T-Tail-Tall-Tail:
BLESSED BE THE C-141
(and They Who Take Her Nearer to Heaven)
John D Broughton
In February of 1981, I was part of a Charleston crew
tasked with providing
logistical and security support for the visit of
Pope John Paul II to both Guam
and Alaska.
As luck would have it, the assigned specially
prepared aircraft was broken and
we had to go the backup aircraft, which happened to
be 63-8078. The 'stretch'
mod had just been completed and it not been fully
repainted so paint scheme was
a bit of patchwork. It looked like it was made up of
old dirty spare parts
found in a junk yard. We were ashamed to fly the
thing on such a mission. We
got more than a few laughs along the way.
When we got to Guam, we were told that we would be
spending three days in
that lovely place. There's just so many trips to the
feed the pig cans of beer,
visit Agana (now called Hagåtña), and to the beach that a crew can stand.
We got bored. We went to the commissary and got
plastic buckets, mops, dish
washing detergent, and anything else we thought we'd
need to wash the bird. The
Anderson fire department loaned us a water truck
with long hoses. On the way to
the bird, we went by the NCO club class VI store for
some iced beer.
Imagine the picture as it developed. An augmented
crew, well lubricated, clad
mostly in shorts, bathing suits, shower clogs, and
whatever, slathering each
other with soapy water and lots of water and beer
sprayed everywhere.
In the middle of all this fun came a caravan of
vehicles escorted onto the
Anderson Field parking revetments by an entourage of
local cops on Hondas and
Air Force Security Police, all with sirens and
lights going full blast .
It seems that somebody had told the Pope about this
C-141s history and, having
the day off himself, he decided that it needed his
blessing. History was made
as a result.
On the ramp at Anderson Field on a very sunny day in
February 1981, Pope John
Paul II, with suitable escort of many dignitaries,
and flanked by a wet,
disheveled flight crew, blessed C-141 63-8078.
We gave the Pope a tour of the plane, after much apologizing for our condition, and he gave each of us a Papal Medallion.
He was a nice guy, spoke broken but understandable
English, and, in his
presence, you could feel the power of his charisma.
Pope John gave me this
medallion personally and I've worn it since that
time. I am not Catholic but he
impressed me that much. He was that type of person.
He was wearing a white
turtle neck shirt, white pants, and white patent
leather loafers. He expressed
an interest in everything and even climbed out the
crew hatch and walked down
to the wings.
John