All About Pocket Knives

Didn't really know how to title this one but I think it works. A little background first:
After getting out of boot camp in August of 1964 and wondering what the next three plus years were going to be like I headed home to Massachusetts for a short leave and then on to my first duty station which was Naval Air Station Boca Chica Florida.
My duties were working on the transient line which serviced aircraft coming into the country from such places as Guantanamo Bay Cuba.Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico,Panama and other places south of us.
Before we could service the aircraft the customs inspector had to come out and check with the pilot.Most of them would bring in a gallon of alcohol as they were permitted and one never knew where the pilots kept the down locks to the landing gear.Most fighter aircraft had them in the cockpit or one of the gear wells.We also had to install safety pins in the auxillary fuel tanks or missile racks if they were armed.
Our job was to re-fuel the aircraft and attend to anything that might need servicing.In order to do that we had a variety of ground support equipment(NC-5 powerplants;tow bars,Follow Me trucks,etc.);some of which required a government driver's license to operate. The line chief's job was to get as many people as possible to get one so he would have enough people to service the aircraft. It required taking a 2 day course and you had to pass it.
Anyway I got mine and one of the duties I had was driving the Follow Me truck.For those not familiar with the term ,it was an old Ford crew cab pickup painted bright yellow. It was used to guide in aircraft at night(mostly)who were not familiar with the runway and taxiway layout.It had an illuminated sign mounted in the bed that you could direct the aircraft to either turn left or right or stop.
This was especially useful as there was a lot of construction on the runways at the time with the result that we only had one runway open and part of the taxiway leading to the transient parking area was blocked off. This required bringing the aircraft up the taxiway about half way and then turning onto the runway to proceed to the parking area.
One night I was running the truck and a friend of mine;an E-5 air traffic controller was in the tower and he called to let me know we had a "Code 5" coming in in the back seat of a T-33. The Code 5 was an Air Force Brigadier General and the pilot had never been into Boca Chica before so I was ordered to pick him up at the end of the runway and lead him down and onto the duty runway to the parking area. He also informed me that one of the F-4's that had hot pad duty was practicing touch and go's but not to worry he would wave him off when the general arrived.
I got down the end of the runway just as he landed and turned on the Follow Me sign and started back up the taxiway. As we turned onto the duty runway I saw the approaching landing lights of the F-4 coming toward us and dropping lower and lower.
The pilot in the T-33 saw him too and started flashing his landing lights on and off furiously. I'm proceeding up the runway slowly and watching the lights get closer and closer. Just when I thought this guy hadn't seen us and was going to land he hit the afterburners and went screaming over our heads.Even in the darkness I could almost count the rivets on the bottom of the plane!
When we got to the parking area the canopy on the T-33 was already open and the general was scrambling out of the plane with steam coming out of his ears. The duty officer had come out to greet him and the general brushed past him and went storming up the stairs to the tower and spent about a half hour chewing out Neil;my friend in the tower.
The pilot of the T-33;an Air Force captain said,"WOW! I've never seen him THIS MAD before!"
Neil got a 30 day restriction to base for the incident but I never heard what happened to the F-4 pilot.
A couple months later I left Boca Chica to attend Class A school for aviation ordnanceman in Jacksonville Florida and more tales. Hope you enjoyed my story.

As a retired Navy Air Traffic Controller I love hearing these stories (when no one is hurt) and I'll have to
relate a few myself. Thanks for sharing, brought back some night time memories.

Interesting read.
Treefarmer

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:48 am As a retired Navy Air Traffic Controller I love hearing these stories (when no one is hurt) and I'll have to
relate a few myself. Thanks for sharing, brought back some night time memories.

I bet you have more than a few David! That had to be the scariest thing I had ever gone through. I remember about the same time we had a C-124 Globemaster II come in one night that was based out of Dover Delaware. I was supposed to bring him in with the Follow Me truck but he declined and basically parked the thing on his own next to the tower. I STILL can't believe he maneuvered that monster around by himself! We had to get 2 fuel trucks with an extra long hose to fuel it as the regular ones wouldn't reach. I went up in the cockpit afterward (you had to climb a ladder to get in!)and you could barely see the wingtips from the pilot's seat.

knife7knut wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:59 am

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:48 am As a retired Navy Air Traffic Controller I love hearing these stories (when no one is hurt) and I'll have to
relate a few myself. Thanks for sharing, brought back some night time memories.

I bet you have more than a few David! That had to be the scariest thing I had ever gone through. I remember about the same time we had a C-133 Globemaster II come in one night that was based out of Dover Delaware. I was supposed to bring him in with the Follow Me truck but he declined and basically parked the thing on his own next to the tower. I STILL can't believe he maneuvered that monster around by himself! We had to get 2 fuel trucks with an extra long hose to fuel it as the regular ones wouldn't reach. I went up in the cockpit afterward (you had to climb a ladder to get in!)and you could barely see the wingtips from the pilot's seat.

Yes Sir, I've known a few of those knot head type pilots.

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 4:03 am

knife7knut wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:59 am

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:48 am As a retired Navy Air Traffic Controller I love hearing these stories (when no one is hurt) and I'll have to
relate a few myself. Thanks for sharing, brought back some night time memories.

I bet you have more than a few David! That had to be the scariest thing I had ever gone through. I remember about the same time we had a C-133 Globemaster II come in one night that was based out of Dover Delaware. I was supposed to bring him in with the Follow Me truck but he declined and basically parked the thing on his own next to the tower. I STILL can't believe he maneuvered that monster around by himself! We had to get 2 fuel trucks with an extra long hose to fuel it as the regular ones wouldn't reach. I went up in the cockpit afterward (you had to climb a ladder to get in!)and you could barely see the wingtips from the pilot's seat.

Yes Sir, I've known a few of those knot head type pilots.

Yesir gents, welcome to the most stressful job known to man (firefighting close second).

Thank you for your service sirs. You both sacrificed your personal lives, so I could have a free life.

dlr110 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 4:03 am
Yes Sir, I've known a few of those knot head type pilots.

Boca Chica was an interesting duty station for a number of reasons. It was only six feet above sea level at the tower(!).We got several hijacked aircraft flown in from Cuba including one industrious soul who flew an Antonov AN-2 biplane(as large as a DC-3)in under the radar and landed it on the taxiway going up to the 82nd Airborne's hangar(they had hot pad duty).Lot of red faces that day. They had another one try to come in but they made him land on Summerland Key and then they wouldn't let anyone fly it to the station.Disassembled it and dragged it down the highway.
One of my worst times was flying search and rescue in an HU-16 over the Gulf of Mexico looking for a downed F-102. We were out almost 9 hours a day looking for it(never did find anything).The only thing I could liken that experience to is sitting inside a 55 gallon drum and having someone beat on the outside with a hammer! I was motor deaf for days afterward.
Had a friend of mine who was stationed at the seaplane basin on Key West on a submarine and he would go shark hunting out in back of the base in a canoe! There was a bounty on them at the time.The water was very shallow there and then dropped off abruptly.There were little deep pools the sharks would congregate in and that is where he went.Used a spear gun and bagged three while I was there. The biggest was almost 8 ft long! Those submarine guys WERE crazy!
That and going to Miami for a weekend and coming back early in the morning in a Greyhound bus doing about 75 mph across the 7 mile bridge mostly on the left side of the road.WAY too many memories!