Towery - We Were Crewdogs VII - The B-52 Factor

Tommy Towery

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth - and CINCSAC. And CINCSAC said, Thanks. Youre dismissed. Ill take it from here.

As powerful as he was, e ventually the Commander in Chief, Strategic Air Command (CICSAC) went away, as did the Strategic Air Command (SAC) itself. But not so the might y B-52 Stratof ortress. The giant eight-engine bomber, first flown in 1955 and revered backbone of our national defense during the Cold War, still remains a viable weapon system in todays United States Air Forces inventory. It shall be for years to come. But the aircraft itself is useless without the men who built, guarded, maintained, and flew the plane affectionately known as the Big Ugly Fat Fellow (BUFF) by many . Okay, maybe the final F really stands for something else for all those who really know her , but you get the point.

This book is the seventh volume of stories primarily about the aircrews who flew the plane but is dedicated to all those who ever came in contact with one. Despite a half-dozen efforts to recruit someone to take lead on a book about the maintainers of the aircraft, no one has been willing to come forward and take on the task, so I will continue to publish stories about the aircrews . I was never a maintenance officer; I was a flyer. I only really know and can vouch for things affecting the lives and events of the aircrew (Crewdogs) who flew her. There are a few story exceptions in this volume, but those stories included help add to the understanding of what we did , and deserve to be heard.

Sue, my wife and an avid reader, came up with the name f or this volume in the series Volume VII -The B-52 Factor . The definition of factor is something that helps produce , influence, or contributes to a result, process, or accomplishment . And that is the foundation of all the stories included. This is not a book about the B-52 aircraft itself or its capabilities, but about the factor it played in the lives of the crews who manned it.

You may remember George C. Scotts portrayal of Gen G eorge S. Pattons in the movie Patton . He addressed the troops saying, Thirty years from now when youre sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you: What did you do in the great World War II?. My father was in World War II and never sat me on his knee and told me about his combat or even his training experiences. It took years for me to learn he was a member of the 29th Infantry Division and landed with them at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Oh, I knew he was in the war and was a disable d veteran, because he was missing his lower left leg, the aftermath of stepping on a land mine as he charged on th e beach. He had a Purple Heart M edal he kept in a dresser drawer to show for it. That was about all I knew as a child. It was only through reading his newspaper interview for the 40th anniversary of the landing that I found out he lay on the beach for 18 hours before he was medically evacuated to a hospital ship. The story appeared while I was stationed in England near the end of my Air Force career and encouraged me to plan to sit down and make him talk to me about the events leading up to and following his war time experiences. He died before I got home to do so. By that time he had his other leg amputated, the result of the same battle injury he suffered in 1944.

That was the Genesis for my decision to try to document some of the things about my Air Force life and the lives of my fellow B-52 aircrew members before it was too late. If I could not understand something as fundamental as what an Army infantryman did, how could I expect any of my family to ever comprehend the complicated life of a B-52 Electronic Warfare Officer? I wanted to preserve a few of the things about those days so someday my family would know about what I did. I want my daughter to understand why I was gone so often when she was growing up. I didnt plan for it to be just a book about me, but I wanted to be able to give others a chance to share their stories as well and give the subject a little more in-depth analysis.

After We Were Crewdogs I The B-52 Collection was printed, others contacted me saying they had a story they wanted to preserve and would I consider doing another book. For many, the memories documented in the We Were Crewdog s books are the only written record of their service time. Several former story contributors have flown west now and it may be the only printed story their families will ever be able to pass down to the next generation. This volume will add to the total of over 300 stories in seven books which tell the tales. Some are boring, some are exciting. All are true.