Froze my ass off there from ‘89 to ‘95. Still had some good memories at the old 668th BMS, though, and great lunchtime pizza on mission planning days at La Roma’s Pizza down the road from the main gate! I miss all those other great Italian restaurants and sub shops in the surrounding towns, too! And hitting Cackleberry Castle Pumpkin Farm in the fall for burgers and pumpkin pie! Now, I live in crime-infested Memphis, with crappy Italian food and terrible sub shops. About the only good thing I can say about the place is there’s almost no snow in the winter! Oh, and they have some great barbecue! By the way, the dude the video’s dedicated to looks like one of the base bus drivers who’d transport us on our pre and post flight rounds, since just about all of them wore those old blue vet hats!
Great job with the local history. I didn't grow up in Rome but was close enough to watch the planes. Later on I was a volunteer fire fighter and fire police in a local town. As a fire policeman we had to go to a class several times a year for training. The air base would host the school at their fire station. As part of the class we were given tours of the ready flight line that included B 52's an KC 135's. The planes were hugh. The reason for the tour was to give us lectures about what we might encounter if a plane came down in the area. Would have loved to get inside of one but they were off limits due to the reasons that they were on the flight line. Thanks again for sharing the local history and am looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks for producing this video. It brings back memories. I was stationed there from July 1983 until September 1985 as a proud member of the 416th Security Police Squadron (Security side of the house). I separated from the Air Force as they would not guarantee me that I would go back overseas at some point if I reenlisted. Nor would they let me cross train into OSI at some point, just put it on paper and I will re-up for 4 or 6 years! Within a month, three fellow SPs got orders to Korea, and wouldn't you know it my last paystub has a notation that the Air Force is looking to recruit/cross train people into OSI 😮. At least my roommate from overseas was able to cross train from SP to the OSI until he retired! Take care everyone and Thank You to all who have served and continue to serve in our US Military!!!
My father was in Trinidad at the Prototype Ballistic Missile Early Warning System site at Macqueripe. He participated in the first satellite radio transmission which bounced off a "satellite" and onto Rome AFB, NY. I heard about Rome and later, Griffiss AFB when I was in Tech School for Electronics at Keesler AFB, MS and later stationed at Travis AFB, CA. Thank you for making this video.
Growing up in Whitesboro we would see the planes and especially at the Sr. High school you would hear a lot of the planes as they actually would use our school to line up for approach. Some days when they were doing maneuvers our teachers would just give up trying to talk and have us read, as the planes were just going over one after another for sometimes 15 minutes at a time. Then when it would get to the point they could talk again, here comes the next group of planes LoL. I have a picture of me sitting in an A-10 warthog from one of the open house days. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!
Great video, photos, and history summary. I also grew up in the shadow of the base. My grandfather is on the banner with yours. he's the WW1 soldier blurred out!
Very cool - I used a focus affect on my gramps pic to try and hide the sky I had to extend to make it 16:9. Sorry about the blur, it was unintentional!
Stationed there from Nov. '82-Dec. '85. 8th AF. 416th Bombardment Squadron, 416th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. I worked in the Weapons Storage Area on the far side of the base. Top Secret stuff, back in those days.
I grew up in Canastota. Every summer, my dad would take us kids to perimeter road. We would pack up some snacks and head out for the day. We would listen to his radio to try and figure out what aircraft were coming or going. We had a special treat one day, when 2 F-106's took off and they saw us. They circled back around and came down the runway low and fast. Pulled straight up over us, full afterburners. It was so loud! We would also attend Commander's Day every year. Such great memories. I was so sad when it closed. It fueled my desire to become a pilot. I didn't get into a fighter jet, but flying helicopters now.
Born there in '56; Dad retired out of RADC in '62. Bought land and built a house on a hilltop in Steuben...the -86s used to fly across below our home right on the treetops, sneaking up on the Starr Hill radar site. In early '75 a USMC outfit visited Griffiss, flying the F-8. One of the old heads must have mentioned the radar raids...I was visiting neighbors at the foot of the hill when two -106s and two Corsairs came across, right on the trees, 400+ knots, in a beautiful finger-four. Real airshow stuff. Marine aviators are insane.
My Grandpa owned a house atop Starr Hill Rd. The fire watch towers were at the back of his property. The Hatch victims were found kitty corner across the road. Small world! Cheers from a Utican in Buenos Aires. And loved the video!
@@APizzaDriver we lived atop Boody Hill, which connected with Potato Hill Road via Latteiman Road; three miles, all dirt. At 15 I had a Bridgestone 90, which on occasion actually ran. The day that Hatch murdered that poor woman, I had ridden up to Starr...to the fire tower. On the way back I managed to hit a large pothole on Latteiman, within sight of Potato Hill Road. The chrome-capped rubber-stopper gas cap flew off but I didn't notice until getting home. Took dad's old saltbox Jeep up to look for it, no dice. Someone made note. On Monday Dad went to work as usual, George J. Olney's in Westernville. Was immediately jumped by all the guys, wanting to know what happened...it was on WTKR but hadn't made the Syracuse news yet. On Wednesday a state Trooper appeared at our door, asking about a green Jeep. Well, the Wagoneer was blue and the Gladiator was brown, and none of us thought about the saltbox because it hadn't been licensed in some years. He was back at the door within two minutes and I had to explain to an agitated NYS Trooper what I was doing driving two different unregistered vehicles in the direct vicinity of a murder scene. Fun times. Hatch left her extremities at the dead end of a fire trail about 1.5 miles away from the house.
My uncle was stationed there in the 70's. I was there a couple times as a small child. As for me I was born in the Hudson River area and grew up in Western NY and now live next door in VT. I've made many a trip down rte 90. I really enjoy this channel.
I was stationed there from 1980-1983 (416th MMS) out on "the other side" -- the weapons storage area. I remember many, many cold nights on flightlines, hours in even colder igloos.
Have you been to the sculpture garden that's on the former base property? It's so sprawling, and only on a fraction of the area where the base stood. It's crazy to think about how massive it must have been. Great video, beautifully done.
OUTSTANDING JOB on this video. I love history too. Growing up in Rome I remember the F-106 Delta Darts and the B-52's. I later joined the Air Force and was in SAC at a base in South Dakota. (Ellsworth AFB) My mother graduated from the original Rome Free Academy RFA. I attended Fort Stanwix and then Ridge Mills elementary schools before we moved away. I used to play at Franklyn Field Park near my grandmother's house on Riverview Parkway south just off the Black River Blvd. My Uncle Teller had a summer cottage on Lake Delta. Miss those days. But, again sad to see the destruction of downtown with the overkill of Urban Renewal. Very sad.
In the early 80's was hunting in the woods outside of Whitesboro which was the approach from the south to the base. Heard a strange sounding jet going overhead. Saw a black aircraft that I thought was a UFO. Years later learned it was an SR-71 that did a non stop over and back mission to the middle east during the Yom Kipper war. Also went to school not far from the base. We never learned "duck and cover". If the nukes started flying we were toast so it wouldn't of mattered.
Even till this day there is a lot of active military personnel and the air force. Few rumors heard that Griffis is doing secret activities under the radar.
I was there last week. The B-52 was moved 50 feet from its parking spot by a tornado with no damage to the aircraft I grew up in the area. It really hurt when they closed the base
I did for third grade; my dad was a tail gunner for SAC in the b-52h model. We had an apartment in Wright Park Manor so i walked to school (remember the small strip of woods?) every day. I remember the red head math teacher Mrs. Cox working with me on algebra a i transferred from a PA school that was not covering it yet in their curriculum.
Was the best assignment in my family's AF career. They don't make them like the Griff anymore. Thank you for keeping it's memory alive.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. My son was born in the base hospital, his brithplace is listed as Griffiss AFB on birth certificate
Very nicely done! You do a great job with these videos on local history, and they’re very enjoyable to watch! Keep them coming!!!
Brings back memories. I was stationed at Griffiss AFB from Sept 1983 to Jan 1988.
Froze my ass off there from ‘89 to ‘95. Still had some good memories at the old 668th BMS, though, and great lunchtime pizza on mission planning days at La Roma’s Pizza down the road from the main gate! I miss all those other great Italian restaurants and sub shops in the surrounding towns, too! And hitting Cackleberry Castle Pumpkin Farm in the fall for burgers and pumpkin pie! Now, I live in crime-infested Memphis, with crappy Italian food and terrible sub shops. About the only good thing I can say about the place is there’s almost no snow in the winter! Oh, and they have some great barbecue! By the way, the dude the video’s dedicated to looks like one of the base bus drivers who’d transport us on our pre and post flight rounds, since just about all of them wore those old blue vet hats!
Great job with the local history. I didn't grow up in Rome but was close enough to watch the planes. Later on I was a volunteer fire fighter and fire police in a local town. As a fire policeman we had to go to a class several times a year for training. The air base would host the school at their fire station. As part of the class we were given tours of the ready flight line that included B 52's an KC 135's. The planes were hugh. The reason for the tour was to give us lectures about what we might encounter if a plane came down in the area. Would have loved to get inside of one but they were off limits due to the reasons that they were on the flight line. Thanks again for sharing the local history and am looking forward to the next installment.
Very cool - thanks for watching
Thanks for producing this video. It brings back memories. I was stationed there from July 1983 until September 1985 as a proud member of the 416th Security Police Squadron (Security side of the house). I separated from the Air Force as they would not guarantee me that I would go back overseas at some point if I reenlisted. Nor would they let me cross train into OSI at some point, just put it on paper and I will re-up for 4 or 6 years! Within a month, three fellow SPs got orders to Korea, and wouldn't you know it my last paystub has a notation that the Air Force is looking to recruit/cross train people into OSI 😮. At least my roommate from overseas was able to cross train from SP to the OSI until he retired! Take care everyone and Thank You to all who have served and continue to serve in our US Military!!!
Woodhaven housing Venus circle , great base lots of snow I was a Dependent back then 76-79 went to RFA.
Flew NYDOT mapping missions every year and stopped in Rome many times. I was there shortly after its closure and a Bone was shooting touch and goes.
My father was in Trinidad at the Prototype Ballistic Missile Early Warning System site at Macqueripe. He participated in the first satellite radio transmission which bounced off a "satellite" and onto Rome AFB, NY. I heard about Rome and later, Griffiss AFB when I was in Tech School for Electronics at Keesler AFB, MS and later stationed at Travis AFB, CA. Thank you for making this video.
Growing up in Whitesboro we would see the planes and especially at the Sr. High school you would hear a lot of the planes as they actually would use our school to line up for approach. Some days when they were doing maneuvers our teachers would just give up trying to talk and have us read, as the planes were just going over one after another for sometimes 15 minutes at a time. Then when it would get to the point they could talk again, here comes the next group of planes LoL. I have a picture of me sitting in an A-10 warthog from one of the open house days. Thanks for bringing back some good memories!
Great video, photos, and history summary. I also grew up in the shadow of the base. My grandfather is on the banner with yours. he's the WW1 soldier blurred out!
Very cool - I used a focus affect on my gramps pic to try and hide the sky I had to extend to make it 16:9. Sorry about the blur, it was unintentional!
No worries. I see they took the banners down. Probably because of winter.
Stationed there from Nov. '82-Dec. '85. 8th AF. 416th Bombardment Squadron, 416th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. I worked in the Weapons Storage Area on the far side of the base. Top Secret stuff, back in those days.
I grew up in Canastota. Every summer, my dad would take us kids to perimeter road. We would pack up some snacks and head out for the day. We would listen to his radio to try and figure out what aircraft were coming or going. We had a special treat one day, when 2 F-106's took off and they saw us. They circled back around and came down the runway low and fast. Pulled straight up over us, full afterburners. It was so loud! We would also attend Commander's Day every year. Such great memories. I was so sad when it closed. It fueled my desire to become a pilot. I didn't get into a fighter jet, but flying helicopters now.
Born there in '56; Dad retired out of RADC in '62. Bought land and built a house on a hilltop in Steuben...the -86s used to fly across below our home right on the treetops, sneaking up on the Starr Hill radar site. In early '75 a USMC outfit visited Griffiss, flying the F-8. One of the old heads must have mentioned the radar raids...I was visiting neighbors at the foot of the hill when two -106s and two Corsairs came across, right on the trees, 400+ knots, in a beautiful finger-four. Real airshow stuff.
Marine aviators are insane.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing
My Grandpa owned a house atop Starr Hill Rd. The fire watch towers were at the back of his property. The Hatch victims were found kitty corner across the road. Small world! Cheers from a Utican in Buenos Aires. And loved the video!
@@APizzaDriver we lived atop Boody Hill, which connected with Potato Hill Road via Latteiman Road; three miles, all dirt. At 15 I had a Bridgestone 90, which on occasion actually ran. The day that Hatch murdered that poor woman, I had ridden up to Starr...to the fire tower. On the way back I managed to hit a large pothole on Latteiman, within sight of Potato Hill Road. The chrome-capped rubber-stopper gas cap flew off but I didn't notice until getting home. Took dad's old saltbox Jeep up to look for it, no dice. Someone made note.
On Monday Dad went to work as usual, George J. Olney's in Westernville. Was immediately jumped by all the guys, wanting to know what happened...it was on WTKR but hadn't made the Syracuse news yet. On Wednesday a state Trooper appeared at our door, asking about a green Jeep. Well, the Wagoneer was blue and the Gladiator was brown, and none of us thought about the saltbox because it hadn't been licensed in some years. He was back at the door within two minutes and I had to explain to an agitated NYS Trooper what I was doing driving two different unregistered vehicles in the direct vicinity of a murder scene. Fun times.
Hatch left her extremities at the dead end of a fire trail about 1.5 miles away from the house.
great job man! I enjoyed your video!
thank you for sharing
My uncle was stationed there in the 70's. I was there a couple times as a small child.
As for me I was born in the Hudson River area and grew up in Western NY and now live next door in VT.
I've made many a trip down rte 90. I really enjoy this channel.
Very cool! I live in the Hudson Valley now but grew up in Western, cool to hear about it the other way around. Cheers
Great job putting this local history up.alot of history I didnt know.Thank you
You bet! Thanks for watching
I was stationed there from 1980-1983 (416th MMS) out on "the other side" -- the weapons storage area. I remember many, many cold nights on flightlines, hours in even colder igloos.
Very cool. Thanks for watching
Have you been to the sculpture garden that's on the former base property? It's so sprawling, and only on a fraction of the area where the base stood. It's crazy to think about how massive it must have been. Great video, beautifully done.
Thanks! I I’ve seen it driving by and I agree
OUTSTANDING JOB on this video. I love history too. Growing up in Rome I remember the F-106 Delta Darts and the B-52's. I later joined the Air Force and was in SAC at a base in South Dakota. (Ellsworth AFB) My mother graduated from the original Rome Free Academy RFA. I attended Fort Stanwix and then Ridge Mills elementary schools before we moved away. I used to play at Franklyn Field Park near my grandmother's house on Riverview Parkway south just off the Black River Blvd. My Uncle Teller had a summer cottage on Lake Delta. Miss those days. But, again sad to see the destruction of downtown with the overkill of Urban Renewal. Very sad.
As a Griffiss Military Brat who was there in the 90s and went to Transfiguration 🥺🥺🥺🥺 thank you for this video
In the early 80's was hunting in the woods outside of Whitesboro which was the approach from the south to the base. Heard a strange sounding jet going overhead. Saw a black aircraft that I thought was a UFO. Years later learned it was an SR-71 that did a non stop over and back mission to the middle east during the Yom Kipper war. Also went to school not far from the base. We never learned "duck and cover". If the nukes started flying we were toast so it wouldn't of mattered.
Thank you for sharing!
Even till this day there is a lot of active military personnel and the air force. Few rumors heard that Griffis is doing secret activities under the radar.
I was there last week. The B-52 was moved 50 feet from its parking spot by a tornado with no damage to the aircraft I grew up in the area. It really hurt when they closed the base
I know it! Crazy storm
@5:15 Does the phrase "ramping up" mean "coming to an end" and I never knew this, thinking it meant "building up"?
You're correct! I said "wrapping up" 😅
Did you go to clough? I was in 3rd grade when the base shut down.
We much be the same age but I went to Ridge Mills
I did for third grade; my dad was a tail gunner for SAC in the b-52h model. We had an apartment in Wright Park Manor so i walked to school (remember the small strip of woods?) every day. I remember the red head math teacher Mrs. Cox working with me on algebra a i transferred from a PA school that was not covering it yet in their curriculum.
First duty assignment 1975-1977. It probably wasn't as bad as I remember it being.
haha!
The Air Force has jurisdiction in Rome Ny to arrest the police for kidnapping false imprisonment and murder as well as rape
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