A very good friend of mine passed away on Sept. 21, 2012.
Chuck L. Lunsford was in the last USAF class to teach and graduate
Aircraft Radio Operators before the transister was developed allowing
pilots to use radios themselves.
Chuck served with the Troop Carrier Squadrons in Europe on the
C-119G Boxcar during the mid-1950’s.
He wrote two books during his retirement, one ‘Departure Message’
about his time as a Radio Op. in Europe and ‘Boxcar Down’, a fictional
Cold War story about a crashed C-119. Both very good reads for the
aviation fan.
In 2002 Chuck provided valuable technical knowledge to Fox Studios
and located the C-119 derelicts for the Flight of the Phoenix remake.
He is the third last credited person in the end credits.
Over the last eight years Chuck has been a great source of Knowledge
and has provided me with much data and photos on the C-82 and C-119.
He was one of the last experts alive with firsthand memories of these
aircraft in their prime.
RIP Chuck
By: Lincoln 7 - 21st October 2012 at 10:14
Simon, How sad, That’s the trouble when these guys die, as so does their knowledge.
Somewhere amongst these posts, there is a photo of myself, and L. Garey, just about to board a C119, after the photo we had a memorable flight, whereby I found out why they called them “The sick box”.
May you friend R.I.P.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
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October 21, 2012 at 5:14 am