Aileron's Air National Guard Website

Ron "Aileron" Yelton's Fini-flight

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Well, all good things must come to an end. I had four years enlisted and almost sixteen years flying that included the F-106, F-4D and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. August 30, 1994

Here's John Dick from the ODC and Virginia Darnell (Ginny).

Any fini-flight is a good excuse to get out of the office, pig out on some snacks and visit with folks we haven't seen in a while. Circular - clockwise: Lynn Hetzel, Danny Cerna, Peggy Hervatine, Ray Bluhm, John Dick, Dennis Mast, Bill gore.

We had a pretty good turnout for my last F-16 flight. L-R: Ray Bluhm, Fred Beltz, Al Tichenor, Russ Kramer's back, Rhon Manor, Roy Stuckey, Carol, Gary Taylor, Vic Sikora, Melinda Tichenor, Jim Blinn, Martha Bluhm, Ginny Darnell.

When my last flight was coming up Dennis "Meat" Mast, our scheduler gave me a list of guys that were available to fly with that day. I looked over the list and thought "Cal" wouldn't mind flying with an old geezer for a fun flight.
Here we come down 29L for a low approach.

Cal and I went out to R-2508 for some low altitude work in Saline Valley. After that we headed up to a tanker (KC-135), then a little BFM. Even on my last fligth Cal taught me a thing or two. What I like about Larry, is that he sits quietly through your briefing, goes out to fly, kills every bad guy in sight, comes back and de-briefs quietly and then goes back to work. A true gentleman and awesome fighter pilot!

After doing our first overhead to 29R we went out and came back down 11R in a formation (fast) low approach with consecutive closed. Cal says he was looking up at the lamp posts across the field :) That's the mark of a great wingman. He probably saw his wings flash before his eyes but he hung in there anyway.
Here's a quick flash to the right before left-closed. Cal, thanks for a meorable fin-flight. It's one that I'll remember for a long, long time!

All the folks that came out to wish me well on my last day in the cockpit.

I couldn't believe that on my last flight I would come back to have my jet go on Alert. Had to sit through the 6-minute INS alignment. I just wanted a cold beer.

I thought long and hard about what to do on my last flight. My uncle, Bob had gone out with a big bang back in the early 80s shortly before I got back from F-106 school. Bob tells me that everything he was wearing belonged to the AF, so he gave it all back at the end of his flight. Helmet, boots, flightsuit and everything dropped of the side of his Dart. He walked across the ramp in his birthday suit, headed for the gate and was gone. How in the heck do you top that? We had some great parties on some of our deployments so I figured I'd just go with my jams, hawaiian shirt and pooka beads.

Tony Gaedicke getting a shot of the man of the hour. I think you can just make out the corner of the Alert Trailer on the right. After my last flight I went to work with Grinder in Stan Eval for my last 18 months. I decided to get out of the cockpit when, right after getting back from Panama, we started the transition to the C-model. I was working for American and was looking to start reducing my time away from home. I figured my sorties could go to the new guys and I could fill in and do projects around the squadron 'til I got my 20 yr Letter. Go figure... I got more mandays then than I did at any other time while flying. Thanks, Howdy and Grinder!

Waiting for the INS to align. Isn't it just like the military - hurry up and wait.
The hardest part about being out of the cockpit and still being in the squadron is that you slowly but surely move from the inner circle - being part of what's happening with all the guys - to not knowing the lingo of the new jet, not sharing the flying experiences. It was hard to move to the outer circle.

John Dick and Carol waiting for the noise to go away.

Well, it's done!

First the helmet...

Then the boots...

Then me!

It's a very strange feeling to be sitting up there on the ladder looking out at the flightline and knowing that you'll never be sitting up there again. It was hard to come down the ladder.

Here we go... The age old tradition of getting hosed down by the fire truck.
Looks like everyone is heading for cover. Al Tichenor did the honors. The fellow with the rifle is Dave Tipton from Security.
He was once shopping at Fashion Fair with his wife and saw an armed robbery of a jewelry shop. He chased the guy down and tackled him. Dave got a nice award and a chewing out from his wife. :)

I like this picture a lot. Here's Ray Barnes. Ray was my flight instructor for my Private once I moved over from Mazzei's. Ray and I used to fly around in Pat Markesano's American Taveller that was parked in the dirt at the end of the flightline where a couple of P-51s used to park. Ray was a great teacher and got me started on my flying career. Thanks, Ray!!!

All smiles! I got through my fighter career without hurting myself. I did bend up a tailhook on the F-4, though. Sorry! :) That's another story.

Well, here we are with Wing Commander Doug Moore. Nice shot of Cal with Siko who turned out to be a couple of long timers with very successful careers. In this picture Larry just found out that he still had a job and would get to keep his wings after flying with me :) Again, Larry, thanks for the memories.

Col. Benton, Chief of Maintenance.

Ray "White Ray" Bhuhm, Steve "Whacker" Talley, Russ "Lugwig" Kramer taking pictures and one of my favorite fellow Griffins, Gary "Mongo" Taylor. Mongo and I had a very memorable tour in Panama together. I still smile when I think about that sortie. Thanks, Mongo!

More handshakes.

The gang hanging around. I guess the boss just didn't want to heat it :)

A first - Doug Moore smiling :) Guess he was glad to finally be rid of me :)

I like this one! Carol put up with a hell of a lot of stuff over the years. Sitting Alert over a holiday or being off on a deployment and missing family functions. Supportive all the way and a great lady!

This was a nice going away card from the engine shop. Susie Hubert was the Operations Admin. secretary when I was enlisted way back when Ops was up in the hangar. Gina sat next to me on the bus on the way down to VBG for an ORI deployment excercise. Thus, "Bus Buddy."

The back of the engine card for my last flight in the F-16.