Crew Chief Profiles

 MSgt. Dale "Linus, Appleman" Larson (Ret.)

My profile

 Name MSgt. Dale Larson (Ret.)
Country
Unit 496th Tactical Fighter Squadron "The World's Finest"
Crewing F-16s from 1981 until 2006
Contact Amigaman Send me a private message
Website
I was Station at
4787 ABGP/MATS Duluth MN on T-33A (57-0698) 1 Yr
50th TFW/313th AMU Hahn AB West Germany F-16A (80-0543,80-0561) 2 yrs
509 BW/OMS Pease AFB NH FB-111A (68-0168) 1 Yr
56 TFTW/62AMU McDill AFB FL F-16B (78-0115, 79-0495) 2+ yrs
50 TFW/496th AMU Hahn AB Germany F-16D (84-1325) 4 Yrs + 1 was a member of the block 40 test team where I crewed and was the first Crew Chief of 87-1351.
388 TFW/34AMU/FS Hill AFB UT F-16D (88-0168) 2+ yrs
51FW/51 MS/TA/Crash Recovery 1 Yr
56 FW/62FS/21FS (F-16D 84-1396/F-16B 93-0825) 5+ yrs
51 FW/51 OSS/FOD NCO
27 FW/428FS/AMU Singaporean Block 50 as APG laison 3+years
8FW/80th AMU 1 Yr
56FW/63 AMU 1.3 yrs

1 Yr T33As
1 Yr FB-111As
24 Yrs F-16s block 10,15,20,25,30,40 and 50s

Current or Favourite assignment

The 50 TFW/496th AMU was a great assigment because of the people, and the area. I lived off base with my own car and drove to many wonderful places in Germany. I enjoyed all the WTDs to ZZA, "The Lik" and Corsica. West Germany/Germany was a great place to be at during that time in world history; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunited Germanies are events I will never forget.

Deployments

9 times to Spain (ZZA and Maron), 3 time to Turkey (Incirlik), Saudi, Corsica, Guam, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and many state side bases.

My Jets & Assignments

 		80543 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 313th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Lucky Puppies" [Unit History]
Period 1981 - 1982
Current: 80543   F-16A Block 15 ADF [pre]
The first F-16 I ever crewed as an assistant Crew Chief.
80563 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 313th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Lucky Puppies" [Unit History]
Period 1982 - 1983
Current: 80563   F-16A Block 15 ADF [i/a]
My first F-16 as the DCC.
78115 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 62nd Fighter Squadron "Spikes" [Unit History]
Period 1985 - 1986
Current: (990)   F-16B Block 5 [act]
I also crewed 80-0495 from 1986-1987 both of these jets were at McDill AFB FL at the time.
84325 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 496th Tactical Fighter Squadron "The World's Finest" [Unit History]
Period 1987 - 1991
Current: 84325  USAF 195 FS F-16D Block 25 [act]
This was my favorite F-16 I ever crewed. I was also part of the F-16 world wide block 40 test team during this time period. I crewed 87-1351 on the team as the very first Air Force Crew Chief on this jet. Great TDY.

[No photo available]

Submit a photo 		88168 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 34th Fighter Squadron "Rams" [Unit History]
Period 1991 - 1993
Current: 88168  USAF 34 TFS F-16D Block 40 [w/o]
This is the only jet I crewed that crashed while I crewed her.
84396 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 62nd Fighter Squadron "Spikes" [Unit History]
Period 1994 - 1997
Current: 84396  USAF 62 FS F-16D Block 25 [act]
This jet was at Luke AFB AZ when the 62 FS move to Luke from McDill
93825 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 21st Fighter Squadron "The Gamblers" [Unit History]
Period 1997 - 1999
Current: 93825  USAF 21 FS F-16B Block 20 [act]
Tawain FMS squadron, F-16s with drag chutes.
Unit 428th Fighter Squadron "Buccaneers" [History]
Period 2000 - 2003
I was the APG liasion to the Singaporean AF
Unit 80th Fighter Squadron "Juvats" [History]
Period 2003 - 2004
Unit 63rd Fighter Squadron "Panthers" [History]
Period 2004 - 2006
Other aircraft/assignments Crewed (TA), F-16, F-15, F-14, A-6, A-7, AV8B, F-18, C-12, C-21, C-22, C-5, C-130, 747, KC-135, C-141, A-10, B-57s, T-37 and many heliocopters. I also crewed FB-111As in NH and T-33As in Duluth MN.

Visitor Comments

496th TFS, World's Finest
Justin Ball, Jun 23, 2008 - 12:22 PM

Dear Dale Larson, Hi, I was at Hahn 1968/73, and worked on F-102A and F-4E's. I lived in Traben-Trarbach and married a beautiful girl. But, it is a great place to live, which I did, until 1987. Working for an American company, Max Factor co. was terrific.

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