We Were Crewdogs I - The B-52 Collection

This is the first effort at collecting untold stories about what it was really like to be a crewmember in a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft. It is told first hand by the only ones who can really tell the story - those who were actually there.

This first book has a great collection of stories and laid the groundwork for additional volumes in this series. The later books are a little larger and have more stories, but this one sets the stage for those with a collection of acronyms used throughout the series and some great stories you will not find anywhere else. If you, or anyone you know was a crewmember, then this will tell the story of what it was all about.

Here is a collection of stories told by 17 contributing authors who were former Crewdogs (crew members) in the US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress. Several of these contributors are well-known authors of their own books and lend their skills to this collection.

Included are stories by a crew member of the first B-52 shot down over Hanoi during Linebacker II and the pilot of the last B-52 shot down over Vietnam. The day-to-day life of Nuclear Alert is the subject of many tales. Not all are war stories. Some are humorous insights into personal recollections of things that happened, but have never before been told. The book includes aircraft and crew photos and photos from alert tours and Guam and U-Tapao, the bases that were used to launch bombing missions, including Linebacker II strikes.

One chapter highlights the terms used by generations of B-52 Crewdogs
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Introduction

We Were Crewdogs - Mission Statement - Tommy Towery
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Chapter One - Becoming A Crewdog

The Language of the B-52 Crewdogs
Peace Is Our Profession
Becoming a Crewdog - Vince Osborne
My First Crew - Tommy Towery
The Aircraft Bible - The Dash-One
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Chapter Two - Peacetime SAC Warriors

The B-52 Peacetime Missions - Charles N. Brown
Dropping the Big One - Walter J. Boyne
Say Cheese, Please - Denny Scruggs
Let Sleeping Crewdogs Lie - Wayne Shimet
Banned From the Officer’s Club - George W. Golding
The Green Ball of Fire - Gordon Hallgren
Northern Wedding - A Four-Ship to Europe, 1976 - Lynn Wakefield
Nice approach, Co! - Gordon Hallgren
Thunderstorm on Final - Walter J. Boyne
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Chapter Three -The Cold War

The B-52 and Nuclear Alert - Walter J. Boyne
Sitting Alert – A Personal View - Tommy Towery
DEFCON 2 Cuban Missile Crisis - Arthur Craig Mizner
Satellite Alert and SAC Security - Gary E. Henley
And It Wasn’t Even an Eskimo Pie George W. Golding
Rookie Alert Tour - SAC ORI on Final - Lynn Wakefield
Bite Me Crank, Mate! - Tommy Towery
Known-Notice Alert Exercise - Bill Beavers
Santa Don’t Need No Stinking Line Badge - Denny Scruggs
When a Good Message Goes Bad, Very Bad - Lynn Wakefield
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines - Denny Scruggs
The Day the Klaxon Sounded “For Real” - Tommy Towery
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Chapter Four -The B-52 in Combat -Vietnam

Vietnam and Linebacker II - Charles N. Brown
A Picture Is Worth 444 Words - Bill Beavers
Linebacker II – A Personal View - Vince Osborne
The “Door Rester” - Vince Osborne
Bailout - Gerald Wickline
IP Inbound – The Final Minutes of Charcoal 1 - Robert G. Certain
The Dreaded Bag Drag - James Hooppaw
Just Another Flight - George Robert Dempsey
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Chapter Five - Bar Stories

A Few Shots from the Gunners - Karl Nedela
Put Out the Arc Light, Free the POGS - Bill Beavers
Fading Memories, Odds and Ends, and Bar Stories - Tommy Towery
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Mission Debrief

Conclusions - Bill Beavers
B- 52 Crewdogs in Books and Movies