Tough task: Heather Penney's mission on the morning of September 11 was to find United Flight 93 - and destroy it however she could.
More photos and article here:
Posted on 09/09/2011 3:07:15 PM PDT by Kaslin
Late in the morning of the Tuesday that changed everything, Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney was on a runway at Andrews Air Force Base and ready to fly. She had her hand on the throttle of an F-16 and she had her orders: Bring down United Airlines Flight 93. The day’s fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward Washington. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that morning, was told to stop it.
The one thing she didn’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.
Except her own plane. So that was the plan.
Because the surprise attacks were unfolding, in that innocent age, faster than they could arm war planes, Penney and her commanding officer went up to fly their jets straight into a Boeing 757.
“We wouldn’t be shooting it down. We’d be ramming the aircraft,” Penney recalls of her charge that day. “I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot.”
For years, Penney, one of the first generation of female combat pilots in the country, gave no interviews about her experiences on Sept. 11 (which included, eventually, escorting Air Force One back into Washington’s suddenly highly restricted airspace).
But 10 years later, she is reflecting on one of the lesser-told tales of that endlessly examined morning: how the first counterpunch the U.S. military prepared to throw at the attackers was effectively a suicide mission.
“We had to protect the airspace any way we could,” she said last week in her office at Lockheed Martin, where she is a director in the F-35 program.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
SEALs, SAS, Delta Force and Force Recon deal with this every day.
More balls than most guys.
To watch the interview go to this link. It is an hour long, but worth every nimute of your time.
nimute, minute
The one thing she didn’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.
***
What Commie Liberal made THIS decision, may I ask?
“The one thing she didn’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.”
Good Lord. Talk about a toothless defense. No ammo, missles or any offensive weapons. What’s the point of even having military aircraft, or even the National Guard if they can’t defend us or themselves. We are truly a paper-tiger.
Well, would appear that since every hostile nation or terrorist orgination knows that our guns are not loaded, they might as well just attack us at their convenience. Until then, Homeland Security and TSA will continue to shake-down old women and toddlers at the airport in a half-ass effort to protect us. Meanwhile the bad-guys are being given free-reign to prepare and perpatrate horrors upon us breeders.
This is absolutely insane. But I guess it’s OK as long as our duly, democratic elected leaders have bomb shelters in which to hide until the hostilities are over. We are truly screwed.
Ha, like I believe this, give me a break Miss kamikaze. This just does not pass the smell test and any one that believes this, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn that’s for sell, cheap ;-)
I’ll file this away with Jessica Lynch’s heroic battle in Iraq as just another attempt to pump up the female warrior myth that feminists are so keen to propagate for some odd reason.
But they have weapons and ammunition........
This is funny; I’ve met her 1000 times at Lockeed and never knew this.
(My primary occupation is also with a defense contractor.)
The pilot in this story was asked to ram an airliner and that's what she headed off to do.
She passed the test just as much as if she walked by an apartment on fire, stepped in and pulled everybody out to safety, or hauled a fire hose up the stairs of a WTC tower.
That day we saw heroism on an immense scale ~ beyond the call ~ way beyond.
All that has changed of course in the post 9.11 world. That squadron has transitioned to F-15s and all the Air Defense Guard units sit strip alerts with live weapons.
The fact that those in our military are willing to lay down their lives for this country is news to the Washington Compost?
Thanks for the link
That was the very moment we began to push the bastards back. What a thrill.
why dont we have armed planes always ready to go?
Maybe it is a stupid question, but to me it seems logical
Tough task: Heather Penney's mission on the morning of September 11 was to find United Flight 93 - and destroy it however she could.
More photos and article here:
It makes you wonder how prepared the Air Force would have been prepared for a sneak attack by Soviet Bombers or cruise missiles.Your not going to stop much with unarmed aircraft.
I wonder if that was caused by the Bill Clinton induced defense dividend where the Air Force lost a number of Fighter wings.Basically leaving Washington D.C. Defenseless.
These two people were simply the nearest ones available to do the job.
Your welcome. It was the best hour that I have spent this week.
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