Living history: retired chief re-visits altitude chamber he helped set up 60 years ago

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Brian Hill
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma --  "He's like a founding father of Vance aerospace physiology," said Capt. Kris Ostrowski, 71st Medical Operations Squadron aerospace physiology flight commander. 

That was the general feeling in the chamber room as 18 aerospace physiology Airmen here met retired Chief Master Sgt. Truman Woodford Aug. 20. 

The chief visited the flight to sign and ceremonially hang a framed photo of the original group of Airmen hand-picked to install Vance's first and only altitude chamber. 

"I think I speak for everyone in my flight when I say how honored we are that he was able to make it out to visit our facility," said Captain Ostrowski. 

Chief Woodford first laid eyes on Vance in 1949 when he travelled here from Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, charged with installing the chamber. 

"They had to take the end of the building off to slide the chamber in to place," he said. 

It took about six months to install and bring the chamber up to perfect working order, including re-working a pump that was installed backwards. 

The chief stayed on here nine years to work as NCO in charge of training. 

"Nobody knew what we were doing," he said. "A lot of people were scared to come over - and we liked it that way." 

Although altitude chambers were nothing new, Chief Woodford said they were certainly new for Vance. 

"We sometimes worked seven days a week," he said. "At the time, they were going from prop to jet, so we were pretty steady." 

Chief Woodford eventually moved on from Vance to work on chambers at bases all over the world. He said his best assignment was at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., where he worked with the SR-71 Blackbird. 

The chief became NCO in charge of the aerospace medicine school at Brooks City Base, Texas. 

He also worked on the chamber at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. 

"We had 17 different kinds of aircraft flying there," he said. "It's a different Air Force now." 

The chief retired in 1973 after 26 years, one month and 14 days of service. He originally hails from Windsor, New York, but returned to Enid to retire. 

"I met my wife here," he said. 

The chief recounted many stories during his visit, and a common theme ran through them - Airmen making things work. 

"We had trouble one time with an airplane," he said. "We couldn't fasten the seatbelts; they were too short. So we had this general come down saying, 'This has got to be fixed!' Well it wasn't our responsibility, but we finally were able to fix it somehow. We just made it work."