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 This site is provided by the Michael John Long family in memory of their son Captain Robert John Long and the other 23 crewmen of YUKLA 27 who lost their lives in the AWACS crash on September 22, 1995. These YUKLA 27 web pages will provide a location for posting of information concerning the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron. Crew members and their families may post information they wish others to have access to. The site will also provide information about AWACS and their function. All information is in the public domain and anyone may use it provided it enhances the prospects for peace on our earth. For information about this site, to submit notes, stories, or news items please contact Detachment 105 with regards to the YUKLA 27 tragedy. More information: Major Steven Tuttle
Steve was born Aug. 23, 1955 in Endicott, NY, to Everett and Dolores Tuttle, the first of five children. Our family moved to West Monroe, NY, when Steve was 6 and graduated from Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square, NY, in 1973. He graduated from Oswego SUNY in 1977. He continued his education at the Univ of VA in Charlottsville where he graduated in 1979 with a Master Degree in Planning. While at U of VA he met and married Brenda DeBord. He worked for the city of Virginia Beach until entering the Air Force in 1982. He went to OTS at Lackland AFB - he did some training at Tyndall and Tinker. He served with the 621st at TCF Weisbaden Germany, NATO forces at Geilenkirchen. Returned to NY to teach ROTC at Syracuse University. Then decided to return to his first love of flight and served with the 962nd at Elmendorf. Steven's wife Brenda, and sons Nate (16) and Morgan (15), have decided to remain in Eagle River Alaska. Steve had plans to retire there as he loved the Anchorage area. Please e-mail Det105 if you would like us to pass your comments to the Tuttle family. To lose a member of ones family is a devastating feeling, for it to
happen so From, Deanne Frank (sister), and Dolores Tuttle (mother). Captain Robert Long  Robert was born to Michael and Charlotte Long in Tishomingo, OK on 7 November 1967. He graduated from Wheat Ridge High School, Wheat Ridge, CO in 1986 having become an Eagle Scout in 1985. Robert attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO where he became a member of the Pershing Rifle Team, graduating from CU in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was commissioned an Air Force 2nd Lieutenant on May 1990 by Lieutenant Colonel Corry Mordeaux. Captain Long attended training at Tyndall AFB, FL and Tinker AFB, OK before going to his first operational assignment at the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron, Kadena AB, Japan, where he served as a Weapons Director and instructor from November 1991 to May 1995. Capt Long deployed to Panama several times to fight the President's War on Drugs and coordinated deployments to Cope Thunder, PACAFs largest war-fighting exercise. He commissioned his sister, Kathleen Long, as an Air Force 2nd Lieutenant in September 1992. Capt Long upgraded to Senior Director and then transferred to the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, AK. He loved the outdoors and organized several adventures in his short time in Alaska, including trips to remote Forest Service cabins. Captain "Cowboy" Long was Senior Director on Yukla 27. Captain Long's military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (Posthumous), the Aerial Achievement Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster), the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the 18th Wing's 1992 Top Gun award Captain Robert John Long Memorial Fund The Captain Robert J. Long Memorial Fund has been established with the University of Colorado foundation, P.O. Box 1140, Boulder, CO 80360 to provide student scholarships. Anyone wishing to donate in Robert's memory may do so directly with the university. Application and Selection Process To request information, please send a message to the University of Colorado Foundation. Photographs of Capt Long
A letter about Cowboy
Both my husband, Bob, and I were stationed with Cowboy on Okinawa. We well remember the day 2Lt Long showed up, green and rarin' to go. And go he did. He was TDY with Bob back in Oklahoma on a drug mission and I was TDY in Korea. I got a call in my quarters one night asking if I would go out and have a pair of satin boxers made in our squadron colors (blue & orange) and have Cowboy, Bob and the names of the two other guys they were with embroidered on them so they could give the pair of shorts to a Hooter's waitress they met! Like any good officer, I did what my fellow officers bid. Like any good wife and woman, those guys took a lot of ribbing for having the gall to ask!
Cowboy wasn't the only friend we lost that day, but he sure was the most colorful. Another friend of ours e-mailed Cowboy as soon as he heard about the crash, asking for just one word back. It never came. Still hard to believe we haven't heard from him. I'm going to put out the site address to my AWACS address book. Not sure how many cruise the net, but I'll get the info out. Our condolences to Cowboy's family. Sincerely, Mary Aehlich A letter from Roberts father - concerning Crash Findings
Subject: Re: Yukla27 Crash Briefing Hello all, January 10, 1995 found Charlotte and I listening to a U.S. Air Force Captain, from Robert's unit in Alaska, provide us with a briefing on the crash, in our home. He, Charlotte and I spent 3 plus hours listening, questioning and talking. About ten minutes after he left, the press called from Alaska. The press in Alaska, have been very good in their reporting of the incident. Instead of referring the reporter to the Air Force press Officer at the local base, I talked with her. I sensed a slight disappointment that I was not going to criticize, condemn or conflict with the Air Force. She was surprised that the briefing lasted as long as it did, that the Officer had just left and the report was three inches thick. She asked how many pages and we could not respond as the report was numbered like A-1 thru A-17 etc, we found a tape and measured it. The interview was a bit emotional, for me, but lasted a short time. The cause of the accident was the aircraft hit a flock of geese while taking off. This resulted in both engines on one side not functioning properly (the aircraft has four engines) pulling the aircraft to one side, which resulted in the crash. We will read the entire report in time, Charlotte started reading it last night. Pilot error was not a factor. My understanding that Kathleen will have, or was receiving a multiple page summary of the report at about the same time we were. The entire report will be furnished her if she requests it. All families were given the briefing and three inch report at roughly the same time throughout the United States, before releasing the report to the public and press. The search for a scapegoat will likely focus on the implementation of some sort of 'bird strike plan' and the reporting of flying geese in the area. Neither Charlotte nor I wish to focus on this aspect. Our focus will be on the Memorial Fund being established at the University of Colorado, in Robert's name, and directed toward helping the future education of widows, orphans and future military (ROTC) cadet students at the University. Tragedies happen and we do not have any negative or hurtful feelings toward the 'Air Force' or the 'geese'. Though I might offer to take a variety of individuals 'goose hunting' if they feel that such an outing will help. The irony of my working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where the logo of the 'Blue Goose' emblem has been such a part of our entire families life, is there.-- A modern day 'Greek Tragedy'. /s/ Michael J. Long Please e-mail Det105 if you would like us to pass your comments to the Long family. TSgt Ernest Parrish  The Bear With the day's dawn many wonder; He ate life with a vengeance; SSgt Ray Spencer  ICE-CREAM AND FLYING Homemade vanilla ice cream and my job have a lot in common. The ice cream makes my taste buds soar; my job makes my taste buds soar as well. The only difference is when I do my job my taste buds are at 30,000 feet. Ice cream is cool and so is my job. The mounds of ice cream in my bowl reminds me of the billowing clouds I fly through while doing my job. When I eat homemade ice cream too fast, I get an awful headache, kind of like when I fly a very stressful mission. There are secret ingredients in homemade vanilla ice cream, just as there are secrets in my job. Finally, ice cream reminds me of the hot summer days and the family reunions spent at home; my job reminds me that I'm fighting for the freedom of all Americans to be able to enjoy the same thing. Ray Spencer, 1995
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Last Updated: Friday, 25 April 2008 |
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