TCVA Fallen Brother Lyle Bercier

It is with much sadness TCVA reports the passing on one of

TACAMO brothers, Lyle Bercier.

June 8, 1922 - December 19, 2017

Now Departing: The Original TACAMO Program Manager Starting in 1963, Lyle Bercier began managing the procurement of 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft that became the first to send Very Low Frequency communications in support of Navy strategic deterrence force submarines. Already a storied World War II Sailor, Lyle, then a Bureau of Aeronautics civilian employee, met with and worked with key Navy Pentagon and industry leaders in Lockheed and Collins Radio. He also worked with Ron Carlson, the Navy's first Herc pilot and TACAMO Detachment Officer In Charge at Barbers Point, Hawaii. Lyle bought the airplanes and Ron flew two of them from Marietta, Georgia to Barbers and in 1964 flew one of those four Hercs around the world over about a month's time, in support of carrier battle group operating in the Indian Ocean. That Herc is preserved in the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola today. Lyle was always a phone call away to support TACAMO detachments in the two VR transport squadrons that hosted them. He also provided Hercs and support for then VX-6 Antarctic Exploration squadron where Ron later served. Ron and Lyle have remained friends over the years and it is through Ron that TCVA was able to meet Lyle. Spry and feisty in his 90s, Lyle told his story to me as if it were yesterday and a task no more difficult than a trip to the grocery store. We all owe a debt of gratitude and deepest respect to Lyle for having the moxie to go tell the Air Force the Navy was taking four Hercs off the production line and then to knock down other barriers to give life to the TACAMO mission. "Bos'n, stand by to Pipe Brother Lyle Bercier over the side. TACAMO's First Program Manager, departing..........."