The most difficult position to fly in the formation was number three, because the aircraft commander was on the opposite side of the airplane from the rest of the formation and had to constantly be turning his head to the right. As the chief of the Horsemen, Chaney usually occupied that spot, while Moore usually flew the lead. The co-pilot in the right seat helped his boss maintain the tight formation that had become the team's trademark. All the pilots were highly qualified veterans, with an average of 4,000 hours of total flying time and 1,500 hours in C-130s by late 1959, when the Aviation Week journalist rode with them. Co-pilots were drawn from the ranks of aircraft commanders in the squadron, and quite often those men were instructor pilots as well.
The C-130 ordinarily called for a five-man crew, but the Horsemen flew with only four--two pilots, a flight engineer and a scanner. The navigator's seat sat empty during the shows. The crews came from within the squadron, and the Horsemen pilots tried to fly with the same flight mechanics when possible. There was great esprit de corps among the flight mechanics, who debated which pilot was best, which position was most difficult to fly and so on. In the air, the mechanics soon learned the torque settings needed at a particular point in a maneuver and the proper time for call-outs of instrument readings. The scanners came from maintenance and were just as proud to be part of the Four Horsemen as the pilots and flight mechanics. Hatfield remembered that the scanners ordinarily did not fly during performances, but were there to help get the airplanes off the ground.
The four veteran aircraft commanders of the Horsemen team had been with the C-130 since it was first assigned to the 463rd at Ardmore in December 1956. Chaney, along with Captain Richard "Stumpy" Coleman, had picked up the first airplane to be delivered at the factory in Marietta, Ga., and flown it to Ardmore. A year after the first Hercules arrived at Ardmore, the 463rd left Oklahoma when the base closed, moving to Tennessee to join the 314th. The Horsemen continued to stage their performances from their new base.
By early 1960 the C-130 had been in service with the Air Force for more than two years. Lockheed had developed a new model of the Hercules, the C-130B, and the 463rd and 314th began converting to the new version as the older A-models transferred to overseas squadrons. As the oldest C-130 pilots in the Air Force (in terms of time in the airplane), the Four Horsemen were ripe for deployment overseas. In a recent interview Hatfield speculated that they could probably have remained at Sewart and continued the team if someone had pushed for it, but it didn't happen that way. Three of the four received overseas orders, while the fourth, Moore, left the service and returned to Texas. Chaney got orders to Wiesbaden, West Germany. Aiken went to Tachikawa, Japan, and Hatfield ended up a few miles away, in Yokota. Except for Moore, they would all remain in close contact with one another over the years. Chaney and Moore died several years ago. Hatfield and Aiken still remain in touch today.
During the remainder of their careers, the four pilots remained associated with the C-130, as did many others who had flown with the team as backup aircraft commanders and co-pilots. Hatfield went on to pilot the reconnaissance version of the C-130B, with the super-secret 6091st Reconnaissance Squadron at Yokota, then returned to the United States to join the Lockheed C-141 program at Charleston Air Force Base, in South Carolina. He subsequently was placed in command of a rescue squadron equipped with HC-130Hs in California. Chaney returned to the 463rd after the wing moved from Langley Air Force Base, in Virginia (where it had gone from Sewart in 1963), to Clark Field in the Philippines.
Billie Mills, a veteran 774th pilot who often flew with the Four Horsemen, also served with the 463rd at Clark. On May 12, 1968, Mills was one of a handful of C-130 pilots who braved devastating enemy fire to rescue allied troops surrounded by a larger enemy force at a Special Forces camp at Kham Duc, South Vietnam.
Today the memory of the Four Horsemen lives on in the 16mm film Lockheed produced. To make that 15-minute movie, a motion picture company hired by Lockheed shot thousands of feet of film of the quartet in action. The Horsemen themselves were not especially happy with the finished product once it was edited down. The voices of actors were dubbed into the film, including one with a nasal northern voice who claimed to be the "chief" of the Horsemen. In reality, all the Horsemen were Southerners--Chaney and Moore from Texas, Aiken from Tennessee and Hatfield from Mississippi.
The Four Horsemen have been out of business for more than 40 years now. But the men who came up with a way to showcase the Hercules' excellent performance and their remarkable aerial demonstrations are not forgotten, thanks largely to one short film and the lasting memories they gave everyone who witnessed firsthand their precision maneuvers in transport aircraft.
www.wpafb.af.mil
members.aol.com/samc130
www.spectrumwd.com
www.stinsonflyer.com
www.sgtmacsbar.com
www.homeofheroes.com
Text of letter written by Bob Means, an enlisted man who made flights into Kham Duc that day in 1968:
Entering Kham Duc airspace in a flight of 4 Boxcars I heard from someone over the radio "Boxcars, this is a no sweat operation". I took this to be a command officer with a lot of altitude, in a huey, looking down at the airstrip. I want to emphasis I remember to this day-very clearly, though not the entire conversation, that officer's words "no sweat operation".
In we go to make this extraction. Very heavy fire being taken. I see our lead ship hit, smoking and going into the runway hard. #2 ship follows in with #3, #4 breaking off. Last I see is two "Hooks" down, one I know is disabled, #2 I figure is the same.
We return to Chu Lai knowing were going back (hopefully to get our guys) I'm looking for more firepower. Well Dick, you were idle that day (due to maintenance or ??) and without hesitation you signed on as ramp gunner. I also remember grabbing a "shit load" of extra 7.62 boxes for the M-60's.
As you know, we headed back out to Kham Duc to save all those poor guys who were stuck. We knew they were catching hell from the NVA who had all the high ground. I also wanted to find our 178th guys safe and bring them out as I'm sure so did all others.
I recall being cold due to the unusually high altitude we were flying to avoid enemy fire. I recall watching rotary wing gunships, A-1E's, and A-4's strafing and bombing - more intense and concentrated than anything - I had seen prior. I watched a C-130 take off, bank left, never recover and fly directly into the mountain. Knowing it was loaded w/personnel, I remember feeling especially bad realizing the loss of life. Over the years I have questioned myself as to seeing an A-1E shot down. Recently I've seen stats showing - one was in fact lost that day, so I know I saw it!
It seems we were in a holding pattern for a long time prior to going in and become all too aware getting in and out safely was going to be a real luck situation. Of course during this time, amidst witnessing all this mayhem, I was continually looking at two of our ships already shot down and abandoned on the ground!
Well its time and in we go. We make it thru to this strip, set down, taxi a bit and wait. I asked our A/C "sir, where are they?" (our G.I. evacuees). Next, to our r/side, I see helmets pop from a ditch, standing outside with the ramp down, as the guys run toward us the mortar rounds start walking toward our ship. Do you remember me saying "help em on Dick"? The mortar rounds had us dead center as they closed and I just sort of accepted the fact we were going to be done.
Next thing I know, the mortar rounds stop (later I figured charlie must have run out and had to break out more rounds from ???) And all our pax are on board. Trying to sound calm I said "Ramps up, ready to go whenever you are sir". During our stay on the ground our pilots had some verbal discussion - seems one wanted to go and one wanted to stay. Wanted to stay had the strongest arm - wanted to go couldn't pull pitch!!
460 on the go with guns firing. I'm shooting a grenade launcher fast as I can out the r/ramp porthole. We gain altitude and were out of the hot zone as I look aft with a smile of relief I see Dick Janousek trying to pull himself up the ramp I never raised completely. Dick, without the "monkey strap" you were wearing I fear we might have lost you. Don't know if I ever apologized properly to you!
So we land at some base camp and are all happy we saved some grunts and ourselves. I bump into my friends Baker and Schwiezer (F/E & crew ch) who had gone down on #469. Baker had been crew ch. on my ship(s) prior and I was happier than shit he and Sam (Schwiezer) weren't dead. Baker said he had shot a "gook" coming at him as he got off his ship. We both agreed that was the right thing to do!
So much for reunions - our crew is ordered back to Kham Duc to pick up the last of the G.I.'s. I'll never forget how hopeless I felt our situation had become. Knowing the intensity of enemy fire I was sure our chances of making it in and/or out twice in one day were about zero. During my 21 years as a fireman I often reflect on this particular event and say to myself "sometimes you gotta do shit you don't want to do". It's a good way to find out what you're really made of. Well, prior to our arrival at Kham Duc, another aircraft got our guys out - we were returned to somewhere safe - I know I breathed easier. Guess that was a real emotional roller coaster for most of us.
Anyway I know the 178th preformed well and I'm sure we all matured a bit. We lost 2 aircraft but brought all our guys and a bunch of others home.
Whenever I recall Kham Duc I can still feel the emotion, excitement and controlled fear of 25 years ago. Few people ever get to experience this kind of stuff. I know that I did. I know what we did. I've always been proud of that day.
Coolbeans.
Wish I'd gotten to see that airshow performance.
On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on January 31:
1601 Pieter de Bloot Dutch landscape painter
1623 François-Xavier de Laval Montmorency, consecrated the first bishop of Québec Canada in 1674
1734 Robert Morris merchant (signed Declaration of Independence)
1797 Franz Peter Schubert Lichtenthal Austria, composer (Unfinished Symphony)
1810 Daniel Ruggles Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1897
1812 John Randolph Tucker Capt (Confederate Navy), died in 1883
1817 Antony Winkler Prins Dutch writer (Groiler Encyclopaedia)
1818 William Raine Peck Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1871
1868 Theodore William Richards chemist (atomic weights, Nobel-1914)
1872 Zane Grey American West novelist (Riders of the Purple Sage, Spirit of the Border)
1881 Irving Langmuir physical chemist/colloid researcher/inventor (tungsten filament lamp/Nobel 1932)
1886 Alfonso Lopez Colombia, statesman (President UN security council-1948)
1892 Eddie Cantor New York City NY, comedian (Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater)
1903 Gardner Cowles Iowa, publisher/founder (Look Magazine)
1903 Tallulah Bankhead Huntsville AL, actress (Lifeboat, Die Die Darling)
1905 John Henry O'Hara Pottsville PA, novelist (Butterfield 8, Pal Joey, Appointment at Samarra)
1914 "Jersey" Joe Walcott heavyweight boxing champ (1951-52)
1915 Thomas Merton France, Trappist monk/poet/essayist (7 Storey Mt)
1915 Garry Moore [Thomas Garrison Morfit], Baltimore MD, TV host (Garry Moore Show, I've Got a Secret)
1919 Jackie Robinson Georgia, 1st black major league baseball player (Dodgers)
1920 Stewart L Udall St Johns AZ, US Secretary of Interior (1961-69)
1921 Carol Channing Seattle WA, actress (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Hello Dolly)
1921 John Agar Chicago IL, actor (Fort Apache, Sands of Iwo Jima)
1921 Mario Lanza Philadelphia PA, actor/singer (Great Caruso, Toast of New Orleans)
1923 Norman Mailer New Jersey, New York City NY mayoral candidate/novelist (Naked & the Dead)
1925 Benjamin Hooks civil rights leader
1931 Ernie "Mr Cubs" Banks Chicago Cubs, Hall-of-Famer (1st baseman)
1937 Philip Glass Baltimore MD, composer (Einstein on the Beach)
1937 Steve Karmen Bronx NY, jingle writer (I Love NY, This Bud's for You)
1937 Suzanne Pleshette New York City NY, actress (The Birds, Emily-Bob Newhart Show)
1938 Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard queen of Netherlands (1980- )
1938 James G Watt Colorado, US Secretary of Interior (1981-83)
1940 Stuart Margolin Davenport IA, actor (Pockford Files, Love American Style)
1941 Richard A Gephardt (Representative-D-MO, 1977- )
1944 Charley Musselwhite blues musician (Stand Back, Louisiana Fog)
1947 Nolan Ryan pitcher (Mets, Angels, Astros) (7 no-hitters, 5,714 Ks)
1951 Phil Manzanera rock guitarist (The Doors)
1956 Johnny Rotten [John Lydon], rocker (Sex Pistols-God Save the Queen)
1971 Brandi Sherwood Miss Idaho-USA (1997, 2nd, succeeded Brook Lee)