brickhistory

No definite answer, but: USAF or USN A-7s? Reason for asking is there could have been something wrong with the jet and the pilot dumped everything prior to going back to the boat. Of course, a USAF SLUF could've needed to clean up the jet for the drive home due to a problem. So, no help there, sorry for the stream of consciousness..... An obvious suggestion would be switches setting failure/electrical wiring failure that punched the MER off as well. "Finger trouble" if you will. Good idea on the thread.

MY EYES!!! OH MY GOD, MY EYES!! You bastard, you should've warned us!!! However, I wonder if 'Dic' will run for any WV congressional or senate seat. Byrd has got to die sometime soon, so I wonder...... If so, there needs to be a concerted, combined arms baseops campaign to provide material to his opponent.

yerfer: Is there something more to this part of the story? If you have an assigned seat, why did asswipe get to sit there and you get stuck between the fatties? And if the gutless (in this case, according to your story so far) flight attendents won't do anything, then clown act can pack sand or make a move, in which case the nice airport police can have a chat with him. Yes, I get it that that action would also delay you and you were pressed for time. I'm not judging you, I'm just asking if there was more to this story.

The Sepecat Jaguar https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p...id=000166507214 When one thinks of the country of Great Britain and the name “Jaguar,” images of the sleek, classic English sports and luxury cars spring to mind. While well deserving of such name recognition, another mechanical beast from the UK shares the name, and like the hunting feline of that moniker, this other ‘Jaguar’ is agile and deadly. Conceived in the early 1960s as a collaborative effort between the French and British Ministries of Defense, the Jaguar initial design was supposed to be an advanced training aircraft with a limited ground-attack role. During its drawn-out, at times contentious development, each country changed its requirements until the Jaguar became not a trainer at all, but a ground attack aircraft with vastly different capabilities. The French version had limited avionics and weapons delivery systems, but gave good service as a day-VFR strike fighter. The Royal Air Force (RAF), however, from the outset, envisioned their version to have advanced navigation and weapons delivery capabilities enabling their force to have a fast, low-level, all weather attack jet. The Jaguar GR.1, later GR.1a/b and GR.3, more than delivered that requirement. Two seat versions, the T2 and upgraded T2a, provide for type training in the jag while maintaining a combat capability should they be needed. After a relatively trouble-free, although exceedingly long gestation, the first RAF Jaguars were introduced into squadron service in 1974. At the time, the Jaguar GR.1 (for ground attack/reconnaissance) featured one of the most advanced navigation systems in the world. The NAVWASS (navigation and weapons aiming subsystem) used a completely self-contained inertial navigation system that updated the jet’s position on a large moving map display in the cockpit. Combined with a HUD (head’s up display) for targeting and flight instrument cues, the total system allowed the Jag pilot to spend most of his time with his eyes outside the cockpit, vital to his survival since the jet was designed for high-speed, low-level attacks. Moving at more than 7 miles a minute, every millisecond spent looking inside meant a measurable increase in the chances of smacking into the ground at high speed! Relatively small, shoulder-mounted wings flowed from the air intakes and provided a solid ride at low altitude while lugging a substantial bombload. The small wing didn’t have enough space to place ailerons, so spoilers mounted on the upper surface provided roll control, supplemented by a differential tailplane system. The tailplane itself, had a distinct anhederal, very much like the McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II and for the same reason. By dipping down below the wing, the horizontal stabilizers maintained their effectiveness at high angles of attack where the wings could have blanked them out. The pilot had a good, if small cockpit that blended into the upper deck of the fuselage. Not as good as a ‘bubble’ type canopy, but then the Jaguar was designed to go fast low down and drop bombs, not search out enemy fighters. With its two Rolls-Royce/Turbomecca (an Anglo-French Company expressly formed to design and build the Jaguar’s engines) Adour Mk 102s, each produced 7,300 lbs of thrust with afterburning. Although the Adours are highly reliable engines and relatively fuel-efficient, the Jaguar was never thought of as over-powered. With fuel and weapons, the Cat could scoot along at just over 1.1 Mach at low level, but any turning maneuvers quickly bled off airspeed. Andy Papp, a serving USAF colonel, flew an exchange tour on RAF Jaguars in the late 1980s, says of the Jag in a turning fight, “Anything vertical quickly turned into a horizontal fight” The Jaguar carried a variety of air to ground ordinance. When rushed to duty as part of Operation GRANBY, Jaguars were hurriedly equipped with AIM-9 Sidewinder infra-red air to air missiles on unique overwing pylons. The overwing design proved to be a bonus as sideways airflow along the upper surface of the wing was effectively blocked, a superior aerodynamic surface resulted along with improved fuel consumption despite the increased weight of a Winder on each wing! RAF Jags have since served in operations over Bosnia and Kosovo. With each conflict, avionic and weapons upgrades have improved the jet’s abilities to deliver firepower on target. Other than a lack of power, Papp has fond memories of his time in the jet. He had come into the Jaguar world from the USAF’s A-10 “Thunderbolt II,” otherwise universally known as the “Warthog,” a well-armored, heavy hitting, but slow, ground attack aircraft. “The Jaguar was underpowered, but it was very stable at low level. Faster than the A-10, it was a good bomb dropper. The nav system was good and the moving map display outstanding. The map was almost like a filmstrip, and great to see while at low-level. “The RAF routinely practiced down to 100 feet and the Jag flew well down there. We’d typically fly as two-ships, using the radar altimeter to warn of getting too low. One of the things I had to adjust to while flying with them were some differences in terminology. For example, they use ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ for left and right. Not a big deal, but a little different to get used to. “The RAF trained to very high standards. They were very structured in their approach to flying and once I was qualified as an operational pilot in the jet, they were very welcoming to me personally. “I really liked some of their life support equipment as compared to ours. For example, their flying gloves are just great. I still use them today instead of the USAF issued ones. However, the helmets at the time were just torture devices, heavy and the mask was cumbersome to use. “I had one of their flight surgeons tell me that it was designed to hit a tree at 700 knots and not break. He had no answer when I asked what would happen to the rest of me if I hit a tree at 700 kts!” Papp says of his time with the RAF Jaguars, “It was the best tour I had except for command.” And this from a man with several tours of F-117 “Nighthawk” in his logbook. As a matter of fact, at the time of the interview, Papp was the Vice-Commander of the ‘Stealth’ wing based at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. The RAF plans to retire its remaining Jaguars during 2006. (This was written in '04-ish.) I hope others will cotinue post their photos/tales/why a particular airplane is their favorite

2 Uber $$ though. Nice restaurants (good Irish Pub as well), casino, theatres (if you sprechen), some open fields/hiking trails/woods. Again, two year old gouge - hence no clue on the AFRICOM at Kelley, sorry for the bum steer. Get the rental car, however.

If staying TDY in Stuttgart, press HARD for a rental, and work to get to the Kelly Hotel on Kelly Barracks (Kelley?). 20 min drive Kelly to Patch. The TDY dorms on Patch suck, plus they can/have cut per diem since there's an Army chow hall on post. Then you have the hassle of missed meals, etc. It's way convenient to be on Patch, but depending on your work cycle, it can suck. I've heard Panzer is also good, but never stayed there. Also close to Patch. Avoid Robinson. Rental car is the key.

There is too much smoke and mirrors to this. Big Blue should come out with the facts. If her story is true, she's a hero and would be trumpeted as such - Tillman, Jessica Lynch, et al, as examples. However, the USAF has a long, distinguished history of sweeping embarrassing things under the rug which nearly invariably winds up biting them in the asses. So, if she's a hero, give her a medal and parade her as the "All American Girl." Just think how that would be viewed by the feminist movement as well as for recruiting. If she's a fake, expose her, show the officer and enlisted 'core' that we will uphold standards, and hammer her (sts) and anyone involved in this affair (not sts).

Or United on nearly any long haul flight...

2 on 60 days for ACSC. And AWC. Hypothetical question: I've wondered why when one's spouse did AWC and her paper (with some (100%) ghost writing by the one) got a 'good.' Then, when one took AWC later, turned in essentially the same paper, and got a 'marginal?' Then one gets his stones busted regularly about her paper being 'better' than one's. Hypothetically speaking, of course?

So, did you learn anything? Is it as bleak as you suspect?

(again, mods or members, feel free to call KIO) COLD WAR LEFTOVERS After the Soviet Union collapsed and the world seemed it would be a safer place, I was a member of an E-3 AWACS (airborne warning and control system) flying from Japan. With no known military threats on the horizon, the many exercises and patrols we flew seemed to be ‘busywork.’ I found out that even a sedated, muzzled bear can bite. My crew and I were conducting a joint Japanese Self-Defense Air Force (JASDF) and US exercise on the western side of the northernmost of the Japanese main islands, Hokkaido. Our jet was the radar control agency for a four ship of US F-15s Eagles that would be playing ‘red air’ or the bad guys in the scenario. Red air was defending their notional homeland against a ‘blue air’ strike force composed of JASDF F-1s escorted by US F-16s. The blue air side would be controlled by a fixed JASDF/US radar site at Misawa Air Base. We had arrived on station in our orbit over the Sea of Japan and our F-15s had just checked in on their way to their combat air patrol (CAP) point to the east of us. As part of standard operating procedures, our surveillance section was busy scanning the entire coverage area of our radar which can be out to hundreds of miles. Within that coverage was part of the Russian coast off to our west. Shortly after our arrival, our surveillance technicians pointed out a blip that had originated from the Russian interior and was on a fast beeline toward us. In the bad old days of the Cold War, the USSR and other countries had spent considerable time and effort in devising tactics to take out an AWACS. They knew that the ‘big picture’ we provided to both tactical aircraft and air battle commanders was a huge advantage that the Soviets couldn’t match. If they couldn’t have the advantage, they didn’t want us to have it either and were willing to sacrifice many fighters if need be to deny us that advantage. As part of our training, AWACS and fighter crews had studied the fast flyer tactics and had developed countermeasures which for the E-3 consisted mainly of bravely running away while calling for help. In this situation, the unknown ‘bogey’ was still screaming towards us so we decided to move and see if it was a coincidence that the blip was aimed towards us. We moved, it moved with us. It wasn’t a coincidence. We had just about determined to abort the sortie when we came up with the idea to scare the bogey. Due to the geometry of the developing intercept, we figured the probable Russian aircraft didn’t know about the Eagles to our east so I radioed the F-15 flight lead to “go secure.” Moving to a scrambled frequency, I told the flight lead of our predicament and my intent to place his four ship between us and the rapidly approaching intruder. “You want what?” was the incredulous response. The F-15s expecting a training sortie were carrying no armament. An Eagle without weapons is akin to a supersonic Lamborghini. Neat to look at, but what do you do with it? Nevertheless, I figured the approaching Russian wouldn’t know that the Eagles were declawed and faced with a wall of the best fighters in the world, he might decide that his mission of gathering intelligence on the E-3 wasn’t worth the confrontation. The F-15s pushed up their throttles and hustled to place themselves between the E-3 and the adversary. Using their powerful APG-63 radars, they asked the electronic equivalent of the famous Dirty Harry movie line of “Are you feeling lucky, punk?” I’m sure any Russian crewmembers on that aircraft that had any coffee sitting on their crew stations spilled it on their laps due to the rapid turn and equally rapid egress from the area. For us, we went back on station and finished our part in the exercise but from then on and for the rest of our time in Japan, it was always with one eye peeled. You never knew when the bear might stir again.

Nonsensical component was high, but the readability was low due to no capitalization at all. On the Bender scale this is a 'fail.' However, to your point: Unfortunately, you aren't saying anything new or unique. Our predecessors going back to the early 1800s said the same thing about their leadership and lack thereof. Our own Air Force has been plagued by it since before we were a separate service. Arnold would not have become chief if his predecessor hadn't made a fabric and aluminum mess on a hill someplace (Andrews? can't remember). Arnold also had a big drinking problem and was a racist. Not defaming him, this behavior was the norm then. It's all about the context. However, the crew dogs who made up the legend of 8th, 5th, 20th, 9th AFs, et al, complained about the queep of the Army Air Forces - while engaged in combat, in a forward base. Some of the stupidity foisted on those guys makes the 'Dumbness at the Deid' thread look like nothing. Want to make it better? Pick your battles. If you are against everything, you need to figure out why. Maybe it all needs to be changed, but in your span of control, can you do that? Probably not. From that basis, what can you change and why? Change just for the sake of it is just as bogus as not changing something stupid. Having picked your battles, do you have an appropriate approach? Remember, there is a chain of command backed up by the UCMJ and a large beaucratic (sp?) inertia. That combination has a lot more firepower, energy, and frankly, patience than you probably do. Still game? Ok, what do you want to change locally? Why? What is your solution to fixing it? If you don't have one to recommend, then why should the boss listen to a whiner? Moving up the rank ladder, you may gain more span of control. Conversely, the time you have to do the things you want decreases. So, again, you have to prioritize. What can you do that will make it better for those under you? If you are stupid about it or concentrate on that to the exclusion of the mission, you probably will be relieved of your command. But, there are things worth that. I don't think most of those who make it to flag rank are tools. I think they were just like you, me, and most of the rest of us here - they want to get the job done with a minimum of asspain. Some of those at that level are tools - see the 'he who shall not be named' thread for an example. By the way, think it's really different in the civilian corporate world? Maybe if you found google or Microsoft. But if you are an employee for a large organization, I'd submit it's worse. Many more ways for f*ck-ups to stay on the payroll and/or in the way than in the military. If that weren't true, why are there so many books on leadership and management? Why is "The Office" such a smash? So, good on ya for seeing the issues at a junior rank. Ponder how to fix what you can - with or without the liquid assistance. Lather, rinse, repeat for your entire career.

May it please the court, I am forced to ask when this 'person' could have logged combat time? He didn't graduate UPT until 1973 and was sent to T-41s (question, is that indicative of anything?). I'm guessing a FNG out of training doesn't get a say in his first assignment once it's made or his class ranking is final. So he didn't (couldn't) get into Vietnam as it was winding down by then - RTU to ops to combat probably would have taken too long before the end in '75. The only other 'war' during his career that would have involved his type jet flown at the time of conflict was Desert Storm when he was assigned to the Pentagon just as the shooting part kicked off. Members of the jury, I am not defending this 'thing,' but is this one charge that can be untrue? However, the evidence is overwhelming of him not being human. ------------------------------------------------Separate but related thread drift---------------------------------------------------- The question was asked early on "How do guys like this get promoted?" Early on, he seemed to specialize in exec/special assistant. Worked that all the way to wing command. Ok, sucks, but that's the game. Now, my question is, how/why did the GO's club let him in after he made O-6? What and when is the 'nod' given or earned? For examply, CH said of the recently deceased 3WG/CC that he acted a like a good dude even though he knew he'd be a GO. Ok, being the exec for the 'man' is traditionally one usually surefire way to get there , but to get that gig, he couldn't have been a slouch. So, when along the way is talent really either noticed or steered? Or conversely, when is douch-i-ness noticed/rewarded like in 'it's' case? Knowing the rules of the game is always useful, I think.

It wasn't quite the "I'd be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle, anytime, anywhere' Patton-esque speech, but it wasn't bad. Have a CC's call and say the same thing. This is exactly what needs to be said and would be surprisingly well-received, I bet.

I bet the guy's been promoted at least twice since?

YHGTBFSM! There is nothing scarier than an O-6 trying to make O-7. I wonder if anyone would set up a hotmail/gmail/yahoo account anonymously and send a copy of this to Maj Gen Scott. Or the Air Force Times. I'm just askin'.......

Nope, it's where they film "Ice Road Truckers" and they don't GOVs ruining their shots.... sorry.......... BTW, how the F*CK is that history and shown on the History Channel? Sorry again, complete thread derailment.

What bluto said. Although it's been many years since I pulled alert. This sounds like a code change. The oncoming pair of crewdogs lug the new codes out, the off-going set lugs the old ones RTB. I do not know how/why there were simultaneous crews on duty in the LCC (launch control capsule), but there's supposes to be at least one dude/dudette awake at all times. Not that I ever catnapped in the seat at 0300 while the other dude/dudette was racked out in the bunk. It's not like the thing is cruising at FL-200 at .80. You hear the klaxon, you hear when stuff that should be running stops, etc, etc. What I don't get, is how was this discovered? If one of the crew woke up, saw the other flaked out, then no big deal, just stay the f*ck awake, and keep your mouth shut. If an 'outside' entity discovered it (cook, the FM, maintenance, etc), then the crew is screwed. If internal, it should be an informal debrief item. Especially since the crew has control of the door and the Vegas rule - "What happens behind the blast door, stays behind the blast door." This sounds like somebody ratted somebody out.

"And here, we observe the male armored fighting vehicle mating with the female. Never before captured on film, our cameraman lived in his blind for weeks to catch this brief 20 seconds of film."

Godspeed, gentlemen. By the way, this is a chilling, graphic reminder why wings carry significance. I haven't heard of too many space or cyber guys not coming back while performing the space or cyber mission.

The first part of this sentence is way beyond UFB. The second part is pretty darn funny! Brick, Goat Forks, MMII Deuce '87-'91

Old Dog, New Tricks: B-52 Operations in Iraqi Freedom In the famous film, “True Grit,” John Wayne played an aging U.S. Marshall. In the climatic scene, the Duke, astride his horse, faces off across a field against four bandits, also on horseback. “Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!” he yells before taking the reins in his mouth and filling each of his hands with lethal western hardware. So it is regarding the venerable Boeing B-52 “Stratofortress.” Definitely long in the tooth, the big Cold War bomber continues to face down bad guys, and like Wayne’s character, the “BUFF (Big Ugly Fat….Fella)” has “filled its hands” with a modernized arsenal to stay relevant in modern warfare. Eighth Air Force Goes To England (again) In early March, 2003, from bases in North Dakota and Louisiana, B-52H’s, the last of the breed, flew converging courses to arrive at Royal Air Force base Fairford. During the Cold War, Fairford was a thriving, bustling base, used to large aircraft reception and beddown. By 2003, however, it was in ‘caretaker’ status; only a handful of people on the base to keep it open. A swarm of loaded B-52s and the airlift needed to support bomber operations soon had Fairford humming again. In addition to cooks, motor pool, and security forces, weapons loaders, computer and communication specialists, aircraft crew chiefs, as well as extra flight crews all flowed into the formerly quiet base. Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Ben Morgan was a weapons loader who worked 12 hour days for weeks on end to support the long range strikes. Indeed, Morgan flew in one of the bombers in its initial deployment. Since the BUFF flew fully loaded for war with a full load of conventional air launched cruise missiles (CALCMS – pronounced “Cal-kums”), he had the responsibility of maintaining and monitoring the warload until it was used. On March 19th, it would be. Shock and Awe Night I Capt Jeremy ‘TB’ Holmes was a copilot on the opening night’s strikes. He flew in the right seat of the number 6 bomber of a formation of eight B-52s. “We’d brief about three hours prior to the ‘fragged’ take-off. Our crew of five – aircraft commander, pilot, electronic warfare officer (EWO), radar navigator and navigator attended the mass briefing then split off for specialized portions. “The navs checked the routing and timing that the mission planning cell had developed. The EWO updated his enemy order of battle planning; making sure he had the latest ‘gouge’ on what surface to air missiles (SAMs), triple AAA (anti-aircraft artillery), or fighter aircraft Iraqi’s could have and how they were likely to employ any of those. “The pilots checked weather, filed our flight plan, and verified the status of our jet.” Speaking of a flight plan, unlike the Eighth Air Force bombing missions of yore, modern day, limited warfare still required the niceties to be observed. Since most of Europe was not involved in the distant operation and those European skies were still filled with civil air traffic, even bombers had to file a plan to fit within the busy system. At the far end of the plan, just prior to entering the combat arena, the bombers would “disappear” and conduct their missions. Afterwards, they’d pick up their plan and re-enter the ATC system. Times have indeed changed for bombers. Holmes said that about one and half hours prior to take-off, the crew arrived at the jet and did pre-flights. The pilots did the standard walkaround, checking for ‘two wings and eight engines,’ the navs, who were responsible for targeting and dropping the weapons, would check over the load-out, make sure the correct fuse settings were in place, and pull the safety pins. Once the pins were pulled, the ordnance was live, so strict adherence to safety was mandatory lest bad things happen in an aircraft filled with jet fuel and explosives. In military aviation, every airplane has a crew chief assigned to it. The crew chief is the individual responsible for making sure the aircraft is maintained, serviced and ready to fly whenever required. Such is the massiveness of the B-52H, that the crew chief can have up to five assistant crew chiefs. SSgt Kyle Helton was one of those and tells what it was like prepping one of the big birds for combat. His particular jet was named “Christine” of Steven King fame. When asked about it, he just says the nickname is well deserved. “A lot of the work would have been done when the jet landed from its previous flight, but about eight hours before take-off, we’d get to the jet and begin checking everything – making sure all the panels were secured, the engines were free of FOD (debris that can get sucked into a jet called “Foreign Object Damage.”), the hydraulic systems were filled and serviceable, same for the tires, brakes, and flight control systems. That the jet was fueled properly and that weight and balance were within limits. If something isn’t right, we either fix it or contact the systems specialist to make the repair. “When the crew arrives, we help them do their pre-flight, then plug in to headsets and stand by with fire bottles as they crank the engines; verify the control movements correspond with the pilot’s inputs, and send ‘em off with a salute and thumb’s up. “Post-flight takes another six or so hours, so it can be a really long day. But once you see your baby take flight, the hard work is definitely worth it.” ‘TB’ says of launching that first night, “I was excited; there a lot of things happening. Launching out that night as part of an armada of eight B-52s fully loaded for war was one of the most impressive things I’d ever seen. Even Holmes’ earlier 12 combat missions for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM weren’t as ‘exciting’ because the formations weren’t as large and the Taliban air defense threat against the high-flying BUFFs was almost non-existent. Iraq was a different matter. Even though heavily degraded compared to DESERT STORM levels, Iraqi air defense still had lethal anti-aircraft artillery (‘triple A’), surface to air missiles (SAMs), and fighters. All of which could be deadly to the bombers. Holmes’, as well as most of the other jets, was burdened with a full internal load of CALCMs. With the missiles and a full fuel load, the bomber was nearly at its maximum gross take-off weight. Getting to the fight required hours of droning along, interrupted with aerial refuelings. Said Holmes of BUFF handling, “The saying I’ve always heard and agree with is, ‘It’s like driving a fully loaded beer truck with flat tires on a gravel road.’ It’s definitely not a Corvette and you have to muscle it around, but I like flying it.” Major Doug Hill, a KC-10 tanker pilot, recalled what fueling a BUFF was like from his end. “They’d cruise up high and come down to the low 20s (in thousands of feet) to get gas. Up much higher than that and the thin air affected maneuvering too much to off-load fuel safely. It was too hard for someone to stay on the boom up high.” Holmes’ description from the receiver’s end concurred with that assessment. “Getting gas is kinda like wrestling a bear. It takes a lot of work. Our wings are longer than either the –10 or the (KC)-135, so we get hit with the wingtip vortices coming off the tanker. That and the constantly changing CG (center of gravity) as the fuel comes in makes staying on the boom more art than science. You will definitely work up a sweat doing AR (aerial refueling).” Entering the combat theater soon after sunset, the two pilots in Holmes’ jet put on NVGs (night vision goggles) and flew on. At about the same time, the CAOC (combined air operations center, the air war headquarters then in Saudi Arabia) changed the targets for the CALCMs. Scrambling madly amid the now cluttered blare of radios full of chatter, the navigators in their compartment below the flight deck reprogrammed the missiles guidance computers. Such is the pace of modern warfare that moving targets can be tracked even after a mission has launched but before any weapons are launched. Holmes recalled those moments, “We could have had helmet fires in our jet and in the others with the stress of retargeting the missiles only minutes away from the launch point, but we got it done correctly and on time.” Re-entering ATC control, all eight B-52s returned to Fairford that first night. The total sortie length was more than 14 hours. Add in the pre- and post-flight briefings and the crew’s day was more than 24 hours long. In a couple of nights, they’d do it again. Night II Major Alex ‘Coyote’ Wylie, a radar navigator, had his chance at combat on Night II. Wylie was also a veteran of the ENDURING FREEDOM missions the previous year, but this was different than those strikes. Like Holmes’ the night before, Wylie also had concerns about Iraq’s air defense capabilities. By now the defenders knew that the fight was on. Like kicking a hornet’s nest, missions into Iraq faced a stirred up, angry enemy. After stepping to the jet, Wylie recalled the commander of the 23d Bomb Squadron, “The Bomber Barons,” came out to each jet and briefed the crews that headquarters had designated new targets and that the crews should contact the CAOC for updated targeting information. “He said the new targets were classified as “high priority” and that loss of the aircraft and crew was acceptable.” After mulling over those sobering words, Wylie said, “We didn’t have much time to waste if we were going to make our first refueling so we pressed and figured we’d see what would happen when we got there.” Wylie and his crew flew as the number 2 of a two-ship strike carrying a mixed load of CALCMs and JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munition – a 2000lb bomb equipped with a GPS receiver and movable control surfaces to guide it to the desired point.). Night II’s mission had similarities to the opening night’s in that the cell of BUFFs entered the European ATC system, had to hit a tanker several times and encountered mass confusion just before ‘showtime.’ Said Wylie, “We finished retargeting 13 weapons just minutes before our CALCM releases. After release, all players were told to slide south due to unknown hostiles west of Baghdad. We were fragged to go into the Baghdad MEZ (missile engagement zone – threat area where SAMs could reach out and touch an aircraft) to drop our JDAMs.” After the cruise missile launches, Wylie’s jet was to support a strike package of fighters and SEAD (suppression of enemy air defense) EA-6B “Prowlers.” “We didn’t want to miss our strike package push and going south would have made us late, so we went east instead. We picked up the SEAD support, but the rest of the strike package never showed. We pushed without them due to the importance of the new targets. “Over target, all our weapons malfunctioned. We scrambled like mad to fix the problem before we left the launch envelope and released with only one second to spare. “We must have woke them up because right at weapons impact we were engaged by a SAM. The pilots did their thing and broke away from the missile while we tried to get out of the MEZ. “We’d had an exciting 15 minutes over the target area and a long haul to get back home. We struck all our targets and the mission was a success. When we landed, our next mission was already on the schedule.” After several weeks of operating from England, operational necessity called for moving the BUFFs to different operating locations. As of this writing, the hulking bombers are still flying missions in harm’s way. But for a time in 2003, the grandsons of original Eighth Air Force crews performed as they did, getting to the target no matter the odds. (The author would like to thank the men and women of the 5th Bomb Wing, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota for their help in telling this story.) SIDEBAR – B-52 H “Stratofortress” and Crew The B-52’s roots go all the way back to 1946 when the then-US Army Air Forces selected the Boeing Airplane Company’s XB-52 design as its replacement for the Consolidated B-36 long-range bomber. The XB-52 was a straight wing, six piston-engine design. In 1948, the design was modified with swept wings and eight jet engines neatly contained in four pods slung beneath the wings. The prototype YB-52 first flew on April 15, 1952. Interestingly, it had the pilot and co-pilot seated in tandem vice the side-by-side seating of production models. The US Air Force took delivery of its first operational models, the B-52B in 1953 with subsequent models making incremental improvements in the design. Originally conceived as a high-altitude, long-range nuclear bomber, the B-52 adopted a plethora of roles and tactics throughout its more than 50 years of operational life. For nearly 40 years, the BUFFs pulled nuclear alert duty. In the first stages of the Cold War, B-52s flew armed patrols, waiting for the order to strike targets inside the Soviet Union. Starting in the 1960s, the crews sat quick reaction alert at Strategic Air Command bases around the United States, awaiting the klaxon that would send them aloft on doomsday missions. It was also in the 1960s that the bomber took on a less world-ending role. Probably most well known to the general public for its role in the Vietnam War, B-52s devastated large areas of North and South Vietnam with conventional bombs. Specially modified under the apt code-name of “Big Belly,” B-52 Ds could carry up to 85 500lb bombs – 60,000lbs of high explosive that obliterated large areas in one sortie. The B-52 strikes at Hanoi and Haiphong in 1972, dubbed Operation LINEBACKER I and II are generally credited with demonstrating US resolve and thereby bringing the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table for serious discussions. By the 1970s, however, most of the B-52 force was still involved in its primary mission of nuclear deterrence and if need be, delivery. In the face of increasingly effective Soviet air defenses, the B-52 adopted low-level flying to sneak under the Russian radar screen and strike the targets. The inherently flexible Boeing designed absorbed this mission profile change very well and the view of a cell of B-52s on the deck must have been awesome. As the airplane aged, numerous successors were planned then cancelled due to political or budgetary restraints. The B-52s soldiered on, far beyond the time anyone could ever envision. Despite its age, BUFFs performed its conventional bombing role again in Operation DESERT STORM in Iraq and again for ALLIED FORCE in Kosovo in the late 1990s. By then, however, except for the H model, all other variants were gone from the inventory. Arms limitation treaties and antiquated equipment consigned hundreds of older B-52s to the boneyard. The remaining aircraft, however, were updated yet again and have mastered another unique role in warfare. Equipped with precision munitions, the B-52 still offers military and political leaders unprecedented load carrying and loiter time capability. As described in this story, the old dog can still perform new tricks.

I was a ROTC nazi so can't comment on the Academy, but the admission requirements for a 'normal' school and ROTC were/are not as tough as getting an Academy slot (sts). The payoff, in my mind, is a better shot at a pilot slot/better chance of a waiver for whatever that ails ya that would ground a ROTC dude. Remember, you have to have a Congressional/Presidential/Vice-Presidential/offspring of a Medal of Honor winner* or be selected for the Academy prep school to get in (for enlisted only or do they take 'off the street?'). So in addition to good grades, lots of extracurricular (sp?) activity, you've got the part of competing and winning such an appoinment. * Zoomies, did I miss any of the 'foot in the door' categories?

Gonna have to see if I can find the photos of the 8th AF B-17s/B-24s with such 'unprofessional' markings and send it in. The B-17 'Snafu-er Man" comes to mind, not mention "The Sad Sack," the "Behind the 8-ball" and others.