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HISTORY OF THE
17TH TROOP CARRIER SQUADRON
Compiled by
Jim Moran (Specific dates may not pertain to all personnel) 17TH TRANSPORT
SQUADRON 64TH TRANSPORT
GROUP Major William
S. Pocock. Commanding Hamilton Field. California 1942 |
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20
Jan 1942 |
After
falsifying my birth date, I am sworn into the Army Air Corps as a buck
private at a salary of $21.00 per month. Compared to my last civilian job,
which was running dairy cattle from dawn to dusk for thirty-five cents a day,
I am rich. Upon enlistment, I requested B-17 gunnery duty at March Field, but
ATC has priority and I am assigned to Hamilton Field, California. This is the
first of a long string of lucky breaks I had during my military career. |
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25 Jan 1942 |
I report to Hamilton Field and am assigned to the 17th Transport
Squadron. According to the Base Personnel Office, the 17th is the best outfit
on the field. The squadron has eight older DC-2s and -3s acquired from the
airlines and given military designations. And, there are three C-39s; one
C-50B with Curtis electric props--which no one is fond of; the only C-51 in
the entire AAC inventory; two C-52s, and one C-53, plus one Lockheed Hudson
bomber/transport. The squadron is self-sufficient, having its own administrative
section, personnel, operations, maintenance, communications, motor pool,
Flight Surgeon and medics, Mess Hall, and supply sections. It was much like a
present-day Wing on a miniature scale. Expansion and training is on an
emergency basis. Most sections are housed in wooden cubicles inside the
squadron hangar |
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26
Jan 1942 through
1
Mar 1942 |
All
of the new recruits were given a month of basic training under Sergeant
Alexander and Corporal Phil Keck from West Virginia. In the group was a huge
Russian recruit by the name of Badowinitz. Sgt. Alexander was Greek and had
difficulty in pronouncing English words and "Badowinitz" was just
too tough for him to pronounce. When Alexander called the roll and came to
Badowinitz, he invariably said, "Next man!" To make things worse
for us, Corporal Keck was just plain ornery. Moments
later, First Sergeant Cox called us to attention for several announcements.
One of the new recruits was a guy named Moneymaker, whom none of us could
stand. He was constantly bragging about his civilian life, his family's
money, and other things. He was a real jerk! As we fell in, I elbowed my way
ahead of him so I could stand beside one of my good buddies. Sgt. Cox then
had us count off, one through four, and then ordered all of those with number
three to step forward. I grinned to myself when Moneymaker stepped forward,
visualizing some lousy detail he was in for, which would have been mine had I
not moved. Cox then announced, "All of those who have stepped forward
are promoted to Private First Class, effective immediately! " I could
have shot myself. And, from the way Moneymaker strutted around the barracks
that night, we could have killed him, too. It took me two more months to get
that "first" coveted stripe. During
this period, the new AF patch replaced the Air Corps whirligig, which I would
still prefer wearing. Also, our blue fatigues were replaced by one-piece HBT
overalls, with the Air Corps wings-and-prop stencilled on the back, of which
I was very proud. The blue fatigues were reserved for prisoners from then
on. However, many of our older troops
continued to wear the blue floppy hat until the end of the war. Aircraft serial
numbers replaced old unit designators on the tail fin, which could have
compromised security. |
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The Whirligig Insignia |
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3-1/5-14 |
Normal transport missions are flown throughout
California. The C-39s have large cargo doors, while the remaining planes can
carry only passengers or small pieces of cargo. The C-51 and C-52s still have
airline passenger seats. Airborne radio operator training is
conducted aboard the C-39s, which have the radio compartment located in the
rear, opposite the cargo doors. All Douglas transports were inherently
rough-riding, and the radio position was the roughest, causing two radio
operators to quit before they got started, due to air-sickness, and they are
replaced by two others. Thankfully, I never got airsick in my life. The pilots logged transition time while
flying to such bases as Muroc Field (now Edwards AFB), where we caught a
glimpse of the super-secret Northrop Flying Wing that was being tested; March
Field; McClellan Field; Victorville Field (later, George AFB); Marysville
Field (Beale AFB); Merced Field (Castle AFB) and Mather Field (AFB). And, we flew day and night instrument
flights, and a great number of air searches for downed P-38s, which the
pursuit group was losing at the rate of one per week. The 4th Pursuit Group had lost so many
P-38's that Lockheed sent a Tech Rep to Hamilton to illustrate what the
Lightning was capable of. With all of us watching, he took off, performed
several aerobatics, and landed all on one engine! This was designed to
instill confidence in the pursuit pilots, who were scared to death of the
bird! He then turned the plane over to one of the local pilots, who promptly
stalled out immediately after takeoff and ditched in San Francisco Bay! Some
of our own pilots were equally lacking in flying skills. During one night flight, I was standing
on the flight deck, taking in the scenery as I had completed my portion of
radio training. I had never been inside an aircraft until arriving at
Hamilton and was bewildered by all of the mysterious colored dials and gauges
on the instrument panel. It was nearing midnight when the pilot called
Hamilton Tower for landing instructions. We began descending through the perpetual
fog and mist that covered the local area, finally sighting the runway lights
through the thin overcast. The pilots went through their before-landing
checklist, lowered the gear and flaps, and began flaring out at an altitude
of about two-hundred feet. I tensed myself for the touchdown. Suddenly, there
was a flurry of activity in the cockpit, full power being applied to the
engines, and a lot of cussing! I wasn't certain of what was going on, until
we zoomed over the brightly lighted street of a nearby town, that the pilots
had mistaken for the Hamilton runway, several miles away. I think that it was at that moment that I realized that flying can kill a fellow! We also had one pilot that flew through the huge dirigible hangar at the Naval Air Station outside Sacramento, which was frowned on by higher authority! |
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