As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...
Let’s journey back to 1961. Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” and Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii” hit the movie theaters. On the radio, The Shirelles have a hit with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and Ricky Nelson is the teenage heartthrob. TV viewers turn the channel to watch “The Twilight Zone.”
At NAS Whidbey Island, Dennis Sandall is on the job with the Operations Crash and Rescue Crew as an apprentice Sailor.
He had arrived on station in December 1960 for a nine-month stint, where A3D Skywarriors and P2V Neptunes ruled the runways.
“The experience here was the best I had in my entire four years in the Navy,” said Sandall of Manteca, Calif. The last time he saw the air station was in August 1961, when he left to serve the remainder of his enlistment as an engineman aboard Navy ships.
Now at 65, coincidentally, the same age of NAS Whidbey Island is today, he recently returned to see how the base has changed.
He made the side trip here en route to Alaska, where he and his wife were vacationing. Before catching an Anacortes ferry to Canada, Sandall was determined to see the base again.
NAS Public Affairs arranged for a windshield tour and a few surprises, including a visit to NAS Whidbey’s Fire Station No. 71 on the flight line.
Sandall had brought pictures of his active duty days with the Crash Crew which was then housed in the basement of building 385.
Fire Inspector Alan Sprouse and firefighter driver operator Thomas Becker of Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services showed Sandall the recently completed multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art crash crew facility. Sandall also got a ride in the Oshkosh T1500 fire truck for a comparison of the old MBY crash and rescue truck that he drove here in 1961.
While watching an EA-6B and F/A-18 Hornet take off from Runway 14/32 in the front seat of the T1500, Sandall shared a few of the accidents he responded to. Among them was an A3D that had missed the arresting gear and veered off the runway into the dirt with no injuries to the aircrew.
But one in particular was tragic. “I remember an A3D that crashed off the runway after losing an engine on takeoff,” said Sandall. “It crashed into the woods. There was no time to find the keys for the gates, so we drove the crash truck up over the fence and over small trees. Two died, but two survived.” According to the base newspaper “Prop Wash,” that A3D accident occurred in March 1961.
In another mishap, Sandall said his crew had to foam the runway when a P2V landed wheels up at night.
“Hearing these planes again really turns me on,” Sandall says with a smile. He is now retired from 38 years as a civilian heavy duty truck mechanic.
As NAS Whidbey Island celebrates its 65th anniversary of operations, it’s the memories such as Sandall’s that keep veterans coming back to remember the people they worked with and the mission they supported. It’s no wonder that the air station is often called the jewel among military installations.