Photo History Around Paine Field #1

Photo History Flying Out of Paine Field #1

After the Hookers moved up to Paine Field more CH-47s were added to the fleet. This began our famous Ferry Flight program. Our crews were flown back to the Army depot at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and picked up an A Model Chinook, flying it all the way across the country back to Paine Field. The trips were made throughout the year. In the winter months, the flights were usually made taking a southern route to avoid cold weather. When the weather improved, crews, at their discretion, could fly whatever route they wanted. There was no particular timetable for getting the aircraft back home. Because of this flights could oftentimes take two weeks or more to complete as flightpaths zig-zaged across the US to visit family and friends along the way. We only had a few constraints. No night flying was allowed. No IFR flights were to be flown. And the most limiting of all was the old A model Chinooks requirement to only burn JP-4 jet fuel and the extremely limited flight time we could get out of a tank of gas of 1.5 hours. Almost any civilian airport had Jet-A available, but we couldn't use it. Most military airfields had JP-4, but most of us avoided them like the plague, not wanting to be required to deal with military paperwork involved. Since we were all on Temporary Duty Orders, we were reimbursed for each night's motel stay. It was much nicer to stay in a Howard Johnson than a drafty open-bay barracks. Food on bases was not as nice as at restaurants.

It didn't take long to put our Chinooks to work. We also hit upon the idea of combining required training with unique and challenging missions and sought out work supporting regional military units and the Coast Guard, but it was the aggressive searches to find heavy-lift civilian jobs we sought out to keep us entertained and trained.

The Photo History section is a look back at the amazing missions we flew while at Paine Field. This operational tactic ended when the Hookers left Paine Field and moved onto the Army Airfield at Fort Lewis. It was a move that put us 'way too close to the flagpole.' In the end, it was the Hooker's deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan that ended almost all civilian support work we did while at Paine Field. The biggest loser was Mount Rainier, National Park. Never again would the Park see annual heavy-lift Chinook support on the mountain. These were The Camelot Years.

This

Evening Departure from Paine Field

D Model Ferry Flight To Paine Field

One of the great missions we flew was going to the Boeing plant in Philidelphia to pick up a brand new D model Chinoook. It had that 'new car smell' and everything worked. For the first time we could actually set the autopilot and take our hands and feet off the controls. The D's were fast and smooth flying. We usually picked up two or three at a time. What great fun playing low level fo

Ground Accident at Paine Field

On November 22, 1974 our first CH47 to be received by the 92nd was destroyed on the parking ramp at Paine Field. A full-time maintenance team was tracking the aft rotor system using a pole and flag system. A non-rated maintenance technician was at the controls. One other person was aboard standing in the companion way at the time. A gust of wind lifted the aft end of the aircraft off the ground and the technician attempted to 'fly' the Chinook back to the ground. He allowed the nose to pitch forward causing the forward rotor blades to contact the cement. Instantly the sync shaft failed and dephased the two rotor systejms. The aft pylon, with engines attached and still running twisted free of the fuselage and climbed straight up. The rest of the fuselage and foward rotor system, now engulfed in fire moved forward and rotated clockwise almost 180º. It came to rest under the aft rotor system of a parked Chinook.

Aircraft 66-00118 Ground Accident

Several other Chinooks were damaged by flying debris from the rotors. Capt John Brockliss was sitting in another Chinook and was about to start his engines. His APU was running. A section of blade weight partially severed the #1 section of sync shaft. Had he been running another Chinook would have been destroyed with possible casualties. Other bade weights flew across the ramp and runway and punched holes in a civilian aircraft.

Tatoosh Island 1974

Tatoosh is a 44-acre island and site of the Cape Flattery lighthouse. It was put in service in 1857. The Hookers helped cleanup the island and spent over 4 years to restore the lighthouse. It is now automated and unm

CW3 Mike Jones flying one of the Hooker's A Model Chinooks

Getting to fly a KC-135 Mission

We got to swap flying experiences with this Air Force tanker crew. I got to fly the KC-135 and operate the boom. Here we are refueling a B-52 from Fairchild AFB.

Water Landing on Lake Washington

Landing in the middle of Lake Washington near Seattle created quite a stir.

Mike Jones & Doug Houser Shut down on the Lake

Our happy group about to go flying

Nap-of-the-Earth Training at Yakima

NOE flight was great fun. What had once been grounds for disciplinary action, was now being taught. Great fun!

Pre NVG Cockpit Lighting

Red cockpit lights in an A Model Chinook.

Tower Removal at Tatoosh Island

This was part of our 4-year cleanup and restoration project for the Coast Guard at The Cape Flattery Light.

New Crater at Mt. St. Helens

Approach to Mount Baker

Winter on Lake Kachess

Taken on the upper portion of Lake Kachess located just east of Snoqualmie Pass. The small island was a favorite camping spot for many.

Acid Lake formed in Sherman Crater

Summit of Mount Baker

Mount Baker and Sherman Crater

Mount Baker became active in 1974. Fumerols 10 feet diameter shooting steam 500 feet in the air caught our attention. We notified the UW seismology people and they had us fly them up to investigate.

Flying into Bear Creek, Idaho

This mission was to relocate a ranger cabin.

Our Chinook on the Summit of Baker

Sunset Flight to Paine Field

Winter Chinook Flight, North Cascades

Return Flight from Mountains

Yellowstone Mission Removal of B47 Crash

Boeing B47 s/n 52-051, built in 1954, flew with the USAF 360th Bomber Squadron (303rd Bomb Wing) and lastly with the USAF 9th Bomb Wing, crashed on May 3, 1963 in Yellowstone National Park after a midair collision with a KC-135 tanker. 3 crewman were killed, one ejected and survived. The Hooker's took part in the recovery of the wreckage in Sept of 1993 while flying a CH-47 helicopter.

We staged out of the parking lot at Old Faithful Lodge. The operation consisted of two crews from A Company, The Hookers and Mike Carney's Air Attack crew from Mount Rainier National Park to sling load out the wreckage of the bomber. The B-47 was hauled away in 5 sling loads returning the crash site to it's pristine condition.