Wow, does that bring back memories! I must say that is a very, very rare day with such excellent weather! I flew the RC-135S Cobra Ball in & out of Shemya 1982-1984 from an Alert Posture against the Soviet Union. Our crews deployed out there for 2-3 weeks at a time. The weather on the "Rock" was considered the absolute worst in the world that took a deadly toll in crashed or damaged aircraft. Horrible wind shears & gusting crosswinds combined with 1/2 mile or less visibilities, poor runway surface conditions, short approach lighting, short runway, and rising terrain illusions were more typical conditions. There were cliffs at the end of each runway. Combined with a divert base 3 hours away made for many a white knuckled approach! My first approach in there, our relatively heavy 210,000lb RC-135S was getting bounced around like a ping pong ball! (We weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto!) For operations, crews launched from a Hanger Klaxon Alert, day or night, & had to be airborne in 15 minutes after the Klaxon went off. The Strategic Air Command hand picked the 10-12 Cobra Ball/Eye Pilots qualified for Shemya Ops. They had to be 2500+hour Instructor Pilots with Receiver Air Refueling & Reverse Thrust Qualifications & pass the highest security clearance the government had. One Cobra Ball aircraft crashed there killing 6 crewmembers & destroying the $500+ million dollar aircraft. While I was there, a USAF C-5 crashed short of the runway & tore up its belly & landing gear. Although it sounds kinda grim, the people stationed there & the crews who deployed were nothing short of awesome! I'll always cherish those days! Thanks for the memory! Cheers, Lt Col Jet
Thanks for the story Jet! We were well aware that this was a very rare visual approach. We were constantly checking the wx before, and after taking off from Elmendorf. The weather actually wasn't forecasted to be this nice...We just got lucky.
@@Airjarhead Heheh, I was just remembering once a year, we would fly the squadron's wives out to the "Rock". Just to see the awful conditions we operated in. And every year, it was beautiful weather like that. Clear & a million, calm winds, green grass with flowers, gulls dropping sea urchins on the runway to break them open, artic foxes playing with their kits, sea lions basking on the shore...etc! Then, once they departed, the crappy weather would roll back in. Happened every year! It seemed "Ralph J. God" had a wonderful sense of humor at our expense! Heheh. One quick note: When the Ruskies shot down that 747 Korean airliner, KAL 007, on 1 Sep 1983, they thought they finally nailed the Cobra Ball! But.........nnnnnooooo! We had safely recovered back at Shemya an hour prior. Thanks again for the video & thank you for serving! Cheers Lt Col Jet
@@jetdriver1jetdriver194 Reading this two years after you wrote it. I was just about to query you about the KAL 007 shootdown when I read the dates that you said you were there. I'm currently reading THE TARGET IS DESTROYED by Seymour Hersh which is about that tragedy. If I remember correctly, in the book he says the Cobra Balls were not equipped with the type of electronics that would have detected a Soviet interceptor but rather you guys only monitored Soviet missile tests. Is that accurate?
The ole weather log in front of flight ops was wet and leaning a bit when I was blessed to meet the fox’es trying to get into our c-130 from Kodiak air station. Thanks for the video. Semper Paratus!
did that 20 to 30 times on a starlifter. this is the nicest day I've seen there. usually clouds, rain or snow. flew over shemya maybe 100 times at night. only saw the lights twice.
@gmrick1412 probably crossed paths in the chow hall. Our captain lived in the hanger for the weather briefing when they flew the plane on missions. I left in the spring of '74. I was one of the guys that put up the weather balloons twice a day.
Wow, what a random video to see today. I was on an American Airlines flight that had an emergency landing there. We even had hamburgers in the chow hall.
I am retired DoD, and always loved going to remote locals like Shemya (yup, I'm weird...my kids still tell me that)!! Also , Dale Brown wrote about Shemya in his (wonderful love story about a modified B52) book "Flight of the Old Dog"...fairly nice fictionalized portrayal of Shemya (until it got nuked.....)!
I got to Shemya in July 1961 & left in June 1962. Both coming & going were via C124.7.5 hrs out & 7.0 back. Looks like lots of improvement since I was there. I worked for an ARMY Spec 5.Did not enjoy it. But tried to make the best of it. By
I could probably live there for months at a time for a short while, but I would have to go back to Anchorage once in awhile to make sure I didn't turn into a weirdo.
Great video. Thanks for sharing this. Looks a little different from when I landed there in November, 1968 to begin my 12 month "isolated" tour with the U.S. Air Force. It started snowing while we were walking from the USAF C-141 to base operations...and hardly ever stopped from that point on, it seemed! LOL An unusual tour of duty, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. This was long before they "modernized" Shemya, and certainly no women allowed there in those days, except the few that showed up on the occasional USO Tour. It was all pretty basic, and once you were there, you were there for the duration. Made some lasting friendships there.
Yeah, we were blown away. We had heard all of the stories of how the weather shifts dramatically there. We were constantly calling for weather updates all the way in...
Steven Weber Not at all weird; it was a special place that created love/hate feelings that never fade. If they ever opened the place up for visitors, they’d do enough business from Shemya vets to open a hotel -
in the Squadron the stood up Cobra Dane 1976. I don’t remember any day that clear in my year there! Reeves Aleutian Airline turboprop would just pop out of the clouds at about 2000 feet and do a cross wind landing as I remember it
bots perhaps, to keep the yt algorithm balanced, I have read there are bots on social media as well, which even comment and create posts (probably rubbish, what else would you expect).
just followed a 747 Polar Air cargo plane on Flightradar24 make an emergency landing here.....that must've been pretty exciting too. Thanks for posting this to see what it must've been like.
I got a letter of counseling from a jerk E-5 because a civilian made an emergency landing (1981) on Shemya and I was a Security Policeman. I used a Coast Guard C-130 for cover and concealment as the aircraft taxied to the ramp and was actually written up for endangering government property. I am not making this up.
@@robertjones1381 ---We crossed paths then. I got kicked out of the SP's and went to CE while at Shemya and sent to Little Rock AFB (long story). Too much alcohol and weed for a 19 year old kid if you ask me. The midnight shift of the SP's would drink in their rooms and smoke weed while on duty. Not a great start for me and the Air Force. An E-4 got me caught up in a mailed in weed plot. Looking back I can not believe how much alcohol and drug abuse there was. Even those "alert" F-4E pilots were drinking well past midnight in The Rocker. I responded to the RC-135 crash that night and to this day I have nightmares about it. The VA actually says I have PTSD which I just found out about this year.
Looks like a beautiful day in Shemya.....landed here in '70 as a crew chief on a KC-135 out of Fairchild. Mid winter white blizard going on with nothing in site but radar domes. Expedited our refueling and was very motivated in getting airborne again.
Yeah, we were blown away. We had heard all of the stories of how the weather shifts dramatically there. We were constantly calling for weather updates all the way in...
I almost died there! I was sick when we landed, went to see station Doc, he said I had pneumonia and wasn't very happy that we were there! He was afraid I would infect the people there on the Island and made me stay in my room for 3 days!
anybody out there flying in VQ1 69 70 especially crew 4 doing missions from this base,bringing in fresh fruit and milk for the AF guys, they would pay you $4 for a quart of milk and $2 for an orange.we all made a killing..lol. Hey ,and quit whinning the guys that had duty on this rock loved us..believe me they had money to burn..all they had was powered milk and eggs back then...lol,those were the days..
wau me puse a mirar Google mapas encontré esta pequeñas islas sigo la cordillera que hay al parecer estas islas son milenarias por que si te fijas el océano las cubrió nuestro mundo es algo que nunca vaz a descubrir mucho menos el universo
Hi, I am writing from a TV production company in the UK called Title Role. We are currently making a documentary series about flights. Each episode will feature a number of different stories ranging from major incidents down to smaller events with private planes. We would love to use your footage in one of our episodes. Please could you email me at Joannahunt@titlerole.co.uk to discuss this further. Many Thanks
Wow, does that bring back memories! I must say that is a very, very rare day with such excellent weather!
I flew the RC-135S Cobra Ball in & out of Shemya 1982-1984 from an Alert Posture against the Soviet Union. Our crews deployed out there for 2-3 weeks at a time.
The weather on the "Rock" was considered the absolute worst in the world that took a deadly toll in crashed or damaged aircraft. Horrible wind shears & gusting crosswinds combined with 1/2 mile or less visibilities, poor runway surface conditions, short approach lighting, short runway, and rising terrain illusions were more typical conditions. There were cliffs at the end of each runway. Combined with a divert base 3 hours away made for many a white knuckled approach! My first approach in there, our relatively heavy 210,000lb RC-135S was getting bounced around like a ping pong ball! (We weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto!)
For operations, crews launched from a Hanger Klaxon Alert, day or night, & had to be airborne in 15 minutes after the Klaxon went off.
The Strategic Air Command hand picked the 10-12 Cobra Ball/Eye Pilots qualified for Shemya Ops. They had to be 2500+hour Instructor Pilots with Receiver Air Refueling & Reverse Thrust Qualifications & pass the highest security clearance the government had.
One Cobra Ball aircraft crashed there killing 6 crewmembers & destroying the $500+ million dollar aircraft. While I was there, a USAF C-5 crashed short of the runway & tore up its belly & landing gear.
Although it sounds kinda grim, the people stationed there & the crews who deployed were nothing short of awesome! I'll always cherish those days!
Thanks for the memory!
Cheers,
Lt Col Jet
Thanks for the story Jet! We were well aware that this was a very rare visual approach. We were constantly checking the wx before, and after taking off from Elmendorf. The weather actually wasn't forecasted to be this nice...We just got lucky.
@@Airjarhead Heheh, I was just remembering once a year, we would fly the squadron's wives out to the "Rock". Just to see the awful conditions we operated in. And every year, it was beautiful weather like that. Clear & a million, calm winds, green grass with flowers, gulls dropping sea urchins on the runway to break them open, artic foxes playing with their kits, sea lions basking on the shore...etc! Then, once they departed, the crappy weather would roll back in. Happened every year! It seemed "Ralph J. God" had a wonderful sense of humor at our expense! Heheh.
One quick note: When the Ruskies shot down that 747 Korean airliner, KAL 007, on 1 Sep 1983, they thought they finally nailed the Cobra Ball! But.........nnnnnooooo! We had safely recovered back at Shemya an hour prior.
Thanks again for the video & thank you for serving!
Cheers
Lt Col Jet
i was there in the early 60's during the cuban crisis. I have to agree they had the worse weather there.
@@jetdriver1jetdriver194 Reading this two years after you wrote it. I was just about to query you about the KAL 007 shootdown when I read the dates that you said you were there. I'm currently reading THE TARGET IS DESTROYED by Seymour Hersh which is about that tragedy. If I remember correctly, in the book he says the Cobra Balls were not equipped with the type of electronics that would have detected a Soviet interceptor but rather you guys only monitored Soviet missile tests. Is that accurate?
The ole weather log in front of flight ops was wet and leaning a bit when I was blessed to meet the fox’es trying to get into our c-130 from Kodiak air station. Thanks for the video. Semper Paratus!
did that 20 to 30 times on a starlifter.
this is the nicest day I've seen there. usually clouds, rain or snow.
flew over shemya maybe 100 times at night. only saw the lights twice.
Looks almost idyllic. I flew out there in '68 on Alaska Airlines 727. Left in '69 on a C-141.
Always an exciting start to a TDY! Whoever CGI’d the beautiful weather is awesome!!😂
Was stationed there '73 - '74. Worked in the weather station. Lived in a 7 man barracks.
You would be an expert on how rare this was! Thanks for the comment!
Jack, I was there in '73-'74 also. Air Force avionics instruments maintenance for Cobra Ball. We lived in the hangar with the plane.
@gmrick1412 probably crossed paths in the chow hall. Our captain lived in the hanger for the weather briefing when they flew the plane on missions. I left in the spring of '74. I was one of the guys that put up the weather balloons twice a day.
Wow, what a random video to see today. I was on an American Airlines flight that had an emergency landing there. We even had hamburgers in the chow hall.
I am retired DoD, and always loved going to remote locals like Shemya (yup, I'm weird...my kids still tell me that)!! Also , Dale Brown wrote about Shemya in his (wonderful love story about a modified B52) book "Flight of the Old Dog"...fairly nice fictionalized portrayal of Shemya (until it got nuked.....)!
I got to Shemya in July 1961 & left in June 1962. Both coming & going were via C124.7.5 hrs out & 7.0 back. Looks like lots of improvement since I was there. I worked for an ARMY Spec 5.Did not enjoy it. But tried to make the best of it. By
I could probably live there for months at a time for a short while, but I would have to go back to Anchorage once in awhile to make sure I didn't turn into a weirdo.
locales*
Runway looks brand new. What a great video!
Thanks!
Great video. Thanks for sharing this. Looks a little different from when I landed there in November, 1968 to begin my 12 month "isolated" tour with the U.S. Air Force. It started snowing while we were walking from the USAF C-141 to base operations...and hardly ever stopped from that point on, it seemed! LOL An unusual tour of duty, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. This was long before they "modernized" Shemya, and certainly no women allowed there in those days, except the few that showed up on the occasional USO Tour. It was all pretty basic, and once you were there, you were there for the duration. Made some lasting friendships there.
Yeah, we were blown away. We had heard all of the stories of how the weather shifts dramatically there. We were constantly calling for weather updates all the way in...
Met some great people there 1978-1979. I would go back there in a heartbeat. Is that weird or what.
wow, I was there in 1957 !!
I was there Dec.70-July'71. 5073 ABS.
Steven Weber Not at all weird; it was a special place that created love/hate feelings that never fade. If they ever opened the place up for visitors, they’d do enough business from Shemya vets to open a hotel -
in the Squadron the stood up Cobra Dane 1976. I don’t remember any day that clear in my year there! Reeves Aleutian Airline turboprop would just pop out of the clouds at about 2000 feet and do a cross wind landing as I remember it
Thanks for the comment
I was there 81-82. Security Police. I responded to the Cobra Ball crash. Really fucked up night that was.
I have been there many times in the USAF.
Who the hell disliked this? What is there to thumbs-down? The internet is weird :/
That's the internet sadly.
bots perhaps, to keep the yt algorithm balanced, I have read there are bots on social media as well, which even comment and create posts (probably rubbish, what else would you expect).
@@misssophie6515 I never thought of that. I wouldn't doubt it.
Back in the days of propeller-driven aircraft, commercial airlines (doing the Canada/Asia route) used the airport as a refueling stop.
makes sense
This is a Marine C-9. Approach is usually 140-150 kts. Roll out isn't that short. I think the video cut out pre-maturely.
just followed a 747 Polar Air cargo plane on Flightradar24 make an emergency landing here.....that must've been pretty exciting too. Thanks for posting this to see what it must've been like.
I'm sure their landing was a lot more "task intensive" than mine.
I got a letter of counseling from a jerk E-5 because a civilian made an emergency landing (1981) on Shemya and I was a Security Policeman. I used a Coast Guard C-130 for cover and concealment as the aircraft taxied to the ramp and was actually written up for endangering government property. I am not making this up.
@@bobbybooshay8641 I was there in 81-82 Transportation Heavy equipment Mechanic, worked out of one of the hangars
@@robertjones1381 ---We crossed paths then.
I got kicked out of the SP's and went to CE while at Shemya and sent to Little Rock AFB (long story).
Too much alcohol and weed for a 19 year old kid if you ask me. The midnight shift of the SP's would drink in their rooms and smoke weed while on duty. Not a great start for me and the Air Force. An E-4 got me caught up in a mailed in weed plot.
Looking back I can not believe how much alcohol and drug abuse there was. Even those "alert" F-4E pilots were drinking well past midnight in The Rocker.
I responded to the RC-135 crash that night and to this day I have nightmares about it.
The VA actually says I have PTSD which I just found out about this year.
Just found out about the incident but couldnt find the news report or video
Can you see Russia from your kitchen window in Shemya? Is this a Russian name? Pretty close to Semia, which means "family" in Russian!
Looks like a beautiful day in Shemya.....landed here in '70 as a crew chief on a KC-135 out of Fairchild. Mid winter white blizard going on with nothing in site but radar domes. Expedited our refueling and was very motivated in getting airborne again.
I was stationed there ALL of '78. NEVER saw that clear of day...hahah
I was there 94-97, a day like this is VERY rare
Yeah, we were blown away. We had heard all of the stories of how the weather shifts dramatically there. We were constantly calling for weather updates all the way in...
Friendly foxes still there to greet you?
yessir!
thanks for the great video,
Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
I almost died there! I was sick when we landed, went to see station Doc, he said I had pneumonia and wasn't very happy that we were there! He was afraid I would infect the people there on the Island and made me stay in my room for 3 days!
That sucks!
2 short tours there. It's like the tip of the end of the world.
I would go back Tomorrow if I could. Class of 71-72
I was there in '57. enough said
What was it like? What equipment was installed? Were you helping build equipment??
anybody out there flying in VQ1 69 70 especially crew 4 doing missions from this base,bringing in fresh fruit and milk for the AF guys, they would pay you $4 for a quart of milk and $2 for an orange.we all made a killing..lol. Hey ,and quit whinning the guys that had duty on this rock loved us..believe me they had money to burn..all they had was powered milk and eggs back then...lol,those were the days..
They had regular eggs and milk then.
Very impressive landing at one of the greatest places on earth *not to be* .
haha
@@rickbirt6635 I surmise that you have been there? I was there for a week or two on deployment but rather longer at one of the neighboring islands.
@@thomasmaughan4798 That was me (the OP) on my other account.
Jesus! How many years did he spend in the Navy? (make potholes much?)
Nice landing......Summer day no cross winds. In 78 on C141 we went around.
I was stationed there ALL of '78. NEVER saw that clear of day...hahah.
@@pollyspack3684 Right??? We were blown away!
What type of aircraft is this? Approach seems slow with a really short rollout.
I worked out here, we flew in on the G2.
G2? Fancy ;)
And cathay landed there
as an emergency landing
Ñorthwest Orient; now taken over by Delta, used to use it as a refueling stop.
Spent some time on the Rock with 663/664
wau me puse a mirar Google mapas encontré esta pequeñas islas sigo la cordillera que hay al parecer estas islas son milenarias por que si te fijas el océano las cubrió nuestro mundo es algo que nunca vaz a descubrir mucho menos el universo
Hi, I am writing from a TV production company in the UK called Title Role. We are currently making a documentary series about flights. Each episode will feature a number of different stories ranging from major incidents down to smaller events with private planes. We would love to use your footage in one of our episodes. Please could you email me at Joannahunt@titlerole.co.uk to discuss this further. Many Thanks
Wilco