Unofficial Biographies

I was reassigned from Shaw, 9th Sqdn to Germany 12th AF in November 1955. All that happend at Shaw and in TAC concerning EW after that date was, generally, unknown to me. At 12th AF, I was principally concerned with plans for the operational integration of tactical nukes and EW in USAFE War-Planned operations (there were no specific nuke or EW operational plans then). In 1957 I was reassigned to the 10th TR Wing as Group Commander at Spangdahlem and in touch with EW again, but concerned with 10th Wing operations development to implement War Plans for the Wing involving all our different squadrons and types of aircraft (and crews).

From the time I was assigned in Jun ' 57 until Feb ' 59 the 10th Wing transitioned from RF-84Fs to RF-101s, from RB-26s to RB-57s to RB-66s and from EW-26,s to the EW-66s and WB-66s. We also became a Wing of four RB-EW-WB-66's and we transferred all of our RF aircraft to Sembach.

Bill Starnes and some other 9th Sqdn officers I knew, (including Bud Lottich) were very welcome and much needed when they arrived at Spang. We did not have much EW planning capability in the 42nd Sqdn. (And, I thought, neither did USAFE nor, it seemed did that HQs have much interest in our condition). So, EW mission planning, concepts of operations, crew training, data processing, technical upgrades and data reporting were developed by our Wing operations staff from that time on.

At last, in March ? of 1959, we had a HQ USAF combat readiness inspection that really demonstrated how well all those officers had done their work. The Wing's performance was not only "outstanding": it was superb -- and I'll bet it has never been equalled since in the Tactical Air Forces.

Anyone interested in writing a history of the development of EW in Tactical Air Forces, could not do better that to consult with Bill Starnes and his colleagues who carried the EW development load from the 9th Squadron through the mission transformations and political lapses (at TAC, for example) to the ultimate pay-offs in Viet Nam where EW became the absolutely essential combat capability in all air operations.

I was assigned to the 42nd at Toul arriving November 22, 1962. reassigned to Chambey in early 1995. Shipped to Takhli August of 1966, arriving after jungle survival early October 1966. During my tour at Toul, I had the opportunity to work for Bob Moraski in the Elint Cell. Left the Air Force after a tour as supervisor of Electronic Training at Mather. Retired from the National Guard in 1992 as Chief of Staff of the Colorado Air Guard. Email: OHollenbec@aol.com

I arrived at Shaw AFB around March 63 after EW School (Mather) and Survival School (Stead). Spent a little over a year at Shaw with I believe the 41st TRS under Cmdr Kingsbury (USN); LTC Anton was the OPS officer -- came in with fellow EWO's Mo Turcotte, Jerry Temte, Dave Gingery and Jim Shaw.

I was on Dick Wilson's crew with Juan Benjamin as head #4 EWO; we continued Cuban surveillance flights during several lengthy TDY's out of MacDill AFB, FL -- we'd spend the night at Ramey AFB, PR when we covered the South coast of Cuba.

During the summer of 64, two or three EB-66C crews were PCS'd to Eglin AFB as part of a composite test wing; was on Vern Johnson's crew with Alphee Babineau as the #4, Dave Anthony was also an EW on that crew.

During the spring of 65, as the B-66's at Shaw were being deployed in stages to Takhli, AB Thailand, the Eglin group was sent to MacDill on an extended TDY for the Cuban mission since Shaw no longer had the resources to cover.

Around the June 65 time frame, the "powers at be" decided the hell with Fidel, Vietnam took precedence, and we were hauled back to Shaw for 2 weeks or so before being sent over with the rest of the folks to Takhli. Initially it was on a TDY basis but in the fall they gave us an option to convert our TDY into a PCS or we could return to Shaw just short of 6 months with an uncertain future -- most of us decided to stay and finish although the number of missions was still unclear; eventually they settled on 100 missions but 'threatened' us with HQ 7th AF,Saigon for the remainder of our one year tour so most of us accumulated 95 missions or so and found another job for awhile (I played ELINT van chief for awhile and then instructor EWO as they were sending Majors/Ltc's in from staff jobs who had never seen a B-66) -- eventually they established a 66 training program at Shaw.

Eventually they decided that we could return to the states after our 100 missions which I finished in April 66. From there I went to a Wing EW slot in MAC of all places, followed by an AFIT tour, F4C Wild Weasels and then a broad variety of staff positions, the wildest being an NSA tour -- I retired as Director of Reconnaissance and Electronic Combat Operations,
HQ TAC/DOF in late 86. Email: DMoore4975@aol.com

William H. (Bill) Starnes, Jr., LtColonel, USAF (ret.) retired in September 73 with B-66 tours at Shaw, Spangdahlem, Chelveston and Takhli.

Recap of my 1952 -- 55 Experiences at Shaw AFB, SC by Bill Starnes, USAF Col (Ret) Click Here...

Always a TAC EWO who became a CPA in retirement teaching college courses and still running his own public accounting practice. 10216 El Pinar Drive, Knoxville, TN 37922-4159
Telephone: (865) 966-8060. Email: starnes@tds.net