Military Memories
by Lyle StoufferMARANA AIR BASE, MARANA ARIZONA
(Now: Pinal Air Park)
On December 16, 1954,1 signed out of DM and drove to my next assignment 40 miles down the road to Marana AB. This was the shortest PCS (Permanent Change of Station) move in my 22 plus years in the Air Force. I signed in as a 2nd Lt at Marana since orders promoting me to 1st Lt effective the 13th of December had not caught up with me yet. Thus my change of status from Observer to Pilot would start with a welcome change in rank also.
Marana AB was a civilian contract pilot training base. Marana AB was the first primary flight training base that was converted from J-3 Piper cub and T-6 Texans to T-34 Mentor and the T-28 by North American Aviation. When it first started AF pilot training in October 1951, its pilot training candidates were aviation cadets. When I started my pilot training there in December 1954, the pilot candidates were all student officers and the final class of cadets was just finishing up primary training at Marana. Other bases still had aviation cadet programs for primary pilot training.
The flight and classroom training were all conducted by civilian instructors employed by a corporation named Darr Aero Tech. The AF had a detachment that provided an AF administration officer, medical clinic, chaplain services, weather officer and several AF officers who checked on Ground Training and required flight checks. Only AF check pilots could determine if a pilot trainee should be eliminated from the program and AF check pilots flew a final check ride with all students prior to their advancement to the next level of training.
Of the 100 US and 10 Italian AF officers who started in December "54 Class 56-F at Marana,
101 graduated there. This was considered an extremely high success level. AF normal loss in primary training was approximately 20 percent.
The classroom work for the potential AF pilots came hot and heavy and concentrated on characteristics of flight, aircraft and aircraft engines, weather, navigation aids etc. My prior navigation training in the Observer Course gave me a head start in weather, nav aids and several other basic subjects. I did well academically.
Our soloing in the T-34 came about after three or four dual rides with the instructor. The dual rides consisted primarily with going through emergency procedures and several touch and go landings and take offs. On the day of soloing, the instructor was in the back seat for a take off and several touch and go landings. He then had me make a full stop landing and told me to hold the brakes while he got out. He slapped me on the shoulder and said “Go for it, Kid.” What a nervous guy it was that took off, exited the pattern, re-entered and made a full stop landing ALL BY MYSELF. What a great feeling of accomplishment followed.
Lots of solo flights were learning how to really fly. Acrobatics included loops, Cuban eights, cloverleafs, spins and really getting used to proper rudder control for coordinated flight.
Then into the T-28 for a couple of dual rides and another solo day at the Rillito Auxiliary field. The Rillito Auxiliary field was used primarily for initial dual and solo flights in both the T-34 and T-28 aircraft. It could be described as a 40 acre field covered with asphalt paving and a couple of parallel runways marked in white paint. Rillito Auxiliary was located about six miles south of Marana Air Base and about six miles west of the town center of Marana. The acrobatics area was off airways near Red Rock, north of Picacho Peak. We did get introduced to night time operations also.
The graduation from Marana AB Primary Pilot Training saw the Italians return to their home country and the US pilots head for advanced training in either jets or multi-engines. My advanced training was to be in jets at Webb AFB at Big Spring, Texas.
WEBB AFB, BIG SPRING, TEXAS
A first reaction for most people (including me) is “Where in the world is Big Spring, Texas?” It may not help much but it lies half way between Sweetwater and Midland on what is now Interstate 20.
The advanced training at Webb AFB started out with lots more classroom work, primarily on jets, since we were going to be training in the T-33 jet trainer. Before starting flying in the jet training, we were put in the back seat of the T-28 to learn how to fly on instruments. We had ten flights, most of which were spent under the instrument hood.
The T-33 trainee pilots were given one back seat ride with an instructor and then into the front seat with an instructor “barking” from the rear seat until soloing. The hardest thing to get used to in the T-33 was learning to taxi on the ground. The T-28 and T-34 had steerable nose gear so that merely applying rudder brake pressure in the direction you wanted to turn would get the desired result. The T-33 had a castered nose wheel so that the proper brake application in the direction of desired turn was necessary. I think I can safely say that every student pilot had at least one “cocked” nose-gear (turn 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft) before he got the hang of it.
I can honestly say that I really took to flying the T-33 like a duck takes to water. Because of the lack of torque that propeller driven aircraft were faced with, the T-bird required only finger tip control in comparison.
The flight training was transition (landing patterns, touch and go landings and general familiarization) until soloing. Then acrobatics, formation, instrument flying under the hood, night check out and some instrument approaches at Midland/Odessa commercial airport and the military base at Abilene, Texas.
My assigned instructor at Webb was a Lt. Lancaster. Before graduation, we were permitted one weekend cross-country to familiarize students with flight procedures at other than our home training base. When Lt. Lancaster asked me where I would like to go for my trip, I was quick to tell him San Francisco was my choice. We decided to try for Hamilton AFB in Marin County. During flight planning we found that Hamilton had a NOT AM (Notice to Airmen) issued for that weekend that the base was closed to all but OBO (Official Business Only) travel. We changed our destination to Travis AFB, which was about 50 miles from downtown San Francisco. Lt. Lancaster knew people in Sacramento that he wanted to visit and Travis was between Sacramento and San Francisco.
This trip was the second of the three times that I got to see Mary Jo after that trip to Reno, San Francisco, Reno, San Francisco in October 1954, just before I started pilot training. The first was during a 1955 Easter break while I was in training at Marana. I flew commercially to San Francisco and presented Mary Jo with an engagement ring. To my complete joy, she accepted my proposal.
When I got a graduation date from pilot training at Webb AFB, we started planning a wedding that would occur sometime between my graduation there and the reporting date of my next assignment.
Mary Jo and her mother (Mary McGowan) came to Webb AFB to be witnesses at my Baptism and confirmation on November 11, 1955 (Armistice Day) as I became a bonafide Catholic. Joe McGowan was my sponsor in absentia since he couldn’t be there. The Catholic chaplain, Fr. Fader, who performed the Sacramental rites said we would have to go out to dinner to celebrate. It so happened that this was a Friday and Catholics couldn’t meat on any Friday then. A shocked Mary and Mary Jo McGowan found out that the military had a general dispensation from the Friday requirement and Fr. Fader said he was “no better than the church” and ordered a nice big steak.
Another strict requirement by church laws that marriages in the Catholic church could not be performed during advent. Although I graduated and got my pilot wings on the 16th of December and my reporting date for F-86D crew training was January 8, 1956, the date of December 26, 1955, was selected for the wedding of Lyle E. Stouffer and Mary Jo McGowan.
After a beautiful Tucson wedding at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church on Campbell Avenue and a very memorable reception at the Arizona Inn, around the corner from the church on Elm Street, Mary Jo and I went to Scottsdale AZ for our first night as a married couple.
When we got back to Mary Jo’s parents house on Camino Esquela, we spent a couple days getting a trailer hitch on the yellow Buick convertible and loading a U-Haul box trailer with all the wedding gifts and personal belongings before heading to Panama City, Florida.
TYNDALL AFB, PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA
The trip to Tyndall from Tucson was nearly 2,000 miles over what is now 1-10 but around the 1st of January of 1956 it was only a partially completed expressway so there was lots of construction and detours along the way. It took in El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola and then along the coastal route to Panama City.
We did overnight in El Paso, San Antonio, and New Orleans so we did some sightseeing on this honeymoon trip. In New Orleans we got to see Lake Pontchartrain, the French Quarters, the French Market and I took Mary Jo to a place I had heard A1 Hurt and some really good Jazz and Blues when I had been stationed at Keesler AFB about three years prior. She would not let me live it down when we found that it was no longer what I had remembered but had become a tourist trap with a rather rag tag band and a near nude dancer doing her routine on top of the bar. My reputation as a dependable guide was tarnished.
On the final leg of the journey to Panama City, we stopped for lunch at a seafood place in Mobile, Alabama. I don’t recall what Mary Jo had but I had some crab cakes that t didn’t stay with me. When we got to Panama City, we decided to get a motel on Mexico beach about 12 miles beyond Tyndall AFB. I evidently got a touch of food poisoning from my Mobile lunch and couldn’t hold down even water for a couple days. The weather was not good and the wind would pile up fine sand against the entry door to our room. Needless to say that the first couple of days at Panama City really put a damper on our extended honeymoon.
We did get a real break though when I was well enough to check in at the base. The F-86D check out program at Tyndall had encountered some unforeseen delays due to weather and maintenance problems and the starting date for our class had been slipped back exactly two weeks. We were offered a “basket” leave "whereby we could be free to do as we wanted without having to check in until the new class starting date. We would only be charged with any leave time in case of an unforeseen emergency.
We shopped for temporary living quarters for the approximately three months that we would be at Tyndall. We located and rented a one bedroom guest cottage behind our landlords’ house in Panama City. We got to unpack our trailer and turn it in.
We decided to do something with the two weeks that were suddenly bestowed upon us. We decided to travel Florida. We “toured” our way down to Miami via Ocala, Silver Springs and went to visit the father of a fellow I went through pilot training at Webb AFB. The father owned a bar and restaurant in Coral Gables, a western suburb of Miami and wanted to hear all I could tell him about his son.
We “toured” further down southern Florida and went all the way to Key West. We saw a big billboard that advertised a cheap airfare to Havana Cuba. We said “why not.” So we did. This was January 1956 and Havana would remind us somewhat of Las Vegas or Reno casinos and shows and lots of tourists spending money. Batista was still the dictator in power there and a bearded rebel by the name of Fidel Castro was in a hideout in the hills. He was doing raids against the government and inciting the people to riots.
Mary Jo had taken a keen liking to Afro-Cuban music (Cal Tjader) while in San Francisco and so we spent a fruitless but exciting time trying to find some of it in Cuba. That effort was almost a story in itself.
After we flew back to Key West, we went up the west coast along the Gulf of Mexico after going through the Everglades to Naples. Then Fort Meyers, Sarasota (the winter home of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus), St. Petersburg, Tampa and then back to Panama City.
BACK TO TYNDALL AND THE F-86D
After checking in at the ADC North American F-86D combat crew training school, the eight students spent nearly three weeks in ground school and the cockpit simulator learning all about the airplane. Since the F-86D was a single seat all weather interceptor, the day of my first flight was my first solo flight. An assigned instructor did my walk around inspection with me and was on the ladder at my side as I went through my pre flight cockpit checks and started the J-47 jet engine. Then he tapped me on the shoulder and shouted “Have a nice flight.”
Suddenly I was alone with a great piece of machinery that I knew very little about. It seemed fairly familiar and much like the so-called flights in the simulator until lighting the afterburner on take off roll. A real kick in the butt that added a thrilling shot of adrenalin as has every one of the hundreds of take offs since that initial F-86D flight. The T-33 had no afterburner so it was like rolling down the runway in an airliner. Not so with the F-86D and all those other jet aircraft that were to follow.
That first flight was a real thrill and happened just as I had been briefed that it would be soon after some transition flights the class was into running practice fighter runs on T-33 targets. The basic tactic of the F-86D was to run a lead collision course on the target from ideally a 90 degree crossing angle. This would simulate launching 6, 12 or all 24 of the 2.75" FFAR (Folding Fin Aerial Rockets) named Mighty Mouses, after locking on the target to track it and holding down the trigger on the control stick so that the system could fire the rockets at the right moment for the highest kill probability. I never fired the rockets from the F-86D but I did get to fire from the improved F-86L later on.
We were in an all weather interceptor with radar so that we could be able to deliver our armament in inclement weather or at night.
When we started night flying in the F-86D, our take-offs were right after official sunset. The normal flight duration of the F-86D was about an hour long. Therefore those early night flights were operated in twilight conditions and the final landing was accomplished in not yet total darkness. Later on in the training we would do the entire flight from take off to landing in total darkness with only occasional moonlight and stars beyond the cockpit lighting.
The tour at Tyndall AFB for F-86D crew training took from mid-January to mid May of 1956. Five of the students in my class were “pipelined” (assigned PCS to the school with further assignments to a fighter squadron.) The other three were TDY to the school after having been assigned to a squadron previously. Three of us received assignments to the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton AFB in Marin County, California.
The other two headed for Hamilton were John Monkvic, who was a brand new 2nd Lt. Who had just graduated from Aviation Cadet status just prior to coming to Tyndall AFB, and Jerry Heubel, an ROTC commissioned 2nd Lt who had gone through pilot training as a student officer.
There were a few occurrences outside of the aircrew training that happened while we were at Tyndall that might be worthy of mentioning. The one that really stunned me and my new bride was a Department of Defense Military Pay Order to remove $267.57 immediately from my pay and allowances. This came as a result of a two year long investigation into the loss of 17 paraffin (the Brits usage for our kerosene) heaters and two 10 KVW power converters (used to convert 200 v British power to 110 v AC power to operate US electrical systems in England.) I had signed for the operations office equipment from base supply at Greenham Commons RAF station when we arrived there, in early 1954. After a decision was made to move the 303rd Bomb Wing operations to Fairford RAF station near Oxford, I turned over the keys, to the offices and storerooms that I was responsible for, to the Wing Adjutant who was going to remain at Greenham Common until the necessary repairs to the runway overruns was completed and we moved back from Fairford to Greenham Commons. Although that return move was anticipated and planned for, it never occurred. When the base supply people decided to do an inventory of the equipment and supplies being used by the 303rd BW at Greenham Common, they asked the Wing Adjutant to open the rooms for them. Instead of accompanying them, he handed them all the keys to the rooms they needed to enter. One such room was a storage room that had contained the 17 paraffin heaters and two power converters for which I had signed. After the inventory, they turned the keys back over to our adjutant. After it was determined that the 303rd would not return to GB, the base supply people ran another inventory. The storage room they found unlocked and the heaters and converters were gone. I learned a hard lesson. I did not get the adjutant to sign for the keys that I left for him to safeguard so the two year investigation determined that I was pecuniary(financial) responsible for the missing items and thus the DOD pay order. It came out of one paycheck so it was felt quite severely.
After departing Tyndall we headed for Hamilton AFB California. We routed ourselves through Illinois since the only members of my family who had met Mary Jo at this point were my parents and Tim and Wanda, who attended our wedding in Tucson, and Eilene and Vern Johnson our Reno visit in 1954. We were to be honored by sort of a second wedding reception to gather in the relatives to meet Maiy Jo. She had more than mild trepidations when she saw the three tier wedding cake with a cute little bride and groom statuette at the top of it. Mary Jo was in a family way with Tim and was showing so the bride and groom had to leave the reception cake. I don’t recall all the relatives who came to that occasion but I do recall that Mary Jo was floored with the numbers.
During that short stay in Illinois, Dad insisted that Mary Jo and I go on a flight with him in his Stinson 150, four seated airplane. He was going to show us the area from the air. When he offered me the left seat to fly the plane, Mary Jo objected vociferously. She declared that she wouldn’t go along unless Dad was in the primary pilot’s seat. Crushed as I was at this show of lack of confidence in my abilities as a pilot, I flew from the right seat and we did get our sightseeing flight.
HAMILTON AFB, CALIFORNIA
We arrived at Hamilton AFB, Marin County California in early June 1956. This was a plum assignment and was located just up the road north of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
I was soon into the Combat Readiness Training in the F-86D. Readiness for what sort of combat one might ask? The “cold war” was much in effect and we were being trained to intercept and destroy Soviet Bloc bombers should they attempt to bombard the continental US. It appears a little over reaction now but seemed a real threat at that time as well as the encouragement of all US citizens to think of building bomb shelters into their homes and store up emergency rations of non perishable food items and water. Wow!
Our first non-temporary housing together was in Wherry Housing which was located across US Hwy 101 from Hamilton. A two bedroom, one bath government housing. We started furnishing it with some basic necessary beds, chairs, table and lots of do it yourself end tables, coffee tables, book shelves etc. . .A new beginning for the now family Stouffers.
I was assigned to the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron (83rd FIS) A natural fit since their operation aircraft was the F-86D while the sister squadron on Hamilton was the 84th FIS, equipped with the two man F-89 J. These two squadrons were under the 78th Fighter Wing, which also had a squadron ofF-102’s (82nrd FIS) located at Travis AFB, California and a squadron of FI 02s (456th FIS) at Castle AFB in Merced.
After lots of intercept training missions, formation flying etc I became a combat ready pilot in the F-86D.
Some of the more memorable things along the way at Hamilton AFB in the time of my assignment with the 83rd were a notorious Fighter Room in the lower floor of the Officers club; lots of five minute alerts, conversion to F-86Ls, and preparation to ultimately convert to the FI04 as our primary aircraft. My flight commander at the 83rd FIS was a Captain Lou LaSalle. He would also be a long time friend and affect some of my assignments later on.
There were some really great things that happened during the period of June 1956 to October 1957, the length of my assignment at the 83rd FIS. The highlight, of course, was the arrival of Timothy Lyle Stouffer to our family, bow on the 16th of October of 1956.
We did have an earthquake while in Wherry that shook things up but no significant damage. Tim was in a playpen in the yard. Our next door neighbors on either side were a Capt. Lou Wilhelmi MD and Helen and Capt Alex Witmer, a maintenance officer, and his family. We have maintained at least a Christmas card exchange with both families to this day.
In 1957 we found a nice rental house in Novato, just up the highway 101a little to the north of Hamilton AFB. It had a fenced in yard and was located across the street from then Maj. Joe Guynes, the executive officer of the 83rd FIS. Joe and Charlie Guynes would be very close friends and he too would have a direct effect on some of the assignments that I had later on in my AF career.
We did get a blonde male cocker spaniel to live with us in our Novato home. A wonderful companion for our Trim who took his first steps and became a walker about the time Rumpus came on the scene. Rumpus had lots of good points but we soon found out that he would get carsick. At first he would beg to go for a ride in one of the cars. We still had the 1954 yellow Buick convertible. (I had picked up a used 1941 Mercury to drive to work.) Invariably there would be an upchuck mess to clean up after his ride. He became gun shy when we would get ready to go somewhere in the car and would try to hide in the back comer of the yard so we wouldn’t put him in the car.
The F-86D and L were the only single seated aircraft that I would fly in during my Air Force career although I did have occasion to fly solo in other types. I value highly the experience of flying an all weather interceptor like the F-86D since my higher level of situational awareness was sharpened and would prove extremely useful even in the shared responsibilities of two man high performance aircraft later on.
A high point for any pilot is to fly in formation before a critical audience. The retirement of Lt. Gen. Low as commander of the 28th NORAD Region at Hamilton AFB prompted the 78th FTR Wing people to promote an extravaganza of major proportions. The 83rd and 84th Fighter Squadrons each produced a 16 aircraft in a four diamonds of four aircraft diamonds in a 32 aircraft flyby. It was the only time I had heard of such an effort and I was flying as the right wing of the right diamond and had an exhilarating background view of most of the rest of the formation while flying the right wing of my leader. People on the ground were impressed and photos of it were great.
In 1958, after the pilots of the 83rd FIS had completed the ground training for the upcoming conversion to the F 104 Starfighter, we were stunned by an edict from ADC headquarters that the manning for the new fighter would be limited to 1.2 pilots per authorized squadron aircaft strength. (This would be a total of 24 pilots for 20 assigned aircraft.) The actual manning of pilots in the squadron had increased to 34 pilots assigned..
This overmanning was largely due to higher ranking officers (primarily of General rank) promising fair haired friends and Korea veterans an early shot at flying the F 104. Thus Lt. Col. Ray Evans, the squadron commander, had the very unpleasant task of coming up with 10 pilot names for reassignment. Since most of the 24 names had recent return dates from overseas PCS (permanent change of station) duty, the younger pilot members with no overseas duty or in my case, only four months TDY (temporary duty) overseas, were tabbed for reassignment.
We were offered a variety of assignments. Some took jobs at Hamilton AFB in hopes that there might be a chance to transfer back into the squadron if openings became available later on. Some of us thought that an ADC Project Turnabout" sounded more to our liking. This would place pilots and radar intercept officers on a three year assignment as Ground Control Intercept officers and then return to a cockpit assignment after the three years in GCI.
When this action came to a head, Major Joe Guynes had left the 83rd FIS to become commander of the GCI radar site at Madera, California. A phone call to him if he needed a good rated pilot/GCI controller at his radar side. He was excited and said he would fix it up so I could fly F-102s at Castle AFB. He had gotten OK from higher headquarters and was going through the ground training for the F-102 then. He would get my end assignment from GCI training at Tyndall AFB to be to “Shady Lady” at Madera. “Shady Lady” was the radio call sign of Madera GCI site and later on I was accused many times of pronouncing the call sign like a woman who did not clean up properly after a bowel movement. Must have been my natural Midwest accent that caused those misunderstandings.
Before we left Hamilton AFB for GCI Weapons Controller Course at Tyndall AFB in October of 1957, we had to find a family to adopt Rumpus since he was not a traveling dog and we were about to do considerable traveling.
TYNDALL AFB FLORIDA.. ..(AGAIN)
The weapons controller course was only a little over a month long and we found a comfortable little rental house that took care of us while in Panama City. Tim celebrated his first birthday en route-with Pat and Tom Grandy and their almost one year old son Chris in Boulder Colorado.
Weapons Controller was a function that required an officer trained to man a radar scope position and communicate with fighter aircraft to position them in the proper relationship with a target so that the airborne interceptor could acquire the target on his radar and complete a simulated or actual firing run on the target.
Thank God we never had more than the simulated runs on training targets. The weapons controller was also trained to provide radio contact with any airborne aircraft, military or otherwise, that were having an airborne emergency or required flight following from a ground radar facility for any one of a number of reasons. The 1950s were still early in the implementation of positive controlled airspace by FAA.
Needless to say we graduated in December 1957 and headed for Madera Califomia-with a Christmas stop over in Tucson with the McGowans.
774th AC&W-MADERA CALIFORNIA
Madera is located about midway between Sacramento and Bakersfield in the San Joachin Valley. The two closest cities of any significant size are Merced to the north (where Castle AFB was located) and Fresno to the south. Madera was a city of just under 30,000 population and hasn’t varied much in the past 50 years.
We found a two bedroom house in Madera that was a decent rental but was just a four cornered building in a neighborhood where all the houses were similarly ordinary. The Radar Station was located only about five miles east of town on a US government piece of real estate called Madera Air Force Station. It was there that I put in my efforts. The weapons controllers were made shift chiefs so my working hours were something like this: three days, then three nights and then three days off and after the nine day cycle it would start over.
I started ground training for the F 102 at Castle AFB at Merced but the 28th Air division at Hamilton AFB came out with a directive that the only attached pilots to be permitted to fly the primary unit equipped fighter aircraft would be those maintenance and operations pilots that were directly involved in the day to day operations of the Fighter Wings, groups and squadrons. Thus I became a T-33 pilot out of Castle AFB for the stay at Madera.
Lt Col Joe Guynes assigned lots of additional duties to the weapons controllers. Mine happened to be the OIC of the Officers Club. Since there were only 10 officers at Madera, the “O Club” was a one room bar with four round tables that we could crowd about six to a table for special functions. Since I was accountable for the liquor stored and dispensed, I was the regular bartender with an assistant to sub for me when I was not available.
In the spring of 1958, the landlord decided he wanted to raise the rent. We had our eyes on a charming shaded rental with a three bedroom house with lots of charm and a large back yard with an English walnut tree and an almond tree in addition to several shade trees. Mary Jo was expecting a sibling for Tim so we jumped at the chance for a move.
Mary Jo’s parents, Joe and Mary McGowan were visiting us in hopes of being present and give assistance when the newcomer came on the scene.
Mary Jo was scheduled to be induced on a Monday morning so we packed and went to the Madera hospital to welcome our second baby. The labor contractions began and then subsided so the doctor sent us home. MJ was not in favor of returning to our house where her parents were anxiously awaiting a more exciting announcement. But home we went. Six nights and many bridge hands later she announced at 4 a.m. Sunday morning that it was time. We went!
Anne Elizabeth Stouffer arrived around 6 a.m August 24, 1958.
All was well with both mom and babe so I went home. I was making coffee when Joe came into the kitchen and asked how MJ was feeling that morning. I told him that she and the baby were doing fine. He was very surprised that he and Mary had slept through our bustling departure about 4 a.m. but was very excited for the news.
Shortly after Anne’s arrival, I received notification that I was to be relocated to Baldy Hughes Air Force Station near Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. It was to be a 13 month assignment if I was unaccompanied or two years if I chose to have my dependents accompany me. Although MJ was not too excited to have us go to an overseas assignment via personal auto, we decided to do it as a family.
[ Family Pages ] [ Contents ] [ Previous Page ] [ Next Page ] [ Top ]