Honoring Bath Veterans: Dick Calta
by Laura Bednar
This year, the United States of America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As part of the celebration, the Bath Country Journal will run a series of articles throughout the year highlighting war veterans from Bath Township, starting with the Revolutionary War and progressing through each historical conflict. Through the articles, residents can reflect on military virtues of honor, courage and self-sacrifice that have inspired soldiers as well as civilians since the founding of the republic.
United States Air Force veteran Dick Calta spent his career as a man with a plan, managing the maintenance and travel of military planes and the people who work on them.
Calta was commissioned through the ROTC program at the University of Iowa in 1967. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate who majored in accounting, which fed into his military work. “A lot of what you do is numbers,” he said.
His first assignment was in Hawaii, where he spent three years as a logistics officer during the Southeast Asian conflict. He negotiated support agreements for U.S. military aircraft to travel to bases in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. He also was responsible for the fuel on Wake Island.
Calta earned his master’s degree in systems and logistics from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton. His next assignment was in Izmir, Turkey, where he was a logistics officer supporting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters.
He directed the commissary and exchange, providing food and goods to U.S. military in Turkey. Calta also ensured that bases were prepared for military planes if the country was in a state of war.
After two years in Turkey, he was moved to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where he worked for the command headquarters in systems automation. He created a computer program that tracked aircraft and their maintenance worldwide.
At Chinute Air Force Base in Illinois, he attended aircraft maintenance officer school. He returned to Scott as a flight line aircraft maintenance officer, where he managed day-to-day maintenance and avionics repair. This included C-9 aircraft, hospital planes transporting injured people worldwide; jets that flew high-ranking individuals; and aircraft belonging to the Air Force communications command.
Calta spent eight months in Norfolk, Virginia, where he attended Armed Forces Staff College with members from each branch of the military. Calta said the college acquaints members “with each other’s way of doing business so you can go to an assignment and work with other commands.”
This proved helpful when he was assigned to work for a Navy captain in Athens, Greece, with the Hellenic defense national staff. He developed Greece’s annual support plan for aircraft munitions, maintenance and training.
His next post was McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington, as flight line organizational maintenance supervisor. He was in charge of a crew of 500 aircraft maintainers.
“We provided the plans going forward so we knew how many airplanes we would have available on any given day,” said Calta.
He was supervisor for two years, then became commander of the same group. In that role, he said his job was to “provide and instill discipline.”
“It’s important to be a man of your word. Trust your subordinates; with jobs this big, you can’t do it all yourself,” he added.
Calta was then transferred back to Scott as a senior maintenance officer for the inspector general team. He inspected 20 military stations worldwide, reviewing aircraft and the stations’ ability to provide wartime support.
He became the briefer to commander of military aircraft worldwide. “I gave the status each morning of the aircraft in each station around the world,” he said.
After that, he was promoted to colonel and became chief of maintenance at Scott. From there, he was assigned to McChord as chief of maintenance, overseeing 39 C-141 aircraft and 17 C-130 aircraft. He was in charge of the planes and air traffic patterns to and from the base.
He later became a logistics group commander, where he organized aircraft maintenance and supply and worked with support agencies. His abbreviated title was LG. His son, an Air Force lieutenant at the time, was also stationed at McChord. The pair was referred to as LG and LT.
The family military connection was not surprising, as Calta’s father was in the Army. Calta grew up living in various places in the U.S. and in Japan as a military brat, which led to his decision to join. “I got the feeling I wanted to serve this nation and do what I could to promote our ability to be free,” he said.
His next assignment was at Yokota Air Base in Japan, where he was support commander for all aircraft, cargo and crew air traffic from Misawa, Japan, to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Calta described it as a 24-hour job due to the time difference between Japan and the U.S.
Calta’s final assignment was at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, where he was in charge of quality and readiness for the wing.
He retired after 29 years and worked for McDonnell Douglas (later becoming Boeing), where he developed maintenance requirements and scheduling for C-17 aircraft. He then became site activation specialist, preparing bases nationwide to receive these aircraft.
After 11 years with the company, he retired in 2008 and moved to Bath to be closer to family. In almost three decades in the military, he said he and his family moved 17 times. He and his wife married in their junior year of college and will celebrate their 60th anniversary in December. The couple has two children.
Calta still supports the military as legislative officer of the Ohio Western Reserve chapter of the Military Officers Association of America. The group ensures proper care for veterans, active-duty members and their families. Eleven lobbyists regularly advocate on Capitol Hill for support of military members. Calta is a former organization president and helped found a Youngstown chapter.
Photo caption: Dick Calta was in the Air Force for 29 years. Photo submitted.