by Phil Rowe
I'd have to check my logbook to be precise on the dates, but in late l957 or early l958 our B-52 outfit at Fairchild AFB in Washington state was requested to participate in the dedication ceremony for Vandenberg AFB on the California coast. We were asked to fly down there at a specified time to do a 'fly by ' during the official ceremonies. The practice was quite common to have Air Force aircraft do such things at special occasions.
Our crew was selected to do the 'honors' as a part of one of our routine training flights. We were to merely include a low level fly-over at Vandenberg AFB as part of a normal navigational leg of our mission, but be there at a specified time and pass over the base on a prescribed course.
When we arrived at the Southern California coast near Vandenberg, cruising at high altitude for a check of the weather, we discovered that low clouds and fog totally obscured the base. Radio checks with the control tower revealed that the cloud ceiling was practically zero. There was no way that we could safely make the dedication flyover at the prescribed altitude.
We were advised to switch radio frequency to talk to the Vandenberg Command Post for instructions. It was still thirty minutes or so prior to our planned fly-over. Radio conversations with the Command Post indicated some confusion about what they were now planning to do for the ceremonies. Our B-52 was but one of several aircraft, of various types, planned to participate. No one wanted to jeopardize safety by having a bunch of airplanes flying in obscured clouds. Such activity might be warranted under wartime operations, but certainly not for ceremonial purposes.
Finally, the decision was made to send all other aircraft away except our B-52. Back in the late l950's the B-52 was a new and exciting aircraft, SAC's newest and largest. So, we were asked to fly as low as we felt safely possible ( considering the coastal mountains nearby ) ..... and do a fly-over just to make some noise as part of the ceremonies.
While we couldn't see anything but the gray and white clouds, we flew the prescribed fly-over as requested. I still have a mental image of all those troops standing on the ground for their part of the ceremonies .... and listening to the roar of our B-52 as we passed overhead.
We did our job. We made some noise for them.