Coast Guard C130s: Coast Guard C130s

This is a pic of me and my nephew in 1980 in Billings, Montana in front of the 1600 which crashed on Attu Island July 1982. I was 25 years old and was the flight engineer on this flight and Tom Davis was the Aircraft Commander. I'm from Butte, MT, and Tom was from Three Forks, MT. We were on a parts run bringing a main gear box to a Kodiak H-3 that was returning from overhaul when they got a chip indicator warning light and had to land in Billings. The video of the debris field on Attu is below.

Hi!
I'm Greg King and I served as an Aviation Machinist Mate (AD) from 1974 - 1980. I went to boot camp in Alameda, CA in March, 74, then attended AD school in Elizabeth City, NC and graduated Nov 15, 1974. My first station was CGAS Kodiak, where I became a scanner, dropmaster. I loved working C-130 maintenance with extremely knowledgeable and wonderful guys like Bert Stickney, Bill Berkenbile, Al Ruble, Pete Bogardus, Conley Beacham, Pete Douquet, Dave Watkins, Walley Seeley, Daryl Horning, Roger Dunham, Biff Barger and others. My peers were guys like John Ash, Matt House, Forest Scott, Mike (Archie) Bunker, Bob Vanek, Larry Lancaster, Larry Kitchen, Rick Brenden, Jim Bearden, Mike Sorich, Doug Dunn (Tonto) and Pete Amstutz. We were all 18-20 years old when we started off in Kodiak. Since then, Conley Beacham died and Pete Amstutz died in 2009 from cancer after retiring. I got an email stating that Roger Dunham passed away Dec 11, 2009 in E. City. Guys also no longer with us are Daryl Horning, Bert Stickney, Biff Barger, Al Ruble, Jimmy Rhule, and the list sadly continues to grow.

I spent 1 1/2 years in Kodiak, then was transferred to CGAS Clearwater, Fla to open up the new airstation. It was really boring. We didn't do much SAR, or training flights during the year and a half there. Our primary job was painting floors, building shelves and getting the air station set up.

I then reenlisted and went back to Kodiak for a 2 1/2 years, became a first class and flight engineer, and worked night check with incredible guys as my supervisors and friends like Johnny Dahl, and Bob (Biff) Barger). We would try to stump each other with troubleshooting scenarios, and I outsmarted the guys only one time that I remember. Other friends I remember well are Red & Saundra West, still living in Kodiak, Bruce Erb, Tonto, Bill Buser, Mark Bigard, and some others whose names I'll remember later! Some of the incredible pilots I remember are John Bernstein (I heard he died several years ago), Mike (Hot mike) Hurlehey, Jimmy Ng, Al DelGarbino, and Rick Holshue.

Flew some super exciting missions doing ALPATS and SAR and visited paces like Nome, Port Clarence, Shimia, Cape Sarichef, St Paul, and Attu. I used to fly on the 1600 before it crashed on Attu in 1982. Recently, Oct 29, 2009, the 1705 had a mid air collision with a Marine Cobra helo near San Clemente Island off San Diego. My heart was saddened to hear of that loss and brought back a lot of memories of what it as like doing SAR missions. Here's a pic of the 1705 on a medivac.

Here's a tribute link honoring the crew.

Here are some of my favorite videos that you might enjoy. I'll be posting more as I see ones I like, but wanted to create this blog to network with other Coasties that I've known and share some memories with you. Please join the blog and keep in touch.

I had an article published on the Coast Guard Channel about the last search I was on in Kodiak in April, 1980. It was a SAR for the crew of the Clover Leaf. To read my article, please CLICK HERE "Clover Leaf... Lost and Adrift!"
Kodiak, Hangar 1 SAR Interview, plus video of the 1705 taxiing out of Kodiak . The 1705 had a mid air Oct 2009. Some good footage of doing drops over Runway 18-36 in Kodiak.

Here's the Debris field of the 1600 on Attu that cashed 30 July, 1982

Here's a very cool video of an approach over Pillar Mountain and landing on Runway 18

Here's the 1704 that broke down with a hydraulic leak,then some great footage in flight and landing in Anchorage plus an interview with Commandant Thad Allen.

Here's a new video of a Coast Guard Crew in C-130's.

Here's a cockpit video of the new Super Hercules, the 2006. Note the electronics in the cockpit. I didn't see any condition levers. The new Super Herc can stay aloft 21 hours compared to the "H" models at 14 hours, plus a 6 bladed composite prop, and upgraded Rolls Royce Engines that increased cruise airspeed from 290 knots to approx 310 knots.