| Dawning of a new day, heading back to the Big BX. On
14 September 1971, a ferry force commander, an operations officer, 15 Caribous flown by their intrepid aviators, plus one spare crew, left
Cam Ranh Bay AB for Hamilton AFB, (just north of San Francisco in Marin County),
California. Our 15 'Bous island hopped from Cam Ranh to Clark AB,
Philippine Islands (6.1 hours), on to Anderson AFB, Guam, (10.1 hours), then to Wake Island (11.3 hours), on to Midway
Island (7.5 hours), to Honolulu IAP/Hickam AFB, Hawaii (9.5 hours), and finally on to Hamilton AFB,
California. Not making the Hickam-Hamilton leg due to a family medical emergency that sent me home early, I missed out on the projected 18 to 19 hour flight of a lifetime. Only one 'Bou was lost during the operation, that happening on the Hickam-Hamilton leg when the unfortunate crew lost an
engine right at ETP and wound up ditching just west of the Farallon Islands, which are 30 miles west of San Francisco,
California. USAF para-jumpers, heroes always, rescued all three crew members before the airplane sank. |
