Posted on 10/21/2017 11:21:10 AM PDT by be-baw
PJ Pitsenbarger was in our Basic Training history manual in 2001.
Why, yes, I guess it is safe to assume you have a hot line to the Almighty.
Sounds like the Air Force needs to boost retention bonus. Are the other services having the same problem.
Since I retired in 87, I never saw those basic training manuals.
The boys from Tyndall and Mcdill fly over me almost daily so low I think my riggers is going to get caught on one. But I’m always proud.
Not sure, C-130s? But they are tight to the deck through these draws over the hills. Rumbles the house. {:0)
I did too. At least, they said they did and I never corroborated their stories.
So, I guess you must have been stationed at Mountain Home, where you knew those F-4 pilots. Maybe I saw you there, and didn’t know it. Did you fly F-4Ds and Es with the 10th or 22nd or the 417th? I suspect that might be about the only way you could verify that those fighter pilots actually did provide close air support at Khe Sanh, unless you have a hotline to the Almighty. I agree with Gingis, that is entirely possible.
Outside of about 5 miles, I would like Buffs, but closer inside, when I need someone to get down in the weeds, I prefer the fast movers.
By the way, Dragonflys do not have afterburners. They were just Tweets with Talon engines, but you knew that, right?
Talked to a friend tonight about this whose fiancee is an air force pilot. She said that he was offered a very substantial “pilot bonus” if he agreed to fly an extra 8 years past his initial gig. Said that this was a while lot of money being offered to keep pilots and he signed. Not dure how much.
The F-4 was certainly a wonderful fighter. It could do most anything, it seemed. Not only that, it was beautiful, in the same class of beauty as the P-51.
Yes, the F-4 just looked like an intimidating weapon. I believe Robin Olds used the F-4 to maximum advantage.
My son is entering USAF pilot training soon, but there are no F-4s any more. I told him, better to fly C-130s, C-17s, C-5s, or KC-10s. They have more engines than fighter aircraft do.
Worse than that, two Arley Berk class destroyers nearly sunk. Our military personnel are not war ready. Not for that kind of dogfighting. The couple of army people I know are both tipping the weight scale and really great at their daily jobs, even better at spending hours on the internet finding funny stuff.
One of those is my son. I talk to him often and sometimes about readiness training. He.he can barely pass a pt test.
I don’t know what the army is training them for, but it isn’t d-Day.
“...you knew those F-4 pilots. Maybe I saw you there, and didn’t know it. Did you fly F-4Ds and Es with the 10th or 22nd or the 417th? ... the only way you could verify that those fighter pilots actually did provide close air support at Khe Sanh, unless you have a hotline to the Almighty. ...
Outside of about 5 miles, I would like Buffs, but closer inside, when I need someone to get down in the weeds, I prefer the fast movers. ...”
Since Mark17 hasn’t disclosed his flight status, I couldn’t verify what those F-4 pilots at KMUO did or didn’t do earlier, nor what he did when with them. Neither can can he, unless he was flying with them earlier, when they were flying combat sorties to Khe Sanh or wherever. All he has is their unsupported word. I have the same, from numerous fighter pilots I met - wasn’t with them on any of their SEA sorties.
I spent 29 years in uniform; got an incentive ride in an F-4E’s back seat while I was a cadet, temporarily assigned to 43FS at PAED. That about sums up my small-airplane experience.
Was combat-crew rated in B-52s and later B-1Bs; also flight evaluator in both systems. Spent half the career in operational testing of both those airframes and certain equipment for FB-111s, U-2s, and SR-71s.
Worked closely with our counterparts in the small-airplane community, performing operational tests. Our office endured a long history of teaching them, helping them, unscrambling their mistakes. They fought us every step of the way.
What it really taught me was, never take a fighter pilot at their word.
The five-mile rule doesn’t square with what I heard about USMC, from a gunner I crewed with and whose word I did trust. He said his brother was a Marine in country back then; Marines would start fights with any F-4 pilots who happened to show their faces at the bar. But B-52 crewmembers couldn’t pay for their own drinks at the same bar.
“...Each B-52 could drop 50,000-60,000 pounds of munitions on one sortie. Each F-4 could drop 6,000-8,000 pounds....”
Additional research indicates my memory was fuzzy: I beg forgiveness from the forum.
F-4s carried ordnance weights from 8,000 to 18,000 pounds depending on model.
B-52s carried ordnance weights from 38,000 pounds (E, F) to 60,000 pounds (B-52D).
Doesn’t affect the conclusion, either way.
That might very well be true. The 5 mile thing, was not the USMC idea. I think they didn’t want Buffs closer than 2 miles, probably due to the possibility of friendly fire. I think that rule may have been dropped at a later date. I would feel uncomfortable with Buffs dropping bombs from high altitude, that close, but that’s just me. I believe the VC/North Vietnamese feared the Buffs more than anything. All I am saying, is if I were on the ground, I would want the Buffs too, I just wouldn’t want them dropping bombs on my head. That would be my only concern. I know the Buffs tore those VC up, and good for them. I just hate friendly fire incidents. I know they inevitably happen. I just hope we can keep it to an absolute minimum.
OK bro, with that, I am finished. Good luck.
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