Category Archives: USAF

NASA’s 250th Color Birds

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While this weekend’s Sail4th 250 event in NYC was amazing (two-hour video here) and included over 100 companion aircraft flyovers, one of my big disappointments was that there were no full-color birds such as the military had in widespread service during the Bicentennial in 1976, when arguably the military was even more cash-strapped.

You know, like these guys:

Bicentennial VX-4 F-4 Phantom II pictured over NAS North Island.

Well, at least the NASA guys reached for the paint.

Among the 16 aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in the Mojave Desert, next to Edwards AFB, are three surplus old F-15Ds and F-18Bs used as high-altitude testbeds and chase planes for other, more experimental types, such as the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft, providing photo and video support for the latter.

One of each of the twin-tailed Cold Warriors was recently given very patriotic Bicentennial-worthy schemes to perform the flyover of D.C. during the 250th celebration.

For reference, the two aircraft are N867NA (F/A-18B-12-MC Hornet, Lot 6, BuNo 161947, formerly of VX-23) and N885NA (F-15D-38-MC Eagle, SN 84-0045, formerly of the 433rd WPS), both circa 1984 airframes that have been much modified over the years.

AFRC2026-0146-85

NASA photographer Jim Ross flies above the Washington Monument in Washington on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in an F-18 aircraft, as part of a flyover to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. This aircraft is from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, and it joined other NASA aircraft for the flyover. NASA Jim Ross AFRC2026-0146-90

It would be great to see these “color birds” continue to carry their schemes for the next few years and then be retired to deserving air museums as-is.

Pour one out for The Jolly J

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Exercise Valiant Shield 2026 (VS26) concluded on 1 July, stretching across the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Japan, and at sea around the Mariana Islands Range Complex.

It was an impressive assemblage of vessels, built around the GW and Kaga carrier groups with support from other Pacific allies.

Think of it as a warm-up for RIMPAC, which is just warming up.

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, and U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning IIs fly over U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group as it sails in formation with Japan Maritime Self- Defense Force as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 21, 2026. U.S. Navy participants include Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Shoup (DDG 86) and USS Benfold (DDG 65), and Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota (SSN 783). Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force participants include JS Kaga (DDH 184), JS Fuyuzuki (DD 118), and JS Jingei (SS 515). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tyler Crowley)

The big culmination of VS26 was a SINKEX of a large combatant some 200nm from Guam, in this case the retired Austin-class ‘phib ex-USS Juneau (LPD-10), which had a storied career over nearly 40 years from Vietnam to Desert Storm and has been on red lead row since 2008.

The old girl took one hell of a beating. One that the Navy, probably in some advertising to China, isn’t afraid to share. 

First up was a Guam-deployed B-2 Spirit bomber hitting her with a 2,700-pound LRASM in an ode to Billy Mitchell. While the effect isn’t seen in real time, its half-ton warhead left the 17,000-ton LPD listing and with a flooded well deck.

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, deploys an AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) to support a live-fire sinking exercise as part of Valiant Shield 2026 over the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. This maritime strike in the Pacific showcased the Joint Force’s capacity for simultaneous global operations while underscoring U.S. commitment to regional security and cooperation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Thomas Barley)

Juneau then caught two Australian-owned AGM-84 Harpoons from an RNZAF P-8A Poseidon of No. 5 Squadron, with the Kiwis assisted by an RAAF Poseidon and two from the U.S. Navy.

This is the first time an RNZAF Poseidon has taken part in Valiant Shield, which started in 2006 and is in its 11th iteration this year, and the first time they have used anti-ship ordnance, which were loaded at Anderson AFB in Guam.

She also suffered from ordnance delivered by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60 maritime helicopter and Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 multirole fighter aircraft.

Then came the coup de grace delivered by an unnamed Japanese submarine (likely JS Jingei, SS 515). A bit of a tragic twist of fate when you consider the loss of a previous USS Juneau (CL-52), which was lost to a Japanese submarine in 1942 and carried almost all of her crew, including the five Sullivan brothers, to the bottom.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine fires a torpedo at the decommissioned USS Juneau in support of a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anthony Vilardi)

The Jolly J now lies with the fishes. A hard-earned rest.

Can we give it up for the Air Demonstration Teams?

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Sure, the whole thing smacked a bit of “bread and circuses,” but you have to admit the Super Delta last weekend coming over the White House was stirring.

Who doesn’t love seeing the Blues and the Birds in one 12-plane formation?

Plus, it really shows how much larger the F-18E/F is over the F-16C/D.

Via White House.

The Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force’s Thunderbirds fly in a 12-plane Super Delta formation over the Ellipse in Washington, June 14, 2026, ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 fights at the White House. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brittany Primavera

Similarly, the RAF’s No. 1 Group Red Arrows, tooling around in little Hawk T1As, made their appearance the same weekend over St. James during the Trooping of the Colors in London.

Pictured: His Majesty the King’s Birthday flypast over Buckingham Palace. Nine Hawk jets from the Red Arrows. The King’s Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour, is a celebration of the monarch’s official birthday in the United Kingdom.  

The Arrows have been active since 1964, making them much newer than the Blues (formed in 1946, flying F6F Hellcats) or the Birds (1953).

Speaking of demonstration teams, the Italian Frecce Tricolori (313° Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico), which are three years older than the Arrows (they flew F-86 Sabres when formed), were recently in action over Rome with their Aermacchi MB-339-A/PAN trainers to celebrate the Festa della Repubblica.

I had just stayed in an Airbnb at the Argentina ruins, watching cats sunbathe, while in Italy visiting Benelli (more to come on that very soon!), and was sad I missed them.

Meanwhile, the Hawk Mk 132-borne Suryakiran Aerobatic Team of the Indian Air Force’s No. 52 Squadron just celebrated its 30th, and they look great.

Sadly, the RCAF’s Snowbirds, officially known as the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, are hanging it up after 55 years as they retire their Cold War-vintage CT-114 Tutors in November.

They are supposed to be back in some form, possibly in 2030, with new Pilatus PC21s, but you know how the Labor government is with Defense spending, so don’t hold your breath.

They have like 20 more shows this season, including some in California, New York, and Ohio. After that, it will be the end of an era either way.

Pour one out for the Snows, fellas, and try to catch an airshow near you this summer. Take a kid or grandkid or three. They’ll love it.

Magazine Depth Concerns are Real

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Pushing 15 weeks into Operation Epic Fury, with over 1,000 TLAMs, 1,100 JSSAMs, and 1,400 Patriots burned up (and more launching every day), coming on the heels of firing untold SM-2/3/6s expended during Operation Prosperty Guardian to counter 470 Houthi/Iranian recorded one-way drone events, 70 ballistic missiles, and 155 multi-use drone sorties in the Red Sea, not to mention $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine, you have to worry just how empty is the Arsenal of Democracy.

The Center for Strategic & International Studies has done the open-source math and has the tally sheets.

It is not good, but there should still be a good bit left, and, on the bright side, if nothing else happens in the next four or five years, and expanded production goals on these extremely complex devices that require advanced chips, exceptionally skilled labor, and clean rooms are met, the numbers should return to pre-OEF levels.

Fingers crossed.

Here’s to 2031 without a war.

The full report here. 

The M39 Revolver Cannon, Spoils of War

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Don’t let anyone tell you that a revolver is too slow. Besides blisteringly fast Single-Action shooters like Bob Munden and the iconic Jerry Miculek, there’s the M39 cannon.

We stumbled upon a great static training layout for the gun system of an F-101 Voodoo fighter at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona while visiting the amazing facility.

That gun?

The M39 autocannon.

The system.

M39 cannon
What could go wrong? (All photos unless noted: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

It had a single barrel with a five-chamber cylinder that revolved at the six o’clock position parallel to the bore. Think S&W J-Frame on steroids with rounds that were more the size of a Red Bull can rather than .38 Specials.

M39 cannon
Note the revolving cylinder, about the size of a desk garbage can. 

Gas-operated with a piston that ejected the spent casing from one of the cylinder’s chambers while a spring-loaded rammer slid a new cartridge into an open chamber on each right-hand rotation, the gun was capable of firing 1,500 rounds per minute.

M39 cannon
20mm shells were fed via a link-less hopper system from the magazine down to the loading drum behind the cylinder. 
M39 cannon
Then you have all of the assorted relays, solenoids, gun camera, sight, and spaghetti wiring to link it all together and make it work. Remember, this system first flew in combat in 1952, just five years after the transistor was invented, and back when a big-screen TV had a 17-inch screen. 
M39 cannon
And it is all connected back to the stick in the cockpit. Flip the switch. Press the button. Briefly. Get out of the way of the debris. 

Backstory

The M39 had its roots in an experimental German Mauser 20mm MG213C revolving cannon design following World War II. To the victors go the spoils, boys!. A captured gun (No. V6/10) was rebuilt by the U.S. Naval Gun Factory in 1946, and a second, third, and fourth rebuild, all with evolving modifications, became the experimental U.S. T74 cannon.

These images of the MG213 and T74 via Chinn.

Via The Machine Gun History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons by Lt. Col. George M. Chinn, USMC, Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951, unclassified July 1970 (Public domain)
Via The Machine Gun History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons by Lt. Col. George M. Chinn, USMC, Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951, unclassified July 1970 (Public domain)
Via The Machine Gun History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons by Lt. Col. George M. Chinn, USMC, Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951, unclassified July 1970 (Public domain)
Via The Machine Gun History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons by Lt. Col. George M. Chinn, USMC, Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951, unclassified July 1970 (Public domain)
Via The Machine Gun History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons by Lt. Col. George M. Chinn, USMC, Prepared for the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951, unclassified July 1970 (Public domain)

The American M39 first flew in combat during the latter part of the Korean War as the T160 gun system in the “GunVal” program, which saw four such guns installed in modified F-86F Sabres. The guns had 460 rounds of ammunition, enough for about 4.5 seconds of fire. Each gun weighed 162 pounds.

The system, as installed on a Gun Evaluation (GunVal) F-86F-2, in 1952:

M39 cannon
(Graphic: August 1953 USAF Air Proving Ground Command report, declassified in 1979)

Vetted in combat, the guns were then first installed in production fighters starting in 1954 with the improved F-86H, which carried four M39s with 600 rounds of ammunition.

M39 cannon
The circa 1955 F-86H Sabre at Pima. Note the two forward cannon slots by the air intake. Two more are on the other side of the fuselage, leaving the pilot sitting over four 20mm cannons and 600 rounds of ammo. This particular F-86 remained in the New Jersey Air National Guard until 1965, when it was sent to the boneyard.

Ultimately, more than 35,000 M39s would be produced, and it was the standard gun not only for the F-86H but also the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101A/C Voodoo, and F-5/E Freedom Fighter/Tiger fighters, as well as the B-57B bomber.

While made by several companies over the course of two decades, the primary vendor for production was Pontiac. Yes, the car company.

While replaced in U.S. service with the six-barreled M61 Vulcan Gatling Gun, which fires the same ammunition up to four times faster while offering more longevity (M39s had to have their single barrel replaced after just 4,000 rounds), the old cannon is still in use with a few remaining F-5E operators, such as Brazil, South Korea, and Thailand.

Plus, the Philippine Air Force has recycled M39s out of old F-5s for use as towed ground support weapons, which is just awesome.

M39 cannon
Remember, at heart, it is just a big wheel gun! (Photos: Philippine Air Force).​​​

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!

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