I can commiserate with SSG Mike England about his attempts to visit K-Bay last November. I was assigned to the Station Operations and Maintenance Squadron (SOMS) from 74-77 and finally made it back to Hawaii and K-Bay while on a business trip in 2008. I retired in '93 so I was able to show my ID and gain access to the Base. The Base has changed so much – new streets build, old street gone – that I literally got lost trying to find our old buildings, which by the way, once located were now a pile of rubble. New streets, new barracks, all new housing, gorgeous PX and Commissary complex (Hey Mike, remember the old Quonset hut Commissary that was down near the airfield? It's history now). Of course, all my beloved F-4 Phantoms were long gone, replaced by rows of parked Navy P3s left over from when NAS Barbers Point closed. Sorry Mike, you shoulda clicked your heels together earlier. There's no place like home, there's no place like home. Here's a couple of "wuz" and "is" shots of K-Bay for you from an old "Winger".
Jeff Howards
Sgt, SOMS/MCAS K-Bay
74-77
Those are the Phantoms I put JP-5 in…the air force had JP-4 , I would sit between the hangers with my m-131 tanker ( 5000 gal ) and wait for a crew chief to come get me to put fuel in a Jet. One of the best jobs I had in the Corps. I was there 74 to 78, It was a two year duty station and right after I extended in the corps they came around and made it a three year duty station. MAB-24 MAG-24 KMCAS.