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130th
Engineer Brigade |
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| Brigade History | ||||
| 1969 - present | ||||
130th Engineer Bde DUI |
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(Source: Das Schloss, Feb 1984) |
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If you have more
information on the history or organization of the 130th Engr Bde,
please contact me . |
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| Aviation Section | ||||
| (Source: Email from Leonard Spydell, Avn Sec, HHC, 130th Engr Bde, 1970) | ||||
| I served with
HHC 130th from May to Sept of 1970. I was a Spec.5, MOS was 67N30
and I was crew chief on the one and only Huey in the Aviation Section,
Serial # 66-16047. It was a UH-1 D model. I was the one responsible for the 130th insignia and "flight wings" being painted on each side door as well as the nose of the ship. S--4 and SSgt Gregory did the work. We flew out of the airfield nearby, Fliegerhorst I think, that's where the Avn. section was located. Capt. Curran and Lt. Stephen Bird headed up the section, SSgt. Tilka and Capt Campos were there as well as CW2 Steven Herbruck. We had a bunch of old "bubble choppers" as I called them, but just the one Huey. Most of my time was spent flying Brigade staff and others to various units for work and inspections, and to the Rhine River when the "bridge humpers" went into the field to "swing" a combat bridge. During that summer we went into the field near Budingen but got wiped out (via the computer) after only about 5 days so the rest of our two weeks were spent camping out in the woods and playing vollyball. (We were dead you know). We went on one massive alert in late June of that year when the Jordanians hijacked three US airliners and made demands while holding all the passengers hostage. Got it down to "three hour go" status and the whole thing was settled and we stood down. Near the end of summer we were flying the ADIZ zone along the border, with staff flying up to construction sites. One of the units was building OP's for the Cav up there so progress visits were necessary. My ETS was 27 Sept. 1970 and I handed the Huey over to my capable asst. crew chief SP-5 Billy Krause when I left. In response to your question, no aviation patch (for the Avn Sec) was in exsistence at that time. I doubt that anybody had thought of it yet. When Col. White took over there seemed to be a surge of spirit in the section. Our Section Sgt. had seemed to be a bit "lackluster" in his leadership and I won't take any credit but it did seem that when a few of us with more combat experience were transfered in, the section seemed to come alive. Back in early '70 there were a whole bunch of 'Nam experienced crew chiefs DEROSed back to the States and more to come. Somebody figured it out that their experience would do well in Europe so we were transfered, even as short as I was. When I arrived (Billy Krause as well) at the 130th, the crew chief on the ship was a supply clerk who had re-uped for 67N20 MOS and had but 3-4 weeks in country OJT to operate and manage that Huey. He was pretty tight with the Avn. section Sgt. (SSgt. Tilka). In fact Tilka had been in Germany so long that he was managing and apartment building that he lived in, and the kid who I mention was a tenant in the building. They were really tight! I got the ship because it came up for its scheduled maintenance and Sgt.Tilka OK'd a two week leave for the crew chief while the ship was in for it's PMO. Well, Krause and I were used to these tasks so Lt. Bird had us oversee and perform everything. It took almost a week because there were MWO Urgent upgrades that had been ignored for almost 9 months. We got it all done and finally tracked the Main rotors and we had the ship released and ready for duty in about 5-6 days. We flew the checkout with Lt.Bird and Col. White showed up to fly it with us and he asked where the crew chief was and found out about the leave. NO crewchief ever leaves his ship in the hands of others for a TBO or a PMO. He supervises it completely so he knows the work was done correctly. After all, he has to fly the bird! Anyway, Col. White was pretty disturbed, flew the test flight, and an hour later I was crew chief and Krause was my assistant crew chief. The guy who was on leave came back to find he was a crew chief on an OH-13! I think that that was probably the start of a spirit building move by Col. White and Lt. Bird. White hosted a big BBQ for each section on different week ends and really had some fun with us! Our section party was on a Sunday afternoon and the next day we had a flight to Wildflicken (I think the 504th was there) and Col. White walks up to me at the ship, I salute him,and he says "Spydell, did you **** my girlfriend last night?" I froze, started to studder and said "No Sir!". So he says "well, you should've "cause she is prettier than that dog you were with!" and started to laugh because I was standing there with the biggest look of fear, no . . .absolute terror on my face! He really enjoyed flying with us. One other incident comes to mind, it was while flying the ADIZ Zone up to the Cav. We had I think an E-8 and a Major, as well as a 1Lt. on board and had just penetrated the ADIZ. It was a Saturday morning around 10 or 11 and we had just called Carolina Center (flight following center) abeam Checkpoint Bravo with our xpondr on. Carolina Center called us and asked us to "confirm our bogie". So Lt. Bird looks at Capt. Curran, he looks at Bird, and Bird asks Carolina Center to "say again". So Carolina Center comes back with "Army 66-16047 you have an unknown aircraft on your 5 o'clock. I need a visual!" So Krauds looks out the window and there's a Russian HPP just over the wire (DMZ Line) about 100 yards or less from us and suddenly we get a radar lock side tone in our ears and this Russian has a quad 50 locked on us! So Lt.Bird asks for the "ready five" aircraft out of Fulda, they scramble two jets and we flew for the next 20 minutes with a Russian on our right, two Air Force jets trying to stay slow enough on our left, flight following is telling us to hold our altitude and not to react, (so they could keep us on radar to have a record of the kill) and the jet jockeys are asking us, "Is that as fast as you can go?" This went on for a couple of more flights and they finally had to adjust the travel to the Cav. building sights. We'd fly to Fulda and they would have to drive to the sight. Too many aircraft in the corridor, too dangerous. Odly enough, it was in later years when a Cobra was shot down in the same area. Leonard Spydell, Specialist 5th Class, U.S. Army |
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| 535th Engr Co (Light Equip) | ||||
| (Source: Email from Walter Coin, 535th Engr Co) | ||||
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| Walter has also compiled a brief unit history of the 535th Engineer Company. | ||||
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| 567th Engineer Company (ADM) | ||||
 567th Engineer Company (ADM) (courtesy Mark Wells) |
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| MILCOM Newspaper Articles | ||||
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| Related Links: 130th Engineer Brigade History 130th Engr Bde, Germany (this wonderful website has a lot of history on the 130th and its subordinate units, past and present) 567th Engineer Company and ADM Reunion web site - page is dedicated to veterans and their dependents who served as MOS 12E's [Atomic Demolition Munitions Specialist] and 55G's [Nuclear Weapons Maintenance Specialist] in ADM units in Europe |
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