Japan

After Pilot Training I was assigned to the  WC-135B... Basically a Boeing 707... the supposed job was Hurricane Hunting.  

The job turned out to be weather reconnaissance and spying on Russia and China.  Weather Reconnaissance was boring but the spying could be fun.  We were spying on atomic blasts... testing.  We would fly right along the "No Fly"  line of Russia and China (cross the line and they would shoot you down).  Sometimes Mig's would intercept our aircraft... never happen to me though. 

We were based out of Tokyo (Yokota Air Base), Japan.   On a clear day you could see Mt Fuji, but there were very few clear days due to the horrible smog.  

Mt Fuji in background.

We would often go to Fairbanks, Alaska for 2 weeks at a time... not the most senior job in the winter!  From Fairbanks we would fly straight  towards Russia and turn North at the No Fly Line and fly that line North and then fly all the way to the North Pole then turn around and do the same route to the south and return to Fairbanks after flying for 12 hours.  Doesn't sound very exciting now but it was done at 3000 feet above the ice and at times it was daylight or twilight so you could see pretty well.

As a new guy you were the butt of many jokes.  My favorite wasn't really a joke... "Hey did you see that Polar Bear?"  I didn't really fall for it but I did spend hours upon hours looking down at the ice for Polar Bears...

One day we had made the turn over the pole and were heading South, after a while I saw a city below us and asked the Navigator what the name of the city was right below us...  He jumped up and looked out my window and started screaming "turn left, turn left... climb... climb... declare an emergency..."  We were over Russia... obviously a big no-no.  We were pretty far North and navigation gets really difficult up there.  Russians frequently jammed navigation radios or put fake navigation radios up to confuse us.  The Navigator always used sextant and celestial navigation as a back up... apparently he made an error that night.  I spent quite a while looking back for Migs or missiles... it was tense.

There were good things about those Alaska trips.  

The first one was all you could eat King Crab... Free... at the Stag Bar in the Eilson Air Force Base (Fairbanks) Officers Club.  I can confirm that it is not wise to make your dinner nothing but 10 pounds of crab leg meat with cocktail sauce and wash it down with lots of 25 cent beer.  

We were a high priority mission as we worked for the "Company"... the CIA.  We got special treatment... like a hangar for our airplane when we wanted it.

A whole 707 wouldn't fit in a hangar for the night, so the tail end where the lavatory was, was left hanging out in the cold... even when flying a 12 hour mission it would be frozen most of the flight.  It was really cold in Fairbanks... think 55 degrees below zero and 40 knots of wind... cold doesn't describe it.  Your first breath in would freeze all the hair in your nose. That  was the weirdest thing I remember.  We weren't allowed to be outside for longer than two minutes at that temperature. Each of us carried full arctic survival gear in a B-4 bag... about the size of 3 big suitcases... in case of a crash landing, maybe we could survive for a few hours.  My B-4 bag is still up in this attic...  don't think I will need my muckalucs or my fur hooded jacket any time soon.

The second good thing about an Alaska trip was going to the commissary and buying some hard to find American food to take to your bride stuck in Japan.

The number 3 good thing was you could watch the soap operas.  Now, that doesn't sound like a good thing for a guy... but it was.  It was a good as gold.  It was best to take notes but if you didn't you could invent logical story lines and it didn't matter.  The idea was to tell the latest scoop on the soaps at the Officer's Club Pool ... with all the wives gathered around in their bikinis and listening to everything you said... of course you tried to make eye contact while you told the latest soap opera news.

On one occasion I was arriving at the pool for a soap opera session and a new wife was asking me directions to the changing rooms and so I led her there.  Amazingly she got her suit on just as fast as me... almost... One boob didn't make it in the top.  I didn't know what to say so I quickly jumped in the pool and so did she... the life guard sitting in the elevated chair almost fell in trying to get a good look.  I don't think anyone missed that show as she was very shapely in the first place.

Flying around the Pacific Ocean at 3000 feet you had a close up view of water for hours on end.  But you could also see brand new islands being born... lava and smoke included.  Beautiful aqua blue water surrounding jungle islands was in abundance too.