The B-57 as originally built had a huge trim change when lowering or retracting the flaps. While we were at Laon the depot sent in kits to modify each airplane to make the trim change during flap operation much
less dramatic. It consisted of a servo that was activated when the flap switch was activated, it retracted and it in turn put a pressure on a fairly strong spring that would pull the control column forward as the flaps went down and release that pressure as the flaps retracted. It was a big help but by then most of us had adapted to the trim change by hitting the trim switch when ever we moved the flap lever.

The strong spring that pulled the control column was in side a tube that was to protect it from dust and other debris that may find its way into the bomb bay. The kit instructions said to lubricate the spring and tube so they wouldn’t wear. Each airplane was test flown after kit installation but it only took a few minutes to check out proper operation, and the test flight could be short. Well, Walt Schmuck and I
took one of those newly modified airplanes to Wheelus, several hours at high altitude where the new assembly had plenty of time to cold soak. Approaching Wheelus we made our let down and started a normal approach to the field, intercepting the glide path I put down the flaps and as habit dictated I rolled in plenty of nose down trim to compensate for the flaps, then shortly after settling onto the glide path the control column was snatched from my grip and we found ourselves pointed steeply down looking at the old radio range towers that were off the end of the runway With no small amount of panic I stood on the rudders and pulled as hard as I could of course giving up trim as fast as I could. We made it, but there were a few tense moments to say the least. As it turned out, the tube and spring assembly had been over lubricated, it was packed with grease. The grease had hardened after being cold soaked and when it released the spring pulled full force all at once. Needless to say someone had to clean most of the grease out of those tubes quickly. I don’t think we had any more incidents. But one was enough for Walt and I.

One major mission change that came with the B-57 was the Labs maneuver. We would scoot along at about 450 kts, 50 ft or so above the ground and at a predetermined point pull up at 4 G’s until vertical where we would release, the bomb, go on over the top reversing directions, then rolling and diving for the deck and getting out of there as fast as we could and hope the nuclear blast didn’t get us too. We used 25 lb practice bombs because they approximated the trajectory of the real thing. Spotting cartridges which made a white smoke when the practice bombs hit the ground allowed the range people to score our accuracy. Some of the crews got pretty good. At least good enough for nukes we said, in jest. I think we would go to the range, about 50 miles south of Wheelus in flights of two but there seemed to be about four of us in the bombing pattern, three holding high while one was making a bombing run. We would score each other and of course heckle one another when something went wrong. On one mission the first to make a Labs run that day, had a terrible time and threw a wild one. It turned out that the aft fuselage fuel tank had way too much fuel in it for that kind of maneuver and he nearly lost control of it but soon got everything under control and we finished the mission OK. But he may have bought us drinks at the O club that night to bribe our silence. As part of our nuclear rapid response mission we had alerts where we would all have to show up, mount the airplanes crank up taxi out, line up for a mass departure for Landstuhl, normally they would cancel the alert and we would go back to normal operations. I was not on alert but both my navigator and I lived on the base and one night we had an alert, my navigator and I showed up pretty early. You 822nd types will remember we had several tail numbers that could be easily transposed. As the time for launch approached, Chuck Craig’s navigator had not showed up yet so, Chuck said you guys please take my plane so we can make the TO time. He added that every thing was ready and all we had to do was jump in, fire it up and go. John and I grabbed our helmets and headed out, we got to the airplane we thought we were assigned. We didn’t have any chutes in it, they brought us chutes and we proceeded to mount up but time was running short so I didn’t even strap in. I fired up and went toward the runway to join the gaggle, we aren’t going to fly any way. thank goodness. A big shock came when they cleared the first aircraft to Landstuhl, there were several seconds between departures and we were near the back of the pack so I hurriedly got strapped in and made the take off on time but we didn’t
complete the before take off check list till passing thru 10,000 ft. All went well until we found out that John and I had taken an airplane that was grounded for periodic maintenance and it was a no-no to fly it beyond that certain time. So we flew it home the next day and we logged our time in the log book of the airplane we should have flown.

All of them learning experiences, but I still had fun. Bob

PS. I am about to run out of stories that originate at Laon so let me know if you want me to continue with my tales that may not have any thing to do with Laon. I will take you off the mailing list if you prefer.