A Trip Down Memory Lane

Please forgive me for careening away from the problems of today to indulge a blast from the past...pun intended.

This is the missile I was assigned to from 1959-1963. It was known as the TM-76A Mace, and was operational in Germany and Okinawa from 1959 to 1969. I was on a launch crew, and while that might sound marginally exciting, it mostly involved sitting in a blockhouse and waiting for WWIII with a deck of cards or a pocket novel in hand.

As you watch the video, don't bother trying to turn up the sound...it's a silent movie...but do watch for the chase plane to flash by just after the missile leaves the shed. The pilot earned the nickname "Sagebrush Kid" when he returned to base with a twig of sagebrush caught in the intake of his F-100. Watching him approach the missile pad just before launch was like watching a plane taxi at 500mph. He was so close to the ground, you couldn't see daylight between his plane and the desert floor.

This old film was taken about the same time our crew was there in 1959, but we were on a different launch pad. The base is Holloman AFB, New Mexico, which is adjacent to the White Sands Proving Ground. I spent a week there and it was the most interesting week of my Air Force career. We got to see dozens of Air Force, Army and Navy missiles being tested, and most were top secret at the time.