Former fire chief recalls famous crash Published March 7, 2014 By Senior Airman Madelyn Brown 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- From the air traffic control tower March 3, 93-year-old Robert Dittmer marveled at the transformation Travis Air Force Base has undergone in the last 60 years since he first paved the original runway. "The base has grown so much," Dittmer said. "Everything is new and modern." Dittmer's family lineage has seen the entire transformation of the local community since his great grandmother began farming the Fairfield countryside in 1854. Dittmer himself became a part of Travis history when he responded to the Brig. Gen. Robert Travis crash Aug. 5, 1950. Prior to that historic day, a young Dittmer had the laborious job of weighing rocks and laying gravel to pave the flightline. "It was something I had to do while I was waiting to go off and become an air cadet," he said. That work resulted in the original Travis flightline. Before Dittmer left to become a cadet, he witnessed the first landing. "It was weird seeing the first plane land on this little bit of runway that had just dried and cured," he said. "It was full of Corps of Engineer men and I just pointed them toward the flightline supervisor." After flying bombers in the war, Dittmer returned to Travis in 1947 and began working at the fire station as the assistant fire chief, said John Speakman, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron fire chief. The organization of the fire department included a structural side of the department, which responded to base housing fires, and the crash side, which was married to the flightline. Dittmer was assigned to the crash side. On Aug. 5, 1950 Dittmer arrived on scene approximately 15 minutes after the crash occurred. His immediate reaction was to get everyone out of the smoldering B-29 Superfortress and away from the aircraft wreckage. "Our crash kits contained an axe, hand saw and a sledge hammer," he said. "We had just started to cut a hole in the airplane when the son of a gun blew up." From the explosion, Dittmer's ear was torn off and he suffered burns on his hands, arms, legs and face. Five firefighters perished in the explosion, and Dittmer underwent surgery and skin grafts for six months in the hospital. "He was at such close proximity to the aircraft," Speakman said. "It's amazing he survived." The tragedy on Aug. 5, however, did not deter Dittmer from firefighting. "Chief Dittmer responded to a C-124 Globemaster II crash in which two perished and two survived," Speakman said. "One of the individuals who survived was pulled from the aircraft by Dittmer." After eating lunch with Travis firefighters at Fire Station 1, Dittmer sat in the Seagraves fire truck, the vehicle he used to operate when he was the assistant fire chief. To conclude the tour, he visited the car wash and family camp area of the base. Though unremarkable in modern day, this is the site of the crash from which Travis AFB received its namesake. "The Air Force fire protection has had a long line of people that have been about service before self and exemplified a strong core of values," Speakman said. "If you look at Mr. Dittmer, he has continued to make contributions and is a true example of fortitude." "It's good for our younger fire service guys to see Mr. Dittmer and others who walk the walk. He is an excellent source to draw inspiration."