Bitburg Air Base, W. Germany
and
Nuclear Weapons Maintenance 1967-1970
Lowry
I graduated from Nuke Wpns school in December 1966. While at Lowry I had filled out a wish list before and my preference was W. Germany and England. I got W. Germany. I was assigned to the 71st Tac Missile Squadron, 36th Tac Fighter Wing. I had no idea what that was. One of the instructors told me that I would be working on the Mace which was not part of the curriculum.
71st Tac Missile Squadron, Bitburg AB, W. Germany
I reported to Bitburg in January 1967 to the 71st TMS. The 1st Sgt assigned me to a launch crew to train as a Tech 5. I wish I could remember the SSgt who I trained with because he was a really nice guy. He told me to forget everything I had learned at Lowry except the two-man concept and the T-104 tester. The launch crews worked 12 hour shifts, 6am-6pm. A launch crew consisted of two launch officers, power guy, engine and airframe guy, and nuclear weapons guy. We would do zero maintenance on the warhead. That was all done by the 336th MMS at the Missile Support Area. I had no idea what this job consisted of because we had no class on the Mace B at Lowry. I was trained at Lowry in all the current AF weapons at the time, gravity bombs as well as RV units, but this was not one of them. I'll endeavor to explain what the Mace Missile system was at Bitburg and other bases.
The Mace B Missile
The TM-76 Mace Missile was a ground launched nuclear armed missile. It carried the W28 in a section behind the nose. A typical launch crew was responsible for 4 birds that were in hardened launch bays behind a 100 ton hydraulic door. The crew was underground about 40 feet in a launch complex. Bitburg had two launch sites, Rittersdorf and Idenheim. We were in constant radio communications with USAFE. Some guy on the other end got his jollies by making us run through a launch exercise. The real skill of a good crew member was how well you played Pinochle.
My time at the 71st TMS was short lived. I got off one evening at six and was told that there had been a mistake in assigning me to a launch crew. There was no need of another Tech 5 so I got orders transferring me to 336th MMS, the group who actually worked on the warhead.
336th MMS at the Missile Support Area (MSA)
The W28 warheads were maintained by the 336th MMS inside the Missile Support Area at Oberweis. I believe that is the name of the site. For me there were no more 12 hour shifts and "normal" working hours. The shop had 10-12 Airmen and Sergeants, a Sgt in charge and Lieutenant as commanding officer. Each W28 warhead was kept mounted in the missile section. If you remove the tail with the parachute and the nose with the fuse off of a B-28 this was the W28. To mount it in a Mace, a circular flange was mounted around the warhead and it was hoisted up and bolted into the missile section. The missile section was placed on a trailer and stored in an igloo at the MSA. Needless to say it was a big deal to work on one of the warheads that were mounted in one of the alert birds. The only time one of these W28s came into the maintenance bay was for a bottle change. To accomplish this, the bay door at the missile site had to be opened and the missile had to pulled out of the bay. The nose with the guidance system was removed and the warhead section unbolted from the missile and placed on a transport trailer. It was then transported back to the MSA and into the maintenance bay. We (463's) took over. The W28 was unbolted from the missile and placed in a hand truck where it could be worked on.
Working as a new 463 at this placed was not pleasant. I got every mundane (I'm being PC) job that came down, guarding the German nationals cutting the grass, painting the building inside and out, painting the trailers, painting the floor, painting the doors and mopping the maintenance bay and the end of the day. By the way, every building at Bitburg was painted olive drab for camouflage. When I arrived at Bitburg the place had these huge camouflaged nets placed everywhere. The nets were concentrated around the flight line but they were all over the base. They were like giant tennis nets for a Jolly Green Giant. The nets stayed up for a couple of years and came down before I left.
Transfer to Aircraft Weapons and the "500 Area"
I asked and got a transfer to the aircraft weapons shop known as the "500 Area". It was still part of the 336th MMS and I had the same commanding officer. At the 500 Area I finally got to work on the nukes. Bitburg A.B. was home to the 36th TFW and three squadrons of F-4E's and one squadron of F102's. There were over a hundred aircraft at Bitburg. We had a large supply of nukes for VA(Victor Alert) and operational exercises. These were the B28, B43, B57 and B61 and W54 for the AIM 26A.
I was assigned to work with my roommate, William J. Muzenski from Racine, Wisconsin. Our crew chief was SSgt. Cliff Wilt. We began to train on all the systems and we got certified in a couple of months. The NCOIC rotated the crews around so no one got bored doing the same thing. All maintenance on the nukes was done in the shop under the ever watchful eye of Quality Control (it may have been Assurance) but you know what I mean. All weapons underwent a visual inspection at some point after I got there. We had to pull every weapon out of the igloos tow it to the shop and inspect it for any damage and paint needs. Yes, we had to paint there also, but only on the bombs.
The 500 Area was a huge area cut out of the forest and just north of the base and flight line. You had to drive out of the base perimeter down a winding paved road and down a slight hill to the entrance of the ammo dump. The ammo dump was surrounded by two 12' fences with barbed wire top. I can't remember how many igloos were there but it was at least ten. The weapons were stored on tow-able trailers and the trailers were lined up in two rows wheel to wheel. It never failed that the weapon we were going to work on that day was always in the back (Murphy's Law). To access the igloo we had to know the code of the day which was changed from day to day. The SP at the main gate controlled access to the igloos. We would pick up a phone at the front of the igloo and it rang at the front gate. The SP would ask us the code and after verifying we could open it up. The igloo was a concrete dome covered with earth with two huge 10 foot steel and concrete doors. The doors had to be jacked up to a point where they could pivot open. Once opened, we attached the trailer with the unit already mounted on the trailer, and toThe procedure was reversed putting the weapon back in the igloo.
We had an EOD detachment at the 500 Area and we trained with them and assisted them in emergency destruct procedures. This called for having enough shape charges in each igloo as well as enough det cord to connect all the bombs connecting all the igloos. To add to this we also had to have all the simulated (wooden) shape charges and rope to do a simulation exercise during an ORI. This was one of the last things we did for them was an emergency destruct.
Life at the maintenance shop was good. We came to work at 0800 hrs and we were off by 1600 hrs. We got regular breaks for coffee and smoke. I didn't smoke at the time but my roommate did. Our NCOIC was not a make work supervisor. He didn't assign us to paint something because it was standing still. As long as we accomplished of the work for the day, we could have play time; darts, cards, volleyball, etc. We had some terrific volleyball games weather permitting and we got so good at darts we got the English to buy the drinks at a pub in London. The weather was typical Eiffel Mountain weather all the time; cloudy, cool, high chance of rain. It warmed up to 85 degrees one summer at Bitburg. After work the whole shop would get together at the NCO club or Rod & Gun Club on Friday night and have a couple of beers. The local brew is called Bitburger Pils, an excellent German beer. The NCO Club served Heineken beer and on Fridays you could buy a bottle for 5 cents. We later moved our social hour to a local Gasthouse in Stahl, a little town outside of Bitburg. The guesthouse was owned by Johane and he loved Americans. Our preference was playing foosball or Pinochle. Life was good.
Summary
During my three years at Bitburg I managed to accumulate 60 credit hours at the University of Maryland, buy two vehicles with my roommate, travel to 18 different countries, play some of the finest golf courses in the world at Luxembourg, Belgium and Scotland, learn enough German to speak with the locals, visit some of the greatest battlefields of WWI and WWII, visit Berlin and walk through Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin, and getting stuck on the French Rivera because the French went on strike and we couldn't buy gas. After getting out of the AF in 1970 I returned to the USA, a country I did not recognize. There was a huge anti-war anti-military sentiment in the US culture. I was in Richmond, Virginia at the time and wanted to return to Texas. I moved back home and began my life after the Air Force. I can't tell you how many times I started to walk into a recruiting office and say "take me back". I didn't though. Instead I applied for and was accepted as a police officer in Houston, Texas in 1971. I never looked back after that. Those four years in the Air Force as a Nuclear Weapons Specialist are fond memories of service and gratitude. I thank God every day for the privilege of serving my country in the United States Air Force.