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MCAS Yuma Sep 1968 to Jan 1972
I joined in Jan 68, at that time you had to join for four years to get aviation guaranteed. All I wanted was Crash Crew I went to Millington July 68 and then on to MCAS Yuma in Sep 68. I got out in Jan 72 a Corporal and somehow I stayed in Yuma and never went to Viet Nam. About five of us wound up in jail down in San Luis, Mexico a gunny (I can't remember his name I think he may have been in Crash Crew at one time) that was a Mexican-American and could speak Spanish he went down there and bailed us out of jail. Two Marines both from Crash Crew started fighting each other in one of the bars. We got our friend and all went out the door a big fat cop was standing outside and we went to jail. The other Marines got away, they went out another door with no cop outside. At the morning muster they told the that we were in jail. I guess we weren't the first Marines that the gunny got out of jail and I'm sure we weren't the last. Looking back on the whole thing we should have given the cop twenty bucks, and that would have been the end of it. I was a crew chief on an MB-1. In 1971, I think we had two old MB-1's and had just gotten a new Oshkosh MB-1. We also had 2 old MB-5's and had the Oshkosh MB-5 for a year or two at that time. Did they still have the old Autocar runway foamer? Sometimes in the summer when we made relief out on pad 1, we would run the hand lines out the hatch, and would kick in the hand lines at the last minute, and water down the guys on pad, using just water. I loved our $50,000 squirt guns. Those were the good old days, now I'm a truck driver for Safeway Seattle. In fact I use to deliver milk to PSNS Bremerton, and Bangor Sub Base for Safeway. I've been driving truck for 29 years with Ralph's in California, Nalleys and Safeway up here. I also scuba dive and love it. Well Doc you ask for it, hope you didn't mind the Sea Stories. I'm sure you have some of your own that you'll share with me sometime. I would like to hear about the wheels up story. Where you on pad or with the wheels watch when that happened? With all those hours out on pad and inboard we sure heard a lot of Sea Stories didn't we? Take care Doc. ....Dane
The MB-5 picture was taken at NAS Millington TN. At the Crash Fire and Rescue School around Aug. 1968. I'm 5th from the right, back row. The picture with the Cherry Picker in the background is at MCAS Yuma Dec 1969. I'm 13th from the right, back row.
Need to find  Cpl. Brad Hieatt, 7051, MCAS Iwakuni, Japan 1970, needs to find Mike Blain or John Kincade/Kincaid.
April 2009 Mike Blain found! Cpl. Brad Hieatt would like to find John Kincaid still please Contact him. Return to MOS-7051 Home
MCAS Yuma History 1969-1987 From 1969 until 1987, the air station served primarily as a training base for pilots assigned to Marine Corps Crew Readiness Training Group 10, flying the F-4 Phantom, A-4 Skyhawk and AV-8A Harrier. Least not forget the OV-10, UH-1 Need pictures and information on the Marmon Herrington MB-1 MB-5 / MB-1 In 1968 Oshkosh began building the U.S. Navy MB-5, an aircraft rescue and fire-fighting (ARFF) truck capable of carrying 400 gallons of water. The water could expand to 5,000 gallons of extinguishing foam when combined with a special concentrated form of the foam. In 1971 the Navy ordered 73, MB-1s. The MB-1 was an ARFF similar to the MB-5, but had a capacity of 1,000 gallons. These were followed throughout the 1970s by a progression of larger crash-rescue trucks. VMFAT 101 Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 (VMFAT-101), the Sharpshooters were commissioned at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California on January 3, 1969, as part of Marine Combat Crew Readiness Training Group 10, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The squadron trained naval aviators and naval flight officers in the employment of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. VMFAT-101 flew its first training sortie February 20, 1969, and completed its first class of fighter aircrew by August of that year. During the summer of 1970, VMFAT-101 moved to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona In 1972 the Sharpshooters earned their first Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Aviation Safety Award for Excellence in aviation safety after compiling over 18,300 mishap free flight hours. In July 1974 VMFAT-101 absorbed the assets of VMFAT-201 from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina and became the largest fixed wing tactical jet squadron and the sole remaining F-4 training squadron in the Marine Corps. The Sharpshooters earned the 1976 CNO Aviation Safety Award, as well as the Commanding General Fleet Marine Forces Pacific Aviation Safety Award in 1978 and 1979 while it amassed over 30,000 mishap-free flight hours. The Sharpshooters continued to train aircrews in the venerable Phantom II and in 1983 earned the coveted Marine Corps Aviation Association Robert M. Hanson Award as the finest fighter squadron in Marine aviation. May 20, 1987, VMFAT-101 trained its last F-4 replacement aircrew; during July the squadron flew its remaining 10 F-4 aircraft to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., for permanent storage. During the 18 years VMFAT-101 flew the Phantom, the Sharpshooters amassed over 125,000 flight hours training Marine and Navy aircrews for the fleet. Today the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 (VMFAT-101) is a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet training squadron. The squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 11 (MAG-11) and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW). Return to MOS-7051 Home
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