3585th pilot training wing

[williamc]

Dik,
My old base was Walker AFB in Roswell New Mexico and it closed in 1967. I was a young airman working on autopilots and compass systems on B-52Es and KC135s. I flew alot on both planes for maintenance reasons. We didn't get flight pay, they called it hazardous duty pay. I was on a KC135 once that landed on Shemya about 1963. I didn't see that runway until we touched down. They had to refuel us with a truck. I only served in the Air Force for 4 years but it was one of the high points of my life. I started flying Aeroncas about 12 years ago and I thoroughly enjoy them. Thanks for the insight into the Squadron Patches. Hopefully someone will be able to come up with one for the 3585th. Have a great day.
Bill

[MikeB]

Here's my old squadron patch from the 507th group in Northern Michigan. I served at Kinross and at KI Sawyer (TDY) from 1958-59 before shipping out to Saint Lawrence Island in Alaska as diesel mechanic. Never got to fly other than station to station on either a C45 or C123. I attended a reunion at Kinross a few years ago and made contact with my old room mate (he looked a lot older for some reason).

I'm thinking about having a graphic made of the emblem and putting it on the door of the L16.

Is there a reason why the graphics copy so large on the attachments?

Mike Berg

[MikeB]

Correction to the above: it was the 507th group but the patch belongs to the 438th squadron that was stationed there. They flew F89's, then F102's and I guess eventually F106's but I was gone by that time. It was a very interesting time of my life as I basically worked on the flight line area on fuel tankers, fire trucks and aircraft support equipment. Northern Michigan was actually colder than Alaska. It was an effort to keep equipment operational in both places due to the extreme cold, though.

Mike

[williamc]

Mike,
The size of your picture is 444kb. I think it would be good to re-size it to less than 120kb. I put my 6th Bomb Wing patch on the tail of my plane. I'm attaching it to this reply to show you what 120kb looks like. It covers the whole page.

Bill

[williamc]

Mike,
Resized to 89kb. My wife taught me how to do it, smart lady.
Bill

[MikeB]

Does she give lessons ?? I always used the Photo Bucket site before which apparently sized the print to reasonable until I found out I could just load the print from the bottom of the post on this site (apparently a slow learner). Anyway, I need to figure it out.
Thanks,
Mike (Who wants the snow to go away).

[dikholder]

Bill: your unit when it closed was reopened at Eielson AFB, AK as the 6th Strategic Wing. In the mid 80s it was redesignated the 6th STrategic Recon Wing and finally the 6th Recon Wing. It closed again at the dismantling of SAC when we won the Cold War. During the time it was at Eielson, I was assigned to it for about 11 years. We flew the RC-135S and RC-135X model recon platforms, primarily out of Shemya AFB at the end of the Aleutian chain. The RC-135S (Cobra Ball) is still actively flying and I would bet it is on alert right now watching that lil tin pot dictator launch his rocket from Korea. The Pirate from your 6th Bomb Wing patch was incorporated into the 6th Strat Recon Wing patch. Check it out.

Dik

[williamc]

Dik,
I love the picture of the Patch and the info on the 6th. Thanks for sharing.
Bill

[williamc]

Thanks to all you guys for your interest and help. I followed thru with a suggestion to contact the Air Force archives and I received a response and a copy of the 3585th Emblem(I tried to attach it but the board has reached its quota). This forum is really helpful and I hope I can help others in the future.
Bill

[Richard Murray]

Bill,

Thanks for sending the image of the patch.

I have posted it for all to see. Here is the link.

http://aeronca.celinaux.com/pics/3585ftw.jpg

Richard

[L-16APilot]

Thanks to all of you for posting this Training Wing patch. Like another bulletin board post, I'm still trying to track down the 1947-1954 history when my L-16 was w/ USAAF, and also the CAP records after it was in San MArcos. I've got the service card from Alabama, and tried the NASM, but they don't have records before 1953. Any other suggestions so I can share my -A history w/ vets and others? Thanks!

Mark E.
Illinois