Info Wanted: PAWG 1970 Command Change

[Therapst]

I'm a brand newbie here so please excuse me if I do something unintentionally wrong. 

I was a very active member of PAWG from 1963 through 1970.  In March of that year, long-time wing commander Colonel Philip Neuweiler was replaced in a somewhat controversial manner.  I would really like to know more of what became of him and his wing staff after that change in command.  I would particularly like to know about his full-time director of administrative services, Lt Col Finn Venditto, and COCS Commandant Lt Col Rupert Much.  Any and all information on this event would certainly be appreciated.

Thank you very much.

[flyboy53]

Boy are you pulling on the memory strings.....really fuzzy ones....

That era in the Pennsylvania Wing was really something. You thought you were really part of something big and Colonel Neuweiller ran the wing the same way. He would sometimes really go off on a limb with missions he wanted the wing's personnel to do...things like Ranger teams and Hawk Mountain really flourished under his command.

I still think that's the best of the wing patches...

Was there one specific issue or instance, I don't remember now. I know he suffered from cancer. I think, however, he bucked the Region Comander, Colonel Lyons, on something. I don't remember what. I do remember things like him showing up at a wing commander's call with a machine gun under a blanket or lobbying to have the CAP perform missions like exposing enemies of state....that wasn't long after the McCarthy era if you get my drift. There were two active Air Force bases in PA at that time, Olmstead and Greater Pitt, so wing operations were centered around Middleton, and Harrisburg.

Never once do I remember a corporate aircraft in any PA Wing CAP operations. They were all private and operated under CAP Aero Clubs...until one SARCAP (that's what they called them then) when two T-28 Trojans in CAP markings showed up at the mission base in Franklin following a sortie.....which is interesting, because you never hear any of the historians ever talk about T-28s in the CAP inventory.

[Therapst]

Yes, it was a long time ago.  Let me see if I can add anything to what you've said, which as far as I know, is spot on.

Colonel Neuweiler served as PAWG commander for over 20 years.  He began the CAP Ranger program, and he was also the first commandant of the PAWG Cadet Officer Candidate School, which in later years drew cadets from several other wings as well as PA. 

I never heard about the machine gun thing, so I can't comment on that.  He was definitely interested in (and that may be an understatement) the possibility of communist infiltration.  At that time, the wing not only held the nationally sanctioned SARCAP, but also had an annual CD-CAP Exercise.  During one of those exercises, I was part of a team that was tasked by wing hq to infiltrate and test the security of a large group in the western part of the state.

I don't know what his relationship with Colonel Lyons was like, but it seems that by March of 1970 it may not have been that great, because he was essentially relieved of command seemingly overnight.  From what I've heard, it wasn't pretty.  Up until that time, wing headquarters had been located for many years at what was then known as Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton (ABE) airport near Allentown, which is the city where his family's brewery was located.  When command changed, wing headquarters moved to Pittsburgh as far as I know.

Corporate aircraft?  I'm pretty sure there were a few T-38s, but they were far outnumbered by member-owned aircraft.  Our group had several CAP-owned vehicles, including a few "weasels," which were like open-air tanks. Troop carriers, I suppose.  Good for rough terrain, but the police didn't appreciate them being operated on the highway so much.

[flyboy53]

I remember Colonel Neuweiler to be the wing's wartime commander and organizer.

I was in Group 50 from 1966 to 1972.

I remember the CD stuff and the thing abut the infltrators...were you one of the teams that infiltrated the Chess Lamberton Airport Mission Base. For a cadet, that was a real rude awakening. All the mission bases in Group 50 during that era were either at Army or Air Force reserve centers that were co-located at major airports. So you reported to the mission base, were assigned duties that pretty much amounted to sentry stuff and were issued a cot to sleep on in the drill hall. I learned early what CQ and fire guard meant.

That type of traning went on in limited manner long into the early 1970s. I remember being training on radiological monitoring...and I was only a cadet...like I said you really felt you were part of something.

I also remember that the senior members, especially the CAP officers, at one point were actually issued blue AF ID Cards and some of them took that status to exremes and actually started wearing AF insignia on their uniforms.

One of the weasels you spoke of may still be sitting in the woods behind a home in Sandy Lake, PA.

[Therapst]

Ah yes, Group 50 was located in Erie if I remember correctly.  I was in Group 1400, comprised of Blair, Bedford, Cambria, and Somerset Counties (south central PA).

No I wasn't part of that infiltration team.  We flew into Allegheny County Airport near Pittsburgh.

Radiological monitoring, ditto.  Survival crackers...mm mm good (not).

We didn't have a problem with senior members wearing USAF insignia, but our uniforms were Air Force style.  If memory serves, senior members at that time were issued computer printed membership cards from National, but PAWG also issued photo ID cards to supplement them.

[flyboy53]

!!

[flyboy53]

!!

[flyboy53]

Group 50 had two or more  2 1/2 ton trucks. just as many 3/4 ton trucks, a Blue Air Force panel truck that was used for communications, an old blue Air Force Ford Galaxy 500 staff car and one or more silver-painted L-5s with Air Force markings. One of the L-5s ended up in pieces in an old strip hanger at what was then Splane Memorial Airport outside Oil City. The other went back to the Air Force, but not after it was stripped of necessary equipment. I ended up with one of the yellow survival suits out of it because the it was determined obsolete and struck from the rolls. I still had to sign for it. When I transferred to the Indiana Wing, it was traded for an orange flight suit that I wore for about five years as an observer.

A highlight of that era was when a C-119 from Pittsburg flew to Splane aand picked up squadron and group personnel for an orientation flight. Everyone was in parachutes..what a gas!

The group had it's share of personalities. The Group PAO was a World War II British Spitfire pilot who was the weatherman for one of the TV stations in Erie.

My squadron, Composite Squadron 501 generated most of the group commanders to include a Major by the named of Lamberton of your era. The other most notable was a Major named Don Beatty, whom the squadron is now named after. The squadron also had four World War II charter members: Major Beatty, Major Al Saar, Capt. Chuch Minnich, and Capt. H. Doug Brown. Captain Brown was a friend of Gil Robb Wilson's, was the orginal squadron organizer, and was personally promoted to captain by John F. Curry (I actually saw the order letter). Captain Minnich flew search and rescue missions during the war. Major Saar did less than a month's duty at a coastal patrol base, Major Beatty flew forestry patrol missions and Captain Brown was actually called to CAP active service as a AAF flight instructor.

There were four Spaatz Award recipients from the group during that period. (now) Col. Larry Trick is the former MD Wing Commander. George Rose of Erie was killed in a plane crash in New Mexico; Keith (Snuffy) Smith worked at a state hospital near Franklin; and Jim Heald is a medical doctor somewhere on the east coast.

[Therapst]

This is fascinating info, thanks.  We had about the same complement of vehicles.  I kind of remember two of the Group commander names you mentioned.  By the way, I was in CAP from 1963 through 1970, both as a cadet and senior member.

In our group, we had one member, Earl McGill, the Bedford squadron commander, who was the original 13th member of PAWG.  Although he had a break in service, he was successful in getting his original CAPSN reassigned to him:  3113.