by Phil Rowe
During our six-month crew transition into RF-4C tactical reconnaissance fighters at Bergstrom AFB, Texas, we experienced several visits by our Commander-in-Chief, President Johnson, whose ranch was not far from Austin.
During one visit, my pilot and I were nearing the end of a training flight. We were ready to start our descent from cruise at 30,000 feet for a landing at Bergstrom when Air Traffic Control advised us to orbit at cruise altitude and be prepared for a delay due to the impending arrival of the President aboard Air Force One. The field would stay closed until after the President's plane was safely on the ground.
Our fuel was low after our two and a half hour flight, but we felt that we could establish a fuel-efficient orbit to endure another forty minutes. We began 'boring holes' in the sky in a wide racetrack holding pattern just South of Austin.
After forty minutes the Control Tower advised us that it might be another half hour before they could open the field. We were getting close to declaring a fuel emergency and needed to land immediately, President or no President.
We decided to divert to Kelly AFB at nearby San Antonio and requested Air Traffic clearance from Austin to Kelly. We maintained maximum fuel-economy cruise for the twenty minute flight to San Antonio and received clearance for an immediate descent and landing upon arrival.
Touchdown and landing at Kelly was normal, but we were very light. We were down to fumes when we shut engines down in front of Base Operations. Maintenance crews serviced and refueled our airplane while we went to the nearby snack bar for a late lunch.
When we got back Operations officials advised that Bergstrom was open for traffic again. We climbed back into our RF-4C and took off for the short hop home.
There were more interesting incidents related to our visiting Commander-in-Chief.
There was that time when I returned to Bergstrom with my family in an Aero Club Navion, a l947 vintage L-17 military observation plane. The Navion is a classic airplane, a low-wing four-passenger beauty and a delight to fly.
We landed after a trip from Washington, DC. It was pouring rain, so wet and miserable that when we taxied towards the Aero Club hangar the Club manager opened the big doors and motioned for us to taxi right into the hangar. He realized that we would get soaked otherwise.
That was well and good and much appreciated, except for one thing. That hangar was the very one where they kept the President's helicopter. In a corner of the large hangar sat the shiny Presidential machine, separated from the other planes by a barrier rope and guarded by two Marines carrying guns. Those Marines weren't at all happy about our bringing the Navion right into the hangar with the propeller turning.
We shut down the engine, turned off the cockpit switches and secured the plane in its normal spot. My two grade-school girls got out of the plane as we began to pass down baggage. My wife and I got pretty engrossed in unloading our baggage, with many Christmas gifts brought back from our holiday trip, and failed to notice that our youngsters wandered towards the Presidential helicopter.
When the girls reached the steps by the opened helicopter door, the Marine guards tried to 'shoo' the kids away without much success. After all, a Marine in no match for inquisitive children. When Aero Club manager noticed the situation, he called the girls back, much to the relief of the Marines.