Every journalist will tell you about those stories that fall into your lap, and the story of former B 52 Crew Chief William Carter. Mr. Carter and his son Michael were recently at Minot Air Force Base where William Carter had a chance to tour the B 52 facilities at Minot AFB and reminisce about a time 64 years ago when he was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force base and was witness to the delivery of 15 new B 52H aircraft, including tail# 61-034, a plane that he would serve as crew chief of. “The 5th Bomb Wing really rolled out the red carpet for us. I can’t thank Tech Sargeant Anthony Del Rio of the 5th BW Maintenance Squadron for the time he spent with us. He was great!” said Carter.
Mr. Carter expressed that he “immensely enjoyed” his time at Minot Air Force Base but his call to me was to share a bit more of his unique journey. Carter’s B 52 experience would begin at Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia where he worked on the B 52G aircraft. In 1962 he transferred to Grand Forks Air Force Base and the 319th Bomb Wing. It was during this tenure in his career that he was introduced to a B-52H, tail number 61-034. “That plane was one of 15 new B52’s that arrived in Grand Forks. I served that plane for over 4 years and 500 flying hours” according to Carter.
But the war in Vietnam would dictate a change in course for Carter. He was to transfer to maintaining F4 Phantoms which took him to Austin, Texas and then to Vietnam. Carter was supposed to “be on loan” in his words “for a year and then return to B 52’s, but that never happened.” He would spend his time in the Air Force maintaining different aircraft until his retirement in 1973.
Of the B-52 Carter says “it’s amazing that they are still around after 64 years, and with the updates they’ll fly ‘em until 2050. They learned a lot from the B 47 (also a Boeing built aircraft) and they were able to improve the B 52.”
As for the B 52 H 61-0034 that Carter worked on for 4 years? “Well, it was not in Minot. It had been sent to a maintenance dock at Edwards Air Force base” Carter told us, “but I was able to see a B 52 up close for the first time since I left Grand Forks Air Force Base.”
There are so many numbers that make the William Carter story so amazing. First, Mr. Carter is 92 years old and a Vietnam Veteran. Next is that Carter was introduced to the still flying 61-034 B-52 64 years ago, and that same jet will be flying into the 2050’s, or 90 years after it rolled off the line in 1962. And as Paul Harvey and William Carter would say; “Now you know the rest of the story.”
