B-25J and Texans taxi out April 20th, 2013 for Doolittle fly-by. Destin, FL
This weekend up at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, three of the four surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered for one final somber and sad mission. Robert Hite, the other surviving Raider, was too ill to attend this gathering. So Ed Saylor, Richard Cole - Doolittle's co-pilot, and David Thatcher gathered at the museum to break open the 1896 bottle of cognac to salute their departed comrades. Why 1898? That was the year Jimmy Doolittle was born. With this solemn action, another chapter of valour closes.
I was so fortunate to see Saylor, Cole, and Thatcher at the 71st Reunion earlier this year. To shake their hands and say thank you. Thank you again Raiders for lifting American spirits when it seemed the future was so bleak.
They were turning the R-2600 over using the starter on this B-25J I guess for the film crew. I learned that you have to turn each engine 9 or 11 blades by hand before trying to start since all the engine oil settles to the bottom cylinders and causes hydraulic lock.
This was probably one of the most laid back but fun encounters I have had with Warbirds. Usually airport authority or when on a military base, the cordons will be maintained at all times. Except for the planes blocked off for filming; the ramp area with the Texans and the B-25J Killer 'B' was open. Of course when the folks with the planes or the ramp crew asked people to move, the people did. Everything was perfect including the weather.
This is the CAF B-25J Yellow Rose taking off for the parade flyover. You can hear how brisk the wind is along with the sound of two R-2600s producing 1,700HP each. I apologize for the shake-cam but did not bring a tri-pod with me. Was not expecting to be allowed such close viewing and hence take such footage.
After the parade fly over the B-25s went to visit the air fields used by the Raiders to train in 1942. If you paid $425 you got a chance to ride in one of the B-25s, be part of the flyover, and the visit. It was sorely tempting to fork over the money.
Panchito again. Metal gleaming in the morning sun.
B-25J-32 Killer 'B'
B-25J of the CAF Yellow Rose
SNJ-5 VC-10 6 of Diamonds
Only the SNJs, T-6s, and the B-25J Killer 'B' was available for public inspection. Yellow Rose, Panchito, and the other B-25J that was painted like a Doolittle Raider were roped off because of a documentary film crew.
Killer B and Yellow Rose were both painted in a North African scheme of sand and green over neutral gray. Both sported the brief Torch national insignia of a yellow surround to the white star in a blue circle. Also they had RAF tri-color fin flashes. Made for interesting contrast.
Ladies and gentlemen of the most sensitive nature, that is the only useful advice that I can give you. That you should move to Shangri-La and enjoy the meditative peace found in that far distant destination. As opposed to where you now find yourself living since it seems to be such a tribulation.
Fleeing things like high taxes or inferior schools you moved away from the local city center to a more rustic area. So you settled for a nice house in a suburb that was was just a few miles and to the left of the runways of your local airport. Now it is a few years later, you and your neighbors have happily settled in and done improvements. But there is a fly in your ointment. Those dratted planes taking off at all hours of the day and well into the night. Oh how will that Dutch china given by an aunt survive all the rattling? Never mind your cute little pug named Fifi who goes into spasms with every aviation related noise. So you hit upon a brilliant idea, complain to the city and airport management! By Jove that is what you will do.
By now you, dear brave home owner, have forgotten it was you who had move near the airport, not vice-versa. Now you scream in city council meetings and meetings of the airport board on how the noise of take offs and landings damage your house and ruin your sleep. You will thunder at one point in these proceedings on how its un-American to be subjected to these noises.
The long serving members of the airport management will silently turn to each other while you thunder from the podium and trade knowing glances. The glance will communicate that not much has changed in fifteen years when farmer Jones was saying the same things about jet noises making his chickens laid funny eggs and then farmer Bjorn will immediately follow and claim those noises are ruining his cows' milk. Next they will each think in the deepest recesses of their minds 'You stupid fool you chose to move next to an airport. But now here we go placating you for your stupidity. And then get with the FAA to devise noise abatement plans that will cost money. Money taken from your taxes bud and airport fees. Just to keep you happy in your McMansion.' But none of this will be visible for they will have their poker faces on. And once you have run out of steam they will thank you politely for letting them know how you feel and adjourn the meeting.
Variations of the above always run through my mind when someone complains about noise from their local airport. What has caused me to wax to long and eloquently this time concerns the plane in the picture at the top of the post, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Burlington, VT is the home of the Vermont Air Guard's 158th FW which is an F-16 unit and is now trying to be one of the first units to get F-35s. Sounds grand except for those who complain the F-35 is far louder than the F-16. Leading the fight it seems is Rosanne Greco who is the South Burlington City Council President. She is most concerned because the noise from the F-35s will be akin to a vacuum cleaner running three feet away, that seems unacceptable to her. So she is leading the opposition. For a 29 year Air Force intelligence officer she does realize how quickly jet noise transits? Or does she? A more detailed biography of Greco can be found here. Failed novice nun, retired officer, and now environmental activist. I think I know her true motivation now. And if she gets her way and no F-35s are assigned soon there will be no F-16s either and when that unit shuts down many nice paying technical jobs will go with it. Which will have a negative impact on the tax base. But if you ask Greco about that impact she will probably say that is fine with her as long as she turns Burlington into her personal Shangri-La.
On December 17th, 1903 the first powered controlled flight by a heavier than air craft took place. The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, had built a revolutionary machine based on a long process of experimentation and testing.
On this day at Kill Devil Hill North Carolina their Wright Flyer made a series of four flights. The first one was a mere 12 seconds and 120ft. It would have been enough for the record books, but the brothers flew their plane three more times. The longest flight being 59 seconds and 852ft.
The original Wright Flyer now resides in a place of honor at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Neil Armstrong poses in front of X-15 #1. He was one of the test pilots who flew the X-15 to the edge of space.
Today we mark a sad day for the world. Neil Alden Armstrong has passed away. Many remember him because of a few words he said on July 20th, 1969. "One small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind." He was the first person to set foot on the Moon, so something was required.
How did Armstrong get where he was? Start in Ohio where he was born and a mother who made sure her children would learn and be happy. By the time Neil was in the 1st grade he had already read 90 books. He skipped 2nd grade because he was reading on a 5th grade level. In high school science and math were two of his passions. He would tutor others in both areas. He was an Eagle Scout. He received his private pilot's license before his driver's license. Starting at age seven he was working odd jobs like mowing grass. To pay for his flight lessons, he worked as a mechanic at the airport. During the Korean War he flew 78 combat missions off the deck of USS Essex. On one mission a cable strung across a North Korean valley sheared part of a wing off, he nursed the plane back over friendly lines before bailing out. After Korea he went to Purdue to earn his degree. Then it was off to Edwards AFB and being a test pilot where he flew the X-15. He spent seven years at Edwards. He and his wife Janet restored an old ranger's cabin in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains to raise their three children. This idyllic life was broken when his daughter Karen died of a brain tumor. Next project for Armstrong was the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar project, a reusable space plane the USAF want to launch from Titan boosters. Neil was accepted for astronaut training in 1962 and in 1963 the X-20 was cancelled.
Armstrong's first mission in space almost became his last. Him and David Scott were launched in Gemini 8 in 1966. Gemini 8 set a first when it docked with an Agena target, first in space docking. And then all hell broke loose when an attitude control thruster started mis-firing. The capsule spun and bucked like a thing possessed. Only by shutting down the main RCS and then using the re-entry thrusters was Armstrong able to bring Gemini 8 under control. Armstrong and Scott then executed a pin-point emergency splash down next to the recovery ship.
Gemini 8's nose can be seen in lower left corner. Center of picture is the Agena target Armstrong and Scott will dock with.
For the Apollo missions, crews were assembled early on. For Apollo 8, Aldrin and Armstrong were part of the back up crew with Fred Haise.
Back-up crew for Apollo 8 suit up for egress training. Armstrong and Aldrin.
Apollo 8 was famous for many things. Launched at Christmas time 1968. First spacecraft to orbit another planetary body. And of course for reading a passage from Genesis. One less known first, LM pilot William Anders was the first man born in Hong Kong to orbit the Moon. Frank Borman would later run Eastern Airlines. While James Lovell would command Apollo 13 and lead his crew through a harrowing time when their Service Module was crippled by an explosion.
And then it came time to pick the crew for Apollo 11. Armstrong and Aldrin were teamed with Collins. Whether 11 would be the first landing mission depended upon the success of Apollos 9 and 10. Apollo 9 would test in Earth orbit everything needed for a lunar landing including separating the LM from the CM, have the LM fire its rockets, and rendezvous with the CM. Then splashing down. This was a real make or break for the while program because Grumman had been battling so many issues with the LM. But it came through and the stage was set for Apollo 10. Apollo 10 should be called the most frustrating mission. Apollo 10's Command Module was named Charlie Brown while the Lunar Module was named Snoopy. would go the Moon, orbit, two men would climb into the LM, fire the descent stage, and descend within 50,000ft of the lunar service. Then they would detach the descent stage and fire the ascent motor to rendezvous Snoopy with Charlie Brown. Reason why 50,000ft was selected is because the engine on the Service Module was powerful enough to to rescue them as low as 50,000ft. Apollo 10 was a success in every way and the go ahead was given to make Apollo 11 the landing mission.
On July 20th, 1969 millions of people were treated to a grainy black&white image in prime-time coming from the surface of the Moon. And they saw a gray suited figure set against a perfectly black sky and white lunar surface put his foot down. And make history as the first human being to set foot on another planet.
Neil Armstrong[shadow in foreground] snaps a picture of Eagle on the surface of the Moon.
Thank yo sir for being such a good person and a trailblazer. God speed and fair winds.
C-130 Tanker #7 equipped with MAFFS is the tanker that went down.
Update 3 July 2012 - The number of fatalities from this crash is now four. Lt. Col. Paul Mikael, Maj. Joseph McCormick, Maj. Ryan David, and SMSgt Robert Cannon were killed in the crash. The other C-130 tankers are back in operation. It is too soon to determine actual cause of crash, the USAF will be conducting two different investigations of this mishap.
Possible cause is provided by a BLM platform that was operating as the lead aircraft for the C-130.
"A BLM ASM [Air Supervision Module] platform was also engaged as a lead
[plane] with the C130 when the accident occurred. The ASM/Lead
experienced a severe downdraft while approaching the intended retardant
drop zone with the C130 in trail. This is being investigated by the USFS
as a separate Incident With Potential."
A C-130 Hercules equipped with the MAFFS system has crashed in South Dakota in a rugged area while battling forest fires. Three crew members have been taken to the hospital. One fatality has been confirmed, Air Force officials notified the family of Lt. Col Paul Mikael early Monday morning. Mikael belonged to the North Carolina Air National Guard and is survived by his wife and two children. The fate of two other crew members is unknown.
The other seven C-130 tankers at Peterson AFB are temporarily grounded.
Please keep all the families in your thoughts and prayers.
Other links BAe-146 tanker C-130A tanker crashes
Red Deer and Air Spray. Operator of CL215s, Lockheed Electras, and at one time a whole squadron of A-26 Invaders as fire bombers.
Two surviving Martin Mars seaplanes in use in Canada protecting the vast forests. And also Mexico.
Today in the United States of America is recognized as Flag Day. A flag is used to rally forces, to be able to tell your mob from the other guy's mob in the midst of carnage and confusion. Children to this day play a game called Capture the Flag, adults also play the same game while armed with paint-ball guns.
When larger and larger groups of people coalesced into nations, naturally some symbol was selected as the flag for that nation. The American flag was birthed during our revolt from British tyranny. Each color represents a specific theme while each white star in the corner represents a state in the Union. For the average soldier sucking down lungfuls of sand in Iraq or freezing in Afghanistan that flag really represents his battle buddies beside him along with the friends and family back home. The flag is a touchstone.
So while I am pondering all that the US flag represents, across the Atlantic I wonder if our British cousins have the same appreciation of their flag and history. Thirty years ago, the Union Jack was run up over Government House in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands signaling the end of Argentinian occupation. Three civilians and 255 members of Her Majesty's military paid the ultimate price for that victory. So to mark this historic day, the flag of the Falklands is flying over No. 10 Downing Street.
If Argentina decided to follow through on its current demands for the islands, that bit of flag waving would be all Britain could do. The Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. The carriers who helped retake the Falklands 30 years ago are no more, HMS Hermes now serves as an Indian carrier while HMS Invincible last year was sold for scrap. In fact there is no carrier in active service with the Royal Navy and the Fleet Air Arm has not flown a Harrier in over year, the Harriers are either gate guards or scrap. The RAF and its small fleet of Typhoon fighters would also be incapable of affecting an Argentine invasion.
I am always amazed at what lurks in the Life magazine photo archives.
In the center is TBD-1 6-T-16 of VT-6 from USS Enterprise. They are flying past Diamond Head, Hawaii. Tail is painted True Blue. The cowling, fuselage bands and wings are painted Orange-Yellow. There are no wing chevrons, like the white ones on 6-T-6, since they are the same orange-yellow color as the wings. What's trailing behind 6-T-16 are radio wires.
Looking up TBDs in Lynn Ritger's site we can identify the Bureau Number and fate of 6-T-16 and 6-T-6.
6-T-16 is Bu. No 0346. Was re-assigned to VT-4 aboard USS Ranger. Stricken on Jan. 31, 1944.
6-T-6 is Bu. No 0327. Later re-numbered as T-14 of VT-6. Lost at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. Crew for that mission was Ens John Block and ARM3c John Blundell - KIA.
Seventy years ago history of the Pacific War was changed. Afterwards Japan would find its ill-gotten gains stripped away during one brutal battle after another until Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Approximately 1025 on June 4, 1942 32 Dauntless dive bombers of VB-6 and VS-6 found themselves over the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Also arriving over the same carriers were 17 Dauntless aircraft of VB-3 lead by Lt. Cmdr Max Leslie. And there were no A6M-2 Zero fighters to oppose them, the valiant and almost futile sacrifice of VT-6, VT-8, VT-8 Det., and VT-3 had seen to that.
So a perfect storm of retribution fell upon the attackers of Pearl Harbor. When the men of all three dive bomber squadrons pulled up from their dives, they witnessed three carriers in flames.
The butcher's bill had some charges still to add. The surviving Japanese carrier Hiryu would launch two strikes at the American fleet. Both times they struck USS Yorktown, finally crippling her and forcing Capt. Buckmaster to order abandon ship. Just as this was happening Lt. Samuel Adams of VS-5 found Hiryu.
As Hiryu struggled to gather enough planes and pilots to strike at what they thought was just one remaining American carrier, Spruance's dive bombers arrived overhead in the dusk. Survivors of VB-6, VS-6, VB-3, and VS-5 plunged down in their steep dives. Soon Hiryu was wreathed in flames and rocked by explosions like Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Lt. Samuel Adams would die on 5 June, 1942 while trying to sink the IJN destroyer Tanikaze. Amazingly the destroyer escaped without damage. Japan would soon lose the heavy cruiser Mikuma due to attacks by Enterprise and Hornet air groups; the cruiser had earlier collided with it's sister ship Mogami while trying to evade the US Navy sub Tambor. Even the surviving TBD Devestators would attack since there were no enemy fighters to defend the hapless cruisers, they still failed to score any hits.
The final casualty of the Battle of Midway would be USS Yorktown herself as IJN sub I-168 slipped through the destroyer screen. Four torpedoes were fired at the wounded carrier. Two struck the carrier while a third broke in two the destroyer Hammann. Yorktown would finally sink the next day, 7 June 1942. Thus ending a battle that could have easily gone the other way if not for extraordinary actions by men of the United States Navy.
In response to a channel showing the movie Midway starring Henry Fonda and Charlton Heston, here is actual footage of the battle. Next week will mark the 70th anniversary of that climatic battle that in the words of Walter Lord in Incredible Victory, "Midway showed that every once in a while 'what must be' need not be at all. Even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit - a magic blend of skill, faith, and valor - that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory."
One of the things Admiral Nimitz did during his buildup of defenders for Midway Island was send the director John Ford to document the battle. One of the voice-overs you hear is Henry Fonda. The historians and model builders will spot things like the two-tone green B-17Es with white paint covering the previous red dot in the center of the insignia. Also about the 6:30 mark when the camera goes crazy, that was when John Ford was hit by enemy shrapnel during the attack. Of Red Parks Marine fighters, they were slaughtered. The Vindicators and Dauntlesses would score hits against the Japanese but at a fearful cost, one of the casualties being Lofton Henderson - the airfield at Guadalcanal would be named after him. The 4 B-26 Marauders would try to torpedo the Japanese, only two got back. To add to the tragedy suffered by VT-8 off USS Hornet, of the six TBF-1 Avengers of VT-8 Detached assigned to Midway only one made it back to Midway with two survivors and one dead aboard.
To honor and commemorate the sacrifice suffered by VT-8, John Ford made this second film focused solely on the men who followed Waldron off USS Hornet that fateful morning, steered precisely to where Nagumo's First Air Fleet was, drove the attack home without fighter cover, and paid the horrific price of 29 out of 30 being killed, all 15 planes lost, and no hits scored. The color footage of the men posing before two TBD-1 Devestators is priceless and sobering. One TBD has the precise and straight demarcation a freshly painted plane should have. The other TBD has a wavy demarcation that sees the blue grey upper surface color wrap around the leading edge of wing and over-paints the under-surface color of light gray - this plane was probably repainted aboard ship. And to truly top off the uniqueness of this footage, the three Devestators shown taking off was taken after Hornet and Enterprise set sail for Point Luck - the TBDs all have twin .30 cal machine guns that John Waldron had scrounged off the Dauntless squadrons in an attempt to make his lumbering planes more surviveable.
September 13th, 1944 saw the 8th Air Force launch a total of 1,015 B-17s and B-24s to attack vital targets in Germany. They hit oil refineries, an air field, a marshaling yard, and targets of opportunity. By the end of the day 15 heavy bombers had been lost in combat. One of the B-17Gs lost carried Lt. Emil Wasilewski. Only one man managed to bail out before the plane crashed.
Until 2007, a casket laid buried but empty at St. Casimir Cemetery. This was the resting place for Lt. Emil Wasileski. Then it all changed when the Army contacted his nephews for a DNA sample. It turns out human remains had been uncovered in the former East Germany that might have belonged to fallen American airmen. Using the DNA sample, it was confirmed that some of the remains belonged to Lt. Emil Wasileski. This June he will be interred with full military honors and an overflight in Arlington National Cemetery. And if further remains are ever found, their ashes will be sprinkled over the empty casket so Emil Wasileski can finally be home and rest with his parents.
Welcome home and G-d bless.
Post script - why you never laugh at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington. It's called respect.
The P-40E Kittyhawk I that was discovered earlier this year in the Egyptian desert has been identified. The people working the issue, who are on the Key Publishing forum, are simply amazing in their knowledge and tenacity.
From post on 23 May, 2012 by Shepsair - Now that 1035 has been reported and with the link, it is safe to report
that the P40E Kittyhawk in the desert is now confirmed as Curtiss
P40E-1-CU Curtiss number 1035, construction number 19761, US serial
41-35928 and British serial ET574.
The Copping family were made aware of the confirmation early last week.
Still no word on the final fate of Dennis Copping. His body is still somewhere out there in the vastness of the Western Desert. I hope he is found and properly buried before Siag Travel leads mobs of tourists tromping over the site. Today they are visiting the crash site.
Official group insignia of the 79th FG USAAF that fought in North Africa
My friend Mut over at the Temple of Mut is working on a post detailing the widespread devastation that is occurring throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. So I will focus on a more recent occurrence of destruction.
In February of this year an oil exploration team operating in Egypt's Western Desert stumbled across an amazing find. Pictures were quickly snapped and then posted to a Polish modeling magazine.
Curtis Kittyhawk I somewhere in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Lost for 70 years an RAF Kittyhawk was discovered in Egypt. At this time the exact identity of the airframe and name of it's lost pilot is unknown. The sand has scoured much of the paint away. Some have played with the photographs posted searching for the plane's identity. What is known is this airplane is a P-40E-CU-1. Six wing guns. Ring and post site. No fin fillet. Intake on top of cowling. RAF roundel has a yellow outer circle. And there is red paint still remaining on the propeller. All the above tid-bits have lead some to speculate this is Kittyhawk I ET574 HS-B assigned to 260 Sqn and lost in 1942 while being ferried from one airbase to another for repair. The pilot for this mission was Flt Sgt Dennis Copping. This is all speculation but once the media found out about this lost warrior, well it was definitely Copping's airplane. The UK Metro even wrote on how the brave pilot tried to get the plane working again ... with the propeller and gear box wrenched off I wonder if they even looked at the photos. Or the CBC calling it a WWII jet fighter.
So right now the British Ministry of Defense is trying to work with the Egyptian government to preserve this airplane and and find its pilot so the story can be finally told. They better hurry before there is nothing left of the airplane.
Perfectly intact canopy after 70 years.
The canopy has now been shattered and someone has shot up the armoured windscreen.
Who knows what else is vanishing with every passing moment. The survey crew has tried to protect the location, for example the original online photo album has now vanished, but the crew also had local guides. And then had to report the plane to the Egyptian Army because ammo was still in the plane that the Army then went and removed. So things have started to happen to the plane, it has suffered more damage in the past few months than the previous 70 years. And with each piece that vanishes, perhaps the clues needed to find the lost pilot also disappears into the desert.
P-40F Warhark with Group CO Col. Earl E. Bates. The Egyptian hieroglyphs are supposed to be the Group's number.
I will leave it to the readers to tell me if the insignia at the top or at the bottom has the hieroglyphs correct. I wanted to include an American fighter unit in this post is to show how integral to the whole desert campaign were Curtiss' P-40s and to show the lasting impact ancient Egyptian culture has on our modern world.
Interesting footnote - The intelligence officer for 260 Sqn when Copping and his plane vanished was none other than Sir Christopher Lee who later gained fame as Dracula going against Peter Cushing as Dr. Helsing. Or when he appeared in the Lord of the Rings.
March, 1968. Phu Cat AB, Republic of Vietnam. Pilot holding the glass of champagne is Ed Risinger celebrating his last Misty FAC mission. Holding the bottle is Brian Williams who would later be shot down with Howard Williams, Brian would be rescued while Howard would be killed. Man with his hand on the stabilizer is Dick Rutan who would later co-pilot Voyager around the world unrefueled.
I have written previously on Bud Day and Misty FAC. So why would I write another story? Because I finally acquired a copy of Rick Newman and Don Shepperd's book on Misty called Bury Us Upside Down.
This book starts at a strange place, the belated funeral of Lt. Col. Howard Williams who had been listed as MIA and then declared KIA before any remains were finally found. Then the book goes back in time to 1967. Soon the reader is strapped into a F-100F Super Sabre and part of the secret Commando Sabre mission going into Route Pak One looking for the enemy. Getting one's brain bucket rattled against a canopy side while clutching at a 35mm camera hoping something besides blurs will be on the film and then grunting as the Hun is wrenched through high speed jinks to dodge AAA. And finally landing after over four hours in the cockpit and hitting a tanker at least two times to find your legs are rubber. Then spending hours in a debrief followed by attitude readjustment at the Officers Club. And next day finding yourself flying another mission. Did I mention one of the authors, Shepperd, is a Misty alumni who as a two-star commanded all of the Air National Guard.
The authors cover much of the life and times of Misty from 1967 to official disbandment in 1970. The reader's first glimpse of Misty is from a new Intel officer getting assigned to Misty after Bud Day has been shot down. Almost nothing is recounted of the formative early days of Misty when they first tried to perform the mission with F-100Ds but Day realized the two-seat F model with a GIB was better suited. Its almost as if it never happened.
Soon though my annoyance with this omission vanishes as I am sucked in. Incredible men doing incredible things is the simplest way to describe this book. Even the intelligence officers assigned to Misty rose to the occasion, two Lieutenants writing travel orders for each other so they can catch a hop to Saigon to creatively acquire clear film from RF-101 film canisters. Why did they need the clear film? So they could create booklets full of maps covering all of Route Pak I, the clear film acted as laminate so the pilots could jot down instantly new targets with grease pencils which sped up debriefs and locating new dangers. Or for more crazy daring do, Risinger's Raid has to be one of the greatest war stories to ever happen. Ed Risinger had found a juicy target, a SAM, but there were no assets available to attack it. So he returned to Phu Cat. Ed rounded up two more pilots, stole three ready F-100Ds, launched, and then attacked through clouds where the SAM had been. Once he got back to base, him and his cohorts were grounded for thee days. And then went back to flying, all of them. There are also stories of their battle with the 37th's commander who got mad when Misty lost a F-100F or brought one home damaged, it seemed he cared more for his availability rates than getting a mission done. We are granted a peek into the world of the flight surgeon at war. And most importantly we are shown how the loss of a husband/father/son impacted the families, especially when they were declared MIA. The cruel gamesmanship of the communist in Vietnam is exposed with frank brutality when describing the crash of Howard Williams' Super Sabre. His death and the rescue of Brian Williams was duly noted as "1 man killed; 1 alive; they took him and he was lost." Brian Williams would have been another pawn, tortured like Bud Day and possibly suffer the fate of Lance Sijan who was badly wounded upon ejection, tortured, and never received medical attention thus he was murdered in captivity. There are many other stupendous stories in this book besides these.
Overall I was impressed with this book and the story it told. It only fell down in two areas. One has already been noted by having almost no documentation describing the early days of Commando Sabre under Bud Day. The other is the amount of time describing the in-fighting in Washington D.C. which I considered excessive. If that had been trimmed down then the authors would have had the space to cover the early missions of Commando Sabre. Missions flown by Day, Fogelman, and McPeak. Day would receive the Medal of Honor. Fogelman and McPeak would pin stars on their shoulders and each rise to become Air Force Chief of Staff.
Those words galvanized a group of 80
men who found themselves just 600 miles from the Japanese home
islands. How they got there and what happened after is an amazing tale on heroism, inventiveness, and intrepidity. It was 70 years ago
today, April 18th, the Doolittle Raid occurred. And the
five surviving Raiders are at Wright Patterson and the Museum of the Air Force this week to mark this historic event.
It all started just after the
devastating attack on Pearl Harbor by a most curious route. Admiral
King wanted to know if Army bombers and transports could take off
from an aircraft carrier for the invasion of French North Africa. It
was the Army Air Force under Gen. Hap Arnold and the energetic Jimmy
Doolittle who made the concept King's staff had of using Army bombers
from a US Navy aircraft carrier to strike at a target President
Roosevelt wanted hit at the earliest moment – Japan feasible.
Once it was determined it was
possible, the next step was to make it reality. Soon two B-25
bombers managed to take off from the flight deck of the aircraft
carrier USS Hornet, a brand spanking new carrier still doing work ups
before transfer to the Pacific. The date was Feb. 3, 1942 and those
two B-25 crews had no idea what they had accomplished or what would
come of it. Secrecy was paramount.
Meanwhile Doolittle was busy getting
the Army side of things organized. B-25s needed modification for a
host of upgrades including extra fuel tanks to extend range. Again
secrecy was important so no one knew why this Lt. Col was
re-arranging their war important missions, all they knew was Gen. Hap
Arnold fully supported this mad man so they got to it. Crews had to
be selected under the same stringent security. The men of the 17th
Bombardment Group and 89th Reconnaissance Squadron were
told it was a dangerous mission, practically everyone volunteered.
Twenty four crews were selected for special training down at Eglin
field in Florida. Here the crews were exposed to extremely short
field take offs in their planes and taught Navy habits by Lt. Miller.
Soon the men were launching their planes in as little as 350ft.
As soon as the men and planes were
ready, they flew cross country to California to meet up with USS
Hornet. Upon landing if they reported any defect in their plane,
that plane was pulled to the side. Ted Lawson's plane The Ruptured
Duck had problems with its top turret but did not report the problem.
So his plane with 15 others were hoisted onto Hornet's flight deck.
The other B-25s were left on shore while their crews boarded the
aircraft carrier to maintain secrecy and provide replacements in case
someone fell ill.
Secrecy was maintained until USS
Hornet and its escorts met up with USS Enterprise's task force beyond
Hawaii. Once the Navy men learned what the mission was, their
treatment of the Army crews changed dramatically. Lawson found
himself sleeping in a soft Navy bunk while its former occupant did
battle with a folding cot. When the Army crews had an issue on one
of their planes, the Navy machine shops and specialists were only too
eager to help.
The final plan was to launch the B-25s
about 400 statue miles from the Japanese home islands and hit after
dark. Those plans changed when an Enterprise scout plane found a
picket line of Japanese fishing bots over 600 miles out. As the
heavy cruiser USS Northampton started to slam shells into one of
these spy ships, a gutsy call was being made aboard Hornet.
Doolittle, Mitscher, and Halsey conferred and decided to launch
immediately though it meant there was almost no chance the B-25s
would arrive in China intact and the attack would be in daylight.
As the crews were called to man their
planes, Hornet turned into the wind. Five more tins of gasoline were
crammed into each plane in the hope it would help them reach friendly
controlled areas in China. Meanwhile the crews themselves loaded up
items of vital importance into their planes, guns being one item.
Into one plane went a phonograph player while the records were loaded
on a different plane.
Jimmy Doolittle then launched in the
first B-25. Everyone held their breaths as his plane seem to vanish
off the bow of the ship. Then everyone sighed in relief as the plane
clawed for air. After one orbit of the carrier to get bearings,
Doolittle flew off to hit Tokyo. Soon all the bombers were safely
off, every bomber going it alone because of fuel concerns. Then both
carrier task groups turned around and raced out of harm's way, their
part of the mission done.
Flying at almost wave-top level, each
crew saw different things when they reached the Japanese coastline.
They saw Japanese fisherman and farmers wave at them as they sped
past. The Japanese thought the planes were theirs, anything else was
beyond their imagination. It probably help in the confusion the
bombers' markings included a red dot in the center of the white star.
This is not to say the Japanese military were not expecting an
attack, they just expected it to happen as the carriers got closer
since carrier planes were short ranged. So the Raiders got the
surprise they needed as they struck Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagoya.
Next was the hardest part of the mission, the get away.
On the bombers flew, once again at
wave-top level into bad weather, shrinking fuel reserves, and
uncertain Chinese airfields. None of the China bound planes would
land safely. Some came down in the water while others crashed after
exhausting all their fuel. Only the plane that diverted to neutral
Vladivostok landed safely, the crew was promptly interned least Japan
attack the still neutral USSR. Doolittle thought the raid was a
failure as he sat next to the wreckage of his plane. Fate of many of
his men was unknown, it would be weeks before all of their fates
would be known. Two crews were captured by the Japanese and promptly
convicted of trumped up war crime charges, three of these men were
then executed by firing squad and another would die of disease before
Japan surrendered and the four survivors rescued. Ted Lawson's plane
crashed off a small island and four of the crew badly injured.
Lawson himself was catapulted out of the cockpit and his left leg
ripped up. Only turret gunner David Thatcher was uninjured. Only
because of his valiant efforts, of which he was awarded a Silver
Star, were the others saved. Then they, like many other crews, were
assisted by Chinese civilians to escape and avoid the cruel fate the
Japanese would inflict. For helping so many
Raiders escape, the Japanese over the next few months
launched a brutal reprisal that would murder over 250,000 Chinese
civilians.
The raid was far from a failure. It
delivered a needed boost to flagging Allied morale. Doolittle was
awarded the Medal of Honor for this daring mission and would continue
to lead men into combat, this time in the North African and Italian
theaters of operation. It shocked the Japanese. The god-emperor
could have been injured. One has to wonder if in private Admiral
Yamamoto said to himself, I tried to warn the government attacking
the US was foolish. Instead the attack so panicked the Japanese
military, they green-lighted a plan they had been opposed to. So
Yamamoto was told to hurry it up and wipe out those pesky American
aircraft carriers before they really did harm the Emperor. So in two
months the Battle of Midway would happen. Once the last plane
landed, the offensive might of Japan had been effectively blunted
with the loss of four carriers and their valuable pilots. In that
battle would be Enterprise and Hornet. Hornet would be lost at the
Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942, to the end she was a tough lady
as it took American and Japanese destroyer torpedoes to send her to
the bottom. Admiral Yamamoto would meet his own end on April 18th,
1943 when USAAF P-38 Lightnings intercepted his G4M Betty bomber and
shot it down killing him. Enterprise would fight through the whole
war and then suffer the ignoble fate of being cut up for scrap in
1955.
Books to read
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, 1943, Random House, Captain Ted Lawson
The Doolittle Raid, 1991, Schiffer Publishing, Carroll V. Glines
Miracle at Midway, 1982, Penguin Books, Gordon W. Prange.
The Big 'E' 1984, Ballantine Books, Cmdr. Edward P. Stafford
It seems the United States Air Force is snake bit again. First it was the knife fight over a replacement tanker to replace the KC-135 fleet which is still a mess. Then there was the duel for the CSAR-X contract for a replacement combat rescue helicopter. Now we have the mess for the Light Air Support [LAS] contract that is supposed to supply 20 aircraft to the Afghan government. It has now been cancelled and is being investigated. Air Force Material Command is talking of focusing on a lack of documentation on how the decision awarding the contract to Sierra Nevada Corporation [SNC] was reached, this bodes ill for the people at Wright-Patterson AFB involved in the solicitation. Some involved in the KC-X debacle went to jail remember.
Hawker Beechcraft filed suit after its AT-6B was disqualified without any reason given beyond a vague reference to deficiencies. The company tried to get answers from the USAF and GAO, both refused to specify the reasons. As a result the company filed suit which forced the USAF to issue a stop work order to Sierra Nevada Corporation, Embraer Brazil's US front company, that had been awarded the contract.
To buttress its arguments, Hawker Beechcraft has a fact-page up comparing its AT-6B against the A-29B Tucano. Oddly the AT-6B is far more inter-operable than the A-29B when it comes to USAF/NATO weapons and electronics. It's a smaller lighter airframe which means it should have greater flexibility to operate from smaller and more austere airfields. And in the payload department the AT-6B can carry 1100lbs more than the A-29B, approximately 4200lbs to 3000lbs.
To counteract all this, SNC has issued a press release that is interesting to say the least.
"It's unfortunate that the truth is being sacrificed for the self
interests of Hawker Beechcraft and its owners, a Canadian company, Onex,
and an investment bank, Goldman Sachs."
Embraer is a company owned wholly by the Brazilian government so they try to deflect and attack the partial private foreign ownership of Hawker Beechcraft while invoking the very tired straw-man of Goldman Sachs. Who rights this stuff? Van Jones?
What is also odd in that Feb 3 press release is the quotes attributed to Taco Gilbert who is listed as a retired USAF Brigadier General that are well nigh scandalous in their attacks on Hawker Beechcraft. What is even more strange is Taco Gilbert III is still listed as being on active duty and assigned as Director of Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. Are they one and the same? This could be messy.
SNC argues only the A-29B meets the original request since it already exists as a COIN aircraft. That ignores the fact the PC-9 has been used as a COIN aircraft already by Ireland. Over 250 PC-9s are in service around the world. The T-6A Texan II, which the T-6B is based on, was developed from the PC-9 and there are 446 T-6As being used by the US military. I guess its a bit muddled and SNC is hoping no one takes a close look.
Of course the $355 million question that has to be asked is - is this aircraft needed now? Afghanistan is getting more unstable and lethal. The original contracts have already been severely cut-back. And the mission of the United States military is winding down quickly there. I vote to cancel and keep the A-10C Thunderbolt IIs flying while letting Karzai's government buy their own planes.
