VigilanteVigilanteRVAH NAVY NewsletterRVAH NAVY Newsletter June, 2019

Legendary F-8E Crusader pilot CDR. Joe “Hoser” Satrapa isseen in the back row of this group photo of his squadron, VF-124, the “Gunfighters”. (Photo: via VF-124)

Joe “Hoser” Satrapa climbing the ladderon a Vought F-8E Crusader from VF-124.

Over the last couple of months, several of you have forwarded the bio for CDR Joe “Hoser” Satrapa andindicated that this might be something for the Newsletter. A pilot with RVAH-6 1971-1973, Joe went on tofly a number of different fighters and had, to say the least, an illustrious (maybe even notorious?) careerin the US Navy. While Satrapa flew many aircraft during his Navy career, including the large RA-5CVigilante twin-engine supersonic carrier-borne reconnaissance jet and the EC-121 four-radial enginepropeller early warning, electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft, “Hoser” was best known for hiscombat flying in the supersonic, single-engine, single-seat Vought F-8E Crusader.And even after retirement, CDR Satrapa continued to fly missions of a different nature. Joe “Hoser”Satrapa was known most recently as an S-2T pilot for the California Department of Forestry and FireProtection flying Tanker 89 out of Grass Valley, California.Many active pilots and RIOs well remember Hoser’s delivery of manic harangues to fuzzy-cheekednewcomers from the RAG. In his patented Yosemite Sam voice he would whip the lads, and invariablyhimself, into a lethal frenzy: “Pull on the pole till the rivets pop and the RIO pukes! No kill like a guns kill!A Lima up the tailpipe is too good for any Gomer! Close with the miserable Commie [deleted] and put afew rounds of twenty-twenty-mike-mike through his canopy! If he hits the silk, gun his ass while heswings!” Hoser would then pace the corridor, bumping into hapless petty officers, muttering oaths, tryingto re-align his internal INS.While the saying among aviators is, “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old,bold pilots”, Commander Joe “Hoser” Satrapa clearly defied that belief. To his final days before passingaway peacefully in a California hospital last week surrounded by family, Command Joe “Hoser” Satrapapushed the boundaries of aviation and established new limits well beyond those previously recognized.His illustrious career in military and civilian aviation compares to aviators like Chuck Yeager, John Glennand the greats of flying history.What follows is remembrance by Jimmy Barnes of Associated Aerial Firefighters.

Remembering Joe " Hoser" SatrapaPosted by Don F Bailey on March 20, 2019He passed away this week. RVAH-6 1971-1973 amongothers.Fair winds and following seas RIP

The following is a remembrance by Jimmy Barnes ofAssociated Aerial Firefighters.(Editors Note: Some editing was done for length.)

March 18, 2019 – Thirty-three years ago, I was a Co-Pilotfor Chuck Bartak on a DC-6 at Chico Air Attack Base. Onthe first day of the contract we had our pre work meetingWith Chief Don (Bigfoot) O’Connell presiding. Sittingquietly on the couch was a tall, lean gentleman in atailored orange flight suit. His appearance was so dapperthat I naturally assumed that he was a U.S. Forest Service

“C-130s, that’s where all the bottom feeders go. Youwould have been a shitting post for some grizzly oldMajor, you’re lucky you flunked out. Flying instruments inan A-4 is hard, I had trouble with it too”.I thought, this guy is putting me on. A fighter pilot whohas both humility and empathy for the less fortunate, howcould such a travesty occur?What he said next convinced me that he was the biggestbullshit artist that I had ever encountered and there wasno shortage of bullshit artists in the tanker business.“I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, the Secretaryof the Navy called me and he wants me to come back inthe Navy and teach fighter tactics and gunnery as a FlightDuty Officer”.I had been around the Navy for quite a while and I hadnever heard of such a title. He continued on.“I told him that I would only come back in if I could keepcollecting my retirement pay and if he would promote meto full Commander”.Now I was convinced that this guy was smoking dope.A while later our phone rang. Chuck, my Captain, picked itup.“Hoser it’s for you. Somebody from the Department of theNavy”.For the next half hour, we listened to Hoser negotiatewith the Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, for theconditions under which he would accept an appointmentas the Navy’s first Flight Duty Officer. Turns out that

“C-130s, that’s where all the bottom feeders go. Youwould have been a shitting post for some grizzly oldMajor, you’re lucky you flunked out. Flying instruments inan A-4 is hard, I had trouble with it too”.I thought, this guy is putting me on. A fighter pilot whohas both humility and empathy for the less fortunate, howcould such a travesty occur?What he said next convinced me that he was the biggestbullshit artist that I had ever encountered and there wasno shortage of bullshit artists in the tanker business.“I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, the Secretaryof the Navy called me and he wants me to come back inthe Navy and teach fighter tactics and gunnery as a FlightDuty Officer”.I had been around the Navy for quite a while and I hadnever heard of such a title. He continued on.“I told him that I would only come back in if I could keepcollecting my retirement pay and if he would promote meto full Commander”.Now I was convinced that this guy was smoking dope.A while later our phone rang. Chuck, my Captain, picked itup.“Hoser it’s for you. Somebody from the Department of theNavy”.For the next half hour, we listened to Hoser negotiatewith the Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, for theconditions under which he would accept an appointmentas the Navy’s first Flight Duty Officer. Turns out that

that I naturally assumed that he was a U.S. Forest ServiceLead Plane Pilot. Then I noticed that on his name tag, inaddition to his name, there was one word in big boldletters. It read, HOSER, with a set of Navy wings affixed tothe tag. I introduced myself;“Hi I’m Jim Barnes, I’m Chuck’s Co-Pilot on the six, whoare you with”?“Just call me Hoser, I’m flying with that big fucker overthere”. He pointed to Bigfoot and I realized that he wasour new Air Attack Pilot.“Why do they call you Hoser”?“Well when I was a new pilot in the Navy, during trainingin the gun pattern, I rolled in on the target and shot all myammo in one pass. The instructors called me Hoser afterthat and it became my handle for the next twenty years”.“Where did you go to flight school for jet training”?“Kingsville in Corpus Christi”.“Kingsville is Wingsville and at Beeville you attrite withthe best”?“I’ve heard that one before, what’s your story”?“I fell on my sword in A-4 training for bad procedures andbusting an AN-10 instrument check at the wrong time ofthe fiscal year. I was so close to the end of training that Iwas slated for C-130 school in Littlerock”.

as the Navy’s first Flight Duty Officer. Turns out thatSecretary Lehman, also a Naval Flight Officer in thereserve, had flown with Hoser as his back seater on sometraining flights. After what seemed like a conversationwith an old friend Hoser hung up the phone and said;“It’s all settled, after fire season I’m going back in theNavy”.We were all flabbergasted. Beyond all belief this guy wasfor real.“Holy shit Hoser, I thought you were putting us on forsure. That sounds like a great deal”.“Yea, he offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse”.After that Hoser and I had many long discussions about hisexperiences in the Navy. His career pattern was also aboutas unlikely as one could get. Combat experience inVietnam as both a Fighter Pilot in an F-8 Crusader and aPhoto Reconnaissance Pilot in an A-5 Vigilante. He haddone the bomb damage assessment mission on SnuffySmith’s successful raid on the Thanh Hoa bridge deemedthe bridge that wouldn’t go down by Air Force and NavyPilots. It was in an area called the Dragon’s Jaw by theVietnamese because it was so well defended.

as the Navy’s first Flight Duty Officer. Turns out thatSecretary Lehman, also a Naval Flight Officer in thereserve, had flown with Hoser as his back seater on sometraining flights. After what seemed like a conversationwith an old friend Hoser hung up the phone and said;“It’s all settled, after fire season I’m going back in theNavy”.We were all flabbergasted. Beyond all belief this guy wasfor real.“Holy shit Hoser, I thought you were putting us on forsure. That sounds like a great deal”.“Yea, he offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse”.After that Hoser and I had many long discussions about hisexperiences in the Navy. His career pattern was also aboutas unlikely as one could get. Combat experience inVietnam as both a Fighter Pilot in an F-8 Crusader and aPhoto Reconnaissance Pilot in an A-5 Vigilante. He haddone the bomb damage assessment mission on SnuffySmith’s successful raid on the Thanh Hoa bridge deemedthe bridge that wouldn’t go down by Air Force and NavyPilots. It was in an area called the Dragon’s Jaw by theVietnamese because it was so well defended.

I was enamored by Hoser’s war stories and when Imentioned to him that he had really been through someshit, his comment was;“Yea but nothing was as tough as bringing the Vigi aboardship at night.”“Did you ever fly an A-3D”?“They tried to make me fly that piece of shit at Key Westwhen I checked in to the Squadron. After a few fam flightsin it I decided that a carrier plane with no ejection seatsand an air cycle machine in the cockpit that a had a badhabit of coming unglued and frying the crew was not mycup a tea. Besides it weren’t no fighter”.“I always wondered why Navy Pilots called the A-3D allthree dead”.“To get out of it I made a deal with the Skipper. They werelooking for somebody to fly the Squadron’s EC-121K, (acommand and control ship that was there for trainingexercises). I told the Skipper I would fly it for him if he

“Hey Joe, were getting tired of steaks could you get ussomething else like Lobster tails maybe”.Gas man Joe’s lower lip dropped.“I can get you some fish”.Hoser accepted Joe’s counter offer.“Ok, fish then”.The next week the gas man brought us buckets of fish. Icouldn’t identify the species, they were about four to sixinches long with fins, gills and a tail so we deep fried themup and ate them. They were OK but we opted to go backto steaks the next week. The thing was he brought us toomany fish so we had lots left over. Those fish ended upbeing distributed all over the tanker base. Joe the gas mangot two under the seat of his 52 Chevy gas truck. He mustof thought that his colostomy bag broke when he climbedinto the truck the next morning. Bigfoot the ranger got ahandful on top of the engine intake manifold of his pickuptruck so he had fried fish after he drove home that night.The worst case was that Joe but about a dozen fish underthe seat of Major Aviation’s Pickup truck that was onlyrarely driven. The average temperature on the ramp wasin the high nineties most days. After about two weeks myCaptain Chuck used the pickup to pick his wife up at theairport. Mercifully the terminal was only a couple hundredyards away and when Chuck and his wife Shari drove intothe parking lot both their heads were sticking out of theside windows. It was all great fun but I thought I’d neverexercises). I told the Skipper I would fly it for him if he

would keep me current in Fighters”.Only Hoser could have negotiated such a deal. It ended upthat he loved flying the big four engine airplane and heloved his crew. He had a ring side seat on all the traininghops and being Hoser he couldn’t resist fucking with hisbrother fighter pilots. He would get on the tacticalfrequencies and give the Fighter jocks bogus vectors andfake bogie reports. One of his old Fighter buddiesrecognized his very distinctive voice upon receiving one ofhis fake instructions and his reply was;“Nice try Hoser”.We had a great time that year and between Hoser,Bigfoot, Chuck and the crew it was a barrel of laughs.Bigfoot had a deal with the gas vendor at the airport a guythat was also named Joe. For every one hundred gallonsof gas sold at the tanker base he would give us one steak.By the end of the week we had enough steaks for abarbeque. They weren’t the best steaks but there werelots of em. Then Hoser decided that we were tired ofeating steaks. Joe the gas man came over to our weeklybarbeque and Hoser made a request.

side windows. It was all great fun but I thought I’d neverget that smell out of M.A.O.’s truck.Hoser had a unique way of answering our companyphone. He was working for Hemet Valley Flying Serviceand we were working for Major Aviation. On our phonewas a tape label with “Major Aviation Only” written on it.Hoser turned Major Aviation Only into an acronym. Whenour phone rang, he’d pick it up and answer with what hewould call great panache;“MAO, do you have anything to do with fighters ortankers”?When the person on the other end of the phone tried torespond confused by Hoser’s antics his next words were;“Never heard of ya”.Then he would hang up. When some of the folks from ourcompany got perplexed and a little upset by Hoser’shumorous shenanigans my Captain would tell them;“That’s just Hoser, he’s trying to improve moral aroundthis place”.Strangely enough that seemed to satisfy them and afterall, it was pretty funny.

Hoser and I found that in addition to flying we had a lot ofother interests in common like drinking, shooting andhunting. We did do a lot of drinking some nights and someshooting before tanker time and he was a deadly shot.One day Hoser’s beautiful blonde wife and a gorgeouslittle girl appeared at the base. I thought, this guy has leda charmed life. He’s got it all, flew fighters, got a beautifulwife and kid and now he was going back into the Navy tofly fighters again. I couldn’t help but compare and contrasthis life to mine which up to that point had been a series ofunfortunate events. We had a great summer and as Hoserwould always state with great eloquence “copiousamounts mirth and levity were had by all”.After that fire season Hoser went back into the Navy andhe was gone for a couple of years. We kept in touch andhe gave me reports from time to time. Like when he shotthe all-time record score for the most strafing hits on thetarget at Dare County target range in an Fe. He told me

When he woke up the first thing he was saw was that Dr.Buncke had erased the happy face on the toenail anddrew a sad face on Hoser’s new thumb nail. It wasn’t atotal loss though. Hoser told me that the Navy wasconsidering adopting Joe’s new concept and calling it theHoser round. After a tough recovery process Hoser wasreinstated to flight status.Eventually Hoser retired for the second time and cameback to fly with us. As luck would have it Hoser went rightinto the S-2 training program. Fate would intervene againin his life when both tanker pilots at Grass Valley passedaway within the same year. It left an opening at the basewhich was about ten miles from his house. So Hoser gotGrass Valley Air Attack Base as his permanent base wherehe served for the rest of his career.Around that time, I was flying the prototype S-2T, Tanker180. It was my goal to get every S-2 tanker pilot that Icould to fly it. The tanker pilots loved it because it wassuch a dramatic improvement in performance over theradial engine S-2. When I finally got a chance to put Hosein the left seat on a fire, I pointed to the airspeed indicatorwhile in-route to the fire. I thought he would be veryimpressed that it was indicating 250 knots.“Hoser, can you believe how fast this thing is”?He gave me a quizzical look.“Yea, everything is a blur”.I suddenly felt pretty silly. I guess I forgot who I was flyingwith, to me 250 knots was a space ship. To a fighter pilottarget at Dare County target range in an Fe. He told me

about a pass that he made where he pulled straight upover the range, jettisoned fuel, then hit the afterburnercausing a towering vertical column of flame that reallyinspired the ground troops.Then I heard that he blew his thumb off. He had made aspecial gun out of a 20mm cannon barrel that he wasusing to test a new round that he was experimenting with.The aim was to extend the range of the 20mm bywrapping the bullets with Teflon tape and loading themup to attain higher velocities and delivering a longerrange. His goal was to fill the gap between the maximumeffective range of the guns and the minimum effectiverange of the missiles. He had designed and built thereceiver and the trigger group but he always fired it frombehind cover with the use of a lanyard to pull the triggerbecause he knew the action was unsafe. The accidentoccurred when he was loading it and it accidentally wentoff blowing up the gun and blowing his thumb clear off.For most pilots that would have been the end of theirflying career but not Hoser. With a miracle of microsurgery by his friend Dr. Harry Buncke, Hoser’s big toe wassuccessfully transplanted on to Hoser’s hand. Before thesurgery Hoser had painted a happy face on his toenail.

with, to me 250 knots was a space ship. To a fighter pilotwho flew the Crusader, the Phantom and the Vigi it wasapproach speed. He did a great job on the fire with it andhe was very enthusiastic about the prospect of having it asour new airtanker.I was in seventh heaven in those days flying the turbine.Then during the winter Bill Dempsay offered me a jobflying a DC-4 in North Carolina during their early season. Ithought to myself this couldn’t be better, flying an oldvintage DC-4 in the Spring and the most advancedturboprop airtanker for CDF during the summer. I wassure that it was going to be a good time. My Co-Pilot thatfirst year was a very fine one but he got offered a job as aSEAT pilot back there for the next year so his job was upfor grabs. I told Hoser all about it and he asked if he couldtake the next spring. I asked him why in the world hewould want to do something like that? He answered withthe typical Hoserism;“I gotta get my four-engine box checked”.“I’d be glad to have you but the pay is low and we have todo a lot of our own maintenance. The average flight timefor North Carolina on the State contract is usually onlyabout ten hours”.He was undeterred.

“That’s OK, sounds like it will be a lot of fun”.I wasn’t so sure. I was a DC-4 pilot with less than 100hours as Captain in it. My new Co-Pilot would be a top gunFighter Pilot with a whole career flying the most high-performance aircraft in the Navy and he had been aConnie pilot too. Since I had been a lackluster jet pilot thatwashed out of A-4s I was concerned about how thisunique combo would work out.We were the oddest odd couple to ever climb into acockpit. As it worked out Hoser was just the best Co-Pilotyou could ever hope for. He was a great help in thecockpit even when we lost all four engines and deadsticked it into Sherman Field in Texas. He was a tirelessworker and helped with all the airplane washing andmaintenance that we had to do when we weren’t flying.We didn’t fly much that year, only about 5 hours ofrevenue time but we did do a lot of drinking. It was sort oflike a paid vacation going to pig pickins and oyster

Over the years Hoser and I flew fires together, huntedtogether and shot guns together almost always followed itby a couple whiskeys together.Every couple of years we went to Montana to hunt withour old friend Vern and the great Vito Orlandella. Vernwas an old tanker pilot who had been a Marine Pilot inthe Korean war. He flew birddogs calling in Naval gunfirefor the Army and Marines at places like the ChosinReservoir. Vito was not only a famous tanker pilot he wasa champion competition shooter. There was also nothinghe didn’t know about an airplane. Once again, we did alittle hunting and a lot of drinking and eating. We shotmost of our deer off the deck of our cabin in the littleSnowy Mountains. I never laughed so hard as when I waswith those guys. I once asked Vern if he had a call sign likeHOSER did.“Yea, it was magnet ass”.He explained to us that flying over a couple thousandKorean and Chinese troops he would get a lot of bulletholes in his Birddog on every mission. They would passright through the fabric cover and leave the plane lookinglike Swiss cheese. To prevent him getting shot in the assthey put sand bags under and around his seat.Fortunately, they never hit anything vital. Vern said thatcalling in 18-inch artillery shells from the Missouri thatblasted the little bastards to hell really made them mad.As time went on Hoser had second thoughts about evenshooting a deer. On one occasion Hoser shot a beautifullike a paid vacation going to pig pickins and oyster

barbeques washing it all down with beer and whiskey.Hoser became an instant hero at the Kingston AirtankerBase when he got his old Fe partner to fly into Kingston,to do a low pass, and land. Hoser had previously asked theForest Service boys if they had a certain type of powerunit (he gave them all the numbers) to start an Fe.Wearing his camouflaged cover decorated with aflechette, a dirty T shirt and cammo pants they thought hewas an escapee from the luny bin. They informed him thatno they didn’t have that type of APU. Then the earthbegan to rumble. An Fe appeared right on the deck,streaked down the duty runway, did an immelburger turn,came around and landed. He taxied up to our ramp andthe canopy opened. It was Hoser’s old Squadron mateCaptain Dale Snodgrass, call sign SNORT, who was nowthe Commander of the Navy’s whole Atlantic Air Force.Hoser climbed up the side of the jet with the enginesrunning and SNORT handed him some posters for theForestry boys. The canopy closed, SNORT made somehand gestures pointing to the DC-4 challenging us to a dogfight. The big fighter then taxied out to the runway andblasted off like a rocket ship. After that Hoser could do nowrong. All those guys were also in the National Guard andthat was about the coolest thing that ever happened atKingston.

shooting a deer. On one occasion Hoser shot a beautifulwhite tail four-point buck and he looked so sad I thoughtwe were going to have to have a funeral for thesonofabitch. I guess it was because of all his deer petsback at his compound in Nevada City where he wouldspend hours feeding them and talking to them and he hada name for every one of them. They would walk right upto him and they would let him pet them. Hoser was toughas nails but he was also a very sentimental guy with greatcompassion for animals and most people. A few yearslater our friend Vern died. I always knew that he had liedabout his age because when he was in Korea, I was oneyear old but somehow, he ended up only being ten yearsolder than I was.

On our last hunting trip, we both felt the loss of our palVern and things weren’t quite as chipper as they oncewere. One thing was he seemed to be recovered from anyinhibitions about shooting deer caused by remorse. Westayed in Don’s big beautiful house out in the wildernesswith Vito and his wife Sandy along with Vito’s son Pat andhis wife. In the mornings we all scattered in differentdirections and went hunting. Hose and I, being all stoveup, moseyed down to one of Don’s other housessurrounded by mostly grass land facing a steep slope. Wewere sitting on a deck that went all the way around a littlecabin. While we were sitting there, sipping whiskey, Hosespotted two whitetails coming up the gulch and motionedto me to get ready. They were about two hundred yardsso we both took leaners on the deck railings. We bothfired simultaneously and it sounded like one shot. Bothdear dropped at the same instant. Hose was elated;“A double spank”.

Mrs. Satrapa made the courageous decisions to do whatshe knew would have been Joe’s final wishes. Her last textmessage to me was that Joe had only a few days or weeksleft and if I wanted to see him one last time now would bethat time. That night Pamela got a phone call from thehospital at midnight. She thought that it would be thatsolemn notification but no. The nurse told her that Joejust wanted to tell her that he loved her. The next day Iwent to the hospital and when I walked into his roomMrs. Satrapa was sitting dutifully by his side. Joe wassemi-conscious drifting in and out. We told him how muchwe loved him and we talked for hours about what a greatman and great pilot he was. When I mentioned that theboys at the ready room at McClellan Tanker Base sent himtheir love, he gave me a little smile. When I told him howproud he would be of all his young tanker pilots he smiledagain. His wife Pamela talked to him softly and lovinglyreassuring him that he had been a great husband and agreat father. It seemed to give him great comfort. Then hisdaughter came in the room to help support her momduring this terrible ordeal. The little girl that I first met somany years ago at Chico Tanker Base is now a beautifulyoung woman. She was so close to her Dad that the painof his loss is almost overwhelming. In spite of thatCassandra and her Mom stayed by Joe’s side supportingeach other and showering Joe with love. For me this wasone of the hardest goodbyes I ever had to endure.Commander Joe Satrapa was one of the greatest Fighter“A double spank”.

We drove my van right up to the dear, gutted them andloaded them up. We returned to the porch and hadanother whiskey and Hose proclaimed;“Now that’s what I call a gentleman’s hunt”.That was the last time we went hunting together. Wetalked on the phone almost every week mostly aboutflying, hunting and shooting and sometimes aboutcommunists”.About two weeks ago I called Hoser and got no answer. Icalled again the next day and got the same result. I had abad feeling but I told myself that they just went on a tripsomewhere. Then Hoser’s wife Pamela began to messageme and the messages got progressively worse. First it wasthat Hose had fallen and he was in the hospital. I calledher cellphone and finally got through to her. We talkedabout preparing a room on the lower floor of the housefor Joe to convalesce in. Then I got the message that hewas in a rehab facility and that he was in too much pain toundergo therapy. The next message from Mrs. Satrapawas that that Joe’s condition was far worse than they firstthought. The doctor told her that he had a wide spreadinfection and would probably not survive emergencysurgery. He also told her that if he did survive and hewould be severely impaired for the remainder of his life.

Commander Joe Satrapa was one of the greatest FighterPilots the Navy has ever produced. When he came into thetanker world, he brought that warrior spirit with him. Hewas a magnificent airtanker pilot and when he became atanker instructor pilot, he brought all those years ofteaching and inspiring all of his young Fighter Pilots to thejob with him. Joe had a strong code of honor. He neverjudged people by who they were but by their conduct andtheir competence. He spent much of his time with hisstudents inspiring them and helping them achieve theirgoal as he had done for a generation of Fighter Pilotswhen he instructed them.

Yes, Joe was a magnificent Fighter Pilot and AirtankerPilot but he was a lot more than that. He was a lovinghusband and father. He respected and had great affectionfor all the people on the team that made everything work.For me Joe’s friendship was a great gift and I will carryhim in my heart until the end of my days. On one of mydarkest days as we were leaving the Naval Air trainingbase at Beeville, Texas we passed a movie house on theway out of town. On the marquee were the words “GodBless You John Wayne”. He had just died that day and Ifelt as if I had died with him. If on that day anyone wouldhave told me that one of my dearest friends would be oneof the Navy’s finest and best Fighter Pilots, I would havebelieved it inconceivable. It is not often in the course of alifetime that you find yourself in the presents of a trulygreat man. Commander Joe Satrapa was such a man. Hiswife Pamela messaged me this morning to tell me that JoePassed away at 10:00 AM this morning.

Much, much more can be said about Hoser. Take timeto ask those who know him, read one of the severalbooks written about him, or punch Joe “Hoser” Satrapainto your search bar. You will laugh, shake your head,and laugh some more. He is an American Hero!Hoser had his last words written years ago, when hehad his tombstone made. It reads in essence:

Here lies HoserA fighter pilotHe never landed with his gear up.

Hoser commented a few times that he would not beattending his own funeral. So you will not be attendinghis either. I don’t believe he ever attended a funeral inhis life. Once when asked why he never looked at thepictures on the Base wall memorializing our fallenPilots; Hoser responded with “kinda hard to getmotivated looking at dead people.” Again, he was aHunter Warrior! His picture will be stored with theothers, off the wall.Hoser’s wife, Pamela Satrapa, has requested handwritten notes (not typed) to be mailed to her at theaddress below. The notes can be a statement, a story,whatever. She intends to include them all in a book and

Passed away at 10:00 AM this morning.May God Bless and keep Joe Satrapa always and May GodBless his wife Pamala, his son Vance and his daughterKasandra and give them the strength to endure theterrible pain of his loss.Love and RespectJimmy Barnes

whatever. She intends to include them all in a book andmake the book available to those who wish to haveone. Please share Mrs. Satrapa’s request far and wide.Pamela Satrapa330 Berkeley Ave.Roseville Ca. 95678

Corrections and Comments

Welcome to Our NewMembers!

NAS Sanford Reunion

THANK YOU ALL Y’ALL!I wanted to say “Thank You” to all that sent me “Get WellWishes” over the last month. I’m not totally recovered yetbut I’m up around 80% now and getting back in to my“normal” routine. I have been able to resume my dailyworkouts, able to eat my usual foods again and based onmy pain levels, my stomach is healing up nicely. I have anappointment with my GI doc for an another endoscopy ina couple of weeks and am hoping for good news there. Insome ways, this was scarier than my heart attack severalyears ago mainly because I had no idea what washappening to me. Just proves once again that if you thinksomething is happening, you should check with yourdoctor.Again, thanks shipmates for the good wishes… I’m surethat those well wishes helped me to recover faster!

Welcome Aboard!Liberty commences by departmentheads to expire on board tomorrow

morning at 0700

Time: June 20, 2019 to June 23, 2019Location: Branch homeStreet: 3040 W Hw. 46City/Town: SanfordWebsite or Map:http://Fleetreservists3040@aol.comPhone: 407-330-1706Event Type: reunionOrganized By: Fleet Reservists of Seminole CountyHere we go again!!A decision has been made to continue with theNAS Sanford's closure with the 51st AnnualReunion!This year it will be held June 20 - 23. Tentativemenu for Saturday BBQ chicken and ribs.For more please contact Tina atfleetreservists3040@aol.comAn email and/or letter will be sent to those alreadyon her list.

Joe Howard Kendall

Douglas C. ColemanBruce HawesRaymond MenardMichael J Schwartz

Morton CulliganFranklin D. MadiganRobert Chapman

The Picture Page

No Kill like a Guns Kill! Remembering Joe “Hoser” Satrapa,the Fe Driver who scored two simulated gun kills on twoUSAF F-15s for two times in the same mission. Hoserquickly bagged two gun kills, maneuvering through missileranges until he was close enough to trigger his 20 mmcannon. In round two, he flat outmaneuvered the F-15pilots for two more gun kills.

Legendary U.S. Navy F-8E Crusader pilot and aerialgunnery advocate Commander Joe “Hoser” Satrapapassed away on Mar. 17, 2019. He was 78 years old.

Air tanker 89, the S-2T flown by Joe “Hoser” Satrapa.Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Sadly, on March 17th 2019…Joe "Hoser” "Inthe smoke 'till I croak” Satrapa, a trueaviation legend….flew West

passed away on Mar. 17, 2019. He was 78 years old.CDR. Joe “Hoser” Satrapa flew 162 combat missionsduring the Vietnam conflict and made “more than 500arrested landings” on board aircraft carriers during hiscareer.

The Funny Page

June BirthdaysMay you grow so old that youunintentionally frighten small

children…

HappyBirthday,Ya Swabs!

David Murphy 1-JuneTressa Cerrito 1-June

Thomas J. MacFarlane 1-JuneBernard Cleary 1-June

Jim Manes 1-JuneAlbert (Al) J. Adelung 1-June

Wayne R. Wikoski 1-JuneGuillermo Crespo 1-JuneJerry Mickelson 1-June

Marion C. Turner 1-JuneSteve Keller 2-June

Paul J. Skizinski 2-JuneStuart Carlin 2-June

Mark B Knowlton 2-JuneStuart F. Carlin 2-June

Erling H. Ulstein 3-JuneDave Suiter 4-June

Ed Cook 4-JuneRichard Smith 5-June

Richard A. Hammond 5-JuneJoseph McClellan 6-JuneWayne F. Porter 6-June

Terence R Maddy 7-JuneStan Isaacson 8-June

Thomas Grube 8-JunePatrick J Nolasco Jr 8-June

Bobby Sandefur 9-JunePatricia W. Stroup 10-JuneFrederick P Myers 11-June

Richard Sitts 11-June

Edward A. Perez 20-JuneGary Simonds 20-June

Robert E. Rodgers 20-JuneMrWickey (Michael Thompson) 21-June

Bill Borgmann 21-JuneBob (Nasty) Stockton 21-June

Chester D. Myers 22-JuneDouglas R. Howard 22-June

Tom Hay 22-JuneRoger Wood 22-JuneJoe E. Lolley 23-JuneRon Pryor 23-June

Gordon Miner 23-JuneJames R. Smith 23-June

Jerome (Jerry) Wilhelmi 23-JuneRonald Pryor 23-June

Steve Lelle 23-JuneRichard S Hesse 24-June

Bill Morgan 24-JuneJohn T. Hartman 24-JuneAllen V. Whitwell 24-JuneRay Drescher Jr. 24-June

Teresa Harding (Forrest Woodward) 24-JuneJohn Hartman 24-June

Stephen A. Micciche 25-JuneRichard Sitts 11-JuneSteven Clancy 12-JuneJames P. Knott 13-June

Wesley W. Charles 13-JuneGreg True 14-June

Robert Cohen 14-JuneJoseph Harrington 14-JuneErnie Majhenich 15-June

Rich Cater 15-JuneDonald G. Rudd 15-June

William (Buddy) Murray 15-JuneJohn H. Smittle 16-JuneSteven Worden 16-June

Judith A. McConnel 17-JuneRon O'Dell 17-June

Clarence Fuhrer 17-JuneWilliam J. Davis 18-JuneRobert W. Flynn 19-June

Douglas Allen 19-JuneDon Dinsmore 19-JuneSeymour Baer 19-June

Thomas M. Kidwell 20-JuneRod Anderson 20-June

Stephen A. Micciche 25-JuneRobin W. Hartford 25-JuneArthur Jorgensen 26-June

James R Witt 26-JuneCapt. Roy E. Farmer 26-JuneJoe Bethke (Joe B) 26-JuneTerry L Stephens 26-June

Bob Vehorn 27-JuneLawrence "Dizzy" Mesce 27-June

Jim Anderson 28-JuneKevin Mc Inerney 28-JuneEdmund A Rassler 28-JuneThomas Dimaggio 28-June

John C. Hanner 28-JuneKevin A. McInerney 28-JuneDavid L Hostetter 29-June

Stuart Price 30-JuneRon Lavarnway 30-June

Stephen M Yager 30-JuneGary Wiggins 30-June

Reginald H Harris 30-June