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William S. Dursteler Submitted by Ned Colburn (January 2006) My guess is that our William Dursteler lives in Murray, UT. Good Mormon genes & DNA prevail in Utah. Bill Dursteler and Hank Gibbia were "Senior Captains" in the 9th TRS in 1960 when that term was actually used for Captains in their mid-40s with promotions so slow that they had resigned themselves to retiring as Captains or Major at the most. In the mid-60s promotion opportunity increased and many of the WW-II Senior Captains got promoted to Lt Col and Colonel. Hank Gibbia and Dursteler were the Mutt & Jeff Routine in the 9th TRS. Dursteler was the Straight Man for Hank Gibbia's antics. On his own, Bill Dursteler could make you laugh without Hank Gibbia. Hank Gibbia was the pilot of RB-66C 471 that crashed at Donaldson AFB, and when unmercifully grilled by the Accident Board had a few choice comments that were typical of him. See http://b66.info/RB-66C%20471.htm Last time I saw Bill Dursteler was at the Von Steuben Hotel in Wiesbaden about 1970. He was a Lt Col in Hq TAC. I don't know what's in the Official USN Archives concerning the mid-60s era when the USS Forrestal was operating with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, but you might want to do some research and either confirm or kill the following story about an Old Ancient Mid-40s Over-the-Hill WW-II Air Force Landlubber Pilot vs USN Forrestal Carrier Pilots. In 1961, Air Force pilot William S. Dursteler was an RB-66 pilot at Shaw AFB before receiving a Navy Exchange Assignment to Sanford NAS, Florida to fly the A-3D. Bill Dursteler subsequently went on an 18 month cruise on the USS Forrestal flying the North American Vigilante and receiving the “Top Hook” award for the graded best landings. Upon encountering Navy pilots from the Forrestal and asking them if they knew Bill Dursteler, they broke out in laughter about what a character Bill was -- but then got very silent and didn't want to talk about it when asked if it was true that Air Force Landlubber Bill Dursteler amassed the best landing record during their time together on the Forrestal.
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