Loring AFB, Maine Loring AFB, Maine
1975 - 1976
When I forecast for re-assignment after Alaska,
I put in for Dover AFB and Dow AFB in Bangor Maine. I ended up at the 42nd Bomb
Wing at Loring AFB, Maine. Way up there in Aroostook County, it
was like a different world. After four winters in Alaska, we
found the winters at Loring to be MUCH harder. Man! It was COLD
up there. The summers are beautiful though. We had great quarters
out at Connors Maine. It was housing that had been built for
the folks who manned the Nike site that had been there, but was
since deactivated. There were 16 nice little three-bedroom
cottages. We loved it! I had about a zillion acres for a back
yard, and a three wheeled Honda ATC to explore them with. Trout
fishing was good, though the native Brown trout in Aroostook
County were pretty small, it was great fun to catch them and they are tasty. Ruffed Grouse hunting was great too!
Loring was a huge SAC base with double wings of everything. The duty was demanding and I loved it. I was the Work Center Supervisor (aka Shop Chief), and I was just getting in the groove
of the job when SAC Headquarters called and offered me a job with the SAC MSET
team. I jumped at it! That was the third smartest thing that I ever did. Below are photos of the unit patch, and some
B-52 photos that illustrate why Loring was not a sought-after
assignment. I was not at Loring when this
happened, but I am posting it here because it is the saddest B-52
photo that I have ever seen. It looks like she is trying to keep
her nose up and escape from the flames. Below are some pics of the housing unit that we
had at Connors. See that VW in the driveway? It got me to work
EVERY day. What they said about those things going through the
snow is true. Of course, the VW "defroster" was so
inadequate that I would have to use a scraper to clean off the
INSIDE of the windshield as I drove down the road. Great
memories... Note that my snow removal team is at work after a
light dusting. Here are some shots of the good side. Summer
time was great. That is a photo of my back yard at Connor, and
one of Brian on the Honda ATC ready for some fun. That Honda was
too much fun. I would love to have one now. The next photo shows
the badadah (potatoe) pickers in a field. I'm guessing that Tom
and Sean are out there somewhere earning their 10 cents a barrel.
The last pic is of Tom picking apples in a "volunteer"
apple grove. I used these apples for stuffing for the Ruffed
Grouse that I bagged. Indescribably delicious!.!.!.!
They were so good that the ex would actually ask me when
I was going hunting again.
Photos from around Loring -- Click here