Currently totally retired. Prior to that I was the Eglin AFB, FL Government Special Security Officer (GSSO).
Other Comments:
After I retired from the USAF, I worked for the Dept of Energy Strategic Petroleum Reserve in New Orleans. Then onto General Motors, Detroit. Left Michigan for the sunshine of Florida. I was employed at Eglin AFB for the next 16 years and enjoy each day. Lots of former co workers here and the USAF's finest, Air Force Cops, working, living and retired in this area. Always time for a good story or two. :>)
The A/C was actually a VC 131 used by LBJ. They had installed a large recliner that resembled a really comfortable barbers chair for LBJ. We flew this plane from Bergstrom AFB, TX, to Langley AFB, VA then onto England AFB, LA. The flight steward let me sit in LBJs chair for a leg of the trip. Very nice.
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C-131 Samaritan Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
The CV-240/340/440 series was used by the United States Air Force for medical evacuation and VIP transport and was designated as C-131 Samaritan. The first model Samaritan, the C-131A, was derived from the 240 model, and was delivered to the USAF in 1954. A trainer model, designated the T-29, was also based on the Convair 240 to instruct navigators and radio operators. The T-29 was eventually replaced by the T-43. A planned bomber training version of the T-29 (designated T-32) was never built. The 340 model was used for most C-131Ds.
The U.S. Navy used the Samaritan as the R4Y. Nearly all of the C-131s left the active inventory in the late 1970s, but Air National Guard units operated a few into the mid-1980s. The C-131 was eventually replaced by the C-9 Nightingale.
A Samaritan was the first aircraft used as a flying gunship testbed in mid-1963, in a program known as Project Tailchaser. A C-131B (#53-7820) was given a gunsight for the side window, but instead of guns it had cameras in the cargo area. Eventually the C-131 was ferried to Eglin AFB in Florida and a General Electric SUU-11A/A 7.62 mm Gatling-style Minigun was installed. Live ammunition was used and both over-water and over-land tests were successful.
