"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...
After my time. I was there from '51 through '55. I was with the 344th
TCS,
a tenant outfit flying C-46s. The rest of my outfit were at Brady,
down near
Fukuoka (Kyushu). We moved up to Tachi in Dec. '51, when the 124s were
all
grounded due to inflight generator fires. For a while, our 46s and
the 54
squadron were all there was available for intra-theater traffic in and
out of
Tachi. The 344th deactivated in '55 and became a Flying Training
Squadron
which eventually turned our aircraft over to the Japan Air Self Defense
Force. We had the distinction of being among the very few AF people in
the
world who ever flew airplanes with the Rising Sun insignia on them

Hello George. I was right down ther road from you at Yokota flying
WB-29's and Wb-50's from 1954 to 55, when I was grounded for a
bad eye! Also checked out in our C-54. I learned how to land it
the Berlin Air Lift way: 800 ft final, nose touching the runway, cut
power, full flaps & cowls, gear and nose down. Flare and land on the
stripes. It took a while to get one's courage!


They certainly were. Originally (before my time), the entire TCWg at
Tachi was
a C-54 unit. I think they replaced three 54 squadrons with two 124 units,
obviously with no loss of airlift capability.

I was on base at the time one of the 124s crashed on the outskirts of the
base,
with a loss of 129 souls. It was the worst air disaster in Japanese
history up
till then. Did you ever hear anything about that one?

I think I remember that one. Didn't the farmers riot against the Base?
I think it was weeks before we could use the road to Tokyo.When I
was leaving Larson AFB in Dec 53 for flying school, a 124 crashed after take
off. The control lock were still on. I was an RO
in the 56th FIS then.

Were you there when a Tachi staffer landed the C-47 on the top of
Mt. Fuji? The first time I pulled AO, another Tachi staffer landed at
Yokota rather than Tachi, and even pulled up to base ops. He said he
thought the building looked different. We had a number of touch
and go's. since, as you re-call, the runways were 3mi(?) apart and
in line.

Ron