Senior Master Sergeant Fred Goodspeed / US Air Force

“It’s a great feeling… makes me proud to serve our country when I see Air Force One come in for a landing or watch it take off. It doesn’t matter who happens to be President at the time. Air Force One is the plane I work on and am responsible for…” said Fred Goodspeed of his time in the US Air Force working that detail. “I was part of a team of eight personnel assigned specifically to Air Force One, two of us, including myself, were jet engine mechanics.”

Goodspeed’s story starts way before he was turning wrenches for the President. He grew up on the west side of Nashua, in the “tree-streets” area. His father was a Ward 4 Alderman, Fred Goodspeed Sr. Goodspeed Jr attended St. Louis Catholic school where he was able to skip 5th grade. He notes, “I guess it sounded good at the time. I may have been ready to jump a grade scholastically. But socially it was tough. At that age, a year makes a big difference. I graduated from Nashua High in 1958 when I was only 16.”

Upon high school graduation, and not sure what to do, especially being only 16, Goodspeed spent time with the Franciscan Fathers in Biddeford, ME. Then went to school at St. Anselm’s in Manchester. Still somewhat adrift, he was approached by several of his friends to join the Air Force. Almost on a whim, the six friends signed up together for the US Air Force. Goodspeed noted, “It was a big deal. They gave us a write-up in the Telegraph. Of the six that joined that day, I was the only one that made a career of it.”

Upon recruitment, they asked Goodspeed what he wanted to do. He said “Aircraft mechanic.” There was no guarantee that he would get it… but he showed an aptitude for the job. So, after basic training, it was off to Amarillo, TX to learn about jet engines.

One of his earliest assignments after jet engine school was at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. He notes, “I was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. That was a scary time. For whatever reason, all the jet fighters were sent south and all the bombers sent north. Thank goodness it ended peacefully.”

It was about that time the Air Force was looking for people to cross-train into a career as a Loadmaster. Goodspeed thought he would like to try that job so he applied for it, and despite having spent a year training him to be a jet mechanic, the Air Force gave him the job. He was responsible for the loading and unloading of cargo, vehicles, and people on aircraft. He was assigned to C-130 cargo planes. Goodspeed explains, “One of the major responsibilities was to drop paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. This was perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Loadmaster job!”

The job took him all over the world and he had to be on-call 24 hours a day. It just so happened that Goodspeed got married during this time and his travel, and being on call was tough on their relationship. He requested a transfer out of that duty… and it was after fulfilling his initial obligation time to either get out of the service… or re-enlist.

Goodspeed decided to re-enlist in November 1965 and in December, he was on his way to southeast Asia. In between the time he left the US, and arriving at his next assignment, his orders changed four times. He made a stop in Okinawa and then went on to Thailand. That was when the Vietnam War was ramping up under President Johnson. Goodspeed notes, “Our base had jets flying reconnaissance missions, mainly over North Vietnam. We installed belly tanks for the planes to get over Hanoi and when they approached the area, they released the tanks They would fly over, take their pictures – then ‘hauled butt’ back to us at Udorn AFB in Northern Thailand. The only armament those pilots carried – was a .38 pistol!”

From there Goodspeed was transferred to Andrews AFB in Maryland and assigned to the Presidential Unit servicing VIP aircraft. Among those aircraft he was responsible for was Vice President Spiro Agnew’s aircraft, at the time, a VC140 Corporate-type jet. Goodspeed remembered him fondly, “Despite his political woes, he was a pretty nice guy. The crew was invited to his birthday party where we met Frank Sinatra. And Mrs. Agnew was a regular person too. She would occasionally come out to meet the guys that worked on the aircraft she and the VP flew on!”

Goodspeed then transferred to another team to work on Air Force One – the President’s plane. “That was great duty,” Goodspeed mentioned. “I worked that detail for ten years. What made it great was, that whatever you needed to fix the President’s or Vice President plane you got it, pronto. If I was in Maryland and I needed a repair part for either plane, and that part was in some far-off place like South Dakota I could still have it within hours.”

Asked about what happens if the plane needs some sort of mechanical repair while it is away from Andrews, Goodspeed replied, “One time the President flew to Florida. One of the engines sprouted a massive oil leak all over the tarmac. We put a brand-new engine and some mechanics in a C-141 transport at Andrews, flew to Florida, replaced the engine, and then returned to Andrews within 12 hours.”

Goodspeed related another instance of aircraft woes, “In one instance, Vice President Agnew flew to upstate New York and returned in a snowstorm. The snow turned to ice at high altitude, and got sucked into the jet engines damaging all four engines. We believed the damage was done during the take-off roll. It was a blessing that the flight continued with no in-flight problems.”

Goodspeed continues, “If the President is going on an especially long or an overseas flight, the crew goes over the plane with a fine-tooth comb. Then takes it up and flies it for a few hours the day before to make sure everything is as it should be.”

Goodspeed related a rather amusing story, “Working on the President’s aircraft, the Secret Service was always hanging around, sometimes getting in the way. In one instance we were making final preparations for a flight. One of the Secret Service guys was standing right behind engine three, the engine we fired up first in the starting sequence. I motioned for him to move, that he was in the way. He blew me off. I guess he thought that his standing in that one particular spot was crucial to national security. I shrugged my shoulders and motioned for the pilot to start engine three. The hapless Secret Service guy was blown several yards across the tarmac. He never stood in that spot again.”

Goodspeed retired from the Air Force in 1981. He moved back to Nashua and worked in Peterborough for a time. He then received an offer from Lockheed in Texas where he worked for another 10 years. He retired from working altogether at 67 years old and is now 83 and still living in Texas. He notes, “I have nothing but fond memories of my military service, and the honor to have worked on Air Force One.”