Thomas G. Goduto Interview, 20 February 2001
‹‹ Interview Index
1 /
2 /
3 /
4 /
5 /
6 /
7 /
8 /
9 /
10 /
11 /
12 /
13 /
14 /
15 /
16 /
17 /
18 /
19 /
20 /
21 /
22 /
23 /
24 /
25 /
26 /
27 /
28 /
29 /
30 /
31
| we'd like you to come and take a physical and a mental test.' So I felt that I was going to be going to Viet Nam with the rest of the guys and I looked around to see what was available. I always was fascinated with aircraft and flying, and so I went to the Navy and I couldn't get into the Navy because of hearing level, and I could not get into the pilot program because of hearing level but I could get into a navigator program called, 'Aviation Cadets,' with 2 years of college, so I did that. I went into Aviation Cadets in 1963—in the first part of 1965 they did away with that program, so to get a commission in the Air Force after 1965, you had to have a 4-year bachelor's degree. | ||
| INT: | What year was that? | |
| TG: | I went in December of 1962 and Aviation Cadets was at James Connelly Air Force Base, Waco, Texas. That was a 1-year program at that time, where they combined the navigational course, all electronics—they added a whole bunch of electronics in at that time, and then normal military training like boot camp. I graduated with aeronautical rating and navigator, and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. | |
| INT: | So you were already commissioned at the end of your first year? | |
| TG: | First year, so the year I was an aviation cadet I wasn't commissioned, so actually my military career, a 20-year career was 20 years in the service, but only 19 of that was commission time, 'cause there was the one-year up front that I was an aviation cadet. | |
| INT: | But you retired with full retirement from the Air Force? | |
| TG: | Oh yeah. I graduated on time, never washed back, December 1963. And my first assignment was Minot, North Dakota, although in-between I had to go to electronic warfare officer school. That's where I was assigned on navigation training, to Mather Air Force Base, and that was about a 7-month program—electronic warfare officer school. Then after that I had to go to a couple miscellaneous courses to include survival training. And then I reported to Castle Air Force Base in probably August or September of 1964 for B-52 combat crew training, and then I went to Minot, North Dakota. | |
| INT: | Was Castle the principal B-52 training facility? | |
| TG: | Castle was the combat crew training, yeah, for B-52's. | |
| INT: | Okay. And then another question too, did all EWO's come from navigation school? |
‹‹ Previous Page — Next Page ››
2