Today, we’re honoring Master Sergeant David P. Troutman, USAF, retired. What did he do during that fine career? Well, his was a very interesting job: He was an aerial gunner, a tail gunner on the B-52. 

His main task was defending his B-52 against aerial attacks, a job description that instantly conjures up visions of ultimate combat showdowns in the stratosphere. However, more often than not, it was a job that entailed spending endless days on alert duty or, tallying up countless hours in the air on training missions.

And all that flying could seem to some to have been a pointless exercise. After all, those gunners were not likely to encounter Soviet MiGs lurking over Michigan or North Carolina just waiting to ambush any B-52 that happened by while doing touch & goes in the local pattern. Piled on top of that, there were those critics who chuckled at the idea of the gunners having the ability to defend their aircraft at all…

…which was a mistake made by several MiG pilots who, during the Vietnam War, decided to get too close to the business end of a B-52 and were blasted out of the sky for their troubles. (“C’est la vie” goes the B-52 gunner’s motto)

That is because the gunners were always ready.

All that endless flying in peaceful skies was time well spent. They did not just fly around waiting to pull a trigger; they were quite well-versed in all aspects of defending their aircraft. B-52 gunners were well-trained professionals, members of a dedicated team – a combat crew – and they were more than prepared to assure the completion of the mission by guarding their bomber and their crew/friends.

One of those committed professionals was our man of the hour, Master Sergeant David Troutman. Joining the USAF in 1959, he soon trained as a gunner before embarking on a long career where he served with the following bomb squadrons: 93^rd, 716^th (both at Kinchloe AFB), the 51^st (Seymour Johnson AFB), and the 668^th (Griffiss AFB).

Already a highly experienced aerial gunner and Cold War veteran when the B-52s of Strategic Air Command were called upon to take to the skies over Vietnam, Troutman served six combat tours there, including Operation Linebacker I (May- Dec 1972) and Linebacker II (18-29 Dec 1972). The latter was the largest bomber operation since WWII and the last major military operation conducted by the US during the Vietnam War. By the end of the conflict, Troutman had flown over 200 combat missions.

When he retired in 1980, Master Sergeant Troutman had flown over 8,000 hours as an aerial gunner in the B-52B, C, D, E, F, G, and H models. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions over North Vietnam during Linebacker II. His other combat decorations include nine Air Medals awarded for the many missions he flew in hostile skies. His is a career worth honoring, one that his country and his family can be proud of.

Notes

1. The plump 750-pound bombs were typically carried internally while the 500-pounders were carried on external bomb racks as seen here. Note the “Peace Sign” painted on the fins of one of the 750 pounders.

2. This photo is unusual in that this was a mission where the planes dropped their bombs from a 3-ship, wing abreast formation. A typical B-52 bomb drop was done in a “trail” formation, one after the other.

3. When the last bomber in his “cell” (formation) lost their radar and could not drop, Troutman guided him to the target by using his gunnery radar and a stop watch to accurately guide that aircraft to the target and complete their bomb run. For his professionalism, Troutman was awarded this certificate.

*These photographs were taken by, and are property of, David Troutman. Provided to this website courtesy of Randy Troutman.

Parked on the ramp at Elmendorf AFB is F-82H 46-384 of the 449th Fighter Squadron, All Weather, a visitor from Ladd AFB, Alaska.

For an airplane built in small numbers (less than 300) and introduced when jets were the center of attention, the piston-engined F-82 Twin Mustang compiled a noteworthy record during its service with the USAF from 1946 to 53.

The USA’s first super-sonic aircraft in Europe: the F-100.

Paris Air Show, 1957.

Paris Air Show brochure.

I believe this is the “Looping en forme de losange”.

Same.

Everything was done in formation.

The team.

Assigned to Bitburg Air Base’s 36th Fighter Day Wing/Tactical Fighter Wing, the F-100C Super Sabre-flying “Skyblazers” wowed millions in the skies over Europe from 1957 to 1962. The team pictured here was led by Captain Bill Creech (later a 4-star general and the namesake of Creech AFB in Nevada). His wingmen were Captains Pat Kramer & Nevin Christensen and Lieutenants Gordon Eells & Gordon Scharnhorst. 

They really knew how to put on a show.

C-130A, 55-0007, ended up in Bolivia where it rests today.

F-100s on the Wheelus flightline.

F-102A of the 497th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.

F-101C of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing.

An F-105 visitor from the 36th TFW at Bitburg Air Base, Germany.

Another 105, this time from the 49th TFW, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

C-47 that was assigned to Wheelus for various odd-jobs.

C-54 undergoes engine work.

Here are a few photos taken around 1961-ish. Our photographer was plagued by either a poor camera, or bad picture-taking skills, but he did bless us with a variety of aircraft.

So, about Wheelus Air Base.

European weather is typically not the type one would choose when wanting to fly. The situation was, of course, the same in the 1950s and 60s. Enter Wheelus Air Base. Located right next to Tripoli, Libya, on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. Salubrious climate aside, Wheelus was an extremely important facility for two other reasons: 1. South of its location stretched an endless desert tailormade for a bombing range. 2. The open skies of the region were well-suited for engaging in air-to-air practice (dogfights). 

Given that neither of those aforementioned two factors was readily found in the topography (or skies) of central Europe, the fighter squadrons of the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) regularly rotated through Wheelus in order to maintain their qualifications in the air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. According to those who took part in such deployments, a few weeks in Libya was a pretty sweet deal. Plenty to do on the base, nice beaches, and booze was cheap. Also, it wasn’t foggy or snowing. 

Now preserved in Alabama, 54-0102, a B model, was the fifth F-105 built.

Original and superlative-packed caption for the previous photo.

Two B models flying by “robot control” (See the following caption)

“Jetbuilders” at work. F-105D assembly line,1960.

F-105s on the ramp at Seymour Johnson AFB. The base also hosted B-52s, as seen in the background.

Outnumbered by a host of F-4E Phantoms, this F-105G visiting Seymour Johnson in the late 1970s is nearing the end of its days.

With the noteworthy exception of not dropping a thermonuclear bomb on invading armies (as was its original purpose), the F-105 Thunderchief, AKA the “Thud” (of course), pretty much performed every role one could think of and a few more as well. However, such achievements came with a price, especially in the skies over Vietnam during the first few years of the war. During that period, the 105 was the primary strike aircraft and had a loss rate to prove it: More than half of the F-105s that saw combat in Vietnam were shot down or otherwise crashed in-country. A poignant example of that loss rate is found in the attached photo, which shows the Thunderchief assembly line in 1960. In that picture, 17 Thuds can be identified by serial number; all would serve in Vietnam. Of those 17 aircraft captured in this random photo, 15 would be shot down. Very grim math, indeed.

Nevertheless, most F-105 guys thought they had the best plane in the world, a bird far superior to anything else that came to replace it (See: F-4 Phantom). These Thud drivers haughtily looked down their noses at any mere mortal who even remotely impugned the legend that was their F-105 Thunderchief.

I will leave you with a joke I heard decades ago from an F-4 pilot.

Q: “How many F-105 pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb?”

A: “Two. One guy to screw in the bulb, the other to talk about how great it was.”

Found the photo in a USAF flying magazine from the late 50s.

Underwater Miss Target (R) takes aim at an overhead apple.

This charming young lady, Patricia, wore several hats (including a helmet) back in her modeling days. When not sitting on the wing of a B-47 Stratojet while attending to her responsibilities as “Miss Target” for the 321st Bomb Wing at McCoy AFB, she was busy trying to bite apples from beneath the waves at a local theme park. These vastly different career choices may seem at complete odds, but there was one overriding commonality: both jobs were best performed while wearing a swimsuit.

Note:

“Miss Target”…

Seems a rather ambiguous title, a double entendre, for a USAF organization whose primary mission was to not miss the target.

A pair of deuces from the 317th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Elmendorf AFB Alaska, cruise past the summit of Mt. McKinley in the late 1960s. These F-102s would soon leave Alaskan Air Command and head to the Air National Guard. 56-1257 (foreground) made it as far south as the Wisconsin Air Guard, where, after a few more years of service, the aircraft, like many an F-102, was converted to a drone and blown to smithereens over the Gulf of Mexico.

1257’s wingman, 56-1252, was luckier. It ended up with the 111th FIS, Texas Air Guard, but was spared the drone treatment and was instead put on display at Ellington Field. Notably, this particular aircraft was one of those flown by President George W. Bush when he was a fighter pilot in the 111th.

The first A model was also the first B-52 to feature a redesigned cockpit (side-by-side seating).

Serial numbered (appropriately enough) 52-001…

…the A model took flight in 1954.

A weight and balance sheet from one of 52-001’s test flights.

Last of the three A’s was 52-003 later used by NASA.

A few years earlier, 52-003 is seen screeching over a Seattle neighborhood in late 1954.

Looking out the right side…

…and the left. Mt. Rainier is seen thousands of feet below.

Inflight photo of 52-001.

This time it’s 52-002. There are one or two differences in the cockpit configuration between 001 and 002.

Judging by the clean slate, this has been a successful flight.

A grand total of three B-52A’s were built. Here, according to the accompanying citations, are all three of them.

An SH-19A Chickasaw displays its abilities before an appreciative B-36 of the 6th Bomb Wing while the latter is on a deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam. The bomber was far from its home at Walker AFB in New Mexico – about 7,000 miles – but that really wasn’t a very big deal for a B-36.

Baseball history fans will undoubtedly know what occasion caused these men in the autumn of 1957 to decorate one of their planes and then throw their hats in the air. For those who don’t know the significance of the situation, here’s a hint: the Milwaukee Braves had just won the World Series. The photo was taken at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, where, as seen in the picture, the men of the 303rd Bomb Wing’s 358th Bomb Squadron included more than a few Milwaukee fans.

In the late 1940s, the USAF made a wise purchase when they ordered a militarized version of the Cessna Model 195 – the LC-126A. Outfitted with floats for service as a rescue bird in Alaska, the USAF never bought the plane in great numbers (only a dozen or so). Still, what it lacked in numbers, it made up for in style because the Cessna 195/LC-126, in this man’s opinion, is one of the most handsome aircraft ever built.

In the photo, 49-1949 of the 10th Rescue Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, undergoes riverside maintenance out in the bush. It’s summer, but that only means hordes of mosquitoes – all of whom have a million children – are swarming unseen in the picture. This particular plane was saved for posterity by the Air Force and now resides in the USAF Museum, painted as seen here 75 years ago.

A cheerful pilot of Air Defense Command’s 63rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron proudly poses with his F-86D at Oscoda AFB, Michigan, in the early 1950s.  Nice looking airplane, but it was fated to crash in 1955 while serving with the 85th FIS.