Posted on 09/11/2014 10:43:28 AM PDT by lbryce
One of the first two U.S. combat pilots in the air on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 took off from Andrews Air Force Base in an F-16 with a mission to bring down United Flight 93 — and without any missiles or ammunition.
“We wouldn’t be shooting it down. We’d be ramming the aircraft,” Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney said describing her orders to The Washington Post. “I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot.”
The fourth recently identified hijacked plane appeared to be on a heading for Washington, and there was no time to arm the base’s fighter aircraft before Penney and her commanding officer took off to intercept the rogue Boeing 757 passenger plane.
“We had to protect the airspace any way we could,” Penney said.
Penney, the first female F-16 pilot of the D.C. Air National Guard’s 121st Fighter Squadron, had just completed two weeks of combat training on that historic Tuesday, and the bases’s fighters were still equipped with dummy ammunition. According to the report, there were no armed aircraft ready for immediate scramble over post-Cold War Washington in the fall of 2001.
The third plane had just struck the Pentagon and the base was at least an hour away from arming combat-ready aircraft, with the fourth already thought to have been identified.
“I’m going to go for the cockpit,” Col. Marc Sasseville told Penney as they donned their flight suits.
“I’ll take the tail,” Penney replied.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“How An American F-16 Pilot Was Given A Kamikaze Mission On Sept. 11”
How TWO American F-16 PilotS WERE Given A Kamikaze Mission On Sept. 11
God bless those that fly and fight.
/johnny
Then the squadron and base commander were fools. I worked at an Air national Guard base in the outer hinterlands equipped with A-7s, which many consider a joke, and they had live ammunition and missiles. But you’re going to tell me that Andrews didn’t? Heck, I carried a select-fire (semi or automatic fire) M-16 to guard the place when I wasn’t wearing a revolver.
I wouldn't even consider ejecting.
I am disappointed that it was ever otherwise. I live in an extremely safe neighborhood, in a house that would be extremely hard to break into, but I have always kept appropriate weapons in my home and ready to use. It is irresponsible to do otherwise, either with your home or with your country.
That’s why the Kamikaze Corps was so effective, although towards the end they were having to weld the cockpits shut.
Well, what surprises me is that it takes about an hour to arm the F-6 with missiles and munitions. If so, why wouldn’t there be a squadron or some token of aircraft ready around the clock fully armed and ready to go throughout 24 hours of the day for just such emergencies?
You answered my question. Post #9 Thanks.
You answered my question. Post #9 Thanks.
“Today there are always two fully armed fighter jets stationed at Andrews, with two pilots never more than yards from their aircraft.”
Too much information?
Hmmm...
The purpose of FIGHTER jets that are unarmed would be?
Who here thinks the Russians, Chinese, Iranians or Israelis have ever gone a day in modern times without squadrons of alert aircraft on the flight-line, ready to go at a moment’s notice? We’re rotting from within. Remember, Bill and Hillary had just left office months before, this is almost assuredly more about them than Dubya.
Thanks to bill Clinton and his "peace dividend" military, America was almost totally unarmed.
Yup. See my post 30 sec. after yours.
I can ALMOST positively state AAFB had NO munitions on the entire base unless it was the .00 buck in my shotgun for shooting feral dogs that ran onto the runways in 1973. I saw no compound, no guards nor any secure facilities for secure munitions storage. I crawled, drove, and walked damn near every inch of that base.
Couldn’t they ‘aim’ their a/c at the airliner and eject just a second or two before impact?...........
A few years ago I had the privilege of taking an after hour tour of the Capitol building. Underneath the seats of every representative is a small plastic case filled with stuff needed in case of a chemical attack. I am sure that members of Congress are given briefings on what to do in case the Capitol is attacked.
But they also know that Americans are willing to give up their lives to save them from harm.
Too bad the resident of the White House does not share that sensibility.
The clock is always ticking, ordnance isn't stored in the squadron spaces, got to go get it. At Pearl Harbor, it took time to break out small arms. Strip alerts cost time and money no one wants to spend during 'peace'. No one wants to consider intel that goes against 'peace'. The intel that was available wasn't fused, because the agencies didn't cooperate, so no overall picture was available.
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