September 15, 2025 • 27 mins
The sky was never meant to be a boundary—especially for those determined enough to break through it. Chef Larry welcomes longtime friend Lois Hobby, whose remarkable 33-year military career broke barriers as one of the first two USAF active-duty female flight engineers on the C-141 Starlifter transport aircraft.
When a sergeant flatly told her, "Women will never fly on the C-141," Hobby didn't accept defeat. Instead, that dismissal became the catalyst for her persistence. Through repeated application rejections, bureaucratic roadblocks, and institutional resistance, she fought her way into the aviation world. From her beginnings as a vehicle operator and ramp driver to accumulating thousands of flight hours monitoring complex aircraft systems at 30,000 feet, Hobby's journey illuminates the challenges women faced entering military aviation in the 1970s and beyond.
Hobby's candid reflections reveal both the technical demands of being a flight engineer and the cultural barriers she navigated daily. "Do your crying in the latrine," she advises, sharing how maintaining absolute professionalism was essential in an environment where any perceived weakness could be exploited. From crew chiefs who couldn't believe she was the engineer to being mistaken as another crew member's wife, her experiences provide a window into changing perceptions about women's capabilities in previously male-dominated fields.
Beyond her professional achievements, the conversation weaves in personal memories between two friends whose paths crossed repeatedly during military service on Guam, creating a warm narrative that balances the serious nature of breaking barriers with the camaraderie that defined military life. Whether you're interested in aviation history, women pioneers, or military culture, Lois Hobby's story demonstrates how determination and excellence can ultimately triumph over prejudice and doubt.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:15):
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run, and this week our
guest is Lois Hobby.
She's a dear, dear friend ofmine who I've known for, I
believe, 45 years.
She and I met when I wasstationed on Guam and she would
(00:37):
fly through and every once in awhile touch down and visit us.
And she was one of the first oftwo active duty flight
engineers female flightengineers on the C-141 transport
aircraft.
So I asked her to join me andto talk a little bit about what
that was like to be sort of apioneer, to be one of the first
(01:01):
in pretty much an all-malecareer field.
So, lois, welcome to thepodcast.
Lois Hobby (01:07):
Thank you, Larry.
It's going to be fun being here, I think.
Larry Zilliox (01:11):
So do you realize that the first time we met, I
believe, was 1979, which was 45years ago?
Believe was 1979, which was 45years ago I joined.
Lois Hobby (01:40):
I'm from Montana, so I joined delayed enlistment
October 9th 1973.
And I was active duty January9th 1974.
Larry Zilliox (01:58):
And what did you do before you flew in the 141s?
Lois Hobby (02:01):
I was a vehicle operator and dispatcher, which
led me to being a kilo tractordriver on the flight line at an
Air Force base.
Flight line at an Air Forcebase.
And I did for six, eight monthsand all of a sudden the
(02:23):
transportation squad at Nortonsaid hey, she's not supposed to
be in the aid shop, it's airground equipment, she's supposed
to be in transportation.
So I was in the transportationsquadron and became a taxi
driver, more or less.
Larry Zilliox (02:42):
Wow.
And so the chance comes up foryou to go to school to be a 141
flight engineer.
What was that like?
Lois Hobby (02:51):
Well, that's a really complicated story because
I was a crew bus driver, if youwill.
I picked up crews on the flightline and took them to their
squadrons after their aircraftlanded and at that time the
females in the aviation careerfield were female pilots and I
(03:17):
wanted to fly.
So I went to our career ops.
You know the career ops.
Do you remember where you wouldgo talk to personnel and talk
about could I cross-train tosomething else?
And I remember this sospecifically.
(03:37):
I went in to talk to them and Isaid I want to be a loadmaster,
I was going to start out to bea loadmaster and the sergeant
that I was talking to, he got upfrom his desk and he walked
over and looked out the windowlike he was looking at the
future and he said women willnever fly on the c-1-1.
(04:04):
Okay, thank you for your just,which I just only put like a
burr under my saddle.
Yeah, so I had to saddle.
So I had to.
By this time I had becomefriends with people the 730th at
(04:26):
the time, which is thereservist and they told me
active duty couldn't help me,not even with getting a physical
if I was qualified to be anaviator, and the reservists said
, oh sure, we can get you aphysical.
I thought, why would I pursuethis if I'm not physically
(04:49):
capable to fly?
And through the reservists whowere friends, they kind of got
me a musical which I qualifiedfor.
And then I began writingletters to my congressman and
you know, trying to get somesort of attention to get into a
(05:12):
school.
And it's really verycomplicated because I had taken
a course, I was getting ready toget out of the Air Force,
because I thought if I can't flythere's really no reason to
stay in any longer.
And going through this courseit was a course to help you.
(05:35):
Help you, larry, do youremember the test we took that
said that helps us in jobs?
When we first got in, where youtook scores for your general,
your electric, your mechanicaland your administrative skills.
Yeah, so I was taking thislittle course to retake that
(05:58):
test and get better scores sothat my career opportunities
would be better.
And while I was in that class Imet three crew members that
were already loadmasters.
Some time passed and when I wasstarting to apply to be a
loadmaster in the Air Force, Iwould apply and my application
(06:23):
would be rejected.
And then I had to wait a periodof time and then I'd apply
again and my application wasrejected.
And then one day I justhappened to be home and I got a
phone call from one of thosegentlemen that I had met and he
told me.
He said, lois, are you stillinterested in flying?
(06:47):
And I said, oh, absolutely, hegoes.
Would you like to be a flightengineer?
And I said, well, I saidthere's a problem.
Well, I said there's a problem.
(07:22):
I said if I apply for a flightengineer and get rejected, my
cross-training application is inprocess, which eliminates me
from the loadmaster career fieldfor when it opens up to be for
women, and I would miss it.
He goes.
Well, let me make a phone call.
And so he did.
He got back to me I don't knowthe next day and he said I just
I called Scott Air Force Baseand I told him who you were.
And they said oh, we know hername because we have been
receiving her applications tofly.
And we looked at her AQE that'swhat it was, the AQE scores.
(07:46):
And they said if she applies tobe a flight engineer, we can
almost positively say she'saccepted because her scores are
high enough.
Most positively say she'saccepted because her scores are
high enough, and so just thatlittle wham.
I applied to be a flightengineer as opposed to being a
loadmaster, and I was acceptedinto the female test program for
(08:12):
flight engineers.
Larry Zilliox (08:13):
So at this point I think it might be beneficial
to explain to our listeners whatis a flight engineer on a C-141
Starlifter cargo plane fly.
Lois Hobby (08:26):
We also accomplished the takeoff data, supplied that
for the pilots, and then duringflight we monitored all the
(08:46):
systems the hydraulics, the fuel, the electrics at our panel and
then at the end of the flightwe would run the checklist
during flight, and that was ourjob was to make sure that the
aircraft was mechanically fit tofly and to keep it safe while
(09:10):
it was, you know, in flight.
Larry Zilliox (09:13):
Right, right Monitor everything.
Right, right Monitor everything.
So you go through the course,you're certified newly minted,
one of the first two active dutyfemale flight engineers, and
you get assigned to Norton orTravis.
Lois Hobby (09:29):
No, back to Norton.
They sent us back pretty muchto our home base.
Larry Zilliox (09:33):
Yeah, and you flew out of Norton the whole
time.
Lois Hobby (09:38):
Well, my career kind of spanned all the.
I was active duty for 10 yearsand then when I got off active
duty I became a reservist.
And I was a reservist for 10years and then my civilian life
took me to Memphis and to FedExand for five years I commuted
(10:04):
back from Memphis to SanBernardino.
And when Memphis got the C-141,I kept thinking, well, do I
want to commute 1,100 miles ordo I go one block down the
street?
And the Memphis Air Guard waswilling to take me.
Larry Zilliox (10:27):
They were desperate.
Yeah, they were desperate forpeople.
Lois Hobby (10:32):
And I think they probably did some research.
I think they probably did someresearch.
You know, they talked to peoplethat I knew and I was
recommended as a good flightengineer and they wouldn't be
sorry to have me.
So I was in the Memphis AirGuard for about 14 years and
then I retired with 33 years.
Larry Zilliox (10:52):
Wow.
Lois Hobby (11:07):
Wow.
And so you guys used to runthis flight out of California
that would hit Hawaii, then Guamand, I think, the Philippines,
and then turn around and comeright back.
Well, we went to Yokota, kadenaand Yokota as well.
We were moving the Stars andStripes.
It was called the 807.
Okay, yeah, I remember movingthe Stars and Stripes.
It was called the 807.
Okay, yeah, I remember, and ourprimary, our primary cargo was
the Stars and Stripes.
Larry Zilliox (11:26):
To get that out to the Air Force personnel for
morale, really, yeah, and so wemet, because when you guys ran
that route, you basically flewinto Hawaii and you stayed
overnight.
You flew into Guam and youstayed overnight and you just
sort of hopped through and theyhad this circuit of C-141s that
were just like always in routeout and always coming back with
(11:49):
stuff, and so that's how we met,is you?
I guess the correct terminologywould be we met when we and you
were relaxing at the NCO club.
Lois Hobby (12:01):
I was going to say I was basically dropped at your
feet.
Larry Zilliox (12:06):
Yes, I do remember that.
So, yes, you were dancing andsome fool, I don't know, he,
spun you around or something andjust right into our table and
it's like whoa, okay, hello.
Lois Hobby (12:19):
He dropped me right.
It was a dip and he dropped meon the ground and I'm laying
there with my hand in the airand there you were at the table
and I was at your feet.
Larry Zilliox (12:34):
Yeah, yep, and I'm sure we just act like that's
okay, pretty normal for the ncoclub.
Yeah, wow, yeah, I don't knowwho was there that night.
It was probably me and peg andjohnny and um a very large group
.
Yeah, yeah, pretty muchProbably one of our three days
(12:57):
off.
We were there at the clubpretty much every night.
Lois Hobby (13:00):
Yeah, mongolian barbecue night.
Larry Zilliox (13:02):
Yes, okay, yeah, that that turned out to be a
blessing for us, because wealways look forward to when you
are coming in and everybody,everybody's like what's Lois's
schedule?
Is she coming?
When is she going to be here?
Is she going to be here whenwe're off, or do we have to work
(13:25):
?
It was, it was hard, justtrying to keep track of you when
you were coming in and comingand look for boys and girls.
This was before the internet,so very often we'd just be
puzzled and then we'd get wordthat Lois had landed because she
(13:46):
would call over to CSC or tryto find us.
Lois Hobby (13:52):
Just pop up.
Yes, knock on your door, that'sit.
Larry Zilliox (13:59):
And boy we had a lot of fun.
I'm curious in 79, theyintroduced the second model of
the C-141 line, which was the Bmodel, and it was sort of a
stretch, it was a longer C-141.
But that's when they startedpainting them, these weird
colors Like some were all gray.
(14:21):
The old ones, the very firstones, were sort of gray on the
bottom and white on the top.
But then they started paintingthese things like camouflage and
we called them lizards.
Right, were you flying those?
I don't remember.
Lois Hobby (14:38):
I had about 1,000 hours on the C-141A and then I
had a couple of thousand on theB and then a couple of more
thousand on the C.
So yeah, the C model.
They added more glass cockpitstuff.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, the lizard.
(14:59):
I think what they were doingwere was painting the aircraft
to match the area ofresponsibility that we were
flying into okay so you haveyour desert camouflage for, say,
uh, the 9-1, 9-11 series,because a lot of that was in
(15:23):
Southeast Asia, and then thegreen was more I don't even know
where.
Larry Zilliox (15:31):
But yeah, they paint the aircraft to match the
area of responsibility that theaircraft mostly flies into,
right, yeah, it was just weirdto see the first one come in and
we weren't expecting that andall of a sudden it just was a
big camouflage plane which you'dnever seen anything quite like
(15:51):
that before.
What was it like for you to beone of the first female flight
engineers in a predominantlymale career field, and was there
pushback on that?
I mean, flight crews tend to bepretty close.
(16:11):
What was it like when youshowed up for work?
Lois Hobby (16:18):
Well, the first.
I can't tell you for how long,but I can remember so many times
the flight engineer at the endof the flight, fills out the
forms, the aircraft forms whichreports if there's a maintenance
problem with the aircraft.
You fill out the forms and youwrite it up, chief, when you
(16:47):
land on the ground and then thecrew chief will come in and talk
to the flight engineer and sayI don't understand this write up
, or you know that conversation.
And so many times I'd be on theflight deck sitting in the
engineer seat, you know closing,closing up, gathering my books
and things and putting them inmy book bag, and the crew chief
would pop up and he goes where'sthe flight engineer?
(17:09):
And I go me.
Larry Zilliox (17:11):
I'm sitting right here on the flight did he think
you were the stewardess orsomething?
What the?
Lois Hobby (17:19):
hell, I don't know, I don't know flight engineer
where's the flight engineer?
So I got a lot of that.
It was for me.
I had this thing.
I always said do your crying inthe latrine Because if they saw
a weak spot, they would go forthat like you wouldn't believe,
(17:50):
for that like you wouldn'tbelieve.
So you never, never, showweakness, or you?
Larry Zilliox (17:52):
were going to get your juggler bit, you think?
I mean, obviously the careerfield is wide open now, um, for
female service members, thatload master, of course, and, uh,
crew chief chiefs and justabout anything on the flight
line.
Really Right, you know?
When did you retire?
Lois Hobby (18:12):
I retired in 2003.
Larry Zilliox (18:15):
So you saw the change.
Lois Hobby (18:17):
Oh, actually I'm sorry, 2006.
Larry Zilliox (18:21):
So you saw the change.
I mean it had changed atremendous amount since the
first time you took that classand you boarded a 141.
Lois Hobby (18:31):
Oh yeah, it was well , it was nice to see, but I tell
you it was hard work, for Iwould run into women loadmasters
, especially from differentparts of the Air Force.
I'd run into them somewhere outin the desert, basically, and
(18:56):
they would have their flightzipped all the way down.
You know, we wore t-shirtsunderneath and I always told
them you know, zip up thatflight suit.
There's an image that you haveto present or you know, whatever
your image is that youpresented, you were treated per
(19:19):
that image.
For me, I was always in thecorrect uniform and tried to be
professional so that they wouldtreat me as a professional
versus you know, some gal thatjust happened to be available
right now and, sad to say,that's the way it was.
(19:42):
In the early days, I canremember being at Clark Air Base
and the crew had got alertedand we were going to the
cafeteria for breakfast and oneof my fellow crew members, a
loadmaster, was in front of meand we were sliding our
breakfast along and the gout,the register, charged him for
(20:11):
his meal and my meal.
Larry Zilliox (20:12):
He brought your wife along on the trip.
That's nice, that's nice.
Lois Hobby (20:17):
Yeah, that's what basically we got to the table.
I said hey, did you think yourbreakfast was a little expensive
today?
And he goes yeah, I said, well,you paid for my breakfast
(20:40):
because they thought we weretogether as a couple.
I guess that is hysterical.
Yeah, that's all I mean really,because not only were we
changing the perceptions of theAir Force in America, we were
changing the perception ofpeople all over the world.
Larry Zilliox (20:55):
Sure.
Lois Hobby (20:56):
Yeah, and so it was.
It was difficult at times but,like I said, just do your crying
in the latrine and don't letthe uppers see.
You have a weakness yeah, yeah,for sure.
Larry Zilliox (21:10):
Well, we never thought of you like that.
We always thought she's crazy,oh man oh geez yeah, that was
fun.
I don't think we need to tellany stories about our time in
Guam.
Lois Hobby (21:27):
Probably not.
Larry Zilliox (21:30):
No, but suffice to say it was a lot of fun.
Of course you know I talk to alot of guys and your name always
comes up.
What's Lois?
Doing, oh my gosh, what's Loisdoing?
Lois Hobby (21:44):
Can we talk about the Mars message?
Larry Zilliox (21:48):
You're going to have to refresh my memory.
As I get older, these thingstend to escape me.
Lois Hobby (21:53):
Well, in the beginning, in our first couple
of years, you communicated withpeople and with me via Mars.
Larry Zilliox (22:06):
Okay, Do you remember?
I sort of do.
Yes, For our listeners, Mars isthe military amateur radio
station and basically, again forour listeners, this was when
(22:28):
people needed to get messages toservice members overseas.
They would use ham radiooperators and they had this
whole network to pass messagesto Mars stations around the
world and usually associatedwith military installations, and
it's usually a message like weregret to inform you that Uncle
(22:52):
Billy passed away or we need youto come home, or something like
that.
It was usually not good news,but I remember I might have
abused the systems somewhat, butyou seem to have a better
memory than I do.
Lois Hobby (23:13):
I can tell you exactly what the message is.
I'll probably be thinking of iton my deathbed.
It was late at night when I gotthe phone call and the operator
who talked to me, because hewas much removed from you.
Larry Zilliox (23:29):
Yeah.
Lois Hobby (23:30):
And the message was tonight there's going to be a
jailbreak.
The boys are back in town.
Larry Zilliox (23:36):
I don't know we had been somewhere and I said we
got to let Lois know we're backIn case she has a flight out.
Oh, yeah, Okay.
Well, that probably.
I'm sure the guy was like whatkind of message is this?
Lois Hobby (23:49):
That's exactly what he said to me.
He says I don't know what thismeans, but and then he said
tonight there's going to be ajailbreak, the boys are back in
town.
And I said I know exactly whatthat means.
Larry Zilliox (24:04):
Well, it's part of a Thin Lizzy song, but yeah,
okay.
Lois Hobby (24:08):
Yes, it is.
Larry Zilliox (24:09):
Well, yeah, it was uh times it was different
that back then.
Well, let's just say that, yes,it was.
So that was before the internet.
It was all different really.
Um well, listen, I uh, I justwanted to thank you for coming
on and talking and sort oftelling us about your amazing
(24:32):
career.
I mean, you were a pioneer, youwere a trendsetter, you were
there at the beginning, whenthis plane was not very old.
Back then.
I mean, his first ones rolledout, I think in 65.
Lois Hobby (24:49):
But then, but you, Well, you know, larry, they said
you gotta be tough to fly theheavies.
Larry Zilliox (24:57):
That's right, that's right.
And look those were, those weresketchy planes, I always
thought.
But I didn't fly in many ofthem, just a few.
And uh, I remember one flight Itook I, I, I do remember this.
I got on board and I was, wewere probably an hour into
(25:17):
flight.
I think I was going to Hawaiiand uh, or I might've been
coming back to Guam and I saidto the, the crew chief or the
load master, somebody was there.
We started talking and I saiduh, I said yeah, yeah, you do
you ever fly with with Lois?
And he goes, yeah, lois, yeah,of course, yeah.
(25:38):
And uh, he got on the, theintercom there, he put his
headset on and he startedtalking.
Next thing, you know, thepilots wanted me to come up and
I got to sit in the jump seatfor most of the flight.
They, they all knew you.
I mean that was my hook.
I mean, wow, apparently theyhad.
They had flown, flown with youbefore and had a great time.
(26:02):
Because you know, know when,when that plane is sitting there
on the runway or on the taxiwayor the ramp because it's not
working, there's nothing to dobut come visit us and go to the
club.
Lois Hobby (26:15):
So yeah, the best part of flying gua and telephone
falls yes yeah, that's abeautiful island.
Larry Zilliox (26:25):
It really was, and we had a lot of fun there,
that's for sure.
Well, so, listen, lois, thanksso much.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to sit down with us and
tell us about your amazingcareer.
Lois Hobby (26:39):
Thank you for having me, Larry.
It's great to talk to you.
Larry Zilliox (26:42):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, listeners, you'll find uson all the major podcast
platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Good morning.
I'm your host, Larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run, and this week our
guest is Lois Hobby.
She's a dear, dear friend ofmine who I've known for, I
believe, 45 years.
She and I met when I wasstationed on Guam and she would
(00:37):
fly through and every once in awhile touch down and visit us.
And she was one of the first oftwo active duty flight
engineers female flightengineers on the C-141 transport
aircraft.
So I asked her to join me andto talk a little bit about what
that was like to be sort of apioneer, to be one of the first
(01:01):
in pretty much an all-malecareer field.
So, lois, welcome to thepodcast.
Lois Hobby (01:07):
Thank you, Larry.
It's going to be fun being here, I think.
Larry Zilliox (01:11):
So do you realize that the first time we met, I
believe, was 1979, which was 45years ago?
Believe was 1979, which was 45years ago I joined.
Lois Hobby (01:40):
I'm from Montana, so I joined delayed enlistment
October 9th 1973.
And I was active duty January9th 1974.
Larry Zilliox (01:58):
And what did you do before you flew in the 141s?
Lois Hobby (02:01):
I was a vehicle operator and dispatcher, which
led me to being a kilo tractordriver on the flight line at an
Air Force base.
Flight line at an Air Forcebase.
And I did for six, eight monthsand all of a sudden the
(02:23):
transportation squad at Nortonsaid hey, she's not supposed to
be in the aid shop, it's airground equipment, she's supposed
to be in transportation.
So I was in the transportationsquadron and became a taxi
driver, more or less.
Larry Zilliox (02:42):
Wow.
And so the chance comes up foryou to go to school to be a 141
flight engineer.
What was that like?
Lois Hobby (02:51):
Well, that's a really complicated story because
I was a crew bus driver, if youwill.
I picked up crews on the flightline and took them to their
squadrons after their aircraftlanded and at that time the
females in the aviation careerfield were female pilots and I
(03:17):
wanted to fly.
So I went to our career ops.
You know the career ops.
Do you remember where you wouldgo talk to personnel and talk
about could I cross-train tosomething else?
And I remember this sospecifically.
(03:37):
I went in to talk to them and Isaid I want to be a loadmaster,
I was going to start out to bea loadmaster and the sergeant
that I was talking to, he got upfrom his desk and he walked
over and looked out the windowlike he was looking at the
future and he said women willnever fly on the c-1-1.
(04:04):
Okay, thank you for your just,which I just only put like a
burr under my saddle.
Yeah, so I had to saddle.
So I had to.
By this time I had becomefriends with people the 730th at
(04:26):
the time, which is thereservist and they told me
active duty couldn't help me,not even with getting a physical
if I was qualified to be anaviator, and the reservists said
, oh sure, we can get you aphysical.
I thought, why would I pursuethis if I'm not physically
(04:49):
capable to fly?
And through the reservists whowere friends, they kind of got
me a musical which I qualifiedfor.
And then I began writingletters to my congressman and
you know, trying to get somesort of attention to get into a
(05:12):
school.
And it's really verycomplicated because I had taken
a course, I was getting ready toget out of the Air Force,
because I thought if I can't flythere's really no reason to
stay in any longer.
And going through this courseit was a course to help you.
(05:35):
Help you, larry, do youremember the test we took that
said that helps us in jobs?
When we first got in, where youtook scores for your general,
your electric, your mechanicaland your administrative skills.
Yeah, so I was taking thislittle course to retake that
(05:58):
test and get better scores sothat my career opportunities
would be better.
And while I was in that class Imet three crew members that
were already loadmasters.
Some time passed and when I wasstarting to apply to be a
loadmaster in the Air Force, Iwould apply and my application
(06:23):
would be rejected.
And then I had to wait a periodof time and then I'd apply
again and my application wasrejected.
And then one day I justhappened to be home and I got a
phone call from one of thosegentlemen that I had met and he
told me.
He said, lois, are you stillinterested in flying?
(06:47):
And I said, oh, absolutely, hegoes.
Would you like to be a flightengineer?
And I said, well, I saidthere's a problem.
Well, I said there's a problem.
(07:22):
I said if I apply for a flightengineer and get rejected, my
cross-training application is inprocess, which eliminates me
from the loadmaster career fieldfor when it opens up to be for
women, and I would miss it.
He goes.
Well, let me make a phone call.
And so he did.
He got back to me I don't knowthe next day and he said I just
I called Scott Air Force Baseand I told him who you were.
And they said oh, we know hername because we have been
receiving her applications tofly.
And we looked at her AQE that'swhat it was, the AQE scores.
(07:46):
And they said if she applies tobe a flight engineer, we can
almost positively say she'saccepted because her scores are
high enough.
Most positively say she'saccepted because her scores are
high enough, and so just thatlittle wham.
I applied to be a flightengineer as opposed to being a
loadmaster, and I was acceptedinto the female test program for
(08:12):
flight engineers.
Larry Zilliox (08:13):
So at this point I think it might be beneficial
to explain to our listeners whatis a flight engineer on a C-141
Starlifter cargo plane fly.
Lois Hobby (08:26):
We also accomplished the takeoff data, supplied that
for the pilots, and then duringflight we monitored all the
(08:46):
systems the hydraulics, the fuel, the electrics at our panel and
then at the end of the flightwe would run the checklist
during flight, and that was ourjob was to make sure that the
aircraft was mechanically fit tofly and to keep it safe while
(09:10):
it was, you know, in flight.
Larry Zilliox (09:13):
Right, right Monitor everything.
Right, right Monitor everything.
So you go through the course,you're certified newly minted,
one of the first two active dutyfemale flight engineers, and
you get assigned to Norton orTravis.
Lois Hobby (09:29):
No, back to Norton.
They sent us back pretty muchto our home base.
Larry Zilliox (09:33):
Yeah, and you flew out of Norton the whole
time.
Lois Hobby (09:38):
Well, my career kind of spanned all the.
I was active duty for 10 yearsand then when I got off active
duty I became a reservist.
And I was a reservist for 10years and then my civilian life
took me to Memphis and to FedExand for five years I commuted
(10:04):
back from Memphis to SanBernardino.
And when Memphis got the C-141,I kept thinking, well, do I
want to commute 1,100 miles ordo I go one block down the
street?
And the Memphis Air Guard waswilling to take me.
Larry Zilliox (10:27):
They were desperate.
Yeah, they were desperate forpeople.
Lois Hobby (10:32):
And I think they probably did some research.
I think they probably did someresearch.
You know, they talked to peoplethat I knew and I was
recommended as a good flightengineer and they wouldn't be
sorry to have me.
So I was in the Memphis AirGuard for about 14 years and
then I retired with 33 years.
Larry Zilliox (10:52):
Wow.
Lois Hobby (11:07):
Wow.
And so you guys used to runthis flight out of California
that would hit Hawaii, then Guamand, I think, the Philippines,
and then turn around and comeright back.
Well, we went to Yokota, kadenaand Yokota as well.
We were moving the Stars andStripes.
It was called the 807.
Okay, yeah, I remember movingthe Stars and Stripes.
It was called the 807.
Okay, yeah, I remember, and ourprimary, our primary cargo was
the Stars and Stripes.
Larry Zilliox (11:26):
To get that out to the Air Force personnel for
morale, really, yeah, and so wemet, because when you guys ran
that route, you basically flewinto Hawaii and you stayed
overnight.
You flew into Guam and youstayed overnight and you just
sort of hopped through and theyhad this circuit of C-141s that
were just like always in routeout and always coming back with
(11:49):
stuff, and so that's how we met,is you?
I guess the correct terminologywould be we met when we and you
were relaxing at the NCO club.
Lois Hobby (12:01):
I was going to say I was basically dropped at your
feet.
Larry Zilliox (12:06):
Yes, I do remember that.
So, yes, you were dancing andsome fool, I don't know, he,
spun you around or something andjust right into our table and
it's like whoa, okay, hello.
Lois Hobby (12:19):
He dropped me right.
It was a dip and he dropped meon the ground and I'm laying
there with my hand in the airand there you were at the table
and I was at your feet.
Larry Zilliox (12:34):
Yeah, yep, and I'm sure we just act like that's
okay, pretty normal for the ncoclub.
Yeah, wow, yeah, I don't knowwho was there that night.
It was probably me and peg andjohnny and um a very large group
.
Yeah, yeah, pretty muchProbably one of our three days
(12:57):
off.
We were there at the clubpretty much every night.
Lois Hobby (13:00):
Yeah, mongolian barbecue night.
Larry Zilliox (13:02):
Yes, okay, yeah, that that turned out to be a
blessing for us, because wealways look forward to when you
are coming in and everybody,everybody's like what's Lois's
schedule?
Is she coming?
When is she going to be here?
Is she going to be here whenwe're off, or do we have to work
(13:25):
?
It was, it was hard, justtrying to keep track of you when
you were coming in and comingand look for boys and girls.
This was before the internet,so very often we'd just be
puzzled and then we'd get wordthat Lois had landed because she
(13:46):
would call over to CSC or tryto find us.
Lois Hobby (13:52):
Just pop up.
Yes, knock on your door, that'sit.
Larry Zilliox (13:59):
And boy we had a lot of fun.
I'm curious in 79, theyintroduced the second model of
the C-141 line, which was the Bmodel, and it was sort of a
stretch, it was a longer C-141.
But that's when they startedpainting them, these weird
colors Like some were all gray.
(14:21):
The old ones, the very firstones, were sort of gray on the
bottom and white on the top.
But then they started paintingthese things like camouflage and
we called them lizards.
Right, were you flying those?
I don't remember.
Lois Hobby (14:38):
I had about 1,000 hours on the C-141A and then I
had a couple of thousand on theB and then a couple of more
thousand on the C.
So yeah, the C model.
They added more glass cockpitstuff.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, the lizard.
(14:59):
I think what they were doingwere was painting the aircraft
to match the area ofresponsibility that we were
flying into okay so you haveyour desert camouflage for, say,
uh, the 9-1, 9-11 series,because a lot of that was in
(15:23):
Southeast Asia, and then thegreen was more I don't even know
where.
Larry Zilliox (15:31):
But yeah, they paint the aircraft to match the
area of responsibility that theaircraft mostly flies into,
right, yeah, it was just weirdto see the first one come in and
we weren't expecting that andall of a sudden it just was a
big camouflage plane which you'dnever seen anything quite like
(15:51):
that before.
What was it like for you to beone of the first female flight
engineers in a predominantlymale career field, and was there
pushback on that?
I mean, flight crews tend to bepretty close.
(16:11):
What was it like when youshowed up for work?
Lois Hobby (16:18):
Well, the first.
I can't tell you for how long,but I can remember so many times
the flight engineer at the endof the flight, fills out the
forms, the aircraft forms whichreports if there's a maintenance
problem with the aircraft.
You fill out the forms and youwrite it up, chief, when you
(16:47):
land on the ground and then thecrew chief will come in and talk
to the flight engineer and sayI don't understand this write up
, or you know that conversation.
And so many times I'd be on theflight deck sitting in the
engineer seat, you know closing,closing up, gathering my books
and things and putting them inmy book bag, and the crew chief
would pop up and he goes where'sthe flight engineer?
(17:09):
And I go me.
Larry Zilliox (17:11):
I'm sitting right here on the flight did he think
you were the stewardess orsomething?
What the?
Lois Hobby (17:19):
hell, I don't know, I don't know flight engineer
where's the flight engineer?
So I got a lot of that.
It was for me.
I had this thing.
I always said do your crying inthe latrine Because if they saw
a weak spot, they would go forthat like you wouldn't believe,
(17:50):
for that like you wouldn'tbelieve.
So you never, never, showweakness, or you?
Larry Zilliox (17:52):
were going to get your juggler bit, you think?
I mean, obviously the careerfield is wide open now, um, for
female service members, thatload master, of course, and, uh,
crew chief chiefs and justabout anything on the flight
line.
Really Right, you know?
When did you retire?
Lois Hobby (18:12):
I retired in 2003.
Larry Zilliox (18:15):
So you saw the change.
Lois Hobby (18:17):
Oh, actually I'm sorry, 2006.
Larry Zilliox (18:21):
So you saw the change.
I mean it had changed atremendous amount since the
first time you took that classand you boarded a 141.
Lois Hobby (18:31):
Oh yeah, it was well , it was nice to see, but I tell
you it was hard work, for Iwould run into women loadmasters
, especially from differentparts of the Air Force.
I'd run into them somewhere outin the desert, basically, and
(18:56):
they would have their flightzipped all the way down.
You know, we wore t-shirtsunderneath and I always told
them you know, zip up thatflight suit.
There's an image that you haveto present or you know, whatever
your image is that youpresented, you were treated per
(19:19):
that image.
For me, I was always in thecorrect uniform and tried to be
professional so that they wouldtreat me as a professional
versus you know, some gal thatjust happened to be available
right now and, sad to say,that's the way it was.
(19:42):
In the early days, I canremember being at Clark Air Base
and the crew had got alertedand we were going to the
cafeteria for breakfast and oneof my fellow crew members, a
loadmaster, was in front of meand we were sliding our
breakfast along and the gout,the register, charged him for
(20:11):
his meal and my meal.
Larry Zilliox (20:12):
He brought your wife along on the trip.
That's nice, that's nice.
Lois Hobby (20:17):
Yeah, that's what basically we got to the table.
I said hey, did you think yourbreakfast was a little expensive
today?
And he goes yeah, I said, well,you paid for my breakfast
(20:40):
because they thought we weretogether as a couple.
I guess that is hysterical.
Yeah, that's all I mean really,because not only were we
changing the perceptions of theAir Force in America, we were
changing the perception ofpeople all over the world.
Larry Zilliox (20:55):
Sure.
Lois Hobby (20:56):
Yeah, and so it was.
It was difficult at times but,like I said, just do your crying
in the latrine and don't letthe uppers see.
You have a weakness yeah, yeah,for sure.
Larry Zilliox (21:10):
Well, we never thought of you like that.
We always thought she's crazy,oh man oh geez yeah, that was
fun.
I don't think we need to tellany stories about our time in
Guam.
Lois Hobby (21:27):
Probably not.
Larry Zilliox (21:30):
No, but suffice to say it was a lot of fun.
Of course you know I talk to alot of guys and your name always
comes up.
What's Lois?
Doing, oh my gosh, what's Loisdoing?
Lois Hobby (21:44):
Can we talk about the Mars message?
Larry Zilliox (21:48):
You're going to have to refresh my memory.
As I get older, these thingstend to escape me.
Lois Hobby (21:53):
Well, in the beginning, in our first couple
of years, you communicated withpeople and with me via Mars.
Larry Zilliox (22:06):
Okay, Do you remember?
I sort of do.
Yes, For our listeners, Mars isthe military amateur radio
station and basically, again forour listeners, this was when
(22:28):
people needed to get messages toservice members overseas.
They would use ham radiooperators and they had this
whole network to pass messagesto Mars stations around the
world and usually associatedwith military installations, and
it's usually a message like weregret to inform you that Uncle
(22:52):
Billy passed away or we need youto come home, or something like
that.
It was usually not good news,but I remember I might have
abused the systems somewhat, butyou seem to have a better
memory than I do.
Lois Hobby (23:13):
I can tell you exactly what the message is.
I'll probably be thinking of iton my deathbed.
It was late at night when I gotthe phone call and the operator
who talked to me, because hewas much removed from you.
Larry Zilliox (23:29):
Yeah.
Lois Hobby (23:30):
And the message was tonight there's going to be a
jailbreak.
The boys are back in town.
Larry Zilliox (23:36):
I don't know we had been somewhere and I said we
got to let Lois know we're backIn case she has a flight out.
Oh, yeah, Okay.
Well, that probably.
I'm sure the guy was like whatkind of message is this?
Lois Hobby (23:49):
That's exactly what he said to me.
He says I don't know what thismeans, but and then he said
tonight there's going to be ajailbreak, the boys are back in
town.
And I said I know exactly whatthat means.
Larry Zilliox (24:04):
Well, it's part of a Thin Lizzy song, but yeah,
okay.
Lois Hobby (24:08):
Yes, it is.
Larry Zilliox (24:09):
Well, yeah, it was uh times it was different
that back then.
Well, let's just say that, yes,it was.
So that was before the internet.
It was all different really.
Um well, listen, I uh, I justwanted to thank you for coming
on and talking and sort oftelling us about your amazing
(24:32):
career.
I mean, you were a pioneer, youwere a trendsetter, you were
there at the beginning, whenthis plane was not very old.
Back then.
I mean, his first ones rolledout, I think in 65.
Lois Hobby (24:49):
But then, but you, Well, you know, larry, they said
you gotta be tough to fly theheavies.
Larry Zilliox (24:57):
That's right, that's right.
And look those were, those weresketchy planes, I always
thought.
But I didn't fly in many ofthem, just a few.
And uh, I remember one flight Itook I, I, I do remember this.
I got on board and I was, wewere probably an hour into
(25:17):
flight.
I think I was going to Hawaiiand uh, or I might've been
coming back to Guam and I saidto the, the crew chief or the
load master, somebody was there.
We started talking and I saiduh, I said yeah, yeah, you do
you ever fly with with Lois?
And he goes, yeah, lois, yeah,of course, yeah.
(25:38):
And uh, he got on the, theintercom there, he put his
headset on and he startedtalking.
Next thing, you know, thepilots wanted me to come up and
I got to sit in the jump seatfor most of the flight.
They, they all knew you.
I mean that was my hook.
I mean, wow, apparently theyhad.
They had flown, flown with youbefore and had a great time.
(26:02):
Because you know, know when,when that plane is sitting there
on the runway or on the taxiwayor the ramp because it's not
working, there's nothing to dobut come visit us and go to the
club.
Lois Hobby (26:15):
So yeah, the best part of flying gua and telephone
falls yes yeah, that's abeautiful island.
Larry Zilliox (26:25):
It really was, and we had a lot of fun there,
that's for sure.
Well, so, listen, lois, thanksso much.
I really appreciate you takingthe time to sit down with us and
tell us about your amazingcareer.
Lois Hobby (26:39):
Thank you for having me, Larry.
It's great to talk to you.
Larry Zilliox (26:42):
Yeah, for sure.
Well, listeners, you'll find uson all the major podcast
platforms.
We're on YouTube and WreathsAcross America.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
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