Tiger, tiger has anyone seen the tiger
December 1957 Lieutenant Colonel D. H. Paap who was the commander of the 53rd Fighter Day Squadron (FDS) at Bitburg Air Base in Germany was transferred to Soesterberg Air Base as commander of the Wolfhounds. The 53rd held a going away party for the Colonel, but in bad taste someone cut the embroidered tiger portion of his necktie off. That was a declaration of War to him. You got to know that both squadrons were involved in competition but that was nothing compared to what he had in mind for his former squadron.
 | Once settled at Camp New Amsterdam it was time to plan the revenge. He put a task force of over a dozen men, a jeep, some tools, rope, tarpaulins and a couple large military trucks. He laid out the mission to the troops and assigned duties to each individual. His plan was to get the famous statue of the tiger, bring it to Holland and make it the 32nd mascot. Mission: TOP SECRET! The mascot, a 300 pound bronze statue of a tiger (actually a panther) stood in front of the 53rd Operations building. During World War II the German Panzers mounted the life size panther at their main gate. After the War air force personnel saw to it that the panther found it's self mounted in concrete, tail turned up as a tiger, painted with tiger stripes to proudly present the 53rd FDS. |
As planned early one AM on January 2, 1958 the convoy arrived at the security gate of the 53rd. All personnel from the 32nd entered the small building where the Air Policemen (AP) stayed to guard the gate. They overtook the AP, removed his clothing, tied him up and removed the phone. Then they drove to the Orderly Room and proceeded to do the same thing to those working there. Once the coast was clear they backed the 6x up and bumped the (300 pound) tiger which loosened from its mounting. They all together lifted it into the truck and Hit the Road for Holland. Once it was discovered what had happened to the 53rd sent two F-86 aircraft in hot pursuit. It wasn't long before they spotted the scoundrels making their escape. A few rounds were fired over the heads of the convoy.
 | However the mission was a success and the tiger made it to its new home. It was given white an green stripes with a big set of red thangies. It was mounted out in front of the mess hall with a great pride. The Stars and Stripes did a feature on it and in the Bitburg SKYBLAZER Weekly was a censored article about the incident too. |
Early one morning a convoy of two trucks and a few civilian automobiles arrived at the gate of Soesterberg AB. Guess what........ it was 53rd personnel. They all entered the gatehouse, disrobed the AP, tied him up and took the phone. They proceeded to the front of the mess hall as planned while it was closed for meals. They bumped the tiger statue with a truck, then backed a civilian station wagon up to load to it and loaded it. Apparently they thought it would be less apparent. While this was going on, the Dutchman Service Club manager saw what was going on. He had a smoke grenade in a file cabinet. He took the grenade out to the car, pulled the pin, and threw it into the car just as it took off. At the same time there were about 50 aircraft personnel coming from the hangar and the AP's were notified. As the car went streaming across the quadrangle in its cloud of smoke it was stopped with a jeep. The driver jumped out coughing and running in circles. The flight mechanics started to dismantle the engine of the station wagon. Some of the 53rd pilots came to the rescue but were taken on by personnel from the 32nd like a street brawl.
 | Once it was confirmed that the tiger was going nowhere the Colonel called a peace treaty. He called the ones who could into a meeting and the others to the dispensary for repairs. They were invited for dinner before leaving. No agreement was made to let them have the tiger back. They had lost the battle. The mess that evening was one hilarious site to see. What a motley looking crew. Covered with bandages, some with splints and canes, black eyes and some were even missing boots. For Howard Pettyjohn who was on mess check that evening it was hard not to bust out laughing as they pass thru the chow line. If he had though it would probably started all over again. In the mean while the aircraft mechanics had put the station wagon back together and got it running but had unloaded the tiger and hauled it off to a locked storage room in a secret location. It wasn't long though the tiger was back on its post, showing his mean green and nice white with his big red thangies for all to see. It was decided by Colonel Paap that if the tiger liked it best in Holland he could stay. |