From: Ron (rojoha@comcast.net)
Date: Sun Feb 15 2004 - 01:04:32 PST
I got my first Form 46, US Government Motor Vehicle Operators
Identification card in March of 1985 from the 3245th ABGP/LGTO out of Hansom
AFB. The training consisted of two days of movies and class room instruction
followed by a 100 or 150 question true false/pick a winner type test with an
80% correct pass rate required. If you got that far, then a vehicle check
out in each class of vehicle plus a drive on the flight line showing you
absorbed that part of the instruction to get a flight line certification.
Initial cert got me signed of for " Sedans, Sta Wagons, Carry All, PU
1/2 ton, Truck 1Ton, Truck 1 1/2Ton, PU 6 pax 4x4, Bus 29 pax, Bus 44 pax".
Road tests were in a Van (carry all), Stake side truck, 4x4 Dodge Crew Cab
and a 44 pax Bus. The flight line test was conducted with the 1 1/2 ton
Stake body, and a 44 pax bus using a clipped wing C130 the Aerial Port sqdn
used for training. The road tests took an additional day. The Hanscom Motor
Pool later gave me a cert on a 1200 gallon pumper on an M44 chassis that we
drew from DRMO.
A year or two later we went up to Fort Devens to draw some M35's from
the Directorate of Reserve Component Support. Instead of checking us out on
M35s, they checked us out on M51A2s (5 ton dumps).The M51's had troop seats
in them, and the training consisted of us watching movies on motor vehicle
operation, the M51 series and another on the M44 series truck, then taking a
filmstrip type test on a little TV type gizmo (Cue See?) and a road test on
the post and a tank trail. After qualifying on the M51's, they signed us off
on the M51s and also the M44 series and we never saw the M51's again. They
gave us M35A2's and the -10's and LO's and sent us on our way. Go figure.
A couple of years later (1988) we requested 6 M35A2's and they gave us
about 4 hours instruction on M923A2's and road tests and issued us new ones
with less than 500 miles on them for the week, even though there were more
than 50 M35A2s in the loaner lot. Power steering, auto trans and CTIS.
Sweet. Going from pavement to dirt you punched the 'Off Road' button and
(IIRC) within 10 seconds or so you had bulgy (new word?) sidewalls and were
not tearing up the grass when you turned a circle. When you came back to the
pavement you hit the "Highway" button and within 15-20 seconds or less the
tires filled while driving. You could feel the truck rising up. Weird
feeling. Steering was 'mushy' with a lot of under steer and scuffing marks
on the pavement until the tires filled up. They did seem to 'wallow' or
float while driving, but didn't seem scary. Definitely easier to pull engine
maint on these trucks since the whole hood tilted forward and you could walk
right in behind the front wheels with nothing between you and the engine.
The USAF seemed to be more serious in the driver training game than the
Army, but they stood more to lose in a collision between a bread box and an
aircraft than the Army did with trucks in the field hitting trees. Early
90's the USAF stopped giving the driver training movies when you got a
license renewal and gave us new licenses that looked like cash register
receipts that seemed to last about as long as one. Got several replacements
over the next couple of years as they just faded away. Then the motor pool
became a contractor operated deal and drivers licenses became the
responsibility of each on base unit. Since we were a 'tenant' unit, we
didn't have a driver training officer and our licenses just faded away as
far as the USAF was concerned. We would take our personnel files to Ft
Devens each year we went up there and get new 'temporary' Army issued
licenses (with Flight Line Certs) for each training cycle based on our past
records. We then would go back to Hanscom and use the Army issued licenses
to draw vehicles from the contractor operated motor pool for the next 10
months or so. Very weird system.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bjorn Brandstedt" <super_deuce@hotmail.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: 14 February, 2004 14:12
Subject: [MV] Siping of NDT tires and CTIS question
> I'm also curious about the time it takes to deflate and reinflate tires
with
> the CTIS system.
>
> Any knowledgeable comments would be appreciated.
>
> Bjorn
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