Late spring or early summer of 1958 we got the word that the 38th Bomb wing was being deactivated and would be reactivated as the 38th Tactical Missile wing. What a bummer, I was getting near the end of my four year tour and was looking forward to a new assignment, but the blunt affect was what are Nelly and I going to do? No, we would not be sent home just yet and the 66th Tac Recon wing would be moving into the Base, they ended up staying there longer than we did. Well I got to fly a B-57 back to Wright-Patterson AFB. This time across the Atlantic was over warmer waters and the B-57 had longer legs so it was more casual. John Poole a brand new navigator and I first made our way to the Azores where I was met by a wide eyed pilot that had started his ferry trip before we had. When he saw me he blurted out his airplane was trying to kill him. When he settled down I learned that he had tried to leave the Azores several times but each time, one or the other engine had quit. Yes it would relight after a while and so far he had got it back on the ground safely each time. I sent John to get us a voq room and I had a long talk with the maintenance man in charge and we analyzed what might be the problem. I put him in the back seat and we went out to the run up pad and pushed the throttles up, after a few minutes sure enough one engine started to unwind. I throttled back and it did not flame out, but after a while the other engine did the same thing, again I throttled back and both engines idled normally.

We taxied back to the line and talked some more. In my mind the problem had be in the fuel manifold that fed both engines. He agreed and we went out to see if we could identify which fuel lines went where and where there was a common point. I knew there was a fuel filter in each main gear well so we traced the lines from the filters back into the bomb bay and found the manifold where to two joined. So it was decided we would start there and work back to the forward and aft boost pumps from the forward fuselage tank. I went to the cockpit and shut off all the fuel valves I could but I don’t remember if the main tank had a shut off valve because it could gravity feed. I just don’t remember. I went on to the voq and had supper and a couple of drinks with John. Refreshed we went to the flight line where the maintenance Sergeant all smiles presented me with a blob of black goop they had recovered from the divider manifold. I took the airplane back to the run up pad an ran it at full power for long enough to convince myself that we had found the problem and it wouldn’t happen again. The next morning the wary pilot asked if I would trade planes with him because mine was going to Ohio and his was going too far away. I declined. In any case we all made it and I don’t think there were any more incidents. The lab analysis was that the glob of goo was self sealing compound that lined the forward fuel tank. How it got through the screens on the boost pumps and other filters remains a mystery.

Off we went to Stephenville, Newfoundland, we had a minor emergency when one of my engines would only produce about 85% or so I was really puzzled because nothing like that had ever happened before. I finally decided that it must be ice in the filter was restricting fuel flow to that engine, of course I worried that the other would do the same so we asked for a duck butt to come out just in case we had to ditch. As we descended approaching Stephenville, the fuel flow returned to normal pretty well indicating my original idea. I learned years later that the duck butt pilot out of Newfoundland was Col Harris’s and my neighbor at Otis AFB. MA.

Anyhow Mom and Dad met us at WP AFB we toured the Museum and took our time getting back home to Warrem, more home cooking and talk into the night. After a day or two Mom and Dad took us to MaGuire AFB where we found our way back to Laon. John Poole went on to fly with B-66’s somewhere in Germany but we shared one really one fun and learning trip. Stay tuned there is more… Bob