The Navy moved our trailer, aka mobile home, from Brunswick, ME to a park in Browns Mills, NJ. Browns Mills is only about 7 miles from McGuire AFB. Closer is better! Trenton is not only a big city, it's 17 miles from McGuire AFB.
VR-6 Flies C-118 aircraft. V stands for heavier than air aircraft. The R stands for transport. It would seem that T would stand for transport but the Navy uses T for pilot training aircraft. Since R is the next letter in the word transport, it was selected for use with aircraft used to transport people and cargo. The letter C in C-118 stands for cargo. The cargo could be 100 passengers, 60 combat troops with all their gear, or 24,000 pounds of miscellaneous cargo. In it's day it was a modern aircraft with air conditioning, heating, and pressurization systems that enabled it to fly at high altitudes over 10,000 feet without the crew and passengers having to wear oxygen masks.
Since this was a new modern aircraft, the first thing VR-6 does is send all it's new personnel to a two week school where you learn about the aircraft and its engines, electric and electronic systems, plus the hydraulic and pneumatic operating systems. Most systems are electrically controlled and mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically operated. New systems for aircraft electricians are propeller synchronization, pressurization and air conditioning, inverters, and autopilot. The inverters converted DC power from the generators to AC power for the instrument and electronic systems. This seemed strange as the older P2V's had both AC and DC generators. The electrical distribution and instrumentation systems are more complicated and numerous. The aircraft also has fire warning systems in more areas and an extensive fuel quantity system. Carrying passengers means modern systems for passenger safety and comfort.
Working in a new electric shop, with new co-workers and supervisors, on new systems, and no flying duties results in the loss of flight pay and pro-pay. You have to qualify for pro-pay on the new aircraft before it becomes part of your paycheck. That typically takes six months. The loss of pay comes to almost $200 a month and Diane Doris is pregnant. New challenges everywhere! Luckily, our trailer is paid for, the trailer park rent is cheap, and we are frugal with utilities.
Since the principles of electrical systems are the same, learning the differences between P2V and C-118 systems doesn't take long and the Pro-pay 1 of $30 a month is quickly restored. With a baby on the way, choosing not to fly and being home with Diane and the baby is a good choice. In Oct of 1962, Cheryl Ann Lambert is borne at Fort Dix Army Hospital near Trenton, New Jersey. Also in Oct 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurs, enlistments are frozen, meaning when your enlistment is up, you don't get discharged. The crisis occurred between Oct 16-28 and was over Russian missiles being installed in Cuba 90 miles from Florida. This was a tense moment is history. It's a stare down between President John Kennedy and the Russian President Nikita Khrushchev. It was resolved by each president making concessions and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Plus the guys got their discharges in a few months.
VR-6 works three shifts and operates 24 hours a day. The electric shop has a Chief Petty Officer (E7) in charge of each shift and a Senior Chief Petty Officer (E8) as the overall shop supervisor. It's a big operation. Much different from VP-26 where we only had 8 or 9 electricians and an E6 as the shop supervisor. You work for the Chief in charge of your shift and he works for the Senior Chief.
One night one of the aircraft has a landing gear indication problem. Upon examination, the bolt that screws into the landing gear strut is loose and won't tighten down. This is a mechanical issue. Electricians don't drill holes in metal and use taps to cut new threads. Metalsmiths do that. They don't solder wires and we don't cut threads. The problem is, the shop Chief tells me to cut the threads myself since the metal shop refuses do it. Not doing what you are told to do isn't a good option. The Maintenance Control people won't order the metalsmiths to make the repair either. A tap and die set is available for checkout and the new hole is drilled and threaded and the bolt is tighter but snug would be a better word. The repair doesn't seem right to me. The Chief tells me to safety wire the bolt in place. He has a first class go out and inspect the work. The first class tells the chief the repair is good so I sign the work order, the first class signs the inspection, and the chief signs as supervisor. The next morning the aircraft is pre-flighted by the flight engineer and the pilot and neither makes a comment on the repair. One hundred passengers are loaded and the SWITCH BRACKET FALLS OFF ON TAKEOFF! The aircraft has to make an emergency landing! And guess who the Master Chief of the Command (E9) is waiting for when the evening shift reports to work. Lesson learned. If YOU don't believe the repair is right, do the work as ordered, but refuse to sign it off! They can make you do it but they can't make you sign it. The most frequent and troublesome system for the electricians was the fuel quantity system. their were numerous fuel tanks for this long range aircraft and each tank had numerous fuel measuring fuel probes in it. Heavy cumbersome test equipment was used to troubleshoot the system. The equipment came with a thick manual and lots of dials and switches. Pain in the ass to use but its use was required. A few people figured out how to fix the system quickly and accurately using their knowledge of electrical systems. Of course the test equipment had to taken out to the aircraft since using it was "required." Good exercise carrying it around.
The Air Force aircraft maintenance paperwork is much more complicated than the Navy's. More codes for what type of work is performed and more detailed repair codes. They actually had a manual you had to use to determine which code to use where when you were filling out the maintenance paperwork. It made for much more accurate and detailed records that could be used to determine where and if changes in parts and procedures could be made.
The C-118 is a large aircraft. You couldn't just climb into it and fix it. You had to push a boarding ramp up to it to enter the aircraft and push checkstands up to the engines to work on them. It always took at least two people to push the stands without bumping the aircraft. Then you had to remove engines cowlings and panels to work on just about any system. It was part of the daily routine.
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