Moving airplanes
From USAFA Folklore
The aircraft in the cadet area have a rich tradition of being moved around at night by teams of black watch cap-wearing doolies. Through the 1970s, the planes were secured to their locations by cables the thickness of your little finger. This, of course presented no major obstacle to cadets.
[edit] The F-104
The F-104 was the easiest jet to roll around. In 1976-80, the T-38 was rumored to have a landing gear that was too weak to handle movement, and was generally left unmolested. The F-4 and F-105 looked like they would take too much effort to get moving and didn’t move from 76-80.
Just getting the F-104 unhooked and moved somewhere around the Terrazzo became pretty mundane. Getting it into unusual spots could distinguish an ordinary spirit mission from an amazing one. Around 1978, doolies from 81 or 82 managed to somehow get the F-104 down the Bring Me Men Ramp, and down the road between Mitchell and Vandenberg Halls. The jet didn’t stay there for long, and a detail of doolies was sent down to put the jet back.
One especially memorable spirit mission involving the F-104 occurred, I believe, over parents weekend 1979. The Doolies (Class of 1983) with some upperclass help moved the F-104 all the way down the bring me men ramp and over the Academy road system to the chaplain's house, where it was left with the pitot boom facing the front door.
Apparently, the Class of 1984 had quite the knack for moving planes and decided to move the F-104 to the Parade Field. Unfortunately, as they moved it down the Bring Me Men Ramp, (that's right! I will always call it that no matter what words they post over it!) they lost control and it rolled down the BMM Ramp, through what was then the Cadet Clinic parking lot and onto the ramp leading to the Parade Field. Fortunately it was about 2am so there were no cars in the lot, but unfortunately the F-104 does not corner well. It rammed into the retaining wall looking over the Parade Field and went through. The only thing that kept it from being a total loss was that the tricycle landing gear caught on the what was left of the marble wall, leaving the plane hanging by its landing gear over the Parade Field. I have seen the pictures, so hopefully someone here can find and add them.
[edit] The X-4
Another challenge was moving the X-4 from the Air Gardens. Although is was small and compact, it was on a platform surrounded by water. There were rumors that it had been filled with concrete to foil spirit missions. This rumor was dispelled when the Wing woke up and the X-4 was gone from its spot behind the Eagle and Fledglings Statue in the Air Gardens. In perhaps the most perplexing engineering challenge, the X-4 was found inside the stairway under the Honor Wall. It was reported that engineers couldn’t figure out how the cadets had pulled it off.
As of 2006, the potential to move airplanes seems low due to the heavy metal structures that secure the landing gear of the jets displayed in the cadet area today.
