Michael Scott

THE LAST 42 YEARS

I departed Columbus AFB in July 1969 with orders to fly the EC-121R at Korat AB, Thailand. That lasted until I got about half way through the R-model program when my orders were canceled and I remained at McClellan AFB, CA (sad) flying the D/T/Q models (including a 45 day to Keflavik, Iceland) until I volunteered for Vietnam and departed for training in the C-7 Caribou in late 1971. In the meantime, I had met and married my only wife, Sharron. She picked me up at the McClellan O Club in Nov 70 and we got married in September 1971.

Vietnam in the Caribou was 2 months at Cam Ranh Bay (Jan-Mar ’72) and then Tan Son Nhut until Nov when they shut us down as part of the drawdown – a 2 month rollback – nice. From there, back to McClellan and EC-121s. Smallest PCS voucher ever – $3.60 (60 miles from Travis to McClellan at 6 cents a mile). There, I got a waiver for early upgrade to aircraft commander, two TDY deployments (Korat and Keflavik), Flight Safety Officer School fall 1973 (with Bob Wall), moved to Wing Safety, SOS in fall of 1974 and then the big escape – to Peterson AFB, CO in Jan 1975.

Michael L. Scott — “Troll”

“He came out of North Caroline, the only member of 71-01 to have to stand on his tip toes to meet the minimum height requirement…

Mike found that the secret to good flying is really quite simple: crank the seat all the way up and get the rudder pedals as far up as they’ll go. Despite the fact that Mike didn’t see quite eye to eye with his T-37 IP about fighters, he overcame and arrived in white whale city, where he quickly distinguished himself by practically living in the RSU and spending his spare time manning the snack bar.

When the Troll fades into the sunset driving his faithful Volkswagen, we hope it’s on his way to fly around the world and see it all.”

71-01 Yearbook, page 55.