Hi Yall, I started observing yall's forum after Jack Cook's fire, bad that, I lost 90 of my Dad's Guadalcanal 44th Ftr Sqn., 1st Group pics in that damned fire.... gotta watch that drift rate....so, I like it here, even tho I haven't any wing time, I have seen over 160 mph in 4 wheels. So I figgered I'd introduce myself.
On Jan. 2, 1949 I waz birthed into Gen. Curtis LeMay's SAC, my Dad waz tha 1st FSO under tha General. I spent tha next 13 yrs. bouncing from Offut AFB to Cali thru LA, Miss., FL, GA, TX, Rhein Main, and Wiesbaden, following my Dad's career.
My Dad waz Lt. Col. H.E. (Mat) Matson and I am H.E. (Zeb) Matson, Jr. and I thought that to establish my bonifides, I'd pass on some factual Intel on tha RB57D, my Dad's last Operational Assignment, Detached to tha CIA in Operation Black Knight....1956-1962. In 1988/89 while recovering from Hip surgery, I built one of tha few Replicas I have ever built...my Dad's personal RB57D, Tail Number 33974 ( tha single seaters were sized to tha individual pilots). As finding pictures of tha 20 iz somewhat hard, I have only found one on tha web, and it is a later version than his plane......
..... that I'll try to pass on some truths as told to me by my Dad, and not some of tha BS I've read over tha years.
First tha wings,
,
my Dad's plane had 107.5 ft wings, and they were "wet wings". Tha bomb bay had been stripped and tha co-pilots' seat and whatever room they needed from tha bbay, contained either an Infra-red or a long-lens camera.... There is a rumor that these planes had wing problems....from 1956 thru 1962, they only lost one wing off of one airplane, while landing. According to my Dad, tha pilot landed "Hard"...too hard according to my Dad. BTW, also according to my pop, tha wing spar waz tha largest single casting that had ever been attempted, at that time. tha two engines and tha fuselage.
...BTW and not to start anything, but in 1960 I had tha priviledge of being in tha "Analysis Room" looking at tha negatives of my Dad's filight. Those negatives were 75 miles X 125 miles and with a mag glass I could read tha tag numbers of tha Soviet trucks, film exposed at 68,000 feet. It is a damned shame that this administration sacrificed Gen. Powell's Honor by sending him to tha U.N. with cartoons.....darn that drift rate, compass, compass.....
Tha model started as an Italieri 1/72nd B57B, tha wings are balsa, as are tha nacelles, some more pics including an artifact....
Oh and just to add to my story...seems as tho there is a concerted effort to make my past disappear from time's history, I found this at a military resource....
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... ughlin.htm
Laughlin AFB, Texas
Laughlin is located at Del Rio, Texas 150 miles west of San Antonio and 6 miles from Old Mexico.
Laughlin Army Air Field was named after Lieutenant Jack T. Laughlin, the first Del Rio Army Air Forces casualty of World War II. His B-17 was shot down over Java. Laughlin's training mission began in July 1942 under the Army Air corps. The mission of the base at that time was to transition pilots into the Martin B-26 "Marauder". In 1945, the base closed and the land was leased to sheep and goat raisers in the area. In 1962, Undergraduate Pilot Training was implemented at Laughlin and has remained its mission ever since. Laughlin used the T-37 in the primary phase of training and the T-33 in the advanced phase. In 1964, the T-38 replaced the T-33. In 1965, the T-41 "Mescalero", a single engine plane, was used in the first phase of student training to identify students in need of additional help and identify likely eliminees before sending them to UPT. Civilian instructors conducted the training at Del Rio International Airport. This training now takes place at Hondo, Texas near San Antonio. A new eara began at Laughlin in 1993 as the 47th Flying Training Wing implemented specialized undergraduate pilot traint (SUPT) and brought on board the T1A Jayhawk, the first new aircraft to be used at AETC's flying training wings in over 25 years. Lauglin's mission to train pilots has remained the same since 1962.
I can guarantee to yall that when we moved to Del Rio in tha winter of '56, tha Officer's Club, pool and golf course had been there long enuff for tha planted grass to become established. And I nevah saw any sheep on that base. Last I heard, back in tha 90s...they store reserved spycraft, including my Dad's aeroplane there now.
Enuff of me for now, Hi Jack, when yu get a chance, drop me a line.
zeb
_________________
Zeb Matson -
P-40Fs
44th Ftr. Sqn. Guadalcanal-1943(Dad's record-5 KIA, 3 Probables and 1 P-40F {hiz own})
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