T

Two Firebirds at Sondrestrom

Photo by Richard Wright, 17th TCS Navigator, April 1962

Roger P. Wenman, Firebird Navigator, and Ron Hebert, Firebird Pilot, all "dressed up" for an early Arctic morning "constitutional walk" at Sondrestrom.

Roger came to Dyess AFB, Texas, when the C-130 "D" models were transferred from Sewart AFB, Tennessee. A story on Roger: At Sewart, the BOQ's ringed around the officer's club, which made that place the best attended bar in town. Once, after a long evening, Roger, who lived upstairs in Building 303, was awakened by a roving pack of dogs who were attending to the club's trash bin with vocal delight. Roger pulled a 30-30 from his closet--back in the days when we could keep our guns on base--and from the second story balcony, placed a warning shot at the feet of the dogs. All of a sudden, all of the Air Police vehicles on base started wailing and converged on the scene. Roger stole back to bed without anyone spotting him. Roger's comment: The proof was when my rifle shot at 1:00 a.m. woke up only the Air Police a half mile away.

That is the story he told me the next morning as we identified the mark in the street surface by the trash bin where the bullet grooved a path as it ricocheted from the direction of Building 303. (As related by Richard Wright, 61st and 17th TCS Navigator.)

  Back to Top