Personalities from RAF Woodbridge
Some pictures copyright © "USAF Photo."
Captain
(Later Colonel) Joseph A Neely, in the pilot
briefing room of the 79th TFS, Woodbridge.
Note the Tiger
in the background.
[Tom, this is a great picture, full of atmosphere. Linn B.]
Linn,
You are right about the atmosphere in the briefing room. It was
real... morning Weather-over-target briefings at 0700, Alert ("Cut
Bait") briefs complete with launch codes... the chair-desks
were each labeled with the pilots name, with the front seats reserved
for the Squadron commander and his staff.
The Tiger in the background may be the same one seen in the base
entrance picture in one of your other
photos.
But most of the atmosphere is Joe Neely. About two years after
this picture, he had to duke it out head-to-head with a bunch
of VC in when they broke into his base in Vietnam ..... They lost.
The score was Joe Neely 7, VC-0. Sort of a guys,..... guy right
out of John Wayne. But never the lofty officer. Always a leader.
I still have a copy of the article from the Air Force Times.
By the way, did you know that the 79th TFS spawned at least eight
AF generals and one AF Chief of staff from the era from when it
was in England?
Tom
A very famous Bob Hoover, who made a visit to Woodbridge’s 79th
TFS in 1965, signs "The wall" inside the pilots lounge
of the 79th TFS Operations building. Squadron pilots, visiting
dignitaries and special guests were asked to leave their mark
as they came and went from Woodbridge. Hoover only visited for
a day, but left a lasting impression on the squadron’s "young
turks" when he casually loosened his tie, slung on a parachute,
and flew the pants off of three of them at once.
(USAF Photo)
Captain (Later Major) Charlie Duberger of the 79th TFS at RAF Woodbridge. Well
known for his flying skill, his determination and ability to put
his bombs on target. He was a force to be reckoned with in the
periodic bombing competitions held within the 20th TFW, then stationed
at RAF Wethersfield. While his prowess with an F-100D was well
known, his relationship with the maintenance crews was not as
strong as it could have been.
(USAF Photo)
This Photo,"Charlie
Collects" attests to the respect that his squadron
flight members had for his skills.
(USAF Photo)
Lt.
Col. John Bartholf
Commander of the 79th TFS
at RAF Woodbridge 1964-1966.
An Army West Point Graduate of the Old School who had chosen to continue his career in the Air Force, his personal charisma and extraordinarily ability to remember each of the squadron members names and personal data won him the loyalty of both officers and enlisted.
He was demanding, and drew the best from those he commanded. He had a strong capacity to hold those officers and enlisted persons who worked for him to almost West Point like standards of truth, military bearing and demeanor.
Officers were held to a strong, but not impossible, standard of morality that enlisted men were not. When a Hospital commander from a remote base in northern Africa called to complain that one of the squadron pilots had not gotten just one of his nurses pregnant, but three, the individual involved was summarily sent down to RAF Wethersfield. (The 20th TFW home base) Bartholf would have nothing more to do with that officer, who resigned a few months later. What might have been an amusing escapade to others was definitely not funny to him.
While he would not hesitate to discipline enlisted men, he considered his First Sergeant the last line before it got to him. If it got by the First sergeant, you were indeed, in "Deep Stuff", and could expect the punishment you deserved. To my recollection, few cases ever escalated to that point. While strong on discipline, he was also compassionate, writing personal notes to parents of junior enlisted men arriving at his squadron reassuring them that their sons had arrived safely on station. You could be sure the first direction you would get from him was to "write your parents".
This author was only to have one other commander in the remaining twenty years of his Air Force career that could effect an operational squadron in such a manner.
Testimony to his memory lays in a story related by one of the authors friends several years later. Years after departing Bartholfs unit, a friend of the author was walking down one of the long corridors inside the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Now a civilian, heavier, and wearing a short beard, he briefly glimpsed the General walking in the opposite direction. He said that the General, who was striding toward him heading in the opposite direction, greeted him curtly ( In the manner that most soldiers are used too.) using his first and last name.
Stunned that Bartholf should even recall him, a junior enlisted man at the time he was in the unit, he said that the General disappeared down the hallway before he could even recover enough to reply.
General Bartholf now lives in Maryland.