Some of the original pilots were Lt. Colonel James M. Thomas (Squadron Commander), Major James F. Martin (Ops officer), Major John W. Robinson, Captains Joseph Carrieres, William H. Champion, Henry A. Ingalls, Jack Joseph Jeangerard, Theodore F. Lemcke (died 1958 at Oceana NAS during a scramble), Rexford L. Moore, Dafford W. "Jump" Myers, John L. Paladino (maint officer) & Vincent E. Stacy. (Most of those were WWII & Korean veterans.) Lts. William M. Bayman, Frederick E. Conable, James C. Fletcher, Joseph H. Hagan, Howard H. McWhorter Jr., Edward L. Petersen, Robert W. Stonestreet, & Glen R. Wilson. Several young Lts. were assigned a year after activation and I don't remember them all, but Lts. Carroll Pealer, Jimmy Rhodes, & Elmer R. Olson were among them, and I think, Lt. Paul G. Tomlinson (who owned the 300SL) came in 1958. Other squadron officers included Major John S. Batie (Exec Officer), Lt. Troy G. Alcorn (Electronics), Lt. Albert E. Basinger (Armament Sys), 2nd Lt. Charles W. Harper (Education), and Lt. Lee Ruggels (Intelligence). And in 1958, a very mysterious pilot was assigned to us, one Major Hervey S. Stockman. [My feeling about him at that time was that he was very tightly wired and deadly serious ... as it was to turn out, he was ... and would need to be.]

And we also served with MSgt Fred Archer, who had been a Tuskegee Airman and was the first black man to attain the rank of CMSgt in the Air Force.

After I left, there were many more officers & airmen and obviously I'd have no way of knowing who or how many. But I do know that Donald L. Kaufman (Ret. Major General, Mar 1, 1993) was assigned to the 482nd from Dec 1961 to Dec 1963 and that Daniel J. Sherlock (Ret. Brigadier General, Nov 1, 1990) was assigned to the 482nd from July 1962 to July 1964. Lt. Jim Dove was assigned from 1963-65 as a pilot, and is still flying with Jimmy Rhodes out of Tyndall AFB under federal contract. Major Nicholas (Nick) R. Ranone (at the 482nd twice with Thule in between), living at Panama City, has a web page.

For those of you who were not aware of it ... most of your Air Force records (enlisted) were destroyed in a 1973 fire at the National Archive's Page Avenue warehouse facility in St. Louis. See link. (Air Force personnel discharged between September 25, 1947, & January 1, 1964, with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E. --- 75% Destroyed.) Expect some minor VA problems re medical records and military markers. Your DD 214s are now critical records ... have them recorded at the courthouse where you live.

ALL RIGHT...
LET'S DO THIS THING!

The 1957 yearbook created the base list and gave us a real running start on the personnel of the first three years. Those of you who served during the last six years will have to submit as much as you can remember and we'll gradually build a history.

The squadron will be broken into three time periods - 1956 to the end of 1959 - 1960 to the end of 1962 - 1963 until deactivation in 1965 (recognizing that many will cross the time lines), but the majority of three year terms will fall into those time periods. Feel free to add whatever crosses your mind and we'll work out some way to use the information. In June of 1960, the personnel of the 482nd numbered 525. A two year average for time-served means we're looking for over 2,000 people ... and we are presently at about 1,800 (a good 200 names short), with likely half of those deceased.

1956 thru 1959

1960 thru 1962

1963 thru 1965

Detachment 1 - Miami Intern'l - Homestead AFB

Detachment 2 - Key West NAS (Boca Chica)

Our Air Police Attachment

2008. We started from scratch and the rosters above have really become representative. BUT I STILL NEED copies of orders. ANYONE, holding their 482nd orders (their husband's, their brother's) has information on those about other squadron members. Would you please xerox those (at the library, supermarket, Wal-Mart, etc) and send them to the address below. Orders about tech training, leaves, Good Conduct medals, TDYs, discharges, promotions, sports assignments ... all apply. There are still a lot of 482nd items out there but we're in the last decade of finding them. Make the effort ... please ... before your data and photos are scattered in the breeze off some auctioneer's table. Too late also ... when I'm not here to receive them.

KUDOS

Special acknowledgments for contributions to this web site have been earned by Richard J. Abrams, Robert L. Baker, Gary Barnak, Jack Bristol, Anton "Tony" Brunner, Ralph Burcham, Patrick Casey, Wayne Cekola, Francis Chergosky, Leslie Conwell, Doug Cortright, Jim Cunningham, Robert W. Curtis, Jim W. Day, Andy DeCuzzi, Arthur Delgado, James W. Dove, Blaine & Nancy Emanis, Ray Epperson, Richard C. Fairlamb, Donald J. Fink, Ronald & Margie Gaffney, Eugene Greene, Laverne Griffin, James M. Grooms, Kenneth E. Gwinn, Ralph Hanna, Bryan Hart, Carroll Hicks, Harold T. Hinson, Grant Leek, Dennis Lisac, Basil Lybrand, Carlton Marsh, Michael McCowan, Roger McCumber, Bobby R. Menius, Donald Neville, Phil Norman, Robert O'Grady, Elmer Olson, Arthur C. Patterson III, Harold M. Pearce, Alfred R. Percy, Nathan Pessah, Irvin Picklesimer, William Piper, Eddie Pittman, William Plemmons, John C. Quillinan, Nick Ranone, Harold Renninger, George Rickel, John Robinson, Ralph Robledo, Dave Schurr, William Seay, John C. Shirley, Charles L. Skipper, Steven L. Smith, Jim Stoddard, Bob Stonestreet, Tom & Carol Sutton, Robert Tabler, Roy Thompson, Steve Volpe, Paul L. Wagner, Tom Wallace, Carl T. Weaver Jr., Donald L. Wieser, Ben J. Williams, Herman H. Williams, and Ernest Willie.

Thanks very much folks ... you've been a big help.

PHOTOS

Only four ways ... (1) Trust the post office (and me) with the originals, IF your originals are chemical prints, (2) Make photo copies at Walgreen or Wal-Mart if 8X10s, or (3) Send me a scan of each photo by email as an attachment. And (4) 2007's reunion photos were sent to me by Andy DeCuzzi as a CD copy of his digital prints ... this method almost totally eliminates interference patterns ... and reduces SEND time and glitches ... safer, faster, with minimum hassle. Individual digital photos can be sent as an email attachment.

DO NOT and I mean DO NOT attempt to send me 1) xerox copies of photos or 2) your printer's copies (although some of the circa 2008 printers are very good). The older printers will not work. Jack Bristol and Col. Fairlamb wasted lots of well intentioned effort this way. It takes TLC to get it right ... but the results will be worth it.

Photo Advice: Walgreen now has some great equipment . . . use it, if one is near you. The Wal-Mart 8x10 copying system is a chemical system (and expensive) . . . its snapshot copies, however, are made digitally --- ergo the latter are cheaper but their DPI (dots per inch) create an interference pattern with scanners. These snapshot copies are good buys for everyday distribution but of no use to this web page. One more thing on older snapshots, the ones printed on grain-surface paper, thats a real problem for a scanner because of the random light reflectivity. On those, its best to find the old negatives if you can. And if whatever you're looking at is out of focus . . . pass it up. All scanners and all monitors degrade the image, if thats bad to begin with then the results aren't of much use. Sometimes an image is so important that it must be used regardless of condition, but generally not. Tain't easy.

from The Golden Child (1986)

"He believes in nothing . . . yet still he does what is right."

482nd FIS Webmaster: George C. Willick
514 East St., Madison, IN 47250