From my dad Fred Pape's military scrapbook:
My dad said the "monkey suit" was an experimental flight suit.
Richard Robert "Dick" Parks was a fellow navigator-bombardier in the 37th Bomb Squadron in Korea who had trained with Dad at Ellington Air Force base. I did not have much luck finding information about him in earlier research, but was more successful with a search on the 37th Bombardment Squadron page on the Korean War Project website, where Dick Parks posted the following in May 2002:
DICK PARKS wrote on May 29, 2002
Unit: 37TH BOMB SQN, 17 BOMB WING
Service or Relationship: AIR FORCE VETERAN - KOREA
Comments: I was a navigator crewed up with pilot Ben Pace at K9 and K1 on B-26s in 37th Bomb Sqn, 17th Bomb Wing from Oct 52 to April 53. After finishing tour I returned to CONUS [continental United States] and was instructor at Langley in B-26s. Later flew B-47s and B-52s for many years and was Field Maintenance Sqn Commander and Ops Plans officer at various bases. I retired at Fairchild in 1978 as LC [lieutenant colonel] after more than 27 years service. Then worked for Boeing in Seattle for 13 years retiring again in 1992.
Keywords: B-26 Navigator
I'm pretty sure this is the Richard Robert Parks born July 25, 1930 in Ohio. His home of record as of April 1952 was Columbus, Ohio.
© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.
My dad said the "monkey suit" was an experimental flight suit.
Richard Robert "Dick" Parks was a fellow navigator-bombardier in the 37th Bomb Squadron in Korea who had trained with Dad at Ellington Air Force base. I did not have much luck finding information about him in earlier research, but was more successful with a search on the 37th Bombardment Squadron page on the Korean War Project website, where Dick Parks posted the following in May 2002:
| K1 AND K9 OCT52-APRIL53 |
DICK PARKS wrote on May 29, 2002
Unit: 37TH BOMB SQN, 17 BOMB WING
Service or Relationship: AIR FORCE VETERAN - KOREA
Comments: I was a navigator crewed up with pilot Ben Pace at K9 and K1 on B-26s in 37th Bomb Sqn, 17th Bomb Wing from Oct 52 to April 53. After finishing tour I returned to CONUS [continental United States] and was instructor at Langley in B-26s. Later flew B-47s and B-52s for many years and was Field Maintenance Sqn Commander and Ops Plans officer at various bases. I retired at Fairchild in 1978 as LC [lieutenant colonel] after more than 27 years service. Then worked for Boeing in Seattle for 13 years retiring again in 1992.
Keywords: B-26 Navigator
I'm pretty sure this is the Richard Robert Parks born July 25, 1930 in Ohio. His home of record as of April 1952 was Columbus, Ohio.
© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.
Hi Amanda. My dad was a B-26 pilot in the 37th Bomb Sqdn during the Korean War. I found your notes about Dick Parks and wondered if you have any recent contact information for him. While Dad was retiring from the USAF (at a ADC Radar Base in Northern Washing State, I was working for the Boeing Company (developing manufacturing plans for military versions of the 707 aircraft. Thank you for this web page! --Carl Lindberg Jr.
ReplyDeleteHi Carl! Unfortunately, I don't have any further information on Dick Parks. His name is just a little too common, such that I can't be sure that a Richard Parks or Dick Parks I find in the Seattle area is him. Ancestry shows a Richard Parks with the right birthdate living on Tok-A-Lou in Tacoma most recently. Try a Google search on "richard parks tok-a-lou tacoma" without the quotation marks, and look for a result at truepeoplesearch dot com for more info.
DeleteAmanda, do you still have any contact information for your dad's old Korean War friend, Richard Parks?? My father (Carl Lindberg Sr) flew a B-26 in that squadron during the Korean War. As for me, I was Industrial Engineer in the Boeing Company (including that time that Richard was at Boeing). Thank you!----Carl Lindberg "Jr" , Shoreline, WA
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