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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 maybe others 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" (what
"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 was a
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 the TAC (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." 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 a wing 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 who uses 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."
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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