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RC135

An F-14 pilot almost fired an AIM-7 Sparrow at a Boeing 727 while escorting an RC-135

by Till Daisd April 30, 2024

The F-14 Tomcat

When it came to Cold War fighter jets, the US Navy’s Grumman F-14 Tomcat was unmatched overall. Six long-range AIM-54A Phoenix missiles could be guided by the F-14’s AWG-9 weapons control system against six different threat aircraft at a long range. Sparrow missiles were carried for medium-range warfare; Sidewinders and a 20mm were available for dogfighting.

As Chuck Hunter, former US Navy F-14 pilot, recalls on Quora, firing a missile for a Tomcat crew ‘is always a thrill. We spend most of our deployed flight time carrying them around, prepping them, practicing with them, and then usually landing back with them. Dropping dumb bombs is fun, but when you can light a rocket motor hanging on your wing and watch it fly off, then track a target to a kill, it is a special day.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder

F-14 pilot recalls when he nearly fired an AIM-7 Sparrow against a Boeing 727 on intercept vector to the RC-135 his Tomcat was escorting

‘I was able to shoot an AIM-9L Sidewinder, AIM-7F Sparrow, and the big one an AIM-54C Phoenix. The AIM-9 is cool because it comes straight off the rail and you can see it from the moment it leaves and flies right out in front of you. It is also a short-distance missile so you get to see if it hits the target.

The AIM-7 Sparrow

‘The AIM-7 and AIM-54 are ejected downward away from the aircraft, so there is a thump and you feel the release of the weight. The Sparrow is 500 pounds, and the Phoenix was 1,000 pounds. After they leave, they fly out in front of you toward the target, but you see them coming up from under the nose. With radar missiles, often you are still focused on making sure that they are tracking, as they may be using information from the aircraft’s radar and you need to be sure you are continuing to send the information.’

F-14 Tomcat AIM-54 Phoenix shot

Hunter continues;

‘The Phoenix was an amazing shot, the 1,000-pound big white telephone pole’s rocket motor burns for 22 seconds so you have this beautiful white plume to follow. Our shot was in a heavy ECM environment against a PRN (Pseudo Random Noise) target so not as exciting as a turning and burning dogfight AIM-9 shot, but a very technical shot with lots of work and communication between the RIO and myself. We saw the missile guide but had to wait on the results as we were shooting at a QF-86 with a jamming pod on the wing. While launching the big white wingman was exciting, when we found out the missile hit the jamming pod on the wing of the QF-86 at 20+ miles, there was a real high five.’

Short of pulling the trigger

‘I was never able to launch one in combat but was close a few times. The training was there and short of pulling the trigger, it felt pretty much like the other shots. In one case the Master Arm was on, missile ready, and one-inch trigger squeeze before the Sparrow would be heading toward the target. We were already 3+ miles inside of cleared-to-launch range when we finally got a visual through broken clouds of a 727 airliner. I could have been famous, glad I wasn’t.’

AIM-7 Sparrow nearly fired against Boeing 727 airliner

Hunter concludes;

‘That was a big YIKES. In and out of puffies, they were on an intercept vector to the RC-135 we were protecting, 10 miles cleared to fire, Master Arm ON since we took the vector, missile selected and really wanted to pull the trigger, but waited…waited… 9miles… 8miles… no tally… 7 miles…. 6 miles…. oh crap 727… Master Arm OFF. We still intercepted, but low to high came up underneath and took pictures.’

Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force

April 30, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

55th Wing RB-47 Co-pilot downed and captured by Soviets was buried in Arlington National Cemetery

by Till Daisd March 30, 2023

written by Till Daisd

On July 1, 1960, Col. Bruce Olmstead’s RB-47B reconnaissance aircraft was shot down when it was assigned to the 55th Wing

On July 27, 2017, Col. Bruce Olmstead was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, fifty-seven years after being shot down by the Soviet Union and subsequently kept prisoner for seven months. In October, the former RB-47 co-pilot passed away.

When his RB-47B reconnaissance aircraft was shot down on July 1, 1960, Olmstead was serving with the 55th Wing. Over the Arctic Ocean, he was forced to eject from this damaged aircraft. Just he and the navigator John McKone survived the Russian fighter onslaught that claimed the lives of their other four crewmates.

After Olmstead’s plane was shot down but survived, the KGB allegedly sent him to Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka prison and accused him of espionage, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He was confined in isolation in a freezing cell with minimal access to food or rest while being interrogated incessantly.

The young co-pilot actually had a lot of inside information. But, during their seven months in isolation, neither Olmstead nor McKone surrendered anything to the KGB.

“They continued to fulfill the Airman’s Creed, to never surrender,” explained retired Brig. Gen. Reg Urschler of Bellevue, a squadron mate of Olmstead’s, who later commanded the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (SRW). “None of us can imagine what they went through.”

The RB-47H carried a crew of six, with the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator in a pressurized section in the nose. The three electronic warfare officers (EWOs), also known as “Ravens” or “Crows,” were stationed in what would be the bomb bay in a normal B-47. On typical missions, the EWOs spent about 12-14 hours working in this confined, windowless compartment, completely surrounded by electronic equipment.

It is noteworthy because during the burial, an RC-135 from the 55th Wing flew over, and Olmstead’s widow, Gail, received the folded American flag that draped his coffin. Gail attended tea at the White House with President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy after his release with Olmstead and McKone. The pilot would later describe the couple as “very charming” years later.

Olmstead never again flew with the 55th but instead went on to work as a test pilot and then an air attaché in Denmark until retiring as a colonel in 1983. After leaving the service, he became a home remodeling contractor. He traveled to Russia and welcomed ex-soldiers there into his home. Nonetheless, he carried the effects of those months in jail with him for the rest of his life.

“You can’t sit in a cell for 211 days without it affecting you,” he told the Washington Post in 1978. “You don’t forgive and forget. You forgive, and you live with it.”

Capt. Bruce Olmstead and his wife, Gail, left, and Capt. John McKone and his then-wife, Connie, are reunited in January 1961 after Olmstead and McKone were released after seven months in a Soviet prison. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)

Olmstead attended 55th Wing Association reunions in his latter years with pals, making multiple trips to Omaha. Once Cold War veterans were granted eligibility for combat medals in 2004, Olmstead and McKone (who passed away in 2013) earned their Silver Star medals belatedly. Olmstead gave him to the 55th Wing two years later.

During the early stages of the Cold War, the RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft was created from the B-47 bomber to gather data on Soviet air defense radar systems, including information on their position, range, and coverage.

In August 1955, the RB-47 officially went into service. The 55th SRW’s RB-47 aircrew flew thousands of perilous “ferret” missions during the ensuing ten years. The Soviet Union and other communist countries’ borders were flown by RB-47s at night while they flew in radio silence, gathering crucial information regarding the extent and power of the Soviet air defense radar networks. The crews of the RB-47 were compelled to spend a large portion of their time away from their homes at Forbes Air Force Base (AFB), Kansas, due to the requirement for this information and the comparatively limited number of RB-47s. The RB-47 was still in use when the more capable RC-135 took its place in the middle of the 1960s.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

Additional source: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

March 30, 2023 0 comment

Accidents and equipments

HOW US AIR FORCE AIRMEN ASSISTED RAF 51 SQUADRON IN REPAIRING THE RC-135’AIRSEEKER’ LANDING GEAR.

by Till Daisd March 21, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The landing gear was being retracted. It, on the other hand, continued to bounce around and refused to lock

The 55th Wing marked another historic milestone when a Royal Air Force (RAF) RC-135 ‘Airseeker’ aircraft diverted to Offutt Air Force Base (AFB) after experiencing landing gear problems during a joint exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada, as reported by Delanie Stafford, 55th Wing Public Affairs in the article Offutt teams with RAF 51 Squadron to fix Airseeker landing gear.

The RAF pilots asked the 55th Maintenance Group (MXG) for field-level maintenance assistance, which is the 55th Wing’s largest stateside request to date. It also enabled the first test of a newly adopted co-manning system aimed at bridging the gap in maintenance capabilities between the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force (USAF).

“We had a really productive deployment right until the last two missions,” said RAF Warrant Officer Ray Sowersby, 51 Squadron maintenance superintendent. “We had an undercarriage fault indication and the only jacks available were at Offutt. So I reached out to our cousins in the 55th and said ‘Hey guys, can we have some help?’”

The RAF would generally fly in equipment from its home station to make repairs, according to Sowersby. Due to its proximity to Nellis and the availability of maintenance staff experienced with the RC-135 platform, Offutt seemed a superior option.

Royal Air Force 51 Squadron and 55th Maintenance Group maintenance personnel troubleshoot landing gear problems on an RAF RC-135 Airseeker on Feb. 12 inside a hangar at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

Since 2011, the two countries have collaborated to assist in the training and equipping of maintenance and aircrew members on the recently purchased UK RC-135. According to Sowersby, this was the first time an RAF RC-135 landed at Offutt, and it was also the first time maintainers worked side-by-side to fix one of their planes.

The two countries have previously swapped aircrew members in training and real-world operations, but the maintenance side had not been tested.

“This was a great opportunity to test the co-manning initiative that has been in the works over the past two years,” said USAF 1st Lt. Dustin Bagnall, 55th Maintenance Squadron (MXS) assistant operations officer.

“This opportunity validated all of the time and effort expended by both nations to train RAF maintenance personnel and make it possible for maintainers from both countries to work together,” said Chief Master Sgt. Robert Wege, the 55th MXG superintendent has been heading the co-manning initiative. “The synergy created will greatly enhance the capabilities of the overall RJ intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance effort worldwide.”

Royal Air Force 51 Squadron and 55th Maintenance Squadron maintenance personnel troubleshoot landing gear problems on an RAF RC-135 Airseeker suspended by 30-ton aircraft jacks inside a hangar at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. Feb. 12.

The RAF plane landed in Offutt on February 11th. Joint maintenance technicians dragged the plane into a hanger and lifted it off the ground so they could start troubleshooting the landing gear.

“It was great seeing British and American maintainers working for hand and hand as if they had been doing it forever,” Bagnall said. “The integration was seamless.”

The RAF’s return to Offutt was also a reunion of friends for some of the 55th MXS repair and reclamation shop employees, who knew several of the RAF maintainers from prior training experiences.

“We were here to provide expert help for them,” said Tech. Sgt. Russel Orr, a 55th MXS aero repair technician. “Their landing gear was retracting into place. However, it continued to bounce around and would not lock. At Offutt, we have capabilities and equipment that the RAF does not have, and we can provide help with some of the more extensive aspects of troubleshooting.”

Maintenance crews from the RAF 51 Squadron and the 55th MXS worked together to raise and lower the hanging Airseeker’s landing gear, soon identifying the problem as a malfunctioning main landing gear sequence valve.

The 55th MXS supply personnel ordered the replacement parts on a Sunday, and the jet was fully mission capable by Tuesday. The success of the combined effort was aided by the prompt actions of everyone involved in the supply chain.

“The logistic support that was there over the weekend gave the co-manning another capability to show off,” Bagnall said.

Offutt and the 51 Squadron had never worked together on maintenance before, and the 55th MXG expects to continue the partnership in the future.

Sowersby acknowledged his appreciation for the 55th MXG’s assistance.

“The guys here…they’re bending over backward to make it all work for us,” he said.

Photo by Delanie Stafford / U.S. Air Force

March 21, 2023 0 comment