Story area added 6/28/02, Last updated 01/01/08.

"Batcat - Korat Stories," by J.J. Smith.  J.J. Smith wrote a series of stories about his experiences with Batcat at Korat. These were written so his daughters and grand children would have an idea of what occurred in Thailand. These stories are presented in 3 different formats, all have the exact same text.
J.J. Smith's Stories - Adobe Acrobat PDF format - 140K.
J.J. Smith's Stories - Microsoft Word DOC format - 150K.
J.J. Smith's Stories - Corel WordPerfect WPD format - 100K.
Stories added added 01/01/08.

"Leaving Korat," by J.J. Smith.  All USAF personell in Thailand used the services of "Hootch Girls." These ladies worked hard and were a joy to be around. Here J.J. relates his experience as he was about to depart Korat (ASCII Text - 6K). Story added 12/29/07.

The "EC-121R to Hong Kong," by Dick Arnold. During the last half of 1968, Major Dick Arnold flew an EC-121R  from Korat to Hong Kong.  Read about the while flying a standard combat mission, the EC-121R began to nose up, read here about the  flight to Hong Kong and the Engine Failure on departure, with an excellent description of a very unusual and dangerous approach to Hong Kong.  Story added 06/13/04.

The "Hydraulic Problem," by Lee Magers.  On September 6, 1968, while flying a standard combat mission, the EC-121R began to nose up, read here about  the safe recovery from a hydraulic flight control problem, and what the cause was.  Story added 04/28/03.

The "Crash," by Mike Burroughs. On April 25, 1969 the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing lost an airplane with all 18 crewmembers aboard suffering fatal injuries.  Here Mike Burroughs gives some  personal feelings about this loss, and those who survived.  Story added 09/28/02.

The "Nose Gear Pin Incident," by Gordon Tatro.  Then A1C Gordon Tatro, served at Korat with the 553rd OMS from 1969 to 1970.  Before his Batcat assignment, Gordon was assigned to the 551 OMS.  During April 1969, while assigned to the 551 OMS, Gordon Tatro was part of a crew which ferried EC-121R, sn 67-21494, to Korat and returned another EC-121R back to Otis AFB.  Here Gordon relates an  unusual incident with a nose gear pin (ASCII Text - 5K) which occurred during the trip.  The EC-121R used 3 landing gear pins when the aircraft was on the ground, one for each main landing gear, and one for the nose gear.  After engines were started, these landing gear pins were removed for flight.  For those of you not familiar, take a look at this drawing at what a normal nose gear pin looks like. Basically it is straight pin with a "Remove Before Flight" banner attached. Now take a look at the actual Damaged Nose Gear Pin  looks like.  Gordon still has this pin!  Story added 06/28/02.