Tag: Vietnam War
‘We are supersonic and still accelerating, the maniacal engines will not be denied. With nothing else to do, I watch the Mach meter unwind; I want to see a number starting with a 2,’ Ed Cobleigh, former F-4 Pilot. F-4 Test Hop The following story appears in Ed Cobleigh’s book War for...
To ensure that the POWs directly involved in Operation Thunderhead were fully aware of the CinC's approval of the plan, a unique covert signal was devised - two SR-71 tri-sonic booms, exactly 15 seconds apart, would ring out over Hanoi… US aviators first became prisoners of war (POWs) of the North Vietnamese in...
The instant Ms. Galore showed up, there were cries of “SHE’S HERE!” and Vic can see crews crowding the boom operator window for a view, with camera flashes going off also. One of the most famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, F-105D was known as Pussy Galore. This aircraft...
‘A 2,000-pound bomb impacted exactly in the center of the gun pit, vaporizing the gun, the stored ammunition, and the unlucky human gunners. I am amazed. The Paveway actually works. I whoop it up a little and tell my pilot, "Shit hot. A direct hit. Right down the tube,"’ Ed Cobleigh, former F-4 crew member.
LTJG Al Crebo wasn't able to get his stricken A-4E back aboard USS Bon Homme Richard but it did keep flying long enough for him to get back out over the water and for pictures to be taken. Taken on Apr. 25, 1967 the pictures in this post shows LTJG Al Crebo's VA-212 A-4E...
Majs Tom Pugh and Ronnie Rice had been extremely lucky, considering the number of SAMs that encircled Hanoi. It appeared that the Vietnamese radar operators and their Soviet advisers had been 'asleep at the switch' during their SR-71 mid-altitude pass over one of the best-defended cities in the world. On May 15, 1972,...
‘This rock is going God only knows how fast and is fifty miles straight up. If I can't shoot down a SR-71, how in hell am I going to even begin to bring missiles to bear on a meteor?’ Ed Cobleigh, former F-4 Pilot. The following story appears in Ed Cobleigh’s book War for...
Regular patrol flights of IRIAF F-4E Phantom II fighters are common in the region, but this crash comes amid tensions in the Gulf region between the US and Iran. On Aug. 4, 2019, around 12:30 hrs local time, the F-4E Phantom II inventory of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) became...
Legend says that whenever you see an UH-1 Huey, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son instantly plays in your head. When you make an anti-war song so good it becomes pro-war. Legend says that whenever you see an UH-1 Huey, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son instantly plays in your head. A...
"At any rate, I had the technical representative, Bill Barbari, swear to me on a stack of Bibles that the AGM-78 could not ignite on the wing,” Major James F. Leggett, former F-105 Pilot. Here are excerpts from "Reflections of a Weasel" by Major James F. Leggett, who flew 150 Weasel missions in...
