Outstanding Airman of the Year

14 January 1984

Being recognized for one’s performance at work is always nice.  It’s even better when the awards banquet for that recognition kick-starts a new year.  Considering Mui had been on active duty for a little over a year, this was a proud moment for him.

Can you find Mui's name in the program?

These are some of the worst photographs in our album, but they're the only ones we have. So ...

At the office with his cohorts.

OMG!  Just look at that hair!!!!!

Do you want to know what we were served for dinner?  Del Monico Steak, Parsley Buttered Potatoes, Green Beans with Bacon, Green Salad, Rolls, Coffee, and Wine.  Yup — they listed everything in the back of the program for the evening.

Hill Air Force Base: Open House

17 September 1983

“The open house is a great way to showcase the Air Force and Hill Air Force Base,” was the lead-in to the article.  We invited our friends Sandy and Andrew to join us on a beautiful fall day and went to check out the Hill Air Force Base Open House.  In addition to demos — on the ground and in the air — several aircraft were open for public tours.

Bomb Loading Demonstration

Fly-over refueling of three F-105 Thunderchiefs
by a KC-135 Stratotanker.

Treaty of Paris celebrates the 200th anniversary of the
treaty by the same name that ended the American Revolutionary
War, as well as the bi-centennial of the first manned flight,
an epic event that occurred in Paris and was witnessed by
Benjamin Franklin.

The C-141B Starlifter first flew in 1963.
It remained in service until 2006.

The KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling aircraft.
the refueling boom is visible in the photo on the right.

The C-130 Hercules, capable of using unprepared runways for
takeoffs and landings, was originally designed as a troop,
medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft.

In 2007, the C-130 Hercules marked 50 years of service.

Thunderbirds Aerial Ballet — Bomb Burst

This was the one and only open house we attended at Hill Air Force Base.

Hill Air Force Base

March 1983

With orders in hand, we drove from Washington to Utah and arrived at Hill Air Force Base, located 29 miles (46 km) north of Salt Lake City.

The base was Named Hill Field in December 1939 for Major
Ployer P. Hill, who lost his life in 1935 while piloting the
famous B-17 Flying Fortress at Wright-Patterson AFB (Ohio).
[scanned from an air force magazine]

Hill Field was officially activated in November 1940.
In February 1948, following the 1947 change from
Army Air Corps to USAF, the name was changed to Hill AFB.
[scanned from an air force magazine]

The news that there was no vacancy at the inn was not what we were expecting to hear at the end of a long day’s drive.  But fear not, there was temporary lodging available in the flight line bunker where pilots were housed.  And a bunker it was.  No windows; thick, concrete walls — all designed to minimize any effects from aircraft operations!

Under the circumstances, is it any wonder we had no idea that a blizzard had raged overnight until we stepped out the door the next morning to start our search for off-base housing?