Family day at B-pad Rittersdorf
585th Tactical Missile Group
Bitburg Air Base, Germany, 1957
"... I don't remember any of the people, these pictures are from
Paul Yadon. This was "B" pad in the early days of '56 or '57. I remember the show
bird when I got there. This was the show pad at that time and later when Col.
Vetter took over he got the funds to get us out of the mud. They
painted two missiles sky blue and we used them at all three pads when there
was a show to put on."
"We were cute! Red beret, red scarfs, bloused boots with white shoe laces. At first, the fighter Sq people would make fun of us when we came on base with our
dress uniform . They would try to speak French to us ! some of the guys
would not wear it unless they had to."
"We were the the first missile people to wear the Missile Badge in the Air Force at that time. Hopefully everyone knows that Col. Fred W. Vetter was the
designer ot the Missile badge, and the Matador and Mace people owe him a lot
for the upgrades he did for them in the beginning. I know, I was there !!..."
Roy Mathis ingroy@aol.com
Matador photos submitted by Paul Yadon
(eatarn84029@yahoo.com) >
This page is in no way sponsored or endorsed by the United States Air Force.
Opinions and views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the
Department of the Air Force.
Web Page Design and Development by
George Mindling - Port Charlotte, Florida
