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The Planes We Flew

New! - Ken Stewart              
 
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Lt. Mike "Elf" Cryer - OV-10 "Bronco" - Covey 597, 1970-71 Pleiku

Mike wrote the story, "Up, Over, Sideways, Down", for a FAC Reunion a few years ago. This mission inspired John L. Plaster, the Special Forces writer, to write his autobiography Secret Commandoes.

Click here to read the story.
To download a MS Word copy, click here.

Capt Doug "Buz" Broussard, 1971-72 DaNang

Doug dosen't have a picture of his aircraft where he flew it, but he has this one of F4E 66-320001sitting on the ramp at Nellis AFB during a Red Flag exercise. Doug not only flew this F4 at DaNang, but also at Seymour-Johnson AFB where both he and it ended up. Doug still misses flying - but Cajun food and beer help.

Dan Eikleberry on 'his' RF-4C, number '604' at Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, summer of 1972

Each pilot in the squadron was given an airplane after he'd been there a few months, and someone painted your name on the canopy. They spelled my name wrong, but what the heck, I was glad to have a Phantom of my own! In reality, we flew every plane in the squadron, it was just coincidence if you flew your own.

One day, in August or September 1972, our classmate, Bill Gauntt (back seater, Fran Townsend, USAFA class of 1970) was flying RF-4C 604 over North Viet Nam, and Bill got shot down. At capture, Bill's WSO, Fran Townsend, was shot and killed by the NVA. Bill was captured, marched up the railroad tracks to Hanoi and became prisoner until the POWs returned in March 1973. Bill and I had both been in 26th Squadron at the zoo, and later, in 1969-1970 the 4756th Flying Training Squadron in Air Defense Command at Tyndall AFB. In 1971 we both were sent to Shaw AFB for RF-4C school and then assigned to the 14th TRS at Udorn, Thailand, 1971-1972. What a coincidence that after all those years, we would be separated by Bill becoming a POW after being shot down flying MY airplane!

Bill, and all who were shot down and endured the misery of becoming a POW, are my heroes forever.

Dan

Rayford Brown on 'his' F-4, number '342' in the Fall of 1970 at Korat RTAFB, Thailand
388th TFW - 39th TFS


The aircraft, "EASY ROCKIN MAMA II" , was named after the pilot's (George Koch),
father's P-51 in WW II.

Click here to read about Rayford's rescue.

 

A-10 Pilot - Greg ShueyHere's Greg Shuey at with the A-10 he flew at Myrtle Beach AFB. Greg was the Wing Scheduler and Wing Plans Officer there. Picture Below is the remains of a F-5E that Greg ejected from just three seconds before impact.

F-5E crash site      Click on thumbnails for larger images

Bill Bazar flew the F-104 at Luke AFB from 1978 to 1981, and the Italian and Turkish F-104s in Europe from 1982 to 1985.

Capt Bob Durham, C-130

Bob and the AC-130Here is Bob with the AC-130H he flew in '72-73, at Ubon, Thailand with the 16th Special Operations Squadron, 8th Tac Fighter Wing. With the TDY squadrons, there were 7- F4 squadrons at the time and one AC-130 squadron at Ubon. There were both the "A" models, which had 2/20mm guns and 2/40mm guns. The "H" had 2/20mm guns, 1/40mm and 1/105mm. A couple of the F4 squadrons were night fliers and roamed the trails in Laos with us. As you can see on the website, we had several classmates that flew fast machines. We also had a few who flew the AC-130. During this time, Buz Sawyer, Charlie Holland, Stu Thomson, Tim Davidson and Bob were there. Charlie Siefert left as we were arriving in 1972. There may have been others before or after?

Capt Dick Coe, F-4E (493), 34TFS

Post Flight MiG KillPost Mission Refueling 1st Lt Ken Webb, Citadel, and I just shot down a MiG-21 during an engagement with 4 MiGs while escorting the last strike flight into NVN, 5 Oct. 1972. I did maneuver a "bit" during the engagement; over-G'd at about 10+ (one of the MiGs had just shot an Atoll at me) and tore a chunk out of the aileron while I was punching the tanks off to engage the MiG's. The package was to strike the NE Rail Hub on the border with China. Finally for you trivia experts; 1. '68 is probably the only class that has two MiG killers that were roommates - who was my Doolie roommate? 2. The Franklin mint produced two USAF metal F-4 MiG-killer models, Steve Ritchie's and mine, both USAFA grads.

Click on thumbnails for larger images

Capt Joe Michel, C-130

Joe Michel - C-130 Cam Ranh BayI noticed a lack of trash-haulers in "the planes we flew," so here's a picture of me after C-130 mission in Cam Ranh AB RVN July '71. Not as glamorous as fighter jocks, but no less interesting. There was a group of us 68er's assigned to Clark and CCK and attached to Cam Ranh and Ton Son Nhut. The C-130 was the workhorse of the Vietnam airlift, and we had a wide variety of missions including medevac, bladder bird, and dropping 15K LB bombs (aka daisy cutters). We could land on any airfield with at least 3K FT, like Bu Dop, Djamap, Khe Sanh, and Dong Ha, to name a few, and we flew 24/7 no matter the weather. You'll have to talk to the Mrosla Bros to get the most interesting story about getting shot down and crash landing in a rice paddy.

Capt Jim Terry, F-105,17th Wild Weasel Squadron

Jim Terry with his Thud, Korat, May 72Read Jim's story, "How NOT to Dodge a SAM (at Night)".

Click here for the story.

While I was looking for pictures to submit, I ran across some other pictures from 1972/73 that show all of our classmates who flew the F-105. I took these pictures at Korat (Thailand) during my combat tour. Kerry, Howie, Larry, and I were pilots in the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron who were PCS to Korat in '72/73. Johnny was an EWO (we called them “bears”) who had completed a combat tour in the Thud earlier, and was back TDY in '72 as part of the US response to North Vietnam’s Easter invasion of the South.

 

Jim Terry (68) with AGM-45 Anti-Radiation Missile, Korat, May 72 Johnny Deloach (68) & Jim Terry (68), Korat, Jul 72 Howie Towt (68) and Jim Terry (68), Korat, Feb 73 Kerry Killebrew (68), Mike Herndon, and Howie Towt (68), Korat, Feb 73 Jim Terry (68), Bob Engelbrecht (Jim’s EWO), and Larry Funk (68) at rear, Korat, Feb 73
Click on thumbnails for larger images

Capt Darrel Knutson, C-141A, McGuire AFB NJ and Super Jolly Green Giant, HH-53C, Vietnam

The first is the venerable C-141 as it turned out later the A model. I was able to select the AC-47 as my choice out of pilot training. I talked the powers that be into switching my Survival school and a week leave so I could stay at Vance AFB for my son to be born. The day he was born I got a call that I had been switched to the C-141. I finished training at Altas AFB and reported to McGuire AFB NJ on 24 Nov 1969. Between my first mission on 3 December 1969 and landing off my last mission on 12 October 1970 I logged just over 900 hours flying time. I landed in Vietnam at least once a month during that time. The rotation would be to pick up a load somewhere in the states. Fly to Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, Crew rest and 12 to 14 hours later fly another bird to Yokota AB, Japan. Again 12 to 14 hours on the ground and off to the theater and back to Clark AB, Philippines or Okinawa, Japan or Bangkok. 12 to 14 hours later you picked up another bird and cycle back to McGuire. Managed to fly into most of Europe and the middle east but never made it to Central or South America or Africa. I was selected for the mission to Antarctica the summer of 1971 but “the dart on the wall” nailed me while I was flying my last mission so I came home to orders for school on the way to Vietnam.

The next group of pictures are of the Super Jolly Green Giant, HH-53C. I really wish I could find my pictures because I had some good ones of a Jolly with all three miniguns firing. It was good flying for a good mission. One of my most memorable flights was my last flight in Vietnam in May of 72. We were the 3rd attempt on a Marine F-4 back seater. I lead a flight of 2 Jollies and 4 Sandy’s up past Khe Sanh where the Sandy’s left to go to the site while we continued north across the DMZ and button hooked back down to the site. The Marine had punched out outside of the envelope and lost everything off his survival vest except his radio. He misunderstood the directions from the night before and was at the top of a ridge. The Sandy’s told him to hustle down as quick as he could. In the process he picked up his flares and other items from the survival vest as he stumbled across them. He came out of the tree line in a little ravine just as I pulled into a hover. Had to use the penetrator because I couldn’t land. My Flight Engineer pulled him off the penetrator and pointed to a stanchion and told him to hang on while he got the minigun back in the door. We left as soon as the FE announced he was on board. In and out I may have gotten over 10 feet off the ground but it sure wasn’t 15. During the egress the Pararescue (PJ) tossed the Marine a canteen of water. It bounced off his hand and landed on the other side of the cabin. So the Marine quickly jumped to the other side and grabbed the canteen and stanchion. At almost that same instant we took a single small arms rifle bullet through the floor exactly where the Marine had been sitting. I was lucky because that was the only battle damage I had throughout my tour in Vietnam.

They wanted to downgrade me to the C-5A coming out of Vietnam but I held out for the HH-53C over in England for four more years. Flew a computer for SAC and went on to fly UH-1N’s for four years.

Click on thumbnails for larger images

Capt Rick Colt, F-100, Tuy Hoa AB and Phan Rang AB 1970-1971; A-7D, Korat RTAFB 1972

I got an F-100 out of pilot training and reported to Luke AFB in September 1969 for training. With about 75 hours in the aircraft, I pulled off the gunnery range one day with complete hydraulic failure. The main gear doors would not unlock even by the alternate method and the flight ended with the landing in the video. To watch the video, click here.

I flew missions in the F-100 for three months out of Tuy Hoa and the remaining nine months out of Phan Rang. My aircraft at Phan Rang was named “Goodbye Charlie.” After that year, I was assigned to DMAFB in Tucson to check out in the A-7D. Our squadron, the 354th TFS, became operational in early 1972 and went TDY to Korat for six months. We didn’t get to paint names on our A-7s. I flew the A-7 for almost six years in Tucson and had a little over 3,000 hours in it. I grew to love Tucson and still live there.

Capt Ken Stewart, flew the B-52D out of Utapao in 1971 and the EB-66 out of Korat RTAFB in 1972-73

EB-66 CrewI transitioned from B-52G’s at Beale AFB, CA to EB-66’s at Korat RTAFB in 1972. The 66 was a great aircraft to fly, even if it was underpowered (it had the first production jet engine of its class). If you lost an engine before you got the gear up, you were going to put it back on the ground straight ahead. It was pretty much 1950’s technology and was originally designed to be a tactical bomber. Vietnam changed that and it was outfitted with electronic warfare gear so that it could try and jam the SAMS. There was a “C” model which had four EW’s in the bomb bay, and an “E” model which was pilot, navigator, and EW. After Bat21 (remember the movie?), the “C” models were kept below the DMZ. We flew the “E” all over North Vietnam.

I loved flying it, round dials and all. Despite having a yoke, we flew fingertip formation and had a regular 360 traffic pattern. Refueling was probe and drogue, so we had to be careful to find the right kind of tanker. I had a few somewhat exciting moments, but the most memorable was over downtown Hanoi during the December 72 bombing campaign. At the bottom of a SAM break in the middle of the night I had complete AC power failure. Things got really quiet, because the pressurization system quit and everything got very dark. I grabbed my flashlight and checked the EGT gauges and saw that we had engines, so I went through the emergency procedure and power came back on. Of course, everything had gone to fault so we had to exit the area since SAMs were being fired off like roman candles.

In 1973 I returned to B-52’s. What a difference flying the BUFF.

EB-66 Squadron
EB-66 Refueling
EB-66 at Sunset
Click on thumbnails for larger images
Who will submit the next picture(s) and story?

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