European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Is photos by Guenter Schuettler Mechanic at Verona checks the balancing of ch34 Tail Rotor. Helicopter being la in for repair disturbs Mascot snoopy who pads away. The detachment maintains four Man Parachute packing shop at Passalacqua Cavern Verona. By James Gunter staff writer one of the army s flying mechanics stationed at Verona Italy May have trouble getting on a commercial plane bound for India or the Congo when he shows up with 2,000 pounds of excess baggage. But that s exactly what we do said capt. Robert e. Fear command ing officer of the 17th transport detachment army aviation repair which sends men Halfway around the world to recover downed planes and Heli  usually take As much baggage As the airline will allow and the bag Gage contains tools and Sheet Metal for making repairs he said. We tried to take a u8 helicopter engine with us on one trip but it was two inches to big to get through the doors of a Boeing 707  fear s unit at bosc Monico army air Field on the outskirts of Verona maintains All aircraft assigned to the South Ern european task Force setae As Well As those belonging to military assistance groups in Iran Turkey Greece Ethiopia and the Republic of the Congo. The unit gets about 80 Telephone Calls a month from aircraft Crews in Europe Africa and the Middle East asking for advice. About three times a month the maintenance men must Flyte the Rescue of a disabled plane or  detachment has one plane a u6a, which is used to haul parts and to Getto and from machine shops. Three of the unit s officers Are pilots. But when the flying mechanics take off for some Distant Point i a recovery Mission they usually go by commercial plane or hop a ride from the . Air basest Aviano Italy. One of the detachment s biggest jobs took place close to Home. Me with cutting torches completely Dis assembled a Mohawk plane which crashed High in the mountains killing the two pilots near Bologna  plane which had been flying a mis Sion out of Germany was loaded on Small vehicles a piece at a time to get it Down to the nearest Road where it was packed on two 2l/ 2-ton trucks and re turned. Our people lived on the Economy fora week to get the Job done fear said. We have a team of men going to the Congo right away to look Over an air Craft there and to assist in the maintenance operation. We have some men going to saudi Arabia soon to recover an aircraft which had an in flight fire and made a forced Landing. We already have people in Samsun Turkey on the Black sea replacing an engine on a u8,and a group setting up an avionics shop in Teheran  the mechanics like to Wear red base Ball Caps As they work on Craft which Are brought to their own Field for re pair. To James r. Meryi is in charge of maintenance at the unit hangar which contains shops for Sheet Metal work engine maintenance propeller Balanc ing and the like. $7 million avionics and electronics shop nearby does a mail order business in equipment for their widely scattered planes. The detachment has four Para Chute packers who repack chutes for the planes. They work at Passalacqua Cavern in Verona. The men of the detachment collected$117 recently to buy a Mascot and they settled on a registered St. Bernard Puppy named Zingaro do grand. No one Calls him Zingaro do  Calls him snoopy. Naturally. Tail Section of ch34 is attached at unit s workshop. �3-v s.army4342 Page 12 the stars and stripes the stars and stripes Pace 13