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  MSgt. Dave Cranek (Ret.)

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Name MSgt. Dave Cranek (Ret.)
Country
Unit 81st Tactical Fighter Wing
Crewing F-16s from 1983 until 1986
Contact phantom411 Send me a private message
Website
Luke AFB - 1978-1985 - 311 AMU - F-4C and F-16A&B
Kunsan AB ROK - 1985-1986 - 35 AMU - F-16A
Bergstrom AFB - 1986-1991 - 67 EMS - RF-4C
RAF Bentwaters - 1991-1993 - 81 TFW - A-10
Minot AFB - 1993-1996 - 5 MXS - KC-135A&R and B-52H
Barksdale AFB - 1996-2002 - 2 MXS - B-52H

Current or Favourite assignment

I really liked being in England and had a great assignment there.

Deployments

Deployed to Saudi Arabia for latter part of Desert Storm with the A-10 from Bentwaters. Wasn't bad but I was sure glad to leave that God foresaken country!

My Jets & Assignments

 F-4 Phantom II
Unit 58 AGS 311 AMU
Period 1978 - 1983
I always wanted to work F-4's since I was a kid and my first jet was the Phantom. I love that airplane still!
78087 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 311th Fighter Squadron "Sidewinders" [Unit History]
Period 1983 - 1985
Current: AAFG0397   USAF AMARC F-16B Block 1 [ sto]
I crewed with a lot of good people. This electrician I hung out with helped me knickname my jet as "SweetMeat" and she gave me a bas ass picture of a cool looking pig that I used as an example to paint on my jet's main wheel hub caps. Turned out pretty cool.
81685 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Unit 8th Fighter Wing "Wolf Pack" [Unit History]
Period 1985 - 1986
Current: 81685   F-16A Block 15 ADF [ scr]
Became run qualified and was a run king! I loved running those engines up. Had a great assignment in Korea even though I didn't want to go at first.
F-4 Phantom II
Unit 67 EMS
Period 1986 - 1991
Bergstrom was one of the best kept secrets in the USAF until they screwed up and closed it! I continued my Phantom career there and had some very good TDYs. I also began my Aero Repair/Reclamation & Crash Recovery career there. Man that was fun!
A-10 Thunderbolt II
Unit 81 TFW
Period 1991 - 1993
The A-10 was fun to work on and I used to say it was several thousand bushings flying in formation. Seemed like we were always replacing flight control andlanding gear bushings on that airplane! We were also the first unit topaint the A-10 Gray.
KC-135 Stratotanker
Unit 5 MXS
Period 1993 - 1994
What a culture shock, going from fighters to bombers! I learned to never say"what are they going to do to me, send me to Minot?"...careful what ya say...HA The A/R shop worked both KC-135s and B-52's up there in ice hell. I got to work on them the last year they were assigned to MindRot before they were BRAC'd to other bases. I worked the A nd R models there.
B-52 Stratofortress
Unit 5 MXS
Period 1993 - 1996
Working on B-52's was a culture shock from th fighter world! The F.O. that was present inside one of them was always astonishing to me. Everyone was like, "well it doesn't go inverted, it'll be ok". I also learned how the folks who were SAC took a lot of adjusting to become ACC. I heard a lot of these aren't fighters and the folks up there don't realize that. To me the mentality was already there being an ex TAC/fighter guy. Good times.
B-52 Stratofortress
Unit 2 MXS
Period 1996 - 2002
Finished up my career as a production superintendent there. Not before Iwas the AR/Crash Recovery section chief and Maintenance flight chief. Good times...good times.
Other aircraft/assignments After I retired I worked for San Antonio Aerospace as a lead mechanic on various aircraft, from little CRJs to the big ol' 747. I made it out aliv from that crap hole to Boeing and worked on the KC-135R in flight operations. Not that was a great gig. I'm out of aviation now but Istillhave the bug in me and my veins will always have hydro fluid running thru them! I still love the smell of jet exhaust as well. Jet noise is the sound of freedom!
Visitor Comments
Hey,
JONI*311, Dec 30, 2010 - 06:13 AM

Wonder who that electrician was! :)

Luke Afb
Michael J McIsaac, Dec 24, 2014 - 04:50 PM

I was in the 311th from 81-84. I was INS on F-4s and then later A-shop on F-16s after we converted. I am sure I know you, do you know Lucky Stike, or Todd Springhorn?







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