INTRODUCTION

                     My interest in aviation started in 1961, when I first visited Soesterberg AB, the Netherlands.
                     If not for it's flights over my hometown Utrecht, than for the many visits to the base, my
                     passion soon was formed arround what I saw "each" day : the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger.
                     The 32nd FIS flew the "Deuce" from here during the period   Dec 1960 - July 1969.
                     

                     My interest in the F-102 became stronger and over the two following decades many information,
                     pictures, negatives and slides were collected about the service-history of the Delta Dagger .
                     Writing a review about it' s service history here in Europe appeared to be possible,  based on what I had
                     collected, completed  by the  many documents gained from official USAF files
                     (the AF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, AL - in those days the Albert F. Simpson Historical
                     Research Center). As a member of  the AAHS  (American Aviation Historical Society ; 1968-1991)
                     I was stimulated to publish articles for their Journal .  The Fall 1984 Journal contained my first publication
                     about this fine aircraft, titled  " The F-102 in USAF European Service" .

                     This encouraged me to set my goal to publication of a book with  the same subject. After a call for help
                      in "Air Force Magazine" several former members of the units that flew the F-102 in Europe, sent their
                      personal photographs and lent me AF-photos for publication in my intended book. A manuscript was
                      offered to "Squadron/Signal Publications Inc., Carrollton, TX in 1987. This finally resulted in a book
                      called  "F-102 Delta Dagger in Europe", which was published in the Summer of 1991.
 


                        During all these years my special interest for a number of other USAF aircraft was of course still present
                      and gradually I decided to start another research project with publication as a final goal.
                      The service history of the Kaman HH-43 Huskie , a helicopter which was arround European bases
                      together with my "favourite" F-102 .
 
                      For the HH-43 I however did not have official documentation at the time (the early nineties).
                      This changed greatly as a result of  my first visit to the USAF archives at Maxwell AFB, AL , the AFHRA
                      (Air Force Historical Research Agency) during October 1996.
                      Here I spent 6 days of research into the USAF documents.
                      I started to collect documents with the idea to cover the whole service history of the Kaman HH-43
                      Huskie worldwide over the period 1959 - 1975
                      During this visit to the USA  I also have spent  two days at the Still Picture Branch of the
                      National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) at College Park, MD (close to Washington, DC) .
                      Here one can find the many thousands of photographs that the  USAF has taken.
 
                      In May 2001  I returned to the NARA Archives at College Park, MD : 5 days of hard labour to
                      make digital copies of as many HH-43 photos as possible.
                      Followed by a two week visit to the AFHRA at Maxwell AFB, AL
                      This research resulted in many more copies of  USAF documents, but it remains a problem to
                      compile a review on the basis of gained information. Many files remain closed for research due to
                      restrictions by US law.

                      At first I have to research all the copies of documents which I brought with me in 2001 and the 150plus
                      photographs which I managed to copy.
                      Then I will put these together and maybe this work will turn out to be interesting enough , but far
                      from complete, to be published.

                       updated 21/03/2009

                      My first Huskie-publication : "Kaman H-43 Huskie - A Liftetime After Military Service"

                      was printed in February 2009 and is for sale through "Flash Aviation" , Eindhoven, the Netherlands.  
                      ISBN 978-90-71553-19-6

                      The book describs a unique story about the use of the Huskie after military service, by businesses
                      which have made a living using old and withdrawn helicopters by making them profitable for crop-dusting,
                      forest fire-fighting, forest fertilizing and logging and lifting jobs in the construction industry over a period of
                      time lasting from 1966 until the present day. It is divided into two major parts:
                      - Commercial flying of the piston engined models HOK-1 (OH-43D), HUK-1 (UH-43C)
                         and HH-43A during the period 1966-1974.
                      - Commercial flying of the turbine engined model HH-43B/F during the period 1974 – 2009

                      The research for this book started in 2003, when Mr. Jerry VanGrunsven contacted me through this website.
                      Jerry was the spider in the web, through which it became possible to present the pictures and the stories.
                      As a former Air Force HH-43B pilot as well as a Huskie pilot for Command Helicopters Inc., Jerry managed
                      to contact a great many people, credits of whom can be found in the book.                       

                       Johan Ragay,  April 2009


                       updated 18/04/2009