“Bill loved the old folk ditty ‘The Ballad of Casey Jones,’ or whatever it was called,” says Avenson. “Where old iron horse number 99 highballed off the track and they found old Casey dead with his hand still on the throttle. I guess Bill thought it was an appropriate match.”

            Dean was an original personality, all four agree. One of the media people christened him “Big Bill.” Another ‘Sure-fisted Bill” John Denman, Wally Ristau and Dean Eischen wee among other Northwest pilots who commanded UN-99.

            “There weren’t too many guys who looked favorably on the job,” says Wilkinson. “I was a junior Captain then, in Tokyo. Some of us though, enjoyed it.” Schwartz agrees. I was older than some of the guys, a co-pilot. I’d hardly ever been out of the states. Maybe I figured it was sort of an adventure, but I wanted to go.”

            Northwest crews flew the plane anywhere a group of United Nations ‘Observers” wanted to go. UN-99 was, more or less, based in Tokyo. Northwest Flight Dispatch would notify a crew, “The U.N. wants you in Pusan (or wherever) today at such and such a time.” The UN. people would meet the plane and tell the crew where they wanted to go.

            UN-99 was often grinding around from sun-up to sundown. “I don’t think there is a mountain we didn’t fly over or around, or a valley we didn’t fly through, on the whole Korean peninsula,” says Chernich. We went to some weird places. I don’t think there was ever an airplane of its size that bounced on and off more dirt strips.”

            “Into Pyongyang, once, there were a bunch of North Korea prisoners on the ground as we flew in. They saw us, and scattered,” recalls Schwartz. “Guess they thought we were really on a strafing mission”

            U.N. observers were from countries around the world. “Most were okay guys, Bob says, “but there were some quirky ones. About the only time we really got close to them was when they wanted us to get them into Tokyo’s military PX.”

            “Chernich did everything but fly the plane,” Aversion says. “At least I don’t think he did. Besides his cabin duties, which could be trying, he gassed us and that was hit and miss in someplaces. He spun the props, took care of the rudder and elevator braces and scrounged for food. Northwest didn’t put any goodies on the plane”.

            Chernich: “As for fuel, we often filled up from fifty-five gallon barrels. The C-47 held 804 gallons in four tanks. We had to hand pump it into the tanks with one of the damned pumps that you turn a couple of times, then turn the crank back and do it again and again, and again. I don’t think we ever completely filled up from the barrels but when we hit an airbase we put in every possible drop”.