Tag:

military

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

by Till Daisd December 26, 2023

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

Cold War

No cockpit requires as much focus as a Habu’s

by Till Daisd December 22, 2023

written by Till Daisd

“The SR-71 Blackbird knew when your eyes started to wander to the spectacle of earth from 85,000 feet; that’s when something would go wrong,” Curt Mason, owner of Project Habu website

The SR-71 Blackbird collected intelligence in some of the most dangerous environments 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 severe temperatures, altitudes, and speeds at which it was designed to operate, the SR-71 became the first aircraft built entirely of titanium, since the friction generated by air molecules passing on 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 build the SR-71.

The SR-71’s mission was to take pictures and detect electronic surveillance using its sensors to safely navigate near the enemy’s boundary. All of that and more were managed by the Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO).

Due to the Blackbird’s exceptional capabilities, “No cockpit demands as much intense focus as an SR-71 Blackbird’s, and in frustrating irony, no cockpit offers a better view,” says Curt Mason, owner of the Project Habu website who kindly shared the unique photos in this post with us.

“There was no time to look out the window. The plane knew when your eyes started to wander to the spectacle of earth from 85,000 feet; that’s when something would go wrong. There was much to monitor. The many “steam gauge” instruments reflect a bygone era, giving the pilot information ranging from heading to compressor inlet temperature, each dial representing a critically important system.

“Even though this cockpit was operated through 2,854 flight hours, it looks brand new. That’s because it was only ever flown using the gloved hands of a crew member wearing the essential high-altitude pressure suit. Every control is large enough to be adjusted with those bulky pressure suit gloves.

“You sit atop your throne, the SR-1 ejection seat, which carries a rare 100% success rate. To operate the circuit breakers, you must reach beside and behind your seat, outside your field of view, through the pressure suit helmet. To make sure you actuate the correct breaker, you count down the rows and columns by feel.”

Mason concludes;

“March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California, is kind enough to display SR-71A 17975 with her cockpit open. This gives us a rare peek inside the world of the Blackbird, allowing us to look inside something that was formerly top secret and reserved only for a privileged few crew members. These photos were captured using a camera extended into the cockpit via monopod. At no point did I or my equipment come in contact with the artifact.”

Photo by Curt Mason / Project Habu and U.S. Air Force

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

December 22, 2023 0 comment

History

This Japanese H8K flying boat that tried to collide with a US Navy PB4Y but crashed

by Till Daisd December 21, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Lt Graham Squires reduced power to avoid overshooting the flying boat, but as he was about to cross over the H8K, its pilot pulled his aircraft up sharply in an attempt to crash into the PB4Y

During World War II, air combats between large, four-engined aircraft were a comparatively rare occurrence. Allied and Axis bombers had few opportunities for such encounters, but there were clashes between maritime patrol aircraft. These aerial engagements are unique in the annals of air warfare. Patrol aircraft most often faced enemy single- and twin-engined fighters, but there were occasions when rival maritime machines encountered each other during their patrols.

According to Edward M. Young’s narrative in his book H6K “Mavis”/H8K “Emily” vs. PB4Y-1/2 Liberator/Privateer Pacific Theater 1943-45, the majority of these clashes occurred over the wide Pacific Ocean. Aggressive PB4Y Liberators, the US Navy’s name for the B-24, shot down 15 Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) Kawanishi H6K “Mavis” and H8K “Emily” flying boats without losing a single one between August 1943 and the end of the final combat in May 1945—a remarkable record.

These amazing pictures from December 30, 1944, show a H8K crashing after it was attacked and struck by a PB4Y’s guns.

That morning, while on patrol off Formosa, Lt. Graham Squires and his crew, flying a PB4Y from a VPB-117, saw a H8K. Squires and his crew were flying at 6,000 feet on a westerly course between two layers of cloud over the South China Sea, southwest of the southern tip of Formosa. When the top turret gunner alerted the aircraft to an “Emily” flying at its “three o’clock” position, about eighteen miles to the southeast, the PB4Y was just below the upper layer of clouds.

On December 30, 1944, Lt. Graham Squires and his crew from VPB‑117 engaged an “Emily” southwest of southern Formosa. The PB4Y‑1’s search radar had been used to locate the flying boat in the cloud. The Liberator’s
gunners set the H8K’s No. 3 engine on fire, and possibly the
No. 2 engine as well. (80G‑311301, RG80, NARA)

Squires quickly climbed into the clouds to avoid being spotted by the flying boat. Making effective use of the cloud layer, Squires had closed the range to just six miles when the “Emily” crew spotted the approaching PB4Y. The flying boat immediately turned and headed back in the direction of Formosa, with Squires in pursuit, diving into the lower cloud layer to escape. The radar operator on board the PB4Y quickly found the “Emily” on his AN/APS 15 radar scope and directed Squires toward the enemy aircraft, which had descended below the lower cloud layer and dived down toward the ocean, pulling out at 150ft. Squires closed the range and leveled off above the H8K at 200ft.

Although the PB4Y was still out of 0.50 cal range, the “Emily’s” dorsal and tail 20mm turret gunners opened fire but scored no hits on the Liberator. Coming in quickly, the PB4Y’s bow turret gunner shot out the dorsal turret, then set the No. 3 engine on fire. The top turret gunner also hit the “Emily” moments later. Squires reduced power to avoid overshooting the flying boat, but as he was about to cross over the H8K, its pilot pulled his aircraft up sharply in an attempt to crash into the PB4Y. Squires slammed the throttles forward and pulled the Liberator up and over the “Emily,” missing the Japanese aircraft by just 25ft.

The mortally wounded H8K, from the 801st Kokutai, fell away to starboard and crashed into the ocean.

H6K “Mavis”/H8K “Emily” vs PB4Y-1/2 Liberator/Privateer is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by NARA

December 21, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

When a F-4 pilot had diarrhea on board his Phantom II over North Vietnam

by Till Daisd December 20, 2023

written by Till Daisd

‘When he later returned to the ship after his mission, he spent a long time cleaning his cockpit seat after he had abandoned his flight suit and showered, of course,’ John Chesire, former US Navy F-4 Phantom II pilot

A common and serious medical condition that afflicted numerous U.S. troops in Vietnam was diarrhea. Jet jockeys were less likely to get it than helicopter pilots and others flying props off mainland airbases, especially those operating out of Thailand or carriers who only picked it up during in-country R&R.

If you had it, you wouldn’t laugh about it, and the people they served with were more understanding.

What is it like to have diarrhea in the cockpit as a fighter pilot?

John Chesire, former US Navy F-4 Phantom II pilot, recalls on Quora;

‘TINS (This is no s**T)

‘A good friend of mine and a highly decorated pilot launched in an F-4 for a strike mission over North Vietnam. I was down in the ship’s CIC listening to the strike radio. Shortly after launch, my friend contacted the ship, stating he had to abort the mission and go land at Da Nang. The ship wanted to know the nature of his ‘emergency’ to which he replied as “personal.” Eventually, he was granted permission to abort his mission and proceed to Da Nang.

‘Then shortly thereafter, he called the ship again. He said he was not now going to Da Nang. It was “too late.” He was now continuing on his mission. When he later returned to the ship after his mission, he spent a long time cleaning his cockpit seat, after he had abandoned his flight suit and showered of course.’

Chesire concludes;

‘Never happened to me, but came close once or twice. Stuff happens.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

December 20, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

Soviet Tu-16 Badger bomber buzzing the USS Essex aircraft carrier before crashing into the sea

by Till Daisd December 19, 2023

written by Till Daisd

After making four passes over the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Essex, a wing of the Tu-16 Badger clipped the sea on the final pass, resulting in a crash that left no survivors

Colonel Andrey Pliyev’s Soviet Air Force Tu-16 Badger-F buzzed the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9) in the Norwegian Sea on May 25, 1968. After four passes, a wing of the Tu-16 clipped the sea, causing it to crash without any survivors. Parts of three bodies were recovered by the US.

According to the video in this article, the bomber appears to vanish into the sunny haze of the horizon following the initial low flyby, but it later reappears. And as it does so, it seems to slow down as it soars further lower. Because it is flying so slowly and low, it seems to be nearly parallel to the carrier’s deck as it passes.

At the 27-second mark, the video pauses, maybe to indicate the point where something went wrong. The Tu-16 banks up and vanishes momentarily once more into the haze but in the opposite direction. It comes back into view, flying perpendicular to the aircraft carrier on the horizon this time. The video then cuts to show the sailors and airmen on the carrier’s deck, obviously focused on what’s happening at sea. A column of heavy, dark smoke is visible in the distance.

A second Tu-16 can be seen flying around at the end, presumably trying to figure out what happened to the other plane.

Former USS Essex crew member Stephen Garbarini was present at the accident. He recalls: ‘I was there on the flight deck. I was an aircraft electrician in VS 34. I remember him coming over the flight deck from starboard to port, flying a couple hundred yards, and appeared to have stalled, hitting his starboard wing tip, cartwheeling, and exploding. We were launching planes and had helos up as plane guards; they went right over to the crash site to see if they could help to no avail.’

Another ex-USS Essex crew member recalls: ‘I was there and watched the entire thing while working on the flight deck. I was a helicopter mechanic in HS-9 at the time. When it overflew the flight deck, you could feel the heat and smell at jet exhaust. After the flight deck overfly (starboard to port), he continued to fly away from the ship at low level. He gained a little altitude and started to make a left turn, leveled back out, lost altitude, and just when it looked like he was going to make a controlled ditching his left wing dipped and hit the water, and then he cartwheeled in a ball of flame.. Our helicopters were in the air already and made a beeline for the crash, hovered in the smoke but no one survived.’

Footage from The National Archives in Washington.

December 19, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The F-4 pilot that outran an F/A-18 Hornet and zoomed in at 82,125 feet per minute

by Till Daisd December 18, 2023

written by Till Daisd

‘When the Hornet maxed out at Mach 1.6 (didn’t make its max), I was approaching Mach 2 and closing rapidly,’ Travis Brannon former F-4 Phantom II pilot with the US Navy

To replace the F-4 Phantom II and A-7 Corsair II, the US Navy created a multi-mission aircraft after the Vietnam War that could do air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. The lightweight craft chosen was the YF-17 because of its adaptability to aircraft carrier operations. In collaboration with Northrop, McDonnell Douglas built the F/A-18 Hornet strike aircraft. The US Marines and US Navy, respectively, were the recipients of the initial aircraft. USS Constellation (CV-64) received the first Hornets to be deployed in 1985.

Positive fleet reports emerged early on, showing that the Hornet was incredibly dependable—a significant improvement over its F-4 predecessor.

However, the legendary Phantom II, with its top speeds exceeding twice the speed of sound, was still faster than the then-new Hornet, as Travis Brannon, a former F-4 pilot with the US Navy, recalls on Quora.

‘When the F/A-18 was being developed at Pax River, Maryland, every flight had a plane with them whose mission was “safety chase”, in case there was an issue with the Hornet and support and/or SAR were needed.

‘I was assigned a safety chase in an F-4 because the mission was to verify that the Hornet could go from Mach 0.9 to its max speed of Mach 1.8 in the amount of time McDonnell Douglas had promised.

‘We started at 50, 000 feet at Mach 0.9, and on signal, both of us went to full afterburner. The Hornet was able to initially out-accelerate me and pull ahead by about a quarter of a mile. However, the Phantom was one of those planes where it seemed the faster it went, the faster it wanted to go, and the Hornet was not.

‘When the Hornet maxed out at Mach 1.6 (didn’t make its max), I was approaching Mach 2 and closing rapidly. Just as I was about to even with him, the Hornet pilot, who was responsible for navigating, started a hard left turn without warning.

‘A fighter pilot, when faced with an overshoot, instinctively pulls his nose up to trade airspeed for altitude and decrease the amount of overshoot, so I did that as I started my turn to the left with him. At about 45 degrees nose-high, I realized that since I was nearly going Mach 2, my vertical speed was Mach 1.4. I looked at my altimeter, and the big needle was actually spinning. I was climbing at 82,125 feet per minute!

‘I rolled inverted to stop my climb at 62,500 feet, but not before I noticed I could now see two horizons, both remarkably curved. One was the normal one we all see at the beach: blue-green ocean and robin-egg blue, but the second one was robin-egg blue below, and the most spectacular, dark, iridescent blue of space. So lucky to have seen it!’

Brannon concludes:

‘I would have had to shut the engines down at 75,000 feet to prevent them from overheating. That would have caused me to lose my cockpit pressure and since I was not in a pressure suit, I have blown up like a toad, instant pulmonary edema, and probably death.’

Photo by U.S. Navy

December 18, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

RAF didn’t buy the Tomcat despite the F-14 being the only aircraft meeting UK’s defense needs.

by Till Daisd December 17, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The possibility of acquiring an RAF F-14 Tomcat was considered. Purchasing used models from the US Navy or possibly Iran could have been one way to reduce the bill

The development of Soviet long-range patrol and bomber aircraft during the Cold War required a fleet defense fighter capable of engaging high-altitude bombers that were well beyond visual range. Grumman’s response was the F-14 Tomcat. With the long-range AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles mounted on them, F-14s were able to engage enemy targets more than 90 miles away. Grumman created the F-14’s extremely efficient variable-sweep wing, which allowed it to fly at a variety of airspeeds, in response to the need for an interceptor to be able to go at a high speed while carrying this heavy ordnance.

Several countries had evaluated the F-14 Tomcat by the late 1970s, but none of these evaluations led to a sale. Considering the aircraft as a substitute for the F-15 Eagle, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Japan all chose the McDonnell Douglas fighter with a single seat.

The F-14 was in widespread use by the US Navy and was also in limited service in Iran, so the Grumman fighter’s story was probably going to be dull as it lacked the F-4 Phantom’s remarkable sales and variants.

According to Doug Richardson’s narrative in his book Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) was once considered a possible customer. The British MoD considered the F-14, F-15, and F-16 in response to the growing expenses of the proposed Tornado Air Defense Variant (ADV). It concluded that only the F-14 would meet Britain’s defense needs; the F-15 lacked the two-seat cockpit and facilities required for interception in the face of massive ECM, and the F-16 was simply too small. Tornado appeared to be the better option, especially considering the estimated cost of Tomcat.

An additional issue was the ADV project’s sluggish timescale. In the late 1970s, less than 100 fighters were defending the UK; one newspaper put it this way: “The Few have never been fewer.” The British Press seemed surprised by the minuscule size of the UK’s run-down defenses. Maybe they believed that the lengthy series of defense “reviews,” which is a polite way of saying “cuts,” that governments had imposed on the British armed services were merely theoretical exercises.

The possibility of purchasing an RAF Tomcat was discussed once more. Purchasing used ones from the US Navy or possibly Iran would have been one way to reduce the cost. Inquiries were made, but the MoD was keen to dismiss these as unauthorized, and the work of low-level officers once appeared on the pages of the daily newspapers. A few weeks later, Grumman asked the defense editor of Flight International, a British weekly magazine, if he thought the RAF was interested in Tomcat, while at an airshow. The company had to decide if it would be worthwhile to invest a lot of time and energy to pursue a potential sale. ‘It’s funny you should ask me that—I was about to ask you the same question!’ he replied. ‘The fact that you are asking me answers it, I think.’

The RAF’s dire situation was front-page news for a while, but finally, it faded into obscurity. The “fighter gap” would only persist for a few more years as Tornado ADV would likely enter service in 1982 or even 1983. In 1979, a Conservative politician assured Richardson that there would be no slippage from the ADV timeline. The government would consider purchasing US fighters if Panavia was unable to deliver the goods on schedule. He may have believed that the threat to ‘buy US’ could be used to keep the ADV program up to speed, but that was not the case. Maintaining timescales is not something that Europe’s ailing aircraft manufacturers are very good at.

The only US fighters ordered in the interval were a batch of ex-US Navy F-4J Phantoms, which were brought into service to make up for the stationing of Spy-engined Phantoms in the Falklands following the 1982 battle with Argentina. By June 1985, Tornado was still not in squadron service.

Photo by Digital Combat Simulator and Cpl Paul Saxby Crown Copyright

December 17, 2023 0 comment

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