Come fly with me, Part II

A squadron of F-102A interceptors from the States was temporarily stationed at Spangdahlem as part of the Crested Cap exercise in early 1969. (Photo by Chuck Minx)

As AFTV-22 was working hard to improve its look and beef up its audience appeal, it was easy to forget that the station's primary mission had to do with disseminating that pesky "command information," as the AFTV regs put it. In short, the real purpose of AFTV-22 was to allow commanders to communicate with their troops.

On a routine level that included, for example, the weather forecast. We got updates before every newscast from the base meteorologist. At air bases, which are by their very nature focused on flying conditions, the weather was command information.

Public service announcements about re-enlisting, limiting the gold flow, service club activities and educational opportunities also fit the definition. In commercial television, cynics say the programs are just a way of keeping the commercials from bumping together. At AFTV, entertainment programming was just there to keep the command information bits from piling up on each other.

Then along came a big challenge: Project Crested Cap in early 1969. Crested Cap was the Air Force contribution to what was to be the Army's annual Reforger project, in which units from the States would be deployed to Europe for multinational exercises. (The name Reforger came from "Return of Forces to Germany.") It wasn't merely a show of force. If war broke out in Europe, it would be the actual plan to strengthen the NATO presence.

This exercise was a big deal for the U.S. military in West Germany, whose very reason for being there was the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The West knew that if the Soviets attacked, tanks would likely come roaring through the Fulda Gap. The Fulda Gap was a passage in the mountains near the East German border that would be suitable for operations by large-scale armored forces. The prospect of a tank battle at the Fulda Gap dominated NATO Cold War planning. The multinational Crested Cap exercise would tie directly to a potential NATO response to such an attack.

The brass wanted us to spread the word about Crested Cap on AFTV-22.

The station's management first proposed the usual round-table interview with Spangdahlem's brass and officers from the squadron of F-102A interceptors that would be temporarily deploying from the States to our base.

It was an idea that sounded deadly dull. And it probably would have been.

But ...

Les Jackson, Chuck Minx and I got our heads together and began to bat around ideas. What if we devoted an episode of "Catch 22" to interviews about Crested Cap? Nope, that would be a real audience chaser for our top local production. But what if ... maybe ... we could get one of the F-102 pilots to take the "Catch 22" reporter -- that would be me -- for a ride with a film camera. Then he -- I -- could write a first-person account of a ride in a Deuce and illustrate it with film shot in the cockpit during the flight.

What the hell, I thought: I'm game, and I'll probably never get another chance to ride along at the speed of sound.

We were mildly surprised when the commander of the visiting squadron agreed. I'd be allowed -- after some minimal training -- to go for a ride in a TF-102. Since the F-102 was a one-man operation, a trainer version had been developed with side-by-side seats. The pilot would fly the plane from the left side of the cockpit while I shot film from the second seat.

Now we had to create a show that would serve both missions -- disseminating command information and entertaining the heck out of our audience.