WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:16.519 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is 2 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:22.039 retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Charles Frank Blunt, but we're going to call 3 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:26.239 him Frank. He also served two tours in Vietnam. He piloted a C 4 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.519 one thirty and later a C one thirty gun ship there, and he's also 5 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.640 the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross. In addition to all that, he's 6 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:39.280 a witness to several other interesting pieces of history. And Colonel, thanks so 7 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.799 much for your time today. We appreciate it. Thank you, Greg. 8 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:44.840 Where were you born and raised, Sir? I was born in a little 9 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:51.759 town called Quincy, Florida. It's about twenty miles west of Tallahassee. I 10 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:57.719 grew up in Tallahassee. Is is my younger years, and I went to 11 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:03.000 school there, I mean Florida State, and I graduated from there in nineteen 12 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:07.959 sixty. Was there a history of military service in your family, not specifically. 13 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.159 There were a few of my cousins that served mored War two. Majority 14 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:18.439 of them were in the Navy. I had one uncle that was a tail 15 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:25.599 gunner on b seventeen. I think he was over in eight Air Force. 16 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:30.200 Why did you ultimately choose the Air Force? Well, I decided while I 17 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:34.359 was in Florida State, we were required to take first two years of Air 18 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:41.760 Force ROTC, and that kind of got me interested in pursuing my commission. 19 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:48.799 And then one day they had a B twenty five there that the rated officers 20 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:55.439 in the RTC program would fly to get their monthly flying time and thereby getting 21 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:59.680 their monthly flight pay. And they took me up in the B twenty five 22 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:04.439 one day and let me sit up in front and hold on to the wheel 23 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.719 for a while, and I thought, that's pretty good. I might like 24 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.800 to try this. Anyway, the way I kind of got started on it, 25 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:14.439 Well, tell me a little bit. Now. After you graduated from 26 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.319 Florida State, I assume you were commissioned as an officer into the Air Force, 27 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.280 and then you went to flight training, and from what I understand, 28 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.960 you did not exactly have a full wallet when you got to flight training. 29 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:35.120 Yeah. I reported racty duty and around the twentieth of June in nineteen sixty 30 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:40.479 and as I was leaving my home to go down to Bartow, which is 31 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:46.560 where I started primary flight training Bartow, Florida, it was a contract flying 32 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:52.319 school at time. Greg, My dad held out one hundred dollar bill as 33 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.439 I was leaving, and I said, Dad, I think it's time for 34 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.280 your son to paddle his own boat. And I holding to keep the hundred 35 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.639 dollars that I was in good shape anyway. When I arrived at Bartow, 36 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:10.120 I had sixty five cents in my pocket. All of my classmates said, 37 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:14.360 hey, we got to go to a meeting here. After the meeting, 38 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:15.639 we'll all go with the club and have lunch. And I said, well, 39 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.599 I said to myself, of course we all are not going to go. 40 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.680 I doubt if I can buy lunch for sixty five cents. We finished 41 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:27.520 at the meeting, the guy that was running meeting said, okay, all 42 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:31.439 you guys come over here this table and we're gonna pay you your travel pay. 43 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:34.919 I looked at the guy next to me and I said, what the 44 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.199 hell's travel pay? And you know they paid us so much a mile Greg 45 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:46.319 to drive from our home station down to Bartow and I think I got eighteen 46 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:52.800 dollars and sixty cents and I had lunch with my classmates. So once you 47 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.919 actually got to the airplanes, had you had any experience flying and were you 48 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:59.479 a quick study? How did how did flight school go for you? Flight 49 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:02.719 school pretty good. We had a pretty large class, Greg I was in 50 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:10.639 class sixty two eight and we had some aviation cadets along with all of us 51 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:14.800 who were commissioned officers. Pretty big class. I think it was around maybe 52 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:19.120 one hundred and sixty five or maybe one hundred and eighty guys starting in the 53 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:24.279 class, and I think you graduated about eighty five. At the end of 54 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:30.480 the road, none of the aviation cadets made it through the program. Wasn't 55 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.000 any of their fault, but I guess they just couldn't make it anyway. 56 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:39.160 A lot of the officers were washed out. A lot of them went to 57 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:45.240 navigation training as a secondary and some of them went as staff officers. Now, 58 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:47.959 after training, you flew the Super Constellation. Is that correct? I 59 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.199 went from Bartow to Craig Air Force Base in Sellm, Alabama, where I 60 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:57.160 flew at T thirty three, and that was called basic training at the time 61 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.600 Craig. You started with timary and then you go to basic and when you 62 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:05.240 finish basic, if you graduated, you got your wings. Depending on your 63 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:12.319 rank in graduating class, you got to choose your following assignment, and I 64 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.439 picked a Super Contany in Charleston, South Carolina. Tell me about the plane 65 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:18.399 and why you chose it. Well, I kind of thought, you know, 66 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:23.439 if I can get some experience. You know, a Super Connie in 67 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:30.800 its day was really and truly a very famous airliner, A twa quite had 68 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.079 quite a few of them. Howard used with instrumental in that, and I'm 69 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:38.439 sure you probably remember. I thought, well, I'll get some time into 70 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:41.800 Connie, and if I decide down the road, I might want to go 71 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:44.600 to the airlines. I thought, well, it wouldn't hurt for me to 72 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.720 have some experience in a super constellation. I flew that for a couple of 73 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:51.240 years, and then the outfit that I was in, which was the forty 74 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:56.920 first Military and Transport service there at Charleston Air Force Base, we moved into 75 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.959 the C one thirty at that time. Let's talk about something. Assignments now 76 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:05.120 on the Super Connie. One of them was to fly families overseason back, 77 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:11.680 and I'm told you had a pretty effective way to wear the little kids out, 78 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.920 to get them from being too squarely for too long. Oh yeah, 79 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:21.079 the Super County was pressurized airplane, and we didn't never get much above twelve 80 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:28.199 fourteen thousand feet, although all the engines were Curtish right thirty three fifty turbo 81 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:33.360 compounds and which means they had super chargers as well as h prt s which 82 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:41.480 for power recovery turbines to the crankshaft. They were about three thousand horsepower each 83 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:47.879 and we mainly were cruised around twelve fourteen thousand feet. But we're all ninety 84 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.879 two passengers in the back, mostly families at the times what we were moving, 85 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:56.279 but if the kids started running up and down the aisle, you could 86 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:00.800 you could tell they were doing that because the elevator trim would roll nose forward, 87 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.439 rolled nose back, note forward, kid running up and down the aisle, 88 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:10.279 and the cabin attendants we had the female cabinet attendants at the time, 89 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.800 would say, now all you kids, sit down, and we're going to 90 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.120 serve you your dinner, and of course they didn't pay much attention to that. 91 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:21.079 So what we'd do we would ease the cabin altitude up from well, 92 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:25.600 I think we were maintaining around four or five thousand feet in the cabin alt 93 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.879 to cruise level. We'd ease up to maybe eight thousand or nine thousand feet, 94 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:32.720 and of course as the kids were running up down the aisle, they 95 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.879 were they were puffing and panting, and pretty soon they all just kind of 96 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:42.199 dropped back into their seats and dozed off, and the cabin tenants could serve 97 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:46.160 the meals. So that's that's kind of a little trick that we used. 98 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:48.000 Now, on a little more serious note, you also had an incident, 99 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:53.639 i'm told where you had a broken antenna from the tail to the cockpit that 100 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.920 you had to deal with mid flight. How'd you handle that? The Connie 101 00:07:56.920 --> 00:08:01.720 had two HF antennas on it. Back in those days they were a M 102 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:09.120 transceivers, and there was a long wire that was hooked right above the cockpit 103 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.879 that went back and hooked the top of one of the vertical stabilizers in the 104 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.680 back. And we were out over the Atlantic one night and one of them 105 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:22.680 broke loose in the back. As we were cruising along. Of course, 106 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:28.040 the slip stream was whipping that long wire antennant from the left side to the 107 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:33.200 right side of the aircraft, and of course it was going wap wap. 108 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.120 We were all thinking we need to do something about that. I think maybe 109 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:41.919 one of the flight engineers said, let's try something. We had navigators in 110 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:50.000 those days, and they used a section to shoot three star positions on navigating 111 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:54.279 across the Atlantics. Anyway, the section and stuck up outside the airplane through 112 00:08:54.320 --> 00:09:01.919 a sextant port. So he opened the secant port and Charon flashlight up there, 113 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:05.240 and every once in a while you could see the wire flipping back and 114 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:09.200 forth as it was beating each side of the airplane. If you follow that, 115 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.440 I think the flight in the air said let's try something. So they 116 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:16.399 took a coat hanger and put a little hook in it, stuck it up 117 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:22.000 in there and grabbed the backside of the wire and he pulled. We managed 118 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.440 to pull enough of it back down inside the aircraft. He took pair of 119 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:28.960 dikes and cut it in two and pulled it all in and that was the 120 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:33.360 end of the problem. He also had a very famous passenger at one point, 121 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:35.159 Alan Shephard, the first man in space for the United States. How 122 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:41.720 was at Patrick Air Force Base. Alan Shepherd came out and we were going 123 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:46.720 to take him down to one of the one of the islands for I think 124 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:50.120 he was monitoring a shot at the time. Anyway, just as we took 125 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:56.039 off from Patrick. Had a runaway prop on number three engine, and we 126 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.080 just pulled the airplane up and loaded down the prop and and the feather pump 127 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:05.320 drove the blades in the feather and we came back around, landed at Patrick, 128 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.720 and Alan came up front. He says, okay, guys. He 129 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:13.799 said that's enough for today. He says, I'll meet you all over the 130 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.919 Ulstra's Club and I'll buy you all around the drakes, which he did. 131 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.600 He's a nice fella. When we come back, Colonel Blunt tells us about 132 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.879 his shift to flying the C one thirty, flying through eighteen typhoons in East 133 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:31.519 Asia, his connection to Apollo thirteen, and his time flying Air Force One. 134 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.159 Our guest has retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Blunt. I'm Greg 135 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:43.919 Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. 136 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:48.000 Our guest in this edition has retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Blunt. 137 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:52.639 He's a veteran of the Vietnam War and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying 138 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:58.799 Cross. Colonel Blunt now continues his story by explaining how he started flying the 139 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:03.000 C one thirty and discussing his first deployment to the Far East. The squadron 140 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:07.679 progressively got rid of the counties as we got got more and more C one 141 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:13.200 thirties in, and all of the ones that we had in there greg were 142 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:18.799 E models four bladed props. I went through a transition school up in Tennessee, 143 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:24.759 and when I came back then we started flying the Sea one thirty. 144 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:30.759 There is cargo runs. We were doing mainly the same basic step that we 145 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:35.840 were doing with the county, except we weren't hauling too many passengers at that 146 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.440 time. We were mainly cargo hauling. When were you deployed to Vietnam for 147 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:43.879 the first time. I stayed at Charleston until nineteen sixty seven. In nineteen 148 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:50.320 sixty seven, I got an assignment to du Guam in the fifty fourth Weather 149 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.240 recon Squadron out there. That's when I was flying typhoon reconnaissance. Tell me 150 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:58.879 about that. I mean, you've you've flown through what I'm told are eighteen 151 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.159 different typhoons. So explain first of all why you did that, and then 152 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.440 secondly how to do that successfully. We penetrated at five hundred millibars, which 153 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:15.559 is about ten thousand feet and it wasn't wasn't a terribly terrifying experience. Greg 154 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:18.960 I had a cup of coffee in my hand all the time. I drink 155 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.639 a lot of coffee, and I went all of those eighteen typhoons with a 156 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:28.679 cup of coffee in my hand. I think I only spilled the coffee one 157 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.240 time, believe it or not. Anyway, the purpose of us going in 158 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:37.639 there was to measure the bare metric pressure inside the typhoon itself, and also 159 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.360 we would log in the latitude and longitude of the storm and which way it 160 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:48.639 was moving, so we could give an advanced notice down the line as what 161 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.799 islands might be hit or whether it was going to hit the Philippines or Japan. 162 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.600 I did eighteen typhoons out there. He also had a difficult landing with 163 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:01.679 a mouth functioning nose gear, I believe, during that deployment. So how 164 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.440 did you deal with that? Well? In two winners. At Christmas time, 165 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:11.919 there was an operation in Elmendorf Air Force based in Alaska, and they 166 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:16.279 picked me to go up there as well as the rest of my crew, 167 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:22.159 and we were seating the super cool fog up there because there was a lot 168 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.320 of s onety one moving in and out, and they would come out of 169 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.480 Vietnam. First stop would be Elmendorf, and if the weather got bad a 170 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:33.919 lot of times the ceiling was low and they couldn't get in. What we 171 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:37.679 would do is I had authorization take off zero zero, believe it or not, 172 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:43.039 the crew and I flew over the top of the super cool fog and 173 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:48.279 seated. It would dry ice, which made it snow out, and when 174 00:13:48.279 --> 00:13:52.080 it did, the ceiling raised and all the one forty ones could get in 175 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.320 and out of Elmendorf. And so I did that two years in the row. 176 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:58.639 Well, after you came home from that first tour in Vietnam, you 177 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:03.279 were in part of another story that I think a lot of folks will remember 178 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:07.639 well, and that's nineteen seventy The nation in the world are riveted to the 179 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:11.720 fate of Apollo thirteen and the problems they had in space and their effort to 180 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.679 return safely to the Earth, which thankfully they did. But once they did, 181 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.159 I returned safely. Their next flight was with you, right, Explain 182 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.360 Explain what happened there? Well, I just all I did was just transport 183 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:28.840 him back to Washington because they were going back to shake hands with the President, 184 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.360 and they all got on board. I was flying seven h seven at 185 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.960 the time. You may have seen some of those they say United States of 186 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:43.200 America on the side. Anyway, I flew him from Honolulu back to Washington, 187 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.799 DC, and Jack Swiger was on board, of course with the three 188 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:52.120 Asian level. Anyway, Jack came up the cockplit and he sat down behind 189 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:58.440 me, and I had never met the man before, and we I introduced 190 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:01.559 myself to him, and he I can't stand all that bs in the back 191 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.480 with all those newspeople, He says, can I stay up here with you 192 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.879 guys? So he said behind me most all the way back. Very personable 193 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.679 guy. And that was a great loss when he passed away. It is 194 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:16.279 at a way too young of an age as well. As you mentioned flying 195 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.360 seven h sevens with the United States of America on the side. Is that 196 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.080 the part of your career where you were at Andrews and flying Air Force one? 197 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:28.440 That's that was the outfit? Yes, how did you get that assignment 198 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:33.519 that used to be called a twelve fifty fourth transport weighing up there? I 199 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:37.639 always kind of wanted to be in that outfit. It was a pretty select 200 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:45.720 outfit. I sent in my application with my credentials and everything to them, 201 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:52.879 and they sent me all the paperwork backs to begin the initial screening to go 202 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.720 up there, because we had to have special clearances flying out of that outfit, 203 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:03.120 as I'm sure you can appreciate. Anyway, my biggest problem was I 204 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:07.240 do not have fingerprints. I understand a lot of people do, but I 205 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:11.519 just happened not to have fingerprints, and the Secret Service has sent me several 206 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:21.200 notices about how they needed to screen that portion of the application carefully. Anyhow, 207 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:26.120 the funny part that happened was, and I didn't realize this, greg, 208 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:33.279 what happened was the Secret Service went when you put down your references, 209 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:40.639 the Secret Service had agents that made door to door trips and sat down and 210 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:45.000 talked to the people that you put down as your references. And of course, 211 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:51.080 after that happened, I got a call from some of my very close 212 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:56.039 and dear friends. They called me and said, Frank, what in the 213 00:16:56.039 --> 00:17:00.080 hell have you done? Because the Secret Service has been here, they won't 214 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:03.960 know all about you. I guess they thought I had robbed a bank or 215 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.960 something. Craig, but that was all part of the screening to get up 216 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.960 there. Well, speaking of bank robbery, I'm glad you used your no 217 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:17.200 fingerprints for good and not for evil that could have made it hard to find. 218 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.519 The Secret Service said that very thing to me, Greg. They said, 219 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:22.880 you know, you would have made a great bank robber because you've got 220 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:29.599 no fingerprints. Once I got to Washington, they called me down to the 221 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:34.559 Secret Service Department downtown Washington, DC and they said, don't worry, we 222 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:38.000 can get your fingerprints. And they took him and took him and took him, 223 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.160 and finally they looked at me and they said, Frank, you know 224 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.480 you don't have any fingerprints. And I said, yeah, that's what I've 225 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:48.839 been told. Well, which president that sounds like about President Nixon? About 226 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:52.920 that time that you were flying around. Nixon and Ford were the two that 227 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:57.680 were in office while I was there. And an interesting thing that happened that 228 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.920 I was not flying Air Force one at the time. When Richard Nixon resigned 229 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:07.319 the presidency. The tail number was two seven thousand, which happens to be 230 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:11.920 the Boeing seven h seven that's in the Reagan Library in Semi Valley. Anyway, 231 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:15.720 when he took off from Andrews Air Force Base. After he had resigned 232 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:21.440 the presidency. He was on Air Force one halfway across the United States. 233 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:26.119 Gerald Ford was sworn in as President of the United States. The only time 234 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.279 an airplane is air Force one is if it's an Air Force airplane and the 235 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:36.440 current President of the United States is on board. Halfway across the United States. 236 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:40.279 Richard Nixon would no longer the current president of the United States. That 237 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:45.759 was Gerald Ford back in Washington. So when they landed out in California, 238 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:48.079 they were not Air Force one. Did you have much interaction with either of 239 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:52.279 them? Not very much. With Nixon, he would all say thank you, 240 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:56.480 gentlemen. Gerald Ford. I flew him a lot when he was vice 241 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:02.079 president, and he was a very personable guy. And of course the call 242 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:04.880 signed with the vice friends. Air Force two coming up, retired US Air 243 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:08.960 Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Blunt tells us why he turned down an assignment in the 244 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:15.000 US to fly gunships in Vietnam. You'll also hear what combat was like for 245 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:18.039 him there and what it was like to fly a mission after the war had 246 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:26.680 officially ended. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans 247 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:30.400 Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition has retired US Air 248 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:36.039 Force Lieutenant Colonel Frank Blunt. He's already told us about his work flying through 249 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.200 typhoons, bringing the Apollo thirteen crew to Washington to meet the President, and 250 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:45.240 flying the President himself aboard Air Force one. But we returned to his story 251 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:51.119 in nineteen seventy two, as Colonel Blunt rejected his assignment here in the States 252 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:55.079 and demanded to be sent to Vietnam. Well, the Air Force, in 253 00:19:55.160 --> 00:20:00.799 their great wisdom, decided that I should not continue flying airplanes, but I 254 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:06.599 should go to what was called the Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, 255 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:11.720 Alabama. I did everything I could to get out of it, and I 256 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.519 had to go. As long story short, during the most miserable year in 257 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:19.920 my twenty years, and Air Force were called it was gone flying and all 258 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:25.000 of my classmates seemed to love it, but I hated it. The only 259 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:27.960 thing that I did while I was there, Greg, was I did go 260 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:33.839 to graduate school and got my master's degree. But a lot of my classmates 261 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:38.240 we'd go in at seven o'clock in the morning, and usually the classes would 262 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.799 last until about one o'clock. And most of them then would head to the 263 00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:51.000 golf course, and that's when I headed over to my graduate school classes. 264 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:55.920 So I usually finished those up around five or six o'clock in the afternoon. 265 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.440 It was a pretty long day in those days. Now to go back you 266 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.720 had to fly the one thirty gun ships. So how much of an adjustment 267 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:11.039 was that from your previous flying and what additional considerations are there when you're flying 268 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:14.759 a gunship as opposed to the regular see one thirty. A gunship is an 269 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.599 offensive weapon, as you well know, And would you like to know the 270 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:23.559 events that how I got the assignment absolutely When I graduated from commander staff, 271 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:29.960 they had a guy come in there from the Military Personnel Center. He was 272 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.680 a major and I was a major at the time. He sat down across 273 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.759 the desk from me and he said, I've looked at your records and he 274 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:41.319 says, I'll be your following assignment here. It's in the Pentagon. You'll 275 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.359 be a staff officer. And I said, I don't want to go to 276 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:48.720 Pentagon. He said, well, that's your following assignment, and I said, 277 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:52.279 well, I understand that the Air Force is accepting volunteers to fly the 278 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:57.920 gun ship over in ubon thaland he says, you do know they shot two 279 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:02.200 those down in April. Don't just say yeah, I know that. And 280 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:04.519 he said, you'd rather go over there and get shot at and go to 281 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:08.720 Pentagon? And I said, you got the picture. Anyway, he says 282 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:14.200 to me in a very condescending, sarcastic way. He says, well, 283 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:18.119 he says, you can't volunteer for that assignment. I wish you have two 284 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:22.440 thousand hours and see one thirty. I looked at him and I said, 285 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:26.519 I've got seven thousand. Is that enough? Anyway? That's how I got 286 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:30.759 the gunship assignment. So how much training or preparation did you have to do 287 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:34.160 before heading over to Vietnam. I went to Hurlbert Field in western Florida there 288 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:38.240 which is over or near Pensacola, as you probably know, that's where we 289 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:45.359 did the initial training and codify the patterns with the guns. And the model 290 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:51.839 had a one oh five holpser in the back and a forty millimeter cannon just 291 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:57.119 forwarded there at two gatling guns up front there were twenty millimeters. We practiced 292 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:03.599 shooting all those guns at Hurlbut Field. So when I went over to the 293 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:11.519 Ubon Thailand. I had only the experience of using those guns in the training 294 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:15.680 area. There was no any aircraft fire back in those days. Now, 295 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:19.079 one of the tricky parts of this, I guess you could say, is 296 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:22.079 that the guns were all on one side of the gunship. Correct, So 297 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:26.480 how did you accommodate for that? Yes, guns were all All the guns 298 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:30.079 were out on the left side of the aircraft, the one oh five, 299 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:33.720 the forty, and the Gatland guns. The Gatland guns, we very seldom 300 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:38.680 used those when we were interdicting trucks on the Ochimn trail. We were generally 301 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.359 too high for the Gatlands, so we used mainly the one oh five for 302 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:48.559 truck killing because, unlike the forty forty millimeter, hit had to be a 303 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:52.319 direct hit, but on the one oh a hit within one mill of the 304 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:56.000 target was considered to kill, and as you know, one mill as a 305 00:23:56.039 --> 00:24:00.279 foot in a thous Anyway, we got a lot of aircraft fire in those 306 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:06.400 days, several hundred round every night. It was pretty lively out there. 307 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.599 How did you deal with that? Well, we had a guy that and 308 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:11.519 I that stuck out in the back end of the air believe it or not, 309 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.400 he we allured the ramp in the back and he hung out about halfway 310 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:21.240 up to his waist, and he was looking at the ground fire and if 311 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.920 it looked like a round was coming up where it might would hit us, 312 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:30.160 he'd call left or right break and that's how we eluded mostly in the aircraft 313 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.559 fire. It was kind of an unusual thing because we were up at eight 314 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.039 eight nine thousand feet and you can imagine him hanging out back, and you 315 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:41.400 know what the temperature would be in Those guys really earned their pay. I'll 316 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:45.079 tell you, as we've mentioned a couple of times in passing, Colonel, 317 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:49.480 you received a Distinguished Flying Cross. Tell me about your actions that led to 318 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:53.640 that recommendation. Well, I think most of us that had a tour in 319 00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:57.720 the gun ship got an end of tour DFC on that. There's not a 320 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:03.079 particular engagement that that was connected to. No, but I do have a 321 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:07.079 real quick thing to tell you. It was. It was near Christmas in 322 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:15.079 nineteen seventy two and I had just crossed over the river into the zone where 323 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:19.200 we were shooting the trucks, and I heard one of our other gun ships 324 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.960 had just taken two hits in the left wing thirty seven millimeter hits. He 325 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.759 had already shot down number two engine and I called him and I said it, 326 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:33.119 where are you and give me an approximate location. I called GC out 327 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:37.400 side, have them vector me over to where you are. I'll escort you 328 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:41.359 back to the base. He said, I don't think that'll be necessary, 329 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.559 and I thought, well, he's busy and he's not thinking straight. Because 330 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:48.440 if you've got a problem and it looks like you might have to bail out 331 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.400 or go down, you're sure hell would like to have another gun ship over 332 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:57.079 your head to cover you. So I headed toward. I called GC eyes 333 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:00.119 side and I said, give me vector over to him, which they did. 334 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:06.279 I got with him about ten miles of him, and he exploded blue 335 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:10.480 two gunners out the back end of the airplane. Rest of the crew perished. 336 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:15.400 After we got back to ubon that night, I stayed over the wreckage 337 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.839 site and it was a big fire down there where the airplane crashed, and 338 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:23.519 the AMMO that was on board was cooking off from time to time. I 339 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:26.559 got a hold of the helicopter and vectored them into the air and they picked 340 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:30.039 the two guys up. They were blown out the back when we got back 341 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:36.279 to Ubon. Unfortunately, all the sensor operators were still in the booth when 342 00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:40.759 that airplane exploded. So Greg I got all my crew together and I said, 343 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:44.319 I want to talk to you guys about something that I think you need 344 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:48.440 to be thinking about. If we are out there flying combat and we take 345 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.079 a hit from an anti aircraft fire in the cockpit, I said, you 346 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:56.160 know, that's probably gonna get all of us up there in the cockpit. 347 00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:02.279 And I said, you guys might want to think about if we take a 348 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:07.039 hit in the airplane and you know that we've been hit, your job as 349 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:12.960 being an offensive member of the crew for shooting targets is over. It's survival 350 00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:17.240 now. Like on a ship, I said, you know, the captain 351 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:21.319 says, okay, guys, abandoned ship. And I said, you guys 352 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:23.680 need to think about if we take a hit the cockpit and not going to 353 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:27.359 be anybody to say abandoned ship. So if we take a hit, you 354 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:32.079 get your ass up out of that booth, get your parachutes on, getting 355 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.680 the back of the airplane, and if you feel the thing's fixing to go, 356 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:38.160 get the hell out. And I don't know if they ever thought about 357 00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:44.119 that or not, Greg, but I wanted to have them at least considering 358 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.680 that possibility, you know, which, of course was real at the time. 359 00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:52.160 A conversation brought on by a very tragic event, but exactly also shows 360 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:57.640 your leadership in that situation, thinking of your crew before yourself. You mentioned, 361 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:00.839 sir, the anti air aircraft fired before. I'd like to talk about 362 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:04.519 that a little bit more, because I understand they had a strategy of trying 363 00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:07.519 to trap you, kind of a ropodope situation, to bring you in and 364 00:28:08.519 --> 00:28:11.680 target you. How did you detect that and how did you deal with that? 365 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:18.400 Very foolishly, we were trying to work a couple of trucks on the 366 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:23.920 ho Chi Minh trail and this one one any aircraft gun just kept popping around 367 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:29.799 at us. I had to break several times to avoid the rounds that were 368 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:34.000 coming up. As I said, okay, I said, censor operators, 369 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.960 see if you can get that gun. Well, he had shot enough. 370 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.839 We had an infrared system on there, and the barrel of the gun was 371 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:47.759 hot because he had been pumping so many Any aircraft run and the IR operator 372 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:49.960 says, oh, yeah, I got that guy. I said, okay, 373 00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:53.400 let's go over there and shut him up. Then we'll come back over 374 00:28:53.480 --> 00:29:00.319 here and work the rest of these targets. And very foolishly, Greg, 375 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.200 I thought, well, I didn't see anything wrong with that at a time. 376 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.559 Or when I went over there and flung into orbit around that gun, 377 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.920 about six or eight more any aircraft guns came up on us, and I 378 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.960 said, okay, guys, we're out of here. But that was a 379 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.359 hard lesson for me to learn. I only did that one time. You 380 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.839 also flew on the final day of American involvement in the war in nineteen seventy 381 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:25.799 three. What do you remember from that mission? That was a very strange 382 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:30.119 thing because I think the war actually ended at twelve noon, and I flew 383 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:34.839 combat in Cambodia that afternoon, And I always wondered, Greg, if we 384 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:40.680 had gotten shot down that afternoon, how would they have explained that. I 385 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:47.079 guess they would have probably backdated my mission, you know, But that thought 386 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:49.920 occurred to me the war over and here we are out here, and wouldn't 387 00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:53.960 it be ironic if we got shot down on the last day after the war 388 00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:59.480 had ended. Thankfully you did not, But what did you do after that? 389 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:03.039 What happened after the war was over. After I finished my tour there 390 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:08.279 in Thailand with the gun ship, believe it or not, my following assignment 391 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:15.000 came down and I was going to be granted to go to the Pentagon as 392 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.200 a staff officer again. And I had a very close, dear friend named 393 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:25.640 Frank Preston. He was in the SAM outfit there. Special Air Missions is 394 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:32.359 what SAM stands for, and he had already made some strategic moves to get 395 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:37.039 me transferred back to the Special Air Mission to outfit. And here the Air 396 00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:41.200 Force came down in my assignment to Pentagon, and I called him, and 397 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.920 he called a general that he knew very well, and had my assignment changed 398 00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:51.640 back up to this SAM outfit in Washington. You retired in nineteen eighty and 399 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.400 what did you do in private life after that? I flew corporate aviation for 400 00:30:56.519 --> 00:31:03.400 another forty years. I flew a total greg of sixty years. I was 401 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:07.720 very fortunate to be able to do that. Not many guys that are able 402 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:11.759 to do that, and I was very grateful for the fact that I was 403 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.440 able to fly for sixty years. And you've received what's known as the Wright 404 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:21.480 Brothers Award for fifty years of flying with no accidents. Yeah, yeah, 405 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:25.480 a lot of names on that list. Lastly, Sir, after such a 406 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:29.359 distinguished career, we've talked about so many different things. What are you most 407 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:32.960 proud of from your service to our country? I don't know that I have 408 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:38.400 a most proud moment. I enjoyed my twenty years. I had a promotion 409 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:42.799 that I think maybe I would have received. I have a squadron commander my 410 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:48.880 last two years in the SAM outfit. It was called the first Military Earlier 411 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:56.440 Squadron, and those are probably the two most rewarding years of my twenty I 412 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:00.400 always wanted to be a squadron commander and it was a pretty big outfit and 413 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:05.200 I got to hole that position for two years. And where was that Ed 414 00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:08.680 andrews Yea in the eighty nine waiting Well, Colonel, it's been a real 415 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:13.160 pleasure speaking with you today. It's been fascinating to hear about all the different 416 00:32:13.160 --> 00:32:15.960 dimensions of your twenty years of service to our country and of course, as 417 00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:21.599 you mentioned, sixty years of flying. So it's been again our honor to 418 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:23.000 speak with you and thank you for your time and most of all for your 419 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.119 service. Thank you very much, Greg, it's been a pleasure Thank you, 420 00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:30.319 Sir. Retired to US Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Frank Blunt serve 421 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:35.039 two tours in Vietnam, pilot at a C one thirty as well as a 422 00:32:35.160 --> 00:32:38.119 SE one thirty gun ship late in the war. Recipient of the Distinguished Flying 423 00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:52.720 Cross. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi. This is 424 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:57.720 Greg Corrumbus, and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the 425 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:02.039 American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veterans Center dot org. 426 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:07.480 You can also follow the American Veterans Center on Facebook and on Twitter. 427 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:12.960 We're at AVC update. Subscribe to the American Veterans Center YouTube channel for full 428 00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:16.119 oral histories and special features, and of course, please subscribe to the Veterans 429 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:21.880 Chronicles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening, and please 430 00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:23.119 join us next time for Veterans Chronicles.