we experimentals?

Engineers, gunners and other experienced crewmembers that were re-crewing at Randolph were sent back to their operational units. We young troops had no unit and the personnel office had to figure out what to do with these homeless orphans.

Because of our unorthodox training background we had not acquired a proper AFSC. This specialty code was normally assigned after OJT training at an operational unit. We Air Training Command warriors had no such unit. Since certain AFSC levels are directly related to promotion we were out of sync with the system. The reader will recall that back at Sheppard we were promised certain promotions at the various stages of our training and we were supposed to be E-4s (A/1C) at this juncture. When we pressed base personnel for our promotion we were informed that the rules had changed and we were neither entitled to nor qualified for advancement. As a result we were transferred from the student squadron to a B-29 tow target squadron as entry-level mechanics and removed from flight status. We had neither the rank nor the proper AFSC to become crew members on these special mission bombers. We kissed our dreams of becoming flight engineers goodbye at this point.