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aircraft

The F-15E pilots who completed the longest-ever fighter combat sortie

by Till Daisd April 2, 2022

The F-15E fighter bombers refueled 12 times during the historic “Crockett 51/52s” flight, each time extending their loiter time by 60 to 90 minutes

The ultimate multi-role fighter in the West is the F-15E Strike Eagle. From Desert Shield to Iraqi Freedom, it has been at the heart of every combat in which the USAF has been engaged since 1990. It not only consistently hit targets that no other Coalition, NATO, or US fighter could reach, but it also set records for mission endurance and effectiveness.

F-15Es from the 391st FS/366th Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), located in Mountain Home, were sent to Kuwait for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington, DC. Four crew members from the unit made history during their three-month service when they completed the longest fighter combat sortie ever (no exact date for this mission has ever been released by the USAF).

“Crockett 51/52,” a two-ship F-15E mission, was tasked with patrolling a set of grid coordinates over Afghanistan for the customary “vulnerability” duration of three hours. Of the 15.5 hours, nine were spent over the target.

Slokes and Snitch, a pilot and a WSO, were in the lead jet, and Spear and Buzzer were the crew on No 2. Nine GBU-12s, two AIM-9Ms, two AIM-120Cs, and two wing fuel tanks were all carried by each F-15E. When “Crockett” flight arrived on station, AWACS sent a TST instructing it to get in touch with a Predator UAV control unit. The latter had been keeping an eye out for unusual behavior near structures thought to be Taliban command and control centers.

‘Spear’ recalled in Steve Davies’ book F-15E Strike Eagle Units in Combat 1990-2005;

‘Each jet set up two different laser codes— No 1 had 1511 on the left CFT and 1533 on the right and No 2 had 1522 on the left and 1544 on the right. The lead pilot released four GBU-12s from his jet, giving us two with the 1511 laser code and two with 1533. We programmed in 1533 on our in laser so that we could guide two of their bombs and they had 1511ndialled in on theirs so that they could guide two of ours. This way we took out two buildings, side-by-side, with simultaneous impacts for eight GBU-12s. We actually flew two passes — the first to ensure that we had the correct targets and the second to actually drop the weapons.’

Both targets were effectively neutralized. One AAA piece had been firing at the flight during this operation, and it too would have been attacked if the battery hadn’t stopped firing at them and the F-15E crews hadn’t been able to find it. After a second Predator tasking, another structure was struck and destroyed. The “Crockett” flight continued with a road reconnaissance after making a call to the FAC for assistance in identifying some vehicles that he had seen.

The flight was unable to identify the precise nature of the traffic, but it soon encountered a Taliban roadblock in the mountains and quickly cleared it. The airplane was getting fuel for their way home after multiple air refuelings when AWACS contacted and requested that they make another contact with Predator. They were given a third building, and each jet rippled two GBU-12s into it. The building, which was immediately struck and destroyed, was thought to be housing Taliban members.

No less than 12 refuelings occurred during the historic “Crockett 51/52s” flight, each of which extended the planes’ loiter time by 60 to 90 minutes. In terms of weapon effects achieved and weapon delivery precision, the mission had been a resounding success. Despite the remarkable length of the sortie, “Spear” appeared more impressed that his backside could still hurt a week later!

The story of the F-15E crews who flew the longest fighter combat sortie ever

F-15E Strike Eagle Units in Combat 1990-2005 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

April 2, 2022 0 comment

History

Francis Gary Powers Jr. supplied unique information about the shooting down of his father’s U-2

by Till Daisd April 2, 2022

written by Till Daisd

“Especially in light of the U-2 that was shot down over Cuba in 1962, I understood my father’s frustration. All of the sudden, Washington officials were faced with the political dilemma of having to admit that the Soviets were more advanced than they realized,” Francis Gary Powers Jr.

The downing of the American U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, was one of the most talked-about incidents of the Cold War. Francis Gary Powers was the pilot. The current Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies depicts the event. An international incident resulted from Powers’ kidnapping by the KGB, televised show trial, and imprisonment. He was later freed by Soviet authorities in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, who had been detained. Powers was cleared of any misconduct while imprisoned in Russia upon his return to the US, but because of bad news and the government’s reluctance to vigorously defend Powers, controversy persisted until his untimely death in 1977.

The Cold War Museum’s founder Francis Gary Powers Jr. and renowned historian Keith Dunnavant have now written the book Spy Pilot, a fresh look at Powers’ life based on never-before-seen personal documents. Powers and Dunnavant cleared the air by examining old audio recordings, letters the spy pilot’s father sent and received while detained in the Soviet Union, the CIA’s text of that debriefing, other recently declassified U-2 program papers, and interviews with those who knew him at the time.

“My father understood that the question of what happened to cause his crash reflected a fundamental issue that cut to the heart of the most closely guarded secrets on both sides,” Francis Gary PowersnJr. says in his book.

He continues:

“‘I got the impression,’ he said in his tapes, ‘that someone was going out of their way to stress the fact that there was a malfunction in the airplane or something to hush-hush the fact that [the Soviets] did have a defensive weapon (the SA-2 SAM) that was capable of [shooting the U-2 out of the sky]. . . .All I could see was a friend of mine coming over and getting shot down himself. I wanted it known that they had this capability. Someone apparently was trying to cover up the fact that they had this capability.’

“Especially in light of the U-2 that was shot down over Cuba in 1962, I understood my father’s frustration. All of the sudden, Washington officials were faced with the political dilemma of having to admit that the Soviets were more advanced than they realized. Instead of clearing this up, the government allowed the misinformation to continue to circulate.

“When I first started to transcribe my father’s journal, while in graduate school at George Mason, I took great care to methodically type the words. It became something I usually did after arriving home at night, hunched over my computer for an hour or two at a time. I always felt like I learned something. It was part of the puzzle slowly being revealed to me, including the early portions when Dad described the moments after he lost control of the plane.

“‘My first reaction was to reach toward the destruction switches,’ he wrote. ‘I knew that after activating them I would have seventy seconds in which to leave the plane before the explosion. I then thought I had better see if I could get into the position to use the ejection seat before activating the switches. It was a good thing I did this because I spent several minutes I suppose (I don’t know how long I was in the spinning plane), trying to get my feet in the proper place and trying to get far enough back into the seat so that I could eject without tearing my legs off on the canopy rail as I shot out of the cabin. I could not get into the proper position. I was not sitting at all but hanging by the seat belt and it was impossible to shorten the belt with all the forces against it….’

“This sequence became an important part of the CIA debriefing.

Francis Gary Powers Jr. reveals exclusive details on the shoot-down of his father’s U-2 — *SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missile on display in the Southeast Asia War Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.*

USnInterrogator: As you moved down in your seat in that odd inverted position, the plane was not flaming or smoking or anything, was it, as far as you could recall it?

Powers: I would say there was no fire connected with …

USnInterrogator: No fire connected with it. In other words, … it wasn’t billowing smoke or …

Powers: If it was, I knew nothing about it.

USnInterrogator: And, and then, then …

Powers: I feel sure that the engine stopped at this, ah, was stopping like this, ah, maneuver started to take place. Because I can remember somewhere along with this that the, ah, RPM gauge was going down. But I can’t remember exactly when I noticed that. There was some—when the nose dropped there were some very violent maneuvers. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. I don’t know exactly what happened there. And it didn’t take long. But it ended up in that inverted position going around, and I think it was going around clockwise ….

“After deciding to bail out and eventually parachuting to the ground, Dad wrote about his feelings concerning his impending fate: ‘I knew I was as good as dead and I also knew in my own mind that my death would not be a fast one but one of slow torture. . . .’

USnInterrogator: When you got to the ground … you didn’t try to escape?

Powers: No, there was . .. while I was still lying there on the ground with the parachute dragging me, one man was helping me out of the parachute and the other was trying to help me up, and by the time I got on my feet and took the helmet off, there was a large group around.

US Interrogator: There was just no opportunity to even think of escaping?

Powers: I think I couldn’t have gotten through this group if none of them were armed…. I don’t think any of them were, but it was just a large press of people and I could not have gotten through anyway.

USnInterrogator: Yeah, now then . . .

Powers: And they had also taken this .22 pistol away from me before I had an opportunity to even think about it.

USnInterrogator: You didn’t resist in any way?

Powers: No, I gave no active resistance.

USnInterrogator: Why didn’t you resist?

Powers: Just too many people.

USnInterrogator: Uh-huh. It just would have been foolhardy, in other words?

Powers: That’s what it seemed to me. It just seemed that … well, I’mnalive right now I could try to escape, which I wanted to do. I was pretty much in shock at the time also, I don’t suppose I was thinking too clearly, but I was looking around, trying to see some way to escape or something to do, and all these people milling around. … It was just impossible to do anything, in my opinion.

“After concluding the interrogation, HarrynCordes and his colleague John Hughes, who represented the Defense IntelligencenAgency, flew to Washington to brief a series of high-ranking officials, including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who criticized the pilot’s decision to proceed after his autopilot malfunctioned. Cordes emerged as an important advocate for my father against the forces who doubted his story, especially John McCone (who was influenced by the National Security Agency report, which argued that the pilot ‘descended to a lower altitude and turned back in a broad curve toward Sverdlovsk before being downed’).

“Confronting the NSA report suggesting the pilot had descended below 30,000 feet before being shot down, Cordes shot holes in the theory by citing inaccurate data produced during similar incidents, including the loss of the RB-47 (the reconnaissance plane was lost on Jul. 1, 1960 while on a secret mission over the Arctic Ocean when it was shot down by the Soviets. Colonels John McKone and Bruce Olmstead, the only survivors of the RB-47 shoot-down, were imprisoned at Lubyanka at the same time as my father) ‘I had knowledge of the same intelligence information,’ he said, ‘but I believed Powers.’”

Top Image: From the Powers Family Collection

Photo by U.S. Air Force

April 2, 2022 0 comment

History

Video shows Northrop YF-17 rollout

by Till Daisd March 27, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The Northrop YF-17 Cobra was a lightweight fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) technology evaluation program.

The Northrop YF-17 Cobra, a jet fighter that, regrettably for Northrop, never advanced past the prototype stage but still served as the inspiration for the F/A-18 design, is unveiled in the silent film footage included in this post. The film opens with the prototype plane’s debut on April 4, 1974, and then cuts to footage of the aircraft being tested in flight at California’s Edwards Air Force Base (AFB).

Il Northrop YF-17 era un caccia leggero creato per il programma di valutazione tecnologica Lightweight Fighter (LWF) dell’aeronautica militare statunitense. L’LWF fu concepito perché molti nella comunità dei caccia ritenevano che aerei costosi e ingombranti come l’F-15 Eagle non fossero adatti a numerosi ruoli di combattimento. L’N-102 Fang del 1956 e la famiglia F-5 che l’ha preceduto, insieme ad altri prototipi Northrop, sono culminati nell’YF-17.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon ultimately won the LWF competition, while the YF-17 was chosen for the brand-new Naval Fighter Attack Experimental (VFAX) program. The United States Navy and United States Marine Corps adopted the F/A-18 Hornet in the larger form to take the place of the A-7 Corsair II and F-4 Phantom II, complementing the more expensive F-14 Tomcat. The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which is almost the same size as the original F-15, was scaled up from this design, which was originally intended as a small and light fighter.

Photo by Northrop via Ron Monroe

March 27, 2022 0 comment

History

The first SR-71 pilot to achieve 900 hours, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Bowles, died

by Till Daisd March 24, 2022

written by Till Daisd

In addition to receiving two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Air Medal, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Bowles gained one of them for rescuing SR-71 #960

Lieutenant Colonel BennBowles, a former SR-71 pilot, passed away on June 1, 2019. His birthday was January 14, 1932. He collaborated closely with Kelly Johnson, one of the SR-71 Blackbird’s five original designers, to create a number of high altitude/high Mach flight-related advancements. Ben was the first pilot to fly the SR-71 for more than 900 hours while carrying out highly classified reconnaissance missions.

Lieutenant Colonel Ben Bowles, first SR-71 pilot to reach 900 hours, has passed away — *Lieutenant Colonel Ben Bowles*

Britt Blaser, former KC-135Q pilot remembers: “I was fortunate enough to serve as a KC-135Q tanker pilot at Beale AFB from 1968–71. We alternated 12 weeks at Beale and 6 at Kadena AB, Okinawa. On my first rotation to Kadena, I was looking forward to renewing a slight acquaintance with Major Ben Bowles, who at that time had more ‘Habu’ hours than anyone. When I reported to the SR HQ, everybody was excited about a picture Ben’s SR had snapped the day before – the nose cone of a SAM directly below, filling the frame of the photo.

But that’s misleading. Since the camera could differentiate patio furniture on a deck, a SAM 40,000 feet below looks huge. But by the time it struggled up to altitude, Ben and Jimmy [Jimmy Fag who was Bowles RSO] were long gone.

Among other medals, he was awarded the AirnMedal and two Distinguished Flying Crosses one of which was for saving SR-71 #960.

The incredible story of the SR-71 Blackbird that flew an eleven-hour-long mission from Kadena to the Persian Gulf and back

As Blaser explains, a couple of months before the SAM photo shoot, Ben had even more fun. This was when the SR program was pretty new and people were still learning things faster than they’d like. On a training mission back in the states, Ben was presented the Air Force “Well Done” award when he saved an SR-71 which experienced an engine explosion “above 60,000 feet and Mach 2.5 while accelerating to a higher airspeed and altitude.”

Bowles describes this particular adventure in an article that appeared on Britt Blaser’s website Escapbale Logic:

“On the morning of 29 July 1968, my navigator, Jimmy Fagg, was not feeling well when we were having our preflight steak and eggs breakfast at the Personnel Support Detachment. Butch Sheffield, returning from leave, walked in and mentioned he needed flight time for pay and that he would gladly substitute for Jimmy.

“The flight was going well. We had just finished refueling and were accelerating thru approx 2.6 Mach and 65,000′, leaving Louisiana heading West. (ed.: usually a 40-minute flight to Sacramento) the first indication of a problem was when the right engine “unstarted”. However, this was more serious than a routine inlet unstart.

“I heard a Big Bang and immediately had a big red light (ed: there are no small red lights) I looked through the rear-facing periscope and saw a huge smoke trail: obviously not a contrail.

“Understand, when the inlet is unstarted, the aircraft is experiencing severe aerodynamic buffeting, making it difficult to read instruments until we slow to about Mach 2. The right engine is shut down. I ask Butch for the Engine Fire and the Descent checklist. I declare “Emergency” with the Air Traffic Control center, “descending and diverting to Carswell AFB”.nThen I tell Butch to “be ready to bail out”, who responds with, “Oh Shit”!n(Butch had punched out of an SR once before and was not anxious to repeat the experience.)

“Butch says, “I wish I had my checklist” (WhatnButch meant was that he had Jimmy Fagg’s checklist, not his own. Every crew member marks up his checklist with useful margin notes, obviously of great personal value. As a stand-in, Butch was wishing he had his own annotated checklist rather than Jimmy’s, captured on the aircraft’s audio recorder). The roughness is now gone and the machine is flying smoothly with normal control. Intell Butch that I would just as soon stay with her as long as we have good control. Butch concurs (although, the checklist says that if Fire Light does not extinguish…Bail Out). The problem remains, Fire Light is still On, flying on one engine, the smoke has diminished, but is it smoke, fuel spray (we are dumping as much as possible before landing), or contrail? I don’t want to land with fire and Butch concurs. Still difficult to tell if we are trailing smoke due to overcast, poor light conditions, and looking through the periscope is like looking through the barrel of a 22 rifle.

“We elect to request a fly-by with the tower to tell us if they can detect any smoke or fire. The Fire light is stillnON. Tower says we look OK. Landing was uneventful. We taxi to and into a designated hanger, stopping inside, shut down the left engine and the hangar doors are closed. We complete the “shutdown checklist”… unbuckle our harness and stuff, but no one comes to help us out of the airplane. We at least need a ladder! Butch says the crowd is over by the right wing. Finally, a couple of considerate colonels come to our rescue and advised us, “you may want to see this”. We shuffled around to the right side. The outboard forward section of the nacelle had been blown out, taking with it a portion of the wing’s leading edge. Obvious severe fire damage. Not much of the engine was left in the nacelle…you could see daylight. Lockheed used this accident as a testimonial for titanium airframes. Conventional construction could not have survived the intense heat from the fire…the right outboard wing would have failed rather quickly.”

Bowles left the Air Force in 1972 with the rank of Lt. Colonel, and he later spent 15 years as the Chief Corporate Pilot in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

March 24, 2022 0 comment

History

Beautiful pictures from the formation flight honoring Airbus’ 50th anniversary

by Till Daisd March 19, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Participating in the Airbus 50th anniversary flight were the A220, A319neo, A330neo, A350, A380, and BelugaXL along with the Patrouille de France.

Airbus turned 50 years old, and to honor this extraordinary accomplishment, a formation flight left Toulouse. The Patrouille de France and the A220, A319neo, A330neo, A350, A380, and BelugaXL all took part in the flight. Unfortunately, the weather prevented Toulouse from having a low-level fly-by.

Here are some stunning photos of the incredible formation flight celebrating Airbus 50th Anniversary

On May 29, 2019, marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of an agreement by the German Minister of Economic Affairs, Karl Schiller, and the French Minister of Transport, Jean Chamant, at the 1969 Paris Air Show for the joint development of the A300 aircraft, the first European twin-aisle twin-engine jet for medium-haul flights.

Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus said: “Our story is one of ambition and progress, and has been a showcase of European integration. Over five decades, we have brought together civil and defense aviation businesses from throughout the continent. For 50 years, we have pioneered many firsts through our passion and innovation, transforming the industry and helping to move society forward. Airbus is a story of incredible men and women, a story of great achievements in the past and, above all, in the future.”

In the field of aerospace, Airbus is a reference point. It also offers data services, navigation, secure communications, urban transportation, and other solutions for clients on a global scale. The company designs, manufactures and delivers industry-leading commercial aircraft, helicopters, military transports, satellites, and launch vehicles.

With around 180 facilities and 12,000 direct suppliers worldwide, Airbus has built on its strong European background to become genuinely multinational. The corporation has final assembly lines for aircraft and helicopters throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and since 2000, its order book has increased more than sixfold.

The six Airbus aircraft can be seen here en route to the runway where the flight will take off.

Photo by S. Ramadier and J.V. Reymondon / Airbus

March 19, 2022 0 comment

History

The US Navy dive-bomber Wade McClusky who changed the course of the Battle of Midway

by Till Daisd March 16, 2022

written by Till Daisd

Wade McClusky was in charge of a squadron of 32 dive-bombers on June 4, 1942, and they had been given the mission to strike the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The fleet, however, was not where it was expected to be.

Wade McClusky, a US Navy dive-bomber pilot, changed the outcome of the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942, proving himself as one of the country’s best combat leaders and pilots.

McClusky was in charge of a squadron of 32 dive-bombers at 10 a.m. that morning with orders to strike the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, the fleet was not at the expected location. McClusky instead noticed the Japanese destroyer Arashi heading northeast as his air group’s fuel ran low. He made the deliberate choice to defy orders and follow the Arashi because he assumed she must be trailing the main fleet.

According to David Rigby in his book Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway, when McClusky discovered that the interception coordinates he had been given were incorrect, he did not break the radio silence to seek guidance. This was fortunate because Adm Spruance and his staff on the Enterprise were still unaware of the change in the course made by Adm Nagumo’s carrier striking force, which had led the Japanese fleet away from the interception point in a nor’easter.

McClusky was nearly certain to discover the enemy on his own by the time Jim Gray, who had taken over McClusky’s former position as the commander of Fighting Six, very belatedly radioed in a contact report at roughly 10:00 am. Gray also appears to have simply said in his contact report that he was departing the area around the enemy fleet because of a fuel problem. It appears that Gray omitted to provide Nagumo’s coordinates. Because there was a remote possibility that Nagurno might have turned west or that the Japanese approach track into Midway was further west than he had anticipated, McClusky continued southwest for an additional 15 minutes after the planned interception position.

The story of Wade McClusky, the US Navy dive-bomber pilot who changed the course of the Battle of Midway — Wade McClusky

One of the most crucial choices made by an American military leader during World War 2 came next. Wade McClusky now exhibited that sixth sense, the intuition that many great military leaders possess to have a gut feeling about what the enemy was truly doing, even when the enemy was not in sight. In this instance, the gut feeling proved to be dead-on accurate. It would have been reasonable to assume that the Japanese were moving more quickly than anticipated, had passed McClusky, and were now heading south. It was counterintuitive but absolutely true that McClusky was certain that this was not the case.

He felt the truth: that Nagumo had been forced to alter his course due to repeated American air strikes from Midway-based aircraft and carrier-based torpedo planes as well as a Japanese cruiser floatplane spotting one of the American task forces. The early adjustments were evasive maneuvers meant to dodge bombs and torpedoes dropped by American aircraft engaged in combat. Nagumo’s movement southeast was hindered by these maneuvers.

In order to get near the American surface ships and make a strike against them with his own dive-bombers and torpedo planes, Nagumo turned 90 degrees to port and headed northeast at 9:17 a.m. While McClusky was unsure of all the details at the time, he was convinced that the Japanese had been held up for some reason and that the Kido Butai carriers were to the north of him.

McClusky himself never thought it was intuition or guesswork that guided him during the battle. After the war, he always bristled if he read an account of the Battle of Midway that claimed that he had made a lucky guess in turning north. There was no guesswork involved, Wade assured his family. Wade McClusky, according to Phil McClusky, always said that if the Japanese carriers had gotten past the interception point and had been to the south, out to McClusky’s left, “he would have heard about it” on the few occasions the fight was brought up in conversation.

He was apparently referring to the fact that he knew that Midway-based Catalina PBY flying boats were out on patrol and that they would have reported any large body of ships nearing the atoll.

His instincts paid off, though, and the bombers were directed straight at the Japanese carriers Kaga and Akagi, which they rapidly sank. A squadron from Yorktown arrived at the same moment and bombed the Soryu, another carrier. Three of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s main carriers were destroyed in a matter of minutes, seriously weakening it.

At 10 am on Jun. 4, 1942, after six months of the war, the U.S. was losing the war in the Pacific. Half an hour later, at 10.30 am, they were winning.

Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Navy

March 16, 2022 0 comment

History

A fellow Marine pilot was picked up by the PBY Catalina Blister Gunner after he dove into the waters off Rabaul

by Till Daisd March 6, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The Gunner’s identity has never been discovered

The N***d Gunner, the title of the renowned vintage black-and-white photograph in this piece, was taken during World War II. On the Services Archaeology and Heritage Association Facebook page is where the intriguing story was posted.

PBY Blister Gunner, Rescue at Rabaul, 1944.

In order to save a critically burned Marine pilot who was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held citadel of Rabaul, this young crewmember of a U.S. Navy “Dumbo” PBY Catalina rescue mission dove into Rabaul Harbor.

This iconic photo was taken by Horace Bristol (1908-1997). In 1941, Bristol was recruited to the U.S. Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, as one of six photographers under the command of Captain Edward J. Steichen, documenting World War II, he was attached to South African troops initially before being re-deployed to the Pacific theatre of operations.

When this occurred, he happened to be on the aircraft the gunner was serving on, which was used to rescue people from Rabaul Bay (on the New Britain island, in Papua New Guinea). He recalls reading the following in a B&W magazine story dated December 2002:

“…we got a call to pick up an airman who was down in the Bay. The Japanese were shooting at him from the island, and when they saw us they started shooting at us. The man who was shot down was temporarily blinded, so one of our crew stripped off his clothes and jumped in to bring him aboard. He couldn’t have swum very well wearing his boots and clothes. As soon as we could, we took off. We weren’t waiting around for anybody to put on formal clothes. We were being shot at and wanted to get the hell out of there.

The n***d man got back into his position at his gun in the blister of the plane.”

As of today, the identity of the N***d Gunner has never been established.

Photo by Horace Bristol

March 6, 2022 0 comment

History

The only F-111 lost during Operation El Dorado Canyon

by Till Daisd February 24, 2022

written by Till Daisd

The sixth aircraft on the Bab al-Aziza target, an F-111F 70-2389 with the callsign “Karma 52,” mysteriously disappeared

On April 14, 1986, at 5:13 p.m., President Ronald Reagan gave the order for U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-111F Aardvarks from the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) to depart from Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath.

Operation El Dorado Canyon, a code name for the operation, was carried out in retaliation for the terrorist bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin on April 5, which left two American soldiers dead and more than 200 others injured.

All but one aircraft made it back to the base.

The sixth aircraft on the Bab al-Aziza target, an F-111F 70-2389 with the callsign “Karma 52,” mysteriously disappeared. The crews of multiple aircraft witnessed a fireball strike the sea in the harbor area, and many believed the F-111F had been struck by a missile, as stated by Peter E. Davies in his book F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat. By the time the jet hit the water, the escape module housing the pilot Capt Fernando “Nando” Ribas-Dominicci, and his WSO Capt Paul Lorence had not yet deployed. The F-111 ‘Remit 31’ pilot saw the crash and said, “It was a smear across the water.” I was brought back to my experience of seeing napalm in Vietnam. Additionally, one of the EF-111As could see it:

`From our vantage point just off the coast of Tripoli, we saw F-111Fs pass under us as most of them had their afterburners as they ingressed at 550-600 knots. At the time Fernando went down I saw what appeared to be a fireball skipping across the water on ingress.’

Following a few seconds later, “Karma 53” (F-111F 71-0889) noticed a flash and fireball immediately in front of them and thought it was an F-111 being struck by a SAM. After that, they had to make a quick turn to escape getting struck by a SAM themselves.

One of the tankers orbited in vain for “Karma 52” before returning home as dawn broke. By that evening, searches by P-3 patrol planes and a US Navy submarine had been suspended, and by April 17, it had been determined that the crew of “Karma 52” had been killed in action.

The sad story of ‘Karma 52’, the only F-111 lost during Operation El Dorado Canyon

It’s possible that the ECM pond on “Karma 52” failed to protect them. Many of the then-AN/ALQ-131 ECM pods, which were installed beneath the aircraft’s rear fuselages for missile defense, had malfunctioned, according to post-mission inspections, as a result of the mission’s protracted beating from high-speed airflow. When the pods were later examined, components did indeed fall out of many of them.

Capt. Lorence’s final fate is unknown; only his helmet washed up on the shore. An autopsy performed after the pilot’s body was returned to the US via the Vatican in 1989 revealed that he had drowned while unconscious. Capt. Ribas-Dominicci was a member of Lakenheath’s elite Standardization and Evaluation unit, and the year before, when another F-111F experienced an undercarriage issue, burst a main-gear tire on landing, and ran off the runway, he narrowly escaped having to eject.

Some of their coworkers believed that the decision to expand the Bab al-Azizia element to nine aircraft may have had a role in “Karma 52’s” loss.

Actually, Lakenheath planners rather favored a six-aircraft strike on the relatively tiny Bab al-Azizia site, three against the training camp, and nine to bomb the somewhat bigger and more open Tripoli airport objectives.

The longer, more intense assault that was planned on Gaddafi’s compound would leave the aircraft vulnerable to its strong defenses for over four minutes. Despite Lt Col Pastusek and Col Bob Venkus, vice-commander of the 48th TFW and an important player in the planning, objecting, Lakenheath’s wishes were rejected. To do as much damage to this obvious target as possible, the nine-aircraft attack on Bab al-Azizia was demanded. Attack strategies have to be quickly revised to prevent conflicts with the meticulously planned route developed with the US Navy. The strategy for refueling was also enlarged.

The initial plan’s deviation provided the Libyans with “a succession of single-file targets — ducks in a row,” as former 48th TFW WSO Maj Jim Rotramel put it. At Lakenheath, anxiety levels spiked in response to this possibility. The risk to the final three-aircraft cell (‘Karma’) increased but the likelihood of precise hits by aircraft flying after those that had successfully dropped bombs was significantly decreased.

To his great surprise, the Third Air Force commander, who was aware of the numbers issue but was unable to persuade his superiors to change their minds, informed the highly experienced Vietnam veteran “Karma leader” that it would be acceptable to abandon his attack if the defenses proved to be too effective. For the leader of “Karma,” this total reversal of standard USAF doctrine was shocking. The “Liberty Wing” had to follow the predetermined course of action despite being aware of its possibly catastrophic defects.

The names of Ribas-Dominicci and Lorence are inscribed on a plaque that is located today across from the 48th Medical Group hospital and honors the members of the 495th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS).

Photo by U.S. Air Force

F-111 & EF-111 Units in Combat is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

February 24, 2022 0 comment

History

The Last Doolittle Raider, Lt. Col. Dick Cole, Passes Away at 103

by Till Daisd February 23, 2022

written by Till Daisd

A legendary chapter in Air Force history has come to an end

Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” E., retired The “Doolittle Raid’s” last survivor, Cole, passed away on April 9 in San Antonio.

“Lt. Col. Dick Cole reunited with the Doolittle Raiders in the clear blue skies today,” said Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. “My heart goes out to his friends and family as our Air Force mourns with them. We will honor him and the courageous Doolittle Raiders as pioneers in aviation who continue to guide our bright future.”

In retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raiders and the U.S. Army Air Forces launched an attack on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. This action increased American morale in the early stages of World War II.

“There’s another hole in our formation,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “Our last remaining Doolittle Raider has slipped the surly bonds of Earth and has reunited with his fellow Raiders. And what a reunion they must be having. Seventy-seven years ago this Saturday, 80 intrepid Airmen changed the course of history as they executed a one-way mission without hesitation against enormous odds. We are so proud to carry the torch he and his fellow Raiders handed us.”

Lt Col Dick Cole, the Last Doolittle Raider, Dies at 103 — *The aircraft carrier USS Hornet had 16 AAF B-25s on deck, ready for the Tokyo Raid.*

Cole was born in Dayton, Ohio, on September 7, 1915. He graduated from Steele High School in Dayton in 1938 and went on to Ohio University for two years of college before joining as an aviation cadet on November 22, 1940. As told by Master Sgt. Andrew Stephens, Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs, in the article Lt Col Dick Cole, last surviving Doolittle Raider, passes away at age 103.

Cole was instructed to go to Parks Air College in East St. Louis, Illinois, for training before traveling to Randolph Field, Texas, and later Kelly Field, Texas, shortly after he enlisted. In July 1941, he received his second lieutenant commission after completing his flying training.

Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese while Cole was with the 17th Bombardment Group in Pendleton, Oregon, on a training mission.

Up until February 1942, when Cole was informed that he would be relocated to Columbia, South Carolina, the 17th BG flew anti-submarine patrols. He and his group volunteered for a mission there, the specifics of which were unknown. Later, Cole would claim that he mistakenly believed his squad was traveling to North Africa.

Cole spent weeks practicing flying maneuvers on the B-25 Mitchell, a twin-engine, five-person bomber operated by the U.S. Army Air Corps that could take off from an aircraft carrier at sea. This exercise is sometimes referred to as the “first joint action” that evaluated the Army and Navy’s ability to work together. The mission’s Airmen and Sailors weren’t informed that their carrier, the USS Hornet, and all of its bombers were traveling in the direction of Tokyo until two days after the carrier finally set sail to bring 16 bombers closer so they could extend their range.

The USS Hornet weighed less than one-fourth of today’s fortress-like aircraft carriers in an era before mid-air refueling and GPS. The B-25 Mitchell bomber #40-2344, with Cole serving as Jimmy Doolittle’s copilot, would lift off with just 467 feet of takeoff distance.

A sighting by a Japanese patrol boat that prompted the task force commander, U.S., made the mission even more challenging. Admiral William F. 10 hours ahead of schedule and 170 nautical miles away from Japan, “Bull” Halsey launched the mission more than 650 nautical miles away. The Mitchells were initially planned to land, refuel, and then continue on to western China, providing the Army Air Corps with a squadron of B-25s and a commander. But as they attempted to reach the airfields of unoccupied China, the aircrews were now confronted with stronger opposition. Cole and his companions kept at their task, nevertheless.

Cole and the Raiders flew at a wave-top level of around 200 feet with their radios off, avoiding detection for as much of the distance as they could. The bombers attacked Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe as well as Tokyo itself, focusing on dry docks, armories, oil refineries, and aircraft factories in groups of two to four aircraft. Because the Raiders caught the Japanese air defense off guard, minimal anti-aircraft fire was exchanged, and just one Japanese Zero was pursued. The Raiders took off after delivering their bombs and headed for safety in China.

Cole himself jumped out at about 9,000 feet, one of many Airmen who were forced to parachute out into the night. With Cole’s own aircraft landing in a rice field filled with night soil, all planes were deemed lost. Eight of the 80 Airmen who participated in the operation were caught by Japanese forces; five were put to death, and three were imprisoned (where one died of malnutrition). With the aid of Chinese farmers and guerrillas, all 72 more Airmen were able to escape to safety and continued to fight for the duration of World War II.

The raid dealt the Japanese a psychological blow, and they moved four fighter units and called back their best officials from the Pacific to defend the cities in case the American bomber forces came again.

After the Doolittle Raid, Cole remained in the China-Burma-India Theater supporting the 5318th Provisional Air Unit as a C-47 pilot flying “The Hump,” a treacherous airway through the Himalayan Mountains. The USAAF created the 5318th PAU to support the Chindits, the long-range penetration groups that were special operations units of the British and Indian armies, with Cole as one of the first members of the U.S. special operations community. On Mar. 25, 1944, the 5318th PAU was designated as the 1st Air Commando Group by USAAF commander Gen. Henry H. Arnold, who felt that an Air Force supporting a commando unit in the jungles of Burma should properly be called “air commandos.” Cole’s piloting skills blended well with the unconventional aerial tactics of Flying Tiger veterans as they provided fighter cover, bombing runs, airdrops, and landing of troops, food, and equipment as well as the evacuation of casualties.

As a command pilot with more than 5,000 flying hours in 30 different aircraft, more than 250 combat missions, and more than 500 combat hours, Cole left the Air Force on December 31, 1966. His decorations include the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Corps Medal, Class A, First Grade, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Air Force Commendation, Medal. Additionally, in May 2014, the Congressional Gold Medal was given to each Doolittle Raider.

He continued to attend San Antonio-area Air Force functions in his latter years and visited Air Force schools and stations to encourage the spirit of service in upcoming Airmen. Cole attended the naming ceremony for the Northup Grumman B-21 Raider, which was named in homage to the Doolittle Raiders, on September 19, 2016.

“We will miss Lt. Col. Cole, and offer our eternal thanks and condolences to his family,” Goldfein said. “The Legacy of the Doolittle Raiders – his legacy – will live forever in the hearts and minds of Airmen, long after we’ve all departed. May we never forget the long blue line, because it’s who we are.”

Photo by U.S. Air Force

February 23, 2022 0 comment

History

The B-58A Hustler speed records and the 1962 Bendix Trophy

by Till Daisd February 19, 2022

written by Till Daisd

On March 5, 1962, Capt. Robert G. Sowers, Robert MacDonald, and John T. Walton, flying in the Hustler, completed the flight from Los Angeles to New York City with an average speed of 1,214.17 mph in about 2 hours 56.8 seconds

The B-58, the first operational supersonic bomber of the United States Air Force, made its maiden flight on November 11, 1956. The Hustler stood out for its sophisticated inertial guidance navigation and bombing system, slim “wasp-waist” fuselage, and significant use of heat-resistant honeycomb sandwich skin panels in the wings and fuselage in addition to its delta wing design. A droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage held a nuclear warhead along with extra fuel, reconnaissance equipment, or other specialized gear because the thin fuselage disallowed carrying explosives internally. A pilot, navigator/bombardier, and defensive systems operator made up the B-58 crew.

Convair produced 116 B-58s, including 30 test and prototype models and 86 operational aircraft. Between 1960 and 1970, hustlers flew for the Strategic Air Command. B-58s set 19 world records for speed and altitude while also taking home five separate aviation trophies.

The photos in this post show B-58A on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Remembering the B-58A Hustler speed records and the 1962 Bendix Trophy — *Convair B-58 Hustler at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.*

In the Hustler on exhibit at the museum, Captain Robert G. Sowers, Robert MacDonald, and John T. Walton flew from Los Angeles to New York City on March 5, 1962, covering the distance in just 2 hours, 56.8 seconds at an average speed of 1,214.17 miles per hour. For this, they each got the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1962 along with the Bendix Trophy. On the return voyage, from New York to Los Angeles, they also set two further speed records.

Twenty-eight years later, on March 6, 1990, an Air Force crew flew in an SR-71 Blackbird with an average speed of 2,124.5 mph from Los Angeles to the east coast (Washington, D.C.).

Beginning in 1931, the Bendix Corp. sponsored cross-country competitions known as the Bendix Trophy. The award was created to promote aviation development. Maj. James H. Doolittle, flew at an average speed of 223 mph from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Ohio, to win the first race of its kind. The Bendix Trophy itself stands about three feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds. Winners get a scaled-down model, like the one in the exhibit next to the B-58.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

February 19, 2022 0 comment

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