Book about KC-135 and E-3 Midair in Saudi Arabia Involving a 46th ARS Crew.

[Miller, Gerald S.]

Just finished reading a book entitled "Prisoner of Peace" by Lt Col William Hanson, USAF (Ret) who was the Detachment Commander and the IP involved in the subject accident. The author was from Blytheville, but the crew was from the 46th. The accident occurred on 9 Dec 83, well after I left K.I. in '66.

The book can be purchased at:
http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-62510-042-9

George Batte might know the guy on the cover as it is "Red" Clevenger, who was an A-1 Sandy at NKP in '72 and was also involved in the Bat-21 rescue. The author was also at NKP at that time and working in Task Force Alpha.

The 46th crew was: AC Capt Robertson, CP Lt Kern, Nav Lt Petsch and BO SSgt Bolling.

Not very well proof read, but very interesting.

Jerry Miller, 46ARS, '61-'66

[George and Jean Batte]

Interesting! I never heard about this midair. Is the essence of the book
about how Hanson was persecuted or what? Also, the connection with Red is a
mystery.
Red and I were good buddies at NKP. I think he got there a couple of weeks
before I did. Good guy. We have had periodic EMail contact, so I'll ask
him what this is all about.

Cheers,

George

Jerry Miller, 46ARS, '61-'66=

[Miller, Gerald S.]

There was some talk about the mid-air on the 46th ARS facebook page back in April. After refueling, apparently someone on the E-3 wanted to get some pictures of the tanker and in the process ran into the tanker, knocking out the right side engines, hydraulics and power rudder. At the time, Hanson says he was standing behind the nav explaining some stuff to some VIP passengers. He immediately told the CP to get out of his seat and he got in and recovered the airplane at Riyadh.

He was suspended from flying and later court martialed; however, the trial didn't have much to do with the accident. The charges were for such things as errors on the form F, passengers not being properly authorized, forms not properly accomplished, etc. You'll have to read the book to find out the result of the trial.

Over half of the book is transcript from the trial. Red Clevenger was a defense mitigation witness. At the time of the trial in Jan. '85, Red was the Ops Officer or the 16th TFS at Hill. He said he knew the author at NKP and worked with him on several SAR's

The author explains the cover like this. "The photo on the cover is of my fighter pilot friend Lt. Col. James "Red" Clevenger standing behind his F-16. Just as he and my other fighter pilot type friends stood behind their country for so many years, they also stood behind me in my hour of need. My intention now is to honor him and the others through him."

Having been in tankers and the 46th, I thought the book was very interesting. You'll enjoy it.

Cheers,

Jerry

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From: 46th307th-air-re...@googlegroups.com [46th307th-air-re...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of George and Jean Batte [gjb...@comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 12:04 PM
To: 46th307th-air-re...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Book about KC-135 and E-3 Midair in Saudi Arabia Involving a 46th ARS Crew.

[joelo...@comcast.net]

I came to K.I. in Oct of '86 as a Boom. I had heard about this incident, and made 3 trips to Elf One in Riyadh. I'm interested to read about this incident. You hear so many tales. A couple years back I made it up to Marquette for a re-union and met the Navigator from the "Bailout" crew. After hearing that legendary tale it was great to finally speak to someone who was there, as well as all of the other 46th folks from throughout the years. 

Joe Long

---

From: "Gerald S. Miller" <MILL...@uwec.edu>
To: 46th307th-air-re...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 3:44:25 PM
Subject: RE: Book about KC-135 and E-3 Midair in Saudi Arabia Involving a 46th ARS Crew.

[John Stevens]

Joe, 

Glad you got to meet Joe Haywood at the reunion. Have you read any of his Woods Cops books? Give them a try or his latest "Red Jacket"

John Stevens

Marquette, MI

[craig bolling]

Hello all,

   

    My name is Craig Bolling I just finish read this book, I must say the author did not does not tell the whole truth in the book and does not  many of the fact right about the courtmarital, the reason I know this is because I was the boomoperator on the this flight