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aviation

The US Navy A-4 pilot who fell asleep on a cross-country flight and was woken up by ATC

by Till Daisd January 1, 2024

‘This one pilot had made the Yuma run in a TA-4J on Friday and was returning to Jacksonville on Sunday. Due to the time zone shift it’s likely that he was tired,’ David Tussey, former US Navy A-7E Corsair II pilot

According to a 2013 survey conducted by a pilots’ union, almost half of airline and commercial pilots fall asleep while piloting an aircraft. Out of the 56% of pilots who acknowledged sleeping, 29% said to the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) that they wake up to discover their fellow pilot dozing.

What about military pilots? What happens if a fighter jet pilot falls asleep while flying?

‘Here’s a sea story, or as they say, “this is a no-shitter”,’ David Tussey, former US Navy A-7E Corsair II pilot, says on Quora.

‘I had just arrived at NAS Cecil Field in 1974 to begin training in the A-7E. There was also an A-4 squadron stationed there, VA-45.

‘One weekend, an A-4 pilot (whose name I can’t definitively recall) was scheduled to make a “parts run” to MCAS Yuma where the A-7 RAG squadron had a detachment. Ready-to-replace parts were often loaded in an external store and ferried out to the Yuma detachment over the weekend, returning with a load of the replacement items. Fun stuff and good cross-country flying.

‘When you returned from MCAS Yuma to NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL, you almost always arrived at night due to the three-zone time difference. Often quite late at night, depending on when you depart the west. It’s nearly a full “across the US flight” from Arizona to Florida.

‘This one pilot had made the Yuma run in a TA-4J on Friday and was returning to Jacksonville on Sunday. There’s no evidence he was intoxicated; in fact, he was pretty straight-laced, but due to the time zone shift, it’s likely that he was at least tired.

‘The flight from Yuma to Jacksonville in a TA-4J requires two legs, with a refueling stop mid-way at, say, Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City or a similar military base located in the mid-west.

‘On the second leg of the flight that Sunday evening, with the autopilot flying the airplane due east and night falling, the pilot apparently fell asleep. ATC could not raise radio contact and started treating the aircraft as a lost radio incident as the aircraft crossed Louisiana and into northern Florida.

‘However, as the aircraft approached Jacksonville, it did not descend to land (weather was VFR). Instead, the aircraft continued to fly straight-and-level right over Jacksonville and out over the Atlantic Ocean.

‘Well, now ATC is in a panic—has the pilot become incapacitated? What’s gone wrong here?

‘FINALLY, about 50 miles out over the Atlantic, ATC awakened the pilot, who finally woke up and astonishingly acted like nothing had happened!! He turned the airplane around, and despite being way, way too low on fuel DID NOT declare an emergency!

‘He overflew two military airports on his way back to NAS Cecil, …and low and behold finally made it back to NAS Cecil Field, landed safely, taxied into the flight line. Shut down the aircraft. Filled out the paper work and went home… just another day at the office.

‘From when the pilot awakened until he landed at NAS Cecil Field was well over 150 miles, all with the low fuel light illuminated, and well over 30 minutes.

‘Scared the living bejeezus out of everyone.

‘When the details of this emerged, as you can imagine, the Squadron CO, Jax Approach, CO of NAS Cecil Field, were absolutely livid. The Squadron CO even went so far to dip the fuel tank (used a stick to measure the fuel remaining) and found there was 4 gallons left. FOUR GALLONS! What really fried the CO’s ass was that this pilot never declared an emergency despite the extreme low fuel state, and overflew two perfectly good military divert bases instead of landing immediately.

‘Not sure what happened after that. There was no damage done to Navy property, just some very poor judgment and headwork, followed by a major, major ass chewing.

‘But man, that was quite the story around Naval Aviation and particularly at NAS Cecil Field, always ending with a “he did what?”.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

January 1, 2024 0 comment

History

SR-71 vs. A-12: Project Nice Girl

by Till Daisd December 31, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Code-named “Nice Girl,” the recon fly-off between the A-12 and the SR-71 took place between October 20 and November 3, 1967

Unofficially referred to as the “Blackbird,” the SR-71 is a sophisticated, long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Dec. 22, 1964, saw the first SR-71 flight, and in January 1966, the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base (AFB), California, received the aircraft. On January 26, 1990, the US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71 aircraft due to rising operating expenses and a dwindling defense budget.

For almost 24 years, the SR-71 held the record for being the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world. It could cover 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from 80,000 feet. The SR-71 was derived from the A-12 Oxcart, another Mach 3 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

The CIA operated the A-12, but its operational lifetime was short-lived because the CORONA reconnaissance satellite, which was first launched in June 1959, began providing worldwide imagery without much of the risk associated with airborne reconnaissance. The A-12 was retired in 1968 as a result of the SR-71 joining the US Air Force (USAF) at the same time. Why did the A-12 Oxcart lose out to the SR-71 Blackbird?

Code-named “Nice Girl,” the recon fly-off between the A-12 and the SR-71 took place over the United States from October 20 to November 3, 1967. It involved refueling and flying identical routes one hour apart on three different days, and both aircraft completed the entire sortie with collection sensors operational.

The SR-71 performed well on the first attempt, but the A-12 had an issue. The situation was the opposite on the second day. Both aircraft completed the trip successfully on day three. That day, there was an undercast over the northern region (from California to Kentucky); therefore, the SR-71 was able to collect ELINT and SLR data while the A-12 could only take pictures of the clouds. Both increased speed and altitude over the Gulf of Mexico after receiving air refueling. The weather was CAVU from New Orleans to the San Francisco area, and both aircraft were able to provide all of the data they needed for the evaluation.

The aircrews that took part in the program were:

Lt. Col. Al Hichew and I, Maj. Tom Schmittou, flew mission #1.
Maj. John Storrie and Maj. Coz Mallozzi flew mission #2 Maj.
Bill Campbell and Capt. Al Pennington flew mission #3.
Jack Weeks flew all three A-12 missions.

The first two flight days were inconclusive. Intelligence evaluators concluded that the SR-71 was a better overall investment after the third day of flying. While the A-12s’ cameras were superior due to their wider swath and higher resolution, the SR-71 was able to gather a greater variety of intelligence than the CIA aircraft. These additional sensors included side-looking airborne radar, infrared detectors, and ELINT-collection devices required for the SR-71 post-nuclear strike reconnaissance mission.

The conclusion was that they picked the SR-71 to continue flying. The A-12s were retired. The A-12s were put in hangars until 1984.

Check out the Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

December 31, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The Blackbird’s nose has two small dents that prevent surface-to-air missiles from hitting the SR-71

by Till Daisd December 30, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Their placement was for the sophisticated ECM systems the SR-71 Blackbird got in the 1970s and 1980s but they are not dents

The SR-71 Blackbird collected intelligence in some of the most dangerous settings in the world during its service. For almost 24 years, the SR-71 held the record for being the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world. It could cover 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from 80,000 feet.

Because of the extreme temperatures, altitudes, and speeds at which it was designed to operate, the SR-71 was the first aircraft built with titanium, since the friction produced by air molecules passing onto its surface at Mach 2.6 would have melted an aluminum frame.

Its engineering was so advanced that new tools had to be created in order to assemble the SR-71.

Richard-Butch-Sheffield-and-Bob-Spencer — Richard Butch Sheffield and Bob Spencer

When the former SR-71 RSO Richard “Butch” Sheffield’s daughter would visit him at the Udvar Air and Space Smithsonian Museum in Virginia, he would point to the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird. Butch got his moniker from his 1960s hairdo. He would point to the dimples and say, “This is really important, but I can’t talk about it.”

He would smile. She could just tell him he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t.

When he and Bob Spencer intercepted the SA-5 Missile Signal as it was approaching the Russian border, it was one of the most significant missions they conducted in the SR-71. Receiving that signal was important to the SR-71’s defense. An SR-71 was never shot down; none ever got close to it. It was impossible due to defense and speed.

The nose is coming off! How a T-38 trainer helped a SR-71 that was losing her nose section in flight to RTB — SR-71 Nose Section

In his book “SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest, Fastest Plane,” former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham claims that the SR-71’s nose section allowed the installation of a ballast, an advanced synthetic aperture radar system (ASARS) for radar imaging, or an optical bar camera (OBC) for photographic imaging while the faun-massive fasteners held the part of the nose in place.

However, her doubts remained unanswered.

What are those two little dents on the nose of the SR-71 Blackbird?

‘I’m assuming you’re talking about the two “dents” in the Chinese at the front part of the nose, one on each side? Those aren’t dents; those were put there on purpose for the more advanced ECM systems the Blackbird got in the ’70s and ‘80s,’ says Kelly Pedron, an aviation expert, on Quora.

‘There weren’t any good places to put the ECM receivers in the front of the aircraft, so those “dents” were put in the chine to allow the installation of ECM receivers there. If you’ll notice, the flat part of the “dent” is facing about 60 degrees forward in order to cover that quadrant of the airspace around the aircraft. Earlier models of the SR, including the A-12, were more concerned with attack radar signals from the rear, so front-mounted ECM receivers weren’t as necessary at the time. With the advent of more advanced Soviet SAM systems, like the S-200 and S-300, a forward warning receiver and jammer were required, hence the development of the so-called ECM “dents” in the nose.’

Pedron concludes;

‘So, yes, those were put there on purpose; nobody accidentally taxied an SR-71 into a solid object.’

Check out the Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by Linda Sheffield Miller and U.S. Air Force

December 30, 2023 0 comment

History

The F-15 that broke eight Time-to-Climb World Records

by Till Daisd December 29, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The F-15 Streak Eagle was extensively modified, with as much weight reduction as possible, to carry out his mission.

When McDonnell Aircraft was chosen to compete in the second phase of the US Air Force’s FX competition in 1967, the company developed the concept for the F-15. Faced with the F-4 Phantom II, which was becoming known as a formidable fighter, McDonnell applied lessons acquired from the Vietnam War on the changing nature of jet-age air-to-air combat for his competition against Fairchild Hiller and North American Rockwell. Following over two years of rigorous testing and assessment, the Air Force awarded McDonnell Douglas the contract for the F-15 Advanced Tactical Fighter on December 23, 1969. Out of the three competitors, the McDonnell Douglas team had the lowest contract price and placed first in each phase of the competition.

The F-15 proved to be an extremely useful test aircraft in addition to being the world’s greatest air superiority fighter.

F-15 Streak Eagle aircrews — Streak Eagle Drivers: Maj. Roger Smith, Maj. Dave W. Peterson, and Maj. William R. “Mack” MacFarlane

The 19th pre-production aircraft, airframe 72-0119, was involved in one of the most interesting experimental programs of the Eagle. The F-15A was designated as “Streak Eagle,” and the name perfectly captured the type of flights the aircraft would have performed: breaking the previous F-4 and MiG-25 time-to-climb records while setting new ones. In order to complete its mission, the Streak Eagle underwent extensive modifications to minimize its weight.

According to Steve Markman and Bill Holder’s explanation in their book One Of A Kind Research Aircraft: A History Of In Flight Simulators, Testbeds & Prototypes, all superfluous components were taken out of this F-15, including the radar, cannon, tail hook, utility hydraulic system, flap and speed brake actuators, and missiles. Additionally, the aircraft gained an additional 40 pounds by not being painted.

The aircraft also had some instrumentation installed, including a nose boom equipped with alpha and beta probes to measure sideslip and angle of attack, as well as specific battery packs and controls. The aircraft also had a restraint device inserted in place of the tail hook. Additional special tools included a camera mounted over the shoulder, a G-meter, a standby attitude gyro, altitude verification equipment, and ballast.

After making these modifications, the Streak Eagle saved 2,800 pounds of fuel, compared to the 3,000–6,000 pounds of fuel carried in each record attempt. Three USAF F-15 pilots—Major Roger Smith, Major W.R. Macfarlane, and Major Dave Peterson—who flew the Streak Eagle from January 16 to February 1, 1975, achieved the eight new records for altitude and time stated below.

3,000 meters (9,843 feet) 27.57 seconds

6,000 meters (19,685 feet) 39.33 seconds

9,000 meters (29,685 feet) 48.86 seconds

12,000 meters (39,370 feet) 59.38 seconds

15,000 meters (49,212 feet) 77.02 seconds

20,000 meters (65,617 feet) 122.94 seconds

25,000 meters (82,021 feet) 161.02 seconds

30,000 meters (98,425 feet) 207.80 seconds

When compared to the upward numbers, the Streak Eagle reached 9,000 meters in less than a minute, but a Boeing 727 takes over 15 minutes. The National Museum of the US Air Force now has the F-15 Streak Eagle on display.

The story of the F-15 Streak Eagle record flights is presented in the video below.

One-of-a-kind Research Aircraft A History Of In Flight Simulators, Testbeds & Prototypes is published by Schiffer Military and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

December 29, 2023 0 comment

History

Tomcat RIO shares true story behind Top Gun’s famous inverted flight scene

by Till Daisd December 28, 2023

written by Till Daisd

‘Of course, for safety reasons, there wasn’t any aircraft flying inverted one above the other, and that iconic scene was obtained thanks to one of the few special effects in the film,’ Dave “Bio” Baranek, F-14 Tomcat RIO

After serving in the Navy for 20 years, Dave “Bio” Baranek had a successful and fulfilling career. He was assigned to F-14 Tomcat squadrons and the prestigious TOPGUN training program, and he also served with the US 7th Fleet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He once oversaw an F-14 Tomcat fighter squadron, which was responsible for fourteen aircraft valued at over $700 million and close to 300 personnel. Upon his retirement, he scored 2,499.7 flying hours in an F-14 Tomcat and 688 carrier landings. In addition, 461.8 flight hours in the F-5F Tiger II are recorded in his logbook.

He retired from the Navy in 1999.

In 1985, he got the unique opportunity to fly aerial sequences used in the Tom Cruise movie “Top Gun,” which was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. He was a TOPGUN air-to-air combat instructor. He also served as a dialogue advisor on the project and took some of the few available photographs of the movie’s black F-5 fighters in flight.

In his book Topgun Days: Dogfighting, Cheating Death and Hollywood Glory as One of America’s Best Fighter Jocks, Bio provides some never-before-told details about Top Gun.

One of the best-known sequences in the movie, for example, is when Maverick and Goose’s F-14 flies upside-down over the black, two-seat F-5F (also known as the MiG-28). Naturally, none of the aircraft were flying inverted, one atop the other. For safety reasons, one of the few special effects in the movie was used to create that memorable scene.

As Bio explains, many of the movie’s flying scenes were filmed on a specially equipped Learjet by former fighter pilot Clay Lacy. “I was to fly (aboard the F-5F) with Rat (actually Bob “Rat” Willard was the Topgun squadron’s primary coordinator for the movie), who briefed the flight. […] We would have two F-14s and four F-5s available, but the first scene would involve only the two-seat F-5F flying in formation alongside the Learjet. On a call from the Lear, both Rat and I would look up, acting as startled as we could. Although there would be nothing above us, Rat explained how this shot would be used for the scene where Maverick’s Tomcat is inverted above the MiG-28. The F-14 would be added later in one of the few special effects in the film.”

Rat radioed for the three F-5Es to be detached so they could join the Tomcats once the aircraft took off, and he and Bio formed a tight formation on Lear’s right side, where Baranek saw “the glass window that made up a large panel on this side of the fuselage. One high-quality camera sat behind the glass; others were mounted on the top and belly of the Lear.”

Then, as Bio explains, a voice came from the Learjet. “‘A little forward. That’s good. When I count to three, both of you look up as quickly as you can. Remember, you’re startled. One, two, three!’ I looked up. It was hard to act startled in all my flight gear and oxygen mask. No feedback, just a small voice: ‘OK, let’s do it again. Remember, you are startled that there is an F-14 above you. One, two, three!’ They didn’t teach us this in Pensacola.”

Photo by Paramount and David “Bio” Baranek

December 28, 2023 0 comment

History

Test pilot Phil Oestricher recalls the first unintentional flight of the YF-16

by Till Daisd December 27, 2023

written by Till Daisd

When the YF-16 lifted off the runway while test pilot Phil Oestricher was conducting high-speed taxi tests, he decided to go around and make a standard landing instead of running the risk of damaging the aircraft

On January 20, 1974, the General Dynamics YF-16 made its maiden flight when it took off unintentionally from Edwards Air Force Base (AFB). The test pilot was Phil Oestricher.

The aircraft lifted off the runway as Oestricher was carrying out high-speed taxi testing, as he describes in the video included in this article. Rather than run the risk of damaging the aircraft, Oestricher chose to lift off and go around for a standard landing. On February 2, the first “official” flight took place.

John G. Williams, a structural flight test engineer on the YF-16, recalls in the article What A Wonderful Airplane: YF-16 First Flight (Flight 0) by Joe Stout appeared on www.codeonemagazine.com: “During the first high-speed taxi test, a violent lateral oscillation had set in as a direct result of pilot-commanded oscillations (several maximum left/right commands) as the airplane reached rotation speed (~120 kt). Remember, this was the first airplane to have a fixed stick, and there was no opportunity for Phil to gain any feel for the airplane until that high-speed taxi test. As the nose of the aircraft rose, the tailplane inadvertently scraped on the runway. The left wingtip missile and the right tail static probe also lightly contacted the runway. Phil chose to take off because the bird had begun to veer off to the left side of the runway, and he was faced with plowing through the desert or flying. Thankfully, he chose to fly and possibly saved the entire program. After takeoff, Phil regained control, and stayed up for six minutes, and landed uneventfully. Prior to the next flight, the stick sensitivity was reduced by 5% with gear down. Later, after complaints of not enough sensitivity, it was returned to the original.”

Secretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas declared at Edwards AFB on January 13, 1975, that the YF-16 had defeated the Northrop YF-17 in the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) competition for being developed on a full scale as the USAF’s next Air Combat Fighter.

The LWF program aimed to create an air superiority day fighter that was lightweight, compact, inexpensive, and easy to maintain. numerous in the fighter community felt that aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle were too large and expensive for numerous combat tasks, which led to the creation of the LWF.

In October 1980, the F-16 Fighting Falcon was declared combat-ready. Since then, the F-16 has been acquired by other foreign countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel.

Thanks to the H/T from Earl Belz

Photo by Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

December 27, 2023 0 comment

History

US company recovers F4F-3 Wildcat flown by four US Navy Aces

by Till Daisd December 26, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter had been previously flown by LT Edward ‘Butch’ O’Hare, LCDR John Smith ‘Jimmy’ Thach, LT Noel A. Gayler, and LT Albert ‘Scoop’ Vorse, all Aces and revered naval aviators

A and T Recovery, a US-based company that specializes in WWII aircraft recovery, started a project to retrieve four WWII American aircraft that are considered “historically significant” from the Pacific Ocean’s bottom.

According to the USS Lexington Aircraft Recovery Project “The team seeks to recover and present to the American population at least four (potentially more) Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo-bombers and a singularly historic Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, which had all been on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) that was lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea (8 May 1942).”

The ship was deliberately scuttled following a Japanese aircraft bombing.

The proposal continues:

“During the Battle of the Coral Sea, the USS Lexington (CV-2) was a casualty on the side of the United States of America. She went to sea floor with many historic aircraft on her deck, including a number of Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo-bombers and a significant Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, which had been previously flown by LT Edward ‘Butch’ O’Hare, LCDR John Smith ‘Jimmy’ Thach, LT Noel A. Gayler, and LT Albert ‘Scoop’ Vorse, all Aces and revered naval aviators. O’Hare became the Navy’s first Ace of World War II and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Thach, Gayler, and Vorse all survived World War II and all became Admirals. These aircraft were in the forward position of the flight deck and unmanned when the ship was scuttled by the destroyer USS Phelps (DD-360). Upon the sinking, these aircraft drifted to the bottom after detaching from the flight deck of the Lexington (CV-2), finally settling well removed from the main section (hull) of the Lexington (CV-2).

“According to the classification system of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution, all of these aircraft are Category I—aircraft that are historically significant by their use in a specific event of note.”

The Flyer website states that 40 aircraft lost in Lake Michigan during aircraft carrier qualification flights for novice pilots were successfully recovered by A & T Recovery. Funding for that mission came from the US National Naval Aviation Museum.

The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first time since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that the enemy’s seemingly relentless advance into the Pacific was checked. It was also the first major US Navy fleet action against Japan and the first naval engagement in history in which the participating ships never sighted or fired directly at each other.

The rugged and highly armed F4F Wildcat, which made its debut in February 1939, went on to become the Navy/Marine Corps’ top fighter until late 1942.

By the time the US entered World War II, the enemy already had felt the Wildcat’s bite; on Christmas Day 1940, two British Martlet Is (the Royal Navy’s designation for the exported F4F-3) downed a German Ju-88 near Scapa Flow, and on Sep. 21, 1941, two Martlet IIs (equivalent of the F4F-4) from HMS Audacity downed a giant Focke Wolf Fw-200 bomber.

For the Navy and Marine Corps, the Wildcat became a mainstay during the first year of the war. By the end of 1942, Navy and Marine F4F pilots had amassed a 9:1 kill ratio over the Japanese, despite the reputation of the vaunted Mitsubishi A6M Zero. By war’s end, the stubby Grumman design had accounted for 1,006 enemy aircraft and listed 58 Aces among its pilots.

Photo by U.S. Navy

December 26, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The story of the RAF Tornado GR1 that destroyed an Iraqi fighter landing at Al Asad air base using the JP233

by Till Daisd December 25, 2023

written by Till Daisd

During their attack run, Sqn Ldr Pete Batson and Wg Cdr Mike Heath caught an Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1EQ landing on the runway instead of a “MiG” in their JP233 weapons footprint.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) responded to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which set off the Gulf Crisis, by dispatching Tornado F3 fighters to Saudi Arabia to assist in protecting the nation against any aggression. Following these, Tornado GR1 strike/attack aircraft were sent to Bahrain. In the end, a detachment of Tornado GR1A reconnaissance aircraft was established, along with three wings of Tornado GR1s in Bahrain, Tabuk, and Dhahran. Using the JP233 runway denial weapon, the Tornado GR1 wings carried out low-level night attacks against Iraqi Main Operating Bases at the onset of hostilities in January 1991.

As described by Michael Napier in his book RAF Tornado Units of Gulf War I, the Tabuk Wing was tasked with mounting Mission 2621/G against the runway surfaces at Al Asad air base in central Iraq on the evening of January 17, 1991. The eight Tornado GR 1s of Dundee formation, all equipped with JP233 runway denial weapons, were led by Sqn Ldr P K Batson and Wg Cdr M C Heath and were aimed at the airfield.

‘With the minimum of radio chatter, aircraft taxied at their designated time to arrive at the runway hold in the correct order for takeoff at 2200 hrs Saudi time’, recounted Batson. ‘Departure from Tabuk involved a climb to medium level en route to meet the Victor tanker in the nominated AAR area. The refueling was all carried out in silence using light signals. It was a bit turbulent, and with the weight of the two JP233s, it required much throttle pumping to get the aircraft to close on and stay in the basket. I could not recommend this technique as an AAR instructor, but it worked.

‘There was no moon, so it was all a bit dark out and about, but there were some aircraft lights well below us. After refueling, checks were completed in preparation for descending to low level and going “sausage side” – this involved switching all the external lights off and switching our EW equipment on. Once at 200 ft using the auto TF, the aircraft was kept on course purely by the navigator keeping the “kit” in order. My job at this time was to change speed as ordered and monitor the TFR to ensure it was doing what it was supposed to.

‘As we crossed the border, looking out the window, all I saw was a lot of nothing, just varying amount of blackness. We overflew what appeared to be flaming aircraft wreckage at some point and saw something quite odd at several points along the route. As we crossed major roads, a spotlight parked on the road would illuminate, not aimed at us, just into the sky. It soon became apparent that it was a very basic but clever system of early warning. No doubt a conscript had been ordered to switch on the light if he heard an aircraft. The lights were quite well spaced along the road, and it gave a beam of light to the left of us and a beam of light to the right of us, forming a surreal corridor of our progression into Iraq.

‘The closer we got to the target the faster we went, progressing in stages from 450 knots up to about 500 knots – the aircraft needed small bursts of reheat to overcome the drag effect of the JP233 at the latter speed. As the leader, we were at the front of the package attacking Al Asad. I thought that this could work in our favor, as we would be well over the airfield and out the other side before anyone knew we were there. The target area could be seen from about eight miles out – one minute’s flying time – and all I saw was the lights of the airfield and the lights of an aircraft in the visual circuit. At this point, I disengaged the autopilot to prevent the TFR giving pull up commands and was flying manually.

Tornados — Panavia Tornado GR4 ZG750. The aircraft is liveried like an Operation Granby Tornado, marking 25 years of Tornado GR operations and features “MiG Eater” nose art.

‘Mike and I rapidly discussed the threat the enemy aircraft could be to the rest of Dundee formation, so I attempted to lock my AAM onto it, but no reassuring growl came back. One of the disadvantages of using Air to Air mode when the weapon aiming system is in attack mode is that it cancels the latter, and that is exactly what happened.

‘It was at about this time—30 seconds out, and with no weapon steering in the HUD—that our presence was known to the enemy, and the sky was filled with AAA tracer and bright white star shells exploding just above us. I manually selected pilot weapon aiming and moved my aircraft to ensure the munitions would go over the still-lit runway. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the aircraft that had been in the circuit rolling down the runway, so I adjusted the track and hit him as well. As the munitions deployed, the most satisfying sound I heard was the two weapon containers departing the aircraft with a “clunk, clunk”.

‘We were now in the middle of the inferno, where it was relatively clear of AAA, but we had to get out the other side. Off target, we visually sighted a missile launch so I maneuvered the aircraft hard to the left to get on to our escape heading ASAP. It was at this point, flying manually at about 150 ft in a 60-degree turn to the left, that Mike shouted “roll left, turn left.” I didn’t really understand why he wanted me to increase the angle of bank, so I checked the artificial horizon and kept what I had, only to hear again “roll left, roll left.” As I rolled out onto the escape heading and put the autopilot back in, all became clear. As I maneuvered off target Mike had become disorientated with the stream of tracer around the cockpit and thought we were in a roll to the right, hence his urgent need for me to roll left. We left the target area at a now achievable speed of 520 knots, racing for the border.

‘The gaggle set track for home, picking up their respective route and times to make the allocated exit gate to leave Iraqi airspace. At the border, the quietly ecstatic formation climbed to medium level, and then we checked in on the radio – all present and correct with no losses, job well done!’

After its first JP233 operation against Al Asad on January 17, 1990, the aircraft piloted by Batson and Heath (Tornado GR1 ZA447/EA, originally from No 15 Sqn at Laarbruch) was dubbed MiG Eater. But when it landed on the runway during its attack run, Sqn Ldr Pete Batson and Wg Cdr Mike Heath caught an Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) Mirage F1EQ—not a “MiG”—in their JP233 weapons footprint.

RAF Tornado Units of Gulf War I is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Artwork by artist Gareth Hector via Osprey Publishing

Photo by Top Image unknown via Pinterest, Crown Copyright and Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK via Wikipedia

December 25, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

B-52 pilot explains how landed his BUFF after two engines nearly tore off

by Till Daisd December 24, 2023

written by Till Daisd

‘Fearing what two engines departing the plane might do to my aerodynamics, to say nothing of what would happen if they hit the tail on the way by, I shouted to the radar nav to give me the nearest runway,’ Jay Lacklen, former B-52 pilot

Jay Lacklen, a Lieutenant Colonel with 12,500 flight hours, retired from the Air Force Reserve in 2004. From 2005 until 2014, he served as a teacher for Air Force T-1 pilot training simulators at Columbus AFB in Mississippi. He grew up in Arlington, VA, and graduated from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill in 1969. He flew 330 hours in the C-7 Caribou, 2000 hours in the B-52 bomber, and 9,500 hours in the C-5 Galaxy transport, in addition to pilot training aircraft.

He flew in every significant combat mission, from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. Lacklen, who is married and has four adult daughters and two granddaughters, also resides in northern Virginia.

Lacklen is also the author of three books: Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey, Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey Volume Two: Military Airlift Command, and Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey Volume Three: Air Mobility Command. The story that follows is taken from the trilogy’s first book.

Engines Dancing on the Wing

In about the middle of the crew’s three-month course, on the Friday Thanksgiving weekend of 1977, I found the Grim Reaper seated in my seat. We had just started the post-air refueling navigation leg over the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain range. I had about an hour off since students both rode their seats for nav leg. I slipped the Playboy magazine out of my helmet bag and sat on the floor behind the jump seat, the only place I could stretch out a little.

I had just opened the centerfold, a lovely naked brunette seated on a chair she had rakishly turned backwards, when the copilot came up on the interphone. “Ah, IP, copilot!”

Funding for B-52 re-engine program will unlikely be approved before 2020

Oh, great, I thought, what problem could this rookie have now? I told him to go ahead.

“Ah, are there supposed to be holes in the engines?”

“Yes,” I told him, “one in the front, one in the back;’ irritated he was dragging me away from the brunette.

“No,” he said, his voice now quavering, “I mean holes in the side of the cowling.”

Uh, oh, I thought. I folded up Miss Playmate and went forward, grasping his headrest and leaning around him to look at the #5 engine, the first one visible out his window.

My vision replicated a movie cinematic technique, where I initially saw the entire engine, then zoomed into the midsection in horror. The engine had two overlapping basketball-sized holes where the N2 compressor turbine resided. Looking into the holes, I could see the remnants of that turbine twirling madly and unevenly, throwing sparks wildly as its broken blades struck the side casing. Suddenly, the firelight and bell alarm on this engine’s pylon mate, engine #6, came to life, the bell clanging and the light flashing ominously.

“You, out of the seat!” I shouted at the copilot as I grabbed my helmet and checklist and moved aside for him to clear the copilot position.

Impressive photos show B-52 bombers taking part in Operation Linebacker II, the Christmas bombings over North Vietnam which took place 45 years ago

When I landed heavily in the seat, I immediately pulled the fire handle on both #5 and #6 to shut off fuel and hydraulics at the firewall at the top of the pylon. I told the student pilot to fly the plane while I handled the emergency. I also strapped tightly into my ejection seat.

Mercifully, the firelight and bell went out on #6. Engine #5 was apparently so torn up that the disintegrating compressor had probably severed the fire loop warning system because it gave no warnings at all despite being in shambles. What I did not know until the next day was that shrapnel from the disintegrating compressor had blown into the fuselage as well as into engine #6. Fortunately, it didn’t hit anything vital, to include a wing fuel or me and my Playboy magazine. Had it hit a fuel tank, the plane might have exploded, and none of us would have known what happened.

Catastrophes are impossible to plan for completely. You can have an engine fire, and you know the Bold Print responses, yet you can’t anticipate surrounding events, complications, or your location when the shit hits fan. In this case, I had to think quickly of where we were and where we should go to land. In these days, prior to INS and GPS navigation systems, I did any self-respecting pilot would do—I shouted on interphone for the navigator to give me the nearest SAC base. A few seconds later, he would be at Mather AFB in Sacramento, CA, twenty minutes to the west.

I looked out at the two stricken engines on the pylon, and things have gotten worse. Engine #6, which I could not see except for the front intake, seemed largely intact, and the airstream passed through it cleanly. Engine #5, however, having torn itself apart, would not allow the airflow through unimpeded and now put heavy drag on the pylon. This uneven airflow through these pylon mates had now caused them to start wobbling, or Dutch rolling, on the pylon, a terrifying dance that threatened to tear the engines off the pylon. The Reaper had joined us in the cockpit.

Fearing what two engines departing the plane might do to my aerodynamics, to say nothing of what would happen if they hit the tail on the way by, I again shouted to the radar nav to give me the nearest runway. A moment later, he said it would be Lake Tahoe, but he didn’t recommend it because it was a short runway and at the bottom of a steep valley.

“Turning for Mather!” I said.

“Heading two-seven-zero,” he responded.

USAF completes investigation on why B-52H lost engine over North Dakota last year

Now I had to start talking and coordinating. I declared the emergency on the Oakland Center frequency and told him we had two engine failures, engine fire, and needed clearance direct to Mather with further clearance descend and maneuver as necessary while doing so. This busy Air Traffic Control (ATC) frequency went silent except for me and the controller, pilots in a couple of dozen other cockpits, civilian and military, listening intently. As I found over the course of several emergencies, ATC can save your ass in a pinch. This controller locked into the situation immediately and professionally. He gave me the Mather weather, altimeter setting, and landing runway, which fortunately would provide a straight-in approach. He then asked for status on the engines and I reported the instability. He switched me to another frequency to free up the main frequency for everyone else. I’m sure those couple of dozen other cockpits switched a backup radio to that frequency to follow the emergency, fascinated at the drama and thankful it was me, not them.

My other UHF radio still had the Castle command post frequency in. I switched there and gave them a brief summation of the situation, then returned to the ATC frequency to report how far out of Mather we were. He said he had notified Mather we were inbound.

[…] I could now see Mather far in the distance. I could also see the engine dance getting worse. I flicked my radio control back to Castle since they would be berserk to talk to me. I also feared the DCO, the chief of stan/eval, and an assorted multitude of other ops types would be leaning the controller’s shoulder to ask me fifty questions about my situation. I saw Mather drawing closer and decided I didn’t have time for that. This was going
to be over, one way or the other, in five minutes, and I didn’t want to spend it talking to them.

“Castle,” I said, “This is Panzer Eight-Zero. I’m on fire, and I’m headed for Mather; if you want any information, ask them.” Then I clicked the radio back to the Mather command post. They didn’t have any operations personnel on duty over the holiday and wouldn’t know what to ask. Just as well. I’m sure the Castle DCO was turning back flips to know what was happening, but I hoped he would understand.

Later, I got another interesting perspective on the whole scene from the instructor, EW seated behind me in the cockpit. When I leapt into the copilot’s seat and started shouting at everyone, the EW feared I might soon give the bailout order, so terse did the dialogue sound. He knew we were over the snow-covered Sierras, and he didn’t have his winter flight jacket on. He said he eyed it sitting on the floor next to him and wondered if he had time to unstrap from his parachute to put it on. He listened to the frantic discussion up front and decided he did not dare do so. He grabbed the jacket and pulled it through his chest strap, hoping it might land somewhere near him if he punched out. I had not thought I sounded that bad. I mean, I wasn’t screaming or anything, but perhaps my voice went up an octave or two. I had no plans to make the ejection call unless the engines came off the pylon and resulted in a loss of control, and they had not, as yet. I didn’t have my jacket on and never thought about it. It would have been a cold ride down to the snow for me if it had come to that.

Approach control switched me over to the tower to get landing permission. I now had to pull the engines to idle and deploy the airbrakes to slow down so I could extend the gear and flaps. Everything came down properly, we landed, and soon we were rolling out on the runway with an armada of fire trucks chasing us. We cleared at the end of the runway and let ourselves get surrounded by the trucks. After observing us briefly, two of the silver-suited, alien-looking firemen inspected the #5 and #6 engines and decided this emergency was over.

We taxied to parking and shut down the engines. I scrambled out of the plane and raced over to the wrecked engines.

I found an engine stand already up against #5 with a crusty old guy in civilian clothes wagging an unlit cigar from his mouth. I climbed up next to him and looked into the gaping hole in the side of the engine and the mess of metal within. The old guy muttered, “Five more minutes, and these engines would have come off the pylon.”

“Wow,” I said, “are you an (enlisted) engine guy?”

“No,” he growled. “I own this place!”

Oops! I don’t know if he was the wing commander, the maintenance commander, or the ops commander, but I took his word for it.

The Grim Reaper had again left my aircraft empty-handed. I tell my current pilot training students that the Reaper will visit their aircraft in the future, and I wish them luck when he does.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Landmark9254 (Own work), via Wikipedia

December 24, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

An F-4G Wild Weasel dodged six SAMs during Operation Desert Storm

by Till Daisd December 22, 2023

written by Till Daisd

‘I immediately selected AB, rolled the aircraft inverted, and pulled. All this while keeping the SA-2s on the beam. I was at 25,000 [feet] when I started for the deck and leveled at about 10,000,’ Jim Schreiner, former F-4G Wild Weasel pilot

Converted from the F-4E, the F-4G Wild Weasel was a dedicated SEAD variation for the US Air Force (USAF) equipped with updated radar and avionics. The F-4 G’s mission was to attack enemy air defenses, including surface-to-air missile (SAM) air defense radars.

The F-4G operated in combination with other F-4Gs or as a hunter aircraft, directing fighter-bombers, such as the F-16, against SAM sites while carrying AGM-88A/B/C High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM). The F-4G was flown by a pilot along with an Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) to help communication, navigate, and coordinate attacks on the SAM sites. First taking to the air in 1975, the F-4G Wild Weasel was retired in 1996.

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, F-4Gs from George AFB and Spangdahlem AB were stationed at Sheikh Isa AB in Bahrain. The F-4G effectively shielded strike packages from Iraqi air defenses during the conflict, and at the time it was the only aircraft in the USAF inventory outfitted for the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) role.

Jim Schreiner, a former F-4G pilot from the 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron at George AFB who flew the aircraft during Desert Storm, and Brick Eisel, a former USAF officer, wrote a book called Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm. It describes an exciting F-4G sortie flown to protect a B-52 strike package performing a bombing mission over Iraq.

On the night of Jan. 19, 1991, Schreiner and his backseater, Dan Sharp, were flying as the #2 of a four-ship, call sign Longhorn 31, flight led by Major Steve ‘Teach’ Jenni and Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO), Captain Mark ‘Gucci’ Buccigrossi. Schreiner was Longhorn 32. As Eisel explains, “The mission for the flight was to provide direct support for a cell of Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses dropping some fifty-four bombs weighing 750 lb each on the dug-in positions of one of Saddam’s vaunted Republican Guard armored divisions. The B-52, nicknamed since its Vietnam days as the ‘BUFF’, for Big Ugly Fat Fucker, had paid a fearsome toll on North Vietnamese SA-2s in the earlier conflict. Planners for Desert Storm wanted to ensure things went better for this fight. The Longhorn flight would go in ahead of the BUFFs and target and kill the SA-2s and any other SAM that had the altitude range to reach the bombers in their high 30,000-foot track. It was a high-priority do-or-die mission for the Weasels.”

Noteworthy, since their F-4G experienced a failure to its digital ARN-101 navigation system during the previous sortie, Schreiner and Sharp had to switch two spare aircraft, a procedure that delayed their and Jenni and Buccigrossi’s takeoff. Schreiner remembers: “3 & 4 were long gone, and lead, tired of waiting for us, decided to take off without us. I could tell he was pissed because, as he taxied by, he twirled his hand above his helmet, telling us to hurry up. At the time, he didn’t realize we were on our third jet. Sweating profusely by this time, I rapidly completed the preflight and got the jet running. Fortunately, everything worked, and we were out of the chocks in record time. I called the tower for take-off clearance and was told to wait for three aircraft to land. The last one was an emergency and might take the barrier and close the runway. Luckily, he didn’t and we were off, but twenty minutes late. I proceeded to the tanker as fast as the Phantom would go without using the afterburner – about 540 knots groundspeed. Not bad considering a 50-knot headwind and all the shit we were carrying [besides the HARM missiles the aircraft had three 1,000 gallons of external fuel tanks]. It was a little sporty at the tanker with him flying in and out of a cloud layer. The fact that I was a little nervous didn’t make it any easier. After taking a full load of fuel, we proceeded directly to the target area.”

Schreiner and Sharp made their target time and rejoined the flight. Then, as Eisel explains “At about 0207, Buccigrossi detected an SA-2 in search mode short of the BUFFs’ intended target. Needing to deal with this threat but not wanting to strip all Weasel coverage from the bombers, he directed Longhorn 31 and 32 to deal with this problem.”

Said Buccigrossi “We picked up the SA-2’s signal – first in search mode and then rapidly switched to targeting. We then pickled a HARM at it.”

Schreiner’s view of the event was: “At the TOT for the BUFFs, we saw many explosions on the ground as they salvoed. At the same time, we picked a ‘2 bar’ on the SA-2 from the APR-47 [‘2 bar’ was shorthand for saying the system had picked up strong, reliable indications of an SA-2D/E SAM, an improved version of the original SA-2]. It went from range unknown to range known to track indications to a firing indication in about as much time as it takes to read this sentence. Lead said he was working the signal so we didn’t shoot, although, in retrospect, we should have because it was the only chance we’d have.”

Buccigrossi continues his part of the story: “We were at medium altitude at around 350 knots. There was a cloud base around 1,800-2000 feet AGL [Above Ground Level]. We picked up an orange glow below the cloud deck at our nine o’clock. Popping through the undercast, we saw two SA-2s tracking towards us. Teach and I both saw them, so as he rolled the jet, I put out the chaff and hit the switches for the ECM pod. Both missiles continued towards our six o’clock but climbed while we descended fairly rapidly. I watched the missiles explode behind us.”

Eisel claimed that the Longhorn flight was attacked once more shortly after dodging the first set of SAMs. From their two o’clock position, Longhorn 31 observed a second pair of missiles arc toward them. Once more, they evaded the SAMs by trading airspace and altitude for distance from the warheads. The missiles were guided just behind them and detonated with no damage to their F-4G.

Buccigrossi continues: “Immediately after those two exploded, we saw a third set on our left side, so away we went again, down and around, to avoid these guys. The missiles couldn’t turn hard enough to stay with us, so for the third time in about ninety seconds, they tracked behind us and exploded. The good news was that in less than two minutes, we’d avoided six SAMs and made that site shoot his whole wad, so they wouldn’t be able to shoot again at the BUFFs until they’d reloaded and that would take them too long. The bad news was that with all our turning and burning, we’d dropped down into the AAA range. I looked down at our gauges and saw that we were below 10,000 feet and under 300 knots. I told Teach to climb or speed up and he said, ‘I’m working on it’.”

The incredible story of the F-4G Wild Weasel that dodged 6 SAMs in few seconds During Operation Desert Storm — An air-to-air left side view of two F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft at sunset during Operation Desert Shield.

From Schreiner’s cockpit: “I looked in the direction of the launch indication on the scope and saw a sight I’d never hoped to see. SA-2 missiles were headed towards us! I immediately selected AB [afterburner], rolled the aircraft inverted, and pulled. All this while keeping the SA-2s on the beam. I was at 25,000 [feet] when I started for the deck and leveled at about 10,000. It was a standard maneuver we’d practiced in training but for safety reasons weren’t allowed to try at night – amazing how physics and the airplane work the same at night as during the day. As I did this, I told Dan to hit the chaff and ECM pod. Apparently, the combination of all three did the trick because one by one, I watched them arc harmlessly away and self-destruct at the end of their life. After we avoided the SAMs, I rolled level and saw a blue glow outside. Our -47 wasn’t showing any threats, so I couldn’t figure out what the glow was. Then I realized I was still in the afterburner, and the glow was the flames from my engines. What a perfect advertisement for our position! So I pulled the throttles back and started climbing so we could work that site again.”

Because they were only carrying one tank, Longhorn 31 ran out of gas quickly after using a lot to avoid the six SAMs. They RTB’d (returned to base), flying due south into Saudi Arabia where they landed at a base, got gas, and flew back to Sheikh Isa.

Schreiner and Sharp, having taken the spare configured with three tanks, had more gas and stayed in the area, even after the B-52s departed, trying to nail the SA-2 site that had gotten their attention so dramatically. They landed at Sheikh Isa at around 0315.

Major Steve Jenny and Captain Mark Buccigrossi received the Silver Star, the third-highest award in the US military, for their valiant efforts in defending the B-52s and dodging the six SA-2s in a short time.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

December 22, 2023 0 comment

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