RAF Bentwaters
Before the internet, getting your name in the paper or on the news was a pretty big deal. It gave you that sense of being important, of having your neighbors know a little more about you, of getting a tiny piece of that fifteen minutes of fame. So if something happened at your place of employment and some reporter asks you for your version or opinion you would gladly accept and if there were no consequences involved, you may even embellish a bit. If you have loose morals or simply like to have fun you may embellish a lot.
I was quite happy to be stationed at RAF Bentwaters as my first base right out of training because I would at least be able to communicate with the locals. My first assignment was in Munitions Storage and Handling in the 81st EMS and being new was put right on the night shift. The night shift had no rules and was great fun and many hours were passed sitting in the break room just telling stories and messing with people on the radio. One night someone brought in a picture, which looked torn out of some paper or magazine, of an A-10 target with the caption “this truck with mounted missile launcher appeared and disappeared several times on the night in question.” Everyone seemed to be having a good laugh over it.
The A-10 warthog is an air-to-ground attack fighter designed to take out tanks and other ground equipment. One of its main missiles, the AGM-65 uses a camera as part of its guidance system, so to facilitate the training of pilots the fabrication shop made three or four “targets” that were parked around the base to give the pilots something to lock on to. There was a “tank” welded on to a pickup chassis, a vehicle with radar dishes welded all over it, and an old flatbed truck with garbage cans welded on it to look like three missiles on a launcher. It was very, very obviously a fake, and looked more like something your 8th grade class may put together for a homecoming parade.