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Childhood Memories
My parents were civilian employees at Spence in the middle 50's. I don't remember what year we arrived but we moved to Tampa in 1956 after school ended. The T-6 was still the primary trainer when we arrived. My dad, Woodrow Lesley, was a maintenance foreman and from what my older brother tells me our mom, Mabel Lesley, was the base commanders secretary. What I remember most were the student pilots my parents would invite home for a home cooked meal. They were all so polite and thankful. They left such a big impression on me, I decided then I would join the Air Force. I wanted to be a pilot. I did join the Air Force in 1966 and though I never became a pilot, 16 of my 28 plus years was spent as a Loadmaster, mostly on C-130's, getting a little over 5000 flying hours. Some other memories are: Bevo Howard getting ready to do his inverted ribbon cut. Just as he got to the poles holding the ribbon, he had an oil line break. He was a mess when he landed. A pilot who took off and wondered why his instructor would not talk to him. He discovered the instructor was not in the plane. Made a successful landing but we were told he washed out a few weeks later. The T-28 that couldn't get the nose gear down. Now this sounds wild but I remember dad talking about this. He put a bunch of guys in a pickup truck and as the plane was coming over them at the end of the runway, they started rolling and followed it till they caught up with it. Several guys jumped on the back of the plane to add weight. Damage to the plane was a bent prop blade and cowl damage. The man who occasionally advertised in the paper looking for his lost radio control airplanes that flew off on their own. The day someone let two Vietnamese pilots fly a local together. They disappeared but a call from Pensacola, I believe it was, cleared up the mystery. They had never seen Florida and decided to go have a look. I think it was Instructor Leo carver who would give us rides in his Stinson Voyager. The neighbors wife who liked to socialize with those of importance. Had a group of ladies to her house for a Tea Party one day and it seems one very high ranking officer's wife liked to talk a lot. Well the pet parrot had enough and said...”Ahhhhh shut up you old biddy.” Tea Party over. Our first house was not far from the end of the runway. Waiting for a school bus early one cool morning, my brothers and I looked up to see an Army L-19 Birddog coming at us but the prop wasn't spinning. The pilot flew over the tree we were under by a few feet and landed in the field next to our house. That afternoon it was put on a farmers truck and hauled back to base. Being in the landing pattern during night flying after the T-28's started being used. It sounded like John Deere tractors flying over so no sleep for a few nights. Then one night we woke up and realized no more night flying. Again no more sleep till we adapted to no noise. Later in high school I brought home a Gullows kit of a T-6. The Spence logo was on the plane with a pilot standing beside it. My mom looked at it and said, "That's Instructor Paul Cookerly." Butch Lesley TSgt USAF(Ret) Greenwood SC rizpah56@earthlink.net |