The Maumee River Raft Race; The Lobo Tank Busters
The Lobo Tank Busters
By: Stan Jordan
We returned to the rail-yards at Dijon today. It is a very busy place as the Germans are fleeing before Patton’s troops and they’re loading up the material on flat cars and heading east. We shot up everything that we could find; tanks, half-tracks, trucks and some small stuff. I guess most of the German Air Force is busy over on the Russian front. Anyhow, we never saw any of their planes today. We were back at our Airbase at Anthony by noon today. We drove our Jeep to lunch while the crewmen re-supplied our planes.
The Col. brought us a note from the French underground that on the south-side of Dijon, is an area camouflaged as an orchard, but it’s really a parking area for some German tanks. We had to slow down a little so we could find that place, and when we got into range, we caught a lot of small arms fire. But it worked out alright, when we caught the anti-aircraft fire, it gave away the sides of the tank park area.
We made a couple runs over the area to knock out the anti-aircraft guns and get them off our back, but we took on a lot of fire, also. A couple of imitation trees separated, and some of the tanks tried to escape. We got very frugal with our rockets and we wanted to get 16 tanks with our 16 rockets. We were very busy for about 10 minutes. We could see our targets pretty well. But, after a few of the tanks started to burn, the thick, black smoke blotted out the area.
Things settled down a little and we four formed up at about 1,000 ft. We checked our planes for damage and how much ammo and rockets we had left. We had three rockets left out of the 16 and a minimal amount of 50 cal. ammo. We could see that two tanks had gotten out onto the road and were trying to escape. The boys got the two tanks, but one rocket missed its target. But, we could see some smoke coming from the engine area of the third tank.
We stayed down on the ground and started back to the Tony Air-base at Anthony, France. After supper, we talked about today’s raid. We destroyed or damaged everything we saw. But, we didn’t go unscathed either. Each of us had a number of bullet holes in the fuselage. Oh, but it was worth it! What a trip we had! What a day!
See ya!
A Little on One of our Servicemen
By: Stan Jordan
Eric Gross is one of our servicemen who just returned home from one of the trouble-areas in the Middle East. He is at home in Payne, OH until his next assignment. He is an E-7 or a Master Sergeant with 23 years experience. His job is a crew-chief on a A-10 Warthog.
Eric was born in Paulding in 1973. His parents were Winston and Rita Gross. There were two in the family. He has one sister. He went to school at Wayne Trace and graduated there in 1991. He enlisted right away into the Indiana National Guard, a part of the Air-Force. He took his basic training at Lackland Air-Force Base in TX.
Then, he took a few months of technical training to be a crew-chief at Wichita Falls, TX. Then, he took a few months training at Nellis Air-Base in Las Vegas. This was specific training on the A-10 Warthog.
His six-year enlistment ran out in 1997 and he came home. He was home about five years, and then he re-enlisted in 2001. His first assignment was to the small country of Qatar, the world’s largest producer of natural gas. In 2005, he went to an Air-base in Iraq. He was sent to Alaska in 2010, and again, was a crew-chief on the A-10 Warthog.
In 2013, he went to Louisiana and had more technical training on the A-10. It carries one 37mm cannon and 12 rockets in a pod under the wing, and a load of bombs under the other wing. He is now re-deployed to the Indiana National Guard as a crew-chief for the A-10 at the 122nd Fighter Wing at the Fort Wayne Air-base. It is just like a regular job. He works four, 10 hour days with one weekend drill each month. He is in both light and heavy maintenance.
He has been in the service of his country for 23 years and he plans on putting in 12 more, and he will retire with 35 years of service when he is 55. In 2004, he married Nichole Martinez, they live in Payne and they have two children and they attend Wayne Trace.
Eric, I really enjoyed our interview today. I am very interested in the A-10 Warthog. The best tank busters in the skies! In my fictitious column called, The Lobo Tank Busters, we fly the P-51 D, the only fighter plane in WWII that used rockets and earned the honor of having the Air-Force to build the A-10.
Eric, again I say, “Thank You” for your service to our great country.
See ya!
The Maumee River Raft Race
By: Stan Jordan
This coming Saturday, August 15, is the big Maumee Regatta sponsored by the Advanced Chassis and Fabrication shop. I called it a Regatta because after talking to Dan Bowers, it seems most any type of a floatation is allowable; whether it is a boat, a kayak, raft, a barrel or an ark.
The water in the river is about down to normal and it has cleared up pretty well. They will meet about 10:00 a.m. at the east end of the park and put in. With the race starting about noon. There are only a few rules: You must have a life jacket. You bring your own refreshments. You must have a good time. You must be on the lookout for a mermaid. There will be a prize for anyone who catches a real, honest to goodness, official mermaid.
See ya Saturday!
