FORT BRAGG 5

This is part of Simmons Field at Fort Bragg, NC.  In the picture at the left you can see the "Balloon Hanger", an L-19 airplane, and two H-21 helicopters.  Legend had it that an airborne pilot once flew an L-19 through the balloon hanger without crashing.  I can't verify that because that was before my time there.  I have been in that hanger and that would be a tight fit.  The balloon hanger was used to house blimps (Like the Goodyear Blimp) that they used during WWII to patrol the coast and spot German submarines.

I caught a hop home one weekend and was to return on a Sunday afternoon.  An L-19 flight that originated at Fort Rucker and was returning to Fort Bragg was to stop and pick me up.  I was there well ahead of time and was waiting on him.  I saw him landing and I said goodbye to Nancy and my Father and ran out to meet him.  He barely had to stop for me.

He said that he was running late and I had cost him more time to stop and get me.  I apologized but he was not happy.  We were somewhere over South Carolina and he told me that he was supposed to stop for refueling at Fort Jackson but he thought that he had enough fuel to make it without stopping.  He said that he was going to drain one tank and switch to the other one instead of drawing from both.

Later, the engine coughed and he switched the valve to the other tank.....  It died.  It sure did get quiet all of a sudden.  He put the plane into a shallow glide while he tried to restart the engine.  I looked out the windows and all I saw was trees with no place to land.  He continued to grind on the starter with no luck.  He said that we may have to jump if we got down too low.  I don't remember how low it would be unsafe to jump. I know it seemed much longer than it actually was but it seemed like we glided for quite a while.

We had an emergency parachute on.  The emergency chute is a little bigger than a loaf of bread and is designed to slow you down enough to only break your legs.  Anyway, the plane crashed and we were both killed.  Okay...., I lied.  The engine finally started and we flew the rest of the way to Bragg with no problems.

We had a long weekend while we were at Bragg and one guy in our team at Bragg went over to Pope Field to see what flight they had going somewhere.  Pope is an Air force base next to Bragg and it's main purpose is to take the airborne guys up and let them jump out.  He caught a flight to California for the weekend and found some Reservists there getting ready to fly to Hawaii for the weekend.  Yep, he went on to Hawaii and came back with them and then caught a flight back on time.

My record of catching flights was insignificant compared to his.

The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.
Samuel Adams 
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