Terceira, Lajes Field as it was once called, is or was a curious place. On the east side a 10,000 ft runway and an installation that contained Navy, Army and Air Force installations. Air Force provided comms and A/C support, Navy flew the planes (P-3 Subhunters working with Rota Spain), and the Army, believe it or not ran the port there. On the east side was a larger city that liked to think it actually was part of Portugal.... you could drive around the whole island in an hour.
Don’t get me wrong, if you were married and had your wife there it was wonderful. Base plane to the Canaries, Rome or wherever, once every 18 months or coupla years....they were the only ones there long enough to get high up on the waiting list for the base C-54 ‘training flights’ A single guy (me) never had a chance to be there long enough.....some of these married guys spent 5+years there...
I was in 8 years and three months, 7 of them overseas - multiple COTs. I count the 15 months there among the worst. I actually volunteered worldwide anywhere (even Viet Nam) to get out of there.
Stopped there a couple of times while flying from Rota to JAX and back. Big thing was for everybody to pick up a few cases of Portuguese wine on the way back to Rota.
Completely innocent visit involving the Chinese premier then? He simply drove around the island 4X! Maybe he was meeting his mistress, or something. Can’t be too careful in China during “Government Changeover” Days.
It`s beautiful out there... I was there on an IG visit for Air Combat Command in 2001. When my part of the inspection was complete, I boarded an inter-island flight and went over to Sao Jorge island and met cousins I never knew existed. Had a great time. Since it was in April, the winds were awful, and I almost didn`t get back to Terceira to fly back with the IG team, though... was on pins and needles on that one..
Stationed there in 85-88 and went back 95-96.
Excellent golf course, loved the food and the people actually liked Americans.
Easy to get morale leave to Europe or the states. Went to Germany numerous times.
Things must have really changed since you were there in the Vietnam era.