This Preview consists of a compilation of important events from early childhood to the present time as I approach my 90th year. It all began in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, where I lived the first five years of my life. A total of 30 chapters of this book encompass my entire existence. The second episode relates the excursion across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to docking in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland followed by eight long years in the Dublin area. During that extended period, I was completely isolated from my mother and dad and my youngest brother, Dan. I did not see or even talk with them a single time throughout that ordeal. On the first day of March 1946, I returned to the United States via a Constellation aircraft. There I completed my high school education; followed by graduation from the University of Detroit (U of D) in Aeronautical Engineering in 1954. That five-year program include a cooperative curriculum with the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. I went to normal school for 12 weeks followed by 12 weeks of work for the last three years at U of D. Each year the month of August was off but I continued my employment at NATC as a student flight test engineer. While at U of D, I joined the AFROTC program and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the USAF at the completion of my studies.
Less than a year later, I was assigned to the Class 56M pilot training program and subsequently pinned on silver wings as a jet pilot. For the next six months I trained as a navigator/bombardier in the Aircraft Observer Training for Plots (AOTP) program and was awarded navigator wings at completion. So, I was a "triple-rated" flier throughout my Air Force career.
My first operational assignment was in the Strategic Air Command and I flew as a pilot in B-47E aircraft for approximately five years. The base I was stationed at was Smoky Hill AFB near Salina, Kansas in the middle of the United States. It was later renamed Schilling AFB. During those years I was deployed to three locations standing nuclear alert on a temporary basis. First, to Greenham Common Air Base near Newbury, England for 25 days at a time, Next, to Eileson AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska for 17 days. Finally, to Anderson AFB on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean for 35 days.
On May 9, 1959, I was married to Susan Anne LaFramboise and we had our first born child one year to the day later. This event was followed by six other successful pregnancies during a span of nine years. The complement was five boys and two girls. In turn, they produced 18 grand kids.
Following my stint with the Strategic Air Command, I applied for and was accepted as a graduate student at the Air Force Institute of Technology. I studied for two years and received a masters degree in aeronautical engineering in 1963. Afterward, I became an aero engineer in the Stability and Control (S&C) Branch at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards AFB, California. I ran the S&C tests for both the F-5A and F-5B aircraft and was assigned the lead engineer position for the S&C flight tests on the F-111A aircraft in 1966. But, that was not to be, however. The USAF needed pilots to fly and fight in Viet Nam. Since I was previously current in C-47 (Gooney Bird) aircraft, I was commanded to fly the newly renovated RC-47P (later renumbered as EC-47P). So, in March 1966 I was sent down to Florida for recurrency training in C-47s. Later, I was reassigned to Manchester, New Hampshire to await the electrical modifications to be completed on these aircraft.
After many delays, I started ferrying the fourth RC-47P all the way to Saigon. Because the aircraft exceeded the stated maximum gross weight with extra fuel tanks installed in the fuselage, it could not traverse the distance from California to Hawaii, our journey took us up to Anchorage, Alaska. Then, it was on to Adak Island, south to Midway Island, and westerly to Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines. Finally, we landed in Viet Nam at the Cam Rhan Bay Air Base. After refueling, I landed the aircraft at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in the Saigon Air Port.
During the approximately one-year spent in Southeast Asia I flew close to 1,000 combat hours in R/EC-47P aircraft. I was awarded seven air medals and one Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Besides operating out of Saigon, I flew missions from Pleiku, DaNang and many from Hue Phu Bai, which is located not far from North Viet Nam. Most of the sorties were seven hours in duration. The aircraft were not equipped with breathing oxygen since they were supposed to fly no higher than 10,000 feet. However, because of the rainy monsoon season we had to fly higher than that level, sometimes as high as 18,000 in order to complete the combat mission. I remember on one mission flying at 14,000 feet for many consecutive hours. For that duration and at that altitude it was extremely fatiguing. That night one slept very well recuperating.
Shortly before completing my Viet Nam tour, I applied to exit the Air Force and restart my life as a normal civilian. I completed applications to work at the NATC, Wright-Patterson AFB, the AFFTC and NASA at Edwards. In addition, I applied to the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, later renamed CALSPAN, in Buffalo, New York. All prospective employers accepted my request. I finally opted to work at CALSPAN as a research engineer/pilot in the Flight Test Department. While there, I flew many unique one-of-a-kind aircraft including an Aztec PA-23, one of two Variable Stability B-26s, a NT-33A, and a really special six degree of freedom NC-131H. While at CALSPAN I also worked in the human factors Department as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on the B-1A, F-18A, and the E-2C. My employment of 28 years culminated in managing the operational tests of the SUAWACS (Soviet Airborne Warning and Control System) high fidelity facility.
I recruited subjects from the Air National Guard (ANG) at Niagara Falls Air Base. When trained by me, they acted as pilots, controllers, etc. of the Soviet command and control system. Commercial jamming equipment was brought into the SUAWACS facility to interfere with the Russian electronic capability. The results were tabulated and confirmed or negated the jammers.
Simultaneously, while working at CALSPAN, I flew T-33As and F-101Bs at the ANG. In the process I accumulated a total of 28 years of military service. I retired from the Air Force in 1982 with the rank of Lt/Col and started drawing retired pay when I reached 60 years of age.
In 1995, I retired from CALSPAN and moved to Washington, D.C. to start work with the Defense Management Agency (DMA) as a cartographer. I stayed with that organization for eight years before retiring as a Civil Service employee in 2003 when I was one day shy of 70 years old. I wanted to continue working longer but my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and died a few years later.
In 2017, I married Ruth Daly and today we reside at the Ashby Ponds Retirement Community complex in Ashburn, Virginia.