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I was stationed at Mildenhall Oct 62 - Oct 65 and enjoyed every minute of it. I can best describe it as a rest camp in those days. We had 3 C-47's assigned to the base in those days. Most of the air traffic was MATS traffic from either McGuire, Chareston or Dover bringing "newbies" to the U.K. or on to the continent. In any event, we were not concerned with that since MATS was a tenant unit. Our mission with the C-47's was to transport personnel back and forth to the continent and of course provide A/C to keep the Staff Weinies pilot proficient.
The host unit at Mildenhall during those "Rest Camp" days was the 7513th Material Sq. (MATRON). The C.O. was Capt. Phil Garey, 1st Sgt was MSgt Jon Lewis (since passed away). Mickey's Tea Bar was a permanent fixture in those days. Went thru there in the summer of 1970 with the first off-shore trip of the C-5 and Mickey's was still there. Had some good times there.
Despite the "Rest Camp" atmosphere, we were kept pretty busy. Had what we called a "Tank Farm" where we refurbished aircraft drop tanks for all of USAFE. Also, during that time USAF decided to phase out all the T-33's in USAFE and sell them to various European countries. It was our responsibility to rework these "birds" and get them ready for sale. This process took the better part of 18 months.
In any event, I spent the first 15-18 months of my tour working as a Maintenance Control Technician at Base level. Following that I transferred to the office of the Base DCM (Deputy Commander, Material) who at that time was Maj. Jasper De Simone. His deputy was CWO4 Dave Nelson who I feel taught me everything I ever needed to know about survival in the United States Air Force. Wonderful human being and role model. (Also passed away). Dave came to the UK prior to WWII as a member of the RAF Eagle Sq. When the war started, he transferred to the AAF as a Master Sgt and progressed to CWO following the war.
While there, I lived at 62 Friday St., West Row. It was a converted fish and chips place we enjoyed very much. #2 daughter was born in the Mildenhall Medical facility in 1964. As a result, we had pints of milk start showing up on our doorstep in West Row, courtesy of the British health folks. I remember they had coloured foil tops that the birds used to peck out to get to the milk. We kind of had to watch for the milk-man and rush out and get them.
A neighbour right up the street was one Paddy Finnegan. He was an ex WWII Lancaster pilot. We became very close. In fact, my #2 daughter was named after his daughter. After the war he went on to fly for British Eagle Airways helping out during the "Exodus" from the Middle East". He finally had enough of flying and settled down in West Row and began raising mushrooms in abandoned WWII bomb shelters on his property. A truly wonderful man.
Must share another Paddy Finnegan story with you if you will indulge me. He had a good friend from WW2 days that made it big developing real estate after the war. He lived near Windsor and had a new 1965 Rolls Convertible painted a nice midnight blue. I used to accompany Paddy down there to visit him. They would just love to put me behind the wheel and drive them around Windsor Great Park while they sat in the back seat sipping their ale. Of course the top was down. Here was this Yank with a crew cut driving them around. We all had a great time. Even have a picture of me sitting on the bonnet clutching that Rolls hood ornament.
My wife had to go Stateside after the birth of #2 daughter due to her Dad and Grandmother's health problems. I then moved to the barracks directly behind the NCO Club. That's when I really got into darts. We would have tournaments twice a week alternating between the NCO Club and various pubs in the area. Weekends would often find us going to Shippea Hill to catch the train to London and Liverpool St Station. There was a US Military Hotel off Bayswater Road for us to stay at. Sat and Sun nites always had top entertainment. I danced with Dusty Springfield there one nite. I am still smitten by her and adore her music. Was sorry to hear she passed away so early. Can't think of the name of the Hotel but it will come to me sooner or later. The one for the Officers was "Columbia Club"
I recall there was a MATS tenant organization during my stay. All personnel destined for the UK were flown to Mildenhall and subsequently transported to other bases in the UK. We, the 7513th ABW (Air Base Wing) didn't have anything to do with those folks. We were the caretakers and they were the Tenants. We just had to worry about the health and care of our 3 C-47s, the T-33 re-furb program and the re-furb of the aircraft drop tanks.
Some of us aircraft types used to spend a lot of time at RAF Northolt since that was where the 3rd AF Commanders aircraft was based and we at Mildenhall were responsible for it. True Story: One Sat. PM we were all sitting aound the Maintenance Shack drinking beer and enjoying a bar-b-que when we heard this terrible racket. The noise was the thrust reversers on an Air France 707 who had landed at Northolt and discovered he only had 4000ft of runway to do it on. He stopped it just short of the end. Needless to say, he should have been at Heathrow. The runway heading was 04 at Northolt. Heathrow also has a runway 04 and all the visual effects of the approach were almost identical at each location. They bussed the harried passengers to London, took as much fuel off the 707 as they could and hopped it over to Heathrow the next day. Could have been a lot worse.
About the time I left , the French kicked the USAF out of France. As a result, the 513th ABCCC (Airborne Command, Communications and Control Sq) was relocated from Chateroux AB (not sure of the spelling) to Mildenhall. They flew EC-135s and were tasked to remain airborne 24hrs a day monitoring radio transmissions from the Eastern Bloc. How long they remained there is a mystery to me. Other companion Sq's with the same mission were based at Offutt AFB in Nebraska, Hickam AFB in Hawaii and Andrews AFB near Washington. All had code names. Mildenhall was "Silk Purse", Offutt was "looking Glass", Hickam was "Blue Eagle". Don't recall the Andrews one but I'm sure it will come to me.
During my tour there, the NCO Club was the "place to go". It was really hopping 4 nites a week. Each of those 4 nites saw 2 buses full of women from Norwich for all of us to dance with. The earl days saw groups ranging from the original Beatles thru Jerry and the Pacemakers and Dusty Springfield etc. All those 60's British rock groups got their start on the NCO Club circuits in the U.K., even The Stones. Those were the good old days. I left Mildenhall Oct 65.