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- Subject: IRCA President, 1965-67
- From: Kirkpatrick Paul <pkirkpatrick15@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2015 09:20:21 +0000 (UTC)
- Delivered-to: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I noticed in your history(-ies) of the IRCA very little, if anything at all, is mentioned about some of IRCA's presidents in the mid 1960s when the club was still in the process of becoming what it later on became.
That's fine for some members, but maybeÂothers might be interested in finding out what went on from someone who's "Been there, done that." This possibly may be where I come in. The email you're reading is from IRCA's president from c. 1965 - c. 1967. Yes, that was me, Paul Kirkpatrick, a dude in his 20s back then.
I was elected as IRCA's president while I was also involved with "other things" such as trying to become a good Aircraft Electrician in the USAF. I was fresh out of the USAF's tech school for aircraft electricians that was conducted at Chanute AFB in Rantoul IL (not too far from Champaign)---during what I jokingly referred to as "The Height of That Area's Tourist Season: November to March." It was so windy in that neck of the woods that we had a "Uniform Code" (whatÂ"Moma USAF" tells you to what to put on for the day) that included a form of ski mask.
Anyway, after one was given some leave time to show the folks back home that you managed to survive USAF Basic Training at Lackland AFB near San Antonio TX and 18 weeks at said tech school (whose first week of your tech school wasÂa whole week of "Practical Training in Air Force Duties" (Code for KP in chow hall 3--the "Dining Facility" that served several hundred troops their 3 squares(?) a day. Kinda like these fast-food restaurants we have today, except that it was more like "'Airman' (Expletive Deleted), if you don't hurry it up, we'll put you on EMT!! The EMT to which they referred wasn't OJT with the emergency services....quite a bit different from that. THIS EMT was "Extra Military Training," and one doesn't even want to know the joys await one should he/she be allowed the privileges of serving in said EMT---especially when the ambient wind speed can become what seems to be in the neighborhood of, shall we say, Mach 2.
Anyway, IRCA's president winds up in a somewhat different climate than Rantoul (Which today is now known as the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum. [Wonder if it houses that B-36 around which we marched a half century ago?]). He is now re-assigned to theÂTAC (Tactical Air Command)'s 4453d Combat Crew Training Wing's Field Maintenance Squadron (FMS)'s Electric Shop at Davis-Monthan AFB which, even today, is situated immediately to the SE of Tucson AZ.
Some of you may wonder what the primary mission of a USAF's "Combat Crew Training Wing" might be. Well, basically, keep in mind that in/around 1965 there was this "thing" called "The Vietnam War."Â In order to pursue that conflict, which resulted in our nation losing c. 60 K people (One of them was an acquaintance of mine & one of my cousins was involved in the helicopter "theater of action."), our Defense Secretary Robert McNamara [Back in the 1950's, it was he who determined that Ford's "Edsel" would be the "Car of the Future" {Check it out.}], the USAF had to have aÂwing to train pilots who'd already earned their "wings" to be trained in what was then our first "joint force" (The Navy and the USMC had their own respective models.) fighter-bomber, and then ship them over to that "South China Sea Jungle Paradise" known by many as "'Nam."
Since all aircraft, no matter whoÂuses them, must have an electrical system in order to operate everything "from nose to tail," there would also be an FMS Electric Shop to make sure that when the switch(es) are turned on, "things happen." Â
Okay, it was within that scenario that IRCA's new-elected president takes over.
I'll do my best to recall what transpired as I began my administration in a subsequent series of emails if the current IRCA "powers that be" so desire. If so, I'll relate how I "interfaced" with such unique individuals as the late Don Erickson and Larry Godwin (Who then was a student at the "People's Republic of Berkley"'s college campus[!]).
73 et DX, Paul Kirkpatrick
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