The T-39, Model 40 Sabreliner, is one of the most forgiving and fun jets to fly. It may be the best aircraft in its class ever built.

Flying C-130s in European rotations before the shooting wars started in the Middle East (South East Asia) was some of the best flying and most fun an aviator could have with his clothes on.

Crewchiefs don’t ever get enough respect. The famous joke among aviators is: what are the three greatest lies in the Air Force? The last lie is, “I’m the regular crewchief.”

One exciting event in the C-130 airdrop world was the High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) airdrop. These were not all that popular with aircrew, and at the time, they were relatively rare in both the training and the real world.

I have had the opportunity or misopportunity to land three aircraft at conditions below approximately 100 foot ceiling and ¼ mile visibility—that is, in conditions below any normal non-autopilot/autolanding approach.

Did I say the T-39, Sabreliner, once provided the best heavy aircraft chase in the world? That included safety chase, photo chase, pace chase, and any other chase you want to do at normal jet and turboprop airspeeds and altitudes.

Pete and I finally made it out to Yuma - many times, in fact. Our squadron, the 418th Flight Test Squadron had a contract with the US Army to use our T-39 Sabreliners from Edwards as targets for Apache helicopter testing.

This story happened exactly as written here. The aircraft was a modified Air Force T-39 Sabreliner.

Few pilots enjoyed the job of ground Forward Air Controller (FAC). Every one of us would rather be flying aircraft and getting all the glory.

The Cold War was long, dangerous, deadly, unappreciated, and boring.