Raymond G. Bertles

Korean War veteran was aeronautic radar mechanic.

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com


U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Ray Bertles, recently marked his 80th birthday. He lives in Lower Makefield Township where he is a lifetime member of VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 6393.

A veteran of the Korean War, Bertles looks back on the time he spent in the military as somewhat of a training ground. He also noted that being a Civil Air Patrol Cadet (CAPC) as a teenager and his education at Trenton Central High School made a significant impact on his life.
He wanted to go into the Air Force pilot training program, though he did not go to pilot training until he worked in the commercial air transportation industry.

“The officer in charge of our unit, knowing what I wanted to do, told me because of the extensive training I had in electronics and radar, rather than going to pilot training on completion of officer candidate school said I would in all likelihood become an electronics officer,” he recounted.
“Not wanting to become an electronics officer, I withdrew my application for officer candidate school,” he said.

Bertles was already flying at the young age of 15 and took his first solo flight when he was 16. He couldn’t drive a car because the driving age was 18. Instead, he rode his bike to the airport.

Bertles, who enlisted when he was 18 and was discharged at 22, said he wants young people to be better aware of the CAPC program, which still exists today.

He started in the program when he was 14. “I’ve been keenly interested in aviation ever since I was a young toddler and I do mean very young,” Bertles said. “Because of this, I was able to build model airplanes when I was about nine years old.”

Basic training was at Lochland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He completed Airborne Radar Mechanic School at Keesler Air Force Base in Beloxi, Miss. Upon completion of the training, he was transferred to the Air Force Base at Houston, Texas.

When the Korean War broke out, he was transferred to Fort Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.

He was next transferred to the Korean Theater and was stationed at Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan. He operated as an aeronautic radar mechanic with the 7th Signal Radio Maintenance team until it was absorbed into the 6400 Communication and Electronic Repair Squadron.

The squadron operated throughout Japan, down through Okinawa, Guam and Korea, which were all of the bases that operated in the Korean Theater, according to Bertles.

After the Air Force, he went to Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology in Illinois. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautics with a major in aircraft maintenance engineering.

After that, Bertles worked for the U.S. Naval Air Turbine test station in West Trenton. N.J. as an aeronautical power plant engineer and he tested jet engines.

On Dec. 5, 1955, he was hired by TWA (Transworld Airlines) as a student flight engineer and finished that program, and worked for TWA as a flight engineer.

Bertles became a pilot while working for TWA. ”In 1966, when there was a shortage of military pilots because of the Vietnam situation, TWA allowed some of the flight engineers with sufficient background to cross over to the pilot program,” he said.

He worked as a flight engineer, a captain and as instructor check captain and flew
On Dec. 23, 1989, he retired as an instructor check captain on the Lockheed 1011. He had worked for TWA for 34 years. And although he is retired, he still flies airplanes.

Bertles and his wife, Joan, who is in the aviation field, have lived in Lower Makefield since 1967. Bertles was born in Ewing, N.J. and is a lifelong resident of the area. The couple has four daughters and four grandchildren.