VF-33 Archives - The Aviation Geek Club

I am pretty sure that was a frightful sight for those in the Mi-2 helicopter to see two Tomcats with wings back at 68 degrees coming right at them they probably had to clean their flight suits out Retired Three-Star Vice Admiral Mike Smiles Bucchi former VF-33 F-14 driver When Grumman s F-14 Tomcat is associated with Libya most of the attention is paid to the two dogfights in which the United States Navy USN opened and closed the 1980s and Ronald Reagan s presidency with air-air kills Two kills were scored in each incident with the phrases such as USN 4 Libya 0 arising from the engagements However the year 1986 is often overlooked when it comes to USN Tomcats and Libya In fact during March 1986 the rate at which F-14s were engaging Libyan aircraft was much higher than it was in August 1981 or January 1989 when the much-publicized kills were scored In early 1986 the USN initiated Operation Attain Document I Attain Document II and finally Attain Document III in March These operations were aimed at testing Muammar Gaddafi s so-called Line of Death in the Gulf of Sidra off the coast of Libya well past Libya s internationally-recognized territory of three miles out to sea With the build-up of U S forces in the region came the aircraft carrier USS America CV-66 with Carrier Air Wing One CVW-1 embarked Retired Three-Star Vice Admiral Mike Smiles Bucchi was a commander and the executive officer XO of Fighter Squadron Thirty-Three VF-33 the Tarsiers unofficially Starfighters until Bucchi s time as CO Flying F-14A Tomcats over the Gulf of Sidra Smiles would end up having multiple interactions with Libyan aircraft during Operation Attain Document III in March USS America with CVW-1 embarked in the early 80s USN By late March 1986 the Libyan Arab Air Force LAAF was constantly challenging U S assets warranting some Tomcat crews to fly up to three missions in each twenty-four-hour period The LAAF fighter arm mostly consisted of MiG-23 Floggers and MiG-25 Foxbat interceptors along with French-built Mirage F 1s Sukhoi SU-22 fighter-bombers also challenged USN assets on occasion along with multiple variants of helicopters This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints com nbsp CLICK HERE nbsp TO GET YOURS F-14A Tomcat VF-33 Starfighters Tarsiers AB201 19428 1982 March 24th was a turning point for USN operations off Libya when two F-14As from VF-102 Diamondbacks were targeted by an SA-5 surface-air missile SAM This was the first time USN aircraft were targeted in such fashion Meanwhile Libyan MiG drivers were given orders to shoot down any USN aircraft intruding Libya s self-proclaimed Line of Death USN pilots taking off for sorties after the SAM launches expected lots of action against the LAAF so much to the point that the rules of engagement ROE were being altered to allow USN crews to fire if they were being threatened This was a stark contrast to the previous ROE which stated that USN crews could not fire unless they were fired upon first and had to defend themselves Around noon on the 24th Smiles suited-up and climbed aboard F-14A BuNo 159015 callsign Starfighter 206 He was crewed with his usual radar intercept officer RIO VF-33 s maintenance officer LCDR Ken Heimy Heimgartner VF-33 F-14A BuNo 159015 at NAS Fallon in March 1985 Michael Grove They took off as the section lead for a pair of VF-33 Tomcats that would be occupying a combat air patrol CAP station inside the Line of Death Smiles along with his wingman were both armed with four AIM-9L Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles and four AIM-7F Sparrow radar-guided missiles along with a full complement of 20mm ammunition for their M61A1 Vulcan cannons After orbiting on the CAP station a section of MiG-23MFs came head-on to challenge the Tomcats intent on shooting them down Smiles led his wingman whose Tomcat had a non-functioning radar into the intercept Smiles remembers The setup was a hard right turn off CAP station located inside the Line of Death with wingman on my left wing Heimy used his pulse radar mode to break out the formation two bandits in about a mile trail formation Heimy locked the lead bandit until I could get a SEAM lock with my Sidewinder missile As soon as I had a good SEAM lock Heimy broke lock on the lead and then locked up the second bandit We were running on a bandits call which meant it was important to get missiles in the air from our aircraft before we reached their firing positions The plan was for us to shoot the lead with a Sidewinder AIM-9L then as soon as the 9L was off the rails switch to Sparrow and shoot the trailer with the AIM-7F But the clearance to fire never came so we did a standard reattack on the trailer keeping the lead bandit in sight The clearance to fire was in the process of being given before the merge however Smiles and Heimy weren t able to hear this important message This was because the air warfare commander aboard a cruiser experienced communication problems while the message was enroute to the E-2C Hawkeye from VAW-123 Screwtops that was controlling the Tomcats If not for this issue the MiGs would have certainly been splashed courtesy of Smiles and Heimy Seen here is Smiles nametag from his time as VF-33 CO in 1987-1988 By that time the squadron s moniker had been changed from Tarsiers to Starfighters which was already their callsign Mike Bucchi Since they could not fire the Tomcats then pulled in behind their adversaries and acquired AIM-9 locks as the E-2 controller inquired regarding the Floggers armament Each Flogger was carrying four heat-seeking missiles and two radar-guided missiles The F-14s remained at the MiGs six o clock until told by their E-2 controller to disengage Fifteen minutes later Smiles and his wingman were vectored to intercept another section of Floggers In identical fashion to the first intercept the Tomcats again locked them up and then rolled in behind the MiGs and maintained their advantage until ordered to disengage and return to their CAP station Later on the 24th Smiles was again flying a CAP sortie with Heimy but in a different F-14 Starfighter 212 BuNo 159446 This time they would not intercept one of the usual assortments of Libyan MiGs but a Libyan Mi-2 rescue helicopter VF-33 F-14A BuNo 159446 at NAS Oceana in October 1986 David F Brown The helicopter was operating approximately fifty nautical miles from the CAP station on alert for any downed airmen Once given the vector Smiles set out with his wingman a crew from sister-squadron VF-102 Smiles picks up his account Although we requested clearance to fire on this run AW would not clear us to fire We simply flew in section at very high speed approximately 450 knots past the helo as it frantically tried to depart the area We took it between us flew about 2 miles out in front of it then did a level cross turn and took it back between the two of us I am pretty sure that was a frightful sight for those in the helo to see two Tomcats with wings back at 68 degrees coming right at them they probably had to clean their flight suits out Definitely 24 March was a big and exciting day for us Mil Mi-2 Helicopter ukasz Golowanow nbsp amp Maciek Hyp Konflikty pl via Wikipedia The Tomcats would return to their CAP station and the remainder of their sortie would prove to be uneventful On the contrary the rest of America s cruise would not be as uneventful for on April 5th Libyan agents bombed a nightclub in West Berlin triggering a U S response This response came in the form of a series of airstrikes against Libyan military targets from USN aircraft off America and the USS Coral Sea CV-43 along with U S Air Force USAF F-111 Aardvarks from the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom As for Smiles and Heimy Heimy and I flying Starfighter 200 BuNo 161142 seen below were part of that large package off the America I forget how many airplanes we launched in the mirror image event and the actual event but it was in the 40s or low 50s Birds were all spotted on flight deck and in the hangar bay It was awesome and not a single bird went down either night Divisions were spotted so the they would launch 1 and 2 off cats 1 and 3 simultaneously then launch 3 and 4 30 seconds later off cats 2 and 4 The fighters off America did CAP missions and provided support for the Air Force F-111s We all stayed low below Libyan radars until execute time then elevated to pre-determined altitudes Any MiGs who got airborne flew south away from us VF-33 F-14A BuNo 161142 at NAS Oceana in October 1986 At the time this Tomcat was assigned to CVW-1 CAG CDR William W Copeland Jr Copeland shot down a MiG-17 over North Vietnam while flying with VF-51 on June 11th 1972 David F Brown The cruise ended up being a massive success for VF-33 and at one point the squadron completed 895 straight sorties without an abort Highlighting the Tarsiers exceptional leadership under the command of CDR Craig W Hoffman and the hardworking maintenance staff the unprecedented sortie completion record was accomplished with some of the oldest Tomcats in the fleet However the Tarsiers did not finish the cruise unscathed for Starfighter 213 BuNo 161148 was lost in an inverted flat spin on a post-maintenance test flight Both crew members ejected and were rescued successfully Smiles would go on to succeed CDR Hoffman as CO of VF-33 and later participate in Operation Desert Storm as Deputy CAG of CVW-8 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt He later became Commander CVW-3 and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral His last tour was commanding the Third Fleet Smiles would retire from the Navy in 2003 as a Three-Star Vice Admiral Special thanks to David F Brown and Michael Grove for providing photographs for this article Please check out David F Brown s website nbsp www facebook com ThingsWithWingsPhotography nbsp for some of finest aviation photography from one of the industry s best Sources Mike Smiles Bucchi Ken Heimy Heimgartner David F Brown Michael Grove USS America 1986 Cruise Book U S Navy This model is available from AirModels nbsp CLICK HERE nbsp TO GET YOURS Top VF-33 F-14 Photo Michael Grove

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