C-130 37835 was one of the C-130s we had at McGuire. This plane was used to fly to a remote airport in th US. A tower operator there knew that this would be the first four engine airplane that would land at this field. He set up his 8 millimeter motion picture camera to capture this landing. Here is that video:

Well, just after I became an Aircraft Commander, I was sent out on a trip to Europe. The aircraft I got was 37835 and after the accident it had, it had no wing tanks. I had to fly to Goose Bay, Labrador to get enough fuel to fly to Prestwick, Scotland.

On the 24th of October Goose had had a lot of snow that had been removed and piled on both sides of the runway. I was getting a Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) from the radar operator at Goose.

The strictest Check Pilot we had in VR-3 was Lieutenant Commander Norman Garsoe. It happened that Norm wanted to go to Rota, Spain because he was being re-assigned there and he wanted to see the housing that was available. Sure enough, he came on my first trip as an Aircraft Commander. In fact, as I was making this GCA he was looking over my shoulder. At about 300 feet above the ground, with large piles of snow on both sides of the runway, Norm said: “Tell me all the electrical components that are on the Battery Bus.”

I turned my head for a second to look at him and then it got to me that he was having some fun. I had to chuckle.

We ended this days flying in Chateauroux and went to the Swans for dinner.