Clark Air Base Scrapbook

Flightline -- 80s & 90s

by Thomas C. Utts

The flightline in the 80s and pre-Pinatubo 90s, including the last Cope Thunder Exercise in
April 1991. Steam could be seen coming from the mountain behind the base, but everyone said,
"No, sweat GI, it ain't really gonna happen."

   1981
   Everett Dominey, a crew chief
   on HH-53, first got to Clark on
   a TDY from Kadena with the
   33rd Air Rescue Recovery Sq.
   His bird had a maintenance
   problem and set down in the
   jungle. Dominey had to be
   lowered on a penetrator to
   get to it to do the repairs.
   And he still came back PCS
   from '83 through '87.

1984--C-130 Electronic warfare bird out of Yokota, at Clark for refurb.
Photo by Joe Santos, stationed at Clark from 1980-1982.

The next group of pictures were sent by Greg Bastyr, who spent
a total of 9 years at Clark on three separate tours
assigned to the 374th OMS and 3 EMS.

1987 -- This C-141 with some
unusual markings showed up
at Clark for the holidays.

It was carrying the
jolly old Christmas Elf
Bob Hope. He arrives
at Base Ops on his
final USO tour.

1989 -- Above & Below: Air Force One -- or is it Air Force Two when it is the vice president?
Anyway, it brought Vice President Dan Quayle to Clark in September. The NPA welcomed
the VP by ambushing and murdering two Ford Aerospace U.S. civilian employees headed
home after a long day at the Crow Valley gunnery range at Camp O'Donnell

1988--F-15 from Kadena in front of the 3rd CRS Fuel Shop Hanger
looking toward Cope Thunder Ramp

3rd TFS F4-E #1392on the Clark flightline.

Two version of a photo
of a Royal Singapore
Air Force C-130H on
flightline with majestic
Mt. Arayat background.
Examples of how graphic
software can manipulate
a single photograph.

By the 80s the so called Freedom bird, the MAC contract flight flying
folks to and from Clark, was operated by Hawaiian Air.

These pictures come from Jeff Meier who was there from September 1985 till May 1989.
He was there during the 1986 strike and has an interesting story on the Ville 80s page.

After viewing this page James R. Goldsberry wrote in to say the Phantoms
below were F-4G Wild Weasel's ("E" models converted for Electronic
warfare and SAM suppression) from the 90th TFS.

3rd TFW F-4 taxing out for takeoff.

With Mt. Arayat
in the background,
here it comes.

And
there
it goes.

Goldsberry added that the area that the birds are launching from was called the old alert pads,
primarily for the C-130's of the "Spook" birds. He contributed these pictures of the 90th Squadron
(right) and a picture of the first bird he worked on, tail number 69-7236 (left). "The guy I was
assistant to called her "Miss Piggy. Don't know why he called her that, for she was a High Flyer
during a "sortie surge" in late '82, and generally was a pretty good bird for her age. For those
who know the numbers, she flew a 3.8 for 7 days straight, that's 27 flights in 7 days!"

     In 1990 the 3 TFW
      was flying F-4Es.
           (Photo by
       Joey Hodges
        Crew Chief)

            1990
          Bad To The Bone
               ( Photo by
           Joey Hodges)

            1990
    An F-5E at Clark
    for a Cope Thunder.
        Looks like it's
      tricked out to be
     an aggressor bird.
            (Photo by
        Joey Hodges)

Lest we forgot the many hundreds if maintenance troops that it took to keep
Clark's birds flying and the multitude of technical support facilities and shops.

Pictured here is the
3rd Avionics PMEL, the
Precision Measurement
Equipment Lab which
tested and repaired much
of the sophisticated gear
on the complex aircraft.
(Photo by Rex Beeter -- 1975)

And all those expensive war planes needed something to shoot. That was
the bailiwick of the avionics munitions guys including the men that
loaded the weapons who went by the title of "jammers."

A1C Zhon Henry, left, and Staff Sergeant Rodney Eastman, center and right, in the process
of loading an AIM-7 missile. In photo on the right, Eastman uses his high-tech, very expensive
"special tool" to calibrate the missile fin. He said the photo was taken during a DOD weapons
load evaluation in 1989. They were assigned to the 3rd AGS/3rd AMU/MAABW Weapons
Flight. Eastman was honorably discharged in March of 1990 and now lives in Los Angeles.

These pictures were sent by TSgt. Mark Edwards, at the time a crew chief
at Kunsan AB, Korea. He went TDY to Clark on 4 Cope Thunder
exercises between 1989 and April 1991.

Crowded Clark Flight Line, with F-15s from the 8th TFW at Kadena AB, Okinawa.

Mark Edwards,
a crew chief from
Kunsan AB, Korea,
talks to the pilot of an
F-16 before a flight.

Not a great photo,
but if you look
close you can see
white steam
rising up from
Mt. Pinatubo
during the last
Cope Thunder.
More Edwards'
pictures on the
Pinatubo-1 page.

Mark (right) and his friends
didn't spend all their time at
Clark on the flightline. They
did manage to find a cold
San Migoo or two . . . or
three . . . or . . . well you
know how is goes.

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WEB MASTER: Tom Utts
Zcap@usa.net

Update: 2005