davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
I just watched a rather mushy movie called "A Gathering Of Eagles". It gives a reasonable to good representation of SAC ops in the 50s and 60s including the importance of the Operational Readiness Inspection, or ORI. Its portrayal is quite accurate. It also shows why that SAC aircraft, the B-52 and KC-135s were always selected last out of pilot training. No one wanted to fly for SAC. Later on, only the top 10% pilot graduates got to select their planes, everybody else were assigned. SAC complained about the proficiency levels of the pilots they were getting.
Side note. I participated once in the failure of McGuire AFBs ORI. Aircraft Commanders had to pull extra duty as Supervisor of Flying (SOF), which was basically a flightline position to ensure launches were accomplished on time by coordinating things like maintenance, fueling etc. We had a car with radios. I was prebriefed that an ORI was expected and that when presented with a test item, refer and execute the item from our SOF manual. So, as I was doing my job, I noticed a full bird colonel waving me over. He got in my car and handed me a card that said that a T-29 was setting at the end of the runway and has been hijacked, what are you going to do? Aha, I thought, look it up in the book! Alas, no entry for hijacking was in the book. So, leaning on my MAC manual 55-1, which address aircrew operations, I went to the aircraft and waited for the crew to signal to me what they needed, like by lowering flaps. After a few minutes all Hell broke loose, cars, security, firetrucks came screaming out. The colonel said he had to stop the exercise before an accident occurred. That didn't sound good. He asked me if the plane could have taken off. I answered oh, yes, anytime. I was called into the Deputy Chief of Operations office. I guess I was suppose to put my car into a blocking position to prevent it from taking off. But their was not much they could do. I had done as they had told me to do. However, everyone at the squadron knew my name.
Side note. I participated once in the failure of McGuire AFBs ORI. Aircraft Commanders had to pull extra duty as Supervisor of Flying (SOF), which was basically a flightline position to ensure launches were accomplished on time by coordinating things like maintenance, fueling etc. We had a car with radios. I was prebriefed that an ORI was expected and that when presented with a test item, refer and execute the item from our SOF manual. So, as I was doing my job, I noticed a full bird colonel waving me over. He got in my car and handed me a card that said that a T-29 was setting at the end of the runway and has been hijacked, what are you going to do? Aha, I thought, look it up in the book! Alas, no entry for hijacking was in the book. So, leaning on my MAC manual 55-1, which address aircrew operations, I went to the aircraft and waited for the crew to signal to me what they needed, like by lowering flaps. After a few minutes all Hell broke loose, cars, security, firetrucks came screaming out. The colonel said he had to stop the exercise before an accident occurred. That didn't sound good. He asked me if the plane could have taken off. I answered oh, yes, anytime. I was called into the Deputy Chief of Operations office. I guess I was suppose to put my car into a blocking position to prevent it from taking off. But their was not much they could do. I had done as they had told me to do. However, everyone at the squadron knew my name.
