This page is for posting of comments submitted to the site…
(we are always looking for stories from folks who flew the Hustler…)
Hi, my name is Donna Elliott Sisley. My father was Maj. Ralph H. Elliott (retired – died April 21, 2000). He was stationed at Bunker Hill Air Force base from 1959 until his medical retirement in 1966. I graduated from Maconaquah H.S. in 1966. I am asking for your help in posting a notice to help me locate my classmates from 1966 for a planned class reunion for September of 2002. For any responses please send them to me at:
Donna Elliott Sisley
dsisley@aol.com
Tucson, Arizona
William Harris writes: My Dad was a B-58 pilot and I grew up at Bunkerhill AFB in Indiana. I am looking for anyone who might have remembered him. Can you help? His name was Maj. William G. Harris and he retired in 1967 at Bunker Hill. My father passed away 16 years ago and I find myself wanting to locate any one who remembers him to talk about the days at Bunker Hill and any stories they may remember about him. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetary. I have fond memories of Bunker hill even though I was a small boy. I remember listening to those big engines roaring down the runway and from time to time seing them at night with the after burners going like crazy.
William G. Harris
Senior Technician
harrisw3@corp.earthlink.net
I am LTC H. F. Kelly, Jr (RET). My father was Col. H. F.Kelly USAF. My 1st cousin was Lt. Col. P. S. Kelly III and a crew member of the B58 Hustler for several years. He was known as “Pat Kelly” to all. He was my hero along with my father. I spent 26 years in the U. S. Army and served a year in Vietnam as a helicopter Gun ship pilot. Even though I spent many years in the “green suit” I still have lots of “blue blood” flowing in my veins.
Thanks,
If there are any crew members that knew Pat and have interesting things to remember about him—-I would like very much to hear from them. Pat died a little over 4 years ago. He is missed by lots of us who knew and admired him greatly. I never knew anyone with a better personality or a
friendlier smile.
H. F. “Skip” Kelly
Skipkell@Bellsouth.net
I was visiting your web site during a search for a specific crash that my father was in. He was a B-58 pilot for the 305th bomb wing at Bunker hill. I lived there also from 62 to 67 when my dad retired. I saw some pictures in a photo album of his crash in Iceland. He and his crew walked away from the crash. My fathers name was Maj. William G. Harris. If you know of any information on this crash or anyone who remembers him please let me
William G. Harris
know.
Senior technician
HD swing 01
harrisw3@corp.earthlink.net
It appears most of the comments are coming from relatives of Hustler pilots. This is more of the same. I’m Sky Younger, son of LTC Dale Younger who was a Hustler pilot in Bunker Hill between 1960 and 1965. As a young boy I remember many nights on base trying to go to sleep with the roar of the B-58s sounding like they would shatter the windows of the house. It was also a special treat when we’d go down to the flight line at dusk to see a takeoff. There was nothing so beautiful as seeing the blue flames coming out of the four engines as a Hustler took off into the twilight.
One special Saturday morning when I was about ten years old Dad took me down to the flight line and into a hanger to see a special airplane. It was “Greased Lightning”; the Hustler that had just won the Bendix trophy. Many years later Dad & I toured the SAC Museum in Nebraska and saw this same aircraft again. It made us both feel like we had gone back in time.
Dad’s crew was the only B-58 team to ever get a 100% rating on the Operational Readiness Inspection Test (ORIT). There was a big ceremony, it made headlines in the base newspaper, and the three crewmembers received a special “Blue Ribbon Crew” patch to wear on their flight suits.
On one particular mission, a KC-135 boom operator accidentally knocked the front spike off of Dad’s plane during a re-fueling operation. Air Force personnel recovered the part from a cornfield in Indiana, and the maintenance crew made an ashtray out of it. We still have the ashtray at home.
Dad died in September of 1999. Out of all of my heroes, he was the greatest.
Sky Younger
skyyounger@cs.com
Tucson,. Arizona