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Aircrew members share memories

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (USTCNS) --- Former and current aircrew members will fondly remember the C-141 as its 35-year presence at Charleston draws to a close when the 16th Airlift Squadron deactivates.

The last Charleston-based C-141 mission ended last week and the remaining six aircraft will be gone by the end of July.

Two aircraft will be retired to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., two will be sent to McGuire AFB, N.J., one to Altus AFB, Okla., and another one to McChord AFB, Wash.

Frank Metzger, 437th Airlift Wing Plans and a former C-141 navigator, remembers the Aug. 14, 1965, arrival of the bright, shiny C-141. He was one of the first people to train aircrew members on the new airlifter.

The C-141A, built between 1963 and 1967, was the first jet aircraft designed to meet military standards as a troop and cargo carrier. It had a changeable cargo compartment that could transition from rollers on the floor for palletized cargo to a smooth floor for wheeled vehicles to aft facing seats or sidewall canvas seats for passengers, quickly and easily, to handle more than 30 different missions.

"We used to fly them around the world in four and a half days on the Embassy Flight," said Metzger. On the first day they would leave Charleston to Torrejon, Spain, then the next day head to New Delhi, India, then to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, then on to Hickam AFB, Hawaii before returning to Charleston.

"It was pretty impressive the distances you could travel with the C-141."

Joseph Tosheff, wing chief pilot in 1965, piloted the first C-141 from the assembly plant in Marietta, Ga.

"It was a big day in Charleston when the first C-141 was brought in. I was picked to fly it because of my experience and was the only pilot checked out in the C-141 at the time," he said.

Tosheff was responsible for getting the initial cadre up to speed on the C-141 and also remembers the around the world missions in the C-141.

"On those around the world missions, you got to see six sun-ups and sundowns while flying to the east, which was interesting to say the least," he said.

Metzger also flew on the C-124 Globemaster IIs and said he came to appreciate the C-141 for the advantages that it had over the Globemaster IIs. "The C-141s were twice as fast, pressurized, quieter, and had a nice toilet instead of the honey bucket found on the C-124s and C-130s."

Tosheff wrote the initial directives for the transition from the C-124 to C-141.

"Our first mission in the jet was a 10 day mission to get 10 of our most experienced pilots trained," Tosheff said. "I would train them on each leg of the flight and by the time they came back to Charleston, they were all checked out in the aircraft."

For the aircrew members, the Charleston C-141 missions in and out of Vietnam were memorable.

"The most interesting missions were the air evacuation missions back to the states. We would see the wounded brought right from the field out to the aircraft on helicopters and then we would fly them to the staging hospital in Japan. The ones in reasonably good shape and those who had mended a bit in Japan would continue on to the states," Tosheff said. "They were all very grateful and it was very satisfying as an aircrew member to get them home."

Although most people remember when a C-17 transported Keiko, a 10,000-pound Orca whale, fewer probably remember that the C-141 was the first to move an ocean dwelling mammal.

In the 1980's, Metzger remembers when a C-141 was used to transport a dolphin from the Boston aquarium to Hawaii.
Frank Elam, a former C-141 pilot, was here in 1963 and played a role in developing the original airdrop procedures for the C-141 in 1966.

"Originally, we made the procedures based on handwritten notes on what we determined what would work best. We would go out and fly a mission and look at what worked or didn't work, and then revise our notes during our debriefs," he said. "Our airdrop procedures were completely changed because 'Old Shakey' (C-124) relied upon reciprocating engines while the C-141s was our first jet transport."

One of the 16th Airlift Squadron's most memorable and rewarding missions was providing our nation's long-range, rapid-response, special operations low-level capability.

Responding to National Command Authority taskings, the squadron utilized uniquely qualified aircrews, trained in the use of enhanced night vision equipment and specially modified aircraft.

These crews rapidly deployed and inserted special operations ground forces into blacked-out, austere airfields/drop zones and extracted those ground forces upon mission completion.

Most of the missions done by the 16th AS were considered classified.

"I remember the days when we got this mission that other people were not allowed to even acknowledge that such a group of highly trained people even existed on the base," said Metzger.

The 16th flawlessly performed this complex mission for more than 17 years while maintaining the best safety record in the Air Force, surpassing 919,000 mishap-free flying hours.

This unique mission was formally transferred to McGuire AFB in April 1999.

According to Air Mobility Command Plans and Programs officials, the C-141s will retire from the active-duty inventory before 2004 and from the Reserves and Air National Guard before 2006. (FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).

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