European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday june 23, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9 a amps Kon goo go Crew members from det 2,1467 facility checking so after More than 20,000 hours. Crew members Are from Marc Ribeiro maj. Mark Cato and staff sgt. Paul huddle beside tweety the t-39 that has been retired left staff sgt. Rick Fromknecht maj. Craig Coles sgt. Milligan. In front is master sgt. Dave  Crew sees tweety go to Roost by Ron Jensen staff writer Rhein main a West Germany a Mai. Craig Coles sits for the final time in the cramped fuselage of the t-39 air plane known As tweety. A we get sentimental sure a he says. A this is it. This has been our whole  tweety built in 1962 and part of det 2, 1467th facility checking so at Rhein main since 1973, has had her wings clipped. She landed at Rhein main on wednesday after a Mission in England and she will stay there retired and on the ground As a teaching tool for mechanics and assorted air plane repairmen learning Battle damage repair. A a they re going to let it sit on the ramp and let them poke holes in it a says Coles who has been with the unit for three years. He and the five other members of det 2 think that a a rather ignominious end for a plane that has logged More than 20,000 hours in the service of its country. A in this unit this was the Only air plane we had a Coles says. A maintenance nicknamed it tweety. For a Long time we had a tweety Bird sticker up there in the cockpit a tweety was the last air Force t-39 in Europe although the service has 11 in the United states and the . Navy has three at Nas Simonella Sicily. A this air plane was getting old Well beyond its service life a says Coles. The plane was originally built for 10,000 hours. After reaching that plateau it was overhauled sufficiently for another 10,000 hours. When its wheels hit the runway wednesday for the final time it had a total of 20,400 hours of flying time including hundreds of missions for det 2 from Norway to the persian Gulf. Tweety has had a unique Mission with the 1467th facility checking so. The Squadron is one of Only three units worldwide that evaluates the performance of Mobile Airfield navigational aids for use in wartime. The others Are in Tokyo and Illinois. The Federal aviation administration evaluates the fixed equipment at airfields in Europe Coles says but not the Mobile ones. A they done to get involved in military facilities that much a he says. A the Faa does no to get paid to get shot  tweety was equipped with electronic gear sensitive to the signals being sent from the equipment on the ground to planes in the air. The Crew determined if the signal was precise. The signals can be checked from the ground but Only in the air is it possible to determine if they Are being reflected by hangars Trees or other obstacles. A any kind of reflection will either add or detract from the signal a Coles explains. The t-39 is not a Large air plane a about the size of an f-4 a but it can cruise at nearly 500 Mph. If the radar on the ground can pick up tweety the radar is capable of tracking anything it is asked to track. Like most things sent into retirement tweety is being replaced by something More modern. The air Force is buying from British aerospace three air planes with a Range of 3,000 Miles compared to the 1,200-mile Range of the t-39. And not Only is the air plane being retired so is det 2. It is closing up shop at Rhein main at the end of this month. A with the new air plane it was thought they could save Money by consolidating our unit Here and the unit in Japan a Coles says. All missions will now originate out of Scott fab 111. As the Crew members scatter across the Globe to a variety of assignments they will take with them warm memories of tweety. And one disheartening thought. As Cole says a you hate to see it sit around and have people poke holes in  War not a invasion Bennett tells critics Washington apr the governments drug policy coordinator is taking on critics who warn that the United states is heading for a another Vietnam by giving South american countries military help to Battle cocaine traffickers. A this is not an american invasion a William j. Bennett said in a speech thursday to the Center for strategic and International studies. A it is not an escalating military intervention a Bennett said. A your policy is that there will be no . Military personnel involved in  the drug War must be fought at the source As Well As on . Streets he said. A if these efforts Are caricatured As another Vietnam an american invasion or involvement in a foreign War then we risk crippling a series of strengthened relationships that our president and the presidents of the andean Region have recently forged a Bennett said. He acknowledged that some americans May die fighting the drug War overseas. A this is a dangerous enemy and we cannot expect to fight this Battle unscathed a Bennett said. A we have already lost americans in fighting this Battle in foreign countries. If we Are not prepared to face these risks in the future then we should not undertake to assist our  newspaper editorial writers columnists and others have likened the administrations andean strategy to Early . Promises that grew into the Vietnam War but few such comments have been heard on Capitol Hill. In a recent column in the new York times Tom Wicker wrote a americans can sing a it seems to me in be heard that song  a president Bush met in february with the presidents of Colombia Peru and Bolivia and the four agreed that their countries would work together against drug traffickers. Since then Colombia and Peru have elected new presidents. In Colombia where the government has waged a bloody War against drug traffickers since last August after traffickers were blamed for killing a leading presidential hopeful the people recently elected the Only candidate who strongly opposed the drug Trade Cesar Gaviria. Peruvian president elect Alberto Fujimori said during his Campaign that he would reject any a foreign intervention in the War against drugs an apparent reference to . Plans to have military advisors train peruvian soldiers in anti drug Jungle warfare. Fujimori who must contend with a decade Long War with leftist shining path guerrillas As Well As cocaine traffickers said he favors economic support to military Force to eradicate coca plantations. Bennett said he Hopes to Complete a formal agreement soon with Peru so the United states can Start providing military equipment and training to peruvian police and military but not economic assistance for now. The United states is giving about $230 million to the three andean countries this year All of it for Law enforcement against drug trafficking