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The Pakistani Shenyang F-6 pilot story about a dogfight where he forgot his aircraft’s gunsight caged for strafing

by Till Daisd September 29, 2023

‘Desperate to get this kill, I pressed the trigger till my guns went silent—no more ammo! Oh, if only I was carrying air-to-air missiles instead of these ground-attack rockets,’ Tahir Alam, 23 Sqn Pakistan Air Force, Shenyang F-6 pilot

Even though the Cold War years were a time of extraordinary peace in Europe, they also saw a number of small-scale but extremely intense wars around the globe, when air power was crucial.

Eight of these Cold War conflicts are discussed in the book Flashpoints by ex-RAF Tornado and experienced author Michael Napier: the Suez Crisis in 1956, the Congo Crisis in 1960–65, the Indo–Pakistan Wars in 1965 and 1971, the Arab–Israeli Wars in 1967 and 1973, the Falklands War in 1982, and the Iran–Iraq War in 1980–88. All of them featured a solid air force on both sides, one that was equipped with contemporary aircraft, and air power influenced the outcome.

Notwithstanding the postwar breakthrough in aviation technology and design, particularly in the areas of missile development and electronic warfare, pilots occasionally engage in dogfights reminiscent of World War 2.

Pilot Tahir Alam of the 23 Sqn Pakistan Air Force’s Shenyang F-6 (MiG-19) recalls an encounter he had with Indian Air Force Su-7s in the Narowal sector on December 8, 1971.

Su-7-Indian-Air-Force — Sukhoi Su.7 preserved at the Indian Air Force Academy Museum at Dundigal, Hyderabad, India, 06/02/07.

‘As leader called to check switches armed and standby for pull-up, from the corner of my eye, I saw a flash… it was two jets turning away from us, about 5,000 feet. They obviously hadn’t seen us yet. I called out ‘two bogeys eleven o’clock high!’ I cut in my afterburners, jettisoned my fuel tanks, and broke away from my formation behind the two Indian Su-7s. By now they had spotted me and broke into me with a hard high-G turn. I was not about to let this go to waste! I throttled back and was still closing in. A touch of speed brakes. My heart was beating like African bongo drums and my adrenaline was going through the roof! The Su-7s hit the deck and exited to the southeast. My leader called out for my position, I replied I was chasing the two bogeys and would soon ‘Splash’ them both! The Sukhois were line astern and at tree top level and max speed, with me about 3,000 feet behind and closing in. The Sukhoi leader was not giving his wingman any slack to be able to catch up and get into a low-level battle formation, where they could clear each other’s six o’clock. So here were two sitting ducks for me. I would get the wingman and then move my sight on the leader. We were at tree top level at max speed. I could see the blur of the tanks, trucks and trees whizzing by!

‘When I was about 2,000 feet behind the trailing jet, I pulled the trigger. The massive 30mm cannons opened up. The gunsight shuddered; the smell of cordite was sweet. I was certain that a short burst would do the trick. The total ammo in the F-6 is only 301 rounds, so I had to be economical! I was sure the bogey would burst into a massive fireball. The Sukhoi flew on with no visible damage. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t hit. It is a much larger target than my plane and in a straight and level flight should be a piece of cake. I raised my gunsight slightly and let go another 1-second burst. Again nothing … Nada, zilch, zero! The Sukhoi still running like a scared rabbit and me chasing it like a starved hound! How could I be missing at such close range? Another two-second burst. Nope, no hit. Lowering the gunsight pipper, another three-second burst. No joy! The gun round counter was showing only 40 rounds left. I thought I would fire with my plane yawing with my rudders. Just one round of the massive gun would be enough. Desperate to get this kill, I pressed the trigger till my guns went silent—no more ammo! Oh, if only I was carrying air-to-air missiles instead of these ground-attack rockets.

‘In disbelief, I realized my terrible mistake! The gunsight had two modes: Caged and uncaged, depending on if we were attacking tanks, trucks, bridges, etc., or flying targets. As we were streaking in towards the tanks in battle, the leader had commanded the formation to arm our guns and check gunsights caged for strafing the tanks. In the excitement, I had forgotten to reach forward and with one click, uncage my gunsight for air-to-air firing.’

Flashpoints is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Digital Combat Simulator, War Thunder, Adnanrail Own work, and Alec Wilson from Hampton-in-Arden, UK via Wikipedia

F-6-PAF — Shenyang F-6 Aircraft at PAF Museum, Karachi, Pakistan

September 29, 2023 0 comment

History

The Advanced Development Programs division of Lockheed Martin once known as “Skonk Works” before becoming “Skunk Works”

by Till Daisd September 28, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The contrasting versions about Skunk Works’ beginnings

On paper, the specifications for the spy plane that could capture incredibly clear pictures from 70,000 feet seemed like pure fantasy. A Mach-3 aircraft that could outrun missiles by actually flying nonstop for hours on end. An attack plane that could hide from the radar surveillance of its adversaries.

Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, the chief engineer of Lockheed, simply handled all inquiries and informed his hand-picked team at Skunk Works of what needed to be done.

They would deliver after that, as was said in a brilliant article that was posted on Lockheed Martin.com. Their area of expertise has always been and will continue to be impossible tasks.

Wikipedia states that there are conflicting accounts of Skunk Works’ conception.

Ben Rich and “Kelly” Johnson give June 1943 in Burbank, California as the starting point for their autobiographies; they practically follow the same timeline. The official Lockheed Skunk Works narrative is theirs.

The Army Air Force’s Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to discuss its requirement for a jet fighter. A rapidly escalating German jet threat provided Lockheed with the chance to build an airframe around the British Goblin, the most powerful jet engine available to the allied forces. Because of its prior involvement in jet development and its contracts with the Air Force, Lockheed was selected to create the jet.

Young engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and other associate engineers personally brought the first XP-80 proposal to the ATSC one month after the ATSC and Lockheed meeting. Lockheed was given the go-ahead to begin development two days later, and Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works was established. Lockheed didn’t receive the official contract for the XP-80 until October 16, 1943, or about four months after work had already started on it.

This would turn out to be a Skunk Works standard procedure. Frequently, a customer would approach the Skunk Works with a request, and after exchanging a handshake with no contracts or formal submission procedure, the project would start. The XP-80 was conceived and constructed by Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team in just 143 days, seven fewer than was necessary.

In 1958, Kelly Johnson was appointed vice president of Lockheed Advanced Development Projects (ADP), the predecessor to today’s Advanced Development Programs at Lockheed Martin. At the time, their initial offices were essentially uninhabitable. They were close to a plastics factory, which produced an extremely strong stink. Irv Culver, one of the engineers, started to answer the Intra-Lockheed phone by saying, “Skonk Works!” because the stink was so awful.

This name is derived from the well-known Al Capp comic strip “L’il Abner.” Within this strip, Big Barnsmell’s Skonk Works — spelled with an “o” — was where Kickapoo Joy Juice was brewed. The name struck as being quite fitting. As soon as the moniker started to circulate, Lockheed decided to modify it to “Skunk Works” in order to avoid any potential copyright-related legal issues.

This nickname for R and D offices in general quickly gained popularity and spread throughout the aerospace community. The Skunk Works, however, would always be connected to the Lockheed facility. The F-104 Starfighter, the notorious spyplanes U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird, the first stealth aircraft, the F-117, and even the made-up Darkstar for Top Gun: Maverick were all developed at this location.

For 40 years, Kelly Johnson has not been the only “head skunk” at the Skunk Works. He was actually asked by the CIA in 1955 to start building the covert airport at Groom Lake, Nevada. The final flight testing of the famous Lockheed U-2 took place there, which eventually came to be known as Area 51.

If it flies high and fast enough, they won’t be able to see it, as Kelly was famous for saying.

Photo by Jarek Tuszyński and Jonathan Cutrer from San Angelo, Texas, United States via Wikipedia

September 28, 2023 0 comment

History

the MiG-23 pilot from the Cuban Air Force who defected to the US, rented a Cessna 310, returned to Cuba, and moved his family to the US

by Till Daisd September 27, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Orestes Lorenzo Perez, a MiG-23 pilot, circled the Naval Air Station Key West three times on March 20, 1991, waggling the wings of his Flogger to indicate friendly intentions in the hopes that no one would try to down the Soviet-built fighter jet.

In an effort to prevent someone from shooting down the Soviet-built fighter jet, MiG-23 pilot Orestes Lorenzo Perez made three circles around the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West on March 20, 1991, while waggling the wings of his Flogger (the NATO reporting name for the MiG-23) to signal friendly intentions.

Perez said that the Cuban government had loaned him the aircraft. He claimed not to understand a single word of English. But he was escaping Cuba in search of freedom. Perez, a former pilot for the Cuban Air Force, has drawn a lot of attention since his escape and heroic flight back to Cuba to save his family, as was detailed in a lengthy article published in The Ledger. In 1994, he even published a book detailing his journey.

His risky rescue effort was dubbed a suicide mission by his pals. He admitted that he was putting his life, as well as the lives of his wife and two sons, in danger, but insisted that it was worthwhile because they were following their dreams.

Perez received a scholarship to attend flight school in the Soviet Union while serving in the Cuban Air Force. There, he learnt to pilot a MiG-21 and a small Czechoslovakian Aero L-29 Delfin two-seater jet trainer. He was a member of the Cuban forces dispatched to assist the Marxist government in Angola.

He made a second deployment to the Soviet Union before returning to Cuba with his family, where he was assigned to Santa Clara Air Base, roughly 165 miles east of Havana. What he discovered was a country steeped in propaganda and so repressed by the government that his family understood he should try to flee.

Hence, on March 20, 1991, Perez bid his wife Victoria farewell while pledging to return for her and their two sons. She had to act as though she was unaware of Perez’s escape strategy. She prayed for her husband’s safe passage to the US and his eventual release.

On that particular day, Perez flew the MiG-23 from Cuba to Key West as part of a training mission. Speaking Spanish to the pilot who met him on the ground, he said that he was looking for political asylum when he finally made it to the ground without being picked up by American radar.

Lorenzo-MiG-23-1 — Orestes Lorenzo Perez’s MiG-23 at NAS Key West

When the pilot understood, according to Perez, they shook hands, and he wished them a warm welcome to the country. He was flown to Washington, DC, right away for a briefing and to receive paperwork. After receiving political asylum, he began working to have his family moved from Cuba.

Despite receiving American visas for his wife and two sons, the Cuban government forbade them from departing the country. Perez said that they were under government surveillance. He claimed that during the 21 months that Perez campaigned for their release across the country, his family was constantly under observation.

In an address to the Cuban government, then-President George H. W. Bush asked Fidel Castro to permit Perez’s family to leave. Castro objected, so Perez had to come up with a better strategy. They could only be saved by taking off again in an airplane.

Perez found out that a 1961 Cessna 310 was for sale through the Valladares Foundation, a rights organization started by a political prisoner from Cuba. The organization agreed to pay $30,000 to buy it for his rescue attempt, with assistance from a donation.

He took flying lessons and got his pilot’s license in Virginia, but prior to his attempt at rescue, he had limited experience flying the Cessna. With a copilot, Perez had only successfully landed the little plane once. But Perez took off from the Florida Keys at precisely 5:07 p.m. on December 19, 1992, flying low across the ocean. A note was provided to his wife instructing her to meet him 165 kilometers away from her house in Havana.

Perez wasn’t sure if she and the boys would be there or if he would get there before the Cuban government noticed him, but he had to try. Perez came over cliffs on the Cuban coastline while flying at less than 100 feet above the ocean and found his wife and sons dressed as he had instructed them to—in bright orange T-shirts.

In order to quickly get his family inside the pickup truck, Perez landed the Cessna close to it, turned the aircraft around, and then took off. He was relieved when he touched down in Marathon less than two hours later. Only a few military pilots from Cuba during the Cold War defected to the US, including Perez. Perez and his family were naturalized as Americans. Shortly after Perez was granted political asylum, the MiG-23 was sent back to Cuba, while the Cessna was destroyed by a hurricane.

Orestes Lorenzo Perez after landing at NAS Key West

Photo by: U.S. Navy

September 27, 2023 0 comment

History

The US Navy SBD Dauntless Dive Bombers’ attack and the momentum of Midway caused the lone remaining Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier to be overtaken by the world’s most powerful Carrier Task Force

by Till Daisd September 26, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The SBD Dauntless Dive Bombers were in many ways the last ditch effort of the Navy to defend Midway. Even though the island had been hit and had been the target of attacks all morning, thus far EVERY single strike had failed

Another drama was unfolding high above as Jimmy Thach struggled for his life against the Kido Butai of the Combat Air Patrol of the Imperial Japanese Navy. A big formation of US Navy Dive bombers had been flying overhead for the hours prior, taking off from the Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown between 07:00 and 08:00 and the Yorktown at 08:00.

The Dive Bombers were in many ways the Navy’s last-ditch attempt to defend Midway. While the island had been hit and had been the target of attacks all morning, so far EVERY SINGLE ATTACK had failed. The Kido Butai continued to sail calmly despite several splashes of near misses and downed American aircraft, whether they were high-level B-17s, Marine Dive bombers, or low-level torpedo aircraft.

Richard-Halsey-Best — Richard Halsey Best. Lieutenant Commander Richard Halsey Best, USN, (Mar. 24, 1910 – Oct.28, 2001), shown here as a Lieutenant, was a dive-bomber pilot in the United States Navy, mostly noted for his leadership of dive bomber squadron VB-6 during the Battle of Midway, Jun. 4-6, 1942.

The Kido Butai Commander VADM Nagumo suffered considerable psychological damage as a result of a B-26 Torpedo Bomber that was able to strafe Akagi’s clear flight deck and give the Admiral and his staff a little fright. According to numerous reports, Nagumo was in a difficult circumstance. He had learned that Midway required a second attack, but also that American Surface forces were close by. He still needed to recover his active Combat Air Patrol as well as his Midway strike group. The Americans had been attacking all morning, but despite the limited damage they had caused so far, their strikes were consuming valuable time that his ships needed to avoid them.

Three different groups of American SBD Dive Bombers were winging their way to three different fates with his Combat Air Patrol Busy down, low. The Wildcat escort of the Hornet Air Group began anxiously eyeing their fuel gauges as they fanned out in a vast prewar style line abreast formation. Torpedo 8 Commander John Waldron had made his own choice and was on his way to a fateful encounter that only Ensign “Tex” Gay managed to survive. Due to a first-class SNAFU by Hornet’s Air Department, Fighting Ace’s fighters were launched first and ultimately had to ditch due to fuel depletion.

In the meantime, CHAG, Commander Stanhope Ring guided the SBDs of Hornet Air Group on what was later referred to as his “Flight to Nowhere” by historians. Hence, the important first strike against the Kido Butai used up a WHOLE THIRD of US Carrier Strike power.

Wade McClusky, the commander of the Enterprise Air Group, continued to fly even though his own fuel gauges were alarmingly low. Only the accidental discovery of the IJN destroyer Arashio provides a hint as to where its parent Task Force is in the vast ocean below. Hence, armed with a marker, the Enterprise Air Group located the Imperial Japanese Carriers, which were noticed by pilots to be steaming with bright yellow decks that stood out against the blue seas below as the sun rose.

As they prepared for the assault, an additional coordination blunder led the majority of Enterprise’s SBDs to concentrate their attack on the carrier Kaga, which they were able to cover with a series of bomb strikes. Only VB-6 CO Lieutenant Dick Best’s fast thinking led him to reposition his own section against Akagi, resulting in two key hits against the Kido Butai flagship.

Akagi’s destruction in the Japanese war movie The Eternal Zero.

Here is another film depiction of the assault from the Japanese war movie Admiral Yamamoto;

Meanwhile, Thach wrote that Max Leslie’s Bombing 3 had experienced its own mishap when some of its own bombs, including Leslie’s own, were launched into the water when activated by their electric arming switches. Leslie decided to join his troops in the Pushover despite not having a bombload, figuring that his 50-calibre weaponry might be put to good use for flak suppression to help cover the runs of his men who still had their bombs.

Lieutenant-Commander-Max-Leslie — Lieutenant Commander Max Leslie, Commanding Officer of Bombing Squadron Three. Leslie’s leadership of his attack force clearly showed on Jun. 4, 1942, as he pressed home his attack in support of his men as they annihilated Soryu while Enterprise SBD’s attacked Kaga and Akagi.

According to Thach’s report, the outcome was three Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers in flames as a result of some of the most significant hits of the Pacific War being made by Enterprise and Hornet SBDs. The bombers missed the fourth Imperial Navy Carrier, the Hiryu, which would remain a menace to the American Carriers at Midway until the very end, as they pulled out of their dives, and Enterprise’s in particular incurred losses from the remaining Zeros of the Kido Butai’s Combat Air Patrol.

And with that, the momentum of Midway shifted from the lone remaining Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier to the most powerful Carrier Task Force on Earth.

In the image below, you can see Max Leslie’s SBD-3 as it appeared just before its electric arming switch caused it to drop its bomb load into the ocean from the Hangar B Virtual Gallery Turntable at the Pensacola Aerospace Museum. On June 4, 1942, Leslie used this aircraft to attack the Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier Soryu. Leslie returned it to the Yorktown Task Force just in time to have to wait in orbit for the strikes from Hiryu to stop, which forced Leslie to abandon the aircraft due to fuel starvation.

Photo by U.S. Navy

Turntable: Hangar B

September 26, 2023 0 comment

History

Remembering the first Phlight of the Phabulous Phantom

by Till Daisd September 25, 2023

written by Till Daisd

With the US Air Force joining the Navy and Marines and realizing the potential of the Phantom’s versatile load-carrying capability and performance, the Phantom possessed the singular distinction of being the first true Joint Strike Fighter

The Mighty F-4 Phantom made its debut flight on May 27, 1958. The Phantom, which was designed to be a carrier-based interceptor, subsequently carried out just about every other mission imaginable, including anti-surface-to-air missile (SAM) Wild Weasel Missions, photo-reconnaissance, dogfighting, and bombing. The US Air Force, which saw the potential of the Phantom’s versatile load-carrying capability and performance, joined the Navy and Marines as the Phantom also held the unique distinction of being the first real Joint Strike Fighter.

The Phantom would initially struggle from being unduly dependent on its all-missile battery and superior technology when operating in the skies over North Vietnam against more agile North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) MiG-17s and 21s. Seeing this, the Navy transformed its Fleet Air Gunnery Unit into a new Fighter Weapon School, commonly known as TOPGUN today. There, a new generation of aviators received instruction in traditional air combat maneuvering against various aircraft. The idea of a two-man crew was also perfected, and backseaters became a crucial additional set of eyes both inside and outside the aircraft. According to multiple stories, many Phantom Phlyers owe their backseaters their lives.

How a VMFA-333 F-4 Phantom II scored the only USMC Mig Kill of the Vietnam War

Because of this “software” upgrading of its Aviators, the Navy’s Phantom community defeated the NVAF once more in 1972 with a fantastic victory-loss ratio. The Air Force decided on a “hardware” upgrade, giving its most advanced Phantom variant, the F-4E, a 20 mm Vulcan internal gun and improving its missiles and systems. The Combat Tree hostile Identification Friend Foe (IFF) identifier allowed airframes equipped with this system to detect and distinguish Soviet-made IFF systems in the crowded skies of Vietnam, and it proved to be a very important system. This lessened the possibility of “own goals” and made it possible to deploy the Radar Guided Sparrow missile system of the Phantom in a way that enhanced its combat efficiency.

Despite these technical advancements, the Air Force ratio remained around 2-1 compared to the Navy ratio after Rolling Thunder, which was 5-1. With a new generation of aviators being trained by Vietnam-era Phantom Veterans, the USAF’s performance in Desert Storm was much enhanced as a result of the USAF’s post-Vietnam implementation of its Red Flag Adversary Training system.

The Phantom saw action in Israeli hands from 1969’s War of Attrition until 1973’s Yom Kippur War, becoming a significant export success for Israel. The Phantom suffered some of its worst losses during the latter combat when it came up against Soviet-made Surface to Air Missile systems. In spite of this, squadrons changed their tactics as a result of these losses by using what IAF 107 SQD Commander Yftach Spector referred to as “physics” rather than electronics.

By the 1970s, export orders had increased the F-4’s overall production to almost 5,000 units, cementing the Phantom’s status as “The” plane of the Free World. By this time, Phantoms were regularly engaged in combat with Soviet-built MiG-21s over North Vietnam and the Middle East, and Greek and Turkish Phantoms and F-16s were engaged in similar combat over the Aegean Sea, just as both countries still do with their F-16s.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) was able to hold the line against Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran in 1980 because of its Phantom force, which would go on to become the backbone of the Iranian Air Force both before and after the Shah. Iran’s Phantom force, although having a decreasing number of airframes and spares that were irregularly filled up by both legal and illegal means, maintained roughly parity with Iraq’s Air Force until the end of the fight by employing hard-learned Vietnam and Israeli tactics. Iran still uses the Phantom today, both out of necessity and because of the tremendous might it offers.

The Phantom is still in use in a decreasing number of Air Forces across the world after flying its twilight combat missions in US Service during Desert Storm. For those who had the good fortune to grow up on the island of Oahu, where the final Active-Duty USMC Phantom squadrons and the Hawaii Air National Guard’s 199th Fighter Squadron operated the F-4, the Phantom’s J79s roar might ring like an echo of the Vietnam War.

This song is dedicated to everyone who has ever flown the Phantom, front or back.

Check out the Pensacola Aerospace Museum Facebook page for further aviation photos and stories.

Photo by: U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps

September 25, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The C-7 Santa-Bou and other stories

by Till Daisd September 24, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Santa appeared once the rear cargo door emerged. The troops whistled and cheered. The troops went joyfully wild when the Donut Dollies descended the ramp, but not in an offensive or vulgar way

Former C-7 pilot Jay Lacklen has written two books, Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey and Flying the Line: An Air Force Pilot’s Journey Volume Two: Military Airlift Command. He has 12,500 hours of flight time. He is currently working on the trilogy’s last volume.

A Vietnam Christmas, 1971

Christmas 1971 provided a mental break from the war. In an annual event, the Cam Ranh air wing painted a C-7 with a red Santa Claus face on the forward dome [dubbed C-7 Santa-Bou] and flew to various bases as a treat for the army troops. I participated in this run but only as a backup crew member for the primary pilots. I was not called upon to perform, so I got to play Santa’s helper at the various stops.

One of the flight mechanics played Santa dressed in an appropriate red suit and fake beard, and a small, half-dozen-strong squad of “Donut Dollies,” or female Red Cross workers, played Santa’s helpers. We also carried a large stock of liquor and sandwiches for the troops.

I had underestimated the potential poignancy of the event. Bringing the Christmas aura to the trenches of Vietnam unleashed seemingly well-secured emotions that suddenly broke loose in everyone, none more clearly displayed than at the small northern delta army base of Bao Loc, sixty miles northeast of Saigon.

This base was as close to the pits of Vietnam as you could get. The approach plate for the runway warned: “Runway in poor condition, south end 20% coverage by large, loose rocks. 200′ overrun each end, poor condition. Parking area east side and south end, poor condition, partly overgrown.”

The C-7 Santa-Bou and other Tales of aVietnam Christmas

We pulled onto the poorly-conditioned parking ramp, but before we could shut down the engines and open the rear cargo door, a series of large transport trucks appeared on the road to the field, filled with troops whooping and waving. They pulled up next to us on the ramp and disgorged fifty or so soldiers in their green fatigues surrounding the rear of the plane to welcome whoever might disembark.

The rear cargo door came down, and Santa emerged. The troops cheered and whistled. Then the Donut Dollies came down the ramp, and the troops went joyously berserk, but not in a nasty or lewd sense. They spun around in the same frantic ecstasy of a pet dog when you pick it up from the vet or when you hold its dinner bowl over its head to make it dance. No group of children has ever carried off the fantasy so well.

A young soldier shook my hand with tears in his eyes and said, “Sir, this is the best thing that has ever happened here. Thank you so much!” Maddeningly for my composure, he was about to make me cry, too. This brought to mind, yet again, the imperative question, “What the hell are we doing here?”

We carried a bag of letters from school kids in the States for the soldiers. They told of how proud they were of the troops, how they hoped they didn’t get hurt, and to come home soon to their families. As I watched the troops read these simple letters, I started choking up as they became silent with faces contorted to avoid crying.

As the sun set over the Central Highlands, we flew up the coast past Phan Thiet (Pappa Tango) toward Cam Ranh with the upper cargo door raised and the bottom ramp angled up so we could lie against it and look out the back of the plane. Two or three Dollies joined me gazing out at the South China Sea in wistful contemplation of the day, marveling that in our mid-twenties we found ourselves in such a perplexing situation halfway around the world.”

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Red Cross

September 24, 2023 0 comment

History

Legendary naval aviator Jimmy Thach possessed 27 F4F Wildcat fighters

by Till Daisd September 23, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Being the first and sole pilot in his squadron, Thach test-flew each of the 27 aircraft he was given, noting any anomalies for his maintenance team to address while he waited for more pilots to show up

Jimmy Thach was in confusion the day before the Battle of Midway because his squadron had been effectively disbanded by the transfer of its strength to VF-2 to support that unit in the Coral Sea. Thach was instructed to train a new group of novice Ensigns arriving from the States at a time when his squadron was at its lowest point of strength. Thach, a seasoned pilot who had flown a wide range of aircraft, handled everything with ease. Thach joined Fighter Three as the unit’s gunnery officer in 1939 after a varied prewar aviation career.

Thach’s proficiency with air-to-air gunnery served him well in battle as well as in his career. He stayed with Fighting Three so that he could use his abilities to help his unit.

“I progressed from gunnery officer to operations officer, and when the then-commanding officer, Cooper, was detached and Lieutenant Commander Sid Harvey took command of the squadron, I was made executive officer, No. 2 in command.”

Sadly, Sid Harvey passed away from a heart attack en route to his assignment, and Thach was fleeted up to temporary Command of the squadron after Lt. Cmdr. Harvey was detached for observer duty in Britain. Thach thus took control of Fighting Three as a Lieutenant, far ahead of his Naval Academy peers. Thach recalled receiving an intelligence report in the spring of 1941 that described the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero Sen and was probably written by Claire Chennault.

“This was the Zero, and I decided, well, we’d better do something about this, and remembering my days on the football field and basketball court, if you have somebody who’s faster than you are, you have to trap him somehow so that he can’t use his superiority, whatever it is. You’ve got to bait him or do something. I believed we had one advantage if we could ever get into a position to use it. We had good guns and could shoot and hit even if we only had a fleeting second or two to take aim. Therefore, we must do something to entice the opponent into giving us that one all-important opportunity-it was the only chance we had.”

Thach himself described the process:

“I developed it before the war in the summer of 1941—summer and fall—on my kitchen table in Coronado. A lot of people don’t realize this. I’ve read in various places that I studied the combat reports of the Coral Sea Battle and then figured it out just before the Battle of Midway. This is not true at all. We’d been practicing this for a long time. Jimmy Flatley gave it the name Thach Weave. I didn’t.”

Instead, Thach had developed a formation that negated the benefit of a superior-performing aircraft, and he did so in such a way that it still had an impact on Navy fighter tactics and organization. Afterward, Thach made a remark about his time on Midway that is still applicable today.

“It may surprise people these days but as a lieutenant, I made more decisions than some very high-ranking officers have been making in the Vietnam War. I was making decisions in World War II that McNamara made in the Vietnam War, believe me. He was telling us how many planes to send, what formation to fly, and at what altitude.”

Following his cruise on board Lexington and O’Hare’s illustrious Fight on February 20, 1942, and the raids on Lae-Salamaua on March 10, Thach was sidelined in an unusual manner. The following provides an example of both the difficulties Thach experienced while working alone to rebuild his unit and his tenacity to complete the task. Thach received notification from Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch in April 1942;

“Your squadron is finally going to be increased to 27 aircraft, but I’m taking all your pilots and giving them to Paul Ramsey, and that will build up his squadron. Then you’ll get some more people, some more pilots, and 27 airplanes.”

Before-Transfers-left-Thach-as-the-only-pilot-in-his-squadron — Before Transfers left Thach as the only pilot in his squadron; Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3), Mar. 5, 1942. Standing, l to r: Mason, Clark, Sellstrom, Eder, Johnson, Lackey, Haynes, Stanley, Peterson, Dufilho, Lemmon. Sitting: Morgan, Vorse, Lovelace, Thach, Gayler, O’Hare, Rowell.

Despite a critical pilot shortage, Thach’s innovative arrangement of his squadron of one quickly proved successful. As the squadron’s initial sole pilot, Thach test-flew each of the 27 aircraft he was given, noting any inconsistencies so that his maintenance team could address them while he waited for more pilots to show up. As replacement pilots eventually poured in, Thach was able to confirm the usefulness of his equipment. Thach noted:

“Then I began to get a stream of young fellows right out of training, out of Pensacola. About this time, my executive officer (Don Lovelace) who didn’t go with Paul Ramsey, was detached, and he was scheduled to go back to San Diego and get a new squadron, get command of a squadron, going from the exec of my squadron of command, and that squadron was going to be VF-2.

(Note: Despite receiving orders to return to the United States, Lovelace chose to stay with Thach as his XO in order to try to assist in restoring Fighting Three.)

“I had another doctrine that I established, oh some time back, but it still held in the Battle of Midway. If there was a Lieutenant JG that was new, right out of Pensacola, and an ensign that had experience in combat, I would tell the lieutenant that he was going to be a wingman and the ensign was going to be the section leader because he’d had more experience, and I asked if he had any objection to that and he said, “no, thank goodness, I’d rather follow somebody for a while.”

Thach explains how he increased the novice pilots’ self-assurance in their abilities.

Thatchs-Fighting-Three — An embarrassment of Riches. Thatch’s Fighting Three was stripped of all its pilots to reinforce Fighting Two on the eve of Coral Sea, leaving Thach as the unit’s only assigned pilot.nnThach solved this organizational nightmare in a rather creative manner.

“I said “Look, you have landed aboard a carrier, right?” and they said, “Yes, Sir.” I said you have landed this airplane, right?” “Yes, Sir.” “All right. you are hereby qualified to land this airplane aboard an aircraft carrier. All you’ve got to do now when you go out is you just do it and prove it. Then that’ll be that. I don’t want to hear any more about it.” There was nothing more I could do.”

“A day or two before embarking in Yorktown, about fifteen pilots from VF-42 reported to me to fill out the roster of 27 pilots… So, we got the 27 airplanes and 27 pilots, and they called me up and gave me an inkling that there was something big coming up in the Central Pacific. They said it looks like the Japanese are going to try and hit us again… I had enough people so that the flight leaders, for instance, the ones leading a combat air patrol or the section leaders going with the strike group, those people had some experience, but maybe nobody following them, nobody else.”

The following tragedy occurred with his XO Don Lovelace during the Yorktown’s landing;

“He landed and he had taxied across the barrier, the barrier had just lifted behind him, and his wingman landed too hard, bounced clear over the barrier, and landed right on top of Don Lovelace and cut his head off, and that was the end of Don Lovelace. That was a pretty bad blow at any time. It was especially a difficult thing to accept at that moment because by this time we’d all been briefed on what was coming along, not only a sad thing to lose the life of a good friend, but to lose his ability and leadership and everything else in the air was a doubly bad blow.”

Wildcats — Grumman F4F-4 “Wildcat” Fighter (Bureau # 5171), of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) at Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, Oahu, on May 29, 1942, with ground crewmen folding the starboard wing. On June 4, 1942, in the Battle of Midway, this plane was flown by Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach, VF-3’s Commanding Officer, during the afternoon combat air patrol defending USS Yorktown (CV-5), wherein Thach probably shot down Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, leader of the attacking Japanese torpedo planes.

He gathered his squadron for the following since he was aware of the effect such a loss had on them:

“I got them all in the ready room immediately and told them that they had to just wash that out of their minds, that If I could do it, they could do it, because he was one of the best friends I ever had and the loss to me was far greater than they may imagine, and I was going to forget about it right now. We have work to do, we’re going to do it. We’re going in into a big battle and we can’t let something like this affect our performance in any way. So that’s the end of that, and I don’t want to hear any more talk about it. So, they took it that way.”

On the eve of the largest carrier battle in the history of the Pacific, Jimmy Thach went to war in this way with a unit that he had built from scratch.

[Note: All Thach quotes taken from the Reminisces of Admiral John “Jimmy” Thach, Volume 1, interviewed by Cmdr. Etta-Belle Kitchen, USN, (Ret.)]

Below you can see the Pensacola Aerospace Museum Turntable Rendering of Jimmy Thach’s White 23 F4F-4, which he flew on June 4, 1942, while escorting TBDs of Torpedo Squadron Three.

Check out Pensacola Aerospace Museum’s Facebook page for further aviation photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Navy

September 23, 2023 0 comment

History

The last F-14 Tomcat used by the US Navy transferred from Bethpage to the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

by Till Daisd September 22, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The last Tomcat in US Navy service, Felix 101, F-14D BuNo 164603, which was previously outside an empty office building in Bethpage, has been relocated to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale

According to Newsday, Felix 101, F-14D BuNo 164603, the last Tomcat in US Navy service, which had been parked in front of an empty office building in Bethpage, has been relocated to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale.

Once a California company, Prologis Inc. decided to buy the former Grumman Corp. office and surrounding land for a planned 218,150-square-foot warehouse, the status of the F-14 was uncertain.

According to Alert 5, the company asked the county for a sales tax exemption as well as property tax relief. Nevertheless, until the new location for the Tomcat was decided, the Industrial Development Agency could not vote on the tax-aid package.

The migration was supported and assisted in part by Northrup Grumman.

Since 2008, when the Grumman Retiree Club, a former employee group, and Grumman’s successor, Northrop Grumman Inc., built a monument, F-14D BuNo 164603 was parked at 600 Grumman Rd. West. The aircraft is one of the 711 F-14s that Grumman constructed on Long Island throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In accordance with Tony Holmes’ account in his book F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom, F-14D 164603 was initially delivered to VF-124 Gunfighters, the West Coast Tomcat Fleet RAG, on May 29, 1992, at NAS Miramar. In June of the following year, it was one of the first D-model aircraft assigned to VF-2.

The aircraft was moved to VF-213 in late 1997 and stayed there until it was transferred to VF-101 in early 2002. When F-14s and F/A-18s from CVW-11 attacked an SA-3 SAM battery and its attendant target acquisition and guidance radars near Kabul’s international airport on October 7, 2001, this Tomcat served as the strike leader.

BuNo 164603 was assigned to VF-31 in the summer of 2003, where it quickly became the “Felix 101” jet for the unit. After completing two more cruises with the unit, the Tomcat achieved the honor of carrying out the last Navy F-14 flight on October 4, 2006, when it took off from NAS Oceana and landed at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York.

As we have previously documented, the Cradle of Aviation Museum already has two F-14 cockpits, noses, and flight suits in addition to the third and oldest surviving F-14 ever constructed, which flew from 1971 until 1990.

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Randall Damm

September 22, 2023 0 comment

History

Combat Lancer: The F-111’s first flight

by Till Daisd September 20, 2023

written by Till Daisd

On March 25, 1968, the F-111A began its combat career with a night of strikes, starting with a 500kt, 500ft solo attack that fully displayed the F-111A’s prowess

The first Air Force version of the TFX (for “Tactical Fighter Experimental”), the most divisive of all the joint-service “commonality” airplanes developed during the McNamara era, and intended as “cost-effective” substitutes for aircraft acquired through conventional acquisition processes, saw deployment planning begin at PACAF in the fall of 1967.

The F-4, OV-10, and A-7 programs showed that commonality might succeed if it were carefully planned and implemented, but with the TFX, as told by Richard P. Hallon in his book Rolling Thunder 1965-68, McNamara had tried the impossibility of creating a successful aircraft by combining intrinsically incompatible requirements.

Key to meeting all these was a large variable-geometry wing that fully extended to generate the lift necessary to achieve long-range and long-loiter but swept sharply back to reduce drag, permitting a supersonic dash. In 1963, Congressional investigators found that the McNamara team had rejected the recommendations of service and NASA professionals when it selected General Dynamics over a more highly regarded Boeing design.

After being put through rigorous flight testing, the TFX exposed significant performance and safety flaws, many of which required redesign. The Navy was forced to create a replacement, the Grumman F-14A Tomcat, which first flew nearly a decade after the F-4 had first taken to the skies because the F-111B carrier-based variant, which was significantly overweight and dangerously underpowered, never entered fleet service.

Notwithstanding its flaws, the Air Force F-111A program had a lot of potential since it combined attack avionics on par with those of the A-6, a terrain-following radar (TER) coupled to an autopilot, and a low-level supersonic dash similar to that of the F-105. On March 17, 1968, St. Patrick’s Day, Combat Lancer, formally Det 1 of the 428th TFS, a six-aircraft operational test and evaluation force of the Air Force’s new General Dynamics F-111A, landed at Takhli.

On March 25, the F-111A began its combat career with a night of strikes, starting with a solo attack that displayed the aircraft’s prowess to the fullest extent at 500 kt and 500 ft. With an F-111A SN 66-0018, Colonel Ivan Dethman and Captain Rick Matteis departed from Takhli, flew over Nakhon Phanom, and then lowered their altitude to 500 feet in preparation for a strike on the Vung Chua truck park and storage area on Hon Co Island. Before leaving over the Tonkin Gulf, Dethman and Matteis dropped 12 M117 750 lb bombs with drag-retarding fins.

Regrettably, three were lost very quickly—two from mechanical issues and the third from an SA-2—and only one crew was saved. This shoot-down was so critical that then-Soviet military minister Andrei Grechko personally briefed Leonid Brezhnev on it. There was no doubt that the F-111A needed improvement. Despite the arrival of three extra F-111As to make up for lost aircraft, Combat Lancer saw little more action in Southeast Asia before flying back to Nellis AFB in the middle of November 1968. Having reached maturity, the F-111A returned to Vietnam in 1972 and, during Operation Linebacker, proved to be a lethal and extremely effective night attacker.

Almost exactly two decades later, the outstanding F-111F proved to be a pillar of Operation Desert Storm thanks to its increased power and Pave Tack self-designating attack system.

Rolling Thunder 1965-68 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Air Force

September 20, 2023 0 comment

History

The story of the XB-52 and YB-52, the scrapped B-52s prototype

by Till Daisd September 19, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The designations XB-52 and YB-52 were assigned to these prototype B-52 aircraft. X stands for “experimental,” and Y stands for “prototype.”

The B-52 was the primary long-range heavy bomber of the US Air Force during the Cold War after it went into service in 1955, and it is still a crucial component of the USAF bomber force today.

In his book Boeing B-47 Stratojet & B-52 Stratofortress Origins and Evolution, Scott Lowther explains how the Model 464-49, which was chosen as the XB-52’s winning design, evolved into the Model 464-67. Although they were similar in many ways, there were several noticeable variations, most notably the enlargement of the forward Fuselage. 464-67 had the cockpit well in front of the wing, as opposed to 464-49 which had the cockpit canopy’s rear behind the leading edge of the wing roots. The engine nacelles were modified, and the spoilers on the wings’ comparatively large area were shrunk. With these modifications, Boeing was prepared to start building two Model 464-67s after receiving an Air Force “letter of intent” for B-52 tooling in March 1951.

The designations XB-52 and YB-52 were assigned to these prototype B-52 aircraft. X stands for “experimental,” and Y stands for “prototype.” Usually, an “experimental” aircraft is constructed before a “prototype,” but in this instance, the YB-52 took flight first on April 15, 1952, while the XB-52 (serial number 49-230) rolled out on November 29, 1951, and the YB-52 (serial number 49-231) followed on March 15, 1952. This was because the XB-52 needed major repairs after damage occurred during testing of the pneumatic system’s pressurization.

On October 2, 1952, the XB-52 took to the skies after the prototype. The YB-52’s two-hour initial flight was powered by YJ57-P-3 prototype engines. The XB-52 and YB-52 were basically the same despite having different names.

In terms of appearance, the prototype B-52s and the finished aircraft shared many similarities. The cockpit, however, was a feature that stood out between the two planes right away. The pilot had good visibility thanks to the low-drag tandem fighter-style canopy, which was used on the B-47.

The layout of the landing gear used by the rest of the B-52 fleet was pioneered by the prototypes. Though at first appearing to be fairly comparable to the B-47’s bicycle arrangement, the B-52’s gear was very different. Four separate dual-wheel bogies were stored within the B-52 fuselage, but instead of deploying straight down, they deployed out to the sides, twisting around so that the bogies stored fore-and-aft ended up side-by-side. This gave the B-52 not a bicycle arrangement, but a quadricycle.

The main landing gear of the B-52 would allow it to sit levelly without leaning to one side or the other. It continued to use smaller outrigger gear close to the wingtips, although this was done to prevent wingtip impact with the ground during heavy takeoffs or bumpy landings.

Moreover, the B-52 was able to land while “crabbing” into the wind with its fuselage oriented significantly off the plane’s groundpath because to its forward bogies’ ability to swivel up to 20° side to side. This would allow for risk-free landings in strong winds.

The main wings of the prototypes had flapperons, ailerons, and spoilers. The inboard engine pylon was right outside the ailerons, which were small and placed far from the wingtip. The ailerons would have had better control if they had been positioned at the wingtip, but that would have placed them in a much thinner and more flexible area of the wing. The inboard spot was suitable for the maneuvers the bomber was supposed to make.

In any case, the spoilers were to handle the majority of the aircraft’s control requirements, making the ailerons redundant over time. The prototypes lacked the capacity to refuel in flight, unlike the subsequent production aircraft. The external fuel tanks that often adorned the outer wings of B-52 production models were also absent at first, but they were finally fitted later in the testing phase.

All of the horizontal stabilizers could move, although this movement was intended to stabilize the trim. Real control was carried out via small elevators around the back. Trim tabs were present in the elevators of the B-52F. The folding vertical fin was a significant but underappreciated characteristic of all B-52s that came after the prototype. Up until the G-model, the fin was a sizable structure that was far too tall to allow the B-52 to fit inside conventional hangars.

As a result, it could fold over 90 degrees, significantly decreasing the aircraft’s effective height. The fielding fin is not a self-contained system; an additional crane is required to lay it over and hoist it back up again, in contrast to naval aircraft that have wings that can fold to fit in the constrained area on board aircraft carriers.

The Boeing Seattle factory essentially handcrafted the prototypes. Jigs were not finalized, therefore production processes were not applied, and frequently, standard instruments and equipment were not used. The tail turrets on either prototype were represented by static fairings with painted-on lines; none was equipped with defensive armaments.

After 783 hours of flight, the YB-52 was handed to the US Air Force Museum on January 27, 1958. It was on display for a while, but the XB-52 and YB-52 were both scrapped sometime in the 1960s as a result of a “beautification” plan coordinated by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. The available literature does not sufficiently explain how the official museum of the United States Air Force was ‘beautified’ by turning one of the most beautiful airplanes ever made into razor blades and soda cans.

Boeing B-47 Stratojet & B-52 Stratofortress Origins and Evolution is published by Mortons Books and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Air Force

September 19, 2023 0 comment

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