Avionics News February 2015 - 49

erators and even air conditioners. They were equipped
with the ARC-27 communication radios. This was a
training base that had T-28 and T-33 aircraft. The pilots
were transitioned from the prop T-28 to the jet T-33.
The T-33 was a two-seated trainer version of the F-80
Shooting Star. I was responsible for the maintenance of
the towers. I had to drive one to a remote airstrip around
30 miles from the base. This strip was in the middle of
nowhere, and you had to drive by a huge pig farm that
stunk.
At this training strip, I had to drive the tower to the approach end where there was a small blacktop area for
parking the tower. An officer would come and operate
the tower while the T-33s would practice takeoffs and
landings. I would stay there until they were done for the
day and drive it back home. Any problems with them
were my responsibility. One morning, I drove to the
strip, and there was a T-33 already doing takeoffs and
landings. Once as he was preparing to take off, I pulled
beside him on the wide runway as I had to drive to the
far end. I looked at the pilot, and the pilot looked at me.

We both nodded, and as he gave full throttle, I did, too. I
pulled ahead of him at first, but when I hit 45, he passed
me and pulled into the wild blue yonder. I gave it a good
try, but he beat me. That put a little excitement into the
otherwise boring day.
Times were tough in Texas. The last week of the
month left us with little food and less money. For a
while, I worked at night in a tavern that had a radio and
TV repair facility in the back. We also folded welding
goggle elastic straps and stretched a rubber band over
them while watching a 5-inch TV for a little cash.
Then, I received my new orders to proceed to Washington, D.C., for assignment at Washington National Airport, which is now Ronald Reagan Airport. The Air Force
had a small special-mission's base there to maintain
the aircraft flying the leaders of our country, including
Dwight Eisenhower.
Next, it was on to Washington to get some airline
experience. q
Part 3 will appear in the April issue.

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Avionics News February 2015

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