European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday May 3. 1987 the stars and stripes Page 9 a font stiff sol his  the eight ton tractor let tar ei3 photo Fri orc Wells drives truck through the 2-Icrc obstacle coarse Ihms he designed. Airman gives Lowdown on Mammoth trucks  . Bureau. Bill Wells grins through a fruitless Effort to Brush what water be can from his sleeve the result of an unexpected leak this one through he Side win Dow of his s150,000 truck. The owner s manual says Wells can Lake the machine through 46 inches or water. It does t Jay anything Aboul Waves thai Rush up Over the  water has pushed its Way up Over the cab of the truck at least 10feet above ground. In i an off mad vehicle add it of if the water comes in through air ducts in the roof and through the Driver s and passenger s doors. But the Driver s Side window should t leak. Wells makes a mental Dole to Check in Wells says he has t gotten stuck or heard of anyone else getting stuck in the eight ton 401-Honepower, 10-Cylinder Kieseling package of steel. You can lock in those eight wheels and i dont think anything can Stop it he says proudly Kansas twang Well in tact the air Force Start sergeant is no truck Driver or off Road nut but rather driving instructor. The air Forte uses the tractor to pull its big business ground launched Gryphon cruise mis Siles and anything else up to 70,000 pounds. The trucks haul missile launchers and control centers used in the Mobile teams. They re designed Togo just about anywhere. It s up to a cts to teach people at Raf Greenham common the skills of driving them. Wells who is actually a vehicle me chanic leaches four Day and eight Day classes on driving and understanding the trucks. Maintenance workers usually drive the trucks on the deployments but other people in the cruise missile teams Alto learn to drive them. If they be driven tractor trailers be fore. Wells takes them through a four Day class. Those without experience go eight the 34-year-old reckons he s taught just about everyone at Grenham com Mon who knows How to drive the eight geared eight wheel drive Mammoth truck. Each of his students must go through the special off Road course designedly Wells. The trailer is loaded with water to make it feel As if it s loaded with missiles. After three years of practice. Well scan Sling the giant machine heavy weight missile launcher in Tow around his two acre obstacle course More Tike a jeep. The course he designed has More Hills More rocks More tree slumps More puddles and More mud than learners Are Ever Likely to encounter anywhere else. Wells says he rarely switches into the eight wheel drive Mode two wheel drive will take the truck almost anywhere. It takes extra Lime for the average person to learn to drive the vehicle Wells says. Turning can be different. The truck uses All Lour 4-foot-by-2q-Inch front wheels for steering. As a student senior airman Georg Ebrown had a particularly difficult time trying to Back the truck and missile trailer 10 Wells  could take three Days just to learn How to Back that  Brown says. Shifting gears is slightly different an easier than other vehicle. Wells says. The Driver uses the dutch Only to go from ending Start not for shifting gears but driving the truck can be fun Brown says he liked sloshing bumping and climbing through Wells off Road course i like the Power you can go any where you want you feel really goo driving something that  general favors competitive bidding on stealth by Norman Black a military writer Washington the air Force s lop general on Friday dismissed suggestions that the so called stealth bomber i suffering Large Cost overruns but he said he is receptive to the idea of injecting Competition Iota the program. Gen. Lam d. Welch the air Force s chief of staff said it remains unclear whether aerospace contractors will find it economically attractive to vie for the right of becoming a second production source for the new plane. But Welch said the air Force is willing to consider that approach which was proposed earlier in the week by rep. Les Aspin d-wis., chairman of the House armed services committee the general s comments were the first by a High ranking Pentagon official to embrace the possibility that the monopoly now held by Northrop corp on the new bomber might be broken. A second source for final Assembly for a big air plane is a new idea Welch said. The Assumption has always been that you can t make an economic thing out of a second source Tor a Low product lion nne Large  he added on the other hand we Haven t gone out to contractors to see if they agree with that Assumption. There just has t been any initial in she Oast. The Way we should treat it is that it s anew idea we Haven t thought of it be fore and it s Worth looking at this new idea and seeing if any interest Springs out Ofil As for reports of Cost overruns Welc said there have been some increases in the development budget for the plane. But he disclosed that those increases arose from a decision to spend Money now to build equipment that would be needed to produce the plane and we expect to gain Back that investment in  so far As we know at this Point in Lime there is no program Cost increase inthe stealth program the four Star Gen eral declared. The stealth bomber known formal Lyas the advanced technology bomber is being developed for the air Force by Northrop on a sole source basis. Virtually All details about the project have been classified although Welch and other Pentagon officials have said the program is progressing Well and the first stealth bombers should be introduced by the Early 1990s. The plane takes its name from the fac that it is designed to evade enemy radar. The air Force and Northrop Are at tempting to employ a variety of new technologies such As a new fuselage shape and exotic metals and exterior coatings to minimize he bomber s signature on a radar scope. The air Force has said it intends Toby 132 of the stealth bombers at an estimated Cost of $36.6 billion in 19bi dollars. Earlier in the week aspic and  s. Straiten d-n.y., introduced an amendment to the Pentagon s budget that would Force the Pentagon to inject Competition into the stealth program. The two justified the move by stepping up their criticism of the air Force s handling of the new by b bomber. The air Force has acknowledged some key components on that plane Don t meet the original specifications even though the plane has already been put into serv ice. Welch flatly dismissed any compari son of the two bombers saying the sheol the program has a different Pace it s a different set of risks it s a different management  of Pilot performing of Maneu vers Dies in crash Springfield to. A a Mili Laty Jel performing Maneu vers in View of a crowd of people crashed and exploded Friday night killing the Pilot and spread ing live ammunition around the Sile authorities said. The Pilot s body was recovered from the wreckage said sgt. Mem Reynolds of the Missouri Highway patrol. His identity was being withheld until the family i notified. The plane identified As an a-10 attack Jet created a Large fireball when it crashed at 7 35 p.m., about 20 Miles Southwest of Springfield near interstate 44, Reynolds said. No one on the ground was injured. The plane was with an air Force re serve unit stationed Al Richards Gebaur Airport in Southern Kansas City Rey nolds said. The Pilot knew residents of the area and was being observed As he performed Maneu vers he said. He had been kind of buzzing their House off and on All afternoon. In one of the Maneu vers he was making he was unable to come out of a Loop and crashed Reynolds said. Fort Leonard Wood was sending a team of demolition experts to dispose of the live ammunition at the crash site he said