Dad, the B-29, and the Fuel Spill
August 31, 1998
I would like to thank everyone who sent their comments and expressions of sympathy, both on the newsgroup and by private E-mail.
My father was buried on Thursday with full military honors in Columbus, Ohio. I somehow hadn't thought that it would be a military funeral, since that was so long ago, but the American Legion was there to fire a salute and play taps for Lt. Colonel Chilcoat. I found it very moving, as did my mother and my two brothers.
We spent part of Friday swapping stories Dad had told us. It is interesting that none of us had heard all of them, so we each learned something new about Dad. I learned for the first time that he was the squadron leader of the West Coast precision aerobatic team at its inception. There were both a West and an East Coast team, and together they constituted the forerunners of the Air Force Thunderbirds. I guess he was a real "hot stick" in his day. Mom tells a funny story about one of his air shows that I will write up and post some time.
There was also a good B-29 story we recalled. Dad was operations officer at the air base outside of Roswell, and had an engine fire on takeoff just after rotation, with full fuel on board. As they limped around the pattern trying to get back down they lost two more engines, for some reason that was never fully determined. They ended up landing very heavy with their one remaining engine! Mom says that Dad described standing around with his knees knocking for quite a while after that one! There was a followup: his crew chief told two airmen to drain the tanks so that they could investigate the fire damage. Not having been told how to do it, they simply hooked up a hose and dumped all 8,000 gallons of high octane avgas into the base storm sewer. There was no smoking anywhere on the base for two months after that! The entire base reeked of gasoline. Dad was not pleased (A.) because he was Ops Officer and caught the flack, and (B.) because he was a heavy smoker, the habit that eventually killed him.
My brothers and I looked over his logbooks, at least those we still have. There are some missing, representing at least another 5,000 hours. Counting both military and civilian aircraft, we totaled up 66 different aircraft types! I will post the complete list when we get them tabulated. A lot more than I recalled.
Thank you all again for your kind thoughts.
Bob
Copyright Ó 1998 Robert T. Chilcoat