Category Archives: USAF

Looking back at Sandy and the 602nd

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Below, we see Sandy at work, just 60 years ago.

U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1G (AD-5N) four-seat night attack Skyraider (ex-Navy BuNo 132619) nicknamed “Carolyn’s Folly” from the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Commando), call sign Firefly, flying out of Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, seen escorting an HH-3C Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter during a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in 1966.

Note the ‘Raiders” jolly roger. VIRIN: 100426-F-1234S-004

This circa 1952 aircraft began service in the Navy and was noted aboard USS Hancock (CV-19) on 21 August 1958 with VA(AW)-35 Det. D before transfer to the USAF. Struck off charge at NAS Alameda on 29 October 1964 after a 12 year Navy career, 132619 was transferred to the USAF– one of 330 Skyraiders to the Air Force including the A-1E, G, H, and J models. After flying with the 602nd and later the 1st ACS/SOS, 132619 was transferred to the South Vietnamese Air Force’s 516th Squadron in February 1971 when the USAF divested themselves of the type.

She was one of the rare ex-USN Raiders that survived USAF service in Southeast Asia, with more than 200 lost across 90,000 combat sorties in their nine-year (1963-72) stint

The aircraft is available as a Scalemates decal set.

The 602nd (designated a Special Operations Squadron in 1968) alone amazingly had 140 different AH-1E/G/H/J Skyraiders pass through their hands during Vietnam between 1964 and December 1970.

Here are a few.

USAF A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-133885) of the 602nd Air Commando Squadron flies over a fortified hamlet in Vietnam, in 1964. In 1964-1965, USAF aircraft in Vietnam often flew with Vietnamese markings due to political reasons. This aircraft was shot down over Laos on 15 February 1966. U.S. Air Force photo scanned from Dana Bell: Air War over Vietnam. Volume IV. (Warbirds Illustrated 26). Arms and Armour Press, London 1984, p. 38, ISBN 0853686351.

USAF A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-132423) of the 602nd Air Commando Squadron escorts a Sikorsky HH-3C Jolly Green Giant, in 1966. 132423 was shot down by small arms fire 40km north-west of Sam Neua, Houaphan Province, Laos on 6 July 1966. The pilot, Capt. J.R. Crane was able to fly about 30km north of Udorn, Thailand, and bailed out. He was rescued by a USAF helicopter. USAF Museum Photo  101117-F-1234S-104

USAF A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-132425) of the 602nd Air Commando Squadron in South Vietnam, January 1966. Note the Douglas C-47 and the Grumman HU-16 Albatross in the background. 132425 was shot down by ground fire near Na Pho, Khammouan Province, Laos, on 19 April 1966. The pilot, Capt. Richard J. Robbins, was killed. National Museum of the U.S. Air Force photo 051123-F-1234P-016

U.S. Air Force “Tropic Moon I” Douglas A-1E Skyraider (s/n 52-135195) of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron in flight with a Low-Light-Level-Televison (LLLTV) pod on the left wing, 1 June 1968. This aircraft was later shot down on 11 February 1970 while in service with the 22nd SOS. The pilot, Colonel William L. Kieffer, was killed.

A U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1H Skyraider (s/n 52-134555) of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron sits on the ramp at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base (“NKP”), Thailand, circa in 1968. This was the first USAF A-1H to be named “The Proud American”. 134555 was operated by the U.S. Navy until 9 January 1968. It was then transferred to the USAF, where it operated with the 602nd, 22nd, and 1st SOS before being transferred to the Vietnam Air Force. Here it operated with the 515th and 518th Fighter Squadrons until it was lost on 3 April 1972. 221109-F-IO108-002

U.S. Air Force “Tropic Moon I” officers and airmen of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base on 1 June 1968, showing the Low-Light-Level-Televison (LLLTV) pod on the wing of one of the four Douglas A-1E Skyraiders that made up the unit (s/n 52-135177, -135187, -135195, -135211).

USAF HC-130P Combat King recovery aircraft refuels a Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in flight near Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, between 10 and 23 February 1969. Visible are another HH-3E and two Douglas A-1 Skyraider (A-1H 135314, A-1J 142023) of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron. The A-1H 135314 was later shot down by ground fire near Ban Na, Laos, on 18 June 1971 while in service with the 1st SOS. The pilot was killed. The A-1J 142023 was shot down by ground fire over Laos on 1 March 1969. The pilot was killed. 342-C-KE-60922

USAF A-1H Skyraider (s/n 52-139778, “Bubbles’n Bust”) of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron on final approach before landing at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, 15 March 1970. NARA 176246880

The Air Force lost 102 pilots, killed, while flying A-1s in combat with USAF Skyraider drivers earning two Medals of Honor, 14 Air Force Crosses, and many other awards for valor.

The two Skyraiders in the collection the National Museum of the Air Force, Bu Nos. 132649 and 134600 are both former Navy planes that served with the 1st Special Operations Squadron during Vietnam.

Of note, 649 was the aircraft that Major Bernard Fisher earned his MoH in in 1966, having rescued a fellow pilot shot down over South Vietnam by landing in enemy territory under heavy fire and personally flying him to safety.

Douglas A-1E Skyraider Bu No. 132649 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. A 1952 Navy plane, she was struck off at Alameda in April 1964 and transferred to the USAF, serving with the 1st ACS in Vietnam. (U.S. Air Force photo 071030-F-1234S-020)

The aircraft on display represents Captain Ronald Smith’s A-1H The Proud American (Serial Number 52-139738) as it appeared during his SAR mission in June 1972 as part of the 1st Special Operations Squadron, Nakhon Phanom (NKP) Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. Captain Smith was awarded the Air Force Cross for the rescue of a downed F-4 Phantom crewman near a North Vietnamese airfield. The Proud American had a long and storied record in Southeast Asia. Although many pilots flew the plane, it is renowned for three separate episodes: Lt Col William Jones’ Medal of Honor mission in 1968, Capt Ronald Smith’s Air Force Cross mission in June 1972, and for being the last US Air Force A-1 lost in combat in Southeast Asia in September 1972. This aircraft (U.S. Navy BuNo 134600) was modified and painted by the Museum’s Restoration Division to represent Capt Smith’s Air Force Cross aircraft and placed on display at the National Museum of the Air Force in 2022. It was part of OPERATION FARM GATE and flown by the South Vietnamese Air Force from 1965 to 1975. (U.S. Air Force photo 221114-F-AU145-1305 by Ty Greenlees)

Spitfire at 90

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Sporting a pale blue-grey commonly called “French Grey” that was arrived at by adding blue pigment to a grey enamel base, Supermarine F.37/34 fighter prototype serial K5054 made its first flight on 5 March 1936 under the controls of test pilot Capt. Joseph “Mutt” Summers, CBE.

Prototype Spitfire K5054 Air Historical Branch-RAF MOD

After several minor tweaks and a new and improved prop, K5054 reached 348 mph in level flight in mid-May, then Summers flew K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) where it led to the Spitfire with the Air Ministry placing an inital order of 310 aircraft for roughly £9,500 a pop on 3 June 1936– while A&AEE was still working on its final report!

The first production Spitfire, K9787, rolled off the Woolston, Southampton assembly line in mid-1938, and ultimately 20,351 Spitfires were produced over the next 10 years in 24 main “Marks” (variants).

No less than 341 Allied pilots (including 16 Americans) gained “ace” status at the controls of a Spit during WWII.

Flight Lieutenant W.H. Pentland, of No. 417 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, awaiting start-up in his Supermarine Spitfire Mark VC (s/n BR195 ‘AN-T’) at Goubrine, Tunisia, in May 1943. Other aircraft of the squadron are lined up alongside. Royal Air Force official photographer, Woodbine G (F/O) IWM TR 861

The type remained, impressively, in front-line service until at least 1961, when it was retired by the Irish Air Corps at a time when jet fighters were entering their third generation.

The Imperial War Museum’s painstakingly built “99 percent accurate” circa 1993 flying replica of K5054 has been making rounds on a two-week tour of the country but has recently returned to Duxford, just in time to celebrate the Spitfire’s 90th birthday.

The Hun in Southeast Asia: 65 Years in the Rearview

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A U.S. Air Force North American F-100D-85-NH Super Sabre aircraft (s/n 56-3415) fires a salvo of 2.75-inch rockets against an enemy position in South Vietnam in 1967. This aircraft was lost with its pilot, 1Lt Clive Jeffs, after an engine failure near Nha Trang on 12 March 1971. VIRIN: DF-SN-82-00883

The North American F-100 Super Sabre, remembered simply as “The Hun,” had the distinction of being the longest-serving American jet fighter-bomber to fight in the Vietnam War. The first six F-100s were deployed from Clark Air Base in the Philippines to Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base on 16 April 1961, some 75 years ago this week.

F-100 flying low over Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in 1969, providing close air support

F-100F Super Sabre 56-3923 90th TFS 3rd TFW Bien Hoa Vietnam 1968ish

The type was only withdrawn from the country in 1971, after serving as the first Wild Weasel SEAD aircraft and serving on “Misty” FAC missions.

A staggering 242 F-100s of various models were lost in Vietnam over its decade “in country.” While none of those were to PVAF fighters, 186 were downed by assorted anti-aircraft fire, seven destroyed in Vietcong sapper attacks on airbases, and 45 lost in operational incidents.

Notably, F-100s fought the USAF’s first air-to-air jet combat duel in the Vietnam War, with the 416th TFS’s “Green 2” Capt. Donald W. Kilgus, downing an enemy MiG-17 via cannon fire in a pursuing dive on 4 April 1965 while some 76 miles from Hanoi.

The thing is, though Kilgus painted a MiG kill marking beneath the windscreen of his Hun and another on the F-105G Wild Weasel that he flew later in the war, he was never given official credit for the kill, although even the Vietnamese say it happened.

Captain Donald Kilgus in his F-100D Super Sabre, 55-2894, named Kay Lynne.

An interesting factor about the F-100’s service in Vietnam was that four Air National Guard squadrons were activated in 1968 and deployed overseas to see combat, a rare use of the Guard during the war.

  • 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Colorado ANG (Deployed April 1968)
  • 174th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Iowa (May 1968)
  • 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron, New Mexico (May 1968)
  • 136th Tactical Fighter Squadron, New York (June 1968)

Two other outfits, the 119th TFS of New Jersey and the 121st TFS of the District of Columbia, provided so many volunteers to the active-component’s 355th Tactical Fighter Wing that it was referred to as the “fifth Air Guard squadron” in Vietnam.

“Scramble at Phan Rang” By William S. Phillips shows pilots of Colorado’s 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron running to get their F-100 Super Sabre aircraft airborne during an enemy rocket attack. The 120th became the first Air Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam, less than four months after mobilization. Flying F-100C Super Sabre aircraft it, like the other three mobilized Air Guard units to serve in Vietnam, will primarily conduct low-level ground support missions in coordination with American and South Vietnamese units operating in South Vietnam. These include precision bombing plus machine gun and rocket attacks on enemy emplacements and troop concentrations. The 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron entered combat on 5 May 1968, two days after its arrival, and completed its 1,000th mission 51 days later.

Tuy Hoa F-100C from 188th TFS, NMANG, Albuquerque, NM

During the Air Guard’s 11 months of service in Vietnam, the four deployed F-100 squadrons flew 24,124 combat sorties and accumulated 38,614 combat flying hours.

The last F-100s, operated by the ANG’s 114th TFG (South Dakota) and the 185th TFG (Iowa) were retired in 1977.

One of the two Huns in the collection of the National Museum of the Air Force wears Vietnam camo and for good reason. F-100F (s/n 56-3837) was a Misty FAC aircraft assigned to the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phu Cat Air Base, Vietnam.

Marking the passing of Brigade 2506 including Baker, Gray, Ray, and Shamburger

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Today marks the end of the attempted liberation of Cuba by Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506), which landed at the island’s Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on 17 April 1961 and, surrounded and cut off, laid down their arms on 20 April, some 65 years ago.

Special Demolition Frogman, Brigade 2506, Cuban Bay of Pigs, by Stephen Walsh, Paratrooper from 1st Bn, and a Brigadista with a MP40

Brigade 2506, Cuban Bay of Pigs, Stephen Walsh

The brigade, 177 airborne paratroops and 1,297 landed seaborne, fought valiantly but, facing upward of 25,000 Cuban troops backed by militia and police, never stood a realistic chance, especially once the Cubans controlled the air over the beachhead.

An estimated 114 drowned or were killed in action, and 1,183 were captured, “tried” before a kangaroo court, and imprisoned.

Exile groups in the U.S. raised $53 million worth of food and medicine in ransom to exchange for the release and repatriation of Brigade prisoners to Miami starting on 23 December 1962.

Four Americans, Capt. Thomas Willard “Pete” Ray, TSgt. Leo Francis Baker, Major Riley W. Shamburger, and TSgt. Wade C. Gray was killed when their Brigade 2506-marked B-26s were shot down over the beachhead. The CIA had recruited all through the Alabama Air National Guard and posthumously earned the Distinguished Intelligence Cross.

A new museum of the Brigade 2506 Association just opened in Miami.

The Southern Museum of Flight, joined by the 117th Air Refueling Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard, will assemble in Birmingham on 21 April in solemn remembrance to honor four Alabamians who paid the ultimate price.

And so we remember…

Nothing More Stirring than a Super Delta

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The Thunderbirds took a slight detour on their way to SUN ‘n FUN from Panama City to link up with the Blue Angels over the Emerald Coast.

Offical caption: The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (NFDS) – the Blue Angels – and the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron (USAFADS) – The Thunderbirds – took part in a rare formation flyover of Pensacola Beach April 14. The Super Delta formation, a much anticipated event, stems from joint training opportunities held in 2020 and 2021 and serves as a show of both teams’ discipline and skill.

Photo by Bruce Cummins VIRIN: 260414-N-GO179-9001

The image also shows the big difference in size between the Birds’ 10-ton F-16C/D Vipers they have been flying since 1992 and the Blues’ more recently acquired (2021) F-18E/F Rhinos, which run 16 tons empty.

Have a great weekend, guys!

What 603 feet of Sovereign U.S. Territory can Do in a Pinch

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After mentioning the helicopter carrier that saw the first use of ships’ caps for recovered astronauts earlier this week– USS Guam (LPH 9) in 1966’s Gemini 11, we would be remiss not to mention what that same humble Iwo Jima-class phib was up to some 30 years ago this week.

Guam, some 31 years young at the time, left Morehead City, North Carolina, on 27 Jan 1996 at the head of an ARG that included the transport dock ship USS Trenton (LPD 14) and the dock landing ships USS Portland (LSD 37) and USS Tortuga (LSD 46). Embarked was the 22nd MEU (SOC), made up of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 261, and assorted support elements, sailing under U.S. Sixth Fleet orders.

Just over two months into her (planned) six-month deployment to the Med and afloat in the Adriatic on a series of planned exercises, the call came on 11 April 1996 for Guam— the Mediterranean ARG with the embarked Landing Force Sixth Fleet– to sail at best speed to Monrovia, Liberia, some 3,000nm distant, where trouble was brewing. Leaving Tortuga behind (she was in Haifa, Israel, with the MEU artillery– Battery B, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, and the light armored reconnaissance company, Company D (-), 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion) to take part in exercise Noble Shirley), Guam and the rest of the ARG made for West Africa.

Four days later, on 15 April, the Marines of the 22nd MEU’s flyaway forward liaison cell arrived at the embassy in Monrovia to begin coordinating with the deployed European Special Operations Command’s forward headquarters in the country.

By 19 April, Guam and the promise of embarked Marines just offshore became real when they arrived at Mamba Station located off the coast of Liberia. The mission now assigned to 22d MEU was to conduct noncombatant evacuation operations and to provide security for the American Embassy in Liberia– Operation Assured Response.

USS Guam (LPH-9), Op Assured Response off Liberia, April 1996. Note her mix of CH-46Es, CH-53Ds, AH-1s, and UH-1s. 

As noted by the 82-page Marine History of Assured Response:

At 0600 on 20 April, the first helicopter sorties carrying Marines arrived to replace the soldiers at the embassy in Monrovia. The well-briefed platoon guides from Company F and Weapons Company BLT 2/2 came ashore first. The main body of Marines began arriving at the basketball court landing zone one hour later. Company F arrived first, quickly followed by the small 22d MEU forward command element and some MEU Service Support Group 22 (MSSG-22) personnel. Fast attack vehicles debarked carrying .50-caliber machine guns, Mk19 grenade launchers, and tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided

missiles, commonly called TOW missiles. These vehicles, combined with the mortars, machine guns, and sniper weapons already on station at the embassy, significantly enhanced the Marines’ firepower. The MEU completed the entire lift by 1015.

Company F, commanded by Captain Eric M. Mellinger, assumed security of the compound. The smooth transition left Marine squad leaders and platoon commanders with fire plans and field sketches drawn by the departing airborne troops. Starting at about 1230, soldiers from Company C, 3d Battalion, 325th Infantry, left in six sorties of three Boeing MH-47D Chinook helicopters. The last flight out of the embassy at 2015 included the outgoing commander of the European Special Operations Command’s Joint Task Force Assured Response. That evening, more than 275 Marines protected the compound. Captain Mellinger noted the embassy staff seemed overjoyed the Marines had arrived.

Guam, her two fellow gators, and (most of) the 22nd MEU would remain in/off Liberia with the ships often within direct-line sight of Monrovia for weeks as USAF aircraft ran a quiet evac operation ashore (103 combined sorties via MH-53 Pave Low helicopters, MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft, AC-130 gunships, KC-135 Stratotankers, and C-130 cargo aircraft) from M’Poko Airfield, with the Navy/Marine force providing muscle and presence.

USS Guam (LPH-9), Op Assured Response off Liberia, April 1996

The already split ARG/MEU was further dimenished when Trenton left for the coast of Spain to join with Tortuga for Exercise Matador 96 in early May, and Portland left on 20 June, leaving Guam alone on station off Liberia until the scratch-built SPMAGTF Liberia (732 Marines and Green side Navy personnel with 5 LAVs and 9 AAPV7s, along with six CH-46Es of HMM-264) arrived crammed aboard USS Ponce (LPD 15) on 27 June.

Between 9 April and 18 June, Joint Task Force Operation Assured Response evacuated 2,444 people (485 Americans and 1,959 citizens of 72 other countries) from Liberia.

USS Guam was decommissioned on 25 August 1998 and was disposed of as a target off the East Coast on 16 October 2001 in a SINKEX conducted by the John F. Kennedy Battle Group.

Although battered, Guam took over 12 hours to sink. One tough girl to the last.

Her motto was “Swift and bold.”

The Everlasting Talon

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Living in the area code 228 green/dark space triangle between a series of Army (Fort Rucker), Navy (Pensacola, Meridian and Whiting Field NAS, plus Belle Chase NAS JRB), USAF (Keesler, Columbus and Eglin AFB), ANG (Gulfport), and AANG (Camp Shelby) training bases, it gets loud around here fairly often and there are school birds (T-38s, T-45s, TH-73s, T-6As, etc.) in the air up and down the beach and overhead almost every (mostly) sunny day.

I grew up with T-28s, T-34s, TH-57s, T-37s, and the lumbering old T-2 Buckeye, all common sights.

Take these Cold War classic warbirds into account, posed in front of ANG Gulfport’s circa-1942 USAAF “meatball” hangar during Sentry South 26 just a few weeks ago.

Six U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon aircraft assigned to the 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus Air Force Base are parked on the flightline during exercise Sentry South 26-2, Gulfport, Mississippi, Feb. 25, 2026. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Dylan McCrink,102d Public Affairs Detachment  )

Of interest, the aircraft closest to the camera, with Columbus’s CB tail flash and camo scheme, is SN 66-4358, an airframe that is 60 years young this year! Constructed as a Northrop T-38A-65-NO, #358 was converted to T-38C standard at Boeing, Williams Gateway AP, Arizona in 2003, and is still trucking.

Speaking of which, despite the slow (but somewhat steady) rollout of the T-7 Redtail, which is supposed to replace the USAF’s 437 enduring T-38Cs, this is in yesterday’s DOD/DOW Contracts:

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, was awarded a ceiling $900,000,000 program indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for T-38 Avionics sustainment and support. This contract provides for total life cycle support for the T-38C Avionics System, ensuring the system remains current, airworthy, and capable of meeting mission requirements. Work will be performed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Laughlin AFB, Texas; Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base, Texas; Sheppard AFB, Texas; Vance AFB, Oklahoma; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Edwards AFB, California; Patuxent River, Maryland; and St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2036. This contract was a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $56,199,728 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Legacy Training Aircraft Division, Hill AFB, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8220-26-D-B002). (Awarded March 31, 2026).

Pour some Old Crow out for Bud

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America’s last living “triple ace,” BGEN Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson, was laid to rest this week at Arlington, having passed at age 102.

He was interred in section 38, joining his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Eleanor Cosby, who was buried in 2015.

A horse-mounted honor guard draws the casket of retired Air Force Col. Clarence “Bud” Anderson during his interment at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 30, 2026. Anderson, a World War II fighter pilot, died May 17, 2024, at the age of 102. (Eric Dietrich, Air Force)

If you have ever seen a classic American war bird with an “Old Crow” nose art, an ode to the cheapest whisky of the time, it is a salute to Bud who used the moniker on his first aircraft at age 22, P-39Q, tail number 42-20746, then kept using it on three different P-51Bs during his first WWII combat tour with the 357th FG at Leiston Airfield, England, and famously on P-51D 44-14450, Code B6-S, on his second tour. Finally, on F-105D 60-5375 as Wing Commander of the 355th TFW stationed at Takli Air Base in Thailand during Vietnam.

He flew 116 individual combat missions that resulted in 16 downed German aircraft and one shared combat victory between March and December 1944, earning him triple ace status.

As a fighter pilot, test pilot, and combat and operational commander, Anderson logged over 7,500 flight hours and flew more than 130 types of aircraft. His many decorations include five Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Legions of Merit, 16 Air Medals, and the French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre.

Appropriately, Bud’s services this week saw a double flyover: first by four F-35s, followed by four World War II-era P-51 Mustangs, two of which bore Old Crow livery.

Phantom spotting

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I dearly love the old F-4 and, while the last one (of 5,195 made) rolled off the assembly line in 1981 (at that time in Japan), they are still fairly abundant in the wild even 45 years later.

At least 96 and perhaps as many as 150 Phantoms are still in front-line military service (including with Iran, at least for now), while easily another 200-300 are in storage, and about that many are on public display everywhere around the globe.

And I do mean everywhere.

Of note, the only “full-time jet fighter” in Iceland is a former 3rd/4th TFW F-4E-53-MC (72-1407) on display in USAF 57th FIS “Black Knights” livery as a gate guardian to the University of Iceland’s Keilir Aviation Academy aboard the old Keflavik AB.

Transferred to Keflavik in 1992 and largely stripped, it wears 66-0300, the number of the last Phantom to leave Keflavik in November 1985 when the Knights upgraded to F-15s

One of my most frequently seen “Spooks” has been on the gate guard to the USS Alabama Battleship Park for years, McDonnell Douglas F-4C-18-MC Phantom II, USAF registration 63-7487 (AF63/487).

Seen back in 2021.

I know she has been there for a couple of decades, as the local Fox affiliate opened its nightly news feed with almost exactly this shot going back to Hurricane Katrina.

She survived the monster storm that caused the 35,000-ton Alabama herself to list.

The circa 1963 warbird served with the 12th TFW and later the 366th TFW in South Vietnam, as well as the 8th TFW out of Ubon RTAB, Thailand, between 1965 and 1970, seeing lots of Southeast Asia service. After that, she saw Cold War duty with the 81st TFW at RAF Bentwaters, the 26th TRW at Zweibrcken Air Base, West Germany, the 52nd TFW at Spangdahlem, and the 401st TFW at Torrejon.

By 1979, she was back CONUS with the 182nd TFS of the Texas Air Guard out of Kelly Field. In her old age, she was converted to a GF-4C ground trainer in 1985 at Sheppard AFB, then retired and eventually shipped in 1991 to join “Big Al” in Mobile.

So it was shocking when I passed by on I-10 and saw that 487 was down from her pedestal and had disappeared.

Now that’s sad.

It turns out that she has been dismounted so that she can be restored, which is awesome.

In the meantime, she is sandwiched next to two very appropriate Vietnam-era airframes.

The first is a circa 1960 Douglas A-4L Skyhawk (BuNo 147787), which had served with VMA-223 and VMA-311 out of MCAB Chu Lai and VA-22 off USS Ranger.

Her second mate on the ground is a circa 1954 MiG-17 Fresco-A (540734) in Vietnam People’s Air Force livery (although she is a former Bulgarian airframe).

Looking forward to seeing 487 refreshed and preserved for future generations.

Speaking of which, the USS Hornet Museum is currently restoring the last Phantom to fly off a Carrier (VF-151 Vigilantes, USS Midway, March 25, 1986).

Desert Emils: 7./JG 26’s 109Es and the shifting sands of Africa

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The 7th Staffel of Adolf Galland’s famed Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) “Schlageter,” fresh off the Lowlands and France campaigns and the drawn-out aerial combat against the RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, was sent south to warm the skins of their Messerschmitts along the assorted shores of the Mediterranean some 85 years ago this month.

This left Oberleutnant Joachim “Jochen” Müncheberg (at the time with 23 confirmed aerial victories), with his unit on a well-earned skiing vacation in the Austrian Alps, suddenly ordered off the slopes and rushed to Sicily with his pilots and ground crews (sans planes) to assist in the attempted reduction of stubborn Malta.

The squadron never got another vacation.

Arriving at Gela on 9 February, they received their factory-new Bf 109 “Emil” E-7/Ns, and by the 12th, Müncheberg tallied his 24th victory, a RAF No. 261 Squadron Hurricane flown by Flt. Lt. James MacLachlan (who bailed out, wounded), over Malta.

Messerschmitt Bf 109E4 7.JG26 White 1 Joachim Muncheberg transit flight Sicily, Feb 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E3 7.JG26 White 4 line up Gela Sicily March 1941-01

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7 7.JG26 White 7

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7 7.JG26 White 9 Gela Sicily 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7B 7.JG26 Gela Sicily April 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7B 7.JG26 White 12 Joachim Muncheberg WNr 3826 Gela Sicily 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7B 7.JG26 White 1 Munchenberg Gela Sicily Feb 1941

7./JG 26 would continue its rampage across the theater, relocating to Grottaglie airfield near Taranto for the Yugoslav/Greece campaign in April, shifting to airfields in Greece (Molaoi) for the Crete campaign in May, then to join Fliegerführer Afrika where they operated from Libya (Ain el Gazala) until, with only a couple of planes left, were recalled to France in late August 1941, where they received newer Bf 109 F-4s.

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7B 7.JG26 Gela Sicily

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7B 7.JG26 Gela Sicily 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E4 7.JG26 White 3 Ernst Laube Gela Sicily May 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7 7.JG26 armorers 1941

Messerschmitt Bf 109E7N 7.JG26 White 11 Theo Lindemann WNr 4139-Gazala 21st Aug 1941. Note the flare cartridges around his legs. 

By the time they did, Müncheberg’s tally had grown to 49 while 7./JG 26 claimed 52 enemy aircraft during their time in the Med without a single pilot lost to the Allies.

While 7/JG 26 never saw the sands of North Africa again, Müncheberg would return there as a Major in command of JG 77 in October 1942– by which time he had over 100 “kills” after Eastern Front service.

In the desert, he met his fate at the hands of Capt. Theodore Reilly Sweetland, USAAF, who reportedly rammed his flaming British-made 2nd FS/52nd FG Spitfire into the German uber-ace’s Bf 109 G-6 during a dogfight over Meknassy, French Tunisia, on 23 March 1943.

The Pomeranian-born Müncheberg, aged 24, is buried at the German cemetery at Bordj-Cedria, Tunisia, and was credited with 135 victories, while the Oakland-born Sweetland was just three months shy of his own 24th birthday. The American is still listed MIA, memorialized at Tablets of the Missing North Africa American Cemetery Carthage, and earned a posthumous Silver Star among other decorations.

In a bit of dark irony, RAF Squadron Leader James Archibald Findlay MacLachlan DSO, DFC & Two Bars, who had lost his arm to Müncheberg over Malta in February 1941, would perish in Pont-l’Évêque, German-occupied France, also aged 24, on 31 July 1943, just three months after Müncheberg and Sweetland’s mid-air inferno. “One-Armed Mac” at the time had 16 claimed victories, a triple ace, and had been shot down over France while piloting his American-made ADFU Mustang, then passed 13 days later at a German field hospital in Normandy.

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