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Current Issue Links
Spirit of ’76 mirrored in spirit of ’58
China Laker retells events leading up to Sidewinder’s first use in combat
Independence Day — a great time
to think about the American spirit — is
also a perfect time to bring local
readers Wayne Zellmer’s first-person
account of six China Lakers who in
1958 applied ingenuity and the can-
do spirit of the Naval Ordnance Test
Station to help defeat the Chinese
Communist threat in the straits of
Formosa in 1958. — ed.
to think about the American spirit — is
also a perfect time to bring local
readers Wayne Zellmer’s first-person
account of six China Lakers who in
1958 applied ingenuity and the can-
do spirit of the Naval Ordnance Test
Station to help defeat the Chinese
Communist threat in the straits of
Formosa in 1958. — ed.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By WAYNE ZELLMER
Special to the News Review
Special to the News Review
Frank Cartwright. He asked that I come to his house right away. When I got there, he said that I was to go on
travel. I assumed my trip would be to Europe, but he said no, to Taiwan. I couldn’t tell anyone outside of the
government (not even my wife) where I was going. .
travel. I assumed my trip would be to Europe, but he said no, to Taiwan. I couldn’t tell anyone outside of the
government (not even my wife) where I was going. .
One Saturday morning in late July
1958, I received a phone call from
1958, I received a phone call from
| Wayne Zellmer in 2007 |
Thus I became part of a Naval Ordnance Test Station team set up to help the Nationalist Chinese Air Force
prepare for the Sidewinder missile’s historic first use in combat.
Other China Lakers selected for the team were civilians Robert R. “Bob” Sizemore and Joseph E. “Joe”
Wojecki and military participants Cdr. Selden N. May, Chief Robbie Robertson and a sailor whose name I no
longer recall.
After several adventures, we eventually landed in Taipei. At the airport we wanted to exchange some U.S.
dollars for Taiwan currency. Two of our group exchanged $50, and then the rest of us were told to wait until we
got to where we were going — the first two guys had broken the airport bank.
The next day we drove south to a town called Hsin Chu, located on the middle west side of Taiwan. The
Nationalist Chinese Air Force opened up a hostel that had been closed, and that is where we stayed. Our
hosts drove us into town to the U.S. Air Force mess hall for meals.
Living wasn’t too bad. We couldn’t drink the water, so we used bottled water. Roaches, bugs, lizards and
other such creatures were plentiful. One day as I walked into my room, I happened to look at the glass where I
had my toothbrush sticking out to dry. Here was a big black roach sitting on the bristles. I guess he was
brushing his teeth. Anyway, I gave the brush to him.
As soon as we arrived in Hsin Chu, the U.S. personnel there took our passports for safekeeping and
issued us passes (an American passport was worth $3,000 on the black market). We were told that only
seven people on the island knew why we were there.
We were driven out to a hangar at the airbase and met some of the Nationalist Chinese military. The group
that I was with had a U.S. Marine captain in charge.
Before we left the States, I had gathered some of the parts and equipment that I knew we would need to
equip Nationalist China’s F-86s to carry and fire Sidewinder. Intervalometers, normally used to fire rockets,
were in short supply, so I could get only two.
In Taiwan we scrounged connectors and other items we needed from old PBY airplanes that were no
longer being used. This still wasn’t enough, so I made a list of the parts we needed. The Marine captain put it
into a message to be sent to the Navy in Japan.
We waited and waited for the parts, but they didn’t show up. Finally one day a Navy R4D (DC-3) airplane
came in from Atsugi, Japan. The Marine captain’s com manding officer had not received any request for parts
so he went to Supply, picked out what he thought we might need and flew down to see what was going on.
It turned out that the message had gotten to the U.S. Air Force in Taipei, where the powers that be decided
that since they were in charge of supporting Nationalist China (Taiwan), they couldn’t permit the Navy to ask
for parts, so they had held the message.
What they didn’t know was that what we needed was available only in the Navy supply system; the Air
Force didn’t own such items.
As long as I was on the island we never did get the parts we wanted, so we had to work around what we
had.
One day a Nationalist Chinese major and I checked out, on the ground, an airplane that had the
installation completed. One of the checks was to see if the jettison circuit worked.
The major told me to throw the jettison switch. I told him we shouldn’t check the circuit until the fuel tanks
on the wings were removed or disconnected. He was adamant that we could do the check with the tanks as
they were. Finally I said O.K. and threw the switch.
Two noises like gunshots rang out, and two fuel tanks full of fuel were on the ground. The major tried to tell
me I had done something wrong.
Another time as the front panels were being pulled to start an installation on an airplane, we took one look
and stopped. Someone had forgotten to unload the guns. We had that airplane pulled out of the hangar
immediately.
The Nationalist Chinese did not always hurry to get things done. The Americans had strafed the hangar
area during the war when the Japanese held it, probably in 1944 or 1945. The bullet holes were still there in
1958.
Also, we worked two overlapping shifts. I went to work at 6:30 a.m. and was supposed to work until
3:30 p.m.
I usually worked until 6:30 p.m. to keep things moving. We were supposed to have just an hour for lunch.
The Nationalist Chinese usually took two hours or more, and they didn’t want to change. We had to threaten to
leave before they decided one hour was enough for them too.
When the first Sidewinder installation was completed on an F-86, the U.S. Marine captain was tasked to
check out the installation. On one side of the aircraft he carried a target rocket and on the other side a
Sidewinder missile. Every-thing went well until he fired the rocket and then the Sidewinder.
At that moment, he was flying high over the U.S. Fleet stationed near Taiwan. No one had informed fleet
officials of what we were doing on Taiwan, and when they saw two weapons fired directly overhead, they were
a little upset.
Someone had some explaining to do!
After the successful completion of our work, we had to fly MATS, and when we arrived in Tachikawa, Japan,
we were put on board a Navy Super Connie — quite different from the first-class flight we’d had on the way to
Taiwan. A sailor handed out box lunches when it was time to eat — no stewardess.
We flew from Tachikawa toward Wake Island in a flight scheduled to last about eight hours. When we were
four hours out, we lost one engine.
The pilot flew around for a while trying to decide which was best — to go on to Wake Island or to go back to
Japan. He finally decided to go back to Japan.
We arrived in Tachikawa around 2 a.m., and after about three hours, we were loaded onto a bus and
driven to the Tokyo airport to catch a charter flight.
When we tried to check in through Customs, the officials looked at us sort of funny and asked what we
were doing there. We had already checked out of Japan, so how could we check out again? After we
explained what had happened, they laughed and waved us through the checkpoint.
We flew out of there on Hawaiian Airlines on what proved to be one of the last flights to leave before a
typhoon hit. We were thankful for the timing.
When we left our stop in Hawaii, I was sitting near the galley. The intercom rang, the stewardess
answered, and I heard her say, “Oh, no!” Sure enough we had airplane trouble.
We circled long enough to dump our fuel and landed in L.A. too late to catch the plane for Inyokern. In
those days we weren't allowed to rent a car, so we got a motel room and slept until it was time for the evening
flight.
As a result of our trip to Taiwan, in the next aerial combat between the Nationalist China and Red Chinese
Air Forces, the Nationalists used air-to-air missiles to shoot down two Red Chinese MiGs. The Red Chinese
stopped sending MiGs out to harass the Nationalist Air Force.
After we were back in the States and this air battle had taken place, an article appeared in an L.A. paper
that a U.S. Air Force sergeant was to be court-martialed for equipping Nationalist planes with Sidewinder
missiles without approval of higher authority. We sure laughed.
I was in Taiwan the whole month of August. Needless to say, I was glad to get home.
prepare for the Sidewinder missile’s historic first use in combat.
Other China Lakers selected for the team were civilians Robert R. “Bob” Sizemore and Joseph E. “Joe”
Wojecki and military participants Cdr. Selden N. May, Chief Robbie Robertson and a sailor whose name I no
longer recall.
After several adventures, we eventually landed in Taipei. At the airport we wanted to exchange some U.S.
dollars for Taiwan currency. Two of our group exchanged $50, and then the rest of us were told to wait until we
got to where we were going — the first two guys had broken the airport bank.
The next day we drove south to a town called Hsin Chu, located on the middle west side of Taiwan. The
Nationalist Chinese Air Force opened up a hostel that had been closed, and that is where we stayed. Our
hosts drove us into town to the U.S. Air Force mess hall for meals.
Living wasn’t too bad. We couldn’t drink the water, so we used bottled water. Roaches, bugs, lizards and
other such creatures were plentiful. One day as I walked into my room, I happened to look at the glass where I
had my toothbrush sticking out to dry. Here was a big black roach sitting on the bristles. I guess he was
brushing his teeth. Anyway, I gave the brush to him.
As soon as we arrived in Hsin Chu, the U.S. personnel there took our passports for safekeeping and
issued us passes (an American passport was worth $3,000 on the black market). We were told that only
seven people on the island knew why we were there.
We were driven out to a hangar at the airbase and met some of the Nationalist Chinese military. The group
that I was with had a U.S. Marine captain in charge.
Before we left the States, I had gathered some of the parts and equipment that I knew we would need to
equip Nationalist China’s F-86s to carry and fire Sidewinder. Intervalometers, normally used to fire rockets,
were in short supply, so I could get only two.
In Taiwan we scrounged connectors and other items we needed from old PBY airplanes that were no
longer being used. This still wasn’t enough, so I made a list of the parts we needed. The Marine captain put it
into a message to be sent to the Navy in Japan.
We waited and waited for the parts, but they didn’t show up. Finally one day a Navy R4D (DC-3) airplane
came in from Atsugi, Japan. The Marine captain’s com manding officer had not received any request for parts
so he went to Supply, picked out what he thought we might need and flew down to see what was going on.
It turned out that the message had gotten to the U.S. Air Force in Taipei, where the powers that be decided
that since they were in charge of supporting Nationalist China (Taiwan), they couldn’t permit the Navy to ask
for parts, so they had held the message.
What they didn’t know was that what we needed was available only in the Navy supply system; the Air
Force didn’t own such items.
As long as I was on the island we never did get the parts we wanted, so we had to work around what we
had.
One day a Nationalist Chinese major and I checked out, on the ground, an airplane that had the
installation completed. One of the checks was to see if the jettison circuit worked.
The major told me to throw the jettison switch. I told him we shouldn’t check the circuit until the fuel tanks
on the wings were removed or disconnected. He was adamant that we could do the check with the tanks as
they were. Finally I said O.K. and threw the switch.
Two noises like gunshots rang out, and two fuel tanks full of fuel were on the ground. The major tried to tell
me I had done something wrong.
Another time as the front panels were being pulled to start an installation on an airplane, we took one look
and stopped. Someone had forgotten to unload the guns. We had that airplane pulled out of the hangar
immediately.
The Nationalist Chinese did not always hurry to get things done. The Americans had strafed the hangar
area during the war when the Japanese held it, probably in 1944 or 1945. The bullet holes were still there in
1958.
Also, we worked two overlapping shifts. I went to work at 6:30 a.m. and was supposed to work until
3:30 p.m.
I usually worked until 6:30 p.m. to keep things moving. We were supposed to have just an hour for lunch.
The Nationalist Chinese usually took two hours or more, and they didn’t want to change. We had to threaten to
leave before they decided one hour was enough for them too.
When the first Sidewinder installation was completed on an F-86, the U.S. Marine captain was tasked to
check out the installation. On one side of the aircraft he carried a target rocket and on the other side a
Sidewinder missile. Every-thing went well until he fired the rocket and then the Sidewinder.
At that moment, he was flying high over the U.S. Fleet stationed near Taiwan. No one had informed fleet
officials of what we were doing on Taiwan, and when they saw two weapons fired directly overhead, they were
a little upset.
Someone had some explaining to do!
After the successful completion of our work, we had to fly MATS, and when we arrived in Tachikawa, Japan,
we were put on board a Navy Super Connie — quite different from the first-class flight we’d had on the way to
Taiwan. A sailor handed out box lunches when it was time to eat — no stewardess.
We flew from Tachikawa toward Wake Island in a flight scheduled to last about eight hours. When we were
four hours out, we lost one engine.
The pilot flew around for a while trying to decide which was best — to go on to Wake Island or to go back to
Japan. He finally decided to go back to Japan.
We arrived in Tachikawa around 2 a.m., and after about three hours, we were loaded onto a bus and
driven to the Tokyo airport to catch a charter flight.
When we tried to check in through Customs, the officials looked at us sort of funny and asked what we
were doing there. We had already checked out of Japan, so how could we check out again? After we
explained what had happened, they laughed and waved us through the checkpoint.
We flew out of there on Hawaiian Airlines on what proved to be one of the last flights to leave before a
typhoon hit. We were thankful for the timing.
When we left our stop in Hawaii, I was sitting near the galley. The intercom rang, the stewardess
answered, and I heard her say, “Oh, no!” Sure enough we had airplane trouble.
We circled long enough to dump our fuel and landed in L.A. too late to catch the plane for Inyokern. In
those days we weren't allowed to rent a car, so we got a motel room and slept until it was time for the evening
flight.
As a result of our trip to Taiwan, in the next aerial combat between the Nationalist China and Red Chinese
Air Forces, the Nationalists used air-to-air missiles to shoot down two Red Chinese MiGs. The Red Chinese
stopped sending MiGs out to harass the Nationalist Air Force.
After we were back in the States and this air battle had taken place, an article appeared in an L.A. paper
that a U.S. Air Force sergeant was to be court-martialed for equipping Nationalist planes with Sidewinder
missiles without approval of higher authority. We sure laughed.
I was in Taiwan the whole month of August. Needless to say, I was glad to get home.
