NORTH AMERICAN

F-100 SUPER SABRE .

Peter E. Davies with David W. Menard
1 : ) ~ 1
The Crowood Press
First published in 2003 by
The rowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wi ltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
Peter E. Davies 2003
All ri ghts reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electroni c or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any
informati on storage and retri eval system,
without permi ssion in wr iting from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication
Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Li brary.
ISBN 1 86126 577 8
Acknowledgements
This proj ect was given life by the enthusi-
asm of some of the men who fl ew or fixed
the ' Hun'. Aircr w from many stag s of the
aircraft ' hi tory gave generously of their
m mori es, exp ri ences and records. Simi -
larl y, a representati ve selecti on of the
equally vital maintainers who kept the air-
craft operational were keen to pass on
their insights and impressions. They are
owed a real debt of gratitude for enabling
this book to offer an unu uall y thorough
and det ailed analysis of the F-l OO's char-
acter and role.
Above all, I am indebted to David W.
Menard: ' Mr F- 100'. After sp nding a third
of his long USAF career with the Super
abre he has continued to expand his
unique collection of information and pho-
tographs concerning the aircraft. I was
delighted when he offered to 'ride hotgun'
on the project and I have welcomed his
guidance and overview throughout . Many
of the images reproduced in these pages
come from David's collection. Particular
thanks are also due to Batur Avgan, Steen
Hartov, Clarence Fu and Jean-Jacques Petit
for making possibl e a comprehensive and
detail ed account of the F- l OO's 'foreign' ser-
v ice for the first time in a book of this kind.
This book has also benefited from the
significant contributions from the follow-
ing F-100 veteran pil ots, maintainers and
hist orians: George Acree, Lance Barber
(Wings Over the Rocki es Museum) , Maj
Curti s Burns, Mi chael Benolkin, CMGT
Mike Bilcik, J. E. T. C lausen, John Clari -
ty, Soner Capoglu, Tony Cassanova, Troy
Clarke, Larry Engesath, Jack Engler,
Robert Fanthorp , Mehm t Findikli , Jerry
Geer, Maj Dick Garr tt, ol Bruce Gold,
ol Tom Germscheid, Dr John Gri gsby,
Lee Howard, Lt Col Van Hall, Lt Col
Ronald Herri ck, Jean-Pi erre Hoehn,
Chris Hobson , Col Art Johnson, Col
Mike Kulczyk, Lt ol All en Lamb, ColT.
G. Lancaster, Thomas E. Lowe, Sgt Bob
Macavoy, John J. Maene Jr, Sgt Jay
McCarthy, Maj Alex Martin, Col William
McDonald, Maj R y Moore, David M r-
phew, Maj Willi am 'Moose' Mosel y,
Gary Nophsker, CMSGT Rich Newel l,
AI Neubecker, Rod onnan, William
Potts, Charl es Penley, Larry H. Recten-
wald, MaJ Donald L. chmenk, St v
Sopko, Ed Sandeliu , Ri chard Such,
Everett prous, Peter Schinkelshoek,
T gt Norm Taylor, ol Ronald Thurlow,
Tony Thornborough, MSgt Otto Uebel,
SSgt Hank Valentine, gt Leo van
Overschelde, Johan van d r Wei, Peter
Vanderhoef, Joe Vincent, SSgt Bobby
'Orville' Wri ght, Vern Wagner, Brig Gen
David 0. Willi ams Jr, Wai A. Yip.
Contents
Introduction 4
1 FAST AND FIERY 5
2 SWORDS UNSHEATHED 20
3 WORLDWIDE WARRIOR 48
4 VIETNAM WARHORSE 82
5 ON GUARD 116
6 UNDER FOREIGN FLAGS 133
7 SON OF A HUN: THE F-107A 151
Appendix I F-1 00 Statistics and Performance 155
Appendix II F-100 Units 158
Appendix III F-100C/D Nuclear Weapons Control Procedures 167
Appendix IV F-100 Losses in South East Asia 168
Appendix V Preserved, Ground Instructional and Displayed F-100 Airframes 170
Appendix VI QF-100 Conversions 171
Glossary 172
Index 174
1
In the summer of 2000, an angular, glint ing
shape blazed through the wide blue skies of
Indiana, its bold markings and polished
metal surfaces proclaiming that it was no
du ll , grey twenty- first century warplane. lt
wore the extravagant red and white decor
of the 353rd Fighter-bomber Squadron
(FBS), a unit that fl ew F-100 Super Sabres
(although not this one) for thirteen years
from 1957. A closer look would have
revealed that this F-100F (56-3948) also
bore a t iny US civilian registrat ion
(N2011 V) for its owner, Dea n 'Cutter'
utshall , based at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Its
military car er had begun in 1957 at the
USAF Missile Development Test Center
at Holloman AFB and ended with the
Turkish Air Force, which it had served
since Augu t 1974.
ee ing its proud plumag qui ckened
the pulses of many who recalled the days
when USAF fi ghter units devised such
dazzling displays of squadron heraldry and
the F-100 was the harbinger of a new era
of supersonic flight. A whole generati on of
fi ghter pilots had their supersonic initia-
t ion in the aircraft and savoured the enor-
mous boost in performance and capabil it y
compared with the F-84s and F-86s that
many of them had previously flown.
When their supremacy within t he US
armoury declined, many Super Sabres were
passed on and gave the same excitement to
the pilots of four other air forces. While
most aircrew enthused, there were di ssenters
who considered the fighter unforgiving and
over-demanding. Land ing the F-100 was
popularly described as a 'controlled crash'
and one severely disenchanted pilot wryly
suggested that its optimum mi ssion was sta-
t ic display! However, the inevitable attri-
t ion while at the base of the supersonic
learning curve (and in some of the foreign
air forces) was vastl y outweighed by the
Introduction
F-100's formidable reputat ion in the Viet-
nam conflict . For over ix years it was
America's ' heavy artill ry' in South Viet-
nam, fl ying incredible numbers of combat
miss ions with the reli ability of a jeep and
accuracy that made it first ca ll for forward
air controllers (FA s). Many units scored
miss ion totals, fl ight safety records and
avail abil ity rates that were the envy of
squadrons wi th newer, more ' fragile' types.
Before that t ime, the F- 100 had pio-
neered the cone pt of global deployment of
tact ical aircraft , using the recently devel-
oped asset of inflight-refuelling. Super
Sabre units regularly took up hart-noti ce
nuclear alert duti es at bases around the
worl d, fl ying thousands of mi les to do so.
This book descri bes how Nort h Ameri -
can Aviat ion (NAA) designed a day fight-
er that was the first US service aircraft
capable of supersonic peed in level flight.
The company also designed into it an ord-
nance deli very capabili ty t hat enabled
Tact ical Air Command (TAC) to use the
F-1 00 as its standard nucl ear bomber for
several years unt il later types like the
F-105, F-1ll and F-4 graduall y took over
and refined t he tact ics developed by Super
Sabre pilots.
To a publi c that was generally unaware
of th s Cold War strategies, the Super
Sabre was better known as a spectacul ar
performer in the Thunderbirds aerobat ic
team. From 1956 until 1963, crowds
throughout the worl d were treated to thun-
d rous displays in whi ch the aircraft 's 'can-
non shot' hard-light afterburner featured
prominently. When the Republi c F-105 8
proved to be an unviable successor, the
Thunderbird tepped into F-l OOs once
aga in and fl w them for another fi ve years.
In Vietnam, in additi on to serving as the
USAF's main 'ground pounder', the F- LOO
(or ' Hun' to its pilots) laid the foundat ions
4
for other essent ial elements of modern air
warfare. The techniqu s of airborne sup-
pression of enemy air defences (SEAD)
were first establish d by a select group of
aircrew fl ying Wild Weasel F- 100Fs against
the surface-to-a ir mi ile (SAM) threat in
North Vietnam. Oth r F-1 OOF fl yers
developed the hi gh-speed FAC miss ion
that is also now established as a primary
component in the contemporary battl e-
field scenari o.
The F-100 first fl ew in 1953 - half a cen-
tury ago- at a t ime when excit ing new air-
craft designs were announced every few
months. Although it was the first of t he
Century erie of fi ghters, it soldi ered on
far longer than any of its successors in that
innovati ve seri s of aircraft , apart from a
small number of F-104 Starfi ghter . With-
in twenty years of the F-l OO's first fli ght,
supersonic t ravel at twice t he Super
Sabre's top speed had become available to
commercial airline passengers, and tactical
fi ghter had become mult i-mission, all -
weather machines. Many of the pil ots who
had served in the USA' twenty-eight
F-100 Wing had graduated to that new,
sophisti cated generati on of fighters but the
F-100 sti ll remained a 'first love' and a
defining experi ence for them.
To its groundcrews, the Hun was an air-
craft with a few we ll -defined vices but it
was also the last of the ' mechani cs' aircraft .
Line- replaceable units and complex
avionic became the dominant features of
the next breed of fighters. After the Cen-
tury Series and the F- 4, designers began to
think of fighters that weren't ' hard to fi x' .
Conceived in response to the Korean
War, the F- 100 fought in three other con-
fli cts. Today, the survivors of the breed sti ll
resemble the first: menacing, sil ver fish
with gaping mout hs, cruising through the
empty blue expans s, st ill hungry for prey.
The USAF's Century Seri es fi ghter ,
beginning with the North American Avia-
tion (NAA) surface-to-air mi il e F-100,
were innovat ive, extremely expen ive and
v ry uccessful programmes that gen rated
ome of the most important aircraft des igns
of th 1950s. Several, like the onvair
F-102 and Lockhe d F-104, wer truly rev-
olut ionary. Others, including t he F-100
and Republi c's huge F-105 Thunderchief
volved more directl y from earli er design
within their respective compani es.
From 1948, NAA had equipped the
U AF with the F-86 Sabre. A tru ucces-
or to the company's cl assic P-51 Mu tang,
th F-86 appeared just in time to give the
U AF a claimed victory-to- loss rati o of
8:1 in the ski s over Korea. For many pil ots
it provided the first experi nee of swept-
wing jet fli ght and it became the first jet -
powered equipment for many of the
world's air forces, serving sev ral of them
well for over a quarter of a century.
By 1949, the ga ll oping pace of techni cal
innovati on in aviat ion made a upersonic
version of the Sabre a vital U AF require-
ment. On 26 April 1948, AA test pilot
CHAPTER 1
Fast and Fiery
~
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- -.':.:..7"" __
__ ......_ --
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~
George . W lch had taken the prototype
XP-86 through the sound barrier in a shal-
low dive, making it t he first Western com-
bat aircraft to beat that mythi cal limit. 1n
the U A, only t he rocket-dri ven Bell X-1
research plan bad already achi eved super-
soni c speed when huck Yeager had shown
t hat such a thing was possible on 14 Oct-
ober 1947. (There is a real possibility that
Welch actuall y exceeded the speed of
sound earl y in October 1947, slightl y
before th 'offi cial' event.) Earl ier attempts
had claimed the li ves of several test pil ots
including Britain's Geoffrey de Havill and.
A tea m led by AA's Vice Pres ident
(Enginee ring) Raymond H. Rice had
already ex plored the poss ibili t ies of sus-
tained supersoni cs in lev I fl ight. They
soon rea li zed that merel y improving tb
F-86 would not be enough. A new des ign,
based on a far more powerfu l engine than
the ]47, would be needed. Two innova-
t ions were soon pecifi ed: an increase in
wing and ta il sweep to 45 degree and an
afterburning engine for grea tl y increased
thrust. The opt ion of u ing a secondary
rocket motor, as used in the Oassault
5
--
A pair of F-lOOA-5-NAs positioned to show the
difference between the original vertical stabilizer
(left) and the shortened version on 52-5773.
David Menard Collection
Mirage 1 or aunder Ro SR-53, was
rejected in favour of a large ax ial ( rat her
t han centrifuga l) turbi ne wit h t hrust
augmentati on greater than the short
afterburner used in the F-860. Ea rl y te ts
with a modifi ed F-86 showed that the
' 45' wing alone conferred very limited
improvem nt in hi gh-speed fli ght.
C learl y, an entirely new fu se lage with
mu h lower drag had to be designed. An
ax ial fl ow tu rbine would allow that fu se-
lage to be much limm r for hi gh-speed
fli ght, whereas a large centrifuga l engine
such as the proposed Pratt and Whitney
(P& W) )48 would have needed a fat,
draggy fusel age .
NAA projected an Advanced F-860 in
Augu t 1950 as insurance against problems
with t he onva ir F-102 and an Advanced
F- 6E the fo llowing year, both of which
were found inadequate by t he U AF ln
FAST A D FI ERY
Power for the Super Sabre
NAA had a variety of potential powerplants for the
F-100 from its inception. The earliest proposals were
for an up-rated Allison/General Electric IGE) J35 offer-
ing 9,0001b l4.000kg) of thrust compared with 5.6001b
l2.540kg) or the J35 variant that had powered early
Republic F-84 and Northrop F-89 fighters. GE also sug-
gested a developed. afterburni ng version of their J47
las used in the F-86 Sabre) yieldi ng 13,0001b l5.900kg)
of power. Thi s in turn led to the GE XJ53 that was sup-
posed to blast out a mighty 21,0001b l9,500kg) of mili -
tary thrust. but never left the drawing board.
At first. the most logical choice seemed to be the
12,0001b l5.500kg) thrust Westinghouse J40. under
development for the USN's A3D Skywarrior. F4D Skyray
and F3H Demon. The insuperable technical challenges
posed by thi s design led finally to the selection of a
new P&W engine. the JT3 that had been under devel-
opment since 1948 by Andy Wil lgoos to powerthe Boe-
ing XB-52 bomber. It first ran in June 1949 and rapi dl y
progressed to thrust figures beyond 10,0001b l4.550kg)
- the first turbojet to achieve such a performance
Under the design leadership of Leonard S. Hobbs it
became. as the J57. the vital component for many US
military jets in the 1950s. powering the B-52. U-2. KC-
135. F-101. and F-102 and the Navy's A30 Skywarrior
and F40 Skyray. Civi lian JT3s powered enormous num-
bers of Boeing 707s and DC-8s.
P&W's engi ne. the only government-funded item in
the early stages of the F-1 DO programme. pioneered the
use of a 'spli t' !two-spool) sixteen-stage axial -flow
compressor wi th nine low-pressure and seven hi gh-
pressure stages. The two spools were mechanically
independent and could rotate at different speeds. This
arrangement allowed for higher pressure ratios than
previous engines but it also improved specific fuel con-
sumption considerably. P&W chose an arrangement of
eight lconel can-annular burner chambers developed
May 1951, came the much more promising
NA-180 'Sabre 45'. Built around the new
P&W ]57-P- 1 delivering 15,000lb
( 6,800kg) maximum thrust, the design
offered Mach 1.3 top speed, a 580nm com-
bat radius at 23,700lb (10,750kg) gross
combat weight and four new 20mm guns
for the air uperiority mission. At first, NA-
180 was to have been a radar-equipped
interceptor to follow the F-860, but this
role eventually passed to the F-102A. In
any case, the NA- 180 design team wanted
a large air intake in the nose to feed a con-
trolled air mas to t he ]57 engine, preclud-
ing a big radome installation.
The USAF expre ed a strong interest
but wanted fu rther revi ions and a signifi-
cant number of prototypes (eventuall y to
include two real prototypes and ten 'pro-
duction test' aircraft) so that development
of the potent ial fighter would be rapid. A
large order was in pro pect, driven by a new
from a system used in the earli est German and British
jet engines. Each can hel d six burners. with cooling ai r
passing along the outside and through a hole in the
centre of each can.
In the B-52. extra take-off thrust of around 2,5001b
l1.150kg) per engi ne was generated by the use of water
injecti on for brief periods. A supersonic fighter clearly
needed more than this and P&W (with NAA) advocat-
ed a long. integrated afterburner section to give a more
massive boost. For the F-1 DO. a struct ure 20ft 16m) long,
weighing 5,0001 b l2.300kg) was added to the 14ft
143m) length of the J57. It added 5,8001b l2.650kg) of
kick to the 1 0.2001b l4.650kg) mili tary thrust of the J57-
P-21 used in most Super Sabres. F-100 pi lot Charl es
Weidinger described it as 'the blackest. ugli est after-
burner nozzle in aviation hi story'.
An afterburner was de rigueurfor virtually all take-
offs to avoid 'excessive ground roll and slow accelera-
tion rates'. It was supposed to ignite withi n two sec-
onds of selection on the throttle control . and a pilot
would have had little doubt of this as he was pressed
hard agai nst the back of his seat by a sudden thrust
augmentation of over 50 per cent. Unlike the after-
burners added to later engi nes such as the J79, the F-
lOG's afterburner was an 'all or nothing' unmodul ated
burst of blazi ng energy. However, it enabled the aircraft
to fl y a 4g sustained turn until the fuel ran out. Com-
pared with later fighters such as the F-15, that could
boast a power-to-weight rat io of 1:1. this was not so
impressive. but in the mid-1950s it was quite an
achievement for a fighter like the F-1 00 at 20,0001b
l9,000kg) in 'clean' configurati on to achieve even half
that ratio.
The J57 rapi dl y became an extremely rel iable power
source. Any problems in the F-100 installation were usu-
ally associated with incorrectly functioning afterburner
nozzle 'eyelids'. causi ng surges or compressor stall s.
urgency that deri ved from the burgeoning
confli ct in Korea. M iG-15 jets had been
encountered from November 1950 and the
USAF became painfull y aware t hat its best
fighter, the F-86, had been virt ually
equalled by the Soviet Union. By January
195 1 NAA had begun design work on the
Sabre 45 and November of t hat year
brought a USAF contract for two proto-
types and 11 0 production aircraft. On 7
December 195 1, the design was awarded
the designation 'F- 1 00'. Although no one
could foresee it at the time, thi nomen-
clature, only ten year after Pearl Harbor,
fortuitously heralded a whole generation
of advanced fi ghter designs: the Century
Series. Sadly, it was also to be NAA's thi rd
and final production fighter.
The decision to go ahead represented an
act of faith in its assumption that produc-
t ion could begin while the vari ous phases
of acceptance test ing were still in progress.
6
The parallel supposition that no major
alterat ion would be needed to the design
as a result of the completion of te ring wa
also a calculated risk. For subsequent Cen-
tury Series programmes, such as Convair's
F-1 02A, thi approach became known as
the Cook- raigie plan after the two
USAF generals who in tigated it. USAF-
approved designs could thereby be put
straight into production using definitive
tooling and jigs rather than relying on the
traditi onal lengthy pr ce of hand-build-
ing a seri es of prototypes that gradually
evolved into the producti on design. The
inevitable minor modifications were to be
made on the production line without
impeding the rapid acceleration of the
production li ne to peak output, u ing large
stocks of components that would have
already been stockpi led. lt was obviously a
high-risk strategy and in the case of the
F-102 it meant a major redesign of both
delta wing and fu elage after product ion
had begun when t t h w d that the air-
craft was incapable of supersoni fli ght in
its original form.
Some early changes were made to t he
Sabre 45 at the initial mock-up stage after
a USAF inspection in November 195 1.
The hydraulic systems were routed epa-
rarely to reduce battle damage risks and
ammunit ion for each of the four guns was
increased from 200 to 275 rounds. A
weight saving of 60lb (27kg) came from
deleting the tailskid and a further 400lb
(180kg) were lost when the USAF
dropped the requirement for self-seali ng
fuel tank .
NAA had invested in a uper oni c wind
tunnel in 1949, enabli ng t he company to
test aerodynamic models at speeds up to
Mach 5.25. This was used throughout
1952 to refine the F-100's configuration.
Perhaps the most important change was to
the hori zontal tail slab, which was moved
from an F-86-style position at the base of
the fin to a locat ion low on the rear fuse-
lage with consequent improvement in sta-
bili ty and control at high angle of attack.
A drag- reducing extension to the fuselage
pu hed the gaping oval air intake 9in
(23cm) further forward and fl attened it,
while its edge were 'sharpened' to mooth
t he airflow at t he intake lip , t h reby
increasing maximum speed by 50mph
(80km/h). The elongated cockpit canopy
wa faired into the fuselage behind it, mak-
ing vi ibility for the pilot slightly inferior
to that in the F-86. H wever, downward
visibi li ty (even in the later two- eat F-
FAST AND FI ERY
YF-100A 52-5754 at the USAF Academy in April1963. Stevens via David Menard Collection
The first Super Sabre, photographed on 21 April1953, a little over a month before
its first flight. There are many external differences from the F-100A production
configuration, particularly around the rear fuselage and vertical stabilizer contours.
David Menard Collection
100F) was unimpeded by t he wing. A pi tot
tube extended 5ft (1.5m) forward from a
pos ition below the intake, providing air
pressure data from a point w II away from
airflow di sturbance around the airframe.
At the same t ime, the thi ckness/chord
rati of the vertical tail and slab tail plane
were cut by half to a mere 3. 5 per cent.
With t he revi sed mock-up approved on
26 August 1952, the U AF increa ed its
F-100 order to 273 units and construction
of the first YF- 100A proceeded apace.
AP..:s design department turned to th
detail ed drawing for the production
F-1 OOA. YF-1 OOA 52-57 54 was completed
on 24 April1953, well ahead of its 26 June
deadli ne and trucked to the AFFTC at
Edward AFB to be instrumented and pre-
pared for it t t programme.
Earl y on 25 May, ' 754 was towed out to
Rogers Dry Lak and test pi lot George
'Wheat ies' Welch (who had shot down
four Japanese aircraft during the December
1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and another
fourteen and a half later in WWII) lit up
the ]57. Flying 'chase' in an F-86D was Lt
7
ol 'Pete' Everest, who stood to gain a
couple of beers from Welch who had bet
him that the F-100 would go uper onic on
it maiden flight. The protot yp I apt
ahead of the ' Dog Sabre' until Welch cut
his afterburner to all ow Everest to catch
up. Then at 35, 000ft (10,700m) he en-
gaged afterburner once more and within
two minutes the F-100 had exceeded
Mach l. Pete Everest got hi s beers and
Welch made a second level-supersoni c
flight later t he same day.
The prototype went on to fl y 100 hours
in its first six weeks, demonstrating excel-
lent servi ceability. Minor rudder flutter
was cured by in tailing hydraulic damp r
and the aircraft's rolling and pitching
dynami c stability was explored. In ot her
fli ghts, Welch and NAA pilots Joe Lynch
and Dan Darnell fl ew high-speed dives,
taking the YF-100A to Mach 1.44 at it
faste t. U AF pilot fr m Wri ght Air
D velopment mer (WAD ) c uldn't
wait until th forty- three Phase l fli ghts for
t he manufacturer's test programme were
over before getting their hands on the YF-
100A. Pete Everest fl ew it within two
weeks of the maiden fli ght and unofficial
Phase II (U AF) test ing began soon after-
wards. Understandably, there was also a
desire on the USAF's behalf for reassur-
ance that there were no defect that were
not r vealed in Pha e I, given that pro-
ducti on aircraft wer already tarring to
take shape at NAA: Inglewood plant.
Bucks for Bangs
Although the aircraft employ d relat ively
conventi onal technology and structure
compared with some of the later Century
fi ghter , sett ing up product ion for a new
uper onic fighter required an en rm us
inve tm nt by NAA. The backgr und for
the seri es was in itself cos tl y, relying on
the data generated by the X-1, X-2 and D-
55 -2 research aircraft that explored the
boundaries of supersoni c fli ght. on truc-
t ion of the F-100 needed mass ive invest-
ment in machinery and forging pro esses.
New li ghtweight materi als, such as titani -
um, prov ided increased strength - in
1953- 54 NAA used 80 per cent of the
sheet t itanium produced in the U A. A
greater proporti on of components were
machine- mill d for the F-100 than for any
previous NAA aircraft . Automati c milling
led to simpl er structures too: the F-86 wing
structural box had 462 components and
FAST A D FI ERY
8
Another view of the unmarked YF-100A-1-NA on
21 April1953. Three days later the aircraft was
complete, including a long instrumentation boom
on the upper intake lip. David Menard Collection
YF-100A-1-NA 52-5754 is prepared for another test
flight as George ' Wheaties' Welch (on the crew lad-
der) discusses a cockpit item with lt Col 'Pete'
Everest. David Mena rd Collection
FAST A D FI ERY
Test pilot George Welch with the first Super Sabre. He took '754 for its first flight on 25
May 1953. David Menard Collection
9
over 16,000 faste ners whe rea t h in te-
grall y stiffened F- 100A wingbox used only
36 part and 264 fasteners. The wing used
skins made from metal sheets that were
tapered from root to t ip ( like the F-86's)
but also mach ined into int grall y t iffen d
upper and lower ski ns for the first time on
any figh t r. Th fuse lage sides were each
made from a ingle all oy sheet, formed in a
mass ive stretch press and a sembled to-
get her li ke a giant model kit. At t he front
of thi truct ure was the sini ster, hungry-
looking air intake.
However, the F- 1 OO's chosen mi ss ion
made it a less expensive project than most
of the late r Cen tury eries type . The d ci-
sion to make it a day fighter m ant t hat no
search radar was fitt d (apart from the
small gun -laying set squeezed into t he
upper surface of the intake) so t he uper
Sabre became t he last U fighter to date
with an intake in the ex treme no e. Th
overall simpli city of t he aircraft's av ioni cs
and armament repre ented a cost saving
compared wit h the compl x sy tems
required, for example, for the all -weather
F- 1 0 l B, F- 1 02 and F- 1 06. However, t he
F- 100 hared with t hose fighters the enor-
mous R&D bill for advancing the US air-
craft industry to the point where it could
produce a range of ground breaking de ign
like the Century Seri es jets.
Wings and Wires
Most of t he innovati ve structure in the
F- 100 was des igned to address the prob-
lems of making t h airc raft supersoni c,
stable in bot h low and high-speed fli ght,
capable of a safe landing speed and rela-
tivel y manoeuvrable. Experi nee d ictat d
the use of inboard ail erons to avoid the
'control reversa l' eff ct that could occur
when the aerodynami c loads imposed by
outboard ailerons made thin, h igh-speed
wings twist. Later designs t nded to u e
spoilers instead. The aileron were p w-
ered and very sensit ive to pilot- induced
contro l movements. The use of a simple,
two-skin wing struct ure in iti all y precluded
t he fitt ing of. trailing-edge fl aps, though
these were to appear on the revised wing of
YF-1 OOA '754 on take-off for another engineering
test flight with a single instrumentation boom. The
bulge at the rear of the fin tip is a fuel vent. David
Menard Coll ection
FAST A D FIERY
Hun's Teeth: The M-39 Gun
The Super Sabre's main armament was the M-39 gun.
tested in F-86F Sabres in Korea as the T-160 and put
into production at GE's Pontiac Division in 1953. It fired
about 1,500 electrical ly detonated 20mm rounds per
minute. with 200 rounds per gun. allowing around eight
seconds of firing. The M-39 was one of the F-1 OO's most
effective innovations and it also equipped the F-1 01 A
Voodoo. later F-86H Sabres and (as the M-39A3), the
Northrop F-5. Probably it would have found other uses
but the M61 Vulcan 'Gatling' gun entered service while
advanced variants of the Pontiac gun were under devel -
opment and became the standard gun for many of the
next generation of US combat aircraft. On several occa-
sions consideration was given to installing the M61 in
later-model F-1 00s. but its four M-39s were invariably
thought adequate for the ground-attack role that
became the Super Sabre's main task.
The weapon was based on the German WWII
Mauser MG-213C. a totally new design using a
revolver-type cylinder to fire its shells. giving a consid-
erably increased rate of fire. Post-war. other manufac-
turers adapted the design. In the UK, the Royal Small
Arms Factory produced the Aden Mk.4 and the French
made the DEFA 552 cannon. both weapons using 30mm
ammunition and firing at about 1,200 rounds per minute.
The designers of the M-39. working to contracts at
the Illinois Institute of Technology, opted for a smaller
20mm calibre to give a higher rate of fire. M50-series
ammunition was fed from a belt (from the left or right
side) into a five-chamber. gas-operated revolving cylin-
der and from there to the barrel(with right-hand twist
rifling) situated at the six-o'clock position relative to
the cylinder. Each 3.56oz (101g) projectile departed
from the gun at around 2.850ft l870m) per second muz-
zle velocity. The weapon was 6ft l1 .8m) in length and
weighed around 1781b IBOkg).
A later version. the Ford Aerospace Tigerclaws.
improved the basic system - increasing the rate of fire
to 2.300 rounds per minute, reducing the weight by 20
per cent and doubling 'endurance life' to 10,000 rounds.
In the F-100. ammunition was suppli ed from four
magazines. situated two each side of the cockpit in
close proximity to the pilot. Although the usual limit
was 200 rounds per box to prevent cooking-off of
rounds. some Super Sabres IF-1 000-1 to 0-15. 0-35. 0-
40) could carry 257 per magazine. The F-1 OOF's two M-
39 or M-39A 1 guns were limited to 175 rounds each
and many aircraft would have carried fewer rounds for
training sorties. In the F-1 OOF. the gun barrels tended to
vibrate in their blast tubes. causing mild buffeting. The
weapons were manually charged before the aircraft
rolled out for take-off; automatic charging from the
cockpit was not allowed for. Loading the ammo was an
all-manual task.
the F-1000/F a hydraulicall y operated
surfaces that could be low r d to a 45-
degree full -down position in about ten sec-
ond u ing a fl ap handle near the throttle
control. Some aircraft had an intermediate
20-degree position for use at take-off or for
infli ght- refuelling, though th is position
Armourer Richard G. SUch. with the 431 st Muni-
tions Maintenance Squadron (MMS) based at Tuy Hoa
in the Vietnam War. recalled:
It took me seven seconds to load 200 rounds in a
magazine. Most of the other guys on my crew
could load them just as fast. We loaded HEI [high
explosive incendiary] 20mm shells only - we never
loaded tracer for our F-1 OOs. Our squadron had the
best firing rate in South East Asia and we received
a commendat ion for this. We only had a 5 per cent
dud rate over the millions of rounds we loaded.
Expended ammo links were retained in compartments
adjacent to the guns but the cases were ejected
through tubes flush wi th the lower fuselage with
enough force to prevent damage to the underside of the
aircraft. The four guns were mounted virtually upside-
down in compartments vented by slots in the fuselage.
Their barrels were housed within the blast tubes and in
single-seat F-1 00s they could be fired as an upper or
lower pair or all together.
A gun compartment purging system drew air from
the main ai r intake duct through automatic doors to
clear explosive gases from the compartment during fir-
ing. The doors opened when the pilot squeezed his trig-
ger to the first detent position (which also initiated the
gun camera) and continued to admit air for five seconds
after firing ceased. If the purge doors failed to open
automatical ly, a micro-switch prevented current flow-
ing to the gun-firing circuits. Another micro-switch neu-
tralized the gun circuits once it sensed the aircraft's
weight on the nose landing gear and a separate ground
fire switch. protected by a safety-pin. had to be oper-
ated before the guns could be fired. In flight. the lower
speed limit for gun fi ring was 250kt to prevent a build-
up of gases in the gun-bays.
When static gun testing was required. all hatches
for the guns and ammo bays had to be removed to allow
adequate ventilation. Venting of the gun-bay in flight
was vital as a build-up of gun gases during long bursts
of firing could cause an explosion in the bay. Gun seal
problems did occur and these affected F-1 OOOs of the
481 st Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) during their 1965
deployment to Vietnam. During a mission to relieve
troops in contact. Capt Joe Reynes. having made long
strafing attacks on enemy troops, heard a loud explo-
sion from his aircraft during the final pass. Looking out
at the wings he saw that both gun-bay doors had blown
off from the fuselage and impaled themselves on the
inboard stores pylons each side. Although one door had
jammed the left leading edge slat and fuel was leaking
from the wing, he managed to make a safe return to Tan
Son Nhut AB.
could be set on any flap-equippe I F-100 by
u ing the flap-p siti on circuit breaker.
F-1 OOA/ models had on! y the Kruger
lead ing edge wing slats for use in low-
speed flight and manoeuvring. This sys-
tem required no hydrauli c or electrical
power; the slats were operated imply by
10
aerodynami c loads on t he wing. Each
lead ing edge had five slat sections: two
outboard and three inboard, sli ding up
and down their guide rails independently.
When the outboard sections were closed
the inboa rd sections stayed open 2
d grees, providing an aerodynami c slot to
enhance stabili ty. In normal fli ght the
slats would be up (or closed) except on the
rar occa ion that F-100 perated at
v ry high altitudes where a rodynamic
loads were reduced. At lower speeds,
depending on t he angle of attack, the slats
would drop part ially or fu lly open to
reduce th ta il ing peed, nable b tter
turni ng mano uvrability or increase li ft
for take-off. A similar system was used on
later-model F-86s and the A-4 Skyhawk.
The slats were simple and reli able. Minor
problems could be rectified by cleaning
th guide rail with a rag but occa ionally
the roller b aring needed changing. At
wor t, th guide rai l or !at might need
re-a li gning to stop them from jamming, 'a
real Pandora's box' according to main-
tainer John Clarity.
A one-piece, powered and geared hori-
zontal stabilizer was located at the base of
the rear fuselage and like the ail erons it
wa act ivated by two independent, irre-
v r ible hydrauli c y tem . Aer dynamic
load could not be tran mitted back to the
pil ot via th control tick o an artifi cial
'feel' sy tem wa incorporated in each con-
trol system, using string- loaded bungees. It
provided awareness of the loads that were
being placed on the airframe via t he flying
control and pr vented the pi lot from
accidentall y overl oading it.
The same system was also used to trim
the aircraft in place of traditional trim tabs.
Trim was effected just by altering
th neutral position of the pilot' control
column via trim witches on top of the col-
umn to give optimum sti ck and peda l
forces. A separate take-off trim button on
the pilot's left panel repositioned the artifi -
cial feel y tem to th take-off p it ion. To
provide the correct take-off trim position
for t he hori zontal stabilizer, a white triangle
symbol appeare I on the rear fu elage and
groundcrew had to check that t he tabil izer
wa aligned with it. F-lOOs gen rall y had to
be hand-flown all the t ime: trimming for
hands-off fli ght was barely possible.
Production F-1 OOs had a stabili zer with a
mere 3.5 per cent t hickness/ch rd ratio
although the fir t production F-1 OOA was
te ted with a 7 per cent unit in ca the ta-
bil izer fluttered during te t on 8 December
FAST AND FI ERY
~ ... "' J' . -
A short-tail F-lOOA-5-NA receives attention during AFFTC's accelerated Phase VI
flight test programme. USAF pilots and maintainers participated in this 552-hour
series of service tests. David Menard Collection
1953 when the aircraft was required to
reach Mach 1.45 at 35,000ft (10,700m).
As the system matured with the experi ence
of test flying, it incorporated pitch damp-
ing to neutralize pitch oscill ation ind -
pendentl y from inputs from the pilot's
'stick' . This system cut out when under-
wing loads other than 275 or 335gal drop
tanks were carried. Both damping y t m
were activated by buttons nth pil t's left
horizontal panel and n ither sy rem could
be engaged duri ng take-off or landing,
which prevented t he systems inadvertent-
ly signall ing excessive fl ying control inputs
in the case of a system failure.
The powered rudder, like each of the
ailerons, was bui lt in two secti ons that com-
bined together in operation. In the case of
the rudder, the division was chordwise with
a hinged joint. Producti on aircraft had flut -
ter damp rs fitted to the rudder and
hydrauli c, electrically controlled yaw
dampers acting upon the rudder cont rol
valve in aircraft that were not equipped
with an autopilot. The F-l OO's rud ler wa
uch a powerful control urfac that it
enabled the aircraft to perform a complete
360-degree roll without the use of ailerons.
All the main fl yi ng controls were oper-
ated by a pair of independent, simultane-
ously operating 3,000psi hydraul ic systems,
each with it own engine-operated pump
and each upplying half the power require-
ments of th fl ying control actuator units.
The rudder drew power from t he Number
2 hydrauli c system, though it was later
coupled to the ut ili ty system. Power on t he
Number 2 system could be maintained by
a ram-a ir turbine (RAT) if the engine
failed. The RAT's intake door, inside the
main engine intake duct, then opened to
feed air to the small turbine unit. Another
door, situated on the fuselage pine behind
t he cockpi t, al o open d to exhaust thi s
airflow. The RAT ould be energized by
external airfl ow at speeds down to 150kt,
providing suffi cient pressure in the cont rol
systems to maintain very ba ic operat ion.
In less favourable ituat ion where any sort
of manoeuvrability wa nece sary, ejecti on
wa usuall y a safer opti on for t he pilot,
bearing in mind that an F-100 with a
' frozen' engine and landing g ar extended
could glide for only about 25 miles ( 40km)
from a tarring alt itude of 30,000ft
(9, 000m).
A large ' barn door' speed brake extend-
ed from the fl at, central lower fu elage.
Hydrauli ca ll y operated by two actuators,
this surface could open and close within a
couple of econd . It could be extended at
any peed, although a r lief valve prevent-
77
ed it from opening at very hi gh speeds
(above 500kt) to prevent damage. The
brake wa avail able to slow the aircraft in
all flight r gim s or on approach, albe it
with an increase in buffeting.
Hydraul ics powered the landing gear
too, extending or retract ing the three units
in about seven econds. During testing,
t hat cycling time could be reduced to le
t han fou r seconds by increasing t he pres-
sure in the system to 5,000psi. Each main
wheel had hydraulic, multi -disc brakes
with an anti -skid ystem. The dual-wheel
no -gear had a teering unit , which acted
as a shimmy damper when steering was not
engaged. An electri cally actuated tail-skid
extended and retracted simultaneously
wit h t he landing gear. Operation of the
undercarriage wa via a handle with an
unmi takeable ' landing wheel'- haped tip,
on t he left auxili ary panel in t he cockpit.
Landing gear positi ons were shown by
indi cators in early aircraft and later by the
conventional t hree green lights. A black
and yellow emergency handle would lower
t h g ar if t he normal system malfu n -
ti ned, with an mergency ac umul ator
upplying hydraulic pres ur to lower the
nose-gear. If thi accumulator had been
u ed, a r d metal rod protruded from th
fuselage at the left of the nose- wheel well.
Pushing the rod back in re-set the nose-
gear hydraulic selector valve. An 'emer-
gency up' button allowed the undercar-
ri age to retract, bypassing th ' weight n
wheels' switches and enabling t he gear to
retract while the aircraft was on the
ground. In practice, onl y the nose-gear
would actuall y fold up in that (hopefu lly
unlikely) situat ion. Pi lot had vari ous
audio warnings if the landing gear was not
extended wit h t he aircraft below l O,OOOft
(3,000m) and 205kt . On take-off, t hi s sys-
tem would not cut in whil e the engine was
in afterburner.
Super Speed
The first production F- l OOA (52-5756)
with NAA senior engineering test pilot
George Welch at the controls, made its
publi c debut on 29 October 1953 having
left the producti on line on 25 September.
Welch dr ve t h aircraft th rough the
sound barri er for the Press, breaking some
windows and leaving more t han one
reporter rather breathless. Clearly the new
fi ghter was ready to give its manufacturers
a shot at the ultimate publicity tool of t he
FAST A1 D FI ERY
'754 received a good polish for its world speed record flight on 29 October 1953.
Record-breaker Lt Col ' Pete' Everest, then Chief of the Flight Test Operations
Laboratory at Edwards AFB, poses with the aircraft. An alternative instrumentation
boom arrangement is evident here. USAF via David Mena rd Coll ection
time - success in an internati onal speed
record attempt.
LCDR James Verdin, project pilot on
the US 's Douglas F4D-1 kyray, had sur-
prised the F-100 team by taking his delta
jet to 752.9mph over a 1. 86 mile (Jkm)
course, beat ing recentl y set records by
Britain's eville Duke and Mike Lithgow.
With the SAF's honour on t he line, Pete
Everest fl ew F-lOOA '754 at 75ft (23m)
altitude over the alton ea, reaching
755mph (1,247km/h) over a 9.3 mil e
(15km) course on 29 October. It was
enough to secure a new record for the F-100
and on one run Everest exceeded 767mph
(1 ,234km/h), Mach 0.97, faster than the
F4D-l 's best. However, it wa the last
record to be fl own at such risky altitudes,
although in Augu t 1961 aU cr w fl ew
a r cord-breaking F4H-l Phantom fli ght at
902. 769mph, never exceeding 125ft (38m)
above ground level. By that time, F-100
pilots were pract ising nuclear strike fli ghts
across Europe at altitudes of SOft (15m) or
lower, but the next F- 100 record fli ght wa
conducted at 35,000ft ( 10, 700m) where
Col H. A. Hanes reached 822mph
(l ,322km/h) in an F- l OOC on 20 August
1955. It was the world's first supersoni c
speed record, fl own by an operat ional fi ght-
12
er. Less than a year later, Peter Twiss
pushed the speed margins up spectacularl y
by hitting 1, 131.76mph in the Fair y Delta
2 research aircraft off the coa t of the UK.
Phase II
The forty-three fli ghts in the manufactur-
r's Phas I tests were made by George
Welch and two other AA pilots. Maj
Gen Albert Boyd fl ew the first offi cial
USAF F-100 sort ie on 11 Augu t 1953 and
the seven-stage, U AF Phase II trial ran
from 3-17 September.
In all , t hirty-n ine fli ghts were made by
project pi lot Pete Everest and six other
USAF pilots including Chuck Yeager.
Whil e the team pra ised the uper abre's
overall performance in their twenty hours
of demanding te ring, th re were a few
r ervat ion . Visibility over the nose was
thought to be poor at hi gh angles of attack,
low speed handling was cri t icized and
some pilots were unhappy about the fi ght-
er's longitudinal stability at hi gh p eel .
Yeager went as fa r as to say, 'That airplane
just isn' t stable. You can't fl y formation
with this thing'. Everest identifi ed the
problem a an ver-sensiti ve control ys-
tem with roll and yaw coupling and a ten-
dency for th left wing to drop suddenl y
when near sta lling speed. Directional sta-
bility appeared to deteriorate most when
the aircraft wa test- fl own with under-
wing fuel tank . The probl ems onl y
b came apparent when the SAF pilots
wrung the jets out harder than they would
be used in normal service li fe, but t hey
were difficulti es nevertheless r a poten-
t ial combat aircraft. Ever st was also
unhappy about t he combinati on of hi gh
landing speeds and slow control responses
at lower speeds: no problem for an 'old
head' like him, but a potenti al di saster for
the inexperi enced. 1:-1 wanted the release
of the aircraft to USAF squadrons to be
de layed unti l remedial acti on could be
taken.
aturall y, NAA defended their new
product strenuou ly, as did many of the
U AF servi c pil ots. Bob Kemp, the chi ef
project engineer, was recept ive to many of
t he pil ot ' re ervat ions about the new air-
craft. At Welch's suggesti on (according to
Chuck Yeager) a number of oth r USAF
fighter jocks w r invit d in to check out
th F-100. Pr di ctably, their response to
the upersonic, afterburning beast was
enthu ia tic. Dutch Kindelberger visited
FAST AND FIERY
but it wa to cause major problems in that
it unexp ctedly reduced the fi ghter's
' weathercock' stabi I i ty factor.
The 4 79th made the most of their new
steed's performance in training. At thi s
t ime, th U AF's day fighter capabil ity was
st ill dominated by sixteen F-86 Wings and
a dozen with R publi c F-84Fs. George's
three supersoni c hot-rod units were the
place to be. However, their Command r
strongly emphas ized safety and sought to
build a ound t chni cal support base for the
new jet. Aft r the Korean War many
enli sted me hani cs returned to better-paid
civi lian jobs, leaving th still -expanding
U AF short of personnel. Operat ion Tool-
box wa launch d to provide ski lled main-
ta iners for aircraft li ke the F-100.
Making its first take-off from Los Angeles international airport en route to Edwards
AFB, the second F-100A-1-NA 'roasts the runway' . USAF via David Menard Collection
adly, the Super abre's s rvi e init ia-
ti on took plac against a background of
accidents as the test programme continued.
With tragic irony, the worst of these took
the life of George Welch. He wa ched-
uled, on 12 October 1954, to p rform the
fina l t st in a seri es that would take the
fi ghter cl ose to the li mits of its structural
endurance in a manoeuvre that combined
max imum g and max imum Mach number.
Flying the ninth product ion F- lOOA (52-
5764) Welch attempted to tak the air-
frame to it load limits of 7. 3g by pull ing
out of a steep supersoni c dive at 23,500ft
(7,200m). Hav ing fai led to reach th exact
parameters on his first flight, he repeat d
the te t later that morning. He rad io-
ch eked with AA's Palmdale Flight Test
the Pentagon to play down what he took
to be minor criti ci ms of the aircraft by
some of the Phase ll testers. Hi s view won
the day with U AF commanders, who
were in any case eager to see the prest i-
giou F-100As perched on t heir fli ght-
lines. The cycle of product ion and deli very
went ahead while five phases of th accep-
tance tests were still to be completed. The
initial batch of 110 F-100As was to be fol-
lowed by two further orders bringing t he
total to 203.
The urgent need to deliver F- l OOs and
introduce a whole new gen rati on of pi lots
to modern fi ghter combat tacti cs caused
AA to seek a s cond product ion source
for the F-l OOC and subsequent F-100D.
On 11 October 1954, it wa announced
that t he former Curti s-Wri ght plant at
Columbus, Ohio had b en chos n and
Super Sabres followed Fj Furi es off the line
at thi , NAA's Columbus Di vision. One
batch of twenty- five F- 100 -10- H air-
craft merged before F-l OOD product ion
began t here, with Block number also
using an'- H' manufacturer's cod suffi x
rath r than the '-NA' of Inglewood air-
craft. In fact, when F-100 product ion
ended at th 2,294th machine, the tota l
ame to only 25 per cent of the number of
F-86 and FJ fi ghters deli ver d - NAA had
hop d for a much bigger run.
On 29 eptember 1954, the 479th
Fighter (Day) Wing (FDW) wa act ivated
at George AFB using sixty of th F-100A
that had already left AA's lngl wood
plant. The Wing had operated F-86F
Sabres and it 4 6th Fighter (Day)
Squadron (FD ) received it first n w air-
craft when its ommand r, Lt Col M. G.
Long, landed Tacti ca l Air Command's
(TAC's) first F- l OOA (53-1541) at
George. ln natural metal fini sh with USAF
insignia on the nose, FW-541 bad the
abbreviated verti cal tabilizer of earl y
F-1 OOAs. Reduc d in h igb t, aspect rati o
and rudder span compared to the YF-
l OOA's, the revised fin saved a little weight
'FW' buzz numbers first appeared on the F-100A's nose, then on the rear fuselage but
heat from the afterburner quickly obliterated them. Finally, they were painted on the
centre fuselage where they stayed until1965. F-100A-10-NA 53-1538 was used by the
USAF's ARDC. David Menard Collection
73
FAST A1 D FIERY
F-100A-5-NA 52-5775 with Nellis AFB's CTAF emblem on its tail. This aircraft was also
used by the WADC at Wright Field as an EF-100A in 1954. At that time it had the short
vertical stabilizer. Norm Taylor Coll ecti on
The 140th F-100A nearing completion on the Los Angeles production line.
David Anderton Coll ection via David Menard
14
Centre that he was about to comm nee the
dive over the Rosamond Dry Lake, Mojave
- and then no more was heard from him.
The aircraft was seen to explode at
20,000ft ( 6,000m) and two parachutes
were sighted, one of them the braking
chute with part of the rear fuselage ti ll
attached to it. On the other parachute was
the fatally injured Welch, his body lacerat-
ed by debris from the di integrating F-100.
The accident invest igator began an
exhaustive analys is of the myri ad tiny
pieces of wreckage and interviewed 170
witnesses. The crew of a B-47 tratojet,
returning from the practic range at
Salton Sea, had ob erved th fatal dive as
the F-100 arced over from 45,000ft
( 13, 700m) and t hen came apart at less
than 20,000ft (6,000m).
Among the fragments wa a mall cine
camera, part of the test instrumentation. It
had been focused on the aircraft 's left hor-
izontal stabi I izer and its last few frames of
fil m showed t he shadow of the F-1 OO's ver-
ti cal fin pass v ry rapidly over the
tailplane. Combined with some alvaged
fil m from an oscill ograph in the cockpit
recording control forces and positions at
the t ime of the di saster, this evidence
showed that t he aircraft had entered a
supersoni c side-slip that ma ively over-
stressed the airframe and tore it apart. The
F-100A had comparatively short fl ying
surfaces and a long, heavy fuselage, with it
principal axis of manoeuvre running from
no e to tail. It had entered a supersonic
pullout and the aerodynamic l ad then
moved to other axes, causing the aircraft
to roll and exacerbating the yaw that had
already been present throughout the dive.
It is also po sible that t he structure of the
two- ection ail eron , who e upward-mov-
ing panel mov d further than the down-
ward-moving ections, caused uneven drag
across the wings and added to the yaw. A
t he yaw worsened with an increasing angle
of attack during the pullout the vertical
tabilizer was unable to provide adequate
directi onal stability and the aircraft could
no longer be controll ed.
Although Welch's F-100A had been
pushed beyond the parameters of normal
ervice fl ying, th accident triggered severe
pr blems for the programme. With over sev-
enty aircraft in service and ma product ion
under way, a rapid solution was urgently
needed. Although the U AF had officially
accepted the fighter, NAA would have to
bear part of the burden of any modification
that might be deemed nece sary after an
The RF-100A 'Slick Chick' . This aircraft was lost in a crash near Bitburg on
October 1956. via Larry Engesath
Although the 36th FDW initiated the F-1 DO air superior-
ity/ attack variants into United States Air Forces in
Europe IUSAFE) service. the first Super Sabres in USAFE
were in fact a trio of highly secret spy planes; the RF-
1 OOA reconnaissance Huns. In the early 1950s, the USA
needed aircraft that could make deep, high-speed pen-
etration flights over Soviet territory to investi gate its
burgeoning defence build-up, particularly its interconti -
nental ballistic missiles IICBMs).
FAST A 0 FIERY
Slick Chicks
tronics bay were installed there instead. The voltage
regulator and some other electrical control panels
moved to the left-hand ammunition bay. In the cockpit
there were changes to the side consoles to remove the
armament control panel and add controls for an ai rborne
navigation system that continuously computed the ai r-
craft's position using data from the F-1 DO's own sensors.
An MM-2 attitude gyro replaced the equivalent Type J-
8 model and a pedestal mount. installed on the cockpit
floor between the pilot's legs, held the camera controls
and an emergency drop-tank release lever. Another han-
dle on the right-hand forward cockpit rail operated an
emergency system to open the external doors on the
camera bays.
Although two of the cameras were mounted horizon-
tal ly, using angled mirrors to acquire their imagery, the
forward fuselage would not accommodate the five cam-
eras without modification. It was therefore deepened
!primari ly between Stations 80 and 267) with a pair of
boxy 'jowl ' fairings incorporating motor-driven. protec-
tive doors for the optics. There were new doors. and pan-
els extending the ammunition and electrical bays out-
board of the original fuselage mould line by about 5in
l13cm) each si de.IFor their earlier RF-86F recce variant
While Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson at Lockheed went to
work on his U-2 design to meet the need in the long
term, NM responded to a USAF request to equip six F-
1 DO As with five Chicago Aerial Survey cameras each -
two split-vertical36in l91cm) K-38s, a pair of tri -camera
K-17s and a prime-vertical. tri-camera K-17C. While not
as advanced as the Hycon 'B' cameras under develop-
ment for the U-2. these instruments could resolve
images of gol f balls on a grass course from 53,000ft
l16,200m) altitude. The aircraft needed an optical
viewfinder Iabove the instrument panel in place of the
A-4 gun sight) to sight its cameras. a speed of 530mph
l853km/h) at 53,000ft to evade the defences and an
endurance of 51/1 hours.
The F-1 OOA had only just entered production at the
time, but the USAF's late-1953 request was urgent and
a seven-man NM team directed by Don Rader was
given a mere three weeks to modify the new fighter as
a camera-ship. The M-39E guns were removed to pro-
vide the obvious locations for two cameras. with two
more in the ammunition bays and one in the right-hand
expended ammunition compartment. Their associated
electrical heating and control equipment went in the
left-hand expended ammunition bay. The aft electronics
bay !behind the ammunition boxes) was used for an
extra 830gal fuel tank. To provide further range, inboard
pylons !similar to those on the F-1 DOC but with extra
sway-braces attaching them to the fuselage) were fit-
ted and plumbed for 200gal fuel tanks to complement
This view emphasizes the twin bulges for the camera installations and the sway-braces connecting
the inboard pylons to the fuselage. via Larry Engesath
the standard 275gal 'supersonic' tanks. In order to
squeeze the last few miles. an extra 30gal of fuel were
pumped into the fuel venting system through a new
filler cap on the upper dorsal fairing, providing just
enough JP-4 to start the engine and taxi to take-off
without cutting into the main fuel supply. F-1 OOAs could
not be refuelled in flight and in any case tankers could
not have accompanied them on their dangerous over-
flights.
The gun sight radar was removed and the AN/ARN-
6 radio compass. fuel control amplifier. main power
inverter and battery equipment displaced from the elec-
15
NM used similar but smaller bulges in the side-panels
of the F-86F to squeeze in a very cramped camera array.)
The RF-1 OOA's camera viewfinder used a metal tube pro-
jecting through the engine air inlet to a small window
beneath the nose. Flying at such an altitude required the
pilot to wear a pressure sui t as a back-up to the cockpit
pressurization, with consequent cockpit modifications
and the 51/1 hour endurance parameter meant a big
increase in the gaseous oxygen supply.
A final structural modification was a pair of bolt-on
12in l30.5cm) wing-tip extensions !taking the span up to
38.8ft/ 11 .8m) to help with the altitude requirement, an
LA.HRAL ACt:f:l[ HC:"'ETER
2 P.T }I3/ARC 5+ RlC! IV[R - TRANS H' IT ;ER
J f IH INVERTER.
4 RECEIVR.
5 RT- al /APX O t([C E IVER- TRANS Ht T':'fR.
6 ACCLE:ROMET ER AM?Lif"IEP.
] YAV DAMPER P0v.' R
8 CPIBa ASt-1 - 6 COMP'UfER
9 PILOT'S HJ5TRUHENT PA.NEL.
l 0 TRI OBLIQiiE CM1Cii:A.S
11 fUEL GAG!: ANPLIF"IER
12 HECTR::c CAY fl.'!.:.. CE.L
13 YAIJ DAMPER AHfliFIE:'R.
FAST A D FI ERY
Slick Chicks (Continuecl)
14 A-Z AHPL IFIER
15 MA - l TRUE AIRSPEED COMPUHR XMTR
16
17 AM-916 ASN- 6lE' CT RONIC CC.Ilnlol Ai'1PLI F/ E"R.
1 8 RAVIO F'USE' BOA ;.sSE11Gl Y
19 OPTICAL VIEW FttJDER
2Q CAHERA CONTROL PEDE STAL
21 I.KC.HOTOR,..
22 SPLIT VERTICAL CJ.HERA.S
23 TP.I VJ:TIC.lL CAMERA
24 C.v1'V, All!. CCI-: 01TIC: trNC: EQUI PMENT
COHPA'\TMEIIT
.t /MAC. HOTIOU COH:'ENSATION
r -tc;tA-tKO-oo.al
2 REMOVt fAIRING FOR TO
SURfACE CONTROL5 .
J TRJ OBLIQUE CAN'IERA
2
12
4 GENERATOR VOLTAGE R'f:GULATOR
POYIER CONTROL PANEL
GEUCRATOR FIELD CONTOOL RELAY
(LECTRICAL CONTROL PANC_L
5 IIMGE COMPCN!JkTION NOTOR
6 (}.\( AGENCY oo.AKE ACCLMJLATOR AIR fltLER
VALV[, AIR. GAGE AND OU.\\P VALVE
7 OXYGEN fiLLER
8 SPLIT VERTICAL AND AIR CONDITIONING
EQUIPMENT
9 CAMlRA R[fltlC.ERATION [,QUIP11 ENT
14 15
1 Q FUEL VENT FILLER 13 TRI VERTICAL CA."t.ERft.
11 FUEL FILLER 14 SPLI T \'EP.TICAL CMI ERA
2 HYORt.UU( SYSTEM 15 TEMPrRATURE SfN.SI NG p,uL.B
ANO fVEL ' IMACiE l10TION C0f'1PENSA TIO' !
GAGt A.M.Pt.lft[R
These NAA drawings give an idea of the camera and equipment layout in the RF-100A.
RF-100A 53-1551 cleaning up aher take-off before delivery to the 7407th SS in West Germany. via Larry Engesath
76
addition that would appear on production F-1 OOAs
together wi th the extended vertical stabili zer also used
on the RF-1 OOA. The wing was also strengthened inter-
nally to take a pair of drop tanks on the inboard pylons.
All RF-1 OOAs had the J57-P-39 engine.
The half-dozen selected F-1 OOA-1 0- NAs were re-
bui lt wi th a great deal of skill and improvisati on. The
project. code-named Slick Chick on 7 December 1954
and conducted with great secrecy, involved ai rcraft 53-
1545/ 48, -1551 and -1554. The serials are important
si nce the ai rcraft frequently bore fal se serials (such as
53-2600) duri ng service to confuse the opposition.
Known unofficially as RF-1 OOAs. they were always si m-
ply F-1 OOAs on USAF records to thicken the securi ty
blanket.
With flight testing completed by mid-1954, pil ot
training was initiated and the 'Slick Chicks' were hand-
ed over to the USAF in spring, 1955. Three were des-
tined for use in the Pacific area with the 6021 st Reece
Squadron at Yokota where they arri ved on 2 June 1955.
The others were shipped to the UK aboard USS Tripoli
and then flown from Burtonwood to Bitburg, West Ger-
many on 16 May 1955. Their parent unit was the 7407th
Support Squadron (SS), already flying RB-57 A spy-
planes out of Rhein Main AB.
Detachment 1 of the 7407th SS, commanded by Maj
Bert E. Dowdy, began test flights wi th its 'Chicks', part-
ly to ascertain that the use of continuous afterburner
for more than the recommended fifteen minutes was
possi bl e. The J57 -P39 engines were also 'tweaked' to
give 16.0001b (7.250kg) thrust. Later. they were
replaced wi th the up-rated J57-P21 engines of produc-
tion F-1 OODs. but the Detachment reverted to the 'Dash
39' model (since it gave better performance above
40,000ft/ 12,000m) until the 'Dash 21A' was refitted
once again in 1957. Detachments were made to
Furstenfeldbruck. Rhein Main and Hahn in West Ger-
many, and (al legedly) lncirlik in Turkey.
In all , Detachment 1 flew over BOO mi ssions. many
of them high-speed dashes over the border to photo-
graph Soviet mi ssi le install ati ons. Speed was the 'Slick
Chicks' only defence and pilots frequently encountered
anti-aircraft fire and attempted intercepti ons by Soviet
urgent examinat ion of the F-100' stabili ty
pr blems. Project pil ot Jack impson was
one of vera! USAF pil ots who had already
expressed grave reservations about the
hort tail. On a November 1954 gun ight
ro6
FAST AND FI ERY
fi ghters. Like their SR-71 A successors they were there
and gone before the defences could respond effective-
ly. There were no losses over hostile terri tory but 53-
1551 crashed 15 mi les (24km) north of Bitburg in Octo-
ber 1956, probably due to a mechani cal fault, with onl y
213 flight hours on its record. The pilot ejected suc-
cessful ly. It was replaced by an F-1 OOC (55-2711) for
training purposes. During one missi on the pi lot
remained in afterburner for almost thirty mi nutes to
avoid Soviet interceptors. causing such severe heat
damage to the aft section of his ai rcraft that a new rear
fuselage section had to be bolted on.
When Detachment 1 was shut down at Bitburg on 1
July 1958, the RF- 1 OOA had already been superseded by
test, impson's F-l OOA entered a nose-right
yaw during a pli t-S manoeuvre and end d
up going almost sideways at transonic
speed. Metal from the right side of t he ver-
tical stabilizer was torn away.
the higher-flying Martin RB-57F and Lockheed U-2A/C.
Improvements in Soviet ai r defences made the relative-
ly heavy, unmanoeuvrable RF-1 OOA too vulnerable.
However. the loss of Gary Powers' U-2 in May 1960
showed that even the stratospheri c Lockheed design
was not immune to a new generation of Soviet surface-
to-ai r mi ssiles (SAMs) and bett er fi ghter tactics. The
two surviving RF-1 OOAs plus the two remaining from
those based at Yokota (53-1548 was lost on 23 June
1955) were returned to NAA's Inglewood plant in June
1958 and all four were transferred under MAP to the
Republi c of China Air Force's (RoCAF's) 4th Reconnais-
sance Squadron where they remained unti l late 1960.
All were subsequently scrapped.
The bas ic 'fix' agreed upon wa simple:
a 26in (66cm) increase in wingspan and a
tall r vert ica l stabil izer with 27 per ent
greater area. l n effect, this meant a return
to th taller, higher a pect ratio fin used on
Three of the new breed of 'Mach Busters' step to their jets at George AFB. On the left is Col Foster l. Smith who later
became a USAF Maj General . The line-up of 436th FBS F-100As has the squadron's 'Mach Busters' tail insignia. Scalloped
intake designs in squadron colours and 'speed lines' behind the squadron emblem were added later. David Menard Collection
17
/
"
' .. \
'
. \
FAST AND FI ERY
F- 100A (53- 1534) he was eva luating at
Eglin AFB su ra ined lo s of control
through pil ot -induced oscill ati on and el i -
int grated. The next day, Maj Frank
Emory ejected from F- l OOA 52-5 771 after
loss of control dur ing a Phase IV gunnery
test. In all , six losses and two fa taliti es pre-
ceded the U AF' decision to ground t he
fl eet whil e the structural mod ifications
w re carri ed out.
In February 1955, AA test pil ot
George F. Smith became the first man to
survive a supersoni c bale-out: all the more
remarkable since he was dressed in Levis
and a ports shirt. He had agr eel to give
production aircraft F-100A 53- l 659 its
initi al fli ght during a chance visit to the
factory on hi s day off. At 35,000ft
(10, 700m) a minor hydrauli c fa ult locked
the control column as t he aircraft entered
an uncommanded di ve. Smi t h apparentl y
ejected at 7 Omph (1 ,255km/h) - just fi ve
seconds before the Super Sabre smashed
into t he sea, landing near a Sea Sc ut ve -
el. He had a catalogue of internal injuri es
A whole generation of fighter pilots experienced the new world of supersonic flight
as they progressed from their T-33A trainers to the new F-100A. USAF
and lost nearl y 28lb (13kg) in weight as a
result of the colossal air pressure on ejec-
t ion but , he lived to fl y aga in.
the YF-l OOA. It had been abbreviated on
earl y producti on aircraft to save we ight
and drag. This in turn meant reduced
rudder area since t he fuel vent above the
rudder had been moved lower on the fins
of earl y F- l OOAs. All seventy squadron
F-100A had to be modi fied, plus 108 at
vari ous stages of producti on. George's F-
100As were grounded fr om 11 ovember
1954 unti l earl y February 1955 and the
modificat ion programme cont inued into
May of that year. The first modified air-
craft was t he th irty- fourth ff th line, an
F-lOOA- 10-NA, but aircraft in t h latter
part of producti on Block 20 wer t he first
to hav the changes incorporated during
production. Other improvements incl ud-
ed at t hi s stage were a retractable tail - ki d
(from F-l OOA 52-5766 onwards), a ya w
damping y t m (from late Block 15
F-100A ) and pitch cl amping (Block 20).
From the 167th aircraft onwards the ]57-
P-7 was replaced by the -39 variant,
though there was no thrust increase.
Despite all this, Dutch Kindelberger
joined Douglas Aircraft's designer Eel He in -
mann at the Whi te House in December
1954 to receive the highly pri zed oili er
Trophy. AA's share of the award recogni zed
t he F-1 00 as representing ' the greate t
achi vern nt in aviati on in America'. The
modifications had in any case greatl y
improved the F- 100's handling characteris-
tics and would eventuall y almo t r move the
risk of pilot- induced oscillati ons.
Unfortunately, th di fficul t ies persisted.
A strike at NAA's Los Angeles factory seri -
ously disrupted production from October
to December 1953, and t here were further
accidents. On 8 November, shortl y after
Welch's crash, Air dr . D. tephenson,
ommander of the RAF's Central Fi ghter
Establi shment, was kil led when the
By the end of 1955 all the production
F- 100A had been deli vered, and in Sep-
tember the 4 79th FDW finall y reached
ini t ial op rat ional capabili ty (!OC) at
George AFB. Other F-1 OOAs had arri ved
at Nellis AFB (52-5761 was the first visi-
tor in August 1954) for the use of the
3595th ombat rew Traini ng Wing
( TW) and for R&D work within t hat
unit. F-l OOA served with Air Materi al
ommand and other test uni ts, but the
most ext nsive use of the surviving USAF
examples was to be in the three Air
at ional Guard un its: the 152ncl Fi ghter
A very rare shot of an F-100A-20-NA used by the 323rd FBW for transition to the F-1000 at
Bunker Hill AFB in 1956. The markings (a squadron colour band in red, blue or yellow
with black check borders) were desi gned by Maj Bill Dillard, the original leader of the
48th FBW Skybl azers team in their F-84G/F-86F years. Davi d Menard Coll ection
18
FAST AN D FI ERY
~ ,.l l
' .
' . . ~ ~ ........................ ~ ~
A neat quartet of F-100A-10 and -15-NAs on the prowl. The lead aircraft (53-1589) later
flew with the Republic of China AF after service with the Arizona ANG's 152nd TFTS
and it was preserved as '0218' at Taiwan's National University. John Maene Coll ection
lntercept ion Squadron (FlS), Ari zona
ANG (May 1958- unti ll 969), the 118th
FBS Conn cti cut A G (mid-1960-Janu-
ary 1966), and the 188th Fighter- bomber
Squadron (FBS) New Mex ico ANG
(April 1958-early 1964). Of the 203 F-
100As accepted by the USAF onl y those
at George AFB served with a front -li ne
Wing. Fifty were lost in accidents and over
half the total production run (1 22 F-
1 OOAs and four RF-1 OOA reconnaissance
vari ants) was eventually transferred to the
Ro AF. By the end of 1955, the U AF
had air ady decided that the F-100 was
better suited to the fighter-bomber role.
Proj ect Hot Rod, fl own at Eglin AFB by
Air Proving Ground Command pilots,
found shortcomings in the F-l OOA's oper<
ational capability t hat made it less than
ideal for the air superi ority role. Four years
later, a similar decision was made concern-
ing the Lo kh edF-104A interceptor after
onl y a year's servi ce with Air Defense
Command (ADC ). It had another short
USAF career as t he F-1 04C fi ghter-
bomber, also with t he 479th TFW after it
ceased F-100 operations and wa then
shifted to the export market. How v r, in
USAF service th F-100 was to prove one
of the most enduring and effect ive attack
aircraft it had ever possessed.
450th FOG F-100C-5-NAs on the ramp at Foster AFB. FW-775 is the Wing Commander's aircraft with fuselage bands
complementing the red. white and blue tail colours. David Menard Coll ection
19
CHAPTER 2
Swords Unsheathed
,,
11 . :;t77"r
F-100C-1-NA 53-1777 was lAC's first F-100C, delivered on 14.July 1955. It took part in the 4 September 1955
Bendix Race from George AFB to Philadelphia, averaging 610mph (980km/hl on the 2,325 mile {3,740kml
journey with Col Carlos Talbott as pilot. The aircraft was later lost in a crash at Foster AFB. John Maene
Coll ect ion
F- lOOC
Mor than a few disenchanted fi ghter
pilot have ob erved that because the
heavy hand of Strategic Air Command
(SAC) ru led the USAF in the 1950s and
earl y 1960s, fi ghter aircraft were all too
qui ckly t urned into bombers. They also
point to the scort fighters (like the F-101
Voodoo) that were ori ginall y intended to
protect SAC's fl eet in fli ght and the
interc ptor whose main task seemed to
be to protect A bomber and mi ss ile
install at ions. There were certainl y insuf-
fi cient ' pure' air uperi ority fi ghters
between the F-86 Sabre of the earl y 1950s
and the mid-1970s F-15 Eagle to satisfy
fighter pi lot fr om the dogfighting trad i-
ti on, and the F- 100 was no exception
aft er it was re-roled from a defensive to an
offensive miss ion.
Following a comparatively short run
of F- l OOA air uperi ority fi ghter , the
USAF wanted a new ver ion, the F-100 ,
with a substantial attack capability to
replace its nucl ear-capable but under-
20
. (
powered Republic F-84F . Beneath the
evolving ' bi g sti ck' of the nucl ar triad of
intercontinental ball isti c missile (I BMs),
bombers and submarine- based missiles,
trat gic planner required a tactical layer
of re pon e that was based closer to the
acti on than SAC's airba es. Thi would
enable smaller nucl ear and conventi onal
weapons to be directed very rapidl y at, for
example, a oviet armoured advance into
We tern Germany. Fighter-bomber air-
craft for thi s role required hi gh speed at
low altitude to avoid counter-a ir defences,
SWORDS UNSHEAT HED
An early F-100C-1 -NA pre-delivery. The 'US Air Force' stencil remained on the tail -fin
of most F-100As. F-100Cs and some early F-100Ds. John Maene Coll ection
Factory-fresh F-100C-10-NH 55-2724, one of the twenty-five F-100Cs built at NAA's
Columbus, Ohio facility as preparation for its use as a second source for F-100Ds.
Braking parachute doors beneath the rear fuselage are open. This aircraft was later
used by the Thunderbirds team. John Maene Collection
21
/
and ad quare range to give their pil ots a
chance of omething better than a one-
way mi ss ion. At first this mi ss ion fell to
F-84 and some F-86 units.
The F-100A's range wa in ufficient for
th ta k and the only place for mor fuel
wa in the wing, a 'dry' structure in the
ori ginal F-100 design. North Ameri an
Aviati on (NAA) had already condu ted
feasibility studi es for a 'w t' wing (givin
th quivalent range extension of two
2 75ga l tank ) during the F- lOOA design
phase. lnJul y 1953, thecompany wasasked
for further wing redesign to include
strengthening for extra tore pylon ,
bringing the total to three each side. The
inboard pylon could only accept stor
hort enough to all ow the undercarr iage to
retract behind t hem. These pylons were
bolt-on installat ions, lacking the explosive
jettisonable facili ty of the F-lOOD pylon .
Th rede igned wing had leak-proofing
ealant injected into all pars and boltholes
in th fu el-r raining areas of the structure.
These tanks added 422gal, which made a
total of 1, 189gal of internal fuel including
t he forward, intermediate and aft fus lage
tank sect ions. All were refuelled via a n w
single-point receptacle low on the left fuse-
lage behind the wing- root and d to th
ngine t hrough a mall (1. 6gal) inverted
SWORDS UNSHEATHED
(
\\ _-
The F-100C concept gave the Hun a primary fighter-bomber capability and the third
aircraft, 53-1711 was used to test its maximum ordnance-carrying muscle. Triangular
sway-braces are fitted to the inner sides of all pylons, the largest attaching the long
inboard pylons to the fuselage. David Menard Collection
The F-100's original standard drop tank was the NAA Type 111275gal 'banana' tank
with integral pylon. 53-1710 was the second F-100C-1-NA used for Phase II tests at
AFFTC. Edwards AFB and it won the Mackay Trophy with a record speed of 822mph
(1 ,322km/h) on 20 August 1955. John Maene Collection
22
fl ight tank (allowing short peri ods of nega-
t ive g flight ) within t he centre fu el tank. A
detachabl infli ght- refuell ing probe was
added inboard beneath the right wing as
another range extender. At first th is was a
short, straight, tubular install at ion that
provided pilots with some rea l problems in
operat ional use when they tri ed to insert it
into the trail ing fuel-line 'basket ' behind a
tanker aircraft . Col Tom Germscheid fl ew
F-lOODs with thi s short probe at Cannon
AFB in 1957:
lt was virtuall y imposs ible to see t he end of the
probe from your normal cockpit positi on. You
coul d get a glimpse of it if you squinched your
head forward against the upper ri ght side of t he
canopy but it was almost impossible to fl y the
t ight format ion requi red for refuelling fTOm this
position. The result was t hat you had to guess
and estimate where the probe was. You would fl y
up to the drogue and stabilize about l Oft back
from t he basket, t hen make verti cal and lateral
adjustments in your position, stabili ze again and
then advance t he throttl e to give you a pretty
good overtake on the basket. You had to hit it
wit h pretty good accelerati on to engage the bas-
ket latch. Often, turbulence around the airframe
would cause the basket to move. You would look
for t he fuel hose to 'snake', when you hi t the
basket. lf you di dn' t see it snake as you advanced
t he last ten or so feet you had probably missed
t he drogue and t he basket was probably beating
up your wing-s lats or the fuselage sides. If you
just hi t the lip of the basket it woul d do a loop
and hit t he canopy or t he top of t he fuselage. We
had a number of shattered canopies during refu-
el ling. On a practi ce refuel li ng near Cannon
AFB a refuelling drogue became entangled in an
F- IOO's hori zontal stabili ze r. The drogue hose
broke and an inerti al reel zapped it back into the
tanker's refu elling pod, igniting a fire on the
tanker whose nine crew members successfu ll y
bail ed out. The F- 100 jock painted a KB-50 sil -
houette on the side of his bird.
If you hi t t he basket with too much accelera-
t ion you would overshoot and bend t he probe or
even tear it off t he F- 100. Around 1958 NAA
came out with a modificat ion to ex tend t he
probe about 4ft, moving the contact point wit h
the drogue forward and into less severe turbu-
lence. It was somewhat easier to see t he lengt h-
ened probe from t he cockpit. Later, they put a
bend in the probe, raising t he t ip up about 3ft.
You could t hen see it from the cockpit out of
your peripheral vi sion and t his made refuelling
a pi ece of cake.
One theory has it that an accidentall y
b nt probe gave pilots the idea t hat it
WORDS UNS HEATHED
Wheel us-based F-100Cs of the 7272nd FTW initially wore dramatic red and yellow
markings, replaced by the more formal dark blue bands (as seen here I and then by a
simple Wing patch. Author's Collecti on
lnflight-refuelling was the key to the F-100's success as a 'global warrior' . F-100C
54-1830, flown by a 322nd FOG pilot, has made a successful connection using the
original, short refuelling probe. USAF via David Mena rd
23
would be eas ier to se a deli berat ly
' kinked' version.
Our KB-500 tankers' rop speed was around
250kt, not far from our stalling speed when
loaded up. The KB-SOD had t hree drogues- two
on the wings and one tail pod: that was defi-
nitely the easiest positi on to refuel from. Wing
tur bulence from the tanker caused t he wing-
mounted drogues to become pretty evasive.
Whil e at annon I participated in a tes t for
refuelling F- IOOs off a KC-97, SAC's primary
refuell er at the t ime. A drogue on a short hose
was attached to the end of the KC-97's ' fl ying
boom', and we merely had to fl y into position
and the boomer would ' fl y' the drogue on to our
probe. Piece of cake!? Almos t - the problem was
lack of tanker airspeed. They had a hard time
reaching 200kt. We had ro descend to around
I O,OOOft to refuel. When we got loaded up with
fuel our angle of attack would increase and we
ran out of power to hang on the boom. We
woul d call, 'Toboggan' and t he tanker started to
descend, t hus reducing our angle of attack.
Then we would stay on this descent course until
we gm our full load of gas. This was t he precur-
sor to later refuelling from the KC- 135 Stra-
totanker, whi h was a piece of cake.
An additi onal range booster was th
' buddy' refuelling system, devel oped by
NAA in roughly the same timeframe as
Ed Heinemann' simi lar system for hi s A-4
Skyhawk. This system, the first for a super-
sonic fighter, was cl ear d for t he F-l OOD
but not used operat ionall y.
t her innovations for the F-1 00
included improved yaw and pitch damping
systems resulting from F-1 OOA experi ence.
These gyro-based stabili z r could be act i-
vated from the cockpit. A hyd rauli c actu-
ator and bungee 'feel' devi ce were install ed
at the base of the verti ca l stabi li zer. Earl y
F-100 s were stil l limited in rate of roll to
200 degrees to avoid 'barrell ing' .
The original J57-P-7 ngin was
replaced by the ]57-P-21 from the 101 t
production aircraft foll owing the fir t test
fli ght of thi s powerplant in an F-lOOC in
September 1955. An interim ] 57-P-39
vari ant was used in some of the earli er F-
lOOCs. The 'Dash 21' and the later J57- P-
21A (used in the F-lOOD) upplied
10,200lb (4,650kg) of sea- level tat ic
thrust at military thrust and about
16,0001 b ( 7 ,250kg) with afterburner,
improving the F-I OOC's hi gh-altitude
peed by 35kt and knocking 10 per cent off
its time to climb to 35,000ft (10,700m) .
At that altitude it wa the fa test uper
Sabre, clocking 795kt in an air uperi ority
confi guration and beat ing the heavi r
F-1 OOD/F by 20kt .
Avi oni cs compri sed AN/ARN-21 tacti -
cal air navigati on (TACAN), AN/AR -6
radi o compass, A /ARN-3 1 lL ,
AN/APX-6A (later AN/APX-25 ) identifi -
cat ion, fri end or foe (IFF) et and AN-
AP - OA radar ranging for t he A-4 gun-
sight. The M-1 bombing system (later
supplemented by an MA-2 low altitude
bombing system (LABS), invented by Maj
John A. Ryan) controlled deli very of the F-
100 's maximum bomb load of 5,500lb
(2,500kg) and thi s could include nucl ear
weapons. Progre sive update programmes
equipped some F-l OOC with a Minneapo-
lis- Honeywell MB-3 autopilot and, ten
years after the vari ant ntered ervice, clus-
ter bomb un it ( BU) and air intercept mis-
sil e (AIM) -9 idewinder capability for the
surviving example in Air National Guard
(ANG) units. Tactical Air Command
(TAC) squadron F-100 s never received
the TO IF-OOC-563 update to enable th m
to fire th AlM-9. However, F-l OOCs were
cl eared for MK seri es bombs up to 2,000lb
(900kg), hi gh velocity aircraft (rocket)
(HVA(R)) projectil es and chemical tanks,
SWORDS NSI-I EATI-I ED
Checking the straight refuelling probe on a 322nd FOG F-lOOC, crewed by S/Sgt Fields.
The pylon (to the leftl is for a bulky 450gal tank. David Menard Collection
though the most usual under-wing load was
actuall y a pair of275ga l fuel tanks.
Although the n w inboard tore pylons
(Wing Stati on 55) were meant to carry
range-stretching 200ga l type 1 V fuel tank ,
these had an adverse effect on longitudinal
stability. Instead, a pair of bulky 450gal
type 11 or 335gal type Il l tank could be
used in plac of th tandard 275gal AA
type Ill 'supersoni c' tanks on the interme-
di ate wing pylons (Wing Station 106).
The type 111 335gal vari ants were simply
275ga l tank with a 28in (71cm) plug in
their forward ection for the extra fuel.
If the bi g 450ga l ' bags' (mainly u eel on
F- l OODs) without internal baffl es were
hung on the intermediate pylons, they had
to be fully fuelled or totally empty. Other-
wi se, fu I lo bing to and fro could unbal-
an e the aircraft bey nd it cg limits during
take-off. Pil ot were in any ca e in tructed
to use internal fuel for take-off, switching
24
to drop tanks after cl imb-out to altitude. A
furth r limitat ion was that guns could n t
be fired with empty fuel tanks on the
inboard pylons.
F-1 00 , D and F models had a further
et of pylon on the outboard wing stat ions
(STA 155) for ordnance up to 750lb
bombs or 200gal tanks, though the latter
were seldom carri ed. External ordnance
and tanks apart from the 275gal pattern
had some inevitable negat ive effects on
the F-100' tabi lity. In pi lot Alex Martin's
opini on, 'The 275gal tanks were so com-
mon you barely noticed them after a whil e
but t he 450gal ferry tanks, rocket launch-
ers etc. were worse. But if you needed to,
one punch n the jettison button and you
were cl ean' .
Don chmenk, who fl ew the F- 100
extensively in Europe and Vi etnam, noted
that, 'Inboard stores made the airplane
"squirrell y". lt wasn't too bad with
SWORD U SHEATHED
l i
r
f
['
e
I .
.
I.
_L __
..!
F-100C-20-NA 54-1921 of the 7272nd FTW at Wheelus AB was one of the
high-speed target tug aircraft provided for gunnery training of USAFE squadrons.
Author's Col lection
inboard, intermediate and outboard stores
but it wa bad with inboard store onl y,
which was an unusual load'.
F-lOOD
Further development of the design in
response to TAC requests in May 1954
brought about the F- l OOD variant, in
which the ' D' could have stood for 'defin-
itive' since it was the final and principal
single-seat production version. A total of
1,274 were manufactured after th run of
476 F-100 sand 203 F-100As. The first
product ion F-lOOC fl ew on 17 January
1954 with Al White in the cockpit fol-
lowing the first fli ght on 1 March 1954 of
a 'dry wing' prototype (F-lOOA 52-5759)
that tested tb other F-1 00 systems. The
first fli ght of 53- 1709, the initial F-100 ,
could have happened earli er a it was r ady
in mid-October of the previous year.
Delays re ulted from the series of F-l OOA
accident . Producti on of the C model was
completed in Jul y 1956 and by that time
25
the prototype F- lOOD had fl wn (24 Janu-
ary 1956, pil oted by Dan Darn II) and D-
model uper Sabres began to appear on
the fli ght lines of the 405th Fi ghter-
bomber Wing (FBW) at Langley AFB,
replacing Republi c F-84Fs.
Externall y, the F- l OOD had t he same
fuselage length as the F- 100 , but
increased fin height added 4in ( l Ocm) to
the overall length mea urement. There
was extra verti al tail ar a, taking the
overall height from 15.3ft (4.7m) to 16. 2ft
(4.9m) and a larger fairing was add d
above the rudder to bouse an A /APS-54
tail warning antenna. The increased
height gave sli ghtl y mor ar a to the rud-
der, wh ich retained the xternal-ribb d
structure of most F- l OOA/C rudd r . Mor
obvious when seen in plan form was the
change in the wing' rear outline to incor-
porate inboard, trailing-edge fl aps. An
increase in overall combat weight to
30,000lb ( 13,600kg), about 1,200lb
(550kg) more t han the F-100 , m ant
that the previously fl ap-less wing would
not have all wed a ~ landing speed. ln
an aircraft wh e landing characterist ics
had already been de cribed by some as a
' ontroll ed era b', it was vital to prevent
an increase in touch-down peed
Getting Down
onv rting to t he F-l OOD in 1957, Tom
Germscheid found that the new jet was:
... definitely a hall enge to land. Approach and
landing speeds were hi gher than previ ously
experi enced in F-84s and F-86s. Approach in
the F- 1 00 was generall y around 175kt indicat-
ed. The fl aps defini tely made the F- l OOD ea ier
to land than the F- IOOA and models. Almo t
everybody tended to add a few knots for the wife
and kids. Landing visibility was not very go d
once you started the fl are and got the nose up.
The tendency was to fl are too hi gh, e peciall y at
ni ght and reach stall speed while ti ll 50ft in the
air. This resulted in a very finn t uch-down,
often leadi ng to a ' porpoise' (or 'J. .')and air-
craft damage. I reca ll a Wing ommander at
Pumping LOX into a 506th TFW F-1000. The yellow
paint on the intake of this 458th FBS aircraft is
peeling away, revealing the red of a previous owner,
probably the 457th FBS. Col M. Kul czyk
SWORDS U SHEATHED
Early 21st FDS markings are painted on Maj Pete Fernandez' F-lOOC 54-2096. They included blue and white bands
and the squadron insignia. David Menard Collection
A sparkling bare-metal F-lOOC-1-NA (53-17391 of the 334th FDS, 4th FDW at Seymour-
Johnson AFB in 1958. Squadron markings are blue. Author's Col lection
Cannon AFB rounding our high on a ni ght
land ing, getting into a ' porpoise' and shearing
off the no e-gear. He slid the length of the run-
way on his nose and stopped with the barri er
cable aga inst the canopy, whi ch he had raised
dur ing the sli de. The word qui ckl y spread that
the 'Old Man' rook the barri er with his teeth !
As a result of this venture, the Wing was
restr icted from landing at night. We got our
' ni ght-time' by raking off at about 0300-04
26
hrs and landing as it was getting li ght. This last-
ed until we got a new commander!
T he F- l OO's fa irly heavy windshi eld fram-
ing was an inevitable consequence of the
constructi on methods available at t he
time, and alt hough it provided strengt h for
emergencies like t hat it did tend to add to
t he landing problems by re t rict ing for-
ward visibili ty on approach. The basic
toughness of the F- LOO airframe was
shown on another occasion when a 20th
Tact ical Fighter Wing (T FW) F-l OOD
landed at Wet hersfield wit h its nose-gear
locked in t he 'up' posit ion. Accord ing to
Tom Germsche id:
The touch-down area of the runway was foamed
but unfortunately the aircraft fl oated over the
foamed area and landed beyond. The pil ot did a
good job of lowering the nose to the runway
where it slid on the pi tot boom for several thou-
sand feet before coming to a top on the cen-
treline. Damage to thi s bird was limi ted to a
replacement pi tot boom.
Even wit h all three landing gea r members
in place, an MA- l emerg ncy barrier
arrestment coul d be injur ious. If the
SWORDS NSHEATHED
The F-1000 introduced a revised wing to include trailing-edge flaps. Ailerons were moved further outboard as a result.
Wing fences were absent from early F-1000s such as this one. The ' USAF' lettering was in Insignia Blue IFS15044).
At the base of the tail-fin is a small opening for the drag chute cable connection. David Menard Col lection
27
F-1000-70-NA 56-30571eads a line-up of 388th TFS,
312th TFW aircraft from Cannon AFB en route to the
Far East on 30 August 1958. The squadron, led by
Col Arlie Blood, used yellow markings on noses and
tails. MA-2 APU vehicles are connected ready for
engine start time. USAF via David Menard
SWORDS U ' SHEATHED
1---- 38.8' ----i
Wing Area ....... 400 sq ft Wing Section .. .. NACA64A007
Aspect Ratio . . . . . . . 3 . 72 M. A. C ..... . .... 142. 65"
J' UT" I (Gal) Auxili ary- Used In- fli ght refueling - Oi l (Gal)
1957 general arrangement drawing of an F-1000. USAF via John Maene
canopy wa I t or open, the upper strap of
t he barri er coul d sli de over the no and
into the cockpit. Pil ot were advi sed to
lean forward into the windshi eld to pre-
vent the strap from throttling them. l t was
also standard practice to bl w off all exter-
nal fuel tanks before taking the barri r.
Col Art Johnson commanded the 309th
Fighter-bomber Squadron (FBS) as it con-
verted from t he F-84F Thunderstreak, 'an
easy aircraft to Ay. With the wide gear legs
itwasapi c ofcake to land'. heckingout
in the F-lOOA and F-1 00 at eorge AFB
in 1957, he found little difference between
these two vari ants and th F-lOOD in clean
confi guration:
There probably wa n't a noti ceable difference
in stalling peed between them with the fl aps up
on the D but there was a signifi cant difference
with the fl aps down for land ing - sort of li ke
ni ght and day. We didn't use r take-off o
any difference there would be due to the extra
weight of the F- 1 000.
The extra wing-root chord of the F-lOOD
becau e of it Aaps changed th span-wi e
airAow over the wing and required ingle
wing fen e to be fitted above the wing
near the out r end of each ail eron. The e
were factory- fitted to F-lOODs and F-
l OOFs, though some early 8th TFW air-
craft were not at first equipped with the
fences.
The F-100 pilot' manual pecifi d
180kt for final approach and touch-down
at 150kt with 22,500lb {10,200kg) gross
weight. F-lOOD touch-down fi gure were a
little lower: 190kt was a more typical
approach speed. However, a Maj urti
28
Burns observed, 'Th e figur were all te t
pilot stuff anyway. For fi ghter pil ots Aying
the airplane speed is life'. According to Lt
Col Ron Herri ck, 'one ki ll er was t he fli ght
control system on the fl are to landing with
the engine at idle. lf you made a viol nt
pitch correcti on on or re the touch-
down it could result in a violent ending'.
After runway contact was successfull y
established, the braking parachute was
need d to ki ll the knot . lt provided v ry
rapid deceleration, causing the pil ot to
' hang in hi traps'. In th F-1 OOC, a land-
ing run without the chute took all of
5,500ft {l ,700m) using moderate (70 per
cent) brake pressure, no wind and a dry
runway. Use of the chute reduc d t hi s to
4,300ft {1 ,300m) although, as Curti s
Burn found, 'Th F-100 we Aew had a
relatively unreli able drag chute. My
SWORDS U SHEATHED
L 01109 TA.'"': YU'F.1.. QU..U."Trn'
GAG!: T9T 8UTTON'
2. DROP TA!O< nJFJ.. QtlA!Io"nTY
OAC}:
I. OAAC C:Ht.rrS I!A.'o/OLE
4. AC LOADllol ETn
'- DC t.OADM'J'R
8. Mlllii'ID..1MDICA'l'ON LICKTS
'f. f i'EClAL ll'OIUO nfflJCATOil:
"tGwr
&. OI-l OOMlJ.IJ'/0 IYSTM t'H'OlCA
TOn UGKT
t. ).(A$ttR CA!Jn(m L.!Oltl"
10. IICAOOIO e.':Ut(Xr'OR
U. TRICiC"tll SAI'Ii:TY SWI'l'CH
12. AT'TTlVDB L'"DICATO!!:
U. AT'TlTL"OI:'miCAT'0.!1 PAST
BIJ'M'ON
l4. CUU IMDICAT'OR LIVRT8
IJ, P'llU AND OV'ERJIEATWARN
INC SY8T&MS tt..-r DIITTOH
1e. f'IR AM!) OVIJUtU.T- WAJlH
U<Ol.JCin'S
t7. BY'ORAULIC PRI'..SSIJR <lACE
ULOCTOR SWm; H
ll. Tti:JtXAMl)-.SLIP INOICATOR
It lfY1)1lAUUC PR WU: GAO.C
10
2L on. PR.USUUCACS
T.O. 11"-1000- l
U . LA.BS R&L&ASB LICHT
U . TACIIOidl:ttR
2-4. EXHAUST TC,.S'EIUt.'rUKE (l,A(;.C
l$. E:NGrtiV. PAF..SS:UR.K J\A'nO G).(;E
2& l.ANt>tNO GnAR
LOWt:JUNC IIANDI..
l7 LAOS OIVE-AN'D-ROLL
IXDICATOA
24. Fut:L I"LOW lXOICA TOR
lS PI.I2L QUA.l'fTlTY (;.toG TesT
UVTT()t:
XI, PVEL QUANTITY GAGC
(TOTAL TANKS)
SoctJon 1
lL VB.RT1CAL VBLOCrTY
!NOICATOR
32. f'l!tL QUAHTTI'Y CACil:
(PORWAKD TANK)
33 COIJHU L'IDICATOR
"
S4, TACAJ,' IV. NOli n."OPCATOR
35. !..ADO fUC.EASI! TllO:R
lS. llXLitF COI'ITA!Nl!:B
37. POOTWARM.CKL8VtR
')8, TAP'1Dt8H
39. L"' I"LICifT T!WrM
PAN&L
tO. IJPEC: l.AL n'ORZ \r.'II.OCK HAl"'
0LB Oil IJPEClAL!I'TOR&BMER
G!:NCY .JE'M'lSON I:IM'"Dt.4
41; SPitCIAL STOIU: UNI..OCk
WOICA TOR LlCJ[T
<42, 'EXT ERNAL LOAO OII:ROII:NCY
,11M''T'UIO!'-r IIANOLII:
43, RAOIO Mlr.GNtrriC QIDI CATOfl
4i .
45. STAND-OY ATTtT\lPf.: INOICA
TOII (TY'PI!: J..fOR Z rti CII VCI)
-4&. TACAN O."DDCATOR LJCRT
41. CLOCK
U . AutSI>0/ MACJt JNI) A't'OR
41. COMMA!Io'l) RADIO
CHA.'{NiL
$OMit AU'tPLI.."'&S
F-1000 front cockpit panel and key. USAF
F-lOOD COCKPIT LEFT SIDE
TYPICAL
I. CUtCUITDlUAJCEn PA.'l1.
:1. CONSOLE n..oc:>DLIGHT
3. ANT I-G SUIT P VALVE
t . CAMERA SH\TT'TR SF:LEC'l'OR Swrt'CH
SPARE !..AMPS
!. Sl'EED DllA!a; EMERGENCY DUMP LVR
7. EMERGENCY RAM-AIR LEVER
1. CONSOLE YLOOOLIGUT'
9. SIGHT SELECTOR UHTT
10. AL TI1ol1'tR CORRIX:110N 'CAIU>
11 . TIIROrM..E
l!. 1"HUNOERSTOIW LIGHT
U. viD/0 n .AP HANDLE
14. TltnO'l"TL& FRICT IO.'< LEVER
Cl . P'J..AP EMEitGENCY SWITCH
16. RAO!O FREQUENCY CARD
n. CONSOL& FLOODLIGHT
18. nlROTTt..& ZEL GRIP
19. INSTRUM,._'T PANEL FLOODLICIIT
f-1000-20 THROUGH F-1 000-30, F- 1000-45,
AND LATER AIRPLANES
XI. CANOI'Y SWITCH
21. CONSC>Lli': PLOOOL.rGtlT
2l. CANOJ7Y-NOT-LOCKE0 CA11riOS LIGHT
13. ARRESTING HOOK l\ELASE BtrMON
'U. LADS YAW-ROLL CiTRO CHECK Btm'ON
ali. LANDING GEAR CONTROL PA!I SL
2CI. J>OO't AIH CONTROL LVER
27. ENCDo"E AJ'Io'D PLICHT CONTROL P.'V'EL
l&. AGM-120 MISSILt CONTROL PANBL
N. COM."lo'!IJ\'1) nADIO CONTROL P.U."'ln.
30. EXTSJ{HAL LOAD AUXILIARY RELBJ..SE DU'MO,._"S
U. AU'tOVD..01'CONTROL PANEL
32. ARMAMENT CONTROL PANEL
33. GROUl\'D FmE SWITCH
S4. CONSOLE AlR OUTLETS
35. A1M-Q8 ?.USSIJ..E CONTRO.L PANEL
31. STRIXE CAMERA TIMER
37 .PYLON LOAOIJ'lO S.ELRCTOR SWITCHES
SOW" AIRPLANES
F-1000 left side cockpit panel and key. USAF
29
F-lOOD COCKPIT. RIGHT SIDE NAVS AIRPLANlS
L STAND-DY I'N:n'RUMENT O."VRTER SWITCH
a. CONSOL! PI..A)OOLJCtcT
J. INST-.w.r&NT PANEL P"LOOOLIOKT
4. LIQI1ID OX'YCEN QUAJ.'TITY CAGE
1$, NA.VIGA'T'fON COr.tPUTEH
I. STAJ'l"O...OY COMPASS CORRECTIOS CARO
1. CONSOl... FLOOOLJC!rt
I. LJGII TlNC COP:TROL PANEL
t. CA.'tOPY MAh'"UAL J.lMERGB!'CY
Rf:l.A.SB H.A.'WL
10. CtX: t.::JIT 11Tn.ITY LICJJT
11. AN/A.PN-102 CONTROL l'A.'lEL
U. fi.>IGHT CONTROL I!:M.ERGJW'CY IIYDJU.ULIC
Jlln>1P LF. Vl::R
U. FLOODLIGHT
lt.. Mil COIU>rnONING AN"O PltE.sSUR.lZ.ATIOS CONTitOL
PANEL
15. OUN SJGllT GROUN'D TesT PLUG
16. T'li'UNOE".RSTORM l.JCrtT
l'l . ldAPCAS-6
lJ. lNTERPHONE SWli'CH
til . CffiCUJT-llR.EAKER PANBLS
20. CONSOLI AUt Olm..B'N
2L TRP nMER OR COCX PIT PRESSUil .AL TlTUDE
INOICJ\'l"OR
:21. S1J' CONTROL PANE.L
13. J:YF CONTROL PA.'I:1.
24. TACAN CONTROL IANCL
25. RADIO COidPASS PANEL
2G. J-4 COM.PASS PMIEL
27. C.A.'lOPY ALTBJL'IA'l'E &J.I"EitCEI'ICY liAXDLE
2&. t'AVS COMPUTEK COSTR:OL tN"DfCATOR
29. REGIJ"l.ATOR PANEL
30. ELECTRICAL PANEL
31. INDICATOR AND CAUTlON LJGHT PAX&L
F-100F rear cockpit panel and key. USAF
TIIROTTLI PATHS
THROTTLE PATMS
AIRPLANES CHANCED
BYT. O. U'-100-7%3
li ADIHG!Jott.Onu
fOUOW(N(lT.-OtlU

- THiOltlf -

THROnLES
._l-Milfl lUCTllCilo.l O.G!HG IIIJr!OI'I UiO
l.&II YI.U ICAlGUOCAGlNG W"I"TOfol
When the re ar thrott! Ia .., o ., ed
o vt boo rd from 0'" o r UU., o
1 lo 1olenoid reu o ch t h ld !e
.,,. d off to,onlhfon!!hr olll.

l"t o. o o o vl of, ' " OP'' pooltlon.
f ront Jl r lp nly b ro l o!ecl for
li<ght ..,onuOII,..,nJI!ng l '"f>"i"9 1ooded
to f yll po !l to n).
----- -------------

-
F-1000 throttles and key. USAF
lATERAl AND
LONGITUDINAL
TRIM SWITCH ----:r"---;-:
80MB
BUTTON
RADAR
REJECT
BUTTON=----------.-,
NOSE WHEEL STEERING
BUTTON (GROUND ONLY)
AUTOPILOT EMERGENCY
DISCONNECT SWITCH LEI/Ht-----J
Not operative
in rear cockpit
STICK
GRIP
F-1 000 stick grip. USAF
SWORDS UNSHEATH ED
EJECTION SEAT
Chec.kr-volbefoooflit.hl
; P-JOOP PRON'T COCKPIT ONLY
t lOla AlRPLANBS
F-1000/F ejection seat. USAF
IYPIUJ.
F-1000-20-NAs 55-3503 and -3507 (later used by the Thunderbirds) refuelling from an AFFTC KB-500 tanker in fair weather
conditions. In less favourable weather this could be a far more demanding task. David Menard Col lection
30
NOTE
Aflet hcudarips "'" rol\ed, elthtr
t..thejectioll""'l lrig .. srnoylto
...... _,..,,.. ... , .. .,.,.u .. .,,,,...,,.,..,,;,
HANOGitiP 14JUO TO fUU Ul' P'OSITION-CANOf'Y
f i lED, SfAT EJtCTJON TliGGEit COCICro FOR fil iNG
SWORDS UNSHEATHED
Many F-lOODs were 'cocooned' in protective coating for the sea journey to PACAF units and this had to be removed by Japanese
civilian employees using high-pressure water lances. Here. 55-3563, its panel joint-lines sealed with tape, gets the treatment at
Kizaruzu AB. Davi d Menard Collection
impression is that it fa iled in about one in
a dozen landing ' . Occasiona lly, the diffi -
culties arose from the sleight-of-hand
needed to deploy the chute. Bobby Wright
crewed F-1 OOCs for the 136th Tactical
Fighter quadran (TFS): 'The chu te han-
dle was designed so that the pilot had to
invert his hand to deploy t he chute and
then reverse hi s hand to twist the handle
and release the chute from the aircraft. It
was quite possibl e to screw up and eject the
chute too early' . Ron Herrick recalled the
F-100 as, 'quite sporty on landi ng, with the
not-too- trusty ant i-skid and a drag chute
31
t hat had about twent y mods to it operat-
ing sequence so t hat you could never
assume that it would work' .
Sometimes it was preferable to avoid
using the brake chute, as Alex Martin
explained: 'When on cross-country mi ssions
and a quick tum-around was needed we
SWORDS SHEATH ED
F-1000-20-NA 55-3545 emerges from 'de-cocooning' before delivery to the 8th FBW at
ltazuke AB. David Menard Coll ection
shaved the touch-down speed (normally
14 150kt in an F-l OOD) , held the no e-
gear up and didn't d ploy the drag hute' .
Th parachute was stored in a compartment
in the lower rear fuselage. rew chief Rich
Newell recalled that it was ' always fun lying
on your back in the snow or rain putting the
chute into the plane'. When the packed
chute p pped out through its pring- load d
retaining doors, a cable, attached to it and to
a hook in another compartment at the base
of the fin's rear edge, was yanked out of a
recessed channel through a row of mall ,
spring-! aded, tainl steel d or plac d
vertically on the rear left fus lage, ju t ahead
of the exhaust nozzle. Crew chief Jack
Engler recalled the system as 'a real pain to
rig, with over 40ft of heavy steel cabl , bell
cranks and turnbuckle for ten i ning'.
Packing the chute into its compartment
meant facing 'all the soot, oil and corrosion
that was pre ent under the engine' . Dave
Menard xplained the techniqu thu :
' In tailing a drag chute meant lying n your
back and shoulders, using y u r ~ et to hold
the chute in po iti on while the pin w r
in tall d and then clo ing the doors with
your hoe whi le ev t-ything in your trouser
pockets dropped out!' However, in Vietnam
combat Jack Engler found the system 'gave
us little trouble. I don't ever remember one
failing to deploy, th ugh ll ,OOOft runways
gave the drivers om p ace of mind too'.
An electrically improved drag chute control
system was te ted for the F-1 00 but not
adopted.
F- lOOCs had to be fl own all the way
down, with a light fl are over th runway
t hr hold a power was cut to idle. The
lack of any ignifi cant aerodynamic brak-
ing put a heavy load on the multi -pad disc
brakes, which many pilots considered to be
barely adequate ~ r th F-100 g nerally.
Braking had to be kept a li ght a po sibl e
to prevent ov rheating of brakes and tyres,
leading to possible tyre explosion. For the
F-l OOD/F the fl aps had to be rai ed imme-
diately after t uch-down to increase the
load on the landing gear and improve
brake efficiency. According to Curti s
32
Burns, t he first generati on anti -skid brak-
ing system was:
... not as reli able as we woul d have li ked ...
had an anti-skid fail on me once, blew a tyre and
swerved off the runway at Landstuhl. I was
lucky, as t he landing gear didn't fail. At least
one squadron mate had an anti -skid failu re,
blew a tyre, departed t he runway and wiped the
landi ng gear off.
Alex Martin pointed out t hat ' most expe-
rienced pilots didn't turn on the anti-skid;
they could do better manuall y. However, it
did help th young or 'clanky' to avoid
lo king t he brakes and blowing a tyre'.
The Hytrol anti-skid system used a three-
legged 'spider' device attached to the
wh l hub and tran mitring wheel-spe d
data from the wheel rim to a sen or in the
axle. This enabled the system to even up
the braking pressure on both wheel and
prevent exce ive braking. Lee Howard,
later an F- l OOD pilot in Vietnam, found
that it was 'never an accepted tandard to
exceed the recommended landing speeds.
The old bitch was too hard to stop with t he
correct numbers, but just don't get slow!'
No fighter can be free of pr blem and
vicissitudes, and in many respects th F-100
was already a safer and more dependable
steed than many of its contemporaries.
Lacking the persistent unreliability of the
earl y radar-equipped jets and the poor
manoeuvrability of other entury erie
fi ghter-bombers, it was soon forged into
TAC's principal strike fighter. Its early
pi lots quickly learned to manage the air-
craft's habits and generally avoided the
areas where it could ' bite' them, th ugh t hi
ometimes had to be done th hard way.
Since the F-100 era there has been time to
focus on reli abili ty, safety and ease of oper-
ati on in designing fighters. In the 1950s the
emphasis was on speed, innovation and
keeping w ll ahead of the oppositi on.
In t nns of quipment, the F-lOOD ini-
tially carri ed the same radio, radio compass
and IFF equipment as the F-lOOC and a
slightly updated TACAN. Addit ional item
t enhance its fi ghter-bomb r role in luded
a new centrelin hardpoint (from the 184th
aircraft) that could take a Mk 28 Special
tore (nucl ear), an MN-1 practi ce muni -
tions dispenser or a camera pod.
The ejecti n eat wa impr v d to give
z r -altitude, minimum airspeed ej cti on
with a ballisti c rocket catapult providing
7,5001b (3,400kg) of thrust. It included
automati c pilot-seat separation and an
SWORDS SHEATHED
-----
--
The first two-seat Hun, 54-1966, converted from an F-lOOC-20-NA and designated TF-lOOC. An F-lOOD vertical stabilizer
was one of the modifications. John Maene Coll ection
MA-6 automatic-opening safet y belt in
place of earlier manual model . However,
ejection at altitudes below 2,000ft (610m)
was still discouraged and l0,500ft
(3 ,200m) remained the recommended safe
minimum to allow for any equipment mal-
function. In the F-l OOD, eject ion wa ini -
tiated by squeezing one or both of the
independent triggers located beneath the
' tiger triped' handles on the sides of the
seat, after first holding the canopy switch
at 'open' until the can py broke away. If
the transparency stayed put t he dri ll was to
press the head aga inst the headrest, tuck in
the chin and eject through the canopy.
ormally, the pi lot had to release his
hand-grip imm diately after ejection a
the seat-belt release was supposed to trig-
ger one econd after t he seat blasted out.
Manual r lea e wa provided as a back-up.
The seat wa sometime needed very
suddenl y. Ron Herri ck had t ject fr m an
F-lOOD when hi s stabil izer suddenly went
full y ' no d wn' at lO,OOOft (3,000m) . He
managed to acquire limited contr l, u ing
only throttle and roll control. The accident
is thought to have been caused by a bolt
that retained the tabi lizer control valve
working loo e after its fibre I ck nut had
been replaced with a castellated type short-
ly before the flight. Another pi lot, Mike
Ryan, had a similar experi ence at Foster
AFB wh n hi tabil izer suddenly forced his
aircraft into a negat ive 'g' div . Both pilots
ejected safely, Mike on to terra firma and
Ron Herri ck into 12-foot seas from which a
fi shing boat plucked him in the nick of
time. The F- lOOD' seat was electrically
adjustable, unlike those in the F-100A and
which, according to Ron, 'Were manual
and would cca ionally 'bottom out' vi o-
l ntly at a criti cal t ime'. H wever, unlike
some pilots, he found the at quite com-
fortable and the cockpit 'trem ndous for it
day, but the longer one sat in it the tighter
the qu eze. The eat cushion and survival
kit wer well de igned and a quantum
improvement over the F-86 where you at
on the emergency oxygen bottl and l ~ -
raft with no cu hion! '
Hun for Two
The final producti n F-100 b came ome
of the most useful and ver at il up r
Sabres. The F-1 OOF emerg d, perhaps
belatedly, in response to the high accident
rate incurr d during the early years of train-
ing. In the first 100,000 fli ght hours, the
F-100 had ninety-five maj or accidents, th
wor t record for a principal US supersoni c
type. Howev r, only six involved fatali ties
compared with eighteen for the Lockheed
33
F-104. Like the other Century Seri es two-
eater (apart from the TF-102) the F-100F
required a tand m econd c ckpit but li ttl e
other major tructural change. Overall
length increased by 3ft (1m) and fuel
capacity was not reduced. Maximum take-
off weight increased about l ,OOOlb (450kg)
to 39,1 20lb (17,750kg). Th delet ion of
the upper pa ir of guns helped to re tore the
cg since single-seaters usually fl w with
either full ammunition or equivalent bal-
last for thi purpose. Ordnance was li mited
to around 5 ,OOOlb (2,300kg), 2,000lb
(900kg) less than th F- l OOD. A minor dif-
ference was that the F-1 OOF's pil t tub wa
electrically heated to prevent icing where-
a the equivalent part in the F-l OOC/D wa
heated by bleed air pip d in 'microbore'
tubing from the engine.
Design tudies for the F- l OOF began in
May 1954 and NAA volunteered to con-
v rt an F-100 (54-1966) at the company's
expense to the dual-cockpit onfiguration.
The USAF responded with an ord r for
259 'TF-100 '. The modified aircraft was
fir t fl own on 3 Augu t 1956 with Al
White in its front at, which in ervice air-
craft wa intended for the student pil ot. It
achieved super nic speed in level flight.
This prototype had the F-lOOD- tyle tail-
fin but retained the ' fl ap! s ' wing. even
months later, the first produ t ion F-l OOF
took to th air, fl own by AA te t pilot
Gage Mace on 7 March 1957. Th le
'TF- lOOC' crashed a month later during a
spin test but NAA pil ot Bob Baker
punched out uninjured.
The USAF wanted its two- eat Hun to
retain their combat capability, alb it in
reduced quantity. The ordnance load st ill
included provision on the centreline
pylon for a nuclear bomb and the wing sta-
ti ons wer unchanged, though the two
remaining gun each had twenty-five
rounds less than those in the F- l OOD.
Operat ional training units at !lis AFB
began to r c iv F- l OOF attheend ofMay
1957, and 3"39 exampl e w re deli vered
before product ion ended in 1960, forty-
five of them for export . There was a corr -
ponding reducti on in F-l OOD product ion
to all ow for t he USAF two-seater . A
belated attempt to re- instate product ion
was projected in 1964 with AA's unsuc-
cessfu l plan to allow the building of a fur-
th r 200 two-seat F-l OOs (with Rolls-
Royc ngines) under li cence in France.
By 1958, most operat ional squadrons
had a couple of F-l OOFs for continuat ion
SWORDS ' SHEATH ED
training, famili ari zati on fli ghts and all the
other support jobs. Don Schmenk
in tructed in both the T-33 and F-lOOF,
finding th latter ' a li t tl e more chall enging
to land from the rear seat since forward vis-
ibili ty was a lit tl e more restri cted, though
I don't recall having any problems'.
De pite the belated introduct ion of the
two- eater, the accident rate in F-100
training remained high and more than 25
per cent of F-1 OOFs were eventually lost.
Mods and Rockets
The USAF's urgent need for F- 100s world-
wide meant that batche of aircraft were
accepted for service wh il e further detail
development cont inued rapidly, and
equ ipm nt update were therefore made
ad hoc on the pr duction line.
By 1962, the standard of equipment for
successive batches wa so various that a
fl eet-wide programme call ed Project High
Wire wa in tituted to induce some stan-
dardi zation (many arl y F- l OOD, for
example, came off the lin without
F-1000 and F-lOOF jets on the NAA production line. David Menard Collection
34
idewind r capability). Offi ciall y it com-
prised two simultaneous operati ons, first to
rewire the aircraft to a common standard,
second to provide heavy maintenance and
in p ct and repair as nece ary (IRAN) so
t hat r levant updates coul d b incorporat-
ed. The F-100 was t he first USAF aircraft
to be maintained by t he IRAN method,
whi ch became st andard pract ice for later
types like t he F-4 Phantom ll. It reduced
overhaul tim s and costs, keeping more
aircraft ready on the ramp.
The rewiring operation was extensive
and included st ripping and replacing all
wiring in th cockpit to a common scheme.
Cost ing over US 150m, High Wire ran
from April 1962 unti l June 1965, taking
each F-100 out of service for ar und two
months. In vitably, t he situation was not
simple and not all F-lOOC/0/F airframes
w nt through the process though around
700 wer riginall y lated for r work.
Those t hat did had their production Block
nUinbers ' wound on' by one di git - for
example, F- lOOF-1- A became F-lOOF-2-
NA. In ome cases, special modificat ions
t ill appli ed onl y to li mited number of
SWORDS U SHEATHED
The definitive F-100F first flew on 7 March 1957 and 339 were produced. Perhaps the most versatile Hun variant, it was used as a conversion trainer, SEAD aircraft,
FAC platform and regular strike aircraft with VIP transport as a supporting role. John Maene Col lecti on
35
SWORDS U SHEATHED
1 RADAR ANTENNA
'2 NOSE RADAR AND RADIO SAY
3 UOUIO OXYGEN CONVERTERS
4 EJECTION SEATS
S OMNIDIRECTIONAL ANTENNA
6 RAM AIR TURBINE
1 RETRACTABlE TAIL SKI D
8 DRAG CHUTE COMPARTMENT
9 UHF ANTENNA
10 FUEL VENT OUtlET
11 SPI.InERRUODER
TWO POSIJION EXHAUST
NOZ'ZlE
13 Sl tlGlESURFACE
CONTROLlABLE
HORIZONTAl
STABILIUR
30
J1
_j_
NORTH O.ME RICAN AVIATI ON
FIOO F
l
'
14 AERODYNAMIC FENCE
IS INTEOR.Al WING FUEl CEll
A!RODYNAMICALLY EXTENDED WING SlATS
17 AilERONS
18 WING flAP
19 AFT AJSELAGE fUEl CEll
20 INHRMlDIATE FUH CEll
21 JS 7 ENGINE WITH AflER8URNER
fUSElAGE rORWARO FUEl CEll
23 BATTERY
SPE0 BRAKE
15 GUN AND AMMUNITION COMPARTMENT
16 AIR BLAST DEFLECTOR
27 M-39 GUN
28 NOSE GEU
29 ElECTRICAllY OPERAT0 HINGED CANOPY
30 GUN SIGHT
31 PilOT-STATIC BOOM
General arrangement drawing of F-lOOF. USAF via John Maene
AIRPLANES CHANGED BY T.O. lf-100782 AND -798
1. DRAG CHUTE RANDLE
1. CLOCK
S. AIR3PEED/)1ACH fNDTCATOR
4. AC LOAD mTR
$, READING INDJCA TOR
0. DC LOADMrrER
T. MAST&R CAUTION LlGHT
I. M-1 BOMBfNO 8YS'TRM
CIDICATOR LIGHT
t. SPECIAL STORB INDICATOR
L.IGIIT'
10. W"Di'08CREEN MANUAL EMERI-
GENCY R%L.EASE KNOB
U. ATTITUDE INDICATOR
11. LA.BS YAW-ROLL GYRO
CUECX DuTTO::
13. A'MTI'UOE INDICATOR FAST
E.REC'MON BlJTI'ON
14. FOU:- AND OV"BRU.&AT-WARNlNG
LIGBl'S
15. ffYDRAULK: PRESSURE GAGE
SELECTOR SWITClt
ll. TUJ!N-ANO-Sl...IP INDICATOR
n. KYDRAUWC PRESSURE GAGB
ll. ACCELEROMETER
li, On. PRESSURE GAGE
a.irplanN

11---t.
F-lOOF rear cockpit panel and key. USAF via John Maene
F-100F-16-NA 56-3930 in the standard TAC acrylic silver finish that was applied from January 1960 onwards. Small flashes
of unit identity persisted, such as the patch of colour on the tail of this aircraft in 1966. Peter M. Bowers vi a John Maene
36
30. LABS llEL.&AS.E LJC.UT
2.l TACUOME'TER
2.2. EXliAUST TEwPERAT\IRE GAGB
23. ENGINE PRESSURE RATJO GAGS
24. "L.\.88 DIVX-AND- ROLL
INDICATOR
2$. F UEL FLOW tNOICA'I'OR
26. FUEL QUANTITY GAGE TEST
U'I'TON
21. FUEL QUANTITY GAGS (TOTAL
TANKS)
28. FUEL QUANTITY GAGE
{FORWARD TANK)
29. VERTICAL VEl.oOCITY rNDfCATOR
30. TACA....- RANGE DlDJCATOR
SL FOOT WAJL\Ilm LEVER
32. COCKPrr PRESSURE AL'ITI'UDE
INDICATOR
33. COURSE INDICA TOR
34. RADTO MAGNETIC INDICATOR
35. .ALTIMETER
36. STAND-BY ATTITUDE INOJCATO.R
37. TACA.N lNl>ICATOR LJGHT
SWORD U SHEATHED
Early 308th FBS markings on F-lOOD 56-3361 consisted of yellow flashes on the nose and a yellow panel with a two-digit
identifier, SAC-style on the tail. Joe Vincent Collection
Seen here in its later service with the 524th TFS, 27th TFW. F-lOOF-21-NA 58-1227 was
flown by General Blair as Excalibur4, the first single-engined jet to cross the North
Pole during Project Julius Caesar in August 1959. Later, it became one of the first four
F-lOOF Wild Weasel SEAD aircraft. David Menard Collection
aircraft . One of these was the zero- ! ngth
launch (ZEL) capabil ity adaptat ion that
appli d only to the last 148 F-l OODs off
the production line.
In t he mid-1950s, strategic planners
became increasingly aware of the vulnera-
bility of their airfi elds in Western Europe,
many of whi ch were located qu ite close to
t he ovi t Bl oc' borders. Their runways
would have been fir t-choice targets for
37
t he increasingly powerfu l weapons systems
(in luding tact ica l nucl ar d vice ) being
developed in t he oviet Uni n. NAT
jets required up to 10,000ft (3,000m) of
clean, FOD-fr e runway to take off with
their own retaliatory nuclear weapons, and
ev n a han e hit on th 2 to 3 per ent f
an airbase's area t hat compri sed act ive
runway could delay a strike mi ss ion
beyond the point where it would serve any
purpose. While some d igners turned
their attenti on to advancing the verti al
take-off and landing (VTOL) technology
that led to the BAe Harri er and eventual-
ly to the Lockheed Martin F- 5, others
ught quicker solutions. Essenti all y, the
idea was to disperse the USAF's nuclear-
capable F- l OOD force so t hat aircraft could
be launched (literally) without runways.
When the F-100 was first conceived,
nucl ar deli very was t he prerogative of
heavy A bombers. However, rapid
advanc s in reducing the size of nu lear
bombs wh ile simultaneously increasing
their power by up to a hundredfold meant
t hat fighter-portable weapons were avail -
able by 1957. A year later, TA revea l d
t hat it had tested the AA zero- length
system and intended to equip all F-100
Wings with ZEL-capable aircraft and
launchers.
SWORDS UNSHEATHED
56th TFS groundcrew at Myrtle Beach AFB remove the crew boarding ladder from
F-100F-16-NA 56-3952, with a centreline pylon attached. This aircraft was later operat-
ed by the Turkish AF. Norm Taylor Collection
With a ingl Mk 7 'nuke' on it left
int rm diate pylon and a 275gal tank on
the opposite side, a ZEL F- l OOD had a
mass ive Rocketdyne M-34 solid rocket
booster attached to hardpoints beneath it
rear fuselage. It was then mounted on an
angl d ramp and its pil ot cl imbed up a haz-
ardously tall ladder to his cockpit. With
the landing gear extended and engine in
afterburner the rocket wa fir d, adding an
extra 130,0001b (59,000kg) of thrust, over
eight t imes the fi ghter's normal power.
The F-1 00 leapt into the air in a 4g climb.
Four seconds later, with t he fighter at
275kt, the giant firecracker burned out
and was jetti soned. On return from hi s
miss ion, assuming it had been a t wo-way
trip, an operat ional pilot would have had
to locate a uitable runway or eject.
Two F-lOODs (56-2904 and 56-2947)
were sui tably modified for testing at
AFFTC. NAA's Al Blackburn bravel y
conducted t he initial blast-off in '2904 on
26 March 1958 and went on to complete
sixteen fli ghts. Another four were made by
Capt Robert F. Titus (later a Vietnam Mi G
killer) . On one of Blackburn's launches
the big M-34 hung grimly on to the air-
craft's tail, making a normal landing
One for the modellers: the variety of metal tones is evident on this 'plain Jane' F-1000-65-NA. In later service it acquired
camouflage and the 'HS' codes of the 612th TFS, 37th TFW. It crashed into the sea after a CAS mission near Da Nang AB
on 21 October 1967, killing its pilot Capt Joseph Hemmel. Davi d Menard Coll ection.
38
ZEL F-1000-60-NA 56-2947 blasts off from a shelter
designed to resist an atomic attack at Holloman
AFB on 26 August 1959. A Blue Boy Mk7 shape
appears beneath the left wing. NAA test pilot AI
Blackburn made the flight. USAF via Ron Thurlow
56-2947 poised on its launch vehicle, shows the
attachment of the Rocketdyne booster unit and
the elevating cradles to support the main
undercarriage. The problems of entering the
aircraft's cockpit in this position are all too
evident. Col D. Elmer
SWORDS U SHEATHED
39
impossible as it dangled several feet below
the F-1 OO's tail sect ion. Blackburn had to
take to his parachute while ' 2904 pan-
caked on to the de err. The ot her ZEL F-
lOOD, ' 2947, passed into TA service, fl y-
ing in Viet nam with the 615t h TFS as
Linda Bird. Joe Vincent, who recalled fl y-
ing other ZEL-capable F- l OODs in Viet-
nam, n ted t hat t hey still had a folding,
spring- loaded throttle extension hand! ,
painted black and yellow, that prevented a
pi lot from accidentally pulling back on the
thrott! . Don Schmenk enl arged on this:
The handl es were held at the fu ll thrott le posi-
t ion like t he Navy uses for catapul t launches w
prevent the t ransverse g from the launch caus-
ing a loss of power when you needed it most.
When you advanced the throt tl e to ful l power
you could wrap your fingers around t he handl e
wit h your thumb beh ind the thrott le.
ZEL t st continued until late August
1959, in luding a launch fr m a pecially
hardened sh It r at Holloman AFB. A
Luftwaffe F-104G was also ZEL-tested at
Edwards AFB after West Germany showed
an intere t in the project .
Variou stores configurations were tested
on t he F-lOOD including 200ga l tanks on
the inner pylons. It was found that a ZEL
Hun could be attached to its ramp and pre-
pared for a mission inside 2' /z hours and
that launchers could be made suffi cientl y
mobi le t be moved by road. Even so, logis-
t ical problems and overall cost brought t his
innovative and spectacular experiment to
an end and the USAF eventuall y turned its
attenti on to vari able geometry aircraft
with short-fi ld performance and ' rough
terrain' undercarri ages. Out of this line of
thought came the G D F-11 1.
ne mall but important modificati on
retr fitt d to F-100s under High Wire was a
simple, spring steel arre t ing hook under
t he rear fusel age. Thi hook wa retained
in the ' up' positi on by an electrical sole-
noid, and once rel a ed it could not be
raised again in the air. However, olenoid
fa ilure on t he ground wa not unknown
and for groundcrew the hook could
become, ' potenti al energy just waiting to
fa ll on some carele oul', according to
crew chi ef John Clarity. The aircraft'
brake pa rachute could be unreliable, and
damage to chute- less F-100s t hat ran out of
runway had been considerable. Pilots were
supposed to depl oy the chute at speeds
below 150kt (Skt below the normal land-
ing speed), avoiding over-robu t u e of t he
chute handle to avoid accidental j tti on-
ing of the parachute. With the tailhook,
an emergency landing could be made with
a BAK-6 or BAK-9 cable arresting system
engaging the hook at landing speeds up to
170kt and near-max imum landing weight.
In practi ce, it was preferable to jett ison
external fuel tanks to reduce that weight.
Ong ing updates to the F-100 cont inued
t hroughout it career, including the instal-
lat ion of Minn apolis Honeywell MB-3
autopil ots in the cockpits of 65 F-100 /D
aircraft by mid- 1958. This system incorpo-
rated link to the pitch and yaw damping
(stability augm ntat ion) systems and
added HOLD opti on for altitude, h ading
and attitude to be maintain d automatica l-
ly u ing a 'chick n-head' switch on the left
horizonta l pan l. An mergency disengage
switch was located on the main control
column. The autopilot could n t be us din
training at alt itudes below 200ft ( 60m) in
ca e of a ' hard over' fa ilure, as there would
be insufficient alt itude to effect a manual
recovery. One of the autopil ot' main func-
tion wa to operate in the LAB weapon
deli v ry mode so that an 'auto LABS' pull -
up, bomb deli very and rollout to recovery
altitude could be s leered.
Other updates included improv d
brak wit h automatic anti-skid and a bet-
ter oil di tributi on system. The original
undstrand constant speed drive ( D)
used t he same oil supply as the engin . If
the unit fa iled and dumped oil t hi s meant
that the main oil supply to t he engine
would be drained too. Meanwhile, Pratt
SWORDS U SHEATHED
Bull pup
Other modifications to the ai rcraft gave sixty-five
F-lOODs the ability to fire the Martin (Mari etta) AGM-
128 (GAM-83A) Bullpup command-guided, air-to-
ground mi ssile. Conceived during the Korean War as a
means of attacking inaccessible targets in mountain-
ous terrain, thi s 5701b (260kg) rocket-propelled weapon
could del iver a 2501b (115kg) warhead at a 12,000yd
(1 1 ,DOOm) range at speeds up to Mach 1.75. Sui tably
modified F-1 ODDs could carry two missiles on their
inboard pylons. Guidance was visual ; the pilot could
see two smal l flares attached to the missile's tail fins
that increased in brilliance as range from the aircraft
lengthened. Course-correcting signals were transmit-
ted to the Bullpup's canard stabili zi ng fins from a pulse
control system and antenna in the F-1 000 after the mis-
si le's booster rocket had accelerated it to its 'flight'
speed in a three-second burn.
Bullpup-capabl e aircraft had a small missil e control
panel on the left cockpit side-panel including a mi nia-
ture, cube-shaped 'joystick' which gave simpl e 'up,
down, left, right' signals. Once the mi ssile had gone
ballistic. the commands would most often be 'up' sig-
nals to keep it in fli ght. Launch was initiated by swi tch-
ing the mi ssi le control swi tch to READY and selecting
one of the two mi ssiles. The missile launch was then
set to GUIDE and the mi ssile was fired (from altitudes
up to 25,000ft/7.625m) using the normal gun trigger.
Once the mi ssi le's motor had burned out, the F-1 00 pilot
used the flares on its tail to guide the rapidl y rol ling
Bullpup to its target. Some pilots found that the bright-
ness of the flares tended to obscure their vision of the
target. maki ng attacks on small targets such as vehi-
cles more difficult. Good visibi lity was required for a
successful attack, which made the missi le a lai r-
weather weapon. Also. its fairly smal l warhead meant
there was littl e point in firing it against reinforced tar-
gets. To guide the missile, a pilot had to hold hi s main
control col umn with his right hand and manipulate the
mi ssile joystick wi th the other, leaving him no hands to
manage that other crucial device. the throttle handle.
The other disadvantage was that the F-100 had to fly
and Whitney (P& W) continued to
improve the reli abi li ty of t heir ]57 engine
with changes to the fuel pump and valves
to reduce the cases of fl ameout and after-
burner li ghting difficulti es. There had
been cases of F-100 engine explosions on
take-off a the fuel/air fl ow passed through
a ' null ' point at about 200kt causing a
build-up of vapour in the rear fuselage.
This was solved by the simple expedient of
drilling seven small holes in a line across
the under ide of the fu elage.
The final U AF batch f tw nty- nine
F-100Fs (58- 1205 to 58- 1233) had an
improved AN/A N-7 navigat ion comput-
er, PC- 212 Doppler radar navigation sys-
tem (RADAN) and modified fl aps to give
40 degrees defl cti on rather than the usual
40
straight and fol low the Bullpup's course, thereby expos-
ing itself to ground defences. As Joe Vincent remarked,
That was not a very wise thi ng to do for adding Oak
Leaf Clusters to your Longevity Ribbon'.
Although training on the Bull pup was conducted
enthusiasti cal ly at Luke AFB from 1960 to 1966 (using
a Martin si mulator to reduce the cost of live firings) it
had been dropped by 1969 apart from bri ef coverage in
the conventional weapons syll abus. Better weapons
were on the way, but this early experience with the
Bullpup enabled the development of a later generation
of stand-off missiles such as GBU-15 and AGM-130.
For the F-1 00, Project High Wire increased its range of
cleared ordnance to include, for example, later models
of AIM-9 Sidewi nder (AIM-9E/J) and around twenty
types of CBU dispensers, increasing the F-1 DOD's range
of weapons to around seventy-five types. SUU-7 I As
were the initial CBU di spensers to be cleared for the
ai rcraft. referred to as CBU-1/A or CBU-2A/A. depend-
ing on thei r contents. For ferry flights with empty can-
isters a nose-cone could be fitted to reduce drag.
In Vietnam, the AGM-128 was used on occasion in
the early stages of the war. Pilots of the 481 st TFS on
a 1965 temporary duty (TOY) to Tan Son Nhut AB fi red
several to mai ntai n their qualification with the system
but they found the weapon unreli able. In most firings it
went ball istic and missed the target. 1st Lt Peter Van-
derhoef was one of the pilots:
I remember we all got to fire a Bullpup one time down in the
Del ta, south of Saigon. None of us were scheduled to hit a
tight target and it was probably fortunate because mine
went ballistic as did most of the others. which gave us a
slick 5001b bomb that cost the price of a Cadillac- around
US$5,000. The only thing we were able to hit with it was
the ground.
Other units had better luck wi th the mi ssil e, but it had
virtually disappeared from F-1 00 bases by 1967 though
a total of 1,944 of the missi les were fired during the
war by an assortment of aircraft.
45 degrees. Although the gyro tabili za-
t ion in t he Doppler system was thought by
some to be hard to keep in working order
the aircraft were u eful. According to Alex
Martin:
When we had to deploy as a unit t he Comman-
der would get one of the F- 1 OOFs wit h t he
quadron Navigati on Officer aboard and lead
the gaggle. When we received a couple at Kade-
na I remember a lot of running them around t he
Far East includi ng Australi a, fl ying di gnitari es
around and d ing some free advert ising for
orth Ameri can Avi at ion!
A number of F-l OODs had a similar navi-
gat ion system installed in an aft electron-
ics compart ment in the lower rear fuselage,
SWORDS NSHEATHED
Yellow markings adorn F-lOOC-1-NA 53-1762 of the 336th FDS Rocketeers, 4th FDW in this squadron line-up. Col D. Elmer vi a Davi d Menard
parall el with the leading edge of the
tailplane. This area was cooled by a small
bleed-air operated turbine or by ram-air
t hrough an intake in the lower leading edge
of th v rti cal tabi lizer. These F-l OOD,
known as NAYS (Doppler navigation sys-
tem) aircraft , had an AN/APQ-102
Doppler radar subsy tem to provide con-
t inu us ground- peed measurement and
dri ft informat ion, and an AN/A -25
dead-reckoning computer. The latter ca l-
cul ated dead-reckoning problem using
data from th Doppler radar and th tan-
dard J -4 compass, controll ed from t he ri ght
hori zontal panel. The system gave the
pil ot a form of 'great circl ' navigat ion,
upervi ed via two panel on hi ri ght hor-
izontal consol and four instrum nt on
the main front panel.
Sabre-Toothed Tigers
Whil e AA honed their 'Sup r Sword' ,
the USAF continued to t rain and deploy
new F-100 Wings. F-100A and models
provided pilots at Luke AFB with super-
sonic experience, while Korean War Mi G-
ki ller Bruce Hinton led five squadrons and
a Fighter Weap n chool at Nellis AFB
under t he auspices of t he 3595 th Combat
Crew Training Group (CCTG) unt il June
1958. Nellis had received its first F-100
(52-5761) on 21 August 1954. Many pilots
came from F-84 and F- 6 units, incl uding
Tom Germscheid, who recalled:
I graduated from ingle-engine jet pil ot training
and got my ' wing ' in December 1956. Follow-
on assignments were granted accord ing to cia s
standings. The F- l OOs were just comi ng into the
inventory at that time and all of the top-stand-
ing graduates were hoping for an F-100 sloe.
Unfortunately there were none for our class,
just several for the F-84F and F- 60. I grabbed
one of the F- 4F slots ince it looked more like
a fighter than anything else that was offered. I
went to Luke AFB for a three- month checkout
and initial combat crew traini ng. I enjoyed the
course very much and got my ' Mach busters' pin
47
aft er pointing the ' hog' straight cl own with full
power from about 40,000fc. The instruments
fluctuated a bit as the airspeed hi t about Mach
0. 98. I guess I passed the Mach but I didn't stay
around long enough to check!
Fo ll ow-on ass ignments were again given
accord ing to cl ass standings. This time there
were a bunch of F-1 00 slots and I qui ckly
jumped on one of them and went to Nelli s in
Apri l 1957 to check out in the F- l OOA. This
was a fabulous ti me. The F- 1 OOF had not ye t
entered the in ventory so everyth ing was single-
seat. This time we coul d bust the Mach straight
and level, or maybe in a sli ght cli ve, in a clean
bird. Most of our fli ghts were in clean configu-
ration [no stores carri ed].
Coming to the F- 1 OOA after fl ying the F-84F
was like st rapping a l 5,0001b ro ket on your
1501b ass and blasti ng off. Everyone was
impressed with the afterburner take-offs. The
burner was lit after starti ng the take-off roll as
the brakes woul d not hold the bird in after-
burner - maybe a sign of poor brakes. It was
always a real ki ck in the butt when the ' a. b.' li t.
The start of format ion take-offs was always
SWORDS U SHEATH ED
The vital MA-2 mobile air starter unit was the preferred method of starting up an
F-100. The alternative cartridge start (available in most F-100Dsl produced toxic fumes
that required the pilot to wear his oxygen mask. Col Art Johnson
interesting a it wa difficult to get the after-
bu rners on all bird in the format ion to li ght at
the same time. Formation Lead would give the
predatory hand signal for afterburner and then
nod hi s head forward. At ni ght he would call
the ignal over the radi o. As a wingman I qui ck-
ly learned to he irate a microsecond or so before
stroking my burner on take-off a it wa very
awkward if your burner li t before the formati on
leader' and you found yourself out in front. A
good Lead always retarded his engine a coupl e
of per cent from ful l rpm and that way you
wouldn't fall behind if your bird was not as fast.
When afterburner was engaged by moving
the throttl e outboard , fuel pre sure cau ed the
engine exhaust nozzle 'eyelid ' to open. n the
j57 they were either open or closed; there wa
n intermedi ate position. Occasionall y they
fail ed to open or close properl y and if they fail ed
to open when aft erburner was selected you got a
violent compressor stall. If they fail ed to d oe
when aft erburner was de-selected you had a big
los of th ru t, wh ich happened more often than
fail ing to open in the first place. I lo t a Flight
Leader (Warren Emerson) and his back- eater
in an F- lOOF at Cannon AFB when they lost
aft erburner at lift-off and the eyelids stayed
open. The procedure for lost afterburner was to
bring the throttl e inboard immedi ately to close
the eyelids when you recogni zed that the a.b.
had gone out. That F- l OOF crew either didn 't
identify the problem soon enough, or the eye-
li ds fail ed to close for some other reason. In any
case they couldn' t get enough alt itude to cl ear a
boxcar grain bin off the end of the runway. They
mi ght also have saved themselves if they had
jettisoned fuel tanks sooner.
Normall y, afterburner was disengaged after
we got the bird cl eaned up and reached climb
speed. sing afterburner reall y guzzled up the
fu el, though I recall one fli ght in a clean F-
l OOA at elli where we did a max perfor-
mance take-off and cl imb to 40,000ft in after-
burner all the way. I was impressed. In-fli ght
operati on of the aft erburner was always excit-
ing in both F- lOOA and D. If your angle of
attack was too high you oft en got a good com-
pressor stall. There was a loud bang and your
feet were oft en knocked off the rudder pedals.
A large fireball would be seen out of the tail of
your bird. It was especially spectacul ar at night.
I always gritted my teeth a littl e when selecting
afterburner in manoeuvring fli ght. If it fa il ed to
li ght you left a fuel vapour trail behind your air-
craft. This would quickl y give away your posi-
ti on dur ing A M la ir combat manoeuvring] if
you were not otherwi se in sight of your adver-
sary. We sometimes used this tact ic to help get
the fl ight joined back up when we lost sight of
each other. omet ime we would ask the gun-
nery target-dart towing F- 1 00 to mark his posi-
ti on in this way if we couldn' t spot him.
Curti s Burns added:
One irritati on in afterburner use at alt itude is
42
that if you were near, but not necessaril y in the
contrail level , going into afterburner would lay
a couple of hundred feet of white conden ari on
that was very visible to a potential target.
The accelerati on wa signifi cant [50 per cent] but
the effect on aircraft attitude was easil y handled.
Our training all owed us to ant icipate and react to
it in the same way we did to openi ng the speed
brakes, dropping the gear or lowering fl aps. We
even had occasions where we would go int after-
burner whi le in close formati on.
When a pair of F- 100s took off, a pil ot
would be very aware of the penetrating roar
of hi wingman's afterburner, though cut-
t ing in his own a.b. made li ttl e difference
to hi c ckpit noise level. (A bigger long-
term n i e probl em came from the MA-2
starting unit whi ch, in Ron Herrick's opin-
ion, ' ruined many people's ears before they
realized it'.)
The F-1 OO's peed and accelerati on
under 8 ton of thru t were a revelat ion to
many pilots coming from F-84F Thunder-
streaks. Art Johnson:
The F-84F was not exactl y a great air-to-a ir
interceptor. I remember one miss ion where we
were on alert to intercept a fl igh t of SAC B-4 7
tratojets as they passed near. It to k so long to
get to their altitude that we never did get wit h-
in firing range. The intercept was a total bust.
The aft erburner made all the difference in
the world between the F-84F and the F- 1 00. We
were uddenl y in fi ghter pilot heaven with no
worri es about rake-off roll di stances.
Pil t oon l am d to tame the F-1 OO's
less attracti ve habit too. In a hard turn,
part icularly to t he left , ngin torque
could exacerbate inertial coupling and
cau e the aircraft to enter a roll into t he
oppo ite direction. Combined with the
aircraft's natural adverse yaw conditi n
this could make an F-lOOA in a hi gh-g
turn uddenl y tumble out of'control. The
standard recovery technique wa to
release the st ick pressure and I t th air-
craft fl y out of the situat ion. Snap roll s,
abrupt manoeuvres and ext reme yaw
angles were off limits for all F-100 m d l .
Accord ing to Art Johnson, ' pin w r
prohi bited and we were told that no one
had ever recovered from a spin in the F-
l OOF'. Alex Martin, at ellis in 1956- 57
recalled that in general:
The F- l 's fl ying characteri stics were good.
Remember, most pil ots transitioned from the F-
84, F-86 or T-33 so the ones from the F-84
SWORDS U SHEATHED
f
/---------------
1
Four 20mm guns were the F-100's main armament in air-to-air combat and they were important weapons for later
air-to-ground missions, including flak suppression. Here, an F-100C has its guns boresighted on a target screen at
Nellis AFB in June 1957. Peter M. Bowers via David Menard
thought, 'Wowl' The F- 6 pil ots were more
impressed with the ki ck in the rear you got from
hi tting the afterburner. You could fly the F-86 or
T-33 with your feet on the fl oor. ot so with the
Hun, e peciall y at slow speeds. It was honest, let
you know when stalls were imminent and like
the F-86 it would fl y itself out of a spin if you let
it go. At slow speeds in ACM the bird turned
be t with the rudder pedals, keeping the stick
centred so you didn' t get drag from the wrong
ail eron.
Managing a high-performance fi ghter
like the F- 100 without t he sophi st icated
fl y- by-wire control systems of contempo-
rary jets required t he seat-of-th -pants
techni que and inst incts of an earli er
g nerati on of fi ghter pilots plus the reac-
tions needed to cope with a very compl ex
cockpit and events happening at uper-
soni c speeds.
Gunfighters
In the days before air-to-a ir missil e tech-
nology took over t h air combat arena,
prowe in air-to-a ir gunnery and ACM
remained t he principal index of success in
t he fighter pil ot 'world. The F- l OO's M-39
guns were later supplemented by the guid-
ed air rocket GAR-8 (AIM-9B)
Sid winder mi ss il e but tradit iona l air-to-
air and air-to-ground gunnery occupied
much of t he combat t raining time. Despite
its occasionall y uncertain direct ional sta-
bility in manoeuvring fli ght, t he F-100 wa
a very st rong contender in this area and it
guns were to be a powerful air-to-ground
weapon during its extensive combat career
in outh East Asia. Tom Germscheid:
The F-1 00 was a good and fun gunnery platform.
Along with the pitch and yaw dampers the tall er
43
verti ca l stabil izer on the F-lOOD made it a more
stable machine. The dampers, when working
properl y, were a big help. Gunnery scores were a
funct ion of two things: the skill of the aircrew
and the boresight and harmonizati on of the
20mm guns. Stable air conditions al o helped.
Everyone fought to be on the 0600 air-to-ground
miss ion! That's when the record score were
racked up. Turbulence around cl ouds or even in
clear air wa definitely a factoring air-to-a ir suc-
ce s. uccess on the ' rag' or 'dart ' target was often
like WWI or WWII . If you could pre in close
enough without getting a foul or eating a piece
of the dart you got good scores.
A ' rag' was a 30x6ft (9x l. m) nylon
me h banner with a bu ll 's-eye marking,
towed behind a T-33 or F-1 00 on t he end
of a 1,200ft (365m) cable. The A/A37U-
5 (or U- 15) tow- target 'dart ' consisted of
a launcher attached to t he F-100's left
SWOR DS SHEATHED
--
--
F-1000-65-NA 56-3002 Bad News, fitted with AIM-9 rails and a pair of HVAR rockets on each one. The 'saddleback' fairing is removed and
perched on the aircraft's spine, the usual pre-flight location. David Mena rd Collection
outboard pylon (Wing Stat ion 155 ) and a
steel/nylon cable ree l on the ri ght out -
boa rd pylon. In the cockpit the switchol-
ogy for CBU ordnance and the standard
'bomb button' cont rolled the system and
jettisoned it if necessary. The light-
weight, dart- haped target and it towline
could be lower d to the ground after use
on a 14ft (4. 3m) di ameter parachute for
recovery and re- use so t hat the F-1 00
could land without it. The target could
be launched from t he ai rcraft at about
200kt and released to the ground at
175kt in straight and leve l fli ght. Once
the target was deployed, the tow F-100
could fl y at peed up to 475kt. If the tar-
get fail ed to separate from the F-100 at
the end of a gunnery sess ion, a landing
with t he dart in tow was possible,
although t he dart would shatter on con-
tact with terra firma.
At Nellis AFB, an Instructor Pilot (IP)
usuall y took t hree students for air-to-air
gunnery training. Each would arc towards
the 'rag' target from a distance of about
3,000ft (900m), opening fire at
800-l ,OOOft (245-JOOm) range from a 30-
degree closing angle and then pulling up
and away to allow the next pilot his shot.
In time-honoured mann r, each pilot'
shell w uld leave a di ti nctively coloured
paint-trace on the target and hi ts were
counted later.
Firing the guns with radar ranging for
the A-4 ight involved a eri es of setting-
up processes, not least of whi ch was allow-
ing a warm-up time of up to fifteen min-
utes for the radar and gun sight. The gun
cam ra and gun sight filament were
switched on and the rheo tat adjusted to
the correct level of brilli ance. A sight
functi on selector control was then set at
GUN and the target speed switch was
adj u ted to allow forth relati ve speeds of
the target and the attacking F-1 00. The
sight was then uncaged, t he camera switch
set to 'bright', ' hazy' or 'dull' and the trig-
ger switch to GUNS/CAMERA. The next
44
job wa to et the WING PAN lever to
correspond to the size of t he target so that
manual ranging could be used if the radar
went down. Once the target was in clear
ight, the electri cal 'caging' button wa
pressed to stabili ze the sight reticle and
target tracking could then begin. The idea
was to hold down the caging button and
continue tracking a point some di tance
ahead of the target at a distance that
approximated to the ' lead' t hat the gun
sight would allow for in aiming t he guns at
the moving target. An indi cator light
came on at the lower left of t he A-4 sight
mounting to show t hat the radar had
locked on to the target . The caging button
was t hen released, and assuming that the
target could be tracked smoothly, the pilot
could open up with his primary armament.
It was important to remember that firing
t he guns at supersonic speeds could cause
t he F-100 to shoot itself down. lf a
manoeuvre in combat required the pilot to
push his aircraft' nose down lightly after
SWORDS UNS HEATHED
Sidewinder
When F-1 00s carried air-to-air missil es they were usually
AIM-98 Sidewinders or sl ightl y later variants. From 1957
the USAF acqui red the USN's SW-1A (MM-N-7A) as the
GAR-B (guided air rocket). re-named AIM-98 in June 1963
under the standardized designation system. It continued
in service until1968 when it was replaced by the sl ightly
modified AIM-9E and then the AIM-9J in 1972.
The General Electri c (GE)/Ford AIM-98 was a pas-
sive. infra-red homing mi ssil e. 9ft (2.7m) long and
5i n (13cm) in diameter. Its range was limited to 2
miles (3.2km). though later models were effective at
up to 11 miles (17.7km). The 1 Olb fragmentation war-
head was borne on its brief. 20-second fli ght to the
target by an Aerojet rocket motor and detonated by
either contact or proximity fuses. The 1551b mi ssi le
was mounted on the inboard pylons of the F-1 00.
either singly or in paral lel pairs hung from a Y-
shaped double launcher. The same launcher could
take an AIM-9 on one 'arm' and on the other a TDU-
11 / B 5in HVA rocket that could be fired from a single
tube seconds before the AIM-9 to act as an infra-red
target for the missile. Each TDU- 11 / B had four track-
ing flares on its aft sectron to provide a heat-source
target for the Sidewinder's uncooled PbS infra-red
seeker.
'Moose' Moseley. an IP at George AFB. 1959-61.
made one of his squadron's earl iest Sidewinder firings
Sidewinders were new and had seen little use. We had
some 'cold carry' missions to listen to its [infra-red[ IR-
activated tone and I had one live firing to qual ify. I
tossed a 5in HVA( R) with tail flares out yonder at 30
degrees nose-up and fired a 'snake' [AIM-9] as the tar-
get neared the horizon. A kill. But nobody wanted to go
fight someone with them.
F- 1 OOC 54-1794, fitted with the taller F- 1 GOD-style tail
fin was one of six F-1 OOCs used to test the Sidewinder
installation. F-1 OODs 54-2138, -2144 and -2145 were
the first to be modified for Sidewinders. which were
introduced on the Ingl ewood line at aircraft number 184
(55-3502)
fir ing, he also had to remember to tum
slightly to one side in order to avoid inter-
cepting hi s own shell as they slowed down
in flight and began to head for t he ground
on the same trajectory as the fighter.
When the F-100 did enter combat ev-
eral year later, it ai.r-to-air firepower was
hard ly ever needed but the guns were to be
a major asset in countless attack on
ground targets. As USAF fighter
quadran progress ively converted to the
F-100, air-to-ground ski ll s were also
trained extensively as part of a full syllabus
of combat ski lls. Tom Germscheid:
About once a year each squad ron wou ld deploy
ro Nell is AFB for air-ro-air tra ining. The
month-long deployment was always a great time
Sidewinders were aimed using the A-4 sight with a
fixed reticle (caged) and the missile's familiar 'rattle'
tone let the pilot know. via his communications ampl i-
fier. that its seeker head had picked up a target. A cock-
pit panel with four lights showed which missile was
selected. or unfired, and a missi le master switch that
was previously set to STANDBY to supply electrical
power to the missi le, was switched to READY when the
target was in range. The AIM-9 was fired with a press
of the usual trigger on the pil ot's control column and
this also cut in the gun camera. A 'station by-pass' con-
trol selected the next avai lable missile or by-passed a
dud. and a 'safe launch' button could salvo al l missi les.
unarmed and unguided, in an emergency.
In training, live Sidewi nder shots were compara-
tively rare but practice 'lock-ons' could be made with
the radar sight and missile seeker head. On one tragic
occasion this caused the loss of a SAC B-52 bomber;
ironically the F-1 OO's only confirmed ai r-to-air shoot
down in USAF service. The 188th TFS. New Mexico Air
National Guard was the first ANG unit to receive Super
Sabres when it transi ti oned to F-1 OOAs in 1958. 1st Lt
James W van Scyoc was fl ying F-1 OOA 53- 1662 on 7
April 1961. running practice intercepts from Kirtl and
AFB on a 95th BW B-52B. On his sixth simul ated
Sidewi nder launch, van Scyoc's fighter suddenly
launched its No.2 AIM-9B and it impacted on the lett
inboard engine of the mighty bomber. Aboard the B-52B
(53-0380 Ciudad Juarez) the pilot. Capt Don Blodgett,
felt his aircraft lurch to the left as his cockpit caught fire
and the lett wing separated. Fragments from the
Sidewinder killed the two navigators and a student
electronic war offi cer (EWO). The rest of the crew man-
aged to escape though most were injured A Board of
Investigation inqui ry concluded that a cracked plug in
the F-1 GOA's missile firing circuit had al lowed moisture
to enter, bypassing the 'safe' No.1 missile and some-
how triggering the second one.
Although the AIM-9 was the F-1 OO's principal mis-
si le, the Hughes AIM-4B (GAR-2) infra-red missile,
used by the F-1 01 Voodoo and F-1 02 Delta Dagger. was
evaluated on an F-1 00.
and something we looked forward ro - great fl y-
ing and Las Vegas had a lot to offer ro t he boys
from the hi gh plains of New Mexico. Si nce
there were more pil ots than airplanes in a
squadron some woul d dri ve their cars there, or
get some of the groundcrew to drive our cars to
Las Vegas so we would have wheels while we
were t here. On the Nell is ranges we could qual-
ify in all the air-ro-air events: 20mm on the
' rag', 20mm on the manoeuvring dart and
GAR-8 Sidewinder miss il e. We also did a lot of
ACM as well as some air-ro-ground. We
thought we had t he world by the tai I.
There were some incidents too:
One of the students cl ipped about3ft off the ver-
t ical stabili zer of his F- 1 00 when he hi t a cable
45
used to haul out bat manure wh ile he was fl ying
down in the Grand Canyon. Another F- 100 col-
lided with a commercial airliner at30,000ftover
Las Vegas.
Art Johnson noted that his squadron, the
309th FBS at George AFB, only loaded
100 rounds in each gun (usually in just two
guns) for this kind of training and for
Weapons Meets, 'mostly to keep from
burning out the gun barrels prematurely' .
Ground targets on the range for gun pass-
es were the standard 20x 20ft ( 6x6m) can-
vas spreads with a bull's-eye marking.
Attacks were usuall y low-angle strafe pro-
files in a l Odegree dive.
In 1958, Tom Germscheid graduated
from Nell i AFB to the 4 29th TF , 4 74th
TFW at Cannon AFB (then known as
Cl vi AFB) where he p nt the next four
years. The Wing wa ti ll tran iti ning to
F-l OODs with the squadron's yellow and
black decor on their tails.
We went to t he NAA factory at Palmda le, al-
iforni a and picked up our new F- LOODs. The
27th TFW (formerl y 3 12th TFW) was also sta-
ti oned at Cannon/Clovis from 18 February
1959. After the 474th got their F-LOOs the 27th
transitioned roo. We had about 200 Huns on
the Cannon ra mp by 1958. A bunch of us new
2nd Li eutenants who had been through the F-
LOOA course at Nellis had more time in the F-
1 00 than most of the old heads who were tran-
sitioning from the F-86H. We thought we were
big st uff, although in reality we were an acci-
dent wait ing to happen. We lost a lot of birds in
the first couple of years, mostl y to pi lot error: a
lot of dumb t hings.
Other F-100 class graduates went to the
4 79th Wing (the world's first supersonic
fi ghter Wing) at George AFB, the 4th
TFW at Seymour-Johnson AFB, and t he
450th FDW at Foster AFB to fl y the F-
l OOC; or to F-l OOD squadrons at Myrtle
Beach (354th TFW, commanded by
WWII and Korean War ace Francis
Gabreski) , England AFB, Loui iana
(366th TFW and 401 t TFW) , Langley
AFB's 405th FBW, the 31st FBW at Turn-
er AFB, Georgia (later at George AFB as a
re- numbering of the 413th FBW) , or the
506th FBW at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma
commanded by Col Joseph L. Laughli n,
which briefly owned F-lOODs from ep-
tember 195 7 to December 1958.
At Cannon AFB aircrew used the Mel-
rose range for 'air-to-mud' training. As
Tom Germscheid explained:
SWORDS U SHEATHED
The 31st FW Weapons Team at Nellis AFB in 1958. Left to right: Lt Bud Holman, Maj
Chuck Horton, Col Gordie Grahm (team leader). Maj Art Johnson and Capt Walt Bruce.
Squadron colours appear on the speed brake of 56-3196 as well as on its nose and
wing tank. Five of the Wing's aircraft were painted in this scheme for several weeks.
Col Art Johnson
Conventi onal weapons events included low-
angle strafi ng, d ive bombing with a 45-degree
dive angle, skip bombing, 2. 7Sin FFAR [folding
fin aircraft rockets] (30-degree dive) and Sin
I-I VA rockets. ucl ear event included 'over
the shoulder' [nuclear delivery] ( T ) whi ch
wa our primary deli very method. We call ed
these ' idiot loops' and we did millions of them.
A good ya w damper was a great asset in 'over-
the-shoulder' deli very. There was also hi gh-
angle dive deli very (60-90 degrees from about
25,000ft) and level retarded nuclear delivery
from about 2,000ft.
On of the training devices carried by the
F-100 was the MA-3 triple- mounted rocket
launcher. arri ed on th outboard pylons,
these could each take three HVA ingle
rounds or three pods of Mk-4 2. 75in FFAR
(totall ing forty-two mi siles).
We generall y fired one rocket at a time from the
triple tube, simulating the firing of fifty 2. 7S in
rockets. The accuracy of a single rocket was very
questi onable. Sometimes one of the three fold-
ing fins would not deploy and the rocket would
go wil d. I gue s they fi gured that if you dumped
fifty of them in one hot you were bound to hi t
something. They were designed for armoured
vehi cl es, radar and communications, vans, etc.
The tripl e rocket launchers were somewhat
high-drag, especiall y when empty and they lim-
ited the F- 100 to Mach 0.8 below 20,000ft.
An alternat ive rocket launcher was the
ninet en- hot LAU-3/A and one could be
hung on each utboard pylon. Aiming of
all rockets was done with the A-4 sight
and an intervalometer fired one rocket
each tim the bomb button was pressed, or
salvoed rocket from pods. For bombing
pract ice, a di spenser wa u ed that could
also launch FFARs.
The SUU-20/A dispenser, whi ch carried four
2. 75s and six 2Sib practice bombs or imulated
retarded bombs ('beer cans') or any combinat ion
of the two types of bombs, greatl y reduced the
drag and permitted hi gh-speed manoeuvring
such as ACM after a bombing mission. The bot-
tom of this dispenser had doors that opened and
clo eel to simulate arming a nuclear store. The
doors often malfunctioned, sti cking in either the
closed position (which meant an aborted mis-
sion) or open, wh ich restricted where you could
fl y with a hung bomb. They later came out with
a low-drag dispenser [MN-1 or MN-1A] without
the rocket tubes and doors.
46
Showtime
In the late 1950s, with F-100 units adopting
ever more eye-catching paint schemes, the
real showplace for a quadran' talents was
a Fighter Weapons Meet. Art]ohn on orga-
nized and participated in his unit's Fight r
Weapons Team at the 1958 competit ion.
They won the world's fi rst all-supersonic
fighter Tact ical Fighter Weapons Meet at
George AFB and then went on as T AC's
representatives in the World Class Fighter
Weapons Meet at Nellis AFB in October.
We were sti ll a nuclear bomb Wing and had
squadrons on constant alert at airfields in Ger-
many, armed with Mk 7 nuclear weapons
through to the end of 1958. However, we a! o
trained for the air-to-air mission and both skip
and di ve conventional bombing. The 1958
Meet included simulated nucl ear and conven-
ti onal miss ions, with LABS and M- l. toss bomb-
ing attacks. Ai r-to-ai r included supersoni c fir-
ing against dart targets towed by other F- 1 OOs
and subsoni c against ' rag' targets. All the F-
lOOD models were equi pped with LAB deliv-
ery gyros and the automatic LABS feature using
the autopilot (whi ch was not too reliable when
I fl ew the birds). 1 did better in the Weapons
Meet using manual LABS. None of our F-lOODs
had Sidewinder capability in 1958. The F- lOOD
Wings, such as Gabby Gabreski's wing at Myr-
tl e Beach had not been equipped with LABS or
nucl ear delivery hardpoints. They had a strictl y
conventional mission, although they were later
given the nuclear miss ion as Gabby and all his
pil ots came down to Turner AFB to go through
the Special Weapons delivery cour e I taught
for the Wing. [Gabreski 's Wing converted to the
F- lOOD in 1957. His personal aircraft was F-
l. OOF 56-3 69.]
On bombing and gunnery miss ions we wou ld
strafe and skip-bomb at SOOkt at low level,
whi ch at elevations like Las Vegas gave us a
pretty fas t ground speed. The standard entry for
a LABS nuclear attack wa SOOkt in afterburn-
er, on the deck below 500ft. You needed the
afterburner to make an l mmelmann from the
deck with that 3,0001b ' Blue Boy' dummy ver-
sion on the Mk 7 nuclear weapon plus an exter-
nal tank on the other wing. We also needed the
afterburner to go above Mach 1 in air-to-air
gunnery. Mach 1. 2 was about it for the F-100 in
level fli ght.
In the 1958 Weapons Meet at eorge l. ended
up in a ti e for first place with my team-mate,
Walt Bruce. They decided to have a fl y- ff
against dart targets to settl e it the next morning.
I fl ew the miss ion in an F-100F with General
Weyland in the back seat. 1 don' t recall whether
SWORDS U ' SHEATHED



I
' . /
I I
I I
Brand new F-1000-85-NHs await collection from NAA's Columbus, Ohio factory. This was the last block of F-100s
produced there. Allen T. Lamb
Walt fl ew his regular F- LOOD. I had shot gunnery
in the F- LOOF before but this was not my regul ar
bird for the Meet. I managed to embarrass myself
by mi. sing the target, with the Commander of
Tact ical Ai r Command in my back seat ! Maybe
t he guns were not harmon ized right or maybe I
just screwed up. l didn' t blame it on the F- ! OOF
as l never noti ced much difference in the way
t hey fl ew compared with the single-seater.
The dart target miss ion [at the Weapons
Meet] was a one-to one affair. It was not possi-
ble to attack a dart with t he tow-plane in
straight fl ight wi t hout endangering the tow-
plane. Each attacking fighter had a chase plane
from Nellis who told t he tow plane when to in i-
tiate evasive manoeuvres. The chase pi lot was
also a judge who decided if the airspeed of t he
attacking F- 100 was supersoni c or withi n t he
prescri bed area. A foul in any respect garnered
a ze ro for the miss ion. The tow plane first went
in to a supersonic divi ng t urn while the attacker
fired at t he dart, then into a cl imbing turn whi le
the attacker manoeuvred for a second pass at a
lower speed, but not less t han Mach 0.9. A h it
on either of the passes was a win for the mission
- not as easy as it sounds. T he dart was not a big
radar target for the A-4 ranging gun sight and
not a large area to hi t. However, aft er a bit of
experi ence you never missed one.
The wisdom of honing t hes ski ll wa
emphasized a few years later when F-1 00
pilots were poised to attack real targets in
uba during the Miss ile Crisis of October
47
1962. Among them was Lt Col David 0.
Wil li ams (l ater a Brigadier General), who
led t he 524th TFS, 27th TFW from an-
non AFB to McDi ll AFB, Florida where
the whole Wing at cockpit alert during
November of that year:
Each fli ght of four F- l OOs was assigned a Soviet
missil e site for its target, or a Soviet air defence
in tall ati on. Each aircraft carried two napalm
can isters on t he inboard stations and two LAU-
3 rocket pods on t he out board stations wit h
nineteen 2. 75 in FFARs in each pod. Fortunate-
ly, diplomacy succeeded or there would have
been a rea l blood bath and God knows where it
woul d have led.
CHAPTER THREE
Worldwide Warrior
KB-50J tanker pilot piles on the knots to stay with a trio of 354th TFW F-lOODs feeding
from its three hoses, September 1958. David Menard Coll ecti on
Pacific Al ert
The F-1 OO's tact ical nuclear role and it
inflight-refuell ing kit, all owing up to three
refuelli ngs per miss ion, made it the first
fighter to be capable of deploying the
nuclear deterrent virtually anywhere in
the world at 12-hours not ice. The worl d
situat ion in the 1950s and early 1960s
provided plenty of occasion on whi ch
that show of ultimate strength was
required. For F-l OOC/ D pilots that meant
a lot of t ime away from home base.
Fl ying from Clovis AFB from 1961 to
1964, Alex Martin reckoned to be on tem-
porary duty (TOY) for 270 days a year.
Before that, he spent four years at Kadena
AB, Okinawa with the 18th Tacti cal
48
Fighter Wing (TFW) , beginning in 1957
just after it had convert d from F-86F
Sabres. The Wing had stood alert during
the Formosa Cri sis in February 1955 and as
the tension continued it r -establi shed
itself on uper Sabre . In 1958, as Com-
muni st Chines pressure continued, other
F-100 units moved to Taiwan including
the 511 th Fighter-bomber Squadron (FBS)
from Langley AFB that did a TDY at
Ching Chuan AB. Two squadrons of the
354th TFW at Myrtle Beach spent t hr e
months at Kadena support d by F- l Ol C
Voodoos. For the 18th TFW the plan was
to start a:
qu ick suike' alen area at Kadena where
strike-ready pi lots and nucl ear-armed aircraft
would be able to launch against studi ed, pre-
planned targets within fi fteen minutes. Thi s
fl edgli ng operat ion was honed over the years,
but at first it in volved a tax i-around on a prac-
tice scrambl e every day wit h a ' nuke' on board.
That got changed. I remember some of the
nuclear weapons started to dr ip hi gh explosive
as we sat on hot concrete in mid-summer. They
fi xed this by putting an umbrell a over the
weapons to keep them shaded. Twelve aircraft
were on the alert pad during the normal DEF-
CON [defense condi t ion). All mainl and targets
were memorized (with alternate targets) and
this was tested regul arl y, as well as the authen-
ticat ing procedu res. During ORis [Operati onal
Readiness Inspect ions) we would launch with
the Blue Boy shapes and the rest of the fl eet
woul d load up and fl y to 'go/no-go' poi nts and
authenti cate. There were set max imum times
for everything. It woul d dr ive the oppositi on
nuts when their secret agents reported our
launches and saw us all fan ning out towards the
coast carrying ' nukes' (simu lated of course).
Alex Martin (l eft) and Roy Moore. Alex Martin
WORLDWIDE WARR I OR
8th TFW F-1000-20-NAs at ltazuke AB where the Wing converted to Super Sabres at
the end of 1956. David Menard Collection
We'd orbit, get aborted and sa il home. Alert
pil ots woul d come on duty, pre- fl ight thei r F-
lOODs, set all the switches to 'go', have the
power uni ts hooked up [to start the engines) and
their personal gear in the cockpit. Then they'd
go to the alert shack that had beds and a
kitchen. They coul d get off the wrf in fi fteen
minutes easily; closer to ten was normal.
Yokota in Japan also hosted F-100 depl oy-
ments including Operat ion Mobile Zebra
in November 1957, when sixteen F-l OOCs
and the same number of F- lOODs made the
sixteen-hour flight from George AFB.
While t he nucl ear weapons themselves
w r shad d by umbrellas, a device of only
marginall y greater pract icality would have
protected t he pilots on nuclear miss ions.
Instead, a white fl a h shi eld, pull d for-
ward over th interior of the cockpit
canopy, was the only available protecti on.
Maintainer John Clarity viewed t his con-
trapt ion ironi call y as:
... a real pacifier to the pil ots on a mi ss ion wit h-
out likelihood of rewrn. Thi s piece of jun k
would supposedly preserve them from the ther-
49
mal and li ght forces whi ch woul d have overtak-
en them as a result of a bombing technique that
left them too close to the 'ground zero' they had
just created. The system was so shoddy it had no
place in a machine preparing to destroy a large
part of the planer.
The hood was insta ll d solely for thermal
protecti on, as explosive force was not
thought to be a problem that would affect
pilots. The maximum yield for F-100
delivery was set at one megaton.
For Roy Moore, fl ying F- l OODs with t he
80th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), 8th
TFW Headhunters from ltazuke AB,
nuclear alert was also a requirement for his
Wing's area of responsibility in South East
Asia and it carri ed its attendant hazards.
In the ea rl y days of carrying nuclear weapons on
fighter aircraft there were no controls, i. e. the
pil ot, if he got airborne with a ' nuke', could drop
it and detonate it. The powers that be were con-
cerned that one man could have total control of
so much destruct ive power so they started
thrashing around, looking for some way to con-
trol the pil ot even after he was airborne with the
WORLDWIDE WARR I OR
r:W003
The 18th TFW's attractive arrowhead insignia used red, white and blue segments (top to bottom). Individual
squadron colours were painted on the nose - in this case yellow and black for a 12th TFS F-100F-20-NA
with 200gal tanks inboard. David Menard Collection
weapon. In 1958 a lock handle was install ed in
the cockpi t that had to be pull ed before the
weapon could leave the airpl ane. (There mu t
have been a nuclear 'training hape' [Blue Boy]
inadvertentl y dropped somewhere ?)
When locked, the handl e did prevent any-
thing from being jettisoned or relea ed
from t he centreline and l ft intermediate
(Type 8) pylon.
The first attempt to control the pi lot in fli ght
was to put a combinat ion lock on that 'special
store' handl e that had to be un locked and
removed before the handl e could be pull ed.
That all sounds like a great idea: the pilot could
get airborne with the nuclear weapon but actu-
al control of the weapon could remain in the
hand of cooler-headed folk on the ground.
They coul d radi o him the combinati on to the
lock if they decided that the ri ght thing wa for
him to deliver the bomb on target.
The probl em was that the special weapons
handl e in the F- 100 was just about level with
the top of your boots. To see the numbers on the
combinat ion lock it was necessary to bend over,
well below the level where you could ee the
instrument panel. To try and fl y the pl ane with
your head below your knees is to know instant
vertigo. It was almost, but not qu ite impossible
to work the combinat ion lock and maintain
control of the airplane. I wa never able to do it
in le than fifteen minutes and that was with a
great deal of risk to myself and the airplane. The
system didn' t stay in force for long. PAL (per-
miss ive acti on link) enabling wa perfected
omewhere around 1959 and with that system
they would rad io you with a four or five-di git
code to enter into the PAL keyboard.
The F-100 was by no means alone among
1950s fi ghter in having a cockpit that wa
le than u r-friendl y. Howev r, training
and experi ence were great compensators,
as Maj Curti s Burns explained:
We u ed to do everything by touch, because
when you are flying t ight wing positi on it's not
too wi se to look down in to the cockpit. To
change the UHF radi o channel, for exampl e,
50
you merely had to take your hand off the throt-
tl e and move it about I in to the right on the
left-hand console to turn the channel switch,
counting the channel numbers up or down from
the one you were on to the channel you were
changing to.
The Headhunters initially fl ew Block 15 F-
l OOD with MA-2A low-altitude bombing
system (LABS) , a yaw/pitch damper and
no centreline pylon. Lt Col Ronald Her-
rick referred to them as:
. half-assed Ds because they had some F- LOOC
systems. This caused a problem in PACAF
[Pacific Air Force] when the Mk 28 nuclear
store was introduced and the Block 15 aircraft
were sent all over PACAF and eventuall y
replaced. The Thunderbirds team used some of
them (after repainting in team olours) on a Far
East tour, wh il e theirs were in IRAN [i nspect
and repair as necessary], but didn't take them
back to the States. NATO countri es also got
earl y 0 models. The rest of the 8th Wing {35th
and 36th TFS) had Block 20 aircraft.
In September 1963, a group of 523rd TF
pilots led by Lt Col David 0. Wil liams col-
lected a batch of 8th TFW F- l OODs from
ltazuke and ferried them back to McClel-
lan AFB for High Wire update .
The nuclear pri ority dominated F-100
training in t he Pacific area and reduc d
t he time available for traditi onal tact ics.
Alex Martin:
In keeping with t he nucl ear mission we did li t-
d e ACM [air combat manoeuvri ng], few con-
venti onal del iveri es and mostly we were into
T ['over the shoulder' nucl ear deli very].
Air combat training was also reduced
b caus :
Budgets were being cut and we didn' t want to
lose aircraft or pil ots doing crazy st uff like
ACM. Of cour e, we did our own! The upper
levels of USAF command were rarely fighter
jocks, mostl y ex-SAC [Strategic Air ommand]
and they forgot what a fi ghter pil ot needs to stay
sharp, even if t here i an occasional loss.
Ten years later, this was a philo ophy that
was to cost the USAF dearly in the Vi et-
nam confli ct.
At Kadena most F-100 pilots got in
20-25 flying hours per month, flying or-
ties of P/4 hours on average. There would
be an hour's briefi ng before a mi ss ion and
at least thirty minutes afterwards. 'We used
WORLDWIDE WARRIOR
a bombing range on Taiwan and one near
lark AB. Th re were just enough sorties
to keep us ombat- ready in conventi onal
ordnance del iv ry including 2.75in rocket
firing, dive and skip bombing and gunnery.'
onver ion to t he first batch of F- l OOs
in PA AF was a fairl y arbitrary process in
some cases. Ron Herri ck reca lled his first
F- lOOD fli ght in the day before F- l OOFs
were avail able:
At that time I was t hree years out of pil ot train-
ing and I had been a T-33 instructor. When I got
to ltazuke they were in the process of convert ing
to t he F- 1 000 from the F-86F. I was the onl y one
who had gone through ellis to check out and I
became a guinea pig. The F-86 was still there
and they gave me unrestri cted access to go chase
my elf around t he sky. After about thirty hours
on the F- 6 ! went through ground school on the
Hun and was t hen bri efed for hours. They final-
ly said I was bri efed enough and off I went. The
afterburner was a real ki ck with a cl ean bird. The
onl y real surpri se was t urn ing from the base leg
to finals for landing as no one had remembered
to tell me about the l g buffet so I got a ri bbing
about my large landing patterns.
Life in a Pa ific F-100 quadron had its
moments of li ght r lief from the grim bu i-
ness of nuclear alert.
At lark A B in ! 959 there was an on-going
competition wit h the 509th Fl . We buri ed a
Roy Moore Ueft) after giving a check-ride to the senior officer of the Royal Thai AF in
F-100F 56-3813, still in 72nd TFS decor with a red tail flash. The unit became the 510th
TFS in spring 1959 with purple markings. Roy Moore
57
bomb in the fron t yard at t heir ps buil ding
with a sign to let them know where the bomb
had come from. They glued a large beer-adver-
t ising sti cker on t he drop tank of one of our
planes. One of our pi lots, Wayne Abbott had a
bad landing and got out OK but hi s F- l OOD was
a total loss from fi re and the remains were
moved to the sa lvage ya rd. They took t he
burned-out F- 1 00 remains and spread them
across t he big parade fie ld in front of Thirteenth
Air Force Headquarters. They did a very con-
vi nci ng job so t hat people on the way to work
t he next morning were convi nced t hat an F- 1 00
had made an emergency landi ng on the parade
fie ld during t he ni ght. ince some very heavy
equi pment was necessary to handl e the F-l 00
carcass it was clear t hat more t han a few men
were involved in perpetrating thi s joke.
A large number of man-hours were wasted on
some of these practical joke and the Wing Cdr
finall y put an end to them after the 509th broke
into our Ops buil ding one ni ght and moved
everything ot her t han the class ifi ed afe on to
the roof of the buil ding. Each item was placed
directl y above its proper locati on in the build-
ing below.
In 195 7, Roy Moore beca me one of the
first 80th FBS pi lots to t ransit ion to the F-
lOOD, a proce that the ent ire 8th TFW
accompli shed without losing a ingle air-
craft or pilot.
I had t hree fli ghts in the single-seat F- l OOD and
became an Instructor Pi lot after my third fli ght.
I suppose we di dn't have much choice since
there were no pil ots in the squadron with F- 100
time. We transiti oned the whole squadron
[from t he Republi c F-84G] without losing a
plane or pilot though. l think we did lose one
nose-gear strut when a pil ot made a bard land-
ing and tri ed to force the pl ane back on to the
runway.
While at lark AB, Roy took a fli ght of
four F- l OOFs to Bangkok:
... to give VIP rides to members of the Thai
Government and military, including t he top
general in the army and even the King's concu-
bine- the fi rst fe male pilot in Thail and. They
rescinded all fl ying restri ctions wh il e we were
there and in fact encouraged us to 'boom' the
airfi eld at very low alt irude, although the F-100
was diffi cult to keep at supersoni c speed at sea
level. I don' t know why we d idn't break a lot of
glass, but I never heard any complain ts.
On one fli ght I was told to fl y non-stop from
Clark AFB to Bangkok without inflight-refu-
elli ng. We had to fil e a fli ght-plan to go around
The F-lOO's principal nuclear weapon was the 1 ,60Dib
Mk 7 store. though in 1956- 57 some bases still had
l ,lOOi b Mk12s left over from their F-86F/ H days. The
weapon was 151/2ft (4.7m)long with a 301/2i n (77.5cm)
diameter and a variable 'yield' of 2- 60KT. For compari -
son, the Mkl Little Boy used at Hiroshima yielded 13KT
(the equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT). Mk 7s could be
carried beneath the F-1 ODC/D/F or F-1 01 A/C Voodoo. or
smal ler ai rcraft like the F-84F/G and AD5-N. Detonation
could be set for 'airburst' (timer or radar) or 'contact'
(with the ground). The bomb casing had three stabili zing
fins. the lower one being retractabl e to enabl e the
weapon to be carried under a fighter.
WORLDWIDE WARRI OR
Special Stores and LABS
release and control wiring. A counter-balanci ng 275gal
tank appeared on the opposite intermediate station,
often with a 200gal tank on each of the outboard and
inboard pylons too. This was known as the nuclear '1-E'
configuration and it tended to cause asymmetry prob-
lems in flight that Curti s Burns equated to 'borderl ine
instability' . Landing wi th all the external tanks sti ll in
place produced some interesting trim problems because
of the asymmetric drag. On later F-lOODs and the
F-1 OOF, the fuselage centreline hardpoint could also be
used for a 'special store' (nuclear weapon) or a practice
bomb dispenser.
Early F-1 ODDs were identified by the main landing
Summary of f -100 Atomic Weapons Armament Differences
Model LABS Type Nucl ear Carriage Station/ Pylon
Weapon
F-1 DOC (early) MA-l Mk 7 Left intermediate
F- 1 DOC (late) MA-2 Mk7 Left intermediate
F-1 ODD (early) MA-2 Mk 7 Left intermediate
F-1 ODD (late) AN/AJB-1 B Mk 7, 28, 43, 61 Left intermediate/centreline
F-l OOF AN/AJB-5A Mk 7. 28. 43, 61 Left intermediate/ centreline
Early F-1 DOCs: F-1 OOC-1-NA. -5NA.
Early F-1 ODDs: F- 1 OOD- 1-NA- -15NA, -35NH. -40NH.
Late F- l OODs incl uded: F-1 OOD-20-NA - -30-NA, -45NH- -55NH, -65NA - -75NA, -80NH, -85NH, -90NH.
Mk 7 airburst could be set via an internal timer that
began to run when the bomb was released. Radar fus-
ing used one of two settings, selectable from the cock-
pit. with the bomb's internal radar reading the required
altitudes for detonation. The Mk 28 and Mk 43 could be
set for ai rburst using a radar altimeter fuse only for
ground contact detonation. The Mk 43 also had an inter-
nal timer for 'laydown' mode, a delayed detonation on
the ground. The Mk 61 used ai rburst (radar control led).
ground contact or laydown detonation.
MA-l LABS had only the vertical gyros and the
switches for LABS operation were on top of the instru-
ment panel. It had no low-altitude drogue delivery
(LADD) capabi lity and was very difficult to use for OTS
delivery. MA-2 LABS added yaw/roll gyros.
Late F-1 ODDs and F- 1 OOFs could also carry the Mk28
(B-28) weighing 1 ,9801b (90Dkg) wi th variable yield of
1 MT and the possibili ty of free-fal l or parachute-retard-
ed delivery (contact or airburst). Thi s was replaced by
the Mk 43 (B-43) weighing 2, lOOib (950kg) and contain-
ing a 1 MT warhead. Its l 21/2ft (3.8m) shell of 18in
(45cm) diameter had a steel nose-spike inside a nose
casi ng to sEScure the bomb in position for a 'ground-burst
laydown' detonation. For the laydown option. the nose-
cone separated immediately after release due to the
parachute deployment slowing the weapon.
All these devices were later suppl anted by the tacti -
cal B-61 'Silver Bullet' (1966). but by then the F-lOO's
Tactical Ai r Command (TAC) nuclear role had passed
mainl y to later types such as the F-4 Phantom, F-1 05
Thunderchief and F- 111 Aardvark.
F-1 DOCs and early F-1 ODDs carried the Mk 7 only on
their left intermediate pylon, which had the requisi te
gear doors hanging verti cally when open. The later, cen-
treline pylon aircraft had doors that did not open so far
and hung at an angle. Production aircraft with the cen-
treline pyl on had a provision to inhibit speed brake oper-
ation when a store was loaded on the pylon. The speed
brake was later modified wi th a larger cutout to al low
speed brake operation wi th a store in place.
The Mk 7 weapon had its own T-270 control panel in
the cockpit and the later weapons used the T-249 and
variations. The usual bomb button on top of the control
stick, with proper armament swi tch selection. rel eased
the 'nuke' . To jetti son, the JEniSON button was used
to release all stores and then al l pylons in sequence.
Three AUX JETI buttons could jetti son stores without
jettisoning their pylons. Pylon jetti son was only possible
on the F-1 OOD/F; those on the F-1 DOC were bolted in
place.
A T-63 Blue Boy(so-called because of its colour) train-
ing shape duplicated the aerodynamic characteri stics of
a Mk 7 but compri sed a 6001b (270kg) concrete core
inside the bomb casing. More often, standard 251b BDU-
33 practice bombs would be used for training. These
were carried in a dispenser or individuall y on a B37K-1
rack that coul d take four bombs. Similar training shapes
were avail abl e in limi ted quantities for the later
weapons.
Two main methods of nuclear delivery were availabl e.
LADD used parachute-retarded, delayed action bombs
(such as the Mk 28 RE) in a 200ft (60m) above ground
level (AGL) approach wi th a pull -up to 45 degrees to
release the weapon so that it ended up over the target.
The escape was made by rolling inverted and manoeu-
vri ng to a 45-degree dive to the deck. This delivery
52
required an identification point (IP) short of the target.
The distance was then used to convert to two time para-
meters in seconds. The first time (PULLUP TIME) was the
time at 500kt, indicated (KIAS). from the IP to the initia-
tion of a pull -up to a 45-degree climb. The second time
(RELEASE TIME) was the time from the start of pull -up to
weapon release. The pull -up signal was via the A-4 sight
and the green weapon release light extinguishi ng.
Weapon release was indicated by the green RELEASE
light and the A-4 sight illuminating.
A LABS deli very allowed the F-100 pilot to toss his
nuclear weapon at a target up to 10 miles (16km) ahead
of him. or the OTS deli very. He then made a half-l oop at
4g and accelerated away from the bomb's trajectory at
maximum speed, putting as many miles as possi ble
between his ai rcraft and the impact point. Afterburner
would be needed for thi s though it was rarely used at
low altitude at other times because of its enormous
appeti te for fuel at low level. The long-range require-
ment for most of these missions would not have
all owed the pilot enough fuel to return to base. Instead,
he was provi ded with map references for a safe area
where he could bale out and be recovered.
The most common variation on the LABS delivery was
the more usually-employed OTS release where the pilot
overflew the target at about 5,00Dft ( 1 ,500m). ascer-
taining that it was the correct one and then pulling up
into a 4g lmmelmann. The bomb was released as the F-
1 DO passed the correct degree setting (pre-set on the
vertical gyro). Two release angles could be set. The
armament control panel wi th the AJB-1 /5 LABS equip-
ment on the left console had a MODE SEL switch, whi ch
determined the release function. The LABS equipment
was controlled by the MODE SEL switch, offering LABS,
LABS ALT or LADD setti ngs The LABS option could be
set for any angle of rel ease. whereas the LABS ALT
could only be used for OTS. In practical use. the LABS
setting was to offer an alternative release setting for a
different aircraft weight at the release point.
LABS/ LABS ALT release was control led by the verti cal
gyros as long as the pilot kept the bomb button pressed
down. As the bomb ascended in a long arc to
15,000-20,000ft (4,600-6,000m) before falling on its
target, the Super Sabre pil ot had a chance to dive for the
deck and run from the detonation. The autopilot.
installed mainl y to enable F- 1 OOs to fly long transits to
deployments, could be coupled to the MA-2 or AJB- 1
systems to give an Auto-LABS deli very. Proj ect Green
Door in May 1957 introduced fi eld modifications to
improve the Auto-LABS system and the autopi lot.
Ron Herri ck set up and taught at the PACAF Nuclear
School at ltazuke AB, Japan for three years. After that
he was Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Nuclear Weapon
Training at Luke AFB. He received hi s training at Sandia
Laboratori es as a Nuclear Delivery Instructor. He also
flew 1,200 hours in the F-1 00, fol lowed by 200 combat
missions in F-4D Phantoms. He explained in more detai l
what was involved in an F- 1 DO OTS LABS mission:
LABS was activated by the MODE SEL switch on the pilot's left
console. Thi s in tum activated the vertical gyro (which had the
appropriate release angles on it) and also displayed (after
uncaging) roll and pitch information from the LABS vertical
gyro 011 the LABS indicator. If the gyro had not erected proper-
ly lin 13 seconds) the 'cage' button on top of the throttle was
used to cage the gyro properly. When it had stabil ized the pilot
released this button, uncaging the gyro. Next, SPECIAL
STORES was selected on the ARMAMENT SELECTOR switch.
During the loading process. the pylon load panel was set.
Next. the release lock was unlocked. When over the tar-
get the pi lot pushed the bomb release button on top of the
stick. selected afterburner and went from 1 g to 4g in two
seconds. The LABS indicator hor iwntal needle now regis-
tered g-forces and the vertical needle showed yaw and roll
(from the yaw/roll gyro). This was held caged by a single
pin and the gyro was uncaged at pull -up if the wings were
level. The pilot simply had to hold the two needles centred.
Another detail was provided to assist the pilot. When he
depressed the bomb release in LABS All or the timer indi -
cated 'pull up' in LABS. the horizontal needle (i f kept cen-
WORLDWI DE WA RRI OR
tred) would program one to four 'g' within two seconds
At about 145 degrees pitch angle, as determined by the
vertical gyro. the horiwntal needle indicated a relaxed 'g'
command and the pilot continued in an lmmelmann. diving
to the deck to go like hell. For successive runs he had to
cycle the MODE SEL switch in straight and level flight.
Col Tom Germscheid was involved in an early Auto-
LABS training initiative whi le he was with the 429th
TFS. 474th TFW
It was called Project Randy Boy. using the autopilot to per-
form an automatic OTS manoeuvre, release and escape. The
autopilot on the F-1 OOD was shaky at best. However. for this
project they really had them peaked up. You could approach
the target or predicted offset point at 1.000ft in autopilot.
Afterburner was selected shortly before the pull -up point. At
the pull-up point you would hit and hold the pickle button.
A rare view of a 72nd TFS F-1000-25-NA at Clark AB with its red markings
outlined in white. The unit was re-designated the 510th TFS in the spring of 1959.
Lt Col A. L. Olman via David Menard
the southern tip of Viemam, but because the dis-
tance wa too great fly ing that route we went
direct across orth Vietnam. I never knew
whether this was an intell igence-gatheri ng fli ght
or n t, but I suspect there was a 'spook' sitt ing
off-shore recording all the radar act ivity as we
crossed. We had no navaids at Bangkok and on
another fli ght we were below 6001b of fue l when
we located the runway. \XIe landed two planes in
one dir ction and two in the opposite direct ion
at the same ti me. We just kept to the ri ght side
of the runway and passed in the middl e!
Roy even encountered a UFO on one of
hi s training fli ghts out of lark.
I was on a fl ight alone in an F- lOOD a li ttle
before dark at 35,000ft when I not iced a li ght
almost level but sli ghtly below my alt itude. It
was heading in an easterl y direction and if nei-
ther of us had changed course it would have
passed to my right abou t half a mile away. Think-
ing that the light was another F- 1 00 in the area
I planned to jump him for a li ttle ACf (air com-
bat tacti cs) rraining. I lit the burner and dipped
the nose sli ghtl y r max imum accelerat ion. I
easil y went supersonic and started a shall ow turn
towards the li ght, which was now almost north
of me and sli ghtl y above. As I began my turn the
light started a left turn away from me. There was
never any visible airframe, just a steady, whi te
53
trying not to put any pressure on the stick that might disen-
ga e the autopilot. The aircraft entered a 4g loop with the
autopilot keeping the wings level and the yaw damper keep-
ing the ball centred. At about 120 degrees of climb the
weapon automatically released and at 130 degrees the bird
roll ed out of the lmrnelmann and entered a 45-degree dive.
It pull ed out at 1,000ft. heading back out from the target.
Great idea when it worked - which was not too often.
LABS equipment in the earl y aircraft with sensi ti ve air-
speed indi cators used a constant release angl e. The ai r-
speed was varied to account for temperature. pressure.
altitude and aircraft gross weight. Later aircraft. includ-
ing the F-1 00 used a constant 500 KIAS run in speed and
vari ed the release angle. This was due to the relatively
hard-to-read Mach/speed indicator. LABS was also
installed in the F-86H Sabre and in contemporary British
aircra ft such as the Scimitar and Sea Vixen.
li ght, not unu uall y bright. By the time I wa in
trail with it, it began a t O-degree climb and
accelerated at an unbeli evable rate. tarried by
the extreme speed I turned my IFF [identifica-
ti on, fr iend or foe] to EMERGE CY and call ed
the Clark radar stati on. They repli ed immedi -
ately and I asked if they had an air raft at my
twelve o'clock. They replied that there was
nothing on the screen other than my emergency
squawk. I had viewed the light through the F-
IOO's can py and all wi ndshield panels and I
have no reason to believe that I was watching a
reflecti on, a star or anything other than a fl ying
object f some kind.
lark AB beca me home to t he 72nd TFS
F- l OODs from Jul y 1958, supervised by the
6200th Air Base Wing. Re- numbering of
the 1uad ron as the 51 Oth TF was effec-
t ive from April 1959 and it joined the
newly activated 405th FW at th Philip-
pines base. The Wing had previou ly
fl own F-l OODs at Langley AFB from late
1956 unt il the summer of 1958 with the
508th, 509th, 51 Oth and 511 t h FB
quadron . Reacti vated at lark in April
1959, it included onl y one F- LOOD
squadron, t he SlOth. In due course, this
unit joined the J rd TFW upon leaving
PA AF in March 1964. The squadron's
styli h and unusual purple no e chequers
and bird insignia were among t he most
attractive F-100 colour schemes.
Roy Moore became the un it 's Squad ron
Maintenance Offi cer. One of hi s innova-
ti ons in thi role was to find a non-regula-
t ion use for damaged 450gal drop tanks.
He rescued one of the large, draggy tanks
from the dump and asked t he 't in benders'
at lark to cut a 20x36in (50x90cm)
pi ano- hinged door in its side. They then
WORLDWI DE WA RR I OR
Another rare shot of a 72nd TFS F-1000-25-NA from Clark AB. This Hun has a Mk 7 Blue Boy nuclear shape
under its left wing. Its crew appear to be re-installing the ejection seat. David Menard Coll ection
Standard TAC decor on a 354th TFW F-1000085-NH, 56-3383.1t was lost in a landing
accident at Phan Rang AB in October 1970. A Smith
54
loaded the modified tank with six 501b
(23kg) bags of rice and test-fl ew it t
super oni c speed and 6.66g. This proved
that t he tank could ' easily carry all the lug-
gage and souvenir goodi es for a fli ght of
four aircraft' during off- base visit ! Roy'
luggage tank wa oon detected during an
inspecti on and consigned once aga in to
the salvage yard. Some F-100 squad rons in
Europe produced rather more ini t r-
looking luggage pod by modifying dummy
Mk 7 nuclear 'shapes'.
From Kadena, training somet imes
involved orne A M sorties with hi n se
Nat ionalist F-86 from Ta iwan and 'shoot-
ing th rag' with guns. On gunn ry orti e
Alex Martin reckoned that ' Most could
score more consistent! y using manual
ranging with the A-4 gun ight than by
using radar ranging' . Bombing practi e
also placed him among those who had
reservati ons about the Auto-LABS system
and autopil ot generally.
WORLDWI DE WARR I OR
Laden with a pair of 450gal tanks. F-1000-90-NA 56-3345 (the penultimate F-1000)
winds up for take-off. Two dark blue alar markings on the tail and dark blue nose
bands indicate the 416th TFS. 21st TFW at Misawa AB. Lt Col E. V. Wel ls via David Menard
On your wing, F-1000-50-NH 55-2902 of the 21st TFW, Misawa AB with big 450gal tanks. Da vi d Menard Collection
55
The autopil ot wa notori ously terrible. In ten
year I can't remember fi ve times I got to use it.
To get better accuracy in the nuclear OTS
delivery they ti ed the autopi lot wit h the LABS
and t he autopil ot would do your loop for you,
releasing the bomb at a predetermined etting.
Thankfull y there wa a ' paddle' emergency di s-
connect switch at the front of t he control col-
umn that ki cked it off. On my first trip to the
range with it the damn thing pitched down and
I found myself at SOft altitude.
A I though the F-1 OO's safety record steadily
improved in service there were inevitable
lo n 30 Jun 1959, F-lOOD 55-3633
took off fr m Kadena on a functional
check fli ght when at 1,200ft (365m) the
engine compartment fire warning light
started to glow on the pilot's fr nt panel.
A Alex Martin expl ained, t hi s r quired
an in rant r pon e: 'The F-1 00 has a fuse-
lag fuel tank that all the others feed into
and it is nestl ed next to and around t he
engine. With a fi re you don' t fool around,
or ... Boom! ' The pilot jetti ned two
empty fuel tank and a practice b mb unit
WORLDWIDE WA RRI OR
An RF-101 C snapped Little John (foreground). the 53 1st TFS commander's jet with
other red-and-white marked squadron aircraft over northern Japan in 1961. Little John
was re-named Schatze //the following year. FW-809 and -782 were both to become
Vietnam War casualties. David Menard Coll ection
56
into the sea and pull ed back on the throt-
tl e. The warning light went out and the
Super Sabre turned back towards Kadena,
but a large explosion shook the aircraft.
Aft r re-directing hi s aircraft out to sea,
the pil ot punched out 5 mil es (8km) off-
shore. Tragica lly, the fi ghter swung back
over t he coast, its drag chute relea eel and
opened and in a chance in a thousand it
smashed into a tiny village and school.
Seventeen di ed and 169 were injured as
twenty-seven buildings were de troy d.
Alex Martin sa id 'We were all devastated.
No matter how much we tri d to do it was-
n't enough and it was another barb for use
by the politi cians who wanted u off th
island'.
AI o in Japan was th 21 t TFW at Mi s-
awa AB. A tivated in Jul y 195 , the
Wing's two squadrons, the 416th and
53 1st TFS, transiti oned from the F-84G a
the 80th TF Headhunters had done. Fl y-
ing the F-l OOD, the 21st TFW was deacti -
vat d only two years later. Its squadrons
then became part of the 39th Air Division
at Misawa until 1964 when th y moved to
the control of the J rd TFW at Englan I
AFB, Louisiana with the 90th and 51 Oth
TFS. The following year, th quadron
were back in th Far East, shouldering a
major share of t he air act ion at the start of
the Vi etnam War.
During its time at Mi sawa, the 21st
TFW was noted for its 'named' F-lOOs,
with ni cknam lik Ooh-Ha, The Gambler
and Little John on t heir sil ver noses. In
1962 a tone-cl own edict removed all indi -
viduality from PA AF markings and a
simple PA AF insignia app arecl on the
j ts' tail instead. TAC had already
ordered the glorious squadron plumage
that adorned mo t F-100 to be removed.
From January 1960 only the TAC patch
vari ed their il ver surfac s, though small
quadron patches sur vived in some
instances.
While four F-100 Wing and numerous
other Detachments fl ew over a quarter of
a milli on ombat sorties in the Vietnam
War, continental SA (CONU )-based
Wings continu d to p rform sentry duty at
Susan Constant(54-1753). leader of the London to
Jamestown anniversary flight. Type II 450gal tanks
are carried. The aircraft was later put on display at
the Air Force Museum. USAF via Ron Thurlow
WORLDWI DE WARRI OR
54-1823 was another of the 422nd FDS Jamestown anniversary flight F-100C-15-NAs.
Named Discovery, it flew the Atlantic with 54-1754 Godspeed and 54-1753 Susan
Constant(all named after the original settlers ships). It later served with the Arizona
ANG. David Menard Collecti on
other Far Eastern bas s. Among them
were Ai r Nat ional Guard (A G) units.
F-100Cs of the 127th TFS, Kansas ANG
and the 166th TFS, Ohi o ANG deployed
to Kunsan AB, South Korea on 4 July
1968, remaining there for thirteen months
with the 354th TFW. These squadrons
took part in Operat ion ombat Fox, with
F-1050, F-40, F-102A and RF-101G
Detachments from other base after North
Korea se ized the intell igence-gathering
ship USS Pueblo and a USN EC- 121M
from VQ-1 was shot down by orth
Korea n MiG-17s.
./
Brig Gen Robinson Risner flew 56-3730 to Paris in May 1957 (taking 6 hours 37 min-
utes) to mark the 50th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's first, non-stop solo crossing
(33 hours 39 minutes). Lindbergh himself was due to fly in the rear seat of Spirit of St.
Louis II (seen here with a replica of the Ryan original) but fell ill on the day. This
F-100F went on to fly with the 20th FBW, 50th TFW, Colorado, New Jersey and Ohio
ANG before Risner dedicated it at its display position outside the Air Force Academy.
It carried its Spirit name throughout most of its career. David Menard
57
NATO Kni ghts
The first USAF unit to rece ive the
F-100C, t he 322nd FOG at Fos ter AFB,
Texas, mad one of the arli est F-100
deployments to Europe when it fl ew to
Sidi Sli mane, Morocco on 19 September
1956 in Exercise Mobile Baker , and thence
to Landstuhl in West Germany. It was the
first of many such trans-Atl antic deploy-
ments. Within a few years these lengthy
transit flights became routine for F-100
cr w and ther were ome spectacul ar
pub! ic demonstrati on of the F-100's long-
range capabi li ty.
On 13 May 1957, six F-lOOCs from t he
452nd Fighter (Day) quadran (FD ),
32nd FOG at Foster AFB, l d by 54-1753
Susan Cons cant commemorated the voyage
of the Jamestown settlers 350 years previ-
ously by fl ying from London to the site of
th first English sett l m nt on orth
Ameri can soil. Three of the uper Sabres
went on to Los Angeles, a total fl ight t ime
of 14 hours 5 minutes, at an average speed
of 477mph (767km/h).
A we k later Maj Robinson Ri sner
(! at r to command an F-105 unit in Viet-
nam) fl ew one of the U AF's newly
accepted F-100Fs from New York to Pari s
for Project EurOJ)a, following Charles
Lindbergh's route. The aircraft (56-3 730)
was then deli vered to the 20th Fighter-
bomb r Wing (FBW) at RAF Wet hers-
fi eld, UK, later serving wit h th 50th TFW
and several ANG squadrons before going
on permanent di play at the USAF Acad-
emy. Robinson Risn r, who had mean-
while become a Brigadier G neral, th n
dedicated the F-100F, which st ill bore the
name /)irit o[ St Louis ll that it had carried
for much of its ser v i ce l ~ .
The first single-engined jet aircraft to
cross the North Pole made their fli ght on
7 August 1957. F-100F-20s 58- 1227 and
-123 2 with lightweight Doppler naviga-
ti on systems (NAYS) completed th is ven-
ture in Operat ion Julius Caesar, with Col
Titus in ' 232. All these fli ghts bore the
vital underl ying message for potenti al
adversaries that TAC could deploy a very
significant st ri ke force anywhere in th
world and very fast .
Of all t he global calls upon the Super
Sabre's superior strike power, none was
more urgent than the Cold War scenari o
in Eu rope. F-100Cs became the first super-
soni c attack aircraft in Western Europe
when the 36th Fighter (Day) Wing
(FDW) received its ini t ial deli veries on 12
WORLDWIDE WARRIOR
Blazing Swords
A tight diamond formation of Skyblazers in 19611ed by F-lOOC-25-NA 54-2009. USAF
Part of the light relief from Cold War duties was the
spectacular Skyblazers aerobatic team. Founded by the
36th FG late in 1949, the team had moved to the 86th
FBW at Landstuhl in 1952. then to the 48th FBW at
Chaumont, flying F-86Fs. ln October 1956, the 36th FOW
resumed responsibil ity. Capt (later General) Wilbur 'Bi ll'
Creech who had previously flown F-84s with the Thun-
derbirds, founded a new team with F-1 DOCs.
After practice sessions from Sidi Slimane and a
change of markings to a 'stars and stripes' tail design,
the team put on its first shows in 1957, giving forty dis-
plays in Europe. The crowd-pleasing use of afterburner
was much emphasized and sonic booms were included
in the early displays. These usually involved a 'clover
leaf from a partial loop, a 'fleur-de-li s' from a steep
climb, a formation inverted pass, a diamond and a final
'bomb burst' which engaged the burners as the team
departed over the crowd. The final manoeuvre was usu-
ally a high-speed, low-altitude cross over.
Leadership passed to Capt J. W. Armstrong and then
to Capt 'Pat' Kramer from May 1960. The team contin-
ued unti I the 36th TFW converted to the Republic F-
1050, which was not thought to be suitable for use by
the team. Lt Col Gordon 'Horse' Scharnhorst recalled his
days flying on the left wing of the formation:
The team received a couple of modified vertical
stabi lizers from NAA !North American Aviation]. They were
built to withstand the continuous stress from the way a
pilot flew in the 'slot' position. He was way up in the 'slot'
and very shaJiow, so that the vertical stabilizer was receiv-
ing constant vibration from the leader's exhaust. The whole
'razorback' top of the fuselage from behind the cockpit to
the vertical stabilizer was black from that exhaust. Need-
less to say, we never used the burner while in diamond for-
mation!
Leo van Overschelde, who was one of the Skyblazers'
maintainers, noted that the new stabil izers were
ski nned with stainless steel and that there were other
modifi cations to the F-1 DOCs:
We had an oil container for the smoke in the ammo bay and
a pump for that smoke system in the gun-bay with a toggle
switch in the cockpit. We also trimmed the engines 'hot' ;
about 2 per cent above data plate speed. On tour we didn't
carry a spare engine with us but the 36th FBW could fly in
engine parts such as fuel control systems, or an afterburner
unit. We had a spare F-1 OOC but that was usually the one in
1 00-hour inspection.
58
F-1 OOC maintenance involved 50- and 1 00-hour inspec-
tions. At 50 hours we changed fuel and oil fi lters and did a
general inspection. For the 100 hours we took ali inspection
panels oft and went through everything. There was a 1,000-
hour limit at which new instaiiations of engine and after-
burner would be made and a 5,000-hour inspection at
Depot level.
The Skyblazers aircraft were kept very clean and pol-
ished and we had a couple of painters, though I helped to
paint the aircraft. In the ground crew we helped one anoth-
er. Almost everyone could pack a drag chute. I was an
engine specialist but I could install radios, change a tyre or
'crew' the aircraft. We traveiied to all shows, mainly in a C-
130 or C-119, taking our own MA-2 starter unit, coloured
smoke, extra drag chutes. tyres, etc. The pilots had a rou-
tine for getting into their aircraft, though not as elaborate
as the Thunderbirds. They trained all the time when we did-
n't have a show. Sometimes the pilots would stay and help
us the night before a show. Occasionally the fuel control
system on the engine would fail due to trouble with a
bleed-valve governor. Also, a hydraulic pump would give up
once in a while. I used to change them from inside the
intake, which was faster than 'pulling' an engine though it
required some good handwork with the wrenches. We
sometimes had trouble with the nose-wheel steering too.
The first concern was safety. Sometimes pilots would pop
a rivet but not too often. I remember only two accidents and
neither was the pilot's fault.
One of these invol ved the loss of F-1 DOC 54-2006 when
'Horse Scharnhorst was returning to Bitburg from the
second practice flight of the day on 7 August 1959
I had no al ti tude control. but did have ai leron and rudder. I
had to eject and the helicopter from Spangdahlem pi cked
me up and I did get to beer cal l. The next morning we
departed at 0730 hrs for France to fl y several weekend air
shows.
F-100C 54-1980 was the Skyblazers' 'slot' aircraft. hence
the sooty tail . It was assigned to Capt John Clayton,
who is possibly the pilot who has popped the aircraft's
drag chute before the lyres hit the runway. Davi d Menard
Collection
March 1956. The ommander, Col John
A. Brooks, had led hi Wing's conversion
from the F-86F at Sidi Slimane AB in
French Morocco, where the 45th FDS,
316th AD had received F-100Cs earlier
that spring, and for around a year it exist-
ed to convert United States Air Forces in
Europe (USAFE) unit to the F-100. Sub-
sequentl y, transiti on took place at
Wheelus AB, Libya. Curtis Burns was
among those pilots:
Several of us who were new to the 36th Fi ghter
Day Wing [T FW aft er 8 July 1958] took ground
school conducted by Air Training Command
Flying Training Derachmenr. All t he fly ing
instruct ion (about 29 hours in the F- LOOC ) was
conducted by my lnsuuctor Pilot [IP], 1st Lt
Ford Smart, an old head wit h the 53 rei FDS who
had in itially fl own F-86s. All tact ical fighter
pil ots have to mainrain profici ency in air-to-
ground skill s and we wou ld quali fy at Wheelus
or at the French Air Force base at Cazeau.
Don Schmenk enlarged upon the gunnery
aspect. For air-to-ground practice in the
1960s, u ing a 15-degree di ve angle:
We starred to fire short bursts about 3,500fr our
and had to cease fire abou t I ,500ft from the tar-
get or be 'fouled'. We only carr ied 100 rounds
total and the gun didn' t have a lot of cli sperse-
men t. We also had to quali fy in air-to-a ir semi-
annuall y. The only place where we could do this
was Wheelus. We launched in staggered fli gh ts
WORLD WI DE WARRI OR
of two, just beh ind the target-tow airplane so
that when the fi rst t wo were cl one firing t he sec-
ond t wo were in place to continue. Aga in, we
carr ied only 100 rounds per gun. Everyone
call ed off target with a ' h it ' whether you
thought you had h it it or not . The fourrh pilot
tr ied to shoot t he dart target off so t hat it went
into t he Med iterranean and everyone quali fied.
If it was not shot off the last two pil ots had to
escorr the tow plane back to Whee lus where t he
target was dropped parall el with the runway and
then 'scored' . The t hird pilot fl ew on t he wing
of t he tow aircraft and Number 4 fl ew format ion
wit h the cl an to see t hat it didn 't drop too low
and get dragged through the trees. Fl ying for-
marion on t he cl an was interesting as a shot-up
dart was nor always aerodynami call y stable.
At t he tim of transiti on to the F-lOOC,
the 36th FDW had no 'special weapons'
tasking. Its Zulu Alert air uperiority role
carried over from t h F-86F days and in
wartime it would have intercepted enemy
intruders or strafed them on their air bases.
Ess nti ally, it had to provide air cover for
TAC and SA bombing attacks. Curti s
Burns:
We spent almost 100 per cenr of our rime dur-
ing t he FDS cl ays making intercepts , initiating
' bounces' and defending aga inst other fighters
bouncing us, except duri ng gunnery qualifi ca-
ti on where we practi sed ground-strafing and
ot her air-to-ground ski lls. I never fired an
HVA( R) [h igh velocity aircraft rocket] or
59
2. 75i n rocketfrom an F- 100. Even as a TFS, air-
to-air scores enta iled the most prest ige.
In ACM pract ice again t NATO F-86s,
there were gli mp es of the problems to be
faced in the next decade by US pilots in
Vietnam aga i.nst t he similar MiG-17.
T he toughest adversari es who hass led regul arl y
were t he R AF Sabre Mk 6s, simply because if
they saw us t hey could turn inside us. We had to
use surpri se and keep our Mach up, but they
were tough to get on gun camera film. If we
slowed cl own and t urned with them t hey could
eat our lunch. French Mysreres and Super Mys-
reres were easy meat as were RCAF C F- 100
Canucks. O ther USAFE F- l OODs were usuall y
easy mainl y because t hey carri ed 450gal and
di dn't do as much air-to-a ir manoeuvring. I
never encountered any RAF Hun ters [also rated
by some F- 1 OOC pil ots for t heir t ight t urns].
Once I was fl ying at 35,000fr above overcast
when an RAF Gloster Javelin popped our of the
cl oud-tops about a mile away and I O,OOOfr
below; probably runn ing a radar inrercept on
me. After a littl e burner and a 270-degree turn
I made a superson ic, six o'clock guns pass on
h im.
RAF Hunter pilots reckoned they could
turn inside the F-100 qui te ea ily but they
were severely li mited by the earl y Hunter's
fuel capacity, which coul d easily be expend-
ed inside 25 minutes with high-speed fli ght
at low altitude. Hun pil ots would merely
WOR LDWI DE WARR I OR
A Dart target mounted on an F-100 for take-off. The notch in the Dart was to clear the aileron. An automatic tow reel handled
the armoured cable alter release in the air. Both cable and Dart were dropped for recovery before landing. Col Art Johnson
Candy-striped F-100D-30-NA 55-3739 of the 366th TFW attracts an inquisitive crowd. The Wing flew Huns from England
AFB from late 1957 to early 1959. Still with the 366th TFW on 25 July 1966 after it reactivated at Ph an Rang AB, this
Hun was lost on one of the 615th TFS's earliest Vietnam missions but its pilot, Capt G. J. Farrell, was rescued. David Menard Collection
60
WORLDWI DE WARRIOR
Standard TAC decor on a 354th TFW F-1000-85-NH with landing gear and flaps down. On 13 January 1967, this fighter
and its pilot, Capt Morvan Turley j352nd TFS) were lost during a napalm strike from Ph an Rang AB. Davi d And erton
Collection via Davi d Menard
keep their distance with afterburner and
w i t ~ r the Hunters to run out of fuel.
Alex Martin recalled this kin I of train-
ing a :
... mainly WWII tact ics; splits, yo-yos, ' up the
rear' stuff. The RAF and Canadi ans were the
best, though the RAF Li gh tn ings seemed to
have litt le fue l capacity. All you had to do was
keep them at bay and then snap pi ctures as they
went for home. The Germans were stodgy and
hard to entice into a few turns.
Ther wa much mphas is, in planning
tacti cs, on the F-lOOC's supersoni c perfor-
mance, illustrated convincingly when the
first arri val for Bitburg's 23 rd FD made a
high-speed run aero th base, smashing
US$30,000 of window and radar tubes.
There was even discussion of using the
supersoni c boom as a weapon aga inst en-
sit ive enemy installat ion , and in peace-
t ime pilots regularl y fl w sup rsoni c over
land. Curtis Burn :
In Western Europe in the 1950s there were no
restri ct ions other than the common-sense guide
' Don't boom close to the ground since it breaks
out many windows and the authoriti es start
questi oning the usual suspects'. There was an
occasional br iefing that uch-and-such an area
had a mink farm and the owner would appreci-
ate it if we didn't overfl y it at SOft or, of course,
'boom' them intenti onall y. During my tour at
61
Landstuhl in the late 1950s, as well as my post-
Vi etnam tour at Ramstei n and pangdhalem we
heard almo t daily at least one supersoni c boom,
or 'boom boom' as most fi ghters drag two shock
waves over the ground.
In one demonstration of the F- 100 '
pow rs as an interceptor, two Bitburg air-
craft were on the tails of four F- 6Fs at
32,000ft (9,750m) only four minutes from
wheels rolling. The F-86s took off fifteen
minu tes ahead of the Super abr . Haw-
ver, wit hout afterburners, the F- l OOs'
limb would have taken more like four-
teen minutes. Each F- 100 consequentl y
used four t imes as much fuel as an F- 6 for
the fli ght.
Victor Alert
The chang for F-100 /0 units including
the 36th Wing to 'TFW' stat us occurred in
July 1958 at a t ime when nuclear deterrence
was the basis of all military strategy towards
the oviet bloc. It added another nuclear-
capabl Wing to th arsenal and brought
about a change of tact ics forth pilots.
In fact, t hey had adopted a nuclear role
slightly earlier. The Lebanon risis in
mid-June 1958 took four squadrons of
354t h TFW F-lOODs to lncirlik AB from
20 Jul y to late October 1958 as part of a
composite Air Strike Bravo force. It had
also triggered a fu ll SAC alert condition
for U AFE Wings incl uding the 36th, so
preparations for the nuclear miss ion were
well in hand. Cur tis Burns:
Several monrhs before l he change-over we
started ground traini ng and bomb deli very
[raining, wil h OTS and dive bombing al lhe
poslage-slamp sized range al iegenburg,
Bavaria. Al lhe same lime we started praclising
low- leve l nav igalion at about SOft above the
hi ghest obstacle, fl ying at 360kt lAS. We made
up slrip-maps wilh a tick marked for every 6
mile (or each minule of fl ight). This made for
easy navigation and adjustmem of ground-lrack
for an assigned time-over-targel [TOT].
Miss ions were planned against simulated
targets, often in the South of France and
f
I
WORLDWIDE WARR I OR
/
Crouching tigers. A group of 457th FBS pilots at NAA's Columbus, Ohio plant to collect
their first batch of F-lOODs in 1957. That year the parent 506th FBW transitioned from
F-84Fs as a SAC unit to become a TAC Wing and the 457th was the first of its three
squadrons to get Huns. Left to right Capts Ronald X. Soli is, Robert Butler, unknown,
Us C. E. A. van Duren, Max Templin and Allen T. Lamb. USAF via All en T. Lamb
usually 'on the deck'. Pilots often had a Curt i Burns:
'shepherd' pilot in another F-100, fl ying at
higher altit ude slightly ahead of t hem to We had no establ ished routes for the ' Lo- Lo'
warn t hem of building or ot her obstacles missions. We would pick a typical tact ical tar-
in the flight path or changes in terrain. get, such as a rail road yard , airfield or bridge at
aboul the same range as our targels ' in lhe East' ,
plan a roule avoidi ng all likel y defended areas
and fl y iL Afler a whil e the squadron buill up a
number of planned routes, bul we usuall y
planned our own because l hat is what we had to
do on NATO exercises and ORis. I distinctl y
remember three praclice routes. One of lhe first
I planned was from Landswh I pretty well
straighl w Bremen airport. Without contacting
their wwer or anyone else I came in over l he
middle of the airport al 500kl, pulled up into an
lmmelmann and qui ckl y departed lhe area. In
those days we could do almost anyth ing we
wanred in Western Europe.
F-lOOD-85-NH 56-3439 during a 31st TFW visit to lncirlik AB for Exercise Quick Span in
One amusing aspect of these low-level n ain-
ing missions was that the TFWs based in Ger-
many mosd y plon ecl and fl ew Lo-Lo routes in
France and the French-based Wi ngs (before de
Gaull e pull ed oul of NATO) mosd y fl ew routes
in Germany. The benefi cial effecl of this was
that when a ' buzzing' report on, say a yell ow-
tai led airplane came imo USAFE HQ from a
location in France USAFE ops would send l he
report clown wall the bases in Fra nce and if l he
all eged buzz ing incident happened in Germany
it was sem w the Wings there for invesligation.
1959. USAF via David Menard
62
WORLDWIDE WARRI OR
Precise formati on-keeping by the 35th FBS on 31 January 1957 soon after transition to the F-1000 at ltazuke AB.
Nose stripes were added later. USAF via Davi d Menard
63
When the reporrs came back with a negative
resp n e it was a umed that t he guilty pil ot was
Fren h, Belgian, Dutch or RAF and t he matter
was dropped.
On another Lo- Lo mi ss ion my Squadron
ommander gave me a bridge target in South-
ern France. I planned the route to avoid all fea-
tures on t he ground t hat were likely to be
defended. We liked to use the old castl es on the
map as turning poi nts, fi guring they wouldn't be
defended by anti-a ircraft fire, so I made a turn
over a ca de omewhere near Avignon. I hit the
'target' exactl y on time and thought I had fl own
The full 493rd TFS yellow and white markings on
F-1000-45-NH 55-2822. Some wear and tear is
apparent. a reminder of the hard work that these
elaborate schemes created for maintainers. The
nose 'vee was added in 1959. Wing-tips were
painted in yellow/white/yellow stripes. M/ Sgt Mike
Bilcik
F-100C-20-NA 54-1922 of the 36th TFW (probably
22nd TFS) at Memmingen AB. This Hun went on
to fight in Vietnam with the 136th TFS, New York
ANG until it was shot down close to the
Cambodian border during a napalm attack.
David Menard Collection
WOR LDWI DE WA RRI OR
64
F-1000-55-NH 55-2934 in 81st TFS markings at Toui-
Rosieres AB in 1959 after a 30-day TOY to Wheelus
AB. Markings were yellow with black stars and
include the squadron patch and a yellow 'wrench'
on the nose to show the crew chief's name. Pilots'
names appeared on the other side. David Menard
F-1000-70-NA 56-3025 in the red markings of the
417th TFS during a 1959 visit to Wheelus AB.
Davi d Menard Collection
a model profil e. When we got back my Com-
mander chewed me out for thirty minutes
because I had fl own at 50ft directl y over the
Pope's summer palace. I was dumbfounded.
Hell , I didn't know the Pope had a palace in
France, let alone where it was. But the Com-
mander did because he was a Catholic!
Huns on the Run
Anoth r F-100 deployment had arri ved at
Landstuhl earli er in 195 . On March 22,
the 457th FBS departed Tinker AFB,
Oklahoma wit h t wenty ' red tail' F-l OODs
and headed for Langley AFB. Col Mike
Kulczyk gave an idea of the logisti cs
involved in these whole- quadran tran -
fer to Eur pean bases:
T he basic package was eighteen airplanes; sev-
enteen F- 1 OODs and one F- lOOF with two spares.
Saturday evening and Sunday were devoted to
'crew rest' and bri efing. Everyone was so keyed
up that damn li ttl e crew rest was generated. The
gaggle launched at 0600 on Monday in fli ghts of
four, with a single fli ght of two. The first inflight-
refuelling took place over Bermuda and the sec-
ond at 500 miles east of Bermuda, both from KB-
50j tankers. Since t he F- 1 OODs were equ ipped
with non- refuell able drop tanks t hese ranks
could not be pressuri zed for fue l t ransfer until
after t he second refuelling. This caused some
consternati on for a couple of t he guys when the
external tanks didn't begin to feed initially when
turned on, but all the tanks eventuall y did feed.
All aircraft landed safel y at Lajes Field in the
Azores, 4'/l hours after take-off.
T heir transatlantic migration continued
with a 2
1
/2 hour fli ght, without refuelling,
to ouasseur AB in Morocco and from
there to West Germany. At Landstuhl
they established four F- lOODs on Victor
Alert in the south-west dispersa l area with
four aircraft from the 'ho t' 50th TFW
from Toul -Ro ieres in France. The 50th
TFW had converted to t he F-1 000 a year
previously and fl ew F- lOODs untill 966. In
September the 457th FBS personnel were
replaced by others from the 45 th FB at
Tinker AFB and the uper abres'
quadran markings wer changed from red
to yell ow for the rest of the T OY, whi ch
ended in March 1959 with the de-acti va-
ti on of the 506th FBW.
Among th F-100 units deployed for
t he L ban on Cri sis wa th 4 74th TFW
which, like the 354th TFW, made the
long fli ght to lnc irlik. The Cannon-
WORLDWIDE WARR IOR
494th TFS red stripes extend from the nose, along the spine and across the tail of
Super Sabre 56-3250. This 1958 scheme also included red/whi te/red wing-tips.
M/Sgt Mike Bilcik
In typical German weather, a yellow-tail 53rd TFS F-lOOC-20-NA sits ready on Zulu
Alert with the 36th TFW. via Mike Benolkin
based Wing rot ated its four squadrons
through the Turki h ba on three-
month TOYs, itting alert with Mk 7
nucl ar weapons. Al ex Martin was
among those at lnc irlik:
We deployed a a squad ron and set up the same
qu ick-str ike area as elsewhere with t he same
ru les but just different targets to memori ze. We
were in pl ace when President Kennedy was shot
and went up to a hi gher DEFCO state.
65
At lncirlik there were st ill the 'boxes to
fill ' to ke p up the training requirements,
including air-to-a ir gunnery. On one of
these Roy Moore discovered an unusua l
psychologica l phenomenon in imulated
combat:
I was Flight Lead wit h Capt Lukers on my wing.
Fl ying 'combat spread' format ion he would be in
a posit ion to roll in on the dart target as I
cleared from the fi rst pass. Our aircraft were
WORLDWIDE WARR IOR
USA FE F-100s made extensive use of the range facilities at Wheelus AB. This trio was
photographed over north Africa in 1958. David Menard Collection
confi gured with 275gal external tanks and it
was normal to use external fuel before attempt-
ing to fire on a dart. With a heavy aircraft it was
extremely diffi cult to score a hi t. I roll ed in on
the target and then t ime seemed to slow almost
to a stop. I seemed to have minutes to bring the
' pipper' to bear on the target. I doubt if I fi red
more than twenry rounds before seeing fl ake of
alumi nium fl ying from the dart. The actual ti me
between rolling in and breaki ng away over the
dart wa probably not more than eight or ten
seconds. I was so impre sed with this illusion
that I r ported it to the USAF R&D enter.
Among the pleasures ofTDY was the Clo-
vis (Cannon AFB) Wing's li beral policy
on weekend cro s-country flights for
'R&R' . Crews at lncirlik could extend
these as far as UK ba es for ' training' pur-
poses. Prior to its departure, the 354th
TFW had been asked to di play its skill on
the range rather more publicly in a
demonstrat ion for President J. F. Kennedy
in Florida. Alex Martin was one of the
pilots selected for thi :
Our wing had a hand-pi cked fli ght of four
respon ible for dive-deli very of SOOib GP [gen-
eral purpose! bombs and strafing. It was won-
derful; every target timed to the second with a
narrati ve scri pt. President Kennedy talked to us
in the hangar afterwards. Every Washington
dignitary, mi li tary and Congressional, fi ll ed the
spectator stands. I remember rolling into fi nal
approach, arming my guns and bombs and
thinking, 'Wow!'
Prestigious assignments like this could
lead to some embarrassing situations too,
as Roy Moore found when he became IP
for the 16th AF Commander whi le he was
wlth the 40l st TFW at Torrejon AB in
Spain. The General always li ked to fl y in
the front seat of an F-1 OOF whi le Roy, in
the back, acted as navigator, radio opera-
tor and 'General's Aide':
On one fl ight we were returning to Torrejon at
ni ght after a long day of visits to other install a-
tions. The General was fl ying the F-1 OOF
through the letdown and was on final approach
when he drifted fa r below the fli ght path . I let
him know he was gett ing dangerously low and
he acknowledged but continued to go low. As
an IP I had always given a pil ot every opportu-
nity, short of crashing the aircraft, to correct his
own mistakes, but as the scrub vegetati on was
almost touching the underside of the aircraft I
told him I woul d take control. He repli ed
sharpl y, ' I' ve got it !' To avoid landing hort of
the runway I physicall y overcame the General
and took over the airplane, added power and
made a safe landing. He was sil ent throughout
the taxi, parking and shut-down and I was furi -
ous but there isn't any way for a young major to
cha t ise a rwo-star general.
Later, Gen Le Bailley apologized and the
two men became long- term fr iend .
Another crisis took Cannon F-1 OOD to
Chambley in France when constructi on of
the Berlin Wall began in summer 1961 and
re-supply aircraft in the Berlin Corridor
66
were harassed. Roy Moore was in the first
aircraft to land:
For some reason the Number l and 2 in our
fli ght didn' t land at Chambley so our F- l OOF
was the first plane to land. The airfi eld had not
been used in years and weeds had grown up
through the cracks in the runway. Our aircraft
was knocking down tall weeds as we landed.
Alex Martin pointed out that during this
tense period the rules of engagement were
simple:
If anything pointed its nose at you or any of our
aircraft they were fair game. What a letdown.
when Intell igence sa id that nothing had moved
on any of the opposit ion's airfields since the
arri val of the F-100s
1
idewinder were loaded
on our birds at Chambley. I can sti ll remember
the distinct ive hum they made when they were
checked on the ground with a fl ashli ght to see
if their tracking [seeker heads] worked.
This standoff with the Soviets continued
for three months until ANG F-84F units
relieved the F-1 OODs in October 1961.
Peacetime deployments of this kind
were not without risk. The technology of
inflight-refuelling was ti ll fairly young
and the distances involved were vast for
single-seat fighters, as Tom Germscheid
recalled:
One of our bigge t chall enges for refuelling in the
earl y days was finding the tanker. With no search
radar we reli ed on ADF [automat ic direct ion
finding]. We just transmi tted a radio signal by
holding down our UHF button. The tankers had
an ADF receiver and it would give us a heading
to fl y and join them. There was no way of telli ng
distances and often we would fl y pa t each other
without visual contact , especiall y if weather was
involved. When that happened there was always
a lot of fl oundering around, trying to manoeuvre
your fli ght of four to find the tanker. Somet imes
it would turn back towards the fli ght and again
we'd pass with no visual contact. We always had
a couple of thousand feet altitude separati on.
The pucker factor goes up exponenti all y when
you're over the Atlanti c and the gauge is nearing,
or past minimum di vert fuel and you st ill haven't
seen the gas stat ion
1
On the first deployment of
F- lOOs to Turkey from Myrtl e Beach in July 1958
only four bi rds out of a squadron of twenty-four
arri ved [at the ri ght base] safely. Several aircraft
and crew were lost.
When contact wa made with a tanker
there was st ill the physical challenge of
WORLDWIDE WA RRI OR
Yellow and black stripes distinguish this Bitburg 53rd TFS F-lOOC. David Menard Coll ection
taking JP-4 aboard from a KB-50 or KC-
97. Alex Mart in:
That 2ft-funnel on a SOft hose would play
'crack the whi p' whil e you were fl ying at a slow,
sloppy speed trying to stick your probe into it
before you ran out of fuel. Then there was no
guarantee that the fu el would transfer. They
changed the 'basket' from a solid can to metal
mesh in an attempt to stabili ze it more. On my
test fli ght I stuck the probe through the mesh
and couldn' t get it out: the hose would stretch
like a rubber band. After my fuel level started
to drop and no one had a better idea l took a
deep breath and pulled back on the power. The
hose broke loose from the tanker and I fl ew
back with it bea ting up the tail of my F- 100.
Crack d canopies or windshields were also
possibl e cons quences of contact with a
' wild' basket.
A USAF test pilot goes over F-100 spin recovery techniques with Lt Allen T. Lamb
I right) of the 506th FBW. USAF via Allen T. Lamb
67
Booms at Bitburg
As it changed from FDW (and Zulu Alert)
to nuclear TFW (Victor Alert) status, the
36t h TFW was reduced to three squadrons.
The 22nd and 23rd TFS were at Bitburg
and the 53rd TF remained at Landst uhl ,
across the autobahn from Ramstein with
which it was combined at that stag to
become Ramstein/Landsruhl AB. urtis
Burns:
That was qu ickl y abbreviated to Ramstuh l AB,
which we fighter pil ots qui ckl y referred to as
'Sheepsh*t AB' . I don' t know whether hi gher
authori ty got wind of that inglorious ni ckname
but the base was soon re- named Ramstein. The
Wi ng's fourth squadron, the 46 lst FDS, based at
Hahn AB was disbanded with many of the pil ots
transferri ng to other squadron wit hi n the 36th
TFW.
The 46l st FDS CO's F-100C was 54-2000
and the t radition of a Triple Zilch
aircraft for the wing commander was con-
t inued by the 20th TFW wit h 56-3000.
A fifth squadron, the 32nd FD /TF
fl ew its F-1 OOCs from oesterberg AB, 200
mi l s away in Holland, from 15 August
1956 until it cam under Dutch control in
1959. The squadron had arrived with the
insigni a red ' Arctic' marking used in tran-
sit from the USA, but green and white
trim oon appeared on the noses and fins
foll owed by red, white and blue stripes on
the vert ical stabilizer f it F-100 s when
the squadron was control! d by the 86th
Wing. Early in 1960, Soest rb rg bega n to
WORLDWIDE WARR IOR

.
_.- --------___ ,_ --
legendary NAA test pilot Bob Hoover demonstrating how to fly an F-100C low,
slow and safely in October 1958. This 'max performance' demo was for the benefit
of pilots at the world's first all -supersonic USAF Tactical Fighter Weapons Meet. USAF
via Ron Thurlow
F-100F-10-NA 56-3826 in full 50th TFW markings on 26 March 1962. Perched on the
wing is Oave Menard, who had joined the 'Mach Busters' club in this aircraft the
previous day. Davi d Mena rd Coll ection
transiti on to t he F-1 02A Delta Dagger.
Although the squadrons were so dis-
persed and there was very little transfer of
personnel between its far-flung bases, the
36th TFW st ill had its peri odic ' wing dings' .
At one of these th 53rd TFS share of glas
and furni t ure breakages was US$ 195 ,
'whi ch would have b ught a hell of a lot of
glass and fu rni ture in West G rmany in
1957' according to Curt is Burns. Each
squadron was resp nsible for its own main-
tenance befor the A -inspired, Wing-
based maintenance procedures were intro-
duced in 1960 - 'a bad system when appli ed
68
to fighter outfits', in Curtis' opinion.
Col Walter B. Putnam succeeded Col
John Brooks as the Wing's commander.
urtis Burns remembered him as:
A leg nd and a hard-crusted commander who
didn't rake any sh*r from anybody. He was nick-
named ' Boom Boom' but nor ro his face. Many of
rhe 53rd TFS pil ors alleged that he got his ni ck-
name from h is habit of always having an F- 100
schedu led for h im late afternoon on Fr idays. He
would drag a sonic boom over the 36th T FW HQ
at Birburg just as rerrear was being played and the
fl ag was being lowered at 1800 hrs.
At t hat t ime t he loss rate in F- l OOs was st il l
very hi gh and test pil ot Bob Hoover came over
to USA FE ro show all t he pilots t hat the Hun
was easy and safe ro fly. Hoover did t h ings with
rhe F- l OOC t hat I didn't th ink possibl e, let
alone safe. ' Boom Boom' was livid. He said t hat
t he Wing pilots had roo many dangerous tricks
already wit hout learning some more from a
company test pilot !
When the 36th TFW 'went nuclear' , Col
Putnam drew up a plan based on a 24-hour
alert, wi th armed F-l OOCs and pilots
briefed for up to 100 targets behind the Iron
Curtain. Frederick ' Boots' Bless (l ater a
USAF Major General) objected to the idea
of single-seat aircraft with the ever-present
possibili ty of engine failure or other
mechanical deficiencies fl ying around with
nuclear weapons aboard in all weathers. He
di spleased hi s 'Wing King' by haring t hese
thoughts with him. Despite thi s, he was
eventually given command of the 32nd
TFS and threw himself into the task of
improving its unimpressive readiness rates.
Blesse even resurrected the dist incti ve, Dis-
n y- based wolf's head insignia (from the
squadron's WWll past) that the Soester-
berg unit carri ed for the rest of its ex istence.
As members of a TFS, pilots had to
focus increasingly on the grim business of
LABS nuclear d livery. urt i Burns lab-
orated on the way rhos Armageddon tac-
t ics were appli ed in the European scenario:
Whenever the assigned target was with in the
fuel/range capabil ities of the F- l OOC with three
drop tanks and the l 8001b weight of a Mk 7 we
preferred ro plan and fl y a low-level profil e robe
under t heir radar coverage. We woul d fl y at
360kt unti l we reached the IP and t hen push up
t he speed ro SOOkt at about SOft altitude. ver
t he target impact point we would plug in t he
burner and start a 4g lmmelmann. LABS gave a
display, very much like an I LS di splay. If we kept
t he vert ica l and horizontal needles crossed in
WORL DWIDE WARRIOR
This shot shows how the F-1000/F's modified airbrake cutaway fitted around an MN-1
store with the 'speedboard' extended. M/Sgt Ray Pet ru sch via David Menard
The nuclear radiation shield in the F-100F cockpit. USAF
69
the middle our fli ght trajectory was perfect
(except for wind correcti on, for wh ich we had
to adjust our pull-up point).
LABS then released the w apon in th
usual way, all owing it to ri se to about
20,000ft (6,000m) befor plummeting to
its detonat ion as the F-l OOC sped away.
Bombs were u uall y fused so that an inter-
nal radar fuse detonated them at about
1,500ft (450m) , exploding with the bot-
tom of the fireball just above ground level.
The requi red effects of the bomb were heat,
blast and rad iati on, but not fal l-out from pick-
ing up a lot of dirt that reduced t he other th ree
effects. We could also set the bomb fusing in t he
F- 1 OOC's cockpit for a ground detonati on,
whi ch most of us expected would be used if we
got shot down at altitude over enemy territory.
Our proced ure was to arm the bomb after cross-
ing into ommuni st terri tory. I was targeted on
a couple of targets that were too di stant to be
reached at low altitude and I had to plan a
cruise-climb fli ght to the target , dropping fuel
tanks as they emptied. In t hat case I would have
had to deli ver the weapon by d ive-bombing,
with the bomb still fused to explode at the des-
ignated height above ground.
LAB training in the USA took many
pilots to the Gil a Bend gunnery range for
a fairl y uncomfortable ride. Ron Herrick:
'Doing 500kt at 200ft over the desert in
summer gave quite a bumpy ride. One
learned to t ighten the houlder straps real
good!' Nuclear 15- minute al rt requi red
pilots to become surprisingly close to t he
fearfu l w apons they carried, even to the
extent of insert ing the Uranium 235 cores
into their own Mk 7s.
The nuclear weapons maintenance speciali st in
the bomb dump didn't have enough t ime to
load up all t he weapons so our squadron main-
tenance people loaded them on the aircraft and
we pil ots were responsibl e for gett ing the U235
core, wh ich was kept in a 'birdcage' for safety.
We instal led it into the bomb before we went
and took it back to t he locked storage room in
Squadron Ops aft er we went off status. Our F-
l OC s had no capabil ity to deliver the
weapons, or fl y the routes, at ni gh t so we were
not on Victor Alert the whole 24-hour peri od.
The core, a nucl ear sphere about the size of a
shot put but a lot heavier, was constantl y
decay ing and producing neutrons, but not
enough to approach criti cality. But if you took
two of t he spheres and banged them together
you would get a blue flash and you wou ld be
WORLDWI DE WA RR I OR
Thunderbirds
The Thunderbirds, seen here with F-lOODs, flew Super Sabres from 1956 to 1969 with a brief
period on the F-1058 in 1964. USAF
To North American Indians the Thunderbird was a
gigantic, legendary eagle- like bird that could confer suc-
cess in battle and a happy life to those it favoured. Light-
ning streamed from its eyes and huge thunderstorms
fil led the sky when the creat ure fought with its enemies.
The USAF flight demonstration team that has bor-
rowed the Thunderbird's name-and image for half a cen-
tury formed on F-84G Thunderj ets in May 1953, pro-
gressi ng to swept-wing F-84Fs in 1955 and then F-100C
Super Sabres after the fi nal Thunderstreak show on 19
May 1956. As the world's first supersonic aerobatic
team, the 3600th Air Demonstration Flight was a guar-
anteed showstopper. A move from Luke AFB to Nel li s
Air Training Command (ATC) base accompanied the
change of aircraft and nomenclature to the 3595th Air
Demonstrati on Flight (changed once again to 4520th Air
Demonstrati on Flight when TAC took over Nellis). Sev-
era I of the earlier pilots stayed on, includmg the leader.
Maj Jack Broughton. Capt Ed 'Lucky' Palmgren and Bill
Ellis.
Changes were also made to the ai rcraft and to the
show routines. The F-1 OOCs each lost their autopilot,
gun sight, gun camera and radar. The ai rcraft flying in
the 'slot' position had a stainl ess steel leadi ng edge to
its vertical stabilizer and the VHF antenna moved from
the fin to a position under the nose. UHF radio was fit-
ted and the rear fuselage tank could carry either 'ferry'
fuel or smoke oi l for air shows. Gun ports were !aired
over and the nose radome area was replaced by sheet
metal.
As for the show, the opening move became a maxi-
mum power take-off together with a solo pass during
which Capt Paul Ross cut his engine in and out of after-
burner to provide a loud series of pyrotechnics. With the
70
show organi zers' permission he would also do a super-
sonic pass. unti l thi s was banned by the FAA. Li beral use
of afterburner in diamond formation passes was a big
success with audiences. as was the 5g, 360-degree turn
and the verti cal bomb-burst.
Maj Robby Robi nson replaced Maj Broughton for the
1957 season and the team added Canada, Puerto Rico
and Bermuda to the twelve countries already visited. a
total that would rise to forty-five by 1966. The F-1 OOCs
gained thei r distinctive Thunderbi rd design on the
underside of the aircraft the following year and the Out-
standi ng Unit Award decal to add on the aircrafts'
noses. Their initial batch of F-1 OOCs were completed
and decorated in record time for the 1956 season
F-100C 55-2724 was fi rst to arrive. foll owed by 55-2723
(Broughton's Thunderbird One lead ai rcraft ) 55-2725,
-2727, -2728, -2729. The team also used 53-1718, -1740;
54-1860, -1882, -1969; 55-2717, -2730, -2732, -2733.
For the team's 1959 tour of PACAF bases the 18th
TFW hastily repainted six of thei r F-1 000-15-NAs (54
2281, -2285, -2287, -2292, -2295, -2299) for the team's
use and modified them as far as was practicable. Maj
Bob Fitzgerald led the team in displays at bases in
Japan, the Philippines. Taiwan, Korea and Hawaii .
The team also acquired an F-1 OOF to replace its trusty
T-33A and it continued to devise innovative stunts such
as the 'dual solo' in which two aircraft took oft and
rolled in opposi te directions as soon as their wheels
were in the well s. This was followed by an opposition
pass in afterburner.
1963 was the last season on F-1 OOCs but it was
marked by the fi rst Thunderbirds visit to Europe, during
which displays, led by Maj Ed Palmgren. were given in
nine countries. In 1964 the team swi tched to exten-
sively modified F-1 05Bs. each around 1 O,OOOib
(4,550kg) heavier than the F-1 OOC but offset partly by a
better power-to-weight ratio. Six shows into the sea-
son, a major accident grounded the team and prompt-
ed an immediate return to Super Sabres. A batch ofF-
100Ds was suitabl y adapted and painted up by May
1964. The aircraft had the High Wire updates including
cranked refuelli ng booms. In all. thirteen aircraft were
used from 1964- 68 (55-3506, -3507, -3520, -3560,
-3561' -3582, -3606, -3708, -3737, -3754, -3776,-3779,
-3791) though seri als were not displayed aft er 1965.
The practice of polishing alternate afterburner 'eyelids'
was also standardi zed but cannon ports remained
open. Lt Col Ralph Maglione led the 1965 team on a
Cari bbean tour, followed by a second USAFE base tour
when twenty-two demonstrati ons were given in twen-
ty-seven days. A sixteen-day deployment to Latin
America completed a total of twenty-three countri es
visited and 121 shows flown in 1965. The team's
1 ,OOOth demonstration took pl ace in Mi chigan that
summer. Maj Neil Eddins. slot pilot in 1959, returned to
lead the Thunderbirds in 1967. Operation Big Wing II
involved another European tour. ending in Pari s. From
there the team flew 7,000 mil es (11 .300km) with seven
infl ight-refuel lings to appear at the USAF Academy,
Colorado Springs.
The year was marked by a spectacular escape by Tony
McPeak when his ai rcraft (55-3520) suffered a structur-
al fail ure during the team's show at Laughli n AFB. Texas
WORLDWIDE WARR IOR
One of three F-100Fs used by the Thunderbirds between 1960-68. It has the same rear fuselage
pipes for formation smoke as the single-seaters. Author's coll ection
on 21 October. During a solo pass with rapid ail eron
rolls. the main wing box failed and the wings folded
upwards. Fuel from the punctured forward fuselage tank
deluged through the engine and it exploded, blowing off
the nose of the aircraft ahead of the cockpit With fire
entering the cockpi t, McPeak made a hasty decision to
eject, losing hi s helmet and getting dragged by hi s para-
chute in a 30kt crosswind when he landed close to the
crowd. He survived to fly again wi th the team but the
aircraft all needed reinforcement to their wings around
bolt-holes near the mai n landing gear mounts where the
fatigue cracks had occurred. Fati gue failure was also
responsibl e for losses in Vietnam at that time and a
major programme of wi ng-box strengthening was
begun soon aherwards.
The Thunderbirds fl ew their last F-100 show, the
471 st on the F-lOOD, at Nelli s AFB on 30 November
1968. In 1969 they received eight F-4E Phantoms and
aher initi al training on the F-1 ODDs they switched to
'regular' camouflaged F-4Es before opening the 1969
season in white Phantoms at the USAF Academy.
F-100C 55-2728, one of the original six F-100C-10-NHs used by the Thunderbirds
and flown by Maj Ed 'lucky' Palmgren, the leader in 1963. Gun ports were
!aired over and the intake painted red for the first12in of its interior
A similar view of the Skybl azers scheme for comparison. F-100C 54-2009 was flown
by the team leader, Capt (later, General) Bill Creech in 1959. David Menard Collection
surface. The Thunderbirds image was applied to the undersides of the aircraft
towards the end of 1958. USAF
dead in six weeks. The birdcage, made of alu-
minium rubes with a cradle [cylinder] in the
centre to hold the sphere, would phy ica lly sep-
arate two adjacent spheres of U235 or plutoni -
um by about 2ft, enough to create a safe sepa-
ration. l alway thought it was rea ll y nuts for us
to handle nuclear spheres because in my previ-
us experi ence at the Fi ghter Pil ots' Nuclear
School at Nellis AFB in 1955 they treated
' nukes' like the Holy Grail. In the 36th Wing
at that time it was no big dea l though.
Ron Herri ck was adamant that different
procedures applied in PACAF and TAC
squadrons where no pilots would normally
have handled the nuclear cores.
French Foil s and Engli sh
Epees
By the summer of 1957, the USAFE build-
up of F-1 OOs had almost reached t he
planned eighteen-squadron level a F-84
and F-86 units transit ioned to the new
fighter.
In the UK, the 20th FBW at Wethers-
field and Woodbridge relinquished its F-
84F Thunderstreaks in 1957. The Wing
Commander, Col Raymond F. Toli ver,
call ed a special 'Sabre Day' to acquaint the
local populat ion with t he new, noisy F-
lOOD. The 79th TFS at Woodbr idge was
t he first to convert and the base received
71
an F-100 simulator and a nylon barrier-
arresting system. France cont inued to host
everal USAF Wings including the 48th
FBW Statue of Liberty Wing at haumont
and the 49th FBW (formerl y 388th FBW)
at Etain-Rouvres, both of whi ch pro-
gressed to t h F-l OOD in 1956-57. At
Toul-Rosier , the 50th TFW traded its F-
86Hs for F-1 OODs in 1957. This was a time
of unu uall y eye-catching squadron colour
schemes as F- 100 units adopted marking
increasingly remini cent of medieval
knights in armour. At Chaumont, Col
Stanton R. mith led the 48th FBG for
over two years in hi s multi-coloured
F-1000 ' Wing Shi p' 56-3262.
WORLDWIDE WARR I OR
/
FWsas
/ '
1 r-s-Jsa
9
.
A classic shot of a 20th TFW Hun in post-1961 markings. This aircraft ended its service with the 122nd TFS of the ANG
and was then converted into a QF-1000, meeting its end on 12 November 1987 after a hit from an AIM-9M during its
second NOLO flight. via Tom Germscheid
The first twelve years of ol mith'
career are a r minder of how rapidl y t he
SAF had mov d from the piston era to
supersoni cs. After graduat ing from West
Point he became a fl ying in tructor in
1941 , fl ew P-40s in northern Burma in
1943, P-47sand P-51s up to 1947 and t hen
the [ - 0 Shooting tar. After a tour with
SA he commanded t he 49th FG in
Japan, became Director of Operati ons at
FEAF HQ in Tokyo during the K rean
War and finall y landed t he ' Wing King'
job at haumont on supersoni c F-1 OOs via
the Imperi al D fence ollege in London.
From mid- 1956, t he 4 th Wing convert-
ed to the F- lOOD at haurnont with the
airfield at Brienne- le Chateau as a termin de
dispersion for its 492nd FBS. It had been
named tatue of Liberty Wing in Jul y 1954
by the r idem of haumont in recogni -
ti on of the many Americans who had given
their lives in the liberation of France. The
eli tincti on of bearing both a number and a
name remain unique to the 4 th Wing.
A t he first USAFE F-l OOD Wing, the
48th wa r ponsible for evolving strike
tacti c and procedures for the aircraft in
t he European theatre. From March 1957 it
began training on infli ght-refue lling with
the KB-50] tankers of the 420th Air R fu -
el li ng Squadron (ARS) at RAF Sculthor-
pe, UK. By September of that year, the
techni que had become ufficientl y fa mi l-
iar to enabl e a group of eighte n 493rd
FBS machines to refuel from KB-50s n
route to a Weapons Detachment at
Wheelus AB. They replaced the 492nd
FBS at Wheel u , where it had completed
its qualification in gunnery and weapons
deli very on the range .
It was the Wing' role as USAFE repre-
sentat ives at the 1958 Willi am Tell M t
that triggered a blaze of candy-stripe colours
on it uper abres. The 494t h FBS
reworked its mod t r d pan I on the verti-
cal stabiliz r into unmi abl red and white
stripes extending to the noses and wingtip
of the Wi lliam Tell jets. n return to Chau-
mont, Col Smith elected to extend the
scheme to the other quaclrons in the Wing,
using their own colours, during t he last few
months in France. The revised colours
72
appeared on the High Wire F-lOODs that
replaced ome of the older Super Sabre at
haumont, alth ugh all the Wing' aircraft
w nt through IRAN at Getafe, pain and
some w re transferred to the Armee de I'Air
in 1958. Among them was 54-2165, whi ch
became ' 11-ML' with Escadron 2/11 and was
eventually put on static display at th Amer-
ican Air Mu eum, Duxford. Michael Bil ik
work d on th F-100 at Chaumont in 1959.
It was what I would call a bare necessities base,
even by the standards of t he day. There were
onl y t hree smallish hangars for the emire Wing
so hangar pace was always at a premium. There
was no alert area and some porti ons of t he fli ght
line were st ill covered with [WWII) PSP
[pierced steel plank ing], though we d idn't park
aircraft on thi s. The barracks were ' open bay'
with approximately fifteen persons to a bay. You
definitely had to get along with one another in
a sit uati on like that. There wasn' t much hous-
ing for married personnel and not many ' lower
ranks' were all owed to bring families over.
There wasn' t a lot of interact ion with the local
community because of the language barri er. The
WORLDWI DE WARRI OR
By 17 September 1960 the 48th TFW had moved to RAF lakenheath and adopted new
markings, as seen on this 492nd TFS F-1000-90-NA. Author's Collection
base was about mil es from Chaumont and few
singl e airmen coul d afford cars. At weekends
many of the guys went to Pari s.
On another French base, the 49th TFW
entered the fashi on stakes with a colour
scheme based on a li ghtning bolt. It was
act ivated at Etain-Rouvres AB on 10
December 1957, absorbing the F- l OODs
and markings of the 388th FBW - an F-86
unit ( 1954- 56) that r turn d to the USA
and later fl ew F- l OOCs, then F-105 Thun-
derchi efs.
At Toui -Rosieres, the three squadrons
of the 50th TFW flew F-l OODs for about
two year , having moved in from Hahn,
West Germany in Jul y 1956 with F-86Hs.
In the foll owing year it converted to F-
lOODs. Training routines were simil ar to
those establi shed by the Chaumont Wing
with period ic visits by whole squadrons to
Wheelus for armament practi ce camps.
It was th re that the 388th F8W expe-
ri enced an unusual air-sea rescue of one of
its pilots. 1st Lt Herdi s S. Clements took
off from Wheelus in F-l OOD 55-3660
bound for Etain, but engine failur fore d
him to ej ct over th sea hortl y aft r-
ward . A Malta- based RAF hackl eton
crew locat d him and dropped an infl at-
able raft . ne of the SA-168 Albatross
amphibians operated by the 58th AR at
Wheelu landed be icl lement , who e
raft had by then been to ed for four hour
in an ft well. Thi heavy ea defeat d
three take-off attempts by the SA-168 and
the last was aborted when a metal cylinder
from t he li fe raft damaged one of the
amphibian's elevators. ln time-honoured
fa h ion, the SA-168 set c ur e for a sea
voyage to the nearest base at 8i zerte in
Tunisia. After half an hour of seasickness
and buffet ing, the salt-encrusted aircraft
was met by HMS Bi1mingham and
lements was taken aboard together with
the 388th F8W Flight Surg on. The Alba-
tross crew ploughed on for another five
hours through the waves, until their air-
craft was taken in tow by a French destroy-
er, arri ving at 8izerte earl y the next day.
A-16 were on th scene aga in in
March of the foll owing year when another
ngine failure !aimed the 49th TFW's F-
lOOD 54-2250 as it headed back to
Wheelus AB from the El Uot ia bombing
range. Thi time the pil ot was rescued
without in iclent, although a simil ar
attempt in Augu t 1960 wa fru trat d
when F- l OOF 56-3877 from the 49th TFW
crashed offshore. As the Alban o s cr w
moved in for a pick-up, the on-shore
breeze carri ed the parachutes of both F-
100 crew members back over the beach
and th y landed safely a hore.
Wheelu wa al o the c ne of a lucky
escape involving two visit ing F-l OODs of
the 401st TFW at Torrejon. On 29 Octo-
ber 1968, a pair of its F- l OODs arrived back
from a mi ss ion. The fli ght leader's brakes
failed as he powered down the runway.
73
Traili ng sparks and smoke, he ran into his
wingman who had landed first and slowed
cl own. Fortunately, the wingman wa able
to stop hi damaged up r abr and clam-
ber out but the lead aircraft rolled on fur-
ther with fl ames graduall y spreading over
it . Lt Col Lyell , fly ing an HH-43 rescue
heli copter, used his rotor to fan t he fl ames
away from the left side of the F- l OOD o
that its pilot could escape unscathed.
The 401st TFW had reactivated as a
TAC Wing on F-86s at England AFB, tran-
sitioning to the F-l OOD in 1957 and
deploying to Homestead AF8, Florida dur-
ing the 1962 uban Mi ss ile ri si . One of
its squadrons, the 613rcl TFS, transferred to
Torrejon in spring 1966 taking the Wing's
t itle to the Spani sh base. The Wing then
picked up the 307th and 5 rd TFS wi th F-
lOODs (under 16th AF control) until it
transiti oned to the F-4 Phantom in 1970.
Red Richard
The F-l OOD's assumpti on of a nuclear role
soon proved intolerable to General
Charles de Gaulle. ix months after he wa
elected leader of France it became cl ar
that he wanted the removal of all Ameri -
can nucl ear-capable aircraft from hi s
country (partl y as the first stage in estab-
li shing France's own nuclear deterrent
force). In pra ti ce, t he French-based F-
100 squadrons would have fl own to for-
ward ba s in West G rmany in an emer-
gency. There, if those bases st ill had
runways, t he jets would have been loaded
with ' nukes' and launched aga inst their
targets. A request by USAFE to establish
Victor Alert pad in Franc wa met by a
cl mand from d Gaull e that he should
give permi ssion for aircraft to b laun hed
from them.
The consequent decision to relocate
t he U AFE aircraft entailed the reloca-
tion of the three F-l OOD Wing and
affected a total of 225 aircraft and 5,300
p rsonn I from 10 Jul y 1959. haumont's
r -deployment b ga n fi ve day lat r when
the 48t h TFW began its transfer to the
former SAC base at Lakenheath, UK. The
nearby base at Mildenhall was also con-
sidered as a new F-1 00 l cati on. The ' Lib-
erty Wing' wa fu ll y operat ional at Laken-
heath by 15 January 1960, its first aircraft
having arri ved on 5 January after the con-
struction of alert shelters. Mike Bilcik was
among the las t to leave Chaumont, which
reverted to stand-by status.
WORLDWIDE WARRIOR
a igned to the newest A/3C on the team was to
wab out the engine intake with a rag soaked in
JP-4 after the engine was removed for mainte-
nance. Nobody wanted to ri de next to him on
the bus that evening!
The F-100 was a fa irl y easy aircraft to work on
and it gave good service. A good crew could per-
form an unscheduled engine change and have
the aircraft ready for fl ight in a few hours. The
engine and fuselage had quick disconnect poi nts
for most of the fluid lines, savi ng time and effort.
The engine was leak-checked and the trim run
was completed before the aft fuselage was re-
install ed. I loved d ing those checks from the
cockpit, especiall y lighting the afterburner. Thi
would give you real kick in the pants even with
the aircraft tied down at the mai n gear mounts
with cables or chained to the test pad.
F-1000 55-3683 flown by Lt Tic Loitwood in December 1962. Tom Germscheid
John Clarity hared that plea ant recollec-
tion:
The infrastructure at Lakenheath was well -suit-
ed to our need and everything, such as mainte-
nance docks and shop equipment from Chau-
mont wa moved there. There were some sli ght
adaptations required but nothing major. When I
fl ew from haumont to Lakenheath I rode in a
C- 124 aircraft that was also carrying a maximum
load of 20mm ammunition. It was so heavil y
loaded that it was unable to climb above 7 ,OOOft
for the entire journey. Good thing there aren't
any mountains between France and the UK!
The other French-based Wing also had to
find new homes. The 49th TFW removed
to pangdahl em in West Germany, dis-
placing the l Oth TRW's RB-66s to no les
than t hree UK bases: Alconbury, Brunt-
ingthorpe and helve ton. At Toul
Rosieres, the 50th TFW packed up and
returned to Hahn in the German Eifel area.
Toul Rosieres was used bri efl y by F-84 unit
during the Berlin Cri sis and by the 'non-
nuclear' RF-4 of the 26th TRW for a few
months in 1966 before Gen ral de Gaulle
decided to oust the remaining U AF units
from his country under Operation Freloc.
Sword Sharpeners
At Spangdahlem the 49th TFW settled
down to two more year on F-1 00 before
preparing for the arrival of the mi ghty F-
105 Thunderchi ef earl y in 1962. Its distinc-
tive squadron c lours were changed soon
after the mov wh n, in 1960, the USAF
introduced the c ntralized maintenance
concept, r placing squadron-ba eel arrange-
ments. Fr m then on all aircraft carried the
red, yellow and blue colour of the three
based squadrons, the 7th, 8th and 9th TFS.
For those who, like Troy Iarke, kept
t heir aircraft fl ying, the dai ly r utine went
on much as it had in France. Trained on F-
lOOs at Amarillo, Clarke speciali zed in
inspection of aircraft under the Peri odic
Maintenance plan.
I loved worki ng on the F-LOOD and in Peri odic
we performed all the required maintenance and
checks plus working out inspection write-ups
uncovered during maintenance. The fi rst job
There was such a sense of power. The F- 100
wou ld pull against those chain and ride up on
its wheel chocks. At night the fl ame from the
afterburner would reach out into the darkness
and project a fiery ta il coloured blue, yell ow and
orange for about 20-30ft.
rew chief Bobby Wright added, ' When
we went into afterburner it got a little
scary becau e the no e would dip way
down with the power thrust and you ju t
hoped li ke hell the cable wouldn't break!'
At Lakenheath, John Clarity was crew
chi ef on 48th TFW F-l OOD 55-2834.
Fre h from po ting in Florida and Texa , he
found the Engli h climate a r al deterrent.
Start-up time for F-1000 56-3300 from the final production block. Its markings
comprise the red nose and tail bands of the 9th TFS, 49th TFW as seen at Toui-Rosiere
AB in summer, 1959. Davi d Menard
74
WORLDWIDE WARRIOR
Lt Tic loitwood's jet, 55-3683, seen through the rather restrictive windshield of
Col Tom Germscheid's aircraft. Tom Germscheid
The Boss Bird F-1000, 55-3668, in highly polished metal finish, carried a full set of 20th TFW insignia in 1958, as did
the oft-illustrated 56-3000 Triple Zilch for an earlier wing commander. David Menard Collection
75
Most days were overcast , damp and chill y. Obvi-
ously the e were excell ent days to go to a pub
and it by a fire. But if you had to repair some-
thing outside or in a hangar, such as a tyre or an
engine change at the end of t he day it could be
miserable. Imagine starting a t yre change with
darkness setting in at 3.30pm. when you have
already been outside most of the day. Your uni -
form is probably damp and uncomfortable.
When I arrived at Lakenheath the barracks were
the same ones used in WWII . The heat was
piped from an outside source several blocks away
and hot water for showering was limited. For the
first month aft er l arrived in November I would
go to bed wearing my entire Air Force issue of
clothing including a ' horse-blanket' dress coat
and still I shi vered myself to sleep!
The aircraft didn' t seem to not ice the damp-
ness and cold a mu h as the per onnel. When
work was needed it seemed to get done qui cker
than in the southern USA. De- icing the aircraft
was sometimes necessary and at times fog can-
cell ed fl ying so we would find ourselves in the
Rod and Gun lub just off the fli ght line. For
me, inspecting and repairing the carbon-dark-
ened inside of the aircraft: ' tai l ecti on was the
WORLDWI DE WARR I OR
A 36th TFW F-IOOF-10-NA on the taxi strip at Husum AB on 12 June 1960. Kropf/Luftwaffe
via David Mena rd
Jim Wilson's 77th TFS F-1000 closing in from the darkness in June 1961 .
Tom Germsc heid
worst job. My hands were covered in carbon and
working in a dark hangar added to a medi cal
syndrome known as 'seasonal di sorder caused by
light deprivati on leading to depression' . No
wonder I found the pubs such a welcome sight!
j ohn woul d have been delighted to see the
48th FW's spotl es Phase Dock hangars
forty years later, with their white-painted
fl oors and well -lit ar a for working on F-
15 Eagles.
Engli h weather also tended to dominate
the live of 20th TFW pilots at Wet hers-
field and Woodbridge, where t hey began to
f1 y F-100 in th ummer of 1956. Tom
Germscheid had b en fl yi ng t he aircraft in
76
th cloudles ski around Cannon AFB
previously and hi s eagerl y awaited post ing
to USA FE in April 1961 was at fir t blessed
with pleasant weather.
Flowers were blooming everywhere. I thought I
was in paradise and it didn' t even rain for my
first few days in the UK. I soon di scovered that
sunny cl ay were not t he norm for Essex.
Because of the foul weather and low ceilings the
2 th TFW had establi shed a special in-theatre
t raining programme to hone the inst rument fl y-
ing ski ll s of newly a ignecl pi lots. Those of us
from sunny places li ke New Mexico reall y need-
eel thi s and soon found that it w uld probably
save our li ves many times over. Training was
cond ucted in an F- 1 OOF, usuall y in actual
weat her conditi ons and culminated in a full -
blown annual instrument check.
lee on the runways wa anoth r occupa-
t ional hazard, and Wether fi ld came up
wit h its own attempted soluti on.
A jet engine was mounted on some Lype of
trail er with its exhaust canted downwards. It
was then fired up and towed slowl y down the
icy runway in an attempt to melt t he ice. I
think t he final result was a runway with ice
smoot h enough for lympic skating! O ne t ime
Lt ' Ti ck' Loitwood and I launched on a cross-
country fli ght t he day aft er Christma . We got
to Spangdah lem and it started to snow. We
were weathered in for several day but fina ll y
got airborne to Bit burg, about 25 mil es away,
where we enj oyed erman New Year celebra-
ti ons. The weather in England was also bad and
the runways were coated with ice. It was about
ten days before we were able to get back to
Wethersfi eld.
In 1960 there wa a li t tle light relief from
the cl imate, at least for the groundcrews.
F-l OOs were u uall y tarred on home base
with t he MA-2 ('Ma Deuce') turbine in a
separate piece of ground equi pment, using
an air hose, rather than the cartri dge-start
y tem. The hose was plugged into a recep-
ta le under the fu elage behind t he main
gear well . n of t he routine jobs for
groundcrew was cleaning out insects and
other a ir borne debris from t he air intake
with a ] P-4 impregnated rag held by a
maintainer who had to sli ther deep into
the maw leading to the engine. This expe-
ri ence was made more exciting by t he
prospect of ram-a ir ble d do r uddenl y
opening up inside the intake. But there
was worse in store for the uninitiated, as
j ohn Clari ty descri bed:
WORLDWIDE WA RRI OR
A 79th TFS Tiger squadron F-1000 leaves for a training sortie with an under-wing practice
bomb dispenser. USAF via Tom Germscheid
Pract ical jokes on ' newby' maintai ners incl uded
sending t he guy clown the intakes and then
starting t he MA-2 turbine that was already
hooked to t he plane, giving t he ill usion of an
imminent engine tart. T he new guy woul d usu-
all y travel backwards out of t hat 25ft intake at
rocket speed.
T OYs somet imes got us out of the cold. We
spent a month at Wheelus AFB and fou r weeks
in Turkey. I loved working on aircraft in t hose
places, but we also went to northern Germany
and Aviano in the footh ills of the Alps in winter.
Other dut ies could take aircrew off-base
for long peri ods. Tom Germscheid and Lt
Bob Ed ney were sent to Getafe, nea r
Madrid, to c ll ect a couple of F- lOOD and
ferry them to th USA. After a week wait-
ing for the aircraft to leave the IRAN
process at G tafe, the two pilots were
delayed while the weat her over t he
Atlanti c ett led down. Finall y, they man-
aged to join a fli ght of 48th TFW F- l OOD
and successfu ll y d li ver t he aircraft to Lan-
gley AFB. The ntire proce took almost
six weeks.
Among the first pil ots with Maj 'Skin -
ny' lnni ' 492nd FBS Mad Hatters to trans-
fer to Lakenheath wa huck Horner, later
to become the archi tect of t he U air
effort in Desert Storm. Hi car er was
almost ended on his final flight from the
base in 1963 after a three-year tour. During
a imul ated ni ght attack on a French air
base his F- l OOD dumped t he fluid from it
primary and utility hydrauli c systems. He
had sufficient fli ght cont rol power to
ret urn to Lakenheath, only to find the base
virtually closed by t hi ck fog and no ground
controlled intercept ion (GC L) avail able.
With warning li ghts glowing in the cock-
pit and fu el almost gone, Horner managed
to find the runway and pull ed off a safe
landi ng in fog so dense that t h an ndant
fire t ruck almost ran into his aircraft.
Lakenheat h's primary mi ss ion was st ill
nuclea r alert, with a Mk 7 on t he left pylon
un t il 1966 when the centr line pylon was
used with consequent all eviation of th
asymmetric fli ght trim. Th is pylon was vir-
tually a permanent fixtu re on F- lOODs
(apart from Bl. ock 1- 15, 35 and 40 aircraft)
for a nuclear weapon or pract ice bomb di s-
penser.
By 1966 many F- 100 un its from U
bases had d ployed to outh East A ian
bases leaving U AFE Wing without the
usual reli ef on Victor Alert from T OY
units from t he States. In add it ion, t he 4 th
TFW was responsibl e for rotat ing
quadrons to Ita ly and Turkey for nuclea r
alert. Rang pract ice in Turkey from lsmir
and lncirli k was held on the Konya ranges.
While on alert at t hese bases half of each
squadron woul d go to Wheelus for gunnery
camp, swapping pl. aces midway through
t he on -mont h tour with the half that was
standing nuclear alert . For groundcrews,
alert often meant:
Long days, usuall y in rain or snow, lunch from a
box on t he fli ght- line and remi nders of the rea l
77
purpose of our 'club', i.e. nuclear gloom and
doom - no one wins. At Lakenheat h I usuall y
' crewed' my own aircraft. Each aircraft had the
name of t he crew chi ef on the side and general-
ly t he plane and I stayed together including
T OYs. I occa ionally went TOY with anot her
aircraft if I switched with another crew chief
who preferred staying at home in Lakenheath.
Very occasionall y, there were back-seat
ride in an F- l OOF John managed to wan-
gle a flight to Aviano, l. taly aft er 'a long
ca mpaign of public relati ons and nagging' .
The flight was exactly what I expected and the
exhil arat ion began with the engine start and
terminated with shut cl own. I found the fli ght
insightful ; all the systems we rout inely checked
in a robot ic fashi on sudden ly came into service
as t he airplane prang to li fe . Its spirit was
impressive; the g- forces, the peed, the vision of
t he ground below you one minute and above
your head the next minute - it wa more t han
my MGB sports car could ever provide for me.
My closest experi ence would be t he sheer free-
dom and joy of movement you get when skiing
t he steep, deep, li ght powdery snow hi gh in the
Rocky Mounta ins.
Away on the Range
Don Schmenk fl ew with t he 494th TF
from 1966 and took part in many TOYs
from Lakenhemh.
We were required to maintain currency in sev-
eral weapon deli veri es every six months,
including strafing, low-level skip bombing, dive
bombing and rocket firing. Laydown, LAOO
and OTS nuclear deliveri es were also trained.
At Whee lus we always carri ed t he SUU-2 1 dis-
penser on the centreline pylon containing two
BOU-33 and fou r Mk 106 (simulated hi gh-
drag) practi ce bombs with smoke marking
charges.
A rypica l ra nge sortie wou ld start with a simu-
lated nuclear ' laydown' pass fl own at 500kt and
500ft agl with a Mk 106. ext would be a LAOO
(timer-released nucl ear weapon) also using a
Mk I 06. The last ' nuclear' pass wou ld be an OTS,
releasing a BOU-33. This deli very used a 500kt
run-in at 500ft min imum altitude pull ing up into
a 4g lmmelmann. Skip bombing was done with
Mk 106s at a IS-degree clive angle (the same
angle as for strafing) at around 350kt. A 'foul' was
called if you descended below I ,500ft . We di ve-
bombed at a 30-cl egree angle wit h b mb release
at about 3,5 ft. Rocket launching used the same
parameters. It wasn't po ibl e to perform all t hese
WORLDWI DE WAR RIOR
F-1000 55-3652 heads a 20th TFW line-up for an early morning range mission from
Wheelus AB. June 1961. Tom Germschei d
tasks within one sortie. The equencing for the
SUU-2 1 was criti cal. To quali fy in the dive-
bombing event you had to drop two qualifying
bombs. Thi meant you couldn' t do an OTS
deli very in that orti e if you needed to dive-bomb
for quali ficati on purposes.
UK-based F- lOOs used range facilit ie at
Holbeach, Wainfl eet and Jurby (off the
Isle of Man) . Training of this kind was
not without ri k either. On sea ranges
like Jurby, pilots ran the ri k of bird-
strikes, di sori entation t hrough poor vi i-
bi lity, uncl ear hori zons or ' target fi xa-
t ion' . Two Lakenheat h F-1 OOD
(55-2844 on 24 July 1969 and 56-3217
on 30 January 1970) crashed into the sea
off J urby, on accident co ting the life of
one of Don's squadron mate . Eleven of
the Wing's aircraft wer lo t between
1968 and 1971.
The 20th TFW tended to use the Hoi-
beach range in The Wash or Jurby, shared
with the RAF. Tom Germ heid took a turn .
as Range Officer at both locati ns.
The targets at Hoi beach were a seri es of towers
sitting on pylon . At low tide t he pylons were
visible and at hi gh tide ju t the tops of the tow-
ers. Mi ss ions to the jurby range oft en included
a low-level route in codand wher we could go
down to 50ft altitude. The wingman woul d
remain higher, looking out for obstacles and
other air orne traffic. Bird were always a haz-
ard and we had a few strike .
One of them may well have cost the life of
apt P. L. Barwick whose F-1 OOD sudden-
ly entered a div at l w alti t ud over the
Jurby range on 30 July 1970, I aving him
no t ime to eject.
Nuclear strike involved extended low-
level route flying just as it did for West
G rmany-ba ed F-100s. Don chmenk:
Low level fli ghts were a blast. We fl ew all over
Europe at 500ft agl and 360kt. We trained to fly
low-level and deliver a nuclear weapon on the
ground within two minutes of a designated time.
If the old War had turned ' hot' each F-
100 pilot would have fl own solo to hi s all o-
cated target using pure time and distance
navigation.
We carri ed target folders with tic-marks and lines
drawn on them. We had no fancy navigat ion
equipment li k today's folks. The biggest threat
would have been running into another of your
own aircraft. Any air oppositi on would have
been dealt with on an individual basis. If the
whistl e had blown there woul d have been so
many airplanes headed ea t that we coul d have
foll owed each other. I am sure that targets were
multi -tasked [more than one strike for each].
There was one contingency plan that I heard
about where just one aircraft would have been
launched wit h a ' nuke' to 'get their attenti on' , so
to peak! I would not have wanted to be that guy'
Tom Germsheid was impressed by the
78
sen e of 'freedom of the air' over Europe:
In the late 1950s fl ying over Europe was largely
unrestri cted. You could fl y almost any place at
any altitude or airspeed. Grab a map, draw up a
route and go. Air traffi c controll ers on the on-
tinent often spoke little or no English so there
was little communicat ion with them, especially
over France. We used a range in France and a
typical mission involved departing Wethers-
fie ld in a two- or fou r-ship formation with a
climb to about 25,000ft, homing in on the BB
beacon (whi ch could be picked up from almost
anywhere in the European area ), starting a
descent over the hannel and u ing dead reck-
oning to level out at 500ft at a point over
France. Entering French airspace we would try
to contact French air ttaffic control but usually
got no reply or omething in French. We would
give a positi on call and press on. If the winds
were different than predicted it was often a
cramble to find out exactly where you were
when you broke out under the usual overcast.
We had to meet an a igned TOT (within+/-
two minutes) for our first bomb impact o we
couldn't waste too much time fumbling around
to get orientated. We then approached the IP at
500ft , adjust ing ai rspeed to make t he TOT. The
fir t delivery was always a LABS (over the
shoulder) and if t he ceil ing wa high enough we
wou ld then execute other types of nuclear or
conventional delivery.
At 'bingo' fuel, the flight would join up
and head for home, us ing the BBC London
' homing signal' once aga in.
No one reall y considered that the BB would
probably have been off the ai r in a real war. We
usuall y made an ADF approach to Wet hersfi eld
with a radar vector to A (ground controlled
approach]. We had a couple of old Briti h GCA
controllers at Wethersfi eld who were excell ent.
They had been in the business since radar was
invented! It was always comforting to hear that
accent when letting down through the soup,
knowing that the ceiling wa ri ght at minimum
(around 200ft) a they could talk you down to
cement in zero-zero conditi ons with the greatest
of ease.
Wether field pil ts also used the Radio Car-
oline off hor pirate radio hi p a a useful
navigation 'b aeon'. According to Tom
Germscheid, the pilots found it 'great sport
to tune our ADF to this stat ion and home in
on it for a low pas ver the ship. A few times
our activitie got broadca t over the air'.
During the uban Mi il ri i of
October 1962 a 'covert al rt' status wa
WORLDWIDE WARRI OR
An AGM-128 Bullpup missile departs from its launch adaptor on an F-1000-25-NA. The encouraging results achieved
in test firings such as this one were seldom replicated in combat. David Menard Collection
initi ated at Lakenheath and Wethersfield.
Crews were called in to duty by telephone
and a number of tactical nuclear force
(TNF) F-l OOs were armed and scheduled
to co-ordinate with RAF Thor miss il es.
F- lOODs would have led the attack with
nuclear bombs and then Thors would have
hit the same target . Key targets such as
East Berlin were targeted with two Thor
and an F-100 strike. At the height of the
emergency, DEFCON 2 was reached and
F-100 pi lots were in their cockpits with
MA- 2s plugged in ready to roll.
Dur ing Victor Al ert at Wethersfi eld,
each quadran kept four aircraft on alert.
Tom Germscheid:
The alert pad was on the north side of the run-
way, away from the rest of the base. Each bi rd
was in a 'soft' metal shelter that was open at each
end. The area was surrounded by high, chain-
link fencing and barbed wi re and each shelter
had an armed guard. During my time all aircraft
were loaded with Mk 28 nuclear weapons of var-
ious yields, depending on the ass igned target .
The aircraft usuall y stayed there about two
weeks. They were starred up every day and all
systems were checked. If a malfunction was
detected a replacement aircraft would be towed
into the area and parked next to the shelter. A
Mk 2 was brought from the bomb dump and
loaded on to its centreline station, then the ' bad'
aircraft was downloaded and the 'good' one
towed into the shelter.
Aircrews and crew h i e ~ were required to
remain on the pad twenty-four hours a cl ay. We
usuall y stayed on alert for three to fi ve days at a
time. We had four fli ghts in each squadron and
each flight was responsible for Victor Alert one
week per month. Each fli ght usuall y had about
eight pilots ass igned to it and the squadron had
to provide four fli ght members to be on the pad
at all t imes. Marri ed crewmembers liked to get
off alert for the weekends and holi days while
bachelors liked to have Saturday ni ghts off to
head for London. The 55th TFS bachelor main-
tained a fl at in Radcliffe Square, London that
wa the site of many great festivit ie . Food on the
alert pad was some of the best on the base. The
cooks went all out on holidays such as Thanks-
giving and reall y prepared feasts. The only thing
lacking on the alert pad table was the wine!
We pa sed away the time on alert by reading,
watching movies, ping-pong, pool and poker or
taking naps to get ready for London. We also
spent time studying our targets and attack
79
routes. The Wing or higher HQ would occa-
sionall y spring surprise tests on alert crews. If you
didn't have the answers you could be decertifi ed
and taken off al rt. We were also subj ected to
simulated launches. At any time of the day or
night the wing or HQ coul d sound the alert siren
and we woul d scramble to our aircraft, simulate
a starr and call in on the UHF radi o that we were
ready to taxi. This took around 7-8 minu tes. We
had to be able to get airborne in 15 minutes.
Awakening from a dead sleep, getting into a
fli ght suit, boots, jacket and g-suit from the top
bunk bed of a small four-man trail er in the cl ark
was always very chall enging and interesting.
Our boots had zippers to facili tate the process
and it wa somewhat comi cal to watch half-
dressed pil ots runn ing to their planes wh il e try-
ing to pull up the zippers. A few time we got to
perform thi drill in several inches of snow.
Don Schmenk was the Target Officer for
the 494th TFS:
As uch I had to develop low-level practice routes
in Turkey. I used a National Geographic 'Lands of
the Bible' map as a guide and plotted the routes
over as many points of interest as l could find.
Schmenk's tours! Back in the UK we fl ew a lot of
WORLDWIDE WARRI OR
~ \
20th TFW pilots watch the wing-tips as they close in for this pose. via Tom Germs cheid
close air support fli ghts into the buffer zone
berween East and \Vest Germany aga inst armour
and troops in contact, using simul ated high-drag
bombs, strafing and napalm passes.
D ploym nts to NATO's northern fl ank
in Norway w re also on t he menu and Tom
Germscheid went with the entire 55th
TFS to Flesland AB.
The base is built in to t he side of a mountain and
the ai rcraft taxi into t he mountain and park
there. Servicing and maintenance, sleeping
quarters and messing facil ities are also inside t he
mountain. It was very impress ive. We also took
a fl ight of four up to Boda AB, above the Arct ic
C ircl e and stayed a couple of days. It was sum-
mer and st ill light when we headed home from
the bar at about 0400.
Don Schmenk's squadron also participated
in two Polar Express exercises in Norway.
These were ATO exercises in conju ncti on
wit h Norwegian, Dutch and German pil ots. We
operated out of Bodo, orway and fl ew with F-
1 04s and F-84s on many low-level sort ies. O n
one t he ' target' was a battl eshi p in a fj ord . Spec-
tacular! On anot her exercise in t he UK I was
launched on an ai r-to-ai r sorti e with two AIM-
9 miss il es on each inboard pylon and no ranks.
I recall it being a very unstable airplane. I' m
glad t he RAF Lightni ng fighter I was supposed
to meet didn't show up. Wea ther was a probl em
in trying to stay current in weapons delivery in
the UK. I remember ret urning from a ni ght refu -
elling sorti e and bei ng the onl y one [of the!
eight aircraft t hat landed at Lakenheath. The
ot her seven went to Upper Heyforcl because of
the bad weather.
AI o in U AFE from 1959 to 1962 wa
Kor an War veteran Lt Col David 0 .
Will iams. After previous experi ence of the
P-40, P-47, P-51, F-80, F-84E/G/F and
F-101A/C Voodoo, he had checked out on
the F-100 in huck Yeager's 306th TFS at
George AFB in 1958. In U AFE he was a
member of the Tacti cal Evaluati on Team,
k eping a close eye on training and r ad i-
n ss by fl ying the F- 100 wit h virtuall y all
the USAFE F-100 units and those visit ing
Europe on deployments. The nuclear
strike miss ion was paramoun t, although, as
he recalled:
We di d keep some profi ciency in convent ional
weapons delivery such as st rafing and cl ive
bombing. Very li t tl e aeri al refuell ing was con -
ducted, unless one could encounter a KB-50
tanker from RAF cult horpe over t he hannel
or over some sui table area of t he UK. At t hat
t ime USAFE F- l OOs didn't have t he ' bent'
probe or refuellable 335gal drop tanks whi ch
TAC was enjoying. In my view, outside of t he
High Wire modi ficati on programme t he ben t
80
probe and 335gal tanks were the greatest
improvement to the F- 100 ever made.
The 20th TFW, based at Upper Heyford but
previously at Woodbridge and Wethers-
field, had no monopoly on good weather
either. Col 'Lanny' Lancaster reca ll ed:
I was at Woodbri dge from ovember 196
t hen moved to leyford in December 1969. At
Woodbridge t he 79th TFS was a separate unit
with the parent 20th Wing and t he other two
squadrons (55th and 77th TFS) at Wet hers-
field. I believe we were t he last 'separate' TFS,
discount ing the 32ncl TFS at Soesterberg who
were pure air defence pukes [pilots]. What I
remember most about 'Woody' was the weather.
I t hi nk I fl ew fi ve ti mes in four months. O ur
principal miss ion was nucl ear alert. The three
squadrons rotated so t hat one month in three
you pulled alert duty at home. The next month
you would be off alert so t hat you could do con-
t inuation train ing at home, then the t hird
month you would be T OY for nuclear alert and
gunnery training. The TOY itself was divided:
two weeks at eit her Aviano or C igli and two
weeks at Wheelus - one of the bes t gunnery
ranges ever because, unl ess there was a storm,
t he wi nd was never more than about Skt.
For Tom G rmsch id, at Wethersfi ld
with the 20t h TFW from April 1961,
Wheelus was also memorable for its Offi -
cers' Club.
The food was good and often first-cl ass enter-
tainment was brought in from the ontinent.
Spi rits could be purchased very cheaply, espe-
ci all y Scotch, though they were rat ioned in the
UK. There always seemed to be plenty of rat ion
coupons to bring a few bott les home to Wethers-
fi eld. One night t he 20t h TFW C-47 landed
after a return fl ight from Wheelus and the Cus-
toms Officer (who had been suspicious of thi s
activity but had never caught anyone) was there
to greet it. Al l hell broke loose when he discov-
ered about t wenty cases of Scotch on board .
A lot of good-natured rivalry took place
between the various TOY units. T he Republic F-
l OSs were fa irl y new to Europe. There was a
large, wooden F- 105 model displayed from the
ceil ing behind t he bar and somehow a lemon
always seemed to get impaled on t he pi tot tube
of t his model. Another h ighli ght was the beau-
t iful wh ite beach and cl ear blue water. All t he
pale- faces from England woul d hi t the beach as
soon as we landed and debriefed. By the time the
sun went cl own most were fri ed wi th a good sun-
burn. The cockpit harness and parachute straps
were mighty painfu l t he next day' One un it
WORLDWIDE WARR IOR
This sixteen-ship flypast led by F-100Fs was flown at Misawa AB in November
1963 as a tribute to President J. F. Kennedy, murdered in that month. David Menard
Collection
commander issued an edi ct that anyone who got
too burned to fly the next day would be sent back
to Wethersfield on the next shuttl e plane. Mis-
sions were short; generall y about an hour.
Almost everyone got to fl y twi ce a day and occa-
siona ll y three times- a fighter pilot's paradi se.
The Libyan Ai r Force ( in wh ich Lr Col Ghadaf-
fi was an F-86 squad ron commander) used the
same range as the USAFE aircraft for weapons
delivery.
T he fli ghts from Wet hersfield to Wheelus
were always enjoya bl e. We fl ew in fou r-shi p
fl ights confi gured with an SUU d ispenser on
t he centreline, 275gal tanks on the intermedi-
ate stations and ZOOga l tanks inboard. If we had
a tail wi nd component of about 65kr we could
make the tr ip non-stop. A 'bingo' fuel point was
ca lcul ated for coasting out over Monaco. If any-
one call ed 'bi ngo' the fli ght would di vert into
Aviano and usuall y remai n overn ight.
On one uch diversion Tom was l adi ng a
fl ight of four and hit thunderstorms and a
1,200ft (365m) ceiling.
We decided to break into two-shi p elements for
a radar vector to the fi eld for a VFR [visual fl ight
ru les] landing. About the time l started down
wit h my element Aviano radar went down. I
climbed back on top and decided we wou ld
make single-ship ADF let-clowns. I started down
first and at about l S,OOOfr my Hun was struck by
lightning. It was quite a fi reball and I could rea l-
ly smell the ozone. My first thought was t hat I
had an explosion of some kind so I automatica l-
ly retarded the throttl e to id le.
When I managed to open my eyes and look at
the instrument panel, several cauti on lights were
on and the engine gauges were unwinding. I was
sure the engine had fl amed out. After a couple of
seconds things stabil ized, I advanced the throt-
tl e and the engine began to spool up again. I had
lost several instruments including my heading
indi cator, ADF and UHF radio. l went to emer-
gency squawk on the IFF and initiated a cl imb
back above the cl ouds where I spotted my wing-
man and jumped on to hi s wing. He led me down
to an uneventful landing though I did not ice
t hat it rook more t han normal power ro keep the
beast fl yi ng. Upon climbing out of the cockpit I
could see why. The front ends of bot h 200gal fuel
tanks had blown off and they looked like torpe-
do rubes. The mnks were empty at the time of
the lightni ng strike but the fumes igni ted, caus-
ing the explosion. Li ghtning had also st ruck t he
tip of the pi rot tube, exit ing through the rudder
and taking a 3ft secti on of rudder with it. All
along the fuselage t here were burn marks as if
someone had run an arc- welder along it. I had to
stay with my stri cken bird at Aviano for two
81
weeks whil e a maintenance crew from Wethers-
field patched it up, though they never d id get the
magneti c compass to point in the ri ght direc-
tion. Col Roya l Baker, 20th TFW CO, who had
been my umber 3 on t he fl ight into Aviano,
authorized me to fl y single-ship to Wheelus in
VFR conditi ons. Under normal circumstances
we never crossed the 'Mecl' single-shi p.
Tom also recall ed thaton23 January 1963,
the 20th TFW suffered a loss that also
affected many local residents:
The Wing's Deputy Commander, Col Wendell j .
Kell ey rook off in an F- 1 OOF to do an instrument
checkout for another pil ot, lst Lr Paul Briggs. At
30,000m the aircraft suffered a compressor fa il ure
and ol Kell ey turned back for Wethersfi eld with
minimal power. As it approached the airfi eld
another explosion caused the engine to seize up.
At 4,500fr and 6 miles from the runway [he]
abandoned his approach and hi s attempts to re-
start the ]57. He t hen steered the F- 100 away
from a seri es of loca l vill ages including Gosfi eld,
the communi ty in whi ch he and his famil y had
become popular and active res idents. He ordered
1st Lt Briggs to eject as t he aircraft reached
l ,SOOft and very shortl y afterwards it crashed
with its pilot into a fi eld close to the Kell eys'
home. A memori al service in the vill age later
paid tribute to ol Kell ey's self-sacri fice for the
safety of t he commun ity.
In November 1969, the 20t h TFW
moved to RAF Upper Heyford, replacing
the 66t h TRW who e RF-4 transferred
to Zweibrucken (17th TRS) and Shaw
AFB (18th TRS). The 79th TFS moved
in from Woodbridge first, followed by the
two Wethersfie ld uni ts in May/June 1970.
For t he first t im ince 1952, th 20th
TFW was consoli dated at a sing! base.
The Wing's aircraft had worn camoufl age
paint since 1966, includ ing 56-3000
Triple Zi lch, which had previously been
the spectacularl y-decorated Wing King
plane. However, the residency was short-
li ved and the 20th began conversion to
the F-111 Eon 12 September 1970, its las t
two F-lOOs departing on 12 February the
fo llowing year. Wethersfi eld, relegated to
a diversion base, became temporary home
(with M ildenha ll ) to the 4 th TFW in
1971 while Lakenheath's runways were
improved in anticipat ion of the arriva l of
F-40 Phantoms for the Wing. De li ver ies
of the F-40 began in January 1972 and
the la t uper abr s (F-l OOF 0-63850
/876/884), l ft the ba eon 15 April1 972,
ending USAFE F-100 operati ons.
CHAPTER4
Vietna01 Warhorse
27th TFW F-1000-21 -NAs, armed with napalm, head out for a mission over South Vietnam. T/Sgt Albert Doucet via Davi d Menard
Parry and Thrust
When F-100 Super Sabres made their first
deployments to a combat area in April
1961 with the movement of ix 51 Oth Tac-
t ical Fighter quadran (TF ) aircraft to
Thail and, th Sup r Sabre wa still Tactical
Air Command's (TAC's) main fighter-
bomber. The first operat ional Republic F-
105Ds (it intended successor) had recent-
ly entered rvi ce with t he 4520th
Combat Cr w Training Wing { CTW) ,
and in United States Air Forces in Europe
(U AFE), the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing
(TFW) began to convert to the new
Thunderchi ef in May 1961, fo ll owed by
t he 49th TFW. At that t ime, t he U AF
planned to re- quip fourteen TA Wings
with F-105 0, replacing the majority ofF-
100Ds with the faster, all -weather jet t hat
had beaten orth Ameri can Aviat ion'
( AP:s) F-107 A for production orders in
195 7. Later in 1961, President J. F.
Kennedy's administration reduced that
number to eight F-105 Wings. The others
stayed with th F-100 unti l October 1964
when F-4 Phantom !Is b gan to app ar
on flight-lines. For t he four TFWs that
were to fight the greater part of the ' in
country' air war in Vietnam, the F-100 was
to be their teed for up to ten more years.
Although, like the F-105, it was a strike air-
craft built for an essentially nuclear defence
strategy, it would prove to be adaptable to a
very differ nt kind of warfare.
As t he situat ion in Sout h East Asia pro-
gressively deteri orated from 1960 onwards,
there were numerous small ' fl ag- waving'
F-100 deployments to Thailand and Clark
AB throughout the earl y 1960 , including
brief periods of Victor Alert in Formosa and
hart vi its to Da Nang in South Vi etnam.
One of the e, peration Bell Tone, took a
Detachment of 51 Oth TFS Buzzards to Don
82
The Buzzards of Bien Hoa (510th TFS). Bruce Gold
Muang airport n 16 April1961 in respon e
to the loss of a 4400CCT C-4 7 electron-
ic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft to Pathet
Lao anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). The
F- 1000/F s xtet officiall y provided air
defence for the Thai capital. Thai deploy-
ments increased to squad ron size in 1962
with: the 428th TFS; t he 474th TFW,
VI ET A I WAR HORSE
This line-up of F-lOODs was at Da Nang from August to November 1964, detached from
t he 401st TFW at England AFB via Clark Field. F-1000-31 -NA 55-3724 has 19-shot LAU-
3/A FFAR launchers, each weighing around 5001b (225kg) loaded. White t ail caps for
these pods stand behind each wing. David Menard Collection
whi ch fl ew in to Takhli Royal Thai Ai r
Force Base (RTAFB) in mid-May; t he
430th TFS in September; and fina ll y the
522n I TFS in December (all from t he
32nd AD at Cannon AFB). These t hree
phases of Operat ion Saw Buck gave each
squadron's pilots a ninety- day rotat ion at
Takhli but used the same eighteen F-lOOs .
Lt ol David . Wi lli ams command d the
522nd TFS Detachment at Takhli in the
spring of 1964.
Duri ng our stay there we part icipated in
EATO [South East A ia Treaty rgani zat ion l
fl yi ng exercises with Thai Air Force units, the
Royal Australi an Air Force's 77 Squadron and
RAF units from Si ngapore. During the Exerci e
the King of T hail and visited our organi za t ion
and I had the opportuni ty to present him with a
memento of t he o cas ion.
This F-1000, 55-3559 assigned to Capt Paul
Phillips, made a successful barrier engagement
after landing without brakes or hydraulics. Peter
Vanderhoef
In May 1964 we redeployed with our F- IOOs
to Cannon AFB via air refuelling with stops at
Guam and Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Once back at
Cannon we made extraordinary efforts to catch
up on all our training requirements such as
83
weapons delivery, dart target firing qualifi cati on
and ni ght ai r refuelling which we could not
accompli sh at Takh li.
After a major TAC Operati onal Read iness
Inspect ion (OR!) in July 1964, whi ch the
27th TFW passed with fl ying colours, the
522nd TF was designated as th Wing'
'Alpha' squadron.
This meant t hat if there was a requirement for
the Wing to deploy a fighter squadron for an
unschedu led miss ion anywhere in the world we
were ' it' and we had to be fu ll y cocked, loaded
and on a short tether.
The next stage in esca lat ion wa a
r sponse to in reased North Vietnamese-
inspired insurgency in Laos. In January
1964, th US Joint Chi efs of Staff r com-
m nded the bombing of North Vietnam
and ground operati ons in Laos. By May of
that year Pathet Lao fo rces occupied the
Plaine des Jarres and on 6 June a VFP-63
RF- A on a Yankee Team recce fli ght wa
hot down in that area. An F-80 from VF-
111 , escorting another RF-SA, was lost on
7 June. The decision was taken to hit back
at the Pathet Lao AAA sites responsible
for the e hoot-downs. Eight F-1 000 of
the 615th TFS, 401st TFW re-deployed
from Clark AB (where they had just arri ved
on temporary duty (TOY) to Da Nang in
South Vietnam. Col George Laven, for-
merl y commander of the 4 79th Fi ghter
Day Wing (FDW) ten years previously,
VI ETNAM WARHORSE

Loading a BLU-1 napalm bomb from an MJ-1 munitions loader on to an F-100D's out-
board pylon. The requirement to deliver napalm from straight-and-level flight at only a
few hundred feet of altitude caused many combat losses. Norm Taylor Coll ection
led the first combat miss ion on 9 June.
Each aircraft ca rri ed a pair of nineteen-
hot 2.75in rocket pods and four 500lb
g n ral purpose (GP) bombs. Bad weat h-
er and diffi ul ty in find ing the KC- 135
tankers impeded the miss ion, but Laven's
fli ght probably succeeded in damag ing a
Pathet Lao defensible posit ion. A second
fli ght of F- lOODs had inadvertentl y
bombed t he jungle som 25 mi les (40km)
away from the ass igned target. The eight
fi ghters returned to Da Nang via Udorn
RTAFB, ending the first F-100 combat
mi ss ion.
The 615th TF was also the first
F-100 uni t to r spond to the Gulf of
Tonkin incident on 2 August 1964. Ten F-
lOODs were d patched from Clark AB to
Da Nang, followed shortl y after by other
from t he 612th TF and the 614t h TF
Lucky Devils commanded by Lt Col Cregg
olan. David Willi am received orders on
4 August to deploy t he 522nd TFS to
lark AB the following day, and thre
cells of six F- l OOs plus spares launched
early on August 5, arriving at lark in the
middle of a loca l typhoon.
It was the worst weat her I have ever encoun-
tered during approach and land ing in my ent ire
career. We penetrated and landed in formation
by pairs under TACAN [tactica l air navigation]
and GCA \ground controll ed approach] control.
Rain was coming down so hard I could not see
t he ru nway wh n I reached minimums, but at
t he last second I was able to acquire t he hi gh
intensity yell ow approach li ghts and continue to
touch-down. Water on the runway must have
been at leas t 4i n deep because when I looked
back to ascertain that my wingman had
deployed hi s drag chute I coul d hardl y see him
because of t he 'rooster rail ' of water hoot ing up
over his aircraft from my own landing gear. We
remained at lark AB for about a week and were
t hen directed to deploy six F- 1 OOs to Da ang
AB and another six to Takhli . I led the six bi rds
to Da ang and sent my Ops Officer, Maj Bob
Buss with the other six to Takhli.
At Da ang th 522nd TF crews operat-
ed alongside t h 615th TF 0 tachment
commanded by Maj Dave Ward. As David
Williams recalled:
Our mission was to provide armed escort for RF-
LOL photo reconnaissance aircraft flying over
South Vietnam and Laos. We were authorized
to expend ordnance onl y if we, or t he RF-l Ol s
were fired upon. Our ordnance load for t he
escort mission was two LAU-3 pods and a fu ll
load of 20mm ammo. Occasionally we carri ed
AGM- 12 air-to-ground missil es. ur ot her
tasking was to provide BAR AI for E M
[electroni c countermeasures] and other types of
hi gh-alti tude reconnaissance mi ions up in t he
far reaches of the ul f of Tonkin, between
84
North Vietnam and the h ine e island of
Hainan. We had long-durati on stat ion times on
BAR CAP missions and had at least two air refu-
ellings per sorti e. Our ordnance was a fu ll load
of20mm and two A\M-9 [air intercept! miss il es.
From ea rly ept mber 1964, David
Willi ams opted to deploy t he ent ire 522nd
T FS to Da ang, incl uding t he six aircraft
t hat had previously gone to Takhli . They
cont inued to fl y recce e cort and BAR-
AP mi ion .
On BARCAP we had good radar coverage and
direction from Panama, the GCI \ground con-
troll ed interception] site atop Monkey Moun-
tain, north-east of Da Nang. We had very few
heads- up ca lls on bogies [Mi Gs] and no
engagements. Occasionall y we wou ld sight
contrails over land but t hey never ventured
out over the Gul f.
The detect ion of M iG-1 7 Fresco- A fight-
er at Noi Bai AB near Hanoi on 7 August
brought demands from t he Pacific Air
Force (PACAF) commander for strikes
aga inst thi s new t hreat by Da Nang F-l OOs,
but this plan failed to get approval from
Washington. The 428th TF Buccaneers
returned to Takh I i RT AFB on a 1964 TOY,
and two years after F- l OOs began opera-
ti ons in the area, the first Super Sabre
shoot-down occurred. Four F- l OODs were
sent to fl y combat air control over recov-
ery of downed aircrew (R s AP) for a
Royal Laot ian AF T- 28 pil ot on 18 August
after a UH-34 rescue heli copter was also
brought down. An F-1000 (56-3085 ) took
a hi t whi le strafing enemy AAA ite and
the pilot, 1st Lt Arnie lark of the 522nd
TF , ejected safel y over Thail and. It was
the first of 242 F-l OOs (19 combat and 44
operat ional) to be lost during the Vietnam
confli ct with t he deaths of eighty- even
aircrew. Two were killed over th north of
Vietnam, fiv became prisoners of war
(POWs) and five went missing in action
(MIA), but fourteen were rescued.
The F-l OOs held up well under th diffi -
cult climat ic condit ions of uth East Asia
but there were inevitable techni ca l prob-
1 ms. David Will iams:
During the monsoon season the rail -cone 'eyelids'
often fa iled to open properl y when afterburners
were lit for rake off. This resulted in an over-tem-
perature condi tion for the ]57 and a ' hard li ght'.
We call ed Clark A B to send us a P& W [Pratt and
Whitney] techni cal expert. After his inspecti ons
he informed me that gunk from the con rant rai ns
VI ET AM WAR HORSE
Armourers work on the M39 guns of an F-1000. The F-104 Starfighters in the
background indicate Da Nang as the location. Norm Taylor Collection
was forming on the eyelids, causing t hem to stick
together instead of opening properl y. He cleaned
them all up and used some kind of graphite lubri -
cant, thereby improving the situat ion but not
elimi nating it altogether.
In response to the increasing threats to US
aircraft, PACAF graduall y establ ished a
compl x search and rescue (SAR) net-
work. It had one of its earli est work-out
on 18 November 1964 when another Da
Nang F-l OOD was fa t all y damaged while
escorting a Yankee Team recce fli ght. Capt
W. M. Martin's 613th TFS aircraft took an
AAA hit whi le strafing gun positions that
had fired on an RF-101. He ejected, but
had died from his injur ies by the t ime res-
cu rs arrived. In all , forty-two aircraft were
involved in t he attempt, including a fli ght
of newly introduced F-l OSs that d mol-
ished t he offending AAA site. In a simil ar
AAA suppression miss ion in the Mu Gia
Pa on 19 February 1965, F- l OOD 55-3783
wa hi t and the 613th TFS commanding
officer (CO), Lt Col Bob Ronca, was
ki lled. The 613th TFS had been econded
from the 40l st TFW (then at England
AFB) to Da Nang a few weeks before. It
remained at Da Nang until Jul y 1965, los-
ing three more aircraft, anot her pilot
ki lled and a third captured by th North
Vietnamese during the next phase of t he
war, including Operation Barrel Roll and
t he early stages of Rolling Thunder.
Rolling Huns
The first strike in Operation Barrel Roll
wa on 14 December 1964, one of a series
of limi t d trikes aimed at North Viet-
name Army ( VA) forces in Laos near
t he border with North Vietnam. On this
occas ion, eight F-l OODs fl ew combat air
patrol to counter enemy air defences
(MiGCAP) for F-lOSDs carrying 750lb
bombs, AGM- 12 Bullpups and cluster
bomb unit C BU-2A on an armed r con-
naissance with an RF- l Ol C for BOA pic-
tures. A veh icle on an ' underwater
bricl ge' was attacked with six bombs, all of
which mi sed. Attacks on secondary tar-
gets wer fr u trated by low cloud, and no
enemy oppositi on wa encoun tered. On a
similar mi ss ion on 21 D c mb r, four
428th TFS Huns were unable to find their
target under dense jungle cover and were
lucky to e cape some intense AAA fire.
The Da Nang F- lOOs began to draw the
fl ak suppression mi ss ion, attacking a heav-
ily defended bridge at Ban Ken on the cru-
cial Route 7 on 13 January 1965. The main
strike was by sixteen F-1 OSs while two
fl ights of Super Sabres fl ew a 'wall ' inl ine
abreast, deluging the thirty AAA posi-
t ions wit h CBU-2A canisters. They made
repeated strafing passes and Capt Ferguson
was shot cl own while making his fifth run
against the guns. In another fl ak suppres-
ion miss ion on 8 February 1965, twenty
85
Da Nang aircraft successfull y pounded the
defences around an NVA barracks at Chap
Le in North Vietnam, backing up six A-1
Skyraider bombers. Although the F-lOO's
20mm gun were ffecti ve aga inst AAA,
pil ots were to suffer numerous losses in the
dang rous business of close- in duelli ng
with fl ak sites.
After six Barrel Roll miss ions, a review
conclud d that t h operat ion had been
l ss than eft ctiv . Th pr ssure was
st pped up with Operati on Flaming Dan,
the first major strikes inside North Vi et-
nam, which began on 7 February 1965. By
that t ime over 150 F-1050 had be n
ass igned to PA AF Wings. The Republic
j t coul d carr y twice th F-l OOD's bomb-
load 50 per cent faster (part icularl y at low
alt itude). It was inevitable that F-105
units would take the burden of str ikes
against the increasingly heavily defended
targets in North Vietnam. F-lOSs soon dis-
placed F-l OODs on TOYs to Takhli and the
62 4th Wing (Provisional) was estab-
li shed with Thunderchi efs at Korat
RTAFB. In add iti on, the 23 rd TFW began
a two-squadron, eight-month TOY at Tan
Son Nhut AB. The F-100 squadrons
increas ingly suppli d fi ghter over and
flak suppression for F-105 strikes.
After two brief phases of Operat ion
Flaming Dan, President L. B. Johnson initi-
ated Operation Rolling Thunder on 2 March
1965 with a major attack (Rolling Thunder
5) on an ammunition dump and a naval
base in North Vietnam. It drew on most of
Da Nang's F- 100 assets including the 613th
TFS and recently deployed 53 1st TFS. The
428th TF (which replaced the 522ncl TF
at Da Nang from late November 1964) sup-
plied fi ghter cover for the strike on Quang
Khe naval base.
ln all , forty Super Sabres accompanied a
force of forty- five Korat F- l OSs. The Huns
shared fl ak suppression with fifteen F-
l OSs, fl ew Mi GCAP with one fli ght,
weat her recce and R sCAP. MiGCAP air-
craft carried Al M-9B mi ss iles while the
fl ak suppressors were each armed with two
pods of 2.75in rockets and a pair of 750lb
bombs. No strike F-l OSs wer lo t as the
fl ak suppressors were very ffect ive again t
unexpectedly fi erce defences, but fi v up-
pressors went down. In three ca es they
were hit on repeat passes at the same tar-
get. Two F-l OODs were lost - one was
Takhli-bas d and its pi lot , LtJ. A. Cullen
(flying 56-3 150), was recovered from the
sea by an HU- 16. The other, a 613th TFS
aircraft (55-2857) was hi t during a pass
VI ET AM WA RHORSE
481st TFS four-ship on initial approach to Tan Son Nhut AB. Nearest the camera is Capt Stephen Dvorchak's 56-3063
The Shadow (based on a MAD Magazine character). '548 was assigned to 1st Lt Tom Tilghman and Pretty Penny is
flying as Number 2 to the leader's '604. Peter Vanderhoef
against t he guns. The pilot, 1st Lt Hayden
] . Lockhart evaded capture for a week
before becoming t he first USAF pilot to be
captured in Nort h Vietnam. He remained
a POW for eight years.
The campaign resumed on 15 March
wit h Rolling Thunder 6, a U N attack. For
Rolling Thunder 7 t he tact ics changed.
Armed reconnaissance of road and rail
routes was added to t he ' listed' targets.
Dur ing April 1965 over 1,500 combat sor-
t ies were fl own over North Vietnam,
roughly half by USAF aircraft. Rolling
Thunder 9A on 3 April brought t he first of
many assaults on t he recently completed
Ham Rong (Dragon's Jaw) road and rail
Panels are off this 481 st TFS F-1000 for peri odic
inspection, but the extended 335gal tanks remain in
place. Peter Vanderhoef
86
VI ETNAM WAR HORSE
A econd attack on the bridge took
plac th n xt day using forty-eight F-105
bombers (but no Bull pups) and a seven-
st rong F- l OOD ResCAP. The 416th TFS
ilver Knights, newly arrived from lark
AB in a Sawbuck omposite Air Strike
Force d ploym nt, provided the Mi G AP
fli ght that orbited above t he fli ghts of four
F-105Ds as t hey dived to lay their 7501bs
bomb n the ' Dragon's Jaw' .
MiG Kill(?)
Pete Vanderhoef examines a flak hole in the slat of his aircraft, the only damage he
suffered in 130 combat missions. Peter Vanderhoef
Green Flight of ResCAP F- l OODs, armed
with rock t pods and 20mm included Capt
Don Ki lgus. They took up stat ion just off
the coast to the south-east of the target
area, orbiting in case they were nee led to
cross t he coa t and cover a r scue attempt.
As the F-1 00 wung north they were met
head-on by a pair of MiG-17s, whi ch used
their superi or turning performance to pull
in behind two elements of Green Flight.
The Americans took vi olent evasive act i n
and engaged the Mi G . Don Kilgu (Green
2) ll owed one of them in a n ar-verti a!
dive fr m 20,000ft (6, 100m) firing a suc-
ce ion of 20mm bursts at the VPAF jet. He
saw a fl ash on the MiG's ri ght tail -plane and
some debris but at 7,000ft (2, 140m) he was
unable to focus hard on the target as he
struggled to haul his plummet ing F-100 out
bridge at Than Hoa, only 70 miles
(1 12km) from Hanoi. Lt Col Robinson
Risner coordinated a force of twenty-one
F- l OODs support ing sixteen F- l OSs and a
pair of RF-101Cs. Ten KC-135A were
also required. Sixteen of the Thund r-
chi efs carri ed Bull pups and t he others had
750lb bombs that, on this occasion, were
almost as ineffective as the missiles against
such a 'hard' target. Two F- 1 00 flew ahead
of t he strik force on a weather recce
fl ight, report ing over 5 mil es (Skm) visi-
bili ty. In view of the huge and rapid
increase in North Vietnamese AAA
defences, another seven F-1 OODs joined
fifteen F- 1 05 Ds as fl ak suppressors. Four
Sidewinder-armed F- l OODs formed the
MiGCAP fli ght and eight with 2.75 in
rockets served as ResCAP. Once again the
uppre sors kept the defending gunners
busy, prevent ing losses to the bombers but
the cost was another aircraft from the
613th TFS. 1st Lt George Craig's F- l OOD
(55-3625) took a hit on its econd pass and
mashed into the ground before the pilot
could eject.
Although t he MiGCAP was not chal-
lenged by Vietnamese People's Air Force
(VPAF) fighters, 3 Apri l also marked the
fir t VPAF combat mis ion. The F- lOOD
weat her recce fl ight had been detected on
North Viet namese radar and an attack on
the Ham Rong bridge was anticipated
later in the morning. Two fli ghts of MiG-
17s were launched from Noi Bai and
intercepted USN VF-211 F-SE Crusader
attacking anot her bridge in the Than
Hoa area. Lt dr pence Thoma 'F-8 wa
set on fi re by Pham Ngoc Lau of t he 921 t
Fighter Regiment but Thomas manag d
to recover to Da Nang. The MiGs then
withdrew without encountering the
F-100 MiGCAP over the USAF strike.
Capt Joe Reynes' F-lOOD had an explosion in its gun compartment during his first
mission after a previous bail -out (on 20 September 1965 from 56-3177 during a CAS
mission}. Trapped gun gas blew off the gun-bay doors and they impaled themselves on
his inboard pylons; one each side. Peter Vanderhoef
87
of its dive. However, he and other pilots in
the fli ght were pretty sure the Mi G had
b en fatally damaged, though no fire or
crash were een. Don painted a kill marking
on his F- lOOD (55-2894 Kay Lynn) but the
lack of conclusive evidence meant that he
was only credited with a 'probable' kil l.
Meanwhile, the four MiG AP F-l OODs
(Pwple fli ght) led by the 41 6th TF CO Lt
Col Emmett L. Hays, orbited 60 miles
(95km) to t he north, covering the pre-
sum d route of any MiGs that might have
approached th strike fore . Hay ' wing-
man, Capt Keit h Connoll y, aw fou r 921 t
FR Mi G-17s led by apt Tran Hanh di v-
ing towar Is Zinc fli ght of F-105 Ds. He
ca ll ed a warning but the Thud drivers did-
n't receive it and pres ed on. Tran Hanh
closed to 1 ,300ft ( 400m) and fired a II th re
of his heavy cannons at F- 105D 59- 1764.
Th blazing Thunderchief crashed, killing
Capt Jame Magnu on of the 55th TFW.
Hanh and hi wingman, Pham Giang,
di ved away s uthward whil e a econd
MiG- 17 element led by L Minh Huan
fired at Zinc fli ght leader Maj Frank Ben-
nett's F-105D (59-1754), causi ng major
damage. The wounded Thud got Bennett
out to the coa t for a ba il out, but he
drowned before rescuers could be brought
in. Hays and Connoll y engaged afterburn-
er and closed to wit hin idewinder range
of the Mi Gs. Connolly got a good 'growl'
from his AlM-9B and fired but the mi ss il
pa ed just above the leading MiG's right
wing. Purple fli ght then witch d to gun
since the alerted F-1 05 pil ots had gon
into afterburner and an Al M-9B could
a ily have found the wrong target. ln fact,
Purple fired anot her mi ss ile later but it
fa iled to find any target. Th Mi G man-
aged to evade t he less nimbl e F- lOOD
with some strenuous manoeuvring, caus-
ing onnolly's bursts of gunfire to miss
also. ha rt of fuel, the MiG pilots headed
home. Ironica ll y, three of their number
including Le Minh Huan and hi s wingman
Tran Nguyen Nam failed to return. The
Vi tnamese a sumed that t hey had been
sh t down by US fi ghters, giving fu rther
credence to Da n's cl aim, but when n
USAF claim was made, t he VPAF attrib-
uted the losses to their own AAA.
In its first and onl y encounter wit h
MiGs, the F-l OOD was perceived as inade-
quate for th air superi ority task. In fa ir-
ness, the skirmish highlighted many of the
problems that were to take most of the war
years for USAF pilots to solve. Poor commu-
nicati ons, unhelpful rules of engagement,
V I ET AM WA RHORSE
inexperi ence in handling the rather limit-
ed AIM-9B and unfamili arity with VPAF
tact ics all put the F-100 pi lots at a disad-
vantage, as did the aircraft's lack of Flying
Boom-type air-to-air refuelli ng capabili ty.
However, it was decided that they would
not get a second chance to prove t heir air-
craft as a dogfighter, partly because the
U AF was keen to put its newe t fighter,
the F-4 , into action. The first F-4 s
entered t he war on April 4 when the 45th
TF detached from McDill's 15th TFW to
Ubon RTAFB and flew Mi AP for all
u ce sive Rolling Thunder trik in place
of F- lOODs. Its first MiG kills (the first con-
firmed kills for USAF fighters) did not take
place unt il 10 Jul y 1965 when two Mi G-
17 were claim d, though the VPAF
deni ed these lo es. Although there would
be many ma r F-1 00 mi ssions over ort h
Vietnam, none encountered MiG opposi-
ti on and no uper Sabres were lost to
enemy fighters.
After a tran r to the th TFW a
D puty Wing ommander h r Operat ions
fl ying t he F-4D Phantom (and scoring one
of the last Mi G kill s of Operation Rolling
Thunder) Lt Col David Williams was well
placed to provide a telling comparison of
the Super Sabre with its successor.
I had experi ence of fl ying the F-40 against both
the MiG- 17 and MiG-2 l over orth Vi etnam. I
feel confident that the F- 1 00 would not have
fared well in the MiGCAP role against either
MiG model. I fom1ed thi s opinion because I do
not beli eve t he F- l OO could turn wi th either of
the MiGs, could not cl imb with them and could
not out-di ve or out-run the MiG-2 1. The F- 100
suffered fro m a low thrust-to-wei ght rati o and in
a hard turn the aircraft would shudder, approach-
ing a stall even with the leading edge slats
extended. The airspeed would then bleed off
quickly, leaving the pi lot in a terri bly vulnerable
position for air-to-air combat. Another problem
I noticed in fl ying ACT [air combat tactics] was
that one could experi ence hard compressor stalls
in the )57 when attempting to select afterburner
while in a nose-hi gh angle of attack. On one such
attempt I experienced a compressor stall so vio-
lent that fire exited both the nose intake and
tail pipe simultaneously, as verified by my wi ng-
man. It shook t he rudder pedals so hard that l
temporaril y lost my foot contact with them. Such
an event in air-to-air combat could spoil a pil ot's
clay if he were, for instance attempting to break
into a hostile attacker. T he F-4 was successfu l in
fi ghting Mi Gs largely because of its hi gh thrust
from dual ]79 engines, its rapid accelerati on to
supersoni c speed, its good radar and its radar
88
gui ded AIM-7 parrow mi ss il es. The F-100
lacked all of these features.
In Country
Following the ini t ial F-4 depl yment to
Ubon, PACAF rapidly increased the I han-
tom pre ence in the war area. Four
squadrons of the th TFW Wolfl)ack arri ved
at Ka rat from August 1965 and the 12th
TFW et up business at Cam Ranh Bay at
the nd of the year. At Da ang, the 35th
TFW were re-organi zed in Aprill 966. The
366th TFW Gunfighters tran ferred from
Phan Rang and repl aced the 35th TFW,
whi ch in turn moved (in name onl y) to the
n w base at Phan Rang to control three
squadrons of F- 1 OOs from 10 October 1966.
In June 1965, Lt Col Hay ' 41 6th TF
had moved out to Bien Hoa for a month
before returning to England AFB. In
D c mber 1965, the 416th moved perma-
n ntl y to Tan Son Nhut and then rejoined
its parent 3rd TFW at Bien Hoa in June
1966.
Of the other quadrons fr m the pio-
neering 1964 omposite Air trike Force,
t he 614th TFS and 522nd TF stayed until
November 1964 and the 613th TFS unt il
Jul y 1965. This left t he 615th TFS, effec-
t ively based at Clark Field, which
remained at Da ang unt il it mov to
Phan Rang and 366th TFW control on 16
July 1966.
Super Sabre City
Phan Rang wa one of the new bases that
were rapidly constructed to accommodate
the huge increase in the US air campaign
in 1966. Like the others at Phu at, Tuy
Hoa and Bi n Hoa it had a l O,OOOft
( ,OOOm) caner te runway with parallel
taxiways and parking aprons of AM-2 or
pierced steel planking (P P) matting. At
the height of the confli ct, Phan Rang
accommodated 140 Super abres.
From 20 March 1966, the 366th TFW
under Col George Weart contr !led three
F-1000 /F squadrons: the 614th, 615th and
352nd TFS of whi ch the fir t two were ex-
Da ang uni t . The 352nd TF joined the
366th TFW from l 5 August 1966 and
remained at Phan Rang until t he end of
July 197 1 when F-1 00 operati ons in th
area ceased. The 614th TF returned to
act ion at the ba eon 18 eptember 1966
and the 615th TF arri ved on 16 Jul y of
V I ET AM WA RHORSE
The nose of F-1000-31 -NA 55-3797 is already covered in mi ssion markings as it awaits yet another combat sortie
with the 416th TFS from Bien Hoa AB in July 1965. Minimal squadron markings comprise a small green t ail-stripe.
Several of the squadron's Huns had crew names displayed in red under the windshield as seen here.
David Menard
t hat year. These two squadrons also stayed
unt il 31 July 197 1. Th final unit at Phan
Rang was Detachment 1 of t he 612t h T FS,
established to fl y the specialist Mi ty
F-l OOF FAC miss ion from May 1967.
From 1 October 1966, a ' nameplate'
exchang wit h t h 366t h TFW put t he
35th TFW in charge of t hese sq uadrons
and a pair of B-57 Canberra uni t . Later
additions to t he crowded base were an
RAAF anberra Squadron, the 8t h Spe-
cial perat ions Squadron (SOS) with A-
3 7B Dragonfli es and the 120t h T FS, Col-
orado Air Nationa l Guard (ANG) which
flew F- lOOCs with the 35th TFW for a year
from Aprill 968.
South-west of t he coastal Phan Rang
base and close to Saigon was Bien Hoa,
which became home to the 307th TFS
from t he 31st TFW at Homes tead AFB in
July 1965. lt was joined for a six- month
TOY at the bas by Cannon AFB's 429th
TF . Bot h squadrons, under the 652lst
T FW, operated against targets in t he south
of Viet nam and Laos. The 307th TFS fl w
over 3,500 sorti es without loss. The 429t h
T FS racked up a simil arly mass ive total but
lost two aircraft and t heir pilots on A
sort ies. It was t hen decided to transfer the
complete 3rd TFW from England AFB to
Bien Hoa, and t he 307th TF was t hen
replaced by the 53 l st TFS, which took
over its aircraft. From November 1965 , the
3rcl TFW, commanded by ol Robert
Ackerl y, graduall y moved its squadrons
into t he bu y base, beginning wit h the
SlOt h TFS Buzzards . By February 1966, it
also had t he 53 1st TFS and 90th TF Pair
o' Dice in place at Bien Hoa, eventually
displacing the 30 th TF Ememld Knights
to Tuy Hoa after th ir 1966 T OY. The base
rapidly expanded its accommodat ion and
maintenance facil it ies to deal with over a
hundred Super abre and their crews. By
mid-1966, t he Wing had flown 13,000
combat sort ies, averaging on a cl ay for
89
each of t he based F-l OOs.
A third base was sought for the F-1 00
force t hat was expanding so rapidly that at
t he height of t he war only five TAC F-100
squadrons remained in t he USA. Qui Non
was initi all y earmarked for deve lopment,
but in February 1966 the Red Horse con-
struct ion teams moved into Phu at, a
coastal site to t he east of Pleiku and the
most nort herl y of the Super Sabre bases. It
was only t hirty minutes from North Viet-
nam by F-100. There, the 37th TFW wa
established on 1 March 1967 with t h
416th TFS Silver Knights (from Tan Son
Nhut via Bi en Hoa ) and, from February
1968, the 355t h TFS, the last F-100 unit
to deploy to Viet nam. Phu Cat also hosted
the Misty FAC Detachment of the 612t h
TF between Jun 1967 and April 1969.
Th 174th TFS, Iowa ANG deployed to
the bas for a year from May 1968.
An even bigger concent rat ion of F-1 OOs
was assembled at the fourt h base, Tuy Hoa,
VIET AM WAR HORSE
Crusaders at War
Cartridge start time for this 481st TFS Crusader at Tan Son Nhut AB. F-1000 55-3569, assigned to Capt William
Carrothers, already bears an impressive tally of mission marks. David Anderton Collection via David Menard
Tan Son Nhut near Saigon became the base for the
481 st TFS Crusaders. one of the four 27th TFW
squadrons. Fol lowing one of its regular TOY assign-
ments to Misawa, the unit was put on secondary alert
status in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It
deployed on 12 June 1965 in Operation Two Buck 76
with eighteen F-1 OOs via Hickam AFB and Clark AB. The
deployment was conducted in such secrecy that staff at
Clark were unprepared for the arrival of the F-100s and
their attendant KC-135s and C-130s on 14 June. A week
later the squadron moved on to Tan Son Nhut, making
the last of nine aeri al refuel lings in the 9,213nm fli ght
from Cannon AFB. However. six aircraft led by David
Williams (who had joined the squadron whi le awaiting
a posting to the Air War College) were sent to augment
the F-1 DO units at Da Nang. After a week of MSQ and
forward air controlled (FAC) attack mi ssions, these air-
craft rejoined the rest of the squadron at Tan son Nhut.
Crusaders were the fi rst tacti cal jet fighters to fly from
the busy base, operating alongside B-57s, RF- 1 01 s and
A-1 E Skyrai ders. Of its thirty pil ots only four had previ-
ous combat experience though their commander, Lt Col
Harold 'Hal' Comstock. had flown P-47s wi th Zemke's
Wo/fpackduring WWII. Hi s score of seven German air-
craft was featured alongside the copious Vietnam mi s-
sion scoreboard on the nose of his F-1 DOD (55-3604).
The Crusaders began flying close air support (CAS)
missions by day and night plus rapid response tactical
air strikes. though a number of pilots were not qualified
for the Night Ow/missions. 1st Lt Peter Vanderhoef was
among those whose first real night fl ight was a napalm
attack on road traffic in total darkness. He calculated
that his napalm drop was made at about 1Oft (3m) above
ground level (AGL) since he was suddenly aware of
trees on both si des of the road being lit up by flames
above his aircraft's alti tude.
One particularly successful mission was the relief of
a Special Forces Camp at Bu Dop on the night of 19 July
1965. It was the first of many F-1 DO mi ssions to relieve
beleaguered US Special Forces instal lations. Capt Norm
Turner and 1st Lt Don Watson repeatedly attacked Viet
Cong (VC) machine-gun positions in dreadful visibility
below a 500ft (150m) cloud cei ling. Their FAC. Capt Hal
Howbower. was able to steer in a C-123 flare ship to
provide some assistance and the two F-1 ODD pil ots (fl y-
ing 56-3613 and 55-3528) were able to repel the VC's
attempt to infiltrate the camp. Both men were awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for the mission.
Sadly, Don Wat son didn't live long enough to receive his
medal. Hi s F-1 ODD (55-2837) was shot down on 31 July
during a napalm attack on a VC headquarters posit ion.
Five of the squadron's original eighteen Huns were shot
down by the end of the deployment on 27 November 1965.
Among them was F-lOOD 56-3177 pi loted by Capt Joe
Reynes On 20 September. a day when seven US fighters
were lost. Joe was flying on a CAS sortie near the Mekong
Delta. The ai rcraft took a hit and started venting fuel prodi-
giously. Pete Vanderhoef was on his wi ng as they cli mbed
to 20.000ft l6.000m) to exit the area.
He was dumping JP-4 in a sheet about a foot wide from the
underside split line of his plane and we decided he had best
90
leave it before it lit off. Everything happened in slow motion
just like the book said. Joe floated down as I watched his
bird fly way out to sea. His autopilot must have been work-
ing, which was unusual. I called in all kinds of cover and
stuck around until the company arrived.
A Huey rescue helicopter took Joe back to Tan Son Nhut
where he chose to air a grievance to the Base CO. While
he had been on the ground. awaiting rescue there had
been:
... unidentified folks moving around and Joe was armed with
our wonderful Navy reject .38 revolver. six rounds of ammu-
nition and a survival knife. Because we were a 'rotational'
squadron. expected to be on base for three months. we
were the tailend of the supply chain. There were PCS [per-
manent change of stat ion! airmen working in the post office
at Tan Son Nhut that carried Combat Masterpeice .38s with
all the ammunition they wanted.
Joe had been given whisky by the Huey crew and some
more was suppl ied by the C-130 crew who took him
back to base. Pete Vanderhoef described the outcome:
The Tan son Nhut Base Commander came out to welcome
him home. along with all the 481 st guys. Joe seemed sober
until he recognized the Base CO and in a rather unsubtle
manner he asked why non-combatants were receiving all the
survival gear and those of us who were exposed to combat
every day couldn't even get a box of .38 calibre shells for our
side-arms. I seem to remember two or three of our Squadron
members carrying Joe oil to the infirmary 'to be checked'
(read 'separated from the Base CO'). The next day we were
no longer at the end of the survival gear supply line.
For Joe, the next mission almost cost him another bail -
out when his gun-bay door was blown off in a gun-gas
explosion (see page 87).
'Hal' Comstock was assigned an unusual mi ssion
when he led a four-ship escort for the less-than-popular
US Secretary of Defense. Robert McNamara. on a July
inspection tour of bases in South Vietnam. During the
flight the F-1 OOs were cal led upon to bomb and strafe a
VC command post while McNamara looked on at a safe
distance from his T-39 Sabre liner.
1st Lt Thomas E. Lowe was Intelligence Officer wi th
the squadron. organizing the pre-flight briefings that F-
1 DO crews received about ninety minutes before take-off
and debriefing them after each mission. Every evening
the squadron received a 'frag' order for the following
day's operations and began planning for missions
against 'suspected VC concentrations' or 'VC headquar-
ters. indicated by map grid references. Aircraft and
pilots were assigned by the Squadron Operations Off icer
whi le ordnance type. radio frequencies and times-over-
target (TOT) were also settled. Tom Lowe commented on
the high fai lure rate in the ordnance suppli ed to them:
During the first month's combat the M117 7501b GP bombs
with M163 fuses were used in quantity and the squadron
was plagued with many duds on their missions. Most of
these bombs were of Korean War vintage. When the new
VI ETNAM WARHORSE
Another view of '569 on an earlier four-ship napalm strike before nose art was painted on Crusaders aircraft. David Anderton Collection via David Menard
Mk82 streamlined bombs became available the dud rate
dropped radically.
There was also a shortage of ordnance. denied official-
ly but evident to the people flying the missions. 'For a
short time. flights of 481 st TFS F-1 ODDs were sent out
on missions with each airplane carrying only one bomb.'
Pete Vanderhoef flew 130 missions during the deploy-
ment. 20 per cent in support of troops under attack. 20
per cent on known VC positions with no 'friend lies in the
area. and the rest were 'toothpick' missions where. 'we
dropped bombs in the dense jungle on a spot chosen by
a FAG that he thought might contain a VC position. They
were called "toothpick" missions because we converted
large trees into tooth-picks with 7501b bombs' . Early in
whi ch was located to t he south of Phu Cat
and also on t he sandy coast. Work began
in June 1966 and AM-2 temporary run-
ways were in place for the first F-l OODs of
the 308th T F Ememld Knights when they
arri ved on 15 November. It was the first of
five F-100 uni ts to share t he base under t he
auspices of the 31st T FW, whi ch had pre-
viously sent some of its squadrons to Bien
the war. he was among the pilots who began to sense
the way in which Washington's micro-management of
the war minimized the effect of the combat effort and put
airmen in unnecessary danger.
Every mi ssion had to be personally approved by President
Johnson and SecDef McNamara. By the time they sent it
back to Viet Nam everybody knew what it was so the VC
were either gone or ready for us. We had one mission
where there was a village on a north-south road with a
small river running through from east to west. We were
told to hi t the north-east quadrant but were explici tly told
not to drop anything on the south-west quadrant because
there was a meeting of a dozen VC and NVA Generals
there! We did as we were told.
Hoa on T DY . It took up r sidence at Tuy
Hoa from 25 December 1966, bringing it
306th and 309th squad rons to join t he
308th. A fourth squadron, t he 307th TF ,
had returned to the USA at the end of
l 965 and ev ntuall y joined the 40 l st
T FW at Torrejon, Spain to replace one of
its uni ts t hat had d ployed to PACAF. The
re-const it uted 3lst Wing was establi shed
97
In its six-month TOY (extended from three months) the
squadron dropped 5.665 bombs including 155 Mk 82
Snakeye retarded weapons. The Crusaders were
among the fi rst USAF units to use this type of bomb.
Over South Vietnam, descri bed by one pi lot as 'one big
gunnery range', the squadron also fired an incredible
1 ,597,145 rounds of 20mm high explosive/incendiary
(HEll. Each shel l cost US$2.45 in 1965 dollars. Of the
twenty-nine pilots who originally deployed, twenty-
one flew over 1 DO missions. They logged 1,000 hours
of combat fl ying in their first thirty-four days of battle
and 2,000 hours by 6 September, averaging thirty sor-
ties per day.
under ol James Jabara, one of twelve
Korean War aces who later commanded
F-100 squadr n , until hi death in a car
a cident whereupon ol Raymond Lee
assumed command. Later addit ions to the
Wing were the 355 th TFS (moved from
Phu Cat) and the much-travelled 416th
TF Silver Knights, both in May 1969. A
pa ir of ANG quadron , the 136th TFS,
VI ET AM WARHORSE
Rolling out of its revetment at Bien Hoa AB, F-1000-61 -NA 56-2920 has the 'CE' codes
of the 510th TFS Buzzards and Snakeye bombs. Some of the squadron's aircraft later
received nicknames, such as Buzzard of Bien Hoa (56-3087) flown by Capt Ronald
Fogleman who later became USAF Chief of Staff. Norm Taylor via David Menard
The SUU-7 dispensed a variety of CBU-1/46 series bombs containing BLU-series
sub-munitions for anti -personnel. fragmentation or smoke. The ordnance was ejected
rearwards from a combination of the nineteen tubes, with springs and air pressure
through the front of the dispenser providing the required force. A fully loaded SUU-7
could weigh up to 9001b (410kg) . Peter Vanderhoef
92
ew York ANG and t he 188t h TFS, ew
Mexico ANG joined the Wing from
May/Jun 1968 on a one-year T OY.
Life on the Line
Despite very attempt to make t he new
bases secur , t h y were inevitably exposed
to V attack, most frequentl y during t he
January 1968 Tet offensive when twenty-
thre US and Vietnamese AF bases were
h it. At that t ime, forty- five mi ss iles were
fired at Bien Hoa, de troying F- l OOD 55-
568. An F-l OOF (56-3923) was wrecked
at t h base, three ot hers damaged in a sim-
il ar raid on 17 February and two more were
burned out at Phan Rang in January 1969.
F- 100 E M techni c ian Al Neubecker
experi enced a V base attack at Tuy Hoa.
I was asleep when the sapper attack started but was
awakened by the explosions. That morning we went to
see t he destructi on and I aw in the revetments a lot of
VI ETNAM WA RHORSE
615th TFS armament personnel re-arm F-1000-31-NA 56-3307 at Phu Cat AB on 7
March 1971. A detachment from the 35th TFW at Ph an Rang AB was sent to Phu Cat to
suppress VietCong activity around the base. Norm Taylor
ashes and onl y landi ng gears left . Guys told me they
shot all seven sappers dead as they headed fo r the fuel
ranks. An autopsy was done and they were all on heavy
drugs.
Fuel at the coastal bases was meant to be
piped in directly through lines t hat con-
nected to fu el shi ps off shore. In practice,
thes pipes were frequentl y sabotaged. The
Phu Cat pipelin was out of act ion most of
the t ime and fuel had to be brought in by
other means.
Per onnel soon got hardened to the
almost nightl y r ck t or mortar a saults on
their bases. At Phan Rang, fuel sy rem
mechanic Bob Macavoy quickly learned to
tell t he difference between the loud bang
of a rocket landing and the dull t hud of a
mortar round, 'The "gooks" nev r tried to
get us, t hey were always after our equi p-
ment so we felt somewhat secure near our
tents or barracks' .
For pil ots there was t he con rant threat
of small -arms fi r on tak -off or final
approach from a VC sni per hidden in the
undergrowth near t he base with a rifle or
light machine gun. 1 t Lt Tomkinson's
Sl Oth TFS F- l OOD (S6-3269) was hi t on
approach to Bien Hoa in March 1968 and
he ejected as it crashed a mile from the
base. Maj G.]. Butler of t he 61Sth TFS
took a small -arms hit as hi s F-l OOD (SS-
2914) climbed away from Phan Rang in
june 1968, forcing him to ba le out. Th
foll owing month another F- l OOD (SS-
2900) was hit in th same way and t he
consequent loss of fuel forced th pil ot to
make an emergency landing in whi ch the
aircraft crashed.
On many occasions F-100 pilots took off
and attacked troops or suspected gun posi-
t ions within sight of their base, almost a
soon as t hey had retracted their landing
gear. On one such miss ion, Capt Roland
Obenland was shot down while making a
napalm drop on a t roop concentrat ion
only S miles (8km) from Bi en Hoa.
Aircraft on the bases were init iall y pro-
tected by 12ft (3.Sm) high ARMCO
revetments, but after the 1968 offensive
most bases received 'wonder arch' shelt rs
of corrugated steel shells with an 18in
( 4 Scm) concrete core. Over 3 70 were con-
tructed by the end of 1969.
Forth hundreds of maintainers tasked
with keeping up the sort ie rates at each F-
100 base, the war could get dangerously
close. Hank Va lentine 'crewed' for the
3S2nd TFS at Phan Rang in 1967- 68. On
one occasion he was sitt ing in th cockpit
93
of an F- l OOD as it was towed to the north
end of t he runway, wait ing to cross to th
engine tr im pad between the runways.
We had no radi o. Whi le sitting there, checking
for aircraft landing, we looked back up the fli ght
line and noted that the lights were out on the
base. Then we started hearing pings and popping
noises and we saw some tracer bullets north of us
but thought nothing of it. After the Line Chief
came and told us to head back we understood the
reason for the noises and blackout. On return to
the revetment we noticed a hole in the Coleman
tow- tractor, another in the F- lOO's intake and one
under the ejecti on seat that I had been sitting in.
Hank went through t he eight-week F-100
maintenance course and joined the 3S2nd
TFS.
My trainer was S/Sgt Edwards and t he first day
he left me alone with ' his' aircraft I found out
how com pi icated the plane was. I forgot to
check t he utilit y reservoi r and t he plane ended
up abort ing. I learned a great dea l when S/Sgt
Edwards got back' A ircrews were t he first pri or-
ity, though we had some crews who t hough t the
aircraft was going to fl y itse lf. I remember one
pil ot who used to come out to t he aircraft and
cl imb in t he cockpit without doing a walk-
around check. We cured him by strapping hi m
into an F- 100 with no engine and onl y ' four
pointed' [the rear fuselage was connected to the
rest of t he aircraft by four bolts whil e the engine
was removed to be worked on]. A second
ground crew member held the starter A PU [aux-
ili ary power unitl hose underneath t he aircraft.
When the pil ot didn't get any rpms he was a li t-
tl e upti ght and reported us to t he commander.
Needless to say, he started doing walk-arounds
aft er t hat. T he F- l OO was a pl ane that a crew
chi ef could ground very easily. If a pil ot got too
cocky we would crack one of the hydrauli c 'B'
nuts in t he wheel well [abort ing the mission].
Fort unately, we didn 't have to pull these nasty
pranks very often.
Dave Menard recounted the tale of a
maintainer who was a:
... sort of ' hippy G l' who wore his squadron
patch on the top of his fati gue hat instead of on
his shi rt. One day, a pil ot was pre- fl ighting a
Hun when he noticed a pudd le of oil in the
afterburner tailpipe. The umber 6.5 bearing
was known to leak on th is aircraft so the pil ot
asked the G I where the oil was from. He stuck
hi s fi nger into the pudd le, tasted it and yell ed,
'Texas!' Boy, did he get a rea ming for that, but
it roll ed ri ght off him.
VIET AM WARHORSE
Pilot Thad Crooks with his napalm and M117-armed F-1000-56-NH 55-2914 of the
615th TFS at Phan Rang AB. On 18 June 1968. this aircraft was hit by small-arms fire,
seconds after it was airborne from Ph an Rang, caught fire and crashed. Its pilot, Maj
G. J. Butler ejected 10 miles from the base. Joe Vincent Coll ection
Guns, Bombs and Gas
Among the busiest people on a wartime F-
100 base were the armourers, feeding up to
200 round of yellow-banded HEP 20mm
shell s into each of the four magazines for
an F-l OOD's M-39E guns. As Richard Such
of t he 43l st Mun iti ons Squadron put it:
Our F- l OOs really liked to strafe. I noti ced a lot
of them t hat were shot up prett y badly but they
still made it in OK and went out again as soon
as they were repaired. They weren' t the fastest
planes around but they did what they were sup-
posed to do; they del ivered the goods right on
target. The 20mm was sent to us in metal ammo
cans. We received deli very from the Army and
from huge amph ibious vehicl es call ed LARKs
that also delivered our napalm. Our Munitions
Squadron was asked to attend Commander's
Cal l every month. The pilots showed movi es of
their attacks and I was quite impressed with the
accuracy of t heir strafing and bombi ng runs.
would literall y melt walking on the PSP sur-
faces. The 20mm group worked their butts off
and I' m glad we put in so many hours as the t ime
went by much faster. The bomb crews didn't
work half t he hours t hat we did but they had
free time to think about home. I couldn't have
handl ed that.
The ame armourer ' workload was signifi -
cantl y incr as d by th ir additi onal work
arming the four GAU-28/A guns in the
hard-worked 7l st SOS AC- 119G 'Shadow'
gunshi ps at the base, each of whi ch took
50,000 rounds on a dayli ght sor1ie.
One of the gunners on the Jet-ass isted
AC- 119K variant was Everett prous who
had pr viously done a tour at Bien Hoa in
1968- 69 on an F-100 weapons crew.
I was an Mj - l 'jammer' dri ver. The MJ -1 held
the bomb in a cradl e and a good dr iver coul d
line up the bomb so perfectl y that it went ri ght
up to the F- IOO's pylon and cli cked into t he
bomb hooks. Most of the t ime we were never
rushed to load the planes. We had four-man
weapons crews and were assigned five aircraft
during a twel ve-hour sh ift. Once the planes
were gone over by maintenance we would do
our thing. The armament electron ics had to be
checked first to make sure all t he systems were
functi onal. We ' prepped' and loaded the can-
nons, then we loaded the bombs. The 'jammer'
was a very stable vehicl e, but it could sli de on
wet pavement if you drove too fast and hit the
brakes. We didn 't use t hem to load ex ternal fuel
ranks. Bomb preparation and loading was as safe
as the crews doing the work. The fuses were
install ed before the bombs were loaded, with
nose and tail fuses on almost all bombs. The
rail -fuse ensured detonation if the nose fa iled. A
wire ran from the nose- fuse fi ns to the back of
the bomb. When the pi lot dropped an armed
bomb th is wi re wou ld pull our of t he fuses and
stay on the aircraft 's pylon, allowing the fuses to
arm. If a bomb had to be dropped 'safe' for some
reason the bomb would release wit h the wire
attached and it would not detonate.
Once, when loading napalm the bomb dump
sent us some outdated WP (wh ite phosphorous
ign iter). T his came in sea led cans that you
opened with a key li ke a can of meat. I opened
We had a great base at Tuy Hoa except in the
evening when we got shell ed. It seemed like we
got hit every ni ght but I never knew of anyone
getting hurt. We lived in metal buil dings and
when a mortar round went off it felt like you
were in a tin can. There were hobby shops, a
movie theatre, a church and all kinds of sports
facili t ies and t he sea was like bath water. The
heat was so intense, averaging l55F on the
fli ght line where t he F- l OOs were. Your boots
An F-1000-51 -NH atTuy Hoa AB with the 31stTFW before the application of tail codes.
Joe Vincent
94
VI ETNAM WARHORSE
Richard G. Such and his colleague Geno Randolph (seen here in July 1969) filled
endless F-100 ammunition cans with yellow-banded 20mm HEI in this 431st MMS
building at Tuy Hoa AB. Richard Such
one and it started smoking. We had cans of
water always ava il able so I dropped the th ing in
and ca ll ed out to the ordnance squad. A guy
picked the WP out of the water and sa id,
'There's nothing wrong with this', as it started
smoking aga in. T hey di dn' t doubt our ca ll s aft er
t hat. On another occasion a maintainer wa
backing a vehicle and hi t a bomb square on the
no e. My crew was about fifty feet away and we
hit the ground, for all the good that would have
done. The bomb fl ew off its stand and fell on the
ground but luckil y it wasn't fused. Ordnance
dropped thi way was a rare event but rather
worrying, parti cul arl y where BU was con-
cern d as it was thought to be unstabl e.
An incid nt that t uck in Everett's m mo-
ry involved a scramble by two Bien Hoa
alert pad F-1 OOs .
The first F- 100 took off but the second got up to
take-off speed and didn't leave the ground. The
pil ot deployed the drag chute with little effect.
ext, he dropped his tail hook as he went pa t
The 416th TFS was allotted 'HE' tail codes as seen in slightly asymmetric format on F-1000-26-NA 55-3620. It also
carries a large 'Nite Owl' zap on its nose, a souvenir of a visit to Ubon RTAFB in September 1968.1n the background
is a 'BE' coded 390th TFS F-40 from the 366th TFW. AI Picciri llo via Da vid Menard
95
VIETNAM WARHORSE
Here, 20mm ammunition cans are being refilled in a Phu Cat AB revetment for VZ-coded F-1000 56-3307. By March
1971 many F-100Ds had the nose-mounted RHAW blister. Norm Taylor
us at about ! OOmph with only about a hundred
feet of runway beyond where we were standing.
The hook grabbed the chain arresting gear,
dragging each 1 OOib li nk out to its limit. The
last stopping device was a net barrier across the
very end of the runway and that came apart like
nothing, but the F-100 stopped anyway. Being
the kind of people we were we went running to
the aid of the pi lot, instead of running for cover
since the plane was loaded with napalm. The
tyres were smoking and most of the rubber was
gone. Apparently, a maintainer had 'lost' a
screwdriver that had jammed the aircraft's con-
trol column, preventing take-off.
In addit ion to the ceaseless flow of
weaponry (j ust one squadron, the 120th
TFS, dropped 14.3 mill ion pounds of
bombs, 5.6 million pounds of napalm,
423,000 rockets, 227,000lb (103,000kg) of
CBU and 1.8 million 20mm rounds in a
one-year deployment) the F-1 00 force
needed enormous quantities of JP-4 fuel.
Managing the aircrafts' fuel systems was
the job of specialists like Bob Macavoy
who was at Phan Rang in 1967-68.
Our fuel systems shop was segregated due to the
hazardous nature of our work. Our repair pad was
covered by AM-2 and when an aircraft was on
the pad for repair the area was roped off and no
one ever entered the area without our permis-
sion. We had two men dedicated to the repair of
drop tanks, which were constantly shot up, leak-
ing or had bad filler valves. I worked the mid-
night to noon shift six days a week. I spent most
of my time with an impact screwdriver and ham-
mer, pounding on the upper-surface wing screws,
which were notorious for leaking. Alert aircraft
were kept filled with fuel and when the sun was
high the fuel expanded and leaked out around
the screw heads. Sitting on the hot metal skin of
an F-100 in 100+ degrees temperature, swinging
a three-pound hammer, metal to metal, was not
much fun.
The fuel system components on the F-100
were better than most of the aircraft I worked on
and there wasn't much trouble-shooting to do.
Drop tanks were the biggest pain, followed by
the inaccessible wing fue l pump and the main
96
fue l cell. It was kind of spooky to descend into
the air intake to disconnect the supports for this
cell. Most of the components such as filler
valves, dump valves and probes had long service
lives and rarely failed but it seemed that we
replaced the forward lower fuel cell most often
because it took the brunt of VC bullets. Almost
all my 'souvenir' bullets were removed from that
section. The lower aft fuel section caused the
biggest pain for crew chiefs because for us to
replace it they had to remove the tai l section,
which they hated to do.
Check Engine, Brakes and
Tyres
Jay McCarthy was an F-100 crew chief at
Tuy Hoa from October 1968. He explained
the complexities of rear fuselage removal
to tackle engine repairs. It was a charac-
teristic the F- 100 inherited from the F-86
Sabre and shared with aircraft like the F-
84 and F-105.
RIGHT: Flying for the 31st FBW team at the October
1958 Fighter Weapons Meet at Nellis AFB was
F-1000-30-NA 55-3722. 1t carries a Mk 7 Blue Boy
nuclear shape and a counterbalancing fuel tank on
the opposite wing. Practice bombs are hung on its
centreline pylon. The Blue Boys lower fin extended
when the weapon was released. Col A. H. Johnson
BELOW LEFT. F-100C-25-NA 54-2076 representing the
435th FBS, 479th FBW at a Fighter Weapons Meet.
USAF
BELOW RIGHT: Col Art Johnson took this photo of
wingman Capt Walt Bruce's F-1000 from his own
(FW-146), en route to the Nellis AAFB Meet in 1958.
Col A. H. Johnson
F-100A-15-NA 53-1572, used by AFFTC/AROC.
Peter Schinkelshoek Coll ection
F-100F-15-NA 56-3923 in 306th TFS colours with its
own version of "The Firepower Team' marking on its
tail. The two-digit number system was unrelated to
serial numbers. F. Street via Davi d Menard
A pair of 333rd FDS F-100Fs led by a 336th
FDS F-100C, all from the 4th FDW, which flew
F-100s from 1957 to 1960. Col D. Elmer via David
Menard
Huns from the 474th TFW, displaying the markings
of the 478th TFS (F-1000-60-NA 56-2934) and 429th
TFS (F-100F-10-NA 56-3911 ). T. J. Cress via David
Menard
Complete with a personal shamrock crew panel,
this F-1000-1-NA (54-2130) was aiming for good luck
as a Fighter Meet contender. F. Street via David Menard
Early F-1000 deliveries to the 18th TFW lacked wing
fences, including 55-2837. This aircraft became an
early casualty of the Vietnam war when it crashed
during a night napalm attack on 31 July 1965 with
the loss of its pilot, 1 Lt Don Watson. F. Street via David
Menard
The 458th FBS's yellow version of the 506th FBW scheme
makes an eye-catching addition to F-1000-45-NH 55-2849.
Lt Col D. Nichols via David Menard
ABOVE: At Kadena AB, Okinawa the 18th TFW's 12th TFS flew F-100s from
1957, including F-100F-15-NA 56-4002. F. Street via David Menard
RIGHT: A gleaming 77th TFS F-1000-25-NA (55-3664) piloted by Dale
Hughes in July 1961. Col Tom Germscheid
F-1 000-46-N H 55-2798 of the 492nd TFS, 48th TFW
makes an interesting modelling with its
weathered camouflage. Peter Schi nkelshoek Col lection
F-1000-51-NH 55-2901 Colleen, armed and ready to launch with a load of finned
napalm. Joe Vi ncent
ABOVE LEFT: With 180 mission markers covering its
nose, this 307th TFS F-1000 is armed ready for
another CAS sortie from Bien Hoa AB. In six months
during 1965 the unit flew 3,502 combat missions
without loss. USAF via David Menard
ABOVE: Dale Hughes edges F-1000 55-3652 closer to
Tom Germscheid's camera for this August 1961 por-
trait. Col Tom Germscheid
LEFT: F-1000 56-3264 has the unique purple squadron
decor of the 510th TFS, 405th FW, seen here at Clark
AB in 1961. USAF via David Menard
ABOVE: A pair of 614th TFS F-1000s
returns to Phan Rang AB from an August
1970 combat mission. Unusually, the
nearer F-1000-31-NA carries a triple
ejection rack (TER). Sgt P. Seel, USAF via
David Menard
mr: A 'shotgun' (cartridge) start for a
308th TFS Emerald Knights F-1000-86-
NA 56-3456 in its revetment at Tuy Hoa
AB. Using 'litter' callsigns, the unit
deployed to the base in November 1966
from Bien Hoa AB, remaining at Tuy Hoa
until October 1970. T. B. Barnes via David
Menard
LEFT: F-100C-2-NA 53-1725 soaks up the Turkish sun as its pilot pre-
pares to taxi out. It has the 'bent' refuelling probe, arresting hook
and other High Wire updates. Saner Capoglu
BELOW LEFT: f-1000-11-NA 54-2204 in the 1976 markings of EC.2/11 at
Toul Rosieres. This aircraft was moved to RAF Woodbridge BDRF
after retirement. Author's Collection
BELOW: F-1 OOA-20-NA 53-1697 with others from the RoCAF's 23rd
Squadron at Chiayi AB. Clarence Fu
G-782 (F-1000-40-NH 55-2782) spenttime with the 405th FBW and
31st TFW before joining Esk. 730 in Denmark in August 1961. 1t
remained with this squadron for most of its Danish career
before a further transfer to the Turkish Air Force in 1981, where it
completed its thirty years of military service in May 1986. David
Menard Coll ection
VIETNAM WARHORSE
Groundcrew at Phan Rang AB check a 'cart start' on 'VZ 923' of the 615th TFS. Car-
tridge burnout time was 13-20 seconds and only two such attempts could be made
within a 60-minute period. Joe Vincent Collection
It would come as no surprise to any of us when
arriving to begin our shift to find one or more
birds with their ass-ends removed for any num-
ber of reasons. The ones that galled me most
were those incidents when an over-zealous pilot
would hard-land his F-100 and push the tail skid
through the aspirator in the tail-pipe. Auto-
matic engine change! That meant aft secti on
removal and a case of beer for the crew chief of
the plane from the pilot for causing the damage.
So while the crew chief (the guy who got all the
day-shift glory, very little maintenance, all the
take-off and landing work and his name paint-
ed on the canopy below the pilot's) is throwing
down the Budweisers back in the hooch, we
night owls fix his plane! Taking off the aft sec-
(
t:iOntOo\a few guys and it involved unbolting
the fuselage at four points. We had to remove or
uncouple hydrauli c lines, electri c cables [via
quick-disconnect cannon plugs] and other
assorted wires. Then the engi ne hoist would be
bolted on to the top of the fuselage near the sep-
aration point and it would be adjusted to lift or
lower the engine when the aft fuselage was
removed. Then the engine was worked on.
The aft section was then lowered on to a
specially designed trolley fitted with
hydraulic jacks to ensure clean separation
from the forward fuselage.
Any engine change required the jet to be taken
to the trim pad for initial testing after the engine
was re- installed. Initial engine run-up was under-
taken with the aft end still off the plane in case
the engine didn't check out at that stage. If all
went well the F-100 would be towed back to the
revetment area and the aft section would be re-
installed by the same bunch of 'grunts' who
removed it. This t ime the labour was a li ttle more
problematic and took longer. Then the aircraft
would go back to the trim pad for a final check.
We kept our fingers crossed because if it didn't
check out- off came the rear section again. We
got pretty good at this game to the extent that
each of us became a specialist on an area of the
aft section. Mine was the right, upper panels.
John Clarity:
... pulling the aft section was fairly straightfor-
ward and almost fun because it was impressive
to break the plane in two and because it meant
working with a group of chums on a li ght-heart-
ed, predictable job. It could be a laugh. Engine
oil leaks could sometimes be stopped by 'chug-
gi ng' the engine through compressor stalls
which might re-seat the bearing seals.
Engine maintenance occasionally in-
volved dealing with afterburner nozzles
that didn't open far enough for an effect ive
'light up'. This caused a regular post-flight
check item known as 'keying the eyel ids'.
Jay McCarthy:
This was done in the fuel pits after the pil ot tax-
ied in. Prior to engine shut down we'd pop off a
97
small panel that was part of the huge belly panel
beneath the plane and we had to reach up and
locate a 'key', several inches long, in the engi ne
bay. Turning this key opened the afterburner
eyelids and we did this a few times to ensure
proper operat ion and also after an engine
change on the trim pad. With the engine set at
100 per cent military thrust the eyelids would be
keyed and what a noise it would make! You
could hear the thrust differential both before
and after 'keying' and it was always done just
seconds before the engine technician hit after-
burner.
The large belly panel (panel 48) was
attached to the tail-hook mount.
' Installing it', Hank Valentine recalled,
'required what seemed like a thousand
screws and it was a pain'. It was also an area
where the 'fixers' had to deal with leaks
from the aircraft's systems. John Clarity:
The more the aircraft sat idle the worse the
insidious leaks became. If you fl ew the machine
every day you would experi ence fewer of these
problems. They appeared near the main belly
panel around the gang drain where fluid drains
from vari ous systems were grouped for exit from
the aircraft. Usually the leaks would stop while
the engine was running and seep slowly while it
was parked. However, if a leak continued in
flight it would develop an ugly series of grey
streaks along the underside of the aircraft,
which was as about as attract ive as a four-year
old with a snotty nose. This staining required
the crew chief to chase the evidence constantly
from the underside of the F-100 with his handy
rag and JP-4, a very available solvent on the
line. We were quick to call the plane out of ser-
vice if there was a potential mechanical prob-
lem, but prior to this a crew chief would strug-
gle to keep his ship as tidy as possible as a matter
of pride.
Apart from attention to its hydraulic sys-
tems, maintainers generally found the F-
1 OO's brakes and tyres the most persistent
cause of furrowed brows. According to
Hank Valentine: 'Sometimes you would
wonder if the brakes would ever cool
enough to handle. They were made of
magnesium and felt as if they would ignite
if used heavily' . Richard Newell, a crew
chief with the 113th TFW ANG, found
himself working at Phu Cat on 355th TFS
aircraft from July 1968:
.. . we landed at 3pm, were shown to our barracks
and reported for work at 6am the next day. Our
activated Guard troops (who had operated F-
VI ETNAM WA RHORSE
A napalm-armed 308th TFS F-1000 leaves its revetment at Tuy Hoa AB. 56-3287
crashed on 30 June 1970 after its pilot lost control during a CAS mission and ejected.
David Menard Coll ecti on
t OO /F models with the I 21st TFS or LJ 9th
TF ) had never been used w the F- 1 000 . It did-
n't take long for them to fi gure out the cl iff; r-
ences: more accumulators, different main land-
ing gear doors, fl aps and cockpit , but the aircraft
were in pretty bad shape when we got there.
A tyre change was a bear to do on an F- 1 00
as you had to disassemble the ant i-ski d and take
off the brake to get to the tyre. The brake had
to be one degree off centre when you re-assem-
bled it and if it wasn' t qu ite ri ght it wouldn't go
ba k together. Many a crew chi ef cursed the
brakes and tyres on the F- 1 oor
John Clarity:
Tyre changes could take a fast mechani c twen-
ty-five minutes but many mere mortal woul d
truggle for almost two hours. The brake
required removal and the brake hoses and
wiring had to be threaded though the axle.
Changing a Boeing 747 tyre was ea y when
stacked up to an F- 1 oor
Tyre hang s in Vietnam were more com-
mon because of the frequency of fli ghts;
two mi ssions a day for mo t aircraft. Jay
McCarthy:
... changing an F- 1 00 tyre became an art form
and one guy could do it with no problem. All
you needed was an axl e jack to get the tyre off
the ground. The toughest part was removing the
brake assembly, whi ch wa qui te heavy. But we
had fun and contest to ee who could complete
a change in the shortest t ime. Anything to pass
the t ime!
Nose-gear tyre changes were rare. The main
gear tyres had a seri es of dimples throughout
their surface, indented into the rubber about a
quarter-inch. When the tyre wore cl own so the
dimple was gone it was close to tyre-changing
t ime. As they reall y started to wear, red fa bri c
thread ing would appear in the worn areas. At
times, especiall y at night, you could colour the
red fa bri c over with a bl ack crayon and maybe
the pil ot woul d get fooled on hi walk-around.
This fake-out could get another couple of land-
ings out of the plane but it could also get you a
ton of trouble if discovered. I heard that state-
side F- LOOs had main-gear tyre changes after a
set number of landing , but not in 'Nam.
No doubt the crew who named 355th TF
F-1000 55-3 749 Blood, Sweat and Tires did
o with feeling! On arrival in Vietnam, Jay
was ass igned to the ni ght maintenance
shift for the 306th TF , coded' 0'.
We were picked up at our hooches every ni ght
at about 1745 to b gin a shi ft that woul d take us
to 0600 the foll owing morni ng. Twelve hours
on, rwelve off, six clay a week. Nighrs on the
fli ght line were normall y hot , steamy and often
in monsoon conditions. Turni ng an F- 1 00
around was a breeze. When I first got to Tuy Hoa
98
I pent about a week on the day shift . After a
mi sion the pi lots would taxi their plane direct
ly to the fuel pits; huge JP-4-fill ed bladder .
Having single-point refuell ing made the refu-
ell ing effort easy. All you had to do was hook up
the nozzle and let the fuel fl ow. The drop tanks
had to be topped off by hand.
A post-fl ight in pecti on was pretty much the
ame a a pre- fl ight and dependi ng on the
extent to which the pilot found problems with
the plane you'd put her back to bed in the revet-
ments. For maintenance- related engine starts
we weren' t allowed to use the starter cartri dges
but were forced to use the ' Ma Deuce' [MA-2
APU]. Engine run-up checks were conducted
on a normal bas is by the crew chief and pil ot
and w ulcl consist of a seri es of hand-s ignals to
check nose- whee l steering, landing lights,
brake , fl aps, speed-brake, fli ght controls etc.
Whenever I could I volunteered for Alert
duty. Two F- IOOs were normall y 'cocked and
hot' in their revetments so that when the Alert
horn ounded, all the pil ot had to do was jump
in the cockpit, tart the engine, taxi and take
off. They were fu ll y loaded with ' hot' [armed]
ordnanc Armed Air Poli ce guarded those
planes. Alert status reli ved you from the
steady, knuckl e-busting work done night after
ni ght and afforded the opportunity to stay in the
air-condi tioned Alert shack, pilots on one side
and crew chiefs on the other. At midni ght a
cook came to make us breakfas t. There wa no
doubt that the Alert horn would sound: it was
just a quest ion of ' when'.
For Dick N well , at Phu Cat with the
'HP' -coded 355th TF , t he day u ually
began with a check on the mi ss ion and the
name of the pilot .
This was always nice to know as with some
pil ot you could always guarantee they would
find omethi ng to ' write up' about your aircraft.
You would spend hours trying to find the prob-
lem and it ended up being ' between the head-
set'. But as crew chief you could never ay the
pil ot wa wrong! You had to check it out until
there was no doubt in your mind that the air-
craft was afe for fli ght .
Next you would check the fuel load required
for the mission and the weapons to be loaded.
Most of all you would check your take-off t imes
and how many time you would have to turn the
aircraft around during t he sort ie period. Before
you could start your pre-fl ight (PR) you had to
get your tool kit, ' intake sui t' and tyre gauge,
al o a cloth to clean the canopy and some lean-
er to go with it. Rags were al o needed to wipe
down the aircraft before fli ght. The Ba ic Post-
Fli ght (BPO) and PR were normall y completed
VI ETNAM WARH ORSE
A red fin-tip and crew name panel plus ' CP' codes identify this as 531st TFS Ramrods F-lOOD 55-2881, which was assigned
to Dleg Kormarnitsky in 1970. David Menard Collection
together. There was servicing to do along with
the inspect ion including oxygen, tyres, accu-
mul ators, etc. If there was nothing t hat needed
repair you could expect to spend two hours or
more getting the aircraft ready for fl ight.
~ w had t he pilot's wa lk-around, strap-
ping him in and starting up. T he crew chi ef
checked fli ght controls and take-off trim, looked
for leaks and made sure all panels were secure.
Before tax i the pil ot showed his pins to indi cate
that the seat and canopy were armed. T hen it
was off to the ' last chance' inspection at the end
of the runway to check again for leaks, loose pan-
els and cuts in the tyres before rake-off.
Jack Engler's F-l OOD (55-3806) gave him
li ttle trouble as its crew chief.
This airplane fl ew two or three combat sorti es
per day whil e it had my name under the wind-
screen. The onl y time it missed two days was
when it was in the paint hangar getting a new
camoufl age coat. lt was unusual for an F- 100 to
fl y so many 'wr ite- up free' times. Some minor
discrepancies came up but t he 'gigs' were fixed
during post-fli ght inspection. She was fuell ed,
loaded wit h ordnance, cocked and ready for
another mission.
ne of th items on t he pre-flight list for
pilots was a t horough check of t he wi ng
slats. Maj Dick Garrett:
T hose aerodynami call y- retracted slats had a
nasty habit of developi ng sticky roll ers, causing
one wing to have an ex tended slat and t he other
wing to have t he slat retracted. Thi s usually
happened at slow ai rspeed (or hi gh g's) and hi gh
angle of attack and the Hun woul d snap roll in
t he d irect ion of t he retracted slat .
Battle Dress
On of the more obvious signs of the F-l OO's
assumption of a war role was the adoption
99
ofT. 0. 1-1-4 outh East Asia camouflage
from late 1965 onwards. om of th first
camouflag d aircraft wer for the Sl Oth
TFS. They arri ved at Bien Hoa in early
November 1965 and absorbed t hat unit 's
silver-finished F-l OOs as well. Super Sabres
had entered battle in t he overall ilver
acryli c lacquer that replaced the bare
metal scheme of early F- l OOA/Cs. The sil-
ver scheme was similar to the fini sh applied
to TAC's F-1 05 fl eet in 1962 under Proj ect
Look Alike. It was mi xed from a gallon of
clear lacquer to a gallon of t hin ner and
tw lve ounces of alu minium paste. The
intent ion was to seal the aircraft 's seams,
preventing moisture from seeping into
electronics or causing corrosion. 'Vietnam
camouflage' used two shades of matt green
(F 34079 and FS34102) with tan
(FS3021 9) in an upper-sULface pattern and
light grey (FS36622) on the undersides.
Small black serials were carried on the ver-
tical stabilize r as the only di stingui shing
feat ure, but from 1967 two- lett r codes
identifi ed each Wing by a common first
let ter and a econd I tter to d note t he
squadr n (for example, ' E' for the Sl Oth
TF of the 3rd TFW). 12in (30cm) digits
showed t he ' last three' of the serial.
Many PACAF F-l OOs also acqu ired new
nicknames on their noses, restoring a little
of the colour t hat was lost with the
rem va l of the original squadron schemes
under the TAC regulati on 66-12 in 1960
and in USAFE with the int roduction of
camoufl age. At Lakenheath, where t he
last sil ver F-lOOD (55-2807) was camou-
fl aged in March 1968, John Clarity felt
that th warpaint was a retrograde step
ae theti all y:
When I acqu ired ' my' aircraft (55-2834) he wa
meta ll ic with the squadron emblems front and
back; a real eyeful. She was pretty flashy. Later
they camoufl aged her and she lost much of her
grandeur. he looked I ike a piece of G I issue, all
business and about as am acti ve as a jeep.
The pr va l nt vi w of ni ckname and
nose-art vari d according to th ta tes of
th wing commander and 7th AF polit ics
on the subj ect . Many names had qu ite
complex origins. For example, Jack
Engler's Rotunda neaker deri ved from a
slightly over-weight, sneaker-wearing g -
go dancer in a New York club. 'The name
bounced around in ide my head and ome-
how got stencilled on the starboard side of
the nose of 55-3806. On the port side
appeared Dee's Delight, deri ved from the
wife of the pilot , Maj 'Kas' Kastil an, but
thi s was replaced by a repeat of Rotunda
Sneaker after the Kast il ans separate dur-
ing hi tour of duty.
Nose-art in Vi etnam was actuall y made
po sible initi all y because squadrons on
TOY had a degree of self- management
deni ed to t hem while they were under
Wing-ba eel control in the U A. While
U AF poli cy forbade indivi dual markings
under thi s system, once a squadron had air-
craft specifi call y ass igned to it for a T OY
those aircraft and personnel came under
the contr l of the quadron commander.
One f th fir t F-100 unit t deploy to
outh As ia wa th 481 t TFS whose com-
mander, Lt ol ' Hal' Comstock, elected to
d corate hi s F-100 with his wartime ki ll s
and skull no e-art. On arri va l at Tan on
Nhut inJun 1965 he a igned each of h is
ighteen F-100s to individual pilots {with
om of the thirty pil ots sharing a Hun)
and designed a green tri angular marking
VIETNAM WAR HORSE
/ I
/ I
The pilot and crew chief of 56-3379 of the 352nd TFS on 10 March 1971 during a brief
deployment to Phu Cat AB. Ginny Lee, the crew chiefs young lady, could only be
honoured in this covert manner within the Wing's 'artwork rules' at the time, exiling
personal decoration to wheel wells, panel interiors and other 'invisible' locations.
Norm Taylor
for t h aircrafts' tail . Capt 'Chad' Dvor-
chak th n got 1 t Ltjim Kempton to paint
The Shadow on hi s F- 100's nose, prompt ing
Kempton to name hi s own aircraft Lickity
St)lit. 1st Lt Peter Vanderhoef helped Jim
Kempton with th artwork and then
named the aircraft h hared with 1st Lt
Gerald alome l retty Penny (after
alome's w ~ ). Th two pil ots extended
th ir art gall ry to other squadron F-100
including Why Not?, The Mormon Meteor ,
The Back Forty, Mr. Magoo, Hot Scuff,
Casanova, Snoopy, My Little Margie and
others. Several other Vi tnam-based F-1 00
units conti nued t he tracl it i n.
Big Guns
While the new paint- chem was perhaps
an aest heti c disappointment in Europe it
idea ll y suited the 'mud moving' role that
F-100s were required to perform in Viet-
nam. Of the 360,2 3 c mbat sorti e fl own
by Huns (more t han any other t ype and
more than the type's illustrious ancestor,
t he P-5 1 in WWll ) the majority were very
simi lar ' tax i rank' mission in support of
ground t roops in South Vietnam or Lao .
Pil ots were usually guided to their targets
100
by airborne forward air cont rol! r (FA -
A), often to dri ve back enemy atta ks on
troops in contact (TI C).
An FA would mark the intended tar-
get wit h a smoke rocket and gui de in a pa ir
of F- 1 OOs for bomb, napalm or BU pa -
es, possibly request ing only one item of
ordnance on each pa o that aiming or-
recti ons could be made. trafing passes
were t hen customaril y called in, wit h the
FA reporting results. Assuming that no
damage was sustained by the fighters, the
mi ss ions woul d then conclude with a fa ir-
ly short homeward flight and a debriefing.
The return journey occasionall y provided
the opportunity for a li t tl e variety, as Maj
Dick Garrett remembered:
One of the older heads (actuall y a new major)
attached to the 416th TFS took me under hi
wing and liked to use left-over fuel at the end of
a trike miss ion to teach me some of the Thun-
derbirds manoeuvres out over the South China
ea. He was a fell ow by the name of Tony
McPeak [formerl y a Thunderbi rds solo demon-
stration pilot and later USAF Chi ef of raft] .
imil ar miss ions were fl own by nu merou
U M and U AF F-4 Phantoms but they
were considerably outnumbered by th
VI ETNAM WARH ORSE
r gular airborne arti llery provided by the
F-100 force. Alt hough the miss ions were
g nerall y over the less well -defended
Route Packs t hey were far from safe. Of the
242 Huns lost, 189 were shot down over
South Vietnam or Laos. Of these, 116
went down during 1968-69, the 'bombing
pause' year over North Vietnam.
Joe Vincent f1 w 280 combat sorti s
wi t h the 309th TFS from October 1969 at
Tuy Hoa. The coastal base had its own
inherent problems due to a continuous
25kt cro wind over th runway, ome-
t imes from t he north-we t but ve ring to
the opposite direct ion.
F-1000-31-NA 55-3806 of the 90th TFS, 3rd TFW ('CB' codes) in 1969, named Rotunda
Sneaker. On the nose door is a squadron Pair o' Dice emblem. Jack Engler
We had nine or ten Huns run off the side of the
runway or get a ' wingti p' on landing. One [1st
Lt Roger Oisrud's 'SO 392' Turtle Mountain
Express ] had the nose completely torn off when
it ran off the runway immediately after touch-
cl own and dug into the sand. Another ('SP 782'
fl own by Captain Coleman of th.e 355th TFS]
was blown sideways off the runway as he fl ared
for rouch-down. He went round agai n onl y to
get behind the power curve and into the class ic
'Sabre dance', but pan-caked in on its bell y.
Pretty Penny was shared by 1st Lt Jerry Salome
!left). husband of the real Penny, and Pete
Vanderhoef, seen here with their crew chief.
Sharing a plane was quite usual for junior officers.
Pete recalled doing the artwork with some 'black
spray paint, 3in masking tape and a 2in pocket
knife to cut the outlines . This Hun survived until
21 May 1967 when it was hit during a fifth napalm
pass on a 531st TFS mission near Bien Hoa AB.
Peter Vanderhoef
Another example of artwork by Pete Vanderhoef (left) was the leprechaun painted
on an F-1000 flown by Capt Paul Cohagan, the 481st TFS Maintenance Officer.
Peter Vand erhoef
707
VIETNAM WARHORSE
~ 5 3 6 ~
--
Lt Col Harold Comstock fires 2.75in FFARs at a target in the Mekong Delta. This aircraft, 55-3603, was lost in a strafing attack on 6
November 1966 after passing to the 416th TFS at Bien Hoa AB. USAF via Peter Vanderhoef
' Har Comstock's 55-3603 with the skull nose art and seven Luftwaffe kill s, as
di spl ayed on hi s P-470 during WWII , plus 117 Vietnam war mission marks. Pete
Vanderhoef painted the skull and groundcrew added the iron crosses on this former
Thunderbirds F-1000. Peter Vanderhoef
102
Joe watched the Hun 'dancing' down Run-
way 3L for 4,000ft (1 ,220m) ' with hi s
afterburner blowing a plume of sand h igh
in the air. It wa laloming back and forth
li ke an Everglad s water kier'. apt Don
Coleman was lucky in that hi s tail -hook
lodged in a hole in the PSP matting and
dragged the aircraft down on to the ground
before it could crash into the sea. 'He
squeez d th control tick so hard that he
depressed the tri gger and got gun-camera
fi lm of the last 150ft of the sli de.' Joe and
other pilots watched the wil d ride on fi lm
later, noticing the F-l OO's pitot boom
' fl opping about like a wet noodle'.
Alt hough both pil ots and their aircraft
were recovered, the ' abre dance' was a
hazard associated with t he F-l OO's sensitiv-
ity to control inputs at low airspeed that
was by no means confined to less experi -
enced pilots and it occurred from the earli -
est stag s of F-100 fl ying. Lee Howard wit-
nessed one ' class ic abre dance' from a
VI ET AM WARHORSE
Pete Vanderhoef's 'own' F-1000-91 -NA 56-3285 Pretty Penny, armed with a pair of Bull pup missiles.
Peter Vanderhoef
distance of 200-300ft (60-90m) whil e in
training at Luke AFB t hat resulted in t he
deat h of an Instructor Pilot (I P) with 5,000
hours exp ri ence. The phenomenon could
be acci.deotall y induced by over-rotati on
on take-off causing a stall , or by inadequate
on final approach resul t ing in an
inabili ty to accelerate wit hout losing
h ight. In either case, the aircraft's angle of
attack suddenl y increased and it oscillated
from side to side in a macabre, ball et ic
motion before stalling and crashing. At
least two other losses were attri buted to
pi lot error on landing: F- l OOD 56-33 77 at
Tuy Hoa and 56-3283 at Bien Hoa, killing
the pilot. Experi enced pilots could be
caught out by the aircraft 's challenging
low-speed handling, perhaps at the end of
an xhaust ing mission. Capt James V. Daw-
son was returning from a morning st rike on
16 July 1969 and executed a 'go around' at
Tuy Hoa while his wingman landed first.
All was well as he began hi s turn into final
approach with landing gear down but he
had to increase hi s bank to a teep angle to
avoid overshooting t he runway. The
mobile control officers adv ised him to 'take
it around again' as t hey watched heavy
exhaust smoke appear from hi s aircraft,
indicating a sharp power advance. At t he
same t ime the aircraft's ri ght wing dropped
as t he aircraft stalled, the canopy was jett i-
soned and the F-100 plunged into the sea a
mil e off the end of t he runway before Daw-
on coul d eject.
Weather was a factor in some accidents
and consequentl y in shaping tacti cs for
pilots like Joe Vincent:
We fl ew almost exclu ive ly two-shi p miss ions
during my tOur. That was due tO a terrible acci-
dent recovering a four-sh ip during a heavy rain-
stOrm and a weather divert. T he 'fix' was tO fl y
t wo 2-sh ip tO target , ten minutes or so apart.
That evolved into end ing just two-ships.
The accident cost t h li ve of two New
Mexico A G F-l OOC pilots, Maj Bobby
103
I
i
.
-- .
I
N ld and apt Mitchell Lane, wh pr b-
ably colli ded when diverted from Tuy Hoa
to amh Ranh Bay on 4 January 1969.
In Maj Dick Garrett's est imati on, the
be t miss ions were from the alert pad in
support of troops in contact. Th e w re
very oft en with a ' oft ' load of 'snake and
nape' (Snakeye MK 82 SE and napalm).
Usually some of our grunts were calling for AS
becau e t hey were taking fire, o theta k wa tO
get a good 10 on t he bad guys' position, separate
t he good from t he bad and roll in wit h your
'shake ' n bake' ordnance combo wit h as many
passes as fuel and ordnance woul d support. I' ve
seen t imes when helicopter FA would fl y ri ght
over the enemy position, getting t he sh*t shot
out of h imse lf, just tO drop a smoke grenade on
their cran iums so t hat we could have a good
' mark'. The 0-2 and 0- l Bi rd Dog FACs were
no less resourcefu l and daring when it came tO a
T l situat ion. I'd use every drop of ga l had tO
stay on stati on as long as l could in order to help
t hese guys out, then divert to t he neare t U
airfield. The opportunit y didn' t present itself
often, but when it did you knew that your plane
ticket over to 'Nam had just pa id for itself.
Inevitably, the nature of t he war meant
that many of the targets wer impreci
'suspected' arms clumps, supply concentra-
tions or vehicl parks and the real results
of F-100 strike were often impossible to
confirm on t he ground. In many cases the
main damage may well hav b en to t r e
(F-l OOD 55 - 681 received th ironi c ni ck-
name Tree urgeon) but for pil ots the aim
was profe sionali sm in deli vering their
ordnance exactly where required.
After hi s tour with U AFE, Don
chmenk joined t he 308th TF Emerald
Knights, usuall y fl ying 55-3580 named
Mary Jane (after hi s wife) on one side and
arol Anne on the other. He flew 215 mis-
sions without taking a single hi t from the
opposition, though there were some near
misses. On one mi ssion over Lao , Don was
giving another pi lot a Fli ght Lead ch ck:
After we came off the target the FAC asked if
we had ti me to check out a truck that he had
spotted. ow, we were told that any uuck that
you found in the clear in dayli ght was probably
put there to sucker you in to a trap. I didn' t say
anything as the Flight Lead accepted the
request. On his fir t pass, sure enough a quad 50
AAA site opened up on him. I looked back to
where I thought the gun wou ld be, and there it
was. The truck was indeed a trap and we used
the rest of our ammuniti on on the gun.
On another mission over Laos we arri ved
over the target, a barge that wa anchored in
the Mekong at a bend in the river. As we arrived
another fl ight of F- 1 OOs were sti ll on the targ t
so we went into an orbit to all ow them to finish.
I not iced what appeared to be puffy clouds in
the area. After the FAC briefed u I a ked him
for the altitude of the cloud that I had
observed. He replied, ' Do you mean the fl ak
bursts?' I was so flustered that I forgot to arm the
proper switches and the bomb didn't release on
my fi rst pass. I saw the gunfire on that pass:
streak of whi te coming up from the gun, going
ri ght past the canopy. This didn't make the sec-
ond pass any easier and I saw the white streaks
again. I learned that several days later another
F- LOO was shot down in the area. The pil ot
descri bed the tactic that he had used and it was
exactl y what I had done. You might ay that the
gunners went to school on me.
un could b hidden in the most inac-
ces ible places. On an August 1966 mi s-
ion, four 612th TFS F-l OODs from Phan
VI ETNAM WARHORSE
Rang were directed by a FAC to hit a posi-
ti on in a tree- line near a Vietnamese vil -
lage. As the first two Huns dived to lay
CBU-2A in the trees t hey came und r
heavy fire from the vill age into which the
VC had retreated when they sighted the
fighters. While the second element of
F-100s dropped 750lb napalm canisters on
the positi on, the FAC asked permi ss ion to
trik the village and in parti cul ar a solid-
ly built church from whi ch most of the
AAA was seen to rise. Despite continued
failure to get permi ssion from the loca l
Province Chi ef to attack this unusual
AAA emplac ment, t he FA r luctantl y
cl ar d the Huns for strafing passes that
finall y silenced t he gunners. Don
Schmenk explained that in these relative-
ly low-risk areas:
... tact ics were at the discretion of the Fl ight
Lead, depending on the threat. We could do
pretty much what we wanted, based on the sit-
uat ion at the target, most of wh ich were 'sus-
pected enemy locations'. To spread out the
impact we made mul t ipl e passes. 'Out of coun
try', which in our case was usuall y Laos, we usu
all y limited ourselves to two passes and onl y
strafed if there were troops in contact. ' In coun
try' (South Vietnam) we used 30-degree dive
bomb pas e ; 'out country' we used 45-degree
dives. Mo t of us considered ambodia the
same as Vietnam for tact ics.
Cambodian Incursion
shot at me on that pass. I can' t hel p wondering
how many other times this sort of thing hap-
pened and I never knew about it.
Lee Howard arri ved in Vietnam in Sep-
tember 1970, ju t after Pr idem Nixon
authorized clande t ine bombing of Cam-
bodia to attack the enemy's 'safe haven
and mas ive tore house, all secure from US
air attack'. He was impres eel by the oppor-
tunities this offer d:
We got some great targets over there and the old
heads were ecstatic. They fi nall y got to hit
something of substance instead of bu ring trees.
There were no big guns over there, it was most
ly small -arms fire wh ich, of cour e, could cook
your goose with the 'golden BB' but by and large
the AAA threat didn 't create a problem earl y
on.
Our normal loads were napalm and hi gh-drag
[Snakeye] Mk 82s. The most interest ing and
demandi ng miss ion I fl ew (other than haul ing
sli ck Mk 82s at night, working under fl ares) was
one with a BU load, fl own in conjunction
with the Ranch 1-land.s . We laid CBU down
ahead of the - 123 Bs that were de-foli ating
[spraying herbicide]. The obvious purpose was
to keep the small-arms fi re at bay whil e the
' 123s lumbered through, low and slow. The tim-
ing and co-ordinati on of the CBU wa extreme-
ly important.
We strafed on almost every miss ion, especial-
ly in Cambodi a and the Hun wa an excell ent
platform if the guns didn't jam. When work ing
the trail up in Laos and ' bad guy country' we sel-
dom used the guns as we were speci fi call y cut
On one of the earliest mi ss ions into Cam- ring roads. Onl y on a AR mi ion or an unusu-
bodia, atta king an ammuniti on dump, al eventwouldweger'down and dirry' uprhere.
Don di scovered that the defences were It was generall y 'one pass and haul ass'.
unexpectedly formidable:
C BU offered the chance of wide ordnance
The FA rold us rhar there were no bad guys in coverage against an impreci ely located
the area so we fl ew pretty much a 'gunnery par- target and delay d act ion munitions to
tern ', dropping a bomb at a rime and making keep heads down wh il e the F-lOOs contin-
several passes with the guns. On rhi parti cul ar ued to work a target . Joe Vincent:
day my aircraft wa carrying an aft -looking cam-
era, the sort that rook movie pictures of where
you had been. It was the onl y time I carri ed such
a camera. everal days later when the film was
bei ng put on to my personal roll of film the
techni cian stopped me and asked me what were
those streaks that he kept see ing on the fi lm. I
looked at it and could ee noth ing o he sent the
fil m over to Intell igence. They returned it later
and sa id the streaks were B-40 rockers, one of
whi ch passed between the trailing edge of my
wi ng and the leadi ng edge of the hori zontal sta
bil izer, a distance of about 8ft . They also count
ed some thirty to forty other rockets that were
704
We usuall y deli vered the CBU-49 ju t like a Mk
117 (7501b) bomb, u ing a 30-40-degree dive
bomb pass. It had radar fu ing and the clamshell
casing woul d open well above the ground, scat-
tering the bomb lets out in a 'doughnut' pattern.
Sometimes we would deli ver two in rippl e pairs
mode with a half-second between them o that
the doughnut patterns would overl ap for com-
pl ete coverage of the target.
By that stage of the war an increa ing
number of CAS sorti es were being allotted
to F-4 Phantoms but FACs often preferred
VI ETNAM WARHORSE
Bien Hoa AB, with F-100Dsinopen revetments and shelters under construction to
protect them from VC rocket and mortar attacks. Bruc e Gold
F-1 00 pil ots for tackling precision strikes
becau e they were able to dr p from lower
altitudes for greater accuracy. Lee Howard
recall ed how 'We prided ourselve on
being far more accurate than the F-4 "sta-
ti on wagon" folks. We often worked with-
in 50 metres of "friend li es" and occasion-
ally closer' . The F-4's prodigious appetite
for fuel, however, was a disadvantage.
O n one mi ss ion we were about 285 mil es from
our Phan Rang base and holdi ng to get on a
target 60 mil es off t he end of the runway at Da
Nang, home of the 366rh T FW Gunfighters F-
4Es. We were about t hird in line for the trike,
pati entl y waiting and watch ing our fuel gauges
when a fli ght of Gunfighters checked in
demanding to be pur on the same tr ike
because t hey were 'Texaco' [short of fuel] .
After all, they had all of 60 mil e to go to get
home! That same fl ight featured a four-shi p of
VNAF [5 l 6rh FS) A-3 7B Dragonfli es whi ch
ca me over the ta rget and d id a ' mi n i B-52 sky
puke' ri ght th rough our holding pattern. Four
sti cks of Mk 82s through our formati on defi -
n itely got our at tenti on !
Flares and Flames
In the ceaseless war aga in t the movement
of troop and materi als along t he
labyrinthine Ho hi Minh Trail compl ex,
7th AF attempted to d vise better way of
interdicting those routes at night when
most movement took place. While elec-
tronic sensor and infra-red (IR) imaging
were rapidly evolving, the standard
method used by USAF, US and USMC
pilots was to illuminate potential targets
with fl ares. Using the SUU-25 series, a
500lb (225kg) dispenser holding eight
Mk 24 fl ares, F-100 'day attack' pilots
woul d rei ase the 25 lb fl are over the tar-
get area. Each fl are burned for 3-4 minutes
at 2 mi llion candl epower, illuminating a
large area but also revea li ng the attacking
aircraft to ground defences. The lighter-
weight SUU-40 was al o u ed.
Don Schmenk described a fl are and
napalm two-shi p mi ssion over a target
south of Saigon:
I dropped two fl are over t he target, did a tight cir-
cle and put a napalm om b on the ground to make
it easier for my wingman. We were a long way
from Tuy l-l oa and were getti ng short of gas so I
told him to drop all four of h is Lm-finned napalm
canisters on one pass. [BLU-27 and -32 seri es fire
bombs were available with or without stabil izing
fins.] I foll owed him down to drop my last napalm
when the sky li t up! I just knew I had lost my
wingman' Napalm was dropped in a IS-degree
clive at 400kt, about I ,000- 1 ,500ft above the
ground, leaving little time for mistakes at that
peed so close to the ground. This was parti cular-
ly true at ni ght. I gave a call to my wingman and,
much to my reli ef, he answered. When the un-
705
finned napalm came offhis aircraft the bomb col-
lided wit h each other, detonat ing on contact and
cau ing the explosion I had witnessed. It was a
spectacul ar sight but noth ing to compare with the
reli ef that I felt upon hearing his voice!
We were acutely aware of the potenti al for
vert igo when working under fl ares so we took
care not to get compl acent at ni ght. We used
fl are t hat we dropped ourselve or from other
air raft such as the C- 119, C-47 or - 130. We
also used aircraft wit h large searchli ghts that
illuminated the ground and somet imes t hey, or
FA , would drop ' log markers' that burned on
the ground wi t h a hi gh intensity to mark the
target. A scary aspect was the possibility of run-
ning into a fl are that had fail ed to igni te or
burned out before reaching t he ground.
Vertigo caught J e Vincent out on his
fl are-dropping checkout fli ght.
I dropped a fl are and then a ' nape' that explod-
ed brightl y in my rear-view mirror during my
pull -off. T h is was the first ni ght- time weapon
detonati on I'd seen. As I watched t he prett y
fireball I inadvertentl y roll ed almo r inverted.
My IP, Di ck Rung, told me to ' recover' . Imagine
my sur pri se when !looked back inside the cock-
pit to see ISO degrees of bank. T he no e wa sti II
above t he hori zon, but not for long. It wasn' t so
much not knowing whi ch way was up as being
depri ved of the normal day- time inputs that
keep you situat ion-aware.
The alternat ive to fl are wa to b mb in
total darkne . On one mi ssion Joe made a
dive attack without illuminat ion, even
from moonli ght.
It was more di sori enting, roll ing in for a 0-
degree pa from 8,000ft above the target and
rel easing from 3,000fr in complete darkness
than the low-angle passes I made under fl ares. It
was almost an instrument manoeuvre. Wi t h no
discerni ble hori zon you had to devote more
time inside the cockpit, paying attenti on to
bank angle (a criti cal input to the bomb release
parameter ), dive angles, airspeed, ere. t han you
did in daylight or with fl ares. Most of my ni ght
mi ssions were Skyspor; straight-and-level at
20,000fr like a B-52 wit h a good controll er guid-
ing you and call ing for bomb release.
The e mi sion were directed from one of
seven M Q-77 ombat Skyspot sites that
were establi shed in the area by Jun 1967.
Designed to guide B-52 Arc Light mi ions
via a transponder in the bomber, ky pot
was described as 'G A without th glide-
path' in that it gave the pil ot an exact
VI ETr AM WARHORSE
Millie's Moose with a previous serial presentation showing through its badly worn
ss squadron codes. Joe Vincent
course to hi s target and a ignal to release
bombs. For tact ical aircraft like the F-100 it
allowed reasonabl y accurat bombing at
night or in bad weather, although a Jo
pointed out, 'four 7501b bombs don't com-
pare to a BUFF's [B-52 bomber]load but l did
get credit for a gun posit ion destroyed one
night on a "sky puke" [Skyspot] mission'.
The e raids were essenti all y for harass-
ment rather than pin-point accuracy and
' both the V and the Hun pi lot were
harassed by them!' Maj Dick Garrett, who
fl ew F-100 kyspot miss ions with 416th
TFS recall ed:
... bombing monkeys in t he tree . What a waste,
or at least it seemed that way. It was the big
GCA in t he sky, straight and level from
I ,OOOft or so and pi ckle on the controll er's
command. All owing for winds, intel ' lag' and
sleep deprivat ion it was a miracl e if the bombs
even hi t t he war zone. Combat Skyspot was
common for night alert pad mi ss ions when
there wasn't much going on in the war and you
were an'as et' ju t waiti ng idly by.
The MSQ system was also used by U AFE
F-l OOs in t he early 1960s for pract ice
nucl ear deli very.
Night mi ss ions were fl own from the
al rt pad too in emergencies. Bruce Gold
and Larry Peters, fl ying F-l OODs Buzzard
0 l and 02, were scrambl ed from Bien Hoa's
51 Oth TFS pad on 27 September 1968.
Bruce Gold (who ret ired as a USAF
olonel) described the mission:
It was ea rl y eveni ng and we were surrounded by
large t hunderstorms. The weather made fly ing
condit ions ' mandatory' , i.e. no flyi ng unless it
wa absolu tely necessa ry to save Ameri can lives.
We fl ew in to the night, through the storms, to
the aid of element of t he Fir t Bri gade, fourth
Infantry Division who were pinned down under
heavy enemy weapons fire on a ri dge stretching
between two hi gh mountai n peaks. The mission
was flown without fl ares or other means to illu-
mi nate t he target. This requ ired us to ' trol l' for
enemy fi re to help ident ify fri end from foe. We
had to deliver ordnance, in very close proximi-
ty to fr iendly forces, from very undesirable axes
of attack.
The weapon (napalm and 500lb nakeye
bombs) were deli vered preci el y on target
with devastating effect on the enemy
forces, whi ch evidently withd rew, all owing
evacuat ion of wounded US forces and
extracti on of the r mainder. The Buzzard F-
lOODs recovered at the nearest US base,
Phu Cat. Both pil ots were awarded the il -
ver Star for 'outstanding airmanship and
conspicuous disregard for their own safety,
saving the li ve of many US force on the
ground'.
Combat Mods
Th F-100 fl eet received few updates
and modificat ions during its Vietnam years,
though ome re-work was needed to
compen ate r th enormou numbers of
706
missions flown. After cracks were discovered
in the wings of some aircraft , a 4g limit was
impo ed, limit ing dive angles. As F- l OOs
went through inspect and repair as necessary
(I RAN) at th Taiwan facili ty, their wing-
boxes were in pected and re-built o that
the aircraft could pull th maximum 7.33g
again. A few jets carri ed the ombat Doc-
umentation Camera Pod on their centre-
li ne pylon t hou h it wa a very ' draggy'
installat ion. More common was t he small -
er KB-18 st ri ke camera in tailed during
IRAN under the port fusel age, level with
the wing leading edge. This V-shaped fair-
ing encl o ed a revolving prism, providing
wide-angle imag along the aircraft ' later-
al axis that were recorded by a camera as
70x200mm high-resolution photo . A
number of Block 50 NAV F- l OOD
entered combat but most had the Doppler
navigat ion system (NAVS) equipment
removed by 196 - 69 as it proved unrel i-
able. Th y were not alone in having the
small air scoop in th fin leading dge: this
was standard on all PACAF F- lOODs
except the earli est models deployed in
1960--61.
A more urgent add it ion to US tacti ca l
aircraft was necessitated by th emergence
of the A-2 Dvina surface-to-a ir missile
( AM) threat. The first sites were
b erved around Hanoi and Haiphong in
April 1965, t h ugh th pre u med pre ence
of Russ ian or hinese technicians ruled
out pre-emptive str ikes. Signals from their
StJoon Rest target acqu isit ion radar and Fan
ong target-tracking radar were detected
and studied from July 1965 onwards by
RB-66C EUNT aircraft and Ryan Firebee
drones. This data enabled US electroni cs
contractors to develop effect ive counter-
mea ure equi pm nt, but by then the first
of 205 U aircraft to b lost to North Viet-
namese SAM had been dest roy d. On 24
July 1965, Capt Roscoe Fobair (a former
WWll B-1 7 crewman) and Capt Ri chard
K irn (POW and F-100 pi lot) were part of
a four-ship F-4 AP F-105 trike when
three SA-2s w re aimed at them, hitting
their aircraft (63- 7599) and killing Fobair.
Keirn once again became a POW.
Although top priority in fitt ing ECM
equ ipment went to aircraft operat ing over
orth Vietnam, a programme wa ini t iated
to re- instate the radar homing and warn ing
(RHAW) system for the F-100 that the
Bendix Corporat ion had proposed earlier in
1965. In fact, the USAF had tested the
QR -253-2 homing system, designed to
c unter it own Hawk missiles, in F-l OOFs
F-1000 56-3048 with a 309th TFS badge on its fin tip and Tuy Hoa AB in the
background. Joe Vin cent Coll ection
at Exercise Goldfire in 1964. Data from thi s
trial was put alongside proposals from Ben-
dix and Applied Technology Inc. (API) a
few days after the first F-4 loss. The even-
tual outcome was Project Wild Weasel 1,
using a few RHAW-equipped F-100Fs to
'sniff out' SAM sites. However, the
AN/APR-25 (V) RHAW and AN/APR-26
launch warning rec iver (LWR) d veloped
for that programme were al o in tailed in a
number of F-1 OOD airframes. These aircraft
were identified by antenna installati ons
beneath the air intake li p and at the rear of
the fin above t he rudder. Each housing h ld
a pair of mall , spiral antenna , each one
pointing 45 degrees each side of the nose or
tail to give 360-degree coverage. In t he
cockpit a circular, 3in (7.5cm) cathode ray
tube ( RT) scope display was in tall d
above the I ft of t he front coaming (above
the drag chute handle) and hawed the
direct ion of t hreat emiss ion sources. A
threat-warning light panel below and to the
right of thi replaced the ALM-9 indicator
display. These square light gave an indi ca-
t ion of the type of radar threat: AM (in
three frequency bands), a bright red
LAU CH li ght warning of an imminent
SAM launch, AAA or airborne interc pt
radar. For the majority of F-lOOD mis ion
the equipm nt, if fitted, wa reassuring but
inesential. oF-lOO wa hitbya AMand
there wer omparati vely fi w radar-con-
trolled AAA sites outside North Vietnam.
Joe Vincent kept his RHAW swi tched on
but received no SAM indications, even
close to the orth Vi t namese bard r;
'There was an AAA DEFEAT button at the
ri ght of the display for silencing AAA
warnings if you were in such a high threat
area that the AAA warning could di stract
you from th more thr atening AM warn-
ings'. Audio noise warning could al o be
relayed to the pi lot's head et.
For t he groundcrew, the arri val of E M
gear int roduced another job: testing t he
system every time maintenance was done.
AI Neubecker counted t hat among his
dut ies as an ECM tech at Tuy Hoa:
We had a yellow test box whi ch we set at differ-
ent frequenci e and walked around the aircraft
while someone was in the cockpit looking at the
CRT scope with the head-set on to see if the
correct visua l and aud io signals appeared in
accordance with what we were send ing from the
box. We could imulate different threat fre-
quencies and a SAM launch. The red
LAU CJ-1 li ght was at the pil ot's eye level and
he couldn't miss it. l also worked on a couple of
C- 130 'ferret' aircraft, loaded with electroni cs,
that fl ew close to enemy positi ons so that we
could update the frequenc ies.
Wild Weasel 1
API, the Pa lo Alto-based company t hat
uppli ed t he APR-25/26 were contractors
for a programme that was to produce a
whole new species - the 'Wi ld Weasel'
suppres ion of enemy deli nces (SEAD)
aircraft . T h company had pioneered
lightweight, internall y mounted self-
protection for the Lockheed U- 2 (one of
the first SA-2 victims in May 1960). As
107
well as providing simil ar equipment for
tacti ca l fighter li ke t he F- 100 (whi ch
had li mited carri ag space for QR -seri es
'add-on' jamming pods), their ECM fit
was seen as a way to neutrali ze t he miss il e
sites by detecting and attacking them
using the same aircraft. t rike aircraft
could protect them elve t ome extent
by u ing pod li ke the ALQ-71 or ALQ-
87 and fl ying in a set 'pod' formation to
maximize t he effect, or by relying on jam-
ming aircraft li ke the Dougla EB-66. Ide-
ally though, the miss ile sit and radar
r quired bomb to put th m p rmanentl y
off the air.
At the 3 August 1965 meet ing in the
wake of the fir t loss to a AM, a com-
mittee led by Brig Gen K. . Dempster
examined E M propo al from Bendix
and AT!. Two week later it recommend-
ed installi ng RHAW equ ipment in sever-
al F-100F-20 aircraft under Project Ferret
(later changed to Wild Weasel since Ferret
had already been used for anot her pro-
ject ). The Block 20 aircraft were cho en
because they had received t he AN/ASN-
7 dead reckoning computer and PC-212
Doppler radar navigati on ystem specifi d
for PACAF u . Thi could be r moved to
provide spa for t he ECM fit without sig-
nificant we ight change. Proj ect Manager
John Paup chose the AT! installation and
the firm was given a cont ract . The rival
Bendix system was later adopted by the
USAF and U N as t he AN/AP -107 and
widely used.
Initi ally known as the Vector IV, the
APR-25 gave warning of S-, C- and X-
Band radar ignals. The second system was
introduc d a the WR-300 launch wa rn-
ing receiver, developed in fort y days from
23 September 1965 and adopted by t he
USAF as the A /APR-26. l t was a tuned
cryst al receiver to detect A-2 guidance
signals in th L-Band and measure the
increase in intensity as miss il e launch
approached. For the Weasel F-100Fs,
another component was added, an IR-133
panoramic receiver to pi ck up, analyse and
identify -Band emi ion at longer range.
l t also provided direction-finding capabil -
ity to locate SA-2 sites. Ampli tude-based
'spikes' on t he rear cockpit C RT gave indi-
cati on to with in a couple of degrees to
show whether the threat was to t he left or
ri ght of the F-l OOF's t rack. A larger spike
of the left would show a stronger signal on
that side and vice versa. The rear-seat
electronic warfa re offi cer (EWO) had to
direct his pilot so that t he two spikes
VI ET AM WARHORSE
The pilot of this 615th TFS F-1000 is about to de-plane without a ladder at Phu Cat AB after a 28 February 1971 mission.
His F-1000-21 -NA (55-3508) survived the war, served with the Indiana ANG's 163rd TFS and was finally destroyed on
9 November 1989 on its thirteenth NOLO flight as a QF-100 target. Norm Taylo r
appear d equal and the aircraft heading
towa rds the site. Th problem wa that it
didn't show whether the signals came
from ahead of the aircraft or behind it.
Yawing the aircraft would alter the spike-
length o that, for example, yawing right
shortened the left spike, howing the ite
was behind the Hun. EWOs also had to
listen for the buzz of mi ss il e gu ida nee
radars and the low groan of earl y- warning
radars on hi s headset. Traini ng enabled
them to di stingui sh indi vidua l radar iden-
titi es in t hi s way.
Flush, square lR-133 antennas appeared
on t he fuselage sides in line with the
canopy bow and under the aircraft
ben ath th front cockpit. One aircraft
(58-1221) had a different arrangement of
peri odi c (azimuth/elevation) antenna in
place of the IR-133 set imilar to tho e
later used on F-105G and F-4Cww air raft.
Additional equipment included a KA-60
pan rami e camera to photograph AM
sites and a standard TA Midgetape 400
record r to provide tapes of radar emis-
sions for later tudy. The IR-133 contract
was negot iated from 27 August 1965 on a
30-day production ch dule for the first
uni t and 45 day for the econd. AT!
received ontract r 500 APR-25 and
APR-26 units on 19 September 1965.
During the latter part of 1965, tact ics
were evolved for what was to become a
vital component in U trike over North
Vietnam. U ing strobe indi cations from
the IR-133, t he F-l OOF wa steered
towards a site until it coul d be visuall y
identified. The Weasel would then make
an initial attack with LAU-3 rocket pods,
ll owedup by bomb and rockets from an
accompanying Iron Hand flight of thr e or
fourF-105.
Four low-hours Das h 20 F-100Fs were
modified for the programme; 58- 1221,
-1226, -1227 (a Project]ulius Caesar/Har-
m n Trophy aircraft that fl ew over the
North Pol in 1959) and -123 1. Later,
three replacement aircraft (58- 1206,
-1212 and 1232) were similarly converted
but also equipped to launch the AGM-45
hrike anti -radiat ion miss il e. They
retained the standard F-l OOF designati on
108
(rather than EF-100F) as part of the thi ck
cloak f ecrecy surrounding the pr ject.
Aircrew were forbidden to keep their u ual
di ari e . ecurity was so tight that one
trainee pilot was dismissed within hours of
menti oning to a girlfriend that he was
involved in a class ified proj ect.
The fi r t four aircraft wer deli v red to
Eglin AFB in eptember 1965 after initi al
test ing at Edwards AFB. Five volunteer
pil ots were drawn from several F-100 units
and an ini tial batch of EWOs came from
B-52s, with a later batch from EB-66
units. After initial ind ctrinat ion at
NAA they traine I int n iv ly at the Tac-
ti ca l Air Warfar Center at Eglin, u ing
simulated EW threats. Lt Col James Krop-
nik was their first CO, but he expressed
serious doubts about the proj ect and wa
replaced by Maj Garry A. Willard, who
wa dual-qua li fied in the F-100 and F-105.
Crews trained as pairs, initi at ing a bond
that was to become an essenti al feature of
Wild Weasel operations for decades. Capt
Allen Lamb, one of the first pi lots, com-
mented:
VIET AM WARHORSE
309th TFS F-100Ds on the tanker for another Steel Tiger CAS mission with M117
ordnance. Joe Vi ncent Collection
There was no trai ni ng to speak of for Wild
Weasel !. It was 'cut and paste' to see if it wou ld
work. We did run against the SAD [surfa ce- to-
air defence system] at Eglin w check the accu-
racy of t he equipment. Then we went to war to
see if it would reall y work. Each crew di d its own
t hing.
In combat he used hi s EWO's IR-133 to
provide steering until they were close to
the site.
I would ff-set so t hat the site didn't t hink we
were homing in on them. Once I had two rings
or more on the scope I woul d use t he Vector IV
to look for the site on the ground but I woul d
sti ll get t he readi ngs from t he EWO as, in some
cases, t here was more than one site.
apt Ed andeliu agreed that there wa no
r al way to train for the W asel miss ion at
that tag . He was the only TA EW
assigned to the project at its initi ation, the
rest coming from SAC, where thi s special
ski ll wa much more in evidenc . ' A had
about 85 per cent of the el ctronic warfare
equ ipment and EWOs. TA 's 15 p r cent
was spread between the 9th TRS (RB-66s)
and th TA EU NT cell , with a few scat-
tered around in numbered Air Force HQs
and Wing HQs.' Ed was on RB-66 , with
2,000 hour of xperi enc on the type,
wh n he r ceiv d orders from 12th AF
dated 25 eptember 1965, to ' proceed to
L ng Beach, Californi a; Eglin AFB and
places within or without th U ... on a
1 00-day TOY' (l ater amended to L60 day )
with ac e to cla sified materi al ' up to and
including T P SECRET during the TOY'.
There was no mention of Wild \'>:/easel or
whether or not I had volunteered for the pro-
ject. When I got to AA, Long Beach they
showed me a couple of F- l OOFs t hat were
st ri pped clown and in the pro ess of bei ng con-
ven ed to t he TAC proje t confi gurat ion,
whi ch at t hat time was ca ll ed Mongoose. They
still hadn't decided on t he final confi gurat ion.
In fact they were trying to install an A /APR-
9 uni t in t he rear cockpit wit h tuners in a mod-
ified fuel tank under t he wi ng. I' m glad t hat one
didn't work out. I arri ved at Egli n AFB on 4
October 1965. The ot her crewmembers and t he
aircraft arri ved shortl y t hereafter with t he
equ ipment configured t he way we were going to
deploy it in South East Asia (i.e. t he APR-
25/26 anci iR- 133 ). At Eglin we trained against
the SADS I and 2 systems, fl ying out over the
ul f and then acqui ring the signa l to vector the
pil ot over the target wit h voice commands. We
were all t rained EWOs so t he receivers were a
pi ece of cake. The acquisiti on of the signal was
buil t into the equi pment, along with t he audi o
computer, generated from t he para meters of t he
AM or AAA that came into t he receiver.
' D/ Fing' [es tabli shing t he di rection of t he sig-
nal[ took a min imum of effort to master. The
APR-25/ 26 provided relative bearings. Wit h
practi ce you could interpret signal amplitude
and get quite go d at estimating range. When
you went ri ght over t he site t he signal's ampli -
tude woul d get extremely long and switch from
360 degrees to I 0 degrees, giving you a posi-
t ive ind icati on t hat you had passed right over
the site. At t hi time you would t ry to pick up
t he site visuall y. EW would fl y chedul ed
miss ions wit h their selected pil ots and then at
t he debri efing t hey would share t heir experi -
ences and techni ques amongst t he other
109
crewmembers and Eglin staff that were respon-
sible for putting toget her the tacti cs we would
use in outh East Asia. During t his peri od they
changed t he name of the project to Wi ld
Weasel.
On 21 November, the four aircraft fl w in
great ecrecy to Korat RTAFB via Hawaii,
arriving at Ka rat on 25 ovember, only
eighty-four days after the fir t aircraft wa
converted. They became a new uni t , the
6234th TFW (Wild Weasel Detachm nt)
under the control of t he 3 8th TFW. First
to arrive were Capts Ed White and Ed
andelius. 'We wer t he advanced party.
When w arrived we wer kept bu y brief-
ing all of t he F-105 aircrews and p ra-
ti n personnel on the equi pment in t he
Wea el aircraft and th tact ic w had
developed back at Eglin.'
On 1 December 1965, t he unit fl ew its
fir t combat mission, with Maj Wil lard
and apt Truman Lifsey in 58- 1231. Ini -
tiall y, their effort yielded no direct results
as Vietnamese radar operators learned to
close down their radars to prevent the
Weasels acqui ring t hem. 'We had good
EU NT on the SAM sites', recall ed Ed
andeli us, 'but with the abili t y of t he
AM units to pick up and m ve at hort
noti ce we had to rely on our own equip-
ment.' ome missions were fl own with EB-
66Cs to compare the signals they received
from the emitters. Much was learned about
radar emi ssion , and effective tact ic were
devi sed to keep th F- lOOF, fl ying at 400kt
from being over-run by the faster F-105 .
Capts John Pitchford (ex-27th TFW)
and Bob Tri er in 58-123 1 were scheduled
to lead AJJple fli gh t on 20 December, a
trike by twelve F-l OSs near Kep airfi eld.
A foll ow-up attack was l d by anoth r F-
100F fl own by Maj Bob chwartz, the p
Officer and Capt Jack Donovan with
another eight 'Thuds' . As 58- 1231
approached t he target over heavy cloud
cover it was hit in the rear fu elage by
AAA and th hydraulic syst m on
failed, putting t he jet into a steep dive.
Although bot h m n ejected, Bob Tri er was
hot by NVA mili tia when he tried to resist
capture. Pitchford was hit in t h arm but
he survived for over seven y ar as a POW.
After that, th Weasels continued with
unchanged tact ics, flying Iron Hand attacks
and carrying their own bomb after unsuc-
ce fully xperiment ing with timed napalm
cani sters to mark targets for the F-1 05 .
LAU-3 pods were st ill carr ied as a very
effect ive weapon, particularl y for snapshot
VI ET AM WARHORSE
First SAM Site Kill
Capt Allen lamb and his EWD.Capt Jack Donovan at Koral RTAFB in December 1965. Al len T. Lamb
The new Weasel tactics yielded their first success on 22
December 1965. Capts Allen Lamb and Jack Donovan
flew F-1 OOF 58- 1226 as Spruce 5 with four F-1 05s for a
Rolling Thunder attack on Yen Bai rai lyard. Jack Dono-
van was the originator of the phrase that became the
unofficial motto of Weasels from then on. His response
when he first realized the nature of the Weasel mission
for which he had volunteered was what Allen Lamb
called. 'the natural response of an educated man. a vet-
eran EWO on B-52s. upon learning that he was to fl y
back-seat to a self-absorbed fighter pilot while acting
as flypaper for enemy SAMs'. Abbreviated on many
Weasel patches ever since to 'YGBSM' his comment
was. 'You gotta be sh**tin' me ! (Capt Ed Sandelius
commented that. as far as he knew. Jack said the same
thing regarding just about everything!)
On 22 December thei r mi ssion was to probe enemy
defences until they got a response from a SAM site. At
around 100 miles (160km) from the target. Donovan's
vector IV picked up a Fan Song transmission. Allen Lamb
pushed his speed up, started homing in on the si te and
transmitted a 'Tall yho':
I kept the SAM at around 10 o'clock so he wouldn't get the
idea I was going after him. When I could. I dropped into shal -
low valleys to mask our approach. Now and again I'd pop up
for Jack to get a 'cut' . This went on for 10 or 15 minutes.
After breaking out into the Red River Val ley I followed the
strobes on the Vector IV and turned with the river alongside.
The IR-133 strobes started 'curling off' at 12 o'clock. both to
the right and left on the CRT and I knew we were right on top
of him. I started climbing for altitude and Jack kept calling
out SAM positions literally left and right. The right one
turned out to be a second site. I was passing through 3,000ft.
nose high and I rolled inverted while sti ll climbing to look.
Jack started calling the first si te to the right. I said it was to
the left because I could see it below. 'Right'. he said. left!
I said. look outside' . I said. Jack did and saw that we were
inverted so the signals from the left and right antennas were
reversed. He agreed! I rolled in to line up on the site but
came in way too low.
Art Brattkus, fl ying F-105D Spruce 4. recalled:
We were moving smartly up the Red River on radio silence
when up ahead I saw Allen pop up and then roll in. way too
close to the ground. I thought to myself that he was going to
mark the target wi th his aircraft and that the Old Man would
be pissed. I was Flying Safety Officer!
Lamb opened his attack:
My rockets hit short but as I pulled off there was a bright
flash. ! must have hit the oxidizer van for the SA-2 1iquid fuel
motors. I called out the site and the F-105 Lead [Spruce 11.
Don Langwell said that he had it. He went in and Spruce 2
(Van Heywood) came after him. firing rockets.
From Donovan's viewpoint:
... when AI and Jack first ID'd the site and got us pointed in
I saw that it was covered up to look like part of a village. In
110
the middle of my first pass I did see a few wheel s under
what appeared to be brush huts. We fired HEAP !high explo-
sive/armour piercing! rockets that. in retrospect were prob-
ably the absolute best ordnance for that site. The vans and
other structures appeared to jump in the air when the load
of rockets hit. I remember I didn't get any ground fire until
the second pass and after that there weren't any significant
parts of the target that were not fully exposed and hit. I
remember AI calling that the site had gone off the air.
Lamb observed that 'We all broke the cardinal rule: "one
pass. haul ass" to assure the kill. I came back around for
a second pass in front of Art Brattkus (the F-1 OOs were
agile birds!)' . Art added, 'I spotted a structure that was-
n't burning yet and threw some rockets at it. pulled off
to the right to get out of Al's way and damned near hit
another Thud' . Lamb then went down beside Spruce 3.
Bob Bush (later killed on an armed recce with the 421 st
TFS) and Art. who were hitting AAA alongside the Red
River. 'On this pass I strafed the control van and he went
off the air. Each of the Thuds came round again. expend-
ing all their 20mm ammunition.' As Spruce 4, Art was
last man off the target. 'As I pulled out I saw several
SAMs under their camouflage and threw all the rest of
my rockets in their direction' .
Al len Lamb:
Jack Donovan was now calling out the second SAM si te
but we had nothing left to hit it with. We really blew away
the site we did hit.
There was a USO show with Bob Hope that day at Koral
and we made a fly-over with the F-100 leading and two F-
1 05s on each wing. A number of people down there knew
that meant we had made a SAM kill and they left the show
early to celebrate.
In all , Spruce flight fired 304 rockets and 2.900 rounds
of 20mm. Although the use of Wild Weasels could not
be mentioned in the Press. all six Spruce crews received
the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for thi s first SAM
site ki ll. After another twelve missions. Jack Donovan
returned to Nellis AFB to help establish the Wild
Weasel School.
Allen Lamb was credited with two more kills. The
second was with Capt Rick Morgan and the third was on
a Rolling Thunder strike as Lead Weasel with Capt Frank
O'Donnell (who later had a major part in evolving the F-
4G Advanced Wild Weasel as Test Proj ect Officer). The
mission. Frank's first. included some interesting compli-
cations. Allen Lamb:
After the strike I was exiting and a Thud pilot from Takhli
had been shot down just 17 miles from Hanoi. The Sandies
ISAR cover] were trying to get to him but a SAM site was
lobbing missiles at them. I went back in with just three
Thuds and homed in on the site. The weather was hazy
with only 2- 3 miles visibility. We missed the radar van but
the Thud pilot on Guard frequency was saying the Viet-
namese were coming up the hill to get him. I went back in.
solo and strafed the van. taking it off the air. SAR were then
able to get he pilot out. I received the Silver Star for this
mission three years later.
VI ETNAM WA RH ORSE
An F-100F refuelling during a Wild Weasel mission to North Vietnam. Ed Sandeli us
attacks against softer radar targets. The
Weasels flew at altitude below 500ft
(150m) , u ing terrain masking when possi-
ble but sti ll exposing their F-l OOs to AAA
and small arms fire. Ed Sandelius explained
that they were all daylight sort ies; 'Wit hout
radar none of the F-100 miss ions were flown
at night. The F-lOSs had terrain avoidance
radar but they only flew the day mi ssions
since they wanted to be able to see any mis-
sile launches'. Also, missions tended to use
two Weasels. Allen Lamb:
Weasels only went in if the str ike was in Route
Pack VI and we had one Weasel before the str ik-
ers and a second about twenty mi nutes into the
strike or when the first Weasel was at 'bingo' fuel
or had expended its ordnance. They woul d let us
troll [for radar sites] which was better than being
with the stri kers. Tact ic were different for each
Weasel, based on the mind-set of each crew.
Crews tended to 'swap off' pilots and air-
craft as Ed recalled, 'We flew whatever was
avail able. There wa a standard cockpit
set -up wit h very li ttle difference between
birds'.
AM evasion tactics, developed by
these fi rst Weasel pilots, were based on a
diving turn into the mi ss ile's trajectory,
breaking away as late as possibl e so that the
missil e could not correct its course. Allen
Lamb taught this tactic to the first
F- lOSF/G Weasel classes in 1966 while he
worked on Weasel adaptat ions of the F-4C
Phantom (using an F-4D to test the equip-
ment).
Early in January 1966, Gen Dempster
opted to u e the more powerful F-l OSF as
the ba i of the next phase of Wi ld Weasel
development as the F-l OOF Detachment
ended its evaluati ve process later that
month. However, the Huns remained in
place unti lll July 1966 and cont inued to
fl y miss ions over North Vietnam. One of
the F-l OSF/G's main weapons was t he
Texa In truments AGM-45 Shri ke, an
anti -radi ati on miss il e developed for the
USN between 1958 and 1964. Operating
independently of the aircraft ' detection
systems, the l Oft (3m) long mi ile guided
itself to a ho t ile radar emitter, destroying
it with a 145lb fragmentati on warhead.
The F-l OOF Wi ld Weasel Det at Korat
received Shrikes in March 1966 and Maj
Don Fraizer with EWO Marshall Goldberg
made the first U AF combat firing (a pos-
sible kill ) on 18 April aga inst a Fire Can
AAA tracking radar near Dong Hoi. Fur-
ther Shrike launches were made, each one
in the restricted area around Hanoi known
to pi lots as 'the Holy Land' , which needed
specific permis ion from Wa hington.
Clearance for one of Fraizer's missions
involved him in a telephone conver ation
with President Johnson in per on. ne
reason for this and for the d lay in award-
ing Capt Allen Lamb's il ver Star was the
1 7 7
a sumed presence of ' round eyed' (i.e.
oviet) technicians at the AM ires.
Shrike-carrying F- l OOFs (the three
replacement aircraft received after Febru-
ary 1966) often carried LAU-3 pods on
t heir out board wing stat ions as well.
In total, the Weasel Huns dest royed
nine AM ite and forced many other to
shut down during Rolling ThundeT trike .
There was one other combat loss among
the sixteen F- 1 OOs lost over North Viet-
nam. F- lOOF 58- 1212 was hit by AAA on
an Iron Hand near Vinh on 23 March,
ki lling Capts Clyde Dawson and Don
Clark. F-l OOF 58- 1221 suffered an engine
fail ure after compressor stalls on a fami l-
iarizat ion flight on 13 March. The F-1 OOF
crew had rapidly d veloped pioneering
tact ics that remained effecti ve for the F-
l OSF/G crews who began to arri ve in Thai-
land on 28 May 1966. The APR-25/26 and
IR-133 systems were installed and expand-
ed in the F-105 conversions and in th
ub quent F-4 Wil d Weasel 4 pro-
gramme . In Allen Lamb's opinion the F-
l OOF was not far short of t he F-l OS F/G in
its suitability for the Weasel mission.
Although it lacked the Thud's raw peed,
it was more manoeuvrable and its biggest
shortcoming was probably that it didn' t fit
into the Air Force's infli ght-refuelli ng
arrangements. After 1966 it was the only
type operat ing over North Vietnam with-
out the standard boom-type refuelli ng
receptacle and it was too diffi cul t to pro-
vide KC- 135 tankers modified wi t h drogue
attachments. Funds were never provided
to convert the F-100 to the boom system.
As they withdrew from battle, half of the
original batch of F- lOOF Weasels had been
lo t and the returning aircraft had systems
that had suffered consid rably from humid-
ity, corrosion and wiring problems origi-
nating partly from the speed with which
the original conversions had to be made.
However, AT!' ' yellow box' te ter could be
u ed pre-flight to en ure that everything
wa working. Steve Sopko was one of the
two techni cians working on the original
Weasel systems at Korat in 1965:
The field tester was N i ad battery powered and
not onl y tested the APR-25/26 but we also used
it to check the IR- 133 panorami c rece iver and
the later ER- 142 version [used in the F-l05F].
Ted Phill ip and I used it for both pre-fli ght and
post-fli ght inspecti ons, whi ch was not a requ ire-
ment but we did both for our own peace of
mind. We used it for walk-arounds and for a
direct feed {by cable inputs ) into the pre-amps
VI ET AM WAR HORSE
Capt Allen T. lamb serving with the 353rd TFS at Myrtle Beach AFB in March, 1963. On
the 28th of that month he survived a supersonic ejection from an F-1 00. All en T. Lamb
in the no e or tai l for sensitivity checks when
trouble-shooting antennas, cables, di odes or
pi lot/EWO write-ups.
Misty FAC
From 1964 to 1969 FAC- A directed the
ordnance of countless strike fli ghts on to
targets in South East Asia. Incredibly, only
even of the fragile, low- fl ying 115mph
(1 85km/h) essna 0- 1 FAC aircraft were
lost, though six pilots were kill ed. From
1968 they were supplemented by t he more
capable twin-engined Cessna 0-2, though
ten of th e were lo t. ln an attempt to
increase the FAC's survivability over high-
ri sk areas, particularl y North Vi tnam and
the DMZ, 7th AF advocated t he use of
two-seat fast jets. Alt hough t he F-4C was
t he obvious choice for speed and ord-
nance-carrying, the F-100F was more eas i-
ly ava il able at first . F-4Cs were u ed later
for operat ions over Laos.
Maj George 'Bud' Day, an F-84 pilot in
the Korean War, was given responsibility
for organizing the F-100F Fast FAC
Deta hment under the cod name Com-
mando Sabre at Phu Cat, beginning on 28
June 1967 after an initi al trial peri od at
Phan Rang from 15 May. He was given six-
teen pi lots and four F-100Fs. The more
7 72
popular nam was Mist y FA , baed on
th ir Misty all- ign wh ich was in turn
inspired by Mrs Day's love of th Errol!
Garner song. Tri al mi ss ions were fl own
over t he relatively safe Route Pack 1 and
then moved t higher-risk areas. The unit
was ass igned t t he 37th TFW as Det 1 of
t he 612th TF , u ing F-100F from other
units, notably t h ' HE'-cod d 416th TF .
The aircraft received no special modifi-
cations for the FAC role. ' lt was ni ce to
have operat ional RHAW gear, but not an
abort item', reca ll ed ol 'Lanny' Lancast-
r. The onl y' pecial equipment ' in the rear
cockpit was a good set of maps and a 35mm
camera with a telephoto lens. Armament
was u ually two seven-shot pods of 2.75
white phosphorou marker rocket and
110 rounds in each 20mm gun. Both occu-
pant of the FA F-100 were qualifi ed
pilot and in mission planning they
xchanged role , fl ying t he aircraft or
locating targets and controlli ng trik
fi ghters. The pil ots were volunteers and
initially the 'entry requi rement' was twen-
ty-five combat miss ions and 1,000 fl ying
hours. A number were former 0-2 pilots.
Among the 142 pilot who went through
t h programme were two future U AF
hiefs of Staff, Ronald Fogl man and
Merrill 'Tony' McPeak, who later com-
manded the Detachment. On one mission,
the two men fl ew in the ame aircraft.
Dick Rutan, later to fl y t he fr agile Voyager
non-stop around t h world, was also a
Misty pilot.
By the t ime Col Lancaster joined t he
Detachment in 1967, entry required fifty
combat miss ions. The task had expanded
from FA duti es to cover Res AP, photo
reconnaissance and contributi on to t h
anti -SAM effort. Hazardous ResCAP mi s-
sions compri sed about 30 per cent of t he
total in 1967- 6 with the F- l OOF taking
charge of the rescue effort on site, keeping
the oppositi on at bay wit h it guns and
managing the SAR resources to the best
effect.
I t hink the basics were well -defined when
arr ived and didn 't change much. With some
coordinat ion with 7th AF we established a pri-
ori ty system for our tasks [and target types]:
I) Search and rescue. Duri ng my tour I was fortu-
nate that we successfu ll y recovered every single
crewman that made it safe\ y to the ground after
an ejection. We did lose three Mist-y pi lots duri ng
the tour. One aircraft and both crewmen si mpl y
disappeared and were never found. One crew
VI ET AM WAR HORSE
ejected but the front-seat pil ot was a fatali ty -
we' re not ure what happened.
2) Active AAA. We became very, very effective
at discouraging AAA from shooting at us and
we were abl e to persuade 7th AF to provide the
strike assets to get the job done, especial ly aft er
the bombing halt north of RP II freed the Thai-
land- based fighters to trike in our areas.
3) Arti ll ery sites: we often searched for them in
and above the DMZ but I don't recall finding any.
If found, they would have had a very hi gh pri or-
ity because they were causing the Marines fi ts .
4) Tanks.
5) Water-borne logistics craft i. e. boats of any
kind. Usually these were sampans but the occa-
sional motor-boat was found. We also got sever-
al very large barges but were never sure whether
the e were in fact pontoon bri dges or whether
they carri ed stores since we never saw them
loaded or in position to act as pontoons.
6) Bridges.
Ed White and Ed Sandelius with Wild Weasel F-100F 58-1226 at Koral RTAFB.
Ed Sandelius
Ideall y, t h aircraft operated in pair on
r ad recce sorti es with one aircraft ea r h-
ing for targets whi le the other refuelled on
With plain TAC markings giving no clue to its unit, this rocket-armed F-100F-16-NA refuels over Vietnam in 1965.
Maj George 'Bud' Day and Capt Corwin Kippenhan were flying this aircraft on a Misty FAC sortie when they were
shot down during a search for a suspected SAM site. David Menard Collection
773
SS 255, 309th TFS (red/yellow). Joe Vincent
Collection
SP770, 355th TFS, black outline. Joe Vincent
Collection
306th TFS Soul Sister(red/white). Joe Vincent
Col lection
The Blue Meanie (blue/white). Joe Vincent
Collection
VI ETNAM WARHORSE
The Little 1 (red/yellow). Joe Vincent Collection
Booby's Tub (Agnez in background). 308th TFS
(white). Joe Vincent Collection
Teg o' My Heart, 306th TFS (white). Joe Vincent
Col lection
Ray's Hell, 306th TFS (red/white). Joe Vincent
Collection
174
Lucky Lindy II, an F-1 OOF-6-NA of the 309th TFS.
Ri cha rd G. Such
The Rapist, F-100F-11-NA 56-3827, 309th TFS. Richa
G. Such
the tanker. For Lancaster, t hi wa , 'alwa
the desired concept of operati ons as lo1
as we had suffi cient aircraft avail ab
There was nothing "typ ical" about i ~
mi ss ions, except when the weather w
very poor. Then all y u did wa tn
around looking for holes to poke througl
With up to four tanker ' fills,' a mi i(
could last up to six hours. Pil ots learned
' jink' con tantly to avoid ground fire a1
they kept their peed up to around 4501
Mo t mi s ion involved fli ght time ov
North Vi etnamese defence .
Inevitably, orbiting ov r mall ar as
low altitude to identify targets exposed tl
Mi ty cr w to unu ually hi gh risks fr
ground fir . In all, thirty-four aircraft we
lost between August 1967 and May 19
with seven pi lots kill d - th 0 ta
ment's loss rate was the highest for any
100 unit. ln all cases where the cause v.
known, shoot-downs were attributed
AAA ( u ually 3 7mm) or small -arn
sometimes whil aircraft were trafi
ground targets. Two aircraft and tho
crews vani shed without trace. Maj Mi
McElhanon and Maj John Overlock fa il
to appear a designator aircraft for a tri
on 16 August 1968, and th ir F-10
(56-3865) was presumed hot down. On 1
November 1969, Lt Col Lawrenc Whit-
ford and 1st Lt Patri ck Carroll never made
their pl anned tanker r ndezvous and their
F-100F (56-3796) was never seen again.
Maj Don Sibson and Capt Snyder had to
eject from 56-3878 while controlling an
attack on a SAM ite near Dong Hoi on 30
December 1967, as did ol Hardy and
Capt Dave Jenny who led an attack on a
SAM battery on 5 Jul y 1968. All four
pi lots were recovered.
Of all the Misty FAC casualties, the first
and most famous was the heroic survival of
Maj George ' Bud' Day. On 26 August 1967,
he and Capt Corwin 'Kipp' Kippenhan
were leading an F-105 mission (' Bud' Day's
139th) in search of another SAM ite near
Thon Cam Son. Their F-100F (56-3954)
took a hit at 4,500ft (1 ,370m) over the tar-
get and the crew ejected 2 miles (3km)
short of the coast. Kippenhan was picked up
by an HH-3E hel icopter but Day was
caught. During the ej cti on he broke his
arm badl y, suffered a damaged knee and was
virtually blinded in his left eye by his flail-
ing oxygen mask. He was quickly captured
and tied up in a hole in the ground. Escap-
ing from his two VC guards, he survived for
twelve days in the jungle, sustaining further
injuri es from a US bomb that fell near him.
He evaded thirty-two VC patrols and man-
VI ET ' AM WA RHORSE
aged to navigate, without a compass, to
within half an hour of freedom. Wandering
semi -deli rious into another VC patrol he
was injured by gun shots and re-captured,
spending six year of extr me hardship and
torture in the 'Hanoi Hilton'. (During all
that time S/Sgt Bobby ' Orville' Wright, hi s
former crew chi ef when Bud fl ew F-lOOC
54- 1903 with the l36th FlS, and his family
of eight all wore POW bracelets until his
release. Bobby, known a 'Tiger' by Bud Day,
was one of many who prayed forth pri son-
er' afe return.) Following the end of his
ordeal in 1973 (one offour Misty POWs to
return from Hanoi) Bud was awarded th
Medal of Honor, one of only twelve award-
ed to US airman during d1at war.
The Misty FAC Detachment was fina lly
replaced by F-4 units in May 1970 and the
Detachment reverted to the 61 2th TFS as
F-100 operations in South East Asia ended
on 31 July 1971. It had moved to Tuy Hoa
on 14 Apri l 1969 for the final stage of its
operati ons. Use of the F-4 for the miss ions
had gradually evolved beginning with a
programme code- named Stmmy FAC and
managed by t he 366th TFW at Da Nang. It
wa followed by a simil ar Wolf FAC initi a-
tive at Ubon. The 388th TFW began Tiger
FAC operations in March 1969, followed
by the 432nd TRW which used teams of
F-4Ds and RF-4C (Falcon/Atlanta) air-
115
craft . The F-4 uffered from poorer rear-
cockpi t visibility than the F-100F and
horter loiter time, but F-100Fs were get-
ting scarce as r tirement approached. Com-
mando Sabre pilots checked out the first
batch of F-4 Stormy FA s at Phu at.
According to Lancaster, ' It was a mirror of
our training programme. One of their guys
came to Phu Cat and flew fi ve mi ss ions in
my back seat, then I flew one in his "pit"' .
Once again, the F-1 00 had pioneered
major new combat techniques and then
stepped as ide to let more modern aircraft
develop them further a it returned to th
USA for a qui eter li fe in ANG units.
Summing up his impressions of the
F-100 in both 'hot' and cold war, Lt Col
David 0 . William (later to become a
Brigadier Gen ral) felt that the aircraft
was probably employed in the proper roles:
It was a good, stable weapons delivery platform
in the conventional weapons role, as it was
empl oyed for air-to-ground attack in Sout h
Vietnam. Duri ng t he height of the Cold War it
was the best, most avail able and most ready tac-
t ical nucl ear weapons deli very platform we had
in the USAF inventory. T hankfu lly, we never
had to prove its prowess in t hat role, but I'm also
t hankful that we at least had a well -trained,
ready F- l 00 nucl ear st rike force to prove a cred-
ible deterrent when we needed it.
CHAPTER 5
On Guard
New York ANG F-100Cs replaced their silver finish with camouflage and 'SG' tail codes when they flew with the
31st TFW at Tuy Hoa AB. Author's Collection
Asian Action
Working close ly wit h the t hi rteen regular
USAF F-100 squadrons in Vietnam were
four Air Nat ional Guard (A G) units.
They won uni versa l praise for their effec-
t iveness including a glowing tr ibute from
Gen George S. Brown, 7th AF Comman-
der, 1968- 70. Among th ight ANG
squadrons ca ll ed to act ive duty aft er the
Pueblo incident in January 1968 was the
120th Tact ica l Fighter Squadron (TFS),
Colorado ANG, the first to take its Super
Sabres to Vietnam. An F-lOOC/F squadron
since January 1961, the 120th ar ri ved at
Phan Rang AB on 3 May 1968. Fi ve days
later, after famili ari za ti on fli ghts with the
resident 35th Tact ical Fighter Wing
(TFW) Instructor Pil ots (IPs), the
squadron fl ew the first of 5,905 combat
sort ies. Many of the squad ron's maintain-
ers worked on the F- l OODs of other 35th
TFW units. The squad ron was the first in
the ANG to fl y combat as a uni t since
WWll and the sudden change in lifest yle
was a shock for its pilots who were mainl y
'week day' airline pilots, ca ll ed to duty at
24-hours notice. Bob Macavoy reca lled
that, 'When t he 120th TFS arri ved at our
base in Aprill 968 I remember them being
sb*t sca r d for the first couple of weeks,
speciall y when we were mortared at ni ght.
T hey ran into the bomb shelters while the
rest of us regulars stood outside to watch
the mortars hit the fli ght -line' .
116
The squadron fl ew for nearly nine
months of combat, averaging tw nty-four
sorties a day, wi thout loss until Capt J. E.
O'Neill had the dubious honour of being
in the last of the 569 US aircraft to be shot
down in 1968. His F-100 (54-1973) was
damaged by ground-fire on a clos air sup-
port (CAS) miss ion and he had to eject
short of Phan Rang. Almost at the end of
the deployment , Maj Clyde Seiler was the
120th's only casualty when he was ki lled
on another CAS miss ion near Song Be
City. Se il er, a fo rmer Misty forward air
cont roll er (FAC) pil ot, was pulling up
from a str ike attack when the wing of hi s
F-100 sustained a structural failure. Col-
orado's 'VS'-coded F-1 OOCs scored the
0 GUARD
The New Mexico ANG's spectacular markings appear on this F-lOOA (53-1737) which has also been updated with a
tail hook, inflight-reluelling probe and silver lacquer fini sh. Peter Schinkel shoek Collecti on
best statisti cs in the 35 th TFW for opera-
ti onal readiness (86.9 per cent), munitions
reliability (98.8 per cent) and for the num-
ber of missions fl own.
The 174th TFS, Iowa ANG, formerl y
Republic RF-84F fl ye rs, wer also alerted
after the Pueblo affair and then deployed
to Viet nam on 14 May 1968, arriving at
Phu Cat after a 12,000- mil e (19,310km)
fli ght. Lt Col Gordon Young's aircrew
(also predominantly airline pi lots) com-
plet d 563 combat mi ss ions in the first
month of their one-year temporary duty
(TOY). Like the Colorado Guardsmen,
they lost one pil ot in a shootdown; 1st Lt
Warren K. Brown (54-2004) , downed at
the same target as a 612th TFS F- l OOD
only ninety minutes previously. It was also
th first F-100 lost in Vietnam. By the
end of their tour th airmen from Sioux
C ity, Iowa had completed 6,359 miss ions,
delivering a mountain of ordnance includ-
ing 154 tons of 2.75i n rockets, almost 2
mill ion rounds of 20mm and 3 mi llion
pounds of napalm.
Tuy Hoa welcomed the 188th TF ,
New Mexico ANG in june 1968, the first
overseas deployment for the unit that was
also the first ANG F-100 operator. It had
traded its original F-l OOAs for F-100C/Fs
in spring 1964. The Vietnam deployment
involved twenty- two 'SK' -coded aircraft
and some very experienced pilots, most of
whom had over 1,000 hours on the type.
Like many ANG squadrons, their highly
exp ri enced maintainers soon found
th mselv s in supervisory posit ions with-
in the parent Wing's support organi zati on.
Their superbly maintained Huns averaged
over eighteen sorties dail y during their
year at war and their pil ots ea rned out -
stand ing reputations for accurate ord -
nanc deli very in support of t roops in con-
tact. The 'Enchilada Air Force' fl yers with
'Taco' ca ll signs were much in demand for
difficul t CAS miss ions. The inevitable
cos t was fi ve aircraft , two lost in a mid-a ir
coll ision, two to anti -a ircraft art ill ery
(AAA) and another in an op rati onal
mi shap.
777
Join ing the New Mexico men at Tuy
Hoa was the 136th TFS, New York ANG
from N iagara Falls, also with F-lOOC/Fs.
Rocky's Raiders (later, New York's Fines t)
was part of the larg st and longest -estab-
lished group of ANG aviation un its. Its
hi story was rooted in 1943 as a P-5 10 unit
within the 8th Air Force. With the NY
ANG it had fl own some time-expired F-
4 7 Ds, 'They had granular corro ion prob-
lems and could onl y fire the inboard 50 ca l
guns' , crew chi ef Bobby Wri ght recall ed. ' l
think if we had fi red all eight guns th
damn wings would have fallen off! '
After that, it was back to Mustangs, then
Lockheed F-94Bs and F-86H Sabres before
the F- l OOCs began to arri ve in 1961.
When the squadron ventually transi-
t ioned to the F-1 01 B Voodoo in June 1971
it had logged ov r 50,000 hours in F-100s
including 10,200 combat hours (5,500 mis-
sions) over Vietnam. Maj Franklyn McKee
fl ew the squadron's last F-100C (54-1 78)
to Sioux City on 13 August 197 1 for anoth-
er two years of service.
0 GUARD
Rocky's Raiders at War
Flyi ng 'SG'-coded F-100Cs out of Tuy Hoa with the
136th TFS. New York ANG, Van 'Sky King' Hall com-
pleted 229 missions with one of the most hi ghl y regard-
ed Super Sabre units in South East Asia.
Tuy Hoa was the biggest fighter base since WWII , with 125
Huns from three USAF regular units, the New Mexico ANG
and 'New York's Finest'. We were commanded by l t Col lav-
erne 'Dusty' Donner for the whole tour 11 4 June 1968- 25
May 1969). There were six months for traini ng before we
deployed including a water survival course at Homestead
AFB plus live ordnance and 'night owl' training, also in Flori-
da. Then there was 'snake school' !jungle survival) in the
Phil ippines alter we deployed. We went non-stop to Hawai i
on the way over; nine hours in the cockpit with no auto-pi lot ,
weari ng a poopy suit and taking seven air-to-air refuel lings
including three or four at maximum gross_ ai rcraft weight.
That was real fun!
All the Air Guard units had the F-100C, the 'sport
_model', with a final approach ai rspeed of 183kt. It had no
flaps and was faster and more manoeuvrable than the F-
1 OOD. While the 'D could carry wall-to-wal l napalm, the F-
lOOC could be loaded with two 'napes' outboard and two
high-drag bombs inboard. We had to drop the napalm first
I both tanks together) and then the bombs. The F-1 ODDs
weapons system al lowed one pilot to drop his bombs and
open up the jungle before his wingman !all owed up with
some napalm. Cluster bomb units ICBUs) came later in the
second part of our deployment but it wasn't popular. If you
couldn't find a target CBU was jettisoned into the ocean.
never brought home.
Half of the missions were up in the Northern Route
Packs, including the Mu Gia Pass and the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
There were big guns up there - real flak. We always went
as four-ships on those missions, carrying four 7501b bombs
each. Very few night missions were flown. They required a
FAC. fighters and a C-130 flare-shi p all running around in
the same sky together. They took forever to sort out and by
then any bad guys were long gone, I'm sure.
The onl y fatality was Capt 'Jake the Snake' L'Huillier,
shot down duri ng his second attack pass in 54-1912 on
a mid-morning mission against a Viet Cong IVC) stor-
age area near Than Ba. Jake bai led out but hi s chute
didn' t full y deploy and he died in the rescue hel icopter
on the way to Chu Lai .
1st Lt Mike Laskowski in 54-1775 was hit in si milar cir-
cumstances on 2 August but rescued by a 37th ARRS heli-
copter. 1st Lt J. J. Thun was hit and baled out of 54-1922
near the Cambodian border on 23 August. 1st Lt Roberts
managed to fly his F-100C 154-1931) some distance to Da
Two of the eight ANG F-100 uni ts that
were alerted on 25 ] anuary 196 were sent
to Kunsan, Korea instead of South Vietnam.
The 127th TF , Kansas ANG (with F-
100Cs since converting from the F-86L in
1961) and the 166th TFS, Ohio ANG (for-
merly a U AF-gained F-84F unit at Etain)
combined to b come the nucleus of the reg-
ul ar 354th TFW at the Korean base until
June 1969. The Kansas ]ayhawks briefl y
Nang after being hit on climb-out from Tuy Hoa, only to
bail out over the sea. The fi fth loss invol ved 53-1713 ithe
fi ft h F- 1 DOC and an ex-Edwards AFB test aircraft) after
engi ne failure on 8 August. In proporti on to the huge num-
ber of mi ssions flown these losses were relati vely light.
Most of the missions were in support of troops in contact,
flown by Alert crews. Each squadron had two birds on five-
minute Alert 24 hours a day with 'soft' loads of napalm and
smal l, high-drag bombs. We used LITIER cal l-signs and had
'Rocky's Rai ders' and 'Peace is our Profession, War is our
Hobby' on the nose-gear doors. The regular squadrons did-
n't see the humour in thi s. We call ed the regulars 'DARTs'
!dumb-ass regular troops) and they called us 'FANGs'
lf***ing Air National Guardsmen). The big diHerence
between us was that we made our mistakes together and
everyone in the unit got better each day. The regulars were
always havi ng to train new guys. We went back to WWI I
stuH: I had my awn' aircralt 154-1893) and my crew chiel,
Bernie and I used that F-100C 95 per cent of the time. This
was great lor morale. I never really looked at the plane dur-
ing the pre-flight walk-around, just the weapons. If Bernie
said it was ready, then it wast We partied hard with our
enl isted men - the regulars couldn't do that. We deployed
together and stayed together. The Tacos' !New Mexico
ANG) were good 'sticks' too and great dri nking buddies. We
worked six weeks, then ten days off and the leave could be
taken anywhere m the worl d as long as you were back in
time for the next two to take theirs. I made it ito) Hawai i
three times, Australia once and Taiwan many times. We
would go to Cam Ranh Bay and hitch rides on ANG cargo
planes. No wonder the DARTs didn't love us!
War, as witnessed on an Air Force base, was the most
focused thi ng I have ever seen except pilot training: thou-
sands of folks doing only one thing and that was putti ng the
pilots in their seats and launching them. The whole thing was
about numbers: sorties. bombs, commission rates, etc. For
the pilots it really was easy except for that small part where
someone was trying to kill you. There was a tremendous
sense of detachment from the worl d. It took ten or twelve
days togeta letter, and then we wouldn'twant to get any bad
news because we couldn't help. Li fe just consisted of, when
do I get up? When do I fly? When can I have my first drink?
Vietnam is one of the most beautiful countries in the world
But on the other hand, I remember talking to a young
West Point graduate on a night Alert, half an hour before
his night checkout fl ight. He was married with a kid; had it
all. later, I went out for a cigarette and watched him take
off, screw up his join-up with the Fl ight l ead and kill him-
self against a mountain. Just another day.
adopted ' BP' tail -code and one aircraft
acquired a spectacular hark mouth. The
166th TFS, one of four F-100 squadron
assigned to the Ohi o ANG, flew Super
Sabres longer than the other units in the
Wing, acquiring F-100 s in 1962 and
repl acing them with F-1000 in 1971 until
phase-out in 1974. lt too received a tail -
code (' BO' ) at Kunsan. The 354th TFW
had been an F-1000 Wing at Myrtl e Beach
118
from late 1956 until it was effecti vely dis-
mantled in mid-1968 and moved 'on paper'
to Kunsan to replace the 4th TFW and act
a parent wing for the two F-100 squadrons.
Tasked with air defence of South Korea,
the two squadrons suffered badly from lack
of spare parts for their aging F-100C (all
available spares having been channelled to
the Vietnam uni ts ) and consequent declin-
ing readiness. They also lacked the all-
weather capability needed for effective air
defence in that environment.
Two other ANG squadrons moved to
Myrtle Beach to establish a Replacement
Training Unit (RTU) for F-100 crews. The
119th TFS, New Jersey ANG was divided
up in March 1968, mo t personnel going
to Myrtle Beach whil e the r t were di -
persed to Korea or Vi etnam. Half of it
pilots were transferred to the 355th TFS at
Tuy Hoa (after moving from Phu Cat in
May 1969), which became, in many
respects, the fifth Air Guard F-100 unit in
South Vietnam. This sit uat ion continued
until June 1969 when t he 119th returned
to New Jersey control and began conver-
sion to the Republic F-105B. The other
half of the Myrtle Beach RTU came from
the 121st TFS, Oistri ct of Columbia ANG
whi ch provided the core of the F-100
Combat Cr w Training Squadron, coded
' XB'. Lik the New Jersey unit , the 12l st
TFS compl eted its role as an F- 100 'school'
in June 1969 and returned to state control
fortran ition to the F-105 Thunderchi ef.
Back in the USA
Air Guard F-100 squadrons began to
return homeward in the summer of 1969 as
part of the initial reduction of US forces in
Vietnam. For the 120th TFS, return to
Buckl ey ANGB, Colorado on 30 April
1969 m ant two more years on the veter-
an F- l OOC before updating to the F-1000
and subsequently to the LTV A-70 Cor-
sa ir in Apri l 1974 after thirteen years on
Huns. Their F-1000 /Fs wore the promi-
nent red wildcat's head marking that had
been pa inted on the nose-gear doors and
vertical stabilizers of their 'VS' -coded F-
100Cs in South Vietnam.
An even longer track record could be
cl aimed by the 174th TFS with sixteen
years on F-1 OOC/ 0 and F Super Sabre
before it too became an A-70 outfit in
1976. As well as the Sioux City Squadron,
the Iowa ANG included the 124th TFS at
Des Moines, whi ch exchanged its F-84Fs
The 119th TFS New Jersey ANG adopted 'XA' tail
codes when called to active duty with the 113th
TFW at Myrtle Beach AB in 1968. Ken Buchanan via
John Maene
0 GUARD
11 9
F-100F 56-3786, newly arrived at AMARC from the
Ohio ANG's 166th TFS in 1974. Author"s Collection
Another immaculate New Jersey ANG F-100C-6-NA.
This Hun also passed to the Turkish AF in 1974.
Davi d Menard via John Maene
0 G ARD
Standard New Jersey ANG markings appear on this F-lOOC-6-NA, which has the 'swan neck' refuelling probe and
335gal tanks. '782 later joined the Turkish AF. David Menard via John Maene
F-lOOC-2-NA 53-1747 of the District of Columbia ANG's 121st TFS also has High Wire
updates. The red 'design' on the nose is actually an intake cover. Peter Schinkelshoek
Coll ection
720
for F-100Cs in April 1971 and then
F-lOODs in 19T before joining the' or-
sa ir ll lub' in January 1977.
As the first ANG unit to take aboard t he
F- 100, th 188th TFS had long xperi nee
of the F-l OOA/C and F and it stuck with the
battl e-proven C models through to 1973
before taking on A-70s. Towards the end of
their careers, everal F-100 s sloughed off
their worn camoufl age for a smart new coat
of Air Defense Command (ADC) grey
paint and a revival of t he black and yellow
chevrons and sunrays that the F- 1 OOA ' hot
Huns' had once worn. The New York ANG
136th TFS, having received an Outstand-
ing Unit Award in January 1970 for its war
service, stayed in F- lOOCs until Apri ll 971
and t hen received its first F-101 B/F
Voodoos the foll owing month, moving to
ADC cont rol as a resul t.
When the two Korean-deployed
squad rons returned, the 127th TF re-
deployed to McConnell AFB in June
1969. In the spring of 1971 it traded its F-
lOOCs fo r F-105Ds as a Tact ical Fi ghter
0 GUARD
A 110th TFS Missouri ANG F-1 00F attracts viewers in 1966. Some of the unit's F-100s had red nose and tail markings.
Peter Schinkelshoek Coll ecti on
Training Squadron (TITS). Its former
partner squadron at Kunsan, the 166th
TFS, took on a batch of F-1000 /Fs two
years after its ret urn to Lockbourne AFB
and fl ew them unt il the end of 1974 when
it became yet another A-70 operator.
Ohio was one of t he largest ANG F-100
Groups with four of its five fl ying
squadrons having used t he F-100. At Tole-
do airport t he 112th TFS fl ew F- l OODs
between October 1970 and summer 1979,
absorbing some of the aircraft that were
returned from Viet nam-based units as they
upgraded to later types. Earli er in 1970,
t he 162nd TFS at Springfield also got F-
lOODs to replace its F-84Fs and t hen
received A-70s in April 1978. Their
fourt h unit, t he 164t h TFS at Mansfield-
Lahm airport fl ew the F-l OOD for only
t hree years from February 1972 and t hen
changed compl rely to -130s, providing
logistical support du ri ng DeseTt Stom1.
Ohio's fift h squadron was a much-need d
Air Refuell ing Squadron (ARS).
A second F-100 TITS was established
withi n t he Ari zona ANG using the 152nd
TFS. In 1958, it became one of t he t hree
Air Guard units to receive F-l OOAs, the
ot her two being t he 188t h TFS and the
118th T FS, Connecti cut ANG. ln
1965- 66 both the 152nd TFS and 118th
TFS began a period fl ying the F-102A
Delta Dagger as ADC-gained squadrons,
but by the summ r of 1969 t he Ari zona
squadron had reverted to F- l OOC/Fs as a
TITS, graduating to F-l OODs in] uly 1975.
It t hen became t he hard-worked RTU for
Air Guard A-70 t raini ng in 1976 and for
a tim shared duties on bot h t ypes un t il its
Ia t F-l OOD were pha ed out in March
1978. Connect icut pil ots gave up t h ir
F-102As over the summer of 1971 and
began a long period of F-1000 /F 'owner-
shi p' that ended with the int roduct ion of
t h A- l OA 'Wart hog' in mid - 1979.
In all , twenty-six A G squadrons fl ew
Super Sabres. Two ot her states operated a
pair ofF-100 squadrons. The Indiana ANG
7 2 7
113th TFS at Terre Haute xchang d F-
184Fs for F-1000 /Fs in S ptemb r 197 1,
shortly after t he 163rd TFS Marksmen at
Baer Fi eld. Indiana Super Sabres deployed
to RAF Lak nheat h in April 1976 for a
two- week exercise. Bot h units t rad d up to
Phantoms in 1979, receiving some of t he F-
4C Wild Weasel IV aircraft in de- modified
form. Massachusetts was the other state
protected by a pair of F- 100 squadrons; the
101 t TFS from May 1971 and the 131st
TFS from] une of t hat year. A rapid change
of poli cy meant re- training t he 101 t TF
on the F-106A Delta Dart a year later while
th 131st cont inued unt il ] uly 1979 before
' MA' -cod d A- lOAs took over the flight-
lines.
Also, upgrad ing to F-4 s at t hat t ime
was the 184t h TFS, Arkansas ANG Flying
Razmbacks, whi ch had flown F-1000 /Fs
out of Fort mith airport since t he summer
of 1972. Michigan's 107th TFS, previous-
ly an RF-101 Voodoo user (l ike t he 184th
TFS), got its uper Sabr s in June 1972
0 G ARD
This neat 19751ine-up of 124th TFS,Iowa ANG Huns has F-1000 56-3034 in the
foreground. Peter Schinkel shoek Col lection
Another beautifully kept F-lOOD. This 131st TFS, Massachusetts ANG Hun returns from
a training mission. Coloured tail bands were applied to many of the unit's aircraft
before and after tail codes were marked up in 1979. Author's Collection
722
and A-70s took ov r six yea rs later. Fur-
t her north, in Sioux Fall s, t he ! 75th TFS
Lobos of the South Dakota ANG relin-
quished an ADC role on F-102As to fl y F-
1000/Fs from May 1970 unt il it too
acquired A-70s in 1977 .
In t he outh, the Georgia, Mi ouri,
Texa , Oklahoma and Louisiana Air
Guard units all controll ed single F- 1000/F
uni ts in the late 1970s. Mi s uri 's ll Otb
TFS had previou ly fl own t he F-100 ,
beginning in August 1962 after a long
period on F-84Fs. Their F- lOODs appea red
from r gular U AF uni ts at the end of
1971 and stayed unt il t he start of 1979.
Georgia's 128th TF had six years on F-
lOODs fr m spring 1973 and then t ok
over a batch of F-105 , whil tb K ll y
AFB-ba ed Texa ANG quadran, t he
182nd TF , managed eight years
(197 1- 79) on F-lOODs before a long peri -
od on t he F-4C. Its easterly neighbour, t he
Oklahoma A G took on F-1000/Fs in
1973 in place of lumbering -124 trans-
ports, fl ying th m until July 1978. AS
New Orl eans was the base for Louisiana's
122nd TF F-1000/Fs from late 1970 until
April 1979. The Coonass Mi li tia later
ON G ARD
A challenging model diorama subject. A 163rd TFS, 122nd TFW Indiana ANG F-1000 in deep periodic maintenance.
David Menard Collection
123
ON GUA RD
A rear view of the same Indiana ANG Super Sabre with the tail section slid off. The engine afterburner section
was supported by an interim mount, fitted to the top of the fuselage just forward of the point where aircraft 'split"
into two. David Menard Collection
124
became the first A G squadron to rece ive
t he ophisti cated F- 15A Eagle.
The last ANG F-100 mi ion was fl own
by an Ind iana ANG pilot, 1st Lt Wil li am
Layne of the 113th TFS in 56-2979 City of
Terre Haute. It was also the fina l USAF F-
100 mi ion, t hough Br ig Gen Frank Het-
tlinger, Commander of th 122nd TFW
had t he honour of fl ying t he 23-year old F-
l OOD to the Military Aircraft Storage and
Dispositi on Center (MASDC ), Ar izona
as 'FE627' . lt remained there unt il its con-
version to a QF- 100 target drone and
destructi on by an AIM-7F miss il on 21
February 1983 during its t hird target
fli ght. At t hat time it had over 5,000
The Indiana ANG Hun's tail on its special handling
vehicle. Although this aircraft's ANG badge has
worn off, the yellow tail band remains. The Indiana
logo was later changed to yellow also. David Menard
Coll ection
0 1 GUARD
Police all around us. We were told not to leave
the aircraft and we had two or three poli ce with
weapons drawn surrounding each F- 100. Even
t he Base Commander arrived on the scene. We
were rold ro board a bus and taken off ro a
hangar. About an hour later some Maj or told us
to rake all our A 7 and MA2 power uni ts and get
t he aircraft started for a bunch of offi cers (nor
ours) ro move the Huns. The I 36th TFS was
famous immedi ately and the messes were
buzz ing for several days with srori es of t he Ban-
dits of Hickam stea ling F- 1 OOs .
John Maene and hi s ew Jersey squadron
participated in perat ion Gold Rush IV in
May L967, when a dozen F- l OOs flew non-
stop from Atl anti c City to Elmendorf AFB
for ten days. Tennessee ANG KC-97s were
po ted to the Alaskan base to refuel the
Hun while they practi ed air defence and
Another F-100F. this time from the 182nd TFS, Texas ANG in 1976, with its state name in
'Old Western' script on a red band. Author's Collection
AS mi ss ions. Standard traini ng loads for
these missions were two 335gal fuel tanks
with either 2. 75 in rocket pods or practi ce
bombs outboard, or inert 500- or 750lb
bombs inboard and outboard.
hours of fli ght on its servi ce record includ-
ing several years of USAFE service. A
number ofF- LOO pi lots could boast even
longer periods of flight t ime, 5,600 hours
being the USAF hi gh-t ime record held by
Dick Salazar. For many other pil ots who
moved on to more user-fri endl y jets, the
F- LOO nevertheless remained a favourite
memory: t he aircraft on whi ch t hey really
learned to fly fighters.
Air Guard units were quite often asked
to deploy over long distance for exercises
or TOYs. In August L963, th ew York
ANG took part in Swift Strike Ill at
McGhee-Tyson AFB in Tennessee. One of
the uni t's biggest deployments pre-Viet-
nam was TrojJic Lightning to Hawaii in
August 1965, the first Pacific crossing by
an ANG tactical fi ghter quadran. On
arri val, ome cultural differences between
regular USAF and ANG pract ices caused
a few misunderstandings, as Bobby Wright
remembered:
We fl ew in a C- lJO from Niagara Fal ls to Cali -
forni a ro ready our birds for the second leg of the
journey to Hawaii , and then resumed our own
journey ro Hickam Fi eld, Hawaii. Upon being
assigned ro our lovely WWII wooden barracks we
were bri efed to rake our aircraft to a designated
sire some distance from the main base, as we
would be using li ve ordnance on our missions.
Moving the aircraft was routine ro us because
we were li censed, as fu ll -ri me technicians, ro
run up and tax i the birds. We fired t hem up and
proceeded ro the active runway in single fil e
with the canopies open. The control rower
operator spotted us and wanted ro know what in
hell a bunch of non-commiss ioned personnel
were doing in those birds. Air Force regul ati ons
sa id specifi call y that onl y offi cers coul d taxi air-
craft. Our lead man, a Tech Sergeant, tri ed ro
explain t hat we were licensed ro do it but the
tower woul dn' t buy th is and rold us ro shut
down engi nes immedi ately. Before we knew it
there was a bunch of vehi cles and Air Force
Once or twi ce a year a fl are rocker and inert
AIM-9 were hung on the F- IOO's left inboard
pylon. The pilot fired the rocket, wa ited a few
seconds and then fired the Sidewinder, like
shoot ing fish in a barrel.
ummer camps took the J A C to places
like Cape Cod, courtesy of the Ma sachuserrs
ANC. We lived in old WWII ba rrack wit h the
Rhode Island ANC marching band coming
through at an ungodly hour after a great party
District of Columbia ANG F-100Cs were camouflaged by 1970 when this later shot of
53-1747 was taken. Two years later it was in the Turkish A F. Peter Schinkelshoek
Coll ection
725
S/ Sgt Bobby 'Orville' Wright looked after an F-1 DOC for
the 136th TFS from 1963 to 1967. His Hun, 'one hell of
a performer' . earned him Crew Chief of the Month as it
did for two of his successors. He explains the rout ine for
getting the F-1 DOC ready to go.
In winter I would first remove the protective cover over
the canopy. Then we'd check the afterburner 'eyelids' . We
used to push them into the open position on the flight line
and cover them over. This retracted the actuating pistons
and protected them from the weather. When a pilot went
into afterburner and the eyelids didn't open he got a
tremendous engine 'chatter' (I did this once in a simulator
and it scared the crp out of me!).
Then the in-flight refuelling boom would be checked.
On practice missions many came back with this boom
sti cki ng straight up in the air. It was made of aluminium
and could not stand much abuse. Pilots were very embar-
rassed when they returned with it in this condi tion. We
didn't straighten them out and I saw several in the bone-
yard but the rule was 'remove and replace'.
Capt Allen Lamb asserted that accidentally bent booms
were the inspiration for the later. cranked boom that
pilots coul d see more easily when refuell ing than the
ori ginal straight model. The probes were made of tapered
aluminium pipe with a wall thickness that was greater at
the rear of the tube where it attached to the wing.
Next we'd check the pitot static boom and the spring-
loaded clasps that held the wing slats in the retracted
posi tion. The slats would often extend when the F-100
was in the in-fli ght refuell ing position due to the low
speed and high angl e of attack. Going under the aircraft
we would remove the red-painted, metal landing gear
down locks.
The next chore was to fill the liquid oxygen (LOX) can-
ister from the LOX cart . There was no way of measuring
the LOX and it was just fed in until you got a steady
stream of overflow. This job required us to wear a rub-
ber apron. face shield and heavy gloves. We put a metal
pan on the ground to collect the excess LOX, which
boi led off very rapidly. It was a very dangerous chore
and one had to be ext remely careful.
Refuel ling the bird was done through the single-point
receptacle on the left si de of the fuselage, supplying
fuel to the wing cell s and the f01ward and aft fuselage
cells. Drop tanks had to be filled by hand. The total
capacity for the aircraft was 17,9331b, suffici ent for 2
hours 20 minutes (with drop tanks).
The 'wet' wings would weep fuel frequently but that
wasn't a serious hazard. We would inject sealant when
needed but it wasn't very frequent. We would remove
old P2 or P3 screws, inject the sealant and replace the
screws. Most of this was done as a routine part of peri -
odic inspection.
Fuel pumps in the wheel well s were checked for prop-
er operati on. We had to crawl down the air intake and
look at the first-stage turbine blades for any nicks or
cracks. If there were cracks over 1/Bin deep the aircraft
would be grounded for engine removal and inspection
at the engine shop. Inside the intake was a shield
(called a 'dog peeker') that covered a hydraulic pump
0 G ARD
Keeping Them in The Air
and when the pump failed it was a real bitch to change
because of the confined space. I did that chore many
times on hot tarmac and that ain't no fun.
All tyre pressures had to be checked and corrected if
necessary: 231 psi for main gear tyres and 175psi for
the nose gear tyres. Landing gear st rut pressure had to
be 3,000psi . lyres were checked for 'bull's-eye' chafes
caused by too much yaw on landing peeling the tread
from the casing and showing the layers of different
coloured cord underneath. When red appeared the tyre
had to be changed. Young pilots (or hung-over ones)
would leave with brand new tyres, make one landing,
score a 'bull's-eye' and have to write it up on the form.
They knew the crew chief would be annoyed because
changing a tyre was a big job. Each tyre change
required an anti-skid check by two people and a very
ri gid inspection. Safety wi ring of nuts and bolts was an
art and had to be done so that the wires were pull ing
bolts tight all the time. Wheel assemblies also housed
the disc brakes that were as heavy as hell. The number
of landings per tyre would be judged by the type of
landing-strip surface. In Florida some of the old run-
ways were made of crushed coral and tar, which was
highly abrasive.
F-1 DO tyres could take some abuse. as John Maene, a crew
chief with the 177th TFG. New Jersey ANG recollected:
One freezing morning our unit was in the middl e of an
ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection( and we were
doing our final inspections before letting the weapons
crews arm the bombs and cannons. The last F-1 OOF (just
out of periodic inspection with new tyres) had an
Inspector in the back seat observi ng the mission. Its
crew taxied on to the active runway, ran up the engi ne,
checked all systems. released brakes and rolled for-
ward. hitting 'burner as they accelerated to take-off
speed. Suddenly, someone announced over the radio
that the Hun had blown a tyre and we wondered how
this could have happened with new tyres.
By the time the maintenance truck arri ved at the point
where the aircraft had successful ly engaged the arrest-
ing cable the firemen were trying to push the still-run-
ning bird back off the cable. Finally, the pilot shut down.
His brakes and tyres were dangerously close to blowing
after the aborted take-off. but the puff of smoke that
someone had thought was a tyre blowi ng out was actu-
al ly the jettisoned drag chute package hitting the run-
way. Water had frozen in the F-1 OOF's pi tot tube pre-
venting any airspeed indication. The pilot aborted
take-off, dropped his tail hook and instead of deploying
his drag chute he accidental ly jettisoned it. The good
news was that the maintenance men were cleared of
any wrongdoing. (The pitot system had to be purged
wit h dry compressed air by instrument special ists if any
moisture was discovered when the pitot drain plugs
were pulled.) The first time you personal ly install ed a
drag chu te and launched your bird your anxiety level
went up several notches when you saw your particular
F-100 in the landing pattern. Our base had a small ri se
partl y blocking the view of the acti ve runway and I had
to wait to see the aircraft appear the other si de of the
ri se to make sure the chute had deployed.
126
Bobby Wright's pre-flight continued wi th a check of the F-1 OO's
static fluid leaks.
Aircraft perform better the more they are flown. The F-1 OOC
hydrauli c system ran at 3. 000psi. using 5606 hydraulic fluid
(the ai rcraft's oil was 58508e synthetic grade). When the
system wasn't under pressure many static leaks appeared.
This wasn't really a problem. but convincing a pilot of thi s
point during his walk-around inspection was a pain. We
would wipe up all the evidence under the bird when we
saw the pilot approaching and if 'greenhorn' pil ots made an
issue of it we would say, 'Are you going to fly this thing or
pull a Duality Control Inspect ion on it?'
The preparati ons continued with unfolding and locking
the pilot boom and then installing the drag chute.
This was a hell of a job. especially for short guys like me.
You had to lie on your back. balancing the chute on your
feet and stufi it into the hopper, close the door with your
feet and use a 15in screwdriver to close and lock the fas-
tener. I used to wait until the bi rd was refuelled before I
did this because the landing gear struts would compress.
bri nging the back end of the Hun closer to the ground so
that my short legs coul d reach the drag chute compart-
ment. A red flagged safety cable was attached to the
chute and the pilot had to pull this on his walk-around.
We made a visual inspection of the wheel wel ls, look-
ing for any chafing of hydraulic lines and cables. If any
was detected we separated the lines wi th a leather chafe-
pad. The 'saddle' access door on the upper fuselage.
behind the cockpit, was removed to inspect hydraulic fluid
levels. Using the A7 external electrical power generator
we'd do an instrument test and a radio check wi th the con-
trol tower. Then we would connect the MA 2 air turbine
compressor hose to the lower rear fuselage ready to start
the engine. The pi lot made the walk-around check, remov-
ing safety fl ags from the drop tanks and drag chute. We then
helped to strap him into the cockpil
John Maene:
Nonmal ly, pilots would position thei r helmet and oxygen
mask on the top centre of the windshield. I once strapped a
pilot in and assumed his helmet was down on the right hand
ci rcuit breaker panel, out of my view. After all the straps
were tightened he reached for his helmet. realized he had
totally forgotten it and asked me to go and get the 'missing
fl ight gear'. Good thing he wasn't scrambling that day.
Communi cation between pilot and crew chief could pro-
vide some semantic problems once they went beyond
the normal 'semaphore' routines too. John Maene
explained:
A new ruli ng came down that any F-100 running its engine
on the flight line had to have its navigat ion lights on to
warn ramp personnel to stay away. My 'mentor', TSgtWil -
fred Hickerson saw that a pilot hadn't done this and tried
banging on the aircraft's wingtip to get the pilot's attention
while he also pointed at the un-ill uminated nav light. The
pilot merely looked confused. Next. 'Hick' started rapi dly
blinking his eyes whil e he continued to point at the light.
When that too failed he finally climbed up the ladder to the
cockpit and yelled at the top of his lungs as he pointed at
the pilot's navigation light switch.
Some ground crew initiatives lay well outside the guide-
lines. as John described:
Before one simulated 'strafing of enemy positions' near
'fr iendly troops' some smart-ass came up with the brilliant
idea of putting several rolls of toilet paper up in the Huns'
speed brake wells. As the aircraft approached the fr iend-
ly troops the pilots deployed their speed brakes. bombing
the troops with streaming rolls of toilet tissue. Needless
to say, the Army boys really weren't amused.
In the final stages before flight, the engine would be
started, using an establi shed seri es of hand-signal s to
communicate with the pilot. The crew chi ef woul d then
clamber on to the fuselage and peer into the 'saddle-
the night before, waki ng us up with bad
. headaches. We got even a few clays later when
someone strung ai rcraft safety wire aero their
route causing the first few rows of band member
and their instruments to wind up in a big pile on
the ground, cursing and yelling.
There were more seri ous setbacks too,
parti cularl y as pi lots trained for their
forthcoming outh East A ia depl y-
ments. In 1965, a New York pi lot was lost
as a r ult of ' target fi xat ion' during an
air-to-ground del ivery, and two coll ided
over Lake Ontari o in an air combat
manoeuvring (ACM) exercise. o t race
of either the pi lot or their air raft was
ev r found.
ON G ARD
back' access area to check that the hydraulic pi stons
operating the rudder were working properly when the
pilot moved the rudder pedals. The saddleback was
then replaced and latched down. Bobby Wright
explai ned:
We would then remove al l external gear, wind up the sta-
tic line and secure it into the nose-wheel door. Just before
removing the chocks the pilot had to show us the two red
safety flags from his ejection seal. Chocks were then
pulled. the pilot was guided off his parking position with
a salute and he was on his way. When a crew chief signed
his name to an aircraft form to say it was safe and ready
to fly it was kind of a sacred thing because we took great
pride in our job. The F-1 00 carried the requisite Form 781
!stored in the cockpit or in a vent hole in the 20mm bay
when the aircraft wasn't on a combat or gunnery mission)
to record all 'write-ups' by pilots or maintainers. A red
dash on the form indicated the need fo r routine mainte-
An act ive ANG F-100 squadron was
just as bu y a a regul ar unit. John Maene:
We had two rows of F- 100 facing each other as
Flights A and B, comprising roughly twenty-two
F-LOOCs and two F- IOOFs [the normal comple-
ment of two-seaters in an F- 1 00 unit]. Each Hun
had a Crew Chief and at least one Ass istant. They
personall y serviced their aircraft except that
sometimes a lower-rank maintainer from each
fli ght would have a da il y work-li st of which birds
needed to be ' LOXed'. A couple of trucks con-
stantl y patroll ed the fli ght line rel ayi ng requests
from crew chiefs via radio to tl1e vari ous mai nte-
nance shops (avionics, engine, hydrauli , sheet
metal etc.). At regul ar hours on a progre ive basis
the aircraft had preventative maintenance per-
An attractive ADC grey colour scheme and original F-100A-style markings were used
in place of camouflage on several188th TFS F-100Cs in 1972, towards the end of their
service. Peter Schinkelshoek Coll ection
127
nance. A red diagonal meant non-critical scheduled main-
tenance and a red 'X' meant the aircraft could not fly until
the problem was solved. In the ANG, a dropped pencil in
the cockpit or the smal lest nut or bolt astray meant a red
'X'. This wasn't always done in regular units.
The 136th TFS inherited its F-1 DOCs from a Bitburg-
based Unites States Air Force in Europe IUSAFE) Wing
and Bobby was not impressed by the state of the aircraft
on arrival. 'As we disassembled the aircraft we removed
bags of FOD.
Forms 210 and 211 were used for small er jobs like
tyre changes. Work cards would be available in the
unscheduled maintenance docks and for 50 or 1 OOhr or
later inspecti ons. In the New York ANG a crew chief
could work alongside the programmed mai ntenance
personnel as hi s aircraft went through deeper mainte-
nance. However. hi s work had to be inspected by a
mechanic who was generally a rank above himself.
formed. For example, the j57-P-2 LA engine had
a time between overhauls (TBO) of 200 hours.
Although the F-100 fl eet r c ived few
update during it ANG years there was on
very practical modification to the engine in
many F-l OODs, Fs and a few F-l OOCs that
olved its earl ier afterburner probl ems. The
onvair F-102A Delta Dagger u ed the
same ba ic engine in its j57-P-23A form
with a more reli able afterburner nozzle
arrangement using actuating rods. F-102s
equipped twenty-three ANG squadrons
from 1960 onwards, but all had been retired
to the Aero pace Maintenanc and Regen-
erat ion Center (AMARC) by October
1976. As David Menard explained:
The original afterburner eyelids on the )57-2 1
drove our engine troops crazy as they would get out
of alignment and this affected the thrust. We built
special tools to push them back into the correct
shape. On bases wi th F-102sour engine maintain-
ers asking if they could use the afterburners from
them for F- 1 OOs and the idea g t shot down every
time. Then an Ari zona G N got permi -
sian from his commanding officer [CO! to fit one
and try it out. erring F- 1 02 afterburners from
AMAR was a snap and it worked just great, as
predicted by regular USAF troops. The NCO got
aU $20,000 bonus for 'his' idea!
F-lOOs erved in ANG squadrons for
twenty-one years until November 1979. In
that year, ten of the twenty-s ix ANG
unit that had u ed F- l OODs relinqui h d
their aircraft and the Hun enter d the
final stages of its career in the USA - as a
target drone for its more potent fi ghter
successors.
ON GUA RD
A 103rd TFG, Connecticut ANG F-lOOF-2-NA (56-3732) on a visit to Ramstein AB, 1975. Two years later, it crossed the
Atlantic again on delivery to Turkey. Author"s Collection
An impressively tidy parade of 124th TFS F-100Cs. This unit was one of two within the Iowa ANG to fly F-100s and both
transitioned to the F- 1000, 1971- 74. Douglas E. Slowiak via David Menard
128
ON GUARD
F-100C 54-1873 of the 4758th DSES from Biggs AFB, landing at Howard AFB in the Canal Zone in July 1969.
S/Sgt D. Rankin USAF via Ron Thurlow
Fiery Final Flights: QF-100
The use of fu ll -scale aerial targets (FSAT)
to give pil ot rea listi c mi s ile firing expe-
ri ence had been well establi shed with t he
conversion, between 1973 and 1981, of
215 QF-102A and PQM-102A/B Delta
Daggers in Project Pave Deuce. Sperry
Flight Systems had removed the weapon
and fi re cont rol systems, seat and control
columns from the ex- ANG F- l02s and
install ed a self-destruct mechani m and a
dat a link package that fitted on to the
ejecti on seat rail s. Thi s y tem fed infor-
mati on from a ground-based control sta-
t ion to t he aircraft's engine and fli ght con-
729
trois, enabli ng it to perform like a pil oted
fi ghter, or better (8g turns were possible).
The Pave Deuce drones w r destroyed at a
prodigious rate between 1975 and 1982,
nece itating a replacement type before
the F-1 06 Delta Dart became ava ilable for
the purpose in 1986.
Sperry re eiv d a contract in March
1982 to carry out similar conv rsions to ex-
ANG F-100s in storage at MASDC. An
initi al batch of nine trial aircraft was pre-
par d at the c mpany's Litchfield airport
facil ity in Ari zona. The first two, F-lOODs
56-3414 '092' and 55-3610 '093' , were des-
ignated YQF-l OODs and retained cockpit
controls so that pi lots could evaluate the
data li nk system . The next three were QF-
lOOD , convert d to the U AF' tandard
no li ve operator nboard (NOL ) config-
urat ion, fo llowed by a similarl y appointed
JF-100F 56-3744 was used by WADC to fly through
thunderstorms during Project Rough Raider. Sensor
probes extend from modified 275gal tanks. Its
orange/red decor needed frequent repair due to
weather attrition. Davi d Menard Collection
ON GUARD
F-100F 56-3746, delivered to AMARC from the 113th TFS at Hulman Field, Indi ana
awaits conversion to OF-100F configuration in 1979. It expired on 8 October 1970 on its
eighth unmanned drone flight. Author"s Coll ection
-
QF-100 F (56-3984). This aircraft and the
second NOLO conversion (55-3669)
crashed on take-off after un-piloted fli ght
began at Tyndall AFB on 19 November
198 1. Thr e QF- lOODs (conversions 09 -
100) were for a US Army r quirem nt for
mult i-target miss ions.
Drone conversion involved t he installa-
ti on by perry of a command/ tel metry
y tern ( /T ) that could decode signals
from a remote control tation and c nvert
them into data for a newly installed air-
craft flight control syst m (AF ) or
'brain'. The AFCS also rel ayed back infor-
mati on from the QF-l OO's onboard sen-
or . ontrol inputs could be made to
op rate the arresting hook, braking chute,
speed brake and landing gear as w ll as pri-
mary flight, engine and fuel controls. AFCS
al o relayed a 'command de truct' ignal if
t h mi ss ion had to be terminat d in an
emergency but there was also a back-up
UHF receiver for this terminal situati on. A
smoke-emi ssion system (simi lar to the one
provided for aerobatic demon uati on
---------- '231' is from the Flight Systems OF-1000 conversion batch, using F-1000 55-3679 ex-Louisiana ANG. This very weathered
Hun eventually succumbed to an AIM-9M missile on 23 October 1987. Serial and code application on red/orange bands is
typical . Author"s Coll ection
730
ON GUARD
One of the most distinctive F-100 schemes was used by AFLC's F-1000-20-NA 55-3511
at McClellan AFB in 1964. The SMAMA (represented here by a group of its personnel)
lettering was in red over a yellow alar while the rest of the aircraft was red and whi te
with black cheat lines. The magnificent '511, used by AFLC as a pattern aircraft, l ater
went to war with the 308th TFS at Tuy Hoa and was shot down on 28 December 1969.
Norm Taylor Collection
aircraft) was in ta iled so that the QF-100
could produc a visual ' ID' if requir d.
ln order to increase the u ful life of ach
exp nsive drone, AAMs with inert war-
heads could be fired at it, and a digital
D ppler system (DIGIDOPS) with four
en r at the aircraft's nose, tai l, and above
and b low the fu elage measured the 'miss
distan e' of any missil pa ing within 200ft
( 60m) of the QF-100. Pilots could then g t
a theoreti cal kill while t he QF-100 lived
on. Ordnance pylons could also take fuel
tank, lectr ni c countermeasures (ECM)
pod and chaff/fl ar dispensers to make the
intercepting fi ght r jock' job harder. All
aircraft could be de-converted to piloted
configuration if required, with or without
the AF engaged. Under remote control,
the QF- 1 00 coul d be fl own sing! y or in a for-
mat ion of up to six aircraft (in mann d con-
figurati on) to simulate multiple threats.
N t all QF-l OOs had t he drone format ion
control sy t m (DFC ) needed for thi
m d and, in practice, the usual number for
N L formati on mode wa two aircraft.
In unmanned mode, two controllers
were needed for each QF-1 00, one for
pitch and throttle control and t he other
for ailerons and rudder. A mobile control
station near the runway manag d launch
and recovery but the rest of each miss ion
was ' flown' from a fixed ground stat ion.
ontrollers rel ied entirely on data from
t he QF- lOO's sensors without an onboard
TV camera link like the ones used in t he
USN QF-4N/S Phantom programme. Fol-
lowing t he batch of nine trials aircraft,
Sperry converted anot her 89 QF-1 OOD
(conversion numbers 101- 189) and two
QF- l OOF (501/2) drones for use by t he
82nd Tacti ca l A ri al Targets Squadron
(TATS), 475th Weapons Evaluati on
Group at Tyndall AFB, Florida. Some were
used by t he 82nd TATS Detachment at
Holl oman AFB.
The FSAT programme then passed to
the Flight Systems lnc. (FSl ) division of
Tracor at Kern County airport, Mojave.
The fi rst (55-2863 '201') of 169 QF-100D
(201-369) and rty-one QF- l OOF
7 3 7
(370- 410) conversions was deli v red to
Holl oman AFB on 28 S ptember 1985.
The programme continued unti l Decem-
ber 1990 when Program Manager Larry H.
Rectenwald had to terminate t he contract
fo r t h U AF sine Me lell an AFB was
already g aring up to engage with t he QF-
4 I hantom drone programme. At that
stage, fourteen aircraft w re sti ll in var ious
stages of convers ion and eleven of them
(QF- l OOF ' 411-421' ) were returned to
AMAR ( ix fl w, five were trucked),
given n w MA D seri als and tor d a
possibl e di splay items for U AF or other
museums. Other AMARC aircraft provid-
ed spares for the FSAT programme.
Th li fe of a 'drone Hun' wa usuall y
very brief, most ending in blazing showers
of debris over the sea after a hit by an
AlM-7 or AIM-9 mi sile during their first
three or four flights. Ei ghty- ight were
destroyed on t heir first OLO fli ght and
twenty-four eit her crashed during a mi s-
sion or had to be destroyed after a techni -
cal fa ilure. However, a few survived up to
fifteen fli ght before being nailed by a mi -
sile. Larry R ctenwa ld noted that toward
t he end of the programme:
We were averaging fourteen shots at a drone
before it was killed. Engi nes were a problem as
j 57 part were scarce. Some engines were rated
for very fe w hours of running time. I wa buyi ng
parts from countri es like Turkey and ermany to
put the QFs in flying condit ion. One item t hat
was rea l scarce also was vert ical stabili zers. After
the programme was finished I got a ca ll fTOm
Supply at Me lell an and I went down to their
warehouse where they had found nine brand
new stabi lize rs! All the QF- IOOs re-bui lt whil e I
was managi ng them could be fl own by a pil ot
[r ather than OLO] just by fli pping a switch.
They had to be this way so that t hey coul d be
delivered to Tyndall or Holloman. The aircraft
were accepted by the USAF after they arri ved at
the bases after being ferri ed in by Tracor pilots.
QF-100s played a role in the AMRAAM
programme. QF-100D 55-2877, ex- 110t h
TF , fell to an AMRAAM fired head-on
from an F- l 6A over White Sands Mi ss ile
Range on 17 September 1985.
The drones retained their basic Vietnam
camouflage, often severely faded after a
decade in AMAR 's sun-baked storage I
with Day-Gio red horizontal and vert ical
stabili zers and bands in the same colour on
the nose and wing-t ips. Serial numbers
appeared on the vertical stabilizer and con-
versi n numbers on the nose in white. In
N417FS (TF-100F 56-3842). a former Danish AF example, seen in 1997. Author's
Collection
ON GUARD
some cases the insigni a of former ANG
owners could stil l be seen. ln action, th y
continued to demonstrate considerable
structural strength, returning on several
occasions wid1 shredded tail control sutfaces
or even mis ing a horizontal stabilize r.
F l also flew eight F-lOOD/Fs for the US
Army at Holloman AFB in 1992 in con-
nect ion with Hawk mi ss il e d velopment.
Four were ex-QF-100s, though not all had
been converted, and the rest came from
AMARC F-100F stock. An F-100D and
ix ex- Roya l Danish AF F-100Fs were also
operated by F l, some of them to tow
high-speed DART targets for USAFE
units. Also, three ex-Turkish AF F-100Cs
were obtained in 1989 as possible drone
conver ions but were sold on to pri vate
coll ectors when that proj ect was dropped.
A further batch of F-1 OOFs was used by the
US Army for an undisclosed project for
which they retained USAF seri als along
with their 'Army' marking and some QF-
100s were bought by the US Army for
St inger missile development.
F-100A 53-1688, the only civil registered F-100A, owned but never flown by Flight Test Research of long Beach, California. The N100X registra-
tion was actually used by a learjet at the time. Peter Schinkelshoek Coll ection
132
CHAPTER 6
Under Foreign Flags
113 Filo's early yellow Karsan (pirate) markings enhance this F-1000-10-NA, delivered to the Turkish AF in 1959.
Turki sh Air Force/Saner Capoglu vi a David Menard
Although th F-1 00 never came close to
the success of its F-86 forebear in the export
market, it served for a con iderable time
with the four foreign air force that operat-
ed it. The first to do so wa the Armee de
!'Air in France, which flew F-1000/Fs for
over twenty year . Many examples of the F-
l OOA went to the Republic of China Air
Force (RoCAF). The Roya l Dani sh Air
Force (RDAF) also used F-100D/Fs and
t he larg st foreign user of all , the Turkish
Air Force (THK), absorbed 2 70 examples
of the F-1 00 /D and F.
Armee de l'Air
As the fir t 'foreign' user of the F-1 00,
France r c ived eighty-eight F-lOOD
and fourteen F-100Fs (including thirteen
F-100s that were bought directly by the
French government) . The first wa received
at Luxeil AB in th winter of 1958 and the
last F-100 fli ght was made in December
1978; an Army cooperation flight in the
Fr nch protectorate of Djibouti.
The 11th Escadre de Cha e, formerly an
F-84G unit , was the first to receive Hun ,
some of t hem earl y ex-48th Tacti ca l Fi ght-
er Wing (TFW) aircraft already based in
France. They came to the unit via inspect
and repair as necessary (IRAN) in Spain
and the fir t F- lOOFs for quadrons EC 1/11
Rousillon and E 2/ 11 Vosges st ill wore
USAF ' FW' buzz- number . A gr up of 11 th
Escadre pi lots went to Luke AFB at the
beginning of January 1958 for F-100 indoc-
trination, returning in May. They were
might il y impressed by the Hun with its
' P. C. ' (' po t combustion' or afterburner),
733
capacious cockpit and outstanding intercep-
ti on capabi lity. on version of th Escadre at
Luxeil - t auveur took eighteen months
and was ompl ted by the end of 1959.
Next to tran it ion was t he 3rd Escadre
which, li ke the 11th, had sent F-84Fs to
RAF Akrot iri during t he uez crisis. It
first Super abres arrived at R ims- ham-
pagne in January 1959 to b gin re-equip-
ping E 1/3 Navarre and th n EC 2/3
ChamfJagne wit h twenty-four aircraft in
each squadron . They were delivered by
USAF ferry pi lots and refuell ed en route
by KC-97 tankers. Transiti on was com-
plete by the end of January 1960 and EC
l /3 (yell ow squadron colour) was in action
from late 1959 in the Algerian campaign,
fl ying ground attack sorties against targets
in eastern Algeri a from Reims and refu-
ell ing at lstres on the return leg.
UN DER FOREIG FLAGS
F-1000 54-2212 of EC 1/11 Rousillon, which flew F-100s from 1 May 1958 unti110 October 1975. This aircraft became a
gate guard at RAF Sculthorpe, and later at RAF Upper Heyford in the markings of 56-3000 Triple Zilch. David Menard
54-2267 of EC 1/11 visits Hahn AB in 1960, before the application of fuselage codes.
Thi s aircraft's entire fourteen-year career was spent with the 11th Escadre de Chasse,
ending in 1977. Davi d Menard
134
The newly equipped squadrons
deployed to the Gunnery Li ve Training
unit at Cazaux, south-west of Bordeaux for
armament practice with eleven aircraft
from EC 2/3 (red squadron colour) and
thirteen from EC 1/11. They gained profi -
ciency in air-to-air and air-to-ground gun-
nery, napalm, rocket and Mk 25 bomb
delivery in a total of93 7 sorties.
The 3rd Escadre moved to Lahr in West
Germany on 10 June 196 1 whil e the 11th
E cadre transferred to NATO Base 136 at
Bremgarten, West Germany at the same
tim . This move coincided with the
assumpt ion of nucl ear strike status, using
Mk 43 atomi c weapons, as part of the 4th
Allied Tactical Air Force. Aircraft had the
same weapons and fuel tank configuration
as their USAF Victor Alert counterparts
except that French pil ots never offi ciall y
fl ew with actual nucl ear w apon and mis-
sions with 'training shapes' were very rare
too. Mostl y, the F-100s fl ew with 'simulat-
ed' nucl ear weapons, i.e. empty pylons on
low-altitude bombing system (LABS) and
UN DER FOREIG FLAGS
and ground attack. Their secondary air
defence task included protecti on of the
Berli n air corridor.
E 3/11 became the F-100 Operat ional
Conv rsion Un it (OCU) and after 1967 it
incl uded training for infl ight-refuelli ng as
part of its syll abus and for overseas inter-
vent ion including ' policing' mi ss ions in
Dji bouti terri tory from Apr il l 970. Prior to
t hat it had flown uccessful simulated anti -
shi ppi ng trikes against t h USS aratoga
with eight aircraft in December 1969 (dur-
ing Lafayette exercises in Mediterranean
airspace) and achieved excellent scores in
t he 1969 AFCENT Gunnery Comp ti -
t ion. In November 1971, three f 3/11'
aircraft took part in a t hree- month eva lu-
ati on of the t ype's resistance to the diffi-
cult cl imati c condi t ions in the French pro-
tectorate of Djibouti, bordering the Gul f of
Aden.
In 1973, orth American Aviat ion
The EC 1/3 Navarre badge is painted on the nose of F-1000-15-NA 54-2247, seen here
on a low-altitude strike training sortie in the early 1960s. via J. J. Petit
(NAA) propo ed a tructural str ngthen-
ing programme for t hi rty of the Escadre's
older F-lOODs, omprising st rengt hening
of t he wi ng box and skins, and main fuse-
lage longerons. The work was carri ed out
at the SNLAS facili ty at Chateauroux,
continuing into 1975. At the same time, a
three-tone USAF-style camouflage ( u ing
I ight r hade of tan and gr n with blue-
grey under ides ) was applied to the fl eet
between 1972 and 1976. Toul rece ived its
skip-bombing miss ions over the Bodensee
rang at 'TBA' (tres basse altitude- very low
altitude). EC 2/11 was the first to achi ve
readiness in the strike role on 20 May 1963
and it established a two-aircraft alert,
guarded by US personnel.
The French squadrons thus became
fu ll y integrated into ATO' nucl ear
strategy wit hout having to upload U
nuclear weapons on French soil. After
1967, EC 3/11 Huns were fitted with
infl ight-refuelli ng probe (the cranked or
'swan neck' vari ant ) to pract i e refu ell ing
from C- 135F tankers with hose and dr gu
extensions to their Fl ying Boom refu !l ing
systems. Annee de l'Air F-1 00s took part
in AFCENT Tact ica l Air Meets, fl ying
st rike, cl ose upport and low-level nav iga-
t ion sorti es in 1963 at Rh in Hop ten and
in 1964 at Chaumont.
When General de Gaull e took France
out of NATO, t he F- l OOs left Lahr and
Br mgarten, while USAF un it were oblig-
ed to leav French ba e . The 3rd Escadre
relocated to Nancy-Ochey in ptember
1967 aft er beginning transiti on at Lahr to
t he Mirage lli E. After a brief extension of
t heir tay at Bremgarten, t he lith Escadre
moved to Toui -Rosieres, an Ameri can-
bu ilt base, between Jul y and eptember
1967. Twenty F-l OOD and four F- l OOFs
from t he 3rd Escadre were absorbed to
form a new squadron, EC 3/11 Corse.
There was al o a change of role, as the F-
100 becam part of France' FATac (Force
Aerienne Tactique) with a conventional
miss ion involving cl ose air support (CAS)
\
The last F-100s assigned to ESC 31eave their base at lahr in January 1966. 3-JV (56-
40091 was later issued to EC 2/11 , then 3/11 and finally 1/11 while the 3-JV code was
also used for a time by 56-4008. Here, '009 carries the insignia of 2/3 Champagne. It
was returned to USAF charge as 11 -ES and scrapped by the end of 1977. via J. J. Petit
735
DER FOREIGN FLAGS
/
Still in bare metal finish, an EC 1/11 F-1000-15-NA cuts through some typical European
weather. David Menard Collection
~ ~ ~
----.
F-lOOD 54-2269, still in its EC 1/11 colours, at RAF Lakenheath on 23 May 1976. 1t was
displayed on the gate there as '54-048'. On the tail is the insignia of GC lll/6-5e
Escadrille. G. Pennick via David Menard
first camouflaged Hun (54-2160/11 -ET)
on 23 June 1974.
On 1 June 197 , EC 4/11 j ura formed in
Djibouti , drawing pil ot and two aircraft
from each of the other unit with an extra
pair of F-lOODs and an F- I OOF from 3/11.
It took over t he name and in igni a previ-
ously used by EC 3/11 Jura and a :11 ission
involving air defence and e con for recon-
naissance fli ghts t hat had begun in
December 1972.
E 3/ 11 began conversion to the
SEPECAT Jaguar in February 1975, after
36,704 fl ying hours on F-100s. E 1/ 11
also moved to the Jaguar after it Ia t F-100
fli ght on 100ctober 1975. E 2/ 11 con-
736
tinued with F-100s unt il 25 June 1977,
wh n it too transit ioned to Jaguar . At
that time, the 11 t h Escadre had complet-
ed 205,000 F-1 00 hours. I Boichot ,
Toul 's base commander and one of t he
ori ginal cadre of pilots to convert to the F-
100 at Nell is AFB, made the last F-100
fli ght from the base in 54-2131/11-MJ on
11 May 1977.
EC 4/11 cont inued on with t he remain-
ing Huns in Djibouti, replacing EC 1/2 1
(flying AD-4 Skyraiders) in January 1973.
Mi ions from Dji bouti 's Base Aeri enne
1 8 shared a runway with the republic's
airport and sought to protect the fl edgling
state from incursions by communist-
inspired insurgents. The squadron's initi al
strength of seven F- lOODs and an F-100F
(for one Flight, SPA 158) was soon
increa ed to fifteen aircraft and a cond
Flight, PA 161, wa added. B tw en
March and June 1978, the aircraft
acquired some of the mo t spectacul ar
shark-mout h markings ever seen on war-
planes and one or two rec e pods (on the
inner wing positi on) were decorated wit h
eagle heads based on the nose decor of
498th Bomb Squadron B-25Js in WWII.
On 24 May 1978, Lt Col Salmon led
eleven F-100s in format ion over Djibouti
to celebrate th quad ron' 10,000 hours of
uper Sabre fl ying. Its final fli ght wa
made on 12 Dec mber 1978 and EC 4/ 11
was deactivat d at the end of that year,
concluding over twenty years of F-100 fl y-
ing by the Armee de l' Air. Under the
terms of MAP, th urviving forty F-100
w re returned to USAF charge at RAF
Sculthorpe where they w re eit her
scrapped or donated to museums. Others
stayed as decoys at Dj ibout i AB. One air-
craft, 54-2 165/ 11-ML from E 2/ 11 had
pr viously served with t he 49 rd Fi ghter-
bomber Squadron (FB ), 48th Fi ghter-
bomber Wing (FBW) at haumont from
1957 to 1959 before being passed to EC 1/3
at Reims as 3- IG. After nearly two years of
torage at Sculthorpe it was donated to the
Duxford American Air Museum and dis-
played as an aircraft of the 352nd TF ,
35th TFW during the Vietnam War.
Republic of China Ai r Force
In 1960, the RoCAF on Taiwan became
the only operator of the F-100A outside
t he USA. The aircraft were supplied in
response to the sporadic confl ict between
ommuni st China and Taiwan, ini t iated
-
-
Pilots from the Republic of China AF walk out for another training mission. Both jets have the original three-digit
code and USAF buzz numbers. F-100F-15-NA 56-3968/001 and 56-3987/005 were among the first batch of two-seaters
to be delivered. '001' was later displayed at the RoCAF Museum. Clarence Fu
in August 1958 by artil l ry attack on the
Nati onalist-held island of Quemoy. Air
battles over the Formosa Straits between
RoCAF F- 6Fs and Communi st MiG- 15s
and Mi G- 17s had resulted in los on
both id , but principally to th mainl and
MiGs. AIM-9B idewind r mi siles were
fired by the Sabres on 24 September 1958,
the first use of air-to-air missiles in combat .
Communi t China then proclaimed th
imminent invas ion of Quemoy, moving
large force into po ition pposite the
i land, as a prelude to the ' li berati on' of
Taiwan.
The RoCAF's three Wings of F-86F
Sabres and two Wings of F-84Gs were
thought to be inadequate r a potent ial
conflict of that magnitud , d pite th
pre ence of U aircraft carri ers and
USAF F-l OODs of the 51 1 th TFS and
354th TFW at Ching Chuan, Taiwan and
at Kadena AB respectively, plus other
USAF units in the area.
Between February and May of 1960, the
U A suppli ed eighty F-1 OOA to equip
thre squadron: the 21st (red ), 22nd (yel-
low) and 23 rd (blue) of the 4th Group. Of
these the 23 rd was later reass igned to the
11th Group at Hsinchu AB, which had
already receiv d thirty-fiv aircraft for it
17th Squadron. The latter unit transi-
ti oned at Chi ayi AB with th 4th Group
and returned to Hsinchu as the 41st FBS.
There it wa joined by the 42nd FBS, with
its distinctive red fla h markings and a
quadron of F-104A tarfighter . The
third Hsinchu-based unit wa the 48th
FBS that used nose- marking imil ar to
those of the U AF Thunderbirds team. A
display at ung Shan airport , Taipei on 6
December 1959 included a fifteen-a ircraft
' anchor' rmat ion with t he Ro AF
Thundert igers F- 6 a robati c team. The
48th FBS was the last unit in the world to
fl y the F- l OOA when it fin all y phased out
its aircraft on 5 September 1984.
The first RoCAF Super abres to arrive
were six F- l OOF- 15- As (56-3968, -77,
137
-7 , -79,-87, -88, numbered 001-006 after
deli very) in August 1958 forth 4th FBW.
USAF Capts Max Jesperson and Robert
Preciado with 1st Lts Duane Mi ll, Robert
ameron, teve Braswell and Bob John-
ton made the rry fli ght from aliforni a
and trained the fir t batch of nine RoCAF
instructors. Meanwhil e, maintainers
I arned the subtl arts of tending the birds,
including the unique tri ck of lying on their
backs to push the drag chute compartment
door shut with their fe t. They al o added
th ir own techni ques including a new
d vice for towing an F-100 with a fl at tyre.
From this fi rst batch of F-l OOFs, t hree
were lost in fata l accidents by 1976, one
was scrapped and two li ved on a museum
exhibits. An t her eight two- eater (F-
l OOF-5-NA, -10-NA and -15- A vari -
ants) were deli vered including 56-3808,
which arri ved in USAF ca mouflage rather
than the sil ver lacquer of the other aircraft.
When the first four F-l OOAs from the
ini t ial batch of fifteen were fl own into
3979 \I
Chi ayi AB, Maj Roy Moore was selected as
Fli ght ommander for the deli very fli ght.
When we rook the planes on from C lark A B to
Chi ayi, the Chinese pil ots were deli ghted and
as exci red as we had been when we upgraded
from the old F-84Gs to F- l OOs at Kadena. Their
squadron commander was a sli ghtl y over-weight
major who felt compell ed r say 'Thank you'
and t hrew a parry for t he delivery pil ots. Since I
was t he Flight Commander I wa the ranking
Ameri can and was seared at rhe VIP table
beside rhe major. The enrire quadron wa in
attendance; someth ing over ZOO enlisted men
and offi cers. I learned rhat it was a custom for
each individual to sa lute both the Commander
and t he Honoured Guest (me). Throughout the
evening, at rather short intervals, a squadron
member woul d approach t he ommander, bow
sli ghtl y and say 'Gombay'' He would then drink
about an ounce of rice wine. The Commander
re ponded similarl y and then t he man would
bow to me and repeat the performance. The ri ce
wine glass was t he size of an ordinary shot gla s.
I empti ed mine for t he first lot of salu tes before
t he Major informed me that it was nor necessary
for me to consume t he enti re drink at each
salute. The warning came too late and by t he
end of t he evening I had definitely consumed a
lor of wine. Whatever t he amounr, I was in des
perate shape t he next morning with the worst
hangover I' ve ever had in my life. Fortunately
we were returned to lark A B in a C-46 Base
upport Flight aircraft.
The ot her sixty-five F-l OOA from the first
batch of eighty were transferred to the
Ro AF in 1960. Inevitably, attrit ion of
the e ' hot' early Huns neces itated anoth-
er deli very of aircraft, and thirty-e ight
more w re upplied in 1970- 71 , pushing
UN DER FOREIG FLAGS
t he total to 118. This att ri t ion batch came
from Air Nat ional Guard (ANG) uni ts
including t he 118th TFS Connect icut
A G, 152nd TFT Ari zona A G and a
sing! exampl (53- 15 2) from the ! 88th
TF New Mexico ANG. They were
'cocooned' at McClellan AFB and shi pped
to Taiwan. All ex-ANG F-100As passed to
the RoCAF rece ived High Wire updates,
pushing their Block numbers up by one
di git, for exampl e: 53- 1606 was an F-
100A- 16-NA.
All RoCAF Huns received extensive
updates of whi ch the most obvious exter-
nall y was the replacement of the original
138
F-100F-15-NA 56-3979 with an early serial/code
presentation incorporating the original USAF buzz
number and the designation 'F-100004' above the
serial. It served the Republic of China AF until 4
August 1960 when both its crew had to eject. David
Menard Coll ection
23rd Squadron F-100As with blue trim. 53-1539 was
one of the JF-100A-10-NAs used by ARDC until its
transfer to the Republic of China AF where it flew
with the 48th Squadron as '0104'. David Menard
Col lection
verti cal stabili ze r with the later F-1 OOD
model including A /APS-54 tail -warning
radar. This change appli ed to all but four
aircraft (53- 1569, -1581, -1651, -1662)
that kept their original tails on delivery
from t he Aerospace Maintenance and
Regenerat ion Center (AMARC). One of
these (53- 1581 '0302' ) was eventuall y put
on display at the Chung Cheng Institute of
cience and Technology. The aircraft
r ceived id wind r capabili ty including
the twin AIM-98 launcher adapter.
GAM-83A (AGM-128) Bull pup mi ss ile
launch controls and equi pment were also
install ed for carri age on the inboard
Red lightning flashes and the 2nd Wing insignia decorate this F-lOOA-11-NA 53-155
of the 41st Squadron. Its previous owner was the 118th TFS, Connecticut ANG.
Clarence Fu
pylons. The e pylons bad 'stub' adapters
attached under the wing that made t hem
different in app arance from the standard
F-lOOD variant. They could also carry
AIM-9s, bombs, UU-21 pract ice bomb
dispensers or napalm. Outboard pylons
were not fitted but tail hooks {with a tr i-
angular guard fairi ng to avoid accidental
engagement of the hook) and a radio com-
pass were installed. The ' fl apless' F- l OOA
wing was retained and it continued to
demon trate its basic strength t hough
ome aircraft eventually needed external
tructura l strengthening of their fuselages.
One F-lOOA (53- 16 10 '0113' ) managed to
recover wit h its right wing virtuall y
removed after a mid-air coll ision to a point
just outboard on the mid-wing pylon.
Also supplied to the RoCAF were the
fou r sur viving 'Slick Chi ck' camera-
equipped RF- l OOAs: 53- 1545, -46, -47,-
54, coded '5645, -646, -647, -648 respec-
ti vel y. Codes appea red above t he s rial on
the tail rather t han on the fusel age as on
F-lOOF-5-NA 56-3733/0013 wore USAF camouflage for part of its service career with the Republic of China AF, as did
56-3808/0014 and two others. They operated from Hsinchu AB. Clarence Fu
739
UN DER FOREIG
1
FLAGS
A 23rd Squadron line-up with F-100A-20-NA 53-1685 (ex-4520th CCTW) to the fore. This
aircraft crashed on 25 March 1980 but its pilot ejected safely. Clarence Fu
the F-100A . Th first was delivered in
ecember 1958, the others arri ved on 1
January 1959 via Yokota. They were oper-
ated by the 4th Squadron at Taoyuan AB
in fu ll RoCAF markings including six et
of blue/white st ri pes on the rudder. USAF
markings and buzz- numbers were used for
the delivery. Their period of RoCAF ser-
vice was act uall y little more t han one year.
Poor readiness rates meant that they
all egedl y fl ew no operat ional reconnais-
ance mi ss ions before being phased out in
December 1960 and scrapped. They were
replaced by McDonn II RF-101A
Voodoos under Operati on Boom Town and
t hese had a much more active career, over-
fl ying mainl and hina for about six year .
Attr iti on of the F-100s was generall y
hi gh with forty- nin aircraft cl troyecl in
accidents and twent y- five pilots kill ed. By
1970, there were onl y suffi cient opera-
ti onal aircraft to equip two squadrons with
ighteen aircraft each, a situati on t hat wa
improved by deli very of the attri t ion batch
of thirty-eight x-ANG F-100A. When
the type was phased out th r maining air-
craft were scrapped although fourteen
were retained for gate guard, G1A or mu e-
um use including 53-1929 '0101', the first
F-100A on the RoCAF roster. It became a
gate guardi an at Chi ayi AB.
An unorthodox proposal for t he use of
surplus F-lOOAs came from the Chung
Shan Institute for Science and Technolo-
gy, whi ch advocated converting them into
explosiv -packed 'cruise mi ss il e ', aimed
at ommunist targets from zero length
launch (ZEL) -type launchers. Fortunately
perhaps, thi s plan was suppressed by the
U Government but it symbolized the
determinat ion of an Air Force, some of
whose F- l OOs bore t he ' nose art' slogan
'Learn combat ski ll s and kill t he Commu-
ni t bandit !'
Royal Danish Air Force
For t he Danes, the F-1 00 replaced the
Republi c F-84G that had equi pped two
Wings, at Karup and krydstrup, each with
three squadrons of twenty-five aircraft.
ne squadron, Esk 726, converted to the
F-86D in 195 and Esk 728 went to t he
RF-84F. The RDAF needed a fighter-
bomber for its NATO responsibilities
in the Balti c Sea area and was offered
twenty F-100D/Fs in 1959 under MAP
Proj ect Centurion. RDAF pilot K. . S.
Thorkeldsen had already evaluated the F-
100 in 1957 and reported favourably on it.
In August 1958 a nucl eu ofE k 727 pilots
and maintainers was sent to Myrtl e Beach
to train aft er furth er demonstrat ions of the
aircraft by the 48th TFW at haumont.
The fi rst t hree F-100F- 15-NAs arri ved
740
on 22 May 1959 (56-4015, -18, -19)
traight off the product ion line via Robins
AFB, Lang! y AFB and Chateauroux with
U AF pil ots in the cockpit . The foll ow-
ing year they rece ived 'GT' codes in pl ace
of t he ' FW' buzz numbers used initi all y, but
retaining t he last three of the seri als. A
di tinctive red nose fl ash was also added
ov r the sil ver fin i h. krydstrup estab-
li shed a reception unit for USAF Air
Materiel Command personnel to intro-
duce the new fighter and establish logist i-
ca l support.
F- l OODs began to arrive on 30 May
when seven fl ew in, followed by four on 4
June and anot her quartet a week later. The
Huns were fresh from IRAN having served
in a variety of USAF units. When t he last
two F-l OODs in the batch for Esk 727 fl ew
in on 18 June the unit had nin x-48th
TFW F- IOOD- 10 and F-l OOD-15-NA
Super Sabres and three Block 15 aircraft
from the 49th TFW plus another aircraft
direct from the USA. Twelve Huns were
ava ilable for the offi cial ceremony at Vaer-
1 eon 12 June when Gen Tage Anderson
handed them over to the squadron.
Anot her three ex-49th TFW F-100D-40-
Nl-l s followed in September 1959. Of
those twenty Huns, eight were eventuall y
passed on to the Turkish AF in t he earl y
1980s. All of the others were lo t in acci-
dents, mostl y in t he 1960s.
Acceptance and work-up of the first
RDAF squadron over an eighteen-month
peri od occurred without mi hap. The
squadron assumed very much the same
mi ss ion as it had fl own in th F-84 cl ays:
CAS and anti -shipping with a secondary
air defence tasking. The aircraft received
some modifi cat ion for RDAF ervice,
including the install at ion of t h Martin-
Baker Mk-DESA ejector seat. F- l OOD G-
192 (54-2 192) was fl own to Mart in-Baker
at Chalgrove via Bri ze Norton for conver-
sion on 28 Aprill 960 and all aircraft sub-
quently rece ived the seats under Mod.
/F-100/133. RDAF Hun also had
AN/ARN-27 tacti ca l air navi gat ion
(TACAN), modifi ed UHF radi os and
APW-11/AP -54 radar. Later updates
from ctober onwards included AGM-12
Bu ll pup provi ion, a Decca Roller Map
Type 1664 y tem and the very accurate
SAAB BT-9J bomb sight. Test firing of t he
Bull pup took place in June 196 and t he
mi sile continued in use well into the
1970s. The RDAF also experimented with
triple ejection racks (TERs) on the
inboard pylons for either two M 117 bombs
DER FOREIGN FLAGS
leak in the engine compartment. The next
batch of F-l OODs arri ved on 13 March
from IRAN at Getafe and G-283 (ex-8th
FBW) was handed over a t he first F- l OOD
for Esk 725 on 13 April 196 l. Thi jet
served unt il 1981 when it was t ransferr d
to Turkey. As the squadron buil t up to fu ll
strength, three of its F-l OOFs were
returned to Esk 727 to help with the con-
version of t he next squadron, Esk 730.
F- l OODs G-144 and G-78 1, delivered on
12 June 1961, completed Esk 725's com-
plement of sixteen single-seaters and three
F-l OOFs. The majori ty were Block 15 air-
craft from the 8th FBW in Japan with a few
more ex-48th FBW too, including 54-
2132, a very early Block 1 F- lOOD.
F-1000-40-NH 55-2779 flew with the USAF's 405th FBW, 31st FBW and 50th TFW before
transfer to Esk 727 on 29 May 1961, then Esk 730 in 1964 with dark blue and white
markings. It was supplied to the Turkish AF in 1981 and written off on 26 April1983.
David Menard Coll ection
Esk 730 completed its transition from the
F-84G qui kly and it was e tablished n the
supersonic jet by 3 July 196 l. The process
was facilitated by the use of the F-100 simu-
lator at RAF Wethersfield, though the gen-
erous allocati on ofF-l OOF helped too. Only
one F-l OOF was lo t during the training of
the thre uni ts: T-978 ustained a p wer
failure and the Danish pilot and his USAF
instructor ejected as the Hun entered a fl at
spin. The squadron's F- lOODs, with neat
green and white trim on their noses and fins,
were based at Skrydstrup. Most were ex-
United States Air Force in Europe
(USAFE) aircraft though ix ori ginated
or three LAU-3/A rocket pods. At about
the same time, the fl eet was sprayed with
coats of SM/67 oli ve green (F 14079)
paint in place of the original silver lacquer.
ati onal markings wer reduced from
900mm to 450mm di am ter on the wings
and t he 700mm fusel age round Is were
also halved in di ameter. From ovember
1976, the Huns began to receive t he ALR-
45D/APR-3 7D RHAW system mounted
in wing- tip pod with the antenna at each
end of the pod . ALR-45D was a radar-
warning unit and APR-37D gave indica-
t ion of a host ile miss ile launch. Wing- tip
navigation lights were moved to the outer
urfaces of the pods, AN/ ARC- 159(V)8
UHF radio were adde I in 1976 and one of
the final loca l ' mod ' was the installation
of the LINDA ' ' Underwater Locator
Beacon.
By that time, there had been a consid-
erable increase in the RDAF F-100 fl eet
following th decision in 1960 to equip
two more squadrons with the type. Esk 725
at Karup was the second unit foll ow d by
Esk 730. Their aircrew were sent to the
U A for training and thirty-e ight new air-
craft were ordered, thirty-one F- lOODs and
sev n two- ea ters. The first three F-l OOFs
(GT-976, -78, -82), all new aircraft, land-
ed at Karup on 26 January 1961 for Esk
727. As usual, USAF ferry pilots made the
transatlanti c flight but two Dani sh officers
were al o aboard. The F-l OOFs were used
to convert Esk 725 until it rece ived its own
seven F- 100Fs on 20 March 196 1 and its
F-84Gs were t hen pas ed to E k 730. The
fi rst loss also occurred in March when G-
221 (54-222 1, an ex-48th TFW machine)
crashed after an explosion fo ll owing a fuel
...
/
~ ~
. ~
Esk 727 used glossy red markings on its silver F-100s including a red flash on the
RHAW fairing. This F-1000-5-NA was delivered to the 48th FBW at Chaumont AB in
1957, moving to RAF lakenheath in 1960. After two years with the Danish AF it was
written off in a mid-air collision with 54-2300. It is seen here at Hahn AB on a NATO
exchange in April1961, piloted by the appropriately named Arthur E. Huhn. David
Menard Coll ection
141
U DER FOREIGN FLAGS
F-100F-15-NA has its 'last five' (86978) serial digits beneath the Danish fin flash in its
1961 scheme. In August 1968 it was written off after engine compressor failure caused
by a 20mm ricochet during a strafing run. David Menard
On a visit to RAF Coltish all on 19 September 1970, F-1000 54-2222 of Esk 727 (ex-48th
FBW) is rapidly losing the gloss from its overall, locally manufactured paint so that it
is close to FS 34087 in shade. G. Pennick via David Menard
142
/
------
from the 31 t TFW at Turner AFB via
rework at McCI llan AFB.
The three squadrons soon began to par-
t ic ipate in ATO compet itions. Esk 725
won t he 1963 AFNORTH event and th
1965 Bull's-Eye competition. However, th
heavy attrition that plagued the RDAF F-
100 fl eet b gan to mount up, with four loss-
es in 1962, fiv in 1963 and another three
in 1964. From then unt il 1969, two were
lo t annually reducing the total to only
t hi rty F-lOODs and seven Fs out of the orig-
inal compl ment of fifty-e ight aircraft .
Four F-l OOD had crashed after mid-a ir
c llisions, five as a result of engine fail ur
and four when they hi t the ground during
low-altitude flight. 54-2199 was lost
through an unusual maintenance failure
when a loose panel in the air inlet flew off
and jammed itself against the front of the
engine. Compressor problems grounded the
whole fl eet in 1966, requiring all Block 40
aircraft wit h newer, less trouble ome J57s
to be pooled at Karup for use by all three
uni ts. After overcoming these problems
t hrough adjustments to t he engine and
fuel system, the earlier aircraft then faced
- - - - -
NDER FOREI GN FLAGS
This TF-lOOF-11 -NA 156-3908) had extensive Vietnam War service with the 416th TFS,
37th TFW at Phu Cat AB, the 35th TFW at Phan Rang AB and the 31st TFW at Tuy Hoa
AB after seven years at Cannon AFB. In Esk 727 service it acquired ALR-450/APR-370
RHAW wing-tip pods. It ended its days as a gate guard for Skrydstrup AB.
Authors Collection
th same fat igue problems t hat had affect-
ed USAF Huns in Vietnam. AircraFt were
restricted to 4g manoeuvr and a major
rework programme wa in tigated at Karup
From 1970 to 1972 to replace under-wing
kins with heavier gauge part and rein-
forced wi ng boxes (Mod/F- I 00/320).
With a reduced fl eet, no prospect of
replacements from the A (due to Viet-
nam requirements) or from France, th
RDAF turn d to t he SAAB F-35 Drak n,
rdering forty- ix a ire raFt in 1968. Esk 725
was disbanded and its F-100s distributed
to t he other two units. The intention was
to replace all F-100s with Drakens but
fund ing wa insufficient, and in 1971
Denmark elected to keep its remaining
Huns fl ying into t he earl y 1980s. Howev-
er, continued losses throughout the earl y
1970s (three in 1970, two more in
1972- 73) had reduced F-100F numbers to
five, insufficient to maintain effect ive
rece ived ea rl ier. Some had F-102A type
afterburners from the Proj ect Pacer Trans-
plane conv r ions and thi applied to a
number of F- l OODs From 197 onwards.
In 1974, all thre F-100 uni ts, Esk 727,
730 and t he F-100 OCU, wer based at
Skrydst rup. Fli ght safety improv d, with
no seri ous mi shaps until 1976 whi ch
brought three Esk 730 F-l OOF crashes (two
with collapsed nose-gear on landi ng) and
GT-892 ofE k 727 (ex-Iowa A G) which
la ted only five fl yi ng hour in RDAF er-
vic b fore crashing after ngine failure. A
Spect rographi c il Analysis Programm
(SOAP) revealed furt her engine problems
which meant t hat all J-5 7s had to go
t hrough the analysis before and after every
mi sion. Two further era h in 1977 were
also attributed to mechani ca l defect (run-
away trim in one ase and crack in t he
fuel control system in anot her) and
lengt hy ground ing orders were imposed.
Th decision to order G neral Dynami c
F-16As had been made, but it meant t hat
the Super abres had to soldi er on unt il
1982 when deli veri es of t he new fighter
could be completed. Losing t hirty-five out
of s venty-two F- lOOs had giv n the air-
craft a poor reputat ion in the Dani sh
media by 197 despite t he fact t hat on ly
two more were wri tten off before t he type'
wit hdrawal. ne of thee, T-961 , u -
tain d a coll aps d nose-gear n landing
but th aircraft was not repa ired.
Towards the end of its twenty years of
RDAF servi ce the remaining squadrons
divided into two sections, one t ransition-
ing to th D F-16A while the ot her (Esk
730- 100) continued to fl y Hun . The last
fli ght took place on 11 Augu t 1982 and
onversion training at bot h bases . Four-
teen add it ional F- 100F- ll -NA and F-
l OOF-16-NAs were ordered, six from
MASDC storage in August 1973 and
another eight selected from ANG
squadrons. They were del ivered between
March and June 1974, equi pped wit h
Mart in-Baker seats from redundant RF-
4Fs and labelled 'TF-100F' to dist ingui sh
them from the non-High Wire F- l OOF
Baggage pods on the inboard pylons of F-lOOF-16-NA 56-4019 suggest a shopping
trip abroad. Thi s aircraft had a long career with the Danish AF 11959-1981). Author's
Coll ecti on
743
UNDER FOREIG FLAGS
Pilots of Esk 730 line up with TF-lOOF 56-3826 at the end of its Danish service in summer, 1982. Earlier, it had spent seven
years with the 36th and 50th TFWs in USAFE and had combat time with the 31st and 35th TFWs in Vietnam. In October
1982 it became a nicely wrapped ' present' for Flight Systems Inc. before it was written off in July 1994. David Menard Collection
some of the remaining aircraft w re
returned to US charge via RAF Sculthorpe
from 24 March 19 1 and many were
scrapped there. Twenty- two were trans-
ferred to the Turkish Air Force and six
F{rF- l OOFs went to Fli ght y tem Inc
(FSl) (56-3826, -842, -844, -916 -971 ,
-996). Two (56-3870, -3908) guard d the
gates at Skrydstrup in southern Denmark
an_d 56- 927 went to the Danish Aviation
M'u eum. Fifty-eight F-16A/ Bs subsequent-
ly equipped four RDAF squadrons from
January 1980, taking ov r from F-100 the
task of pat rolling th North a and Balti c
where much of the Soviet Fleet would have
passed through in the event of a conflict.
Turk Hava Kuvvetleri , the
Turkish Air Force
F- l OO fl ying in the Turki sh Air Force ended
on l ovemb r 1987 when 132 Filo at
Konya traded in its last Hun and began
conversion to t he F-4E Phantom [[. It was
the last squadron anywhere to operate the
F-100 as front- line equipment and one of
the nine THK squadrons that received
Hun between 6 October 195 , when the
fir t F-l OOF-15-NA (56-3998) arrived, and
27 January 1982. The final batch included
ex- Dani sh AF F- l OODs 54-2222, -2262,
55-277 1 and F-l OOF 56-4019 (via RAF
Sculthorpe) . THK owned far more F- l OOs
than any other air force outside the USA
with 270 deliveri e in a total of fourteen
MAP program . Of these, 111 were F-
lOOCs in t wo different MAP programs, 106
F-l OODs (three different MAP programs)
and 53 F-l OOFs (nine MAP programs).
ln 1958, nine F-l OOFs and fourteen
F-lOOD were deli vered, beginning service
with 111 Filo at Eski sehir, the first F- 100
unit. The following year another thirty-
two F- l OODs and two F- l OOFs arrived,
enabl ing the replacement of 113 Filo's
F-84G Thunderj ets wi t h Super Sabres
744
during 1959-60. Very limited deliverie of
Huns (only t hree F- l OODs and a pair ofF-
l OOFs in 1960, with two more two-seaters
in 1962) meant that no further squadron
transitions could be made untill 962 when
11 2 Filo was re- formed at Eskisehi r, draw-
ing aircraft from the other squadrons. Pre-
viou ly, 112 Filo had fl own F-84Gs at
Konya AB, having moved there as 192 Filo
in 1958. The re-format ion of t his third
squadron meant that 113 Filo could trans-
fe r to the newly equ ipped Erhac AB
(establi hed in Malatya from 26 Novem-
ber 1962) in August 1963, where it was
renamed 171 Filo in 1972.
Turkish F-lOOs became involved in com-
bat after the long- running tensions between
the Greek and minority Turkish populations
in Cyprus flared up in 1964. Greek Cypriot
Nat ional Guard units and EOKA militants
unexpectedly attacked Turkish villages at
Mansura and Koccina in the north of the
island, causing civilian casualt ies. The next
day, 8 August, Eskisehir-based F-1 OOs of 111
U DER FOREIGN FLAGS
USAF lettering still shows on these newly accepted TUAF F-1000/F Super Sabres. Buzz numbers from former service
were also retained for a while. Turki sh AF/ Soner Capoglu via David Menard
Filo and 112 Filo, with 113 Filo from Adana
AB and th F-84Gs of 161 Filo took off in
the early morning. They crossed the
Mediterranean at 165ft (SOm) alt itude to
evade the British radar site at Dikel ia and
attacked Greek ypriot positi ons in the
Koccina area. apt ngiz Topel's 111 Fi lo
F-100 crashed whil e attacking a Greek
as ault craft off Erenkoy and although he
ejected safely over Peri steronori b was cap-
tured and ki lled by Greek Cypriot forces on
12 August.
Because of t he shortage of F- l OOs (at
lea t eight of the sixty- four delivered up to
1962 had crashed by 1965 with the loss of
five pilots ) 112 Fi lo bad to 're-convert' to
F- 4Qs (ex- Luftwaffe F-84FQs) by 19
ctob r 1965. The arrival of a batch of
sixt en High Wire F-lOODs and a pair ofF-
1 OOFs in 1969 en a bled the squadron to
revert to t he Hu n in De ember of t hat
yea r. In the same month, 182 Filo (origi-
nall y a Diyarbakir-based squadron that
had moved to Erhac AB on 25 January
1963 ) replaced its F(RF-84Fs with F-100s.
A further batch of twenty ex-USAF F-
lOODs and two F-100Fs arri ved for t he
THK during 1970. In t he early 1970s,
Turkish F-100 units started to be recog-
n ized as being among the best in southern
Europe. The F-1 OOs of 111 Fil o out-per-
formed the combin d talents of Italy,
Greece, the U N' VW-3 A-7 Corsairs
and the F-4E Phantoms of the 353rd TF
Black Panthers in pract ice miss ion on the
Osmani ye Range during the 197 1 Best Hit
compet it ion.
In 1972 furth er d liveri es included thir-
ty-s ix F-lOOCs, with another forty-seven in
1973 and more in 1974. They were mostly
High Wire ex-A G aircraft quipped to a
standard close to t he F-lOOD. As a resul t of
the e new d li veries, 113 Filo and 182 Filo
at Erhac received new F-l OOs in 1972,
renaming themselves as 171 Fi lo and 172
Fi lo respect ively. At th same t ime, a new
113 Fi lo was formed from 114 Fi lo at
Eski sehir AB to operate four teen RF-84Fs
145
and eight F-84Fs, whi le 182 Filo was creat-
ed from 183 Filo at Diyarbakir AB and
received TF/F-1 02A Delta Dagger . Th n
181 Filo replaced it F-84Qs with some
n wly arr ived F-l OOC/Fs in 1972. At that
point, 11 1 Filo had eighteen F-l OOD/Fs on
strength while 112 Filo absorbed a batch of
F-l OOCs to boost its squadron trengtb. In
another round of change during 1974, 131
Filo and 132 Fil o exchanged t heir F-84F/Qs
for F-l OOC/Fs at Konya AB, which eventu-
all y became the last base to use the Hun in
the late 1980s. This pair of squadrons also
took on the majority of the ava ilabl F-
1 OOFs and began to serve as a training unit
on t he type.
July and August 1974 were also t ime
when THK F- l OOs saw extensive combat
following the Greek overthrow of Arch-
bishop Makarios and consequently
increased danger for the Turkish resident
of Cyprus. In a deteri orat ing situation many
Turkish villages were attacked and th
Turkish Government d cided to inst igate a
113 Filo pilots prepare to taxi out for a mission from Eskisehir AB. The squadron trans-
ferred to Erhac AB in August 1963 as 171 Filo. Davi d Menard Collection
Roundels have replaced the square-format national insignia on these F-100Ds, some
of which have been camouflaged. Bombs and 2.75in rockets are loaded on ' 245. Turkish
Air Force/Saner Capoglu via David Menard
746
di rect interventi on on 20 Jul y. To ease the
operat ion, the squadrons based at
Oiyarbakir, Erhac, Merzifon, Etimesgut and
Konya were placed under the command of
t he 2nd Tact ical Air Force at Oiyarbakir.
This force included six squadrons of F-1 OOs
(111, 112, 13 1, 132, 171 and 172), two of
F-1 04Gs (141 and 191) plus the RF-84Fs of
184 Fila to support operations over Cyprus.
Some of the F-1 OOs from 171 Fila and 172
Fila were moved to Antalya AB and the
rest of their aircraft were t r n s ~ rred to
l ncirlik AB in Adana, together with the
Oiyarbakir-based 181 Fila .
In the earl y morning of 20 July 1974,
Turkish Army and Marine units went
ashore at a beach in Karaoglanoglu, west of
Kyrenia, in order to protect t he Turkish
populati on. F- l OOs took off at 0600 hours
and were engaged in miss ions to neutrali ze
Greek Cypri ot Nat ional Guard positi ons
on the northern Cyprus coast. Between
20-23 July (t he first stage of th interv n-
t ion) the THK completed 733 sort ies and
lo t twelve aircraft, eight of them F-l OOs .
Two F- 102As, an RF-84F and an F-104G
also failed to return. Although no F-100
pilots were ki lled, a 184 Fila RF-84F pil ot,
1st Lt llker Karter, was hi t by ant i-aircraft
art illery (AAA) over Trikoma and killed
on July 20. Two F-100 loss s (55-3756 of
171 Fila and 55-2825 of 111 Fil a) were
caused by engine failure, the former crash-
ing at lncirlik on July 20, and t he other at
Manavgat-Antalya t he following day. Two
were hit by AAA: F-100C 54-2042 from
132 Fila over Ovacik, Cyprus and F-1000
54-2238 from 172 Fila on 22 July near
Nicosia (its pilot, Capt Recai Unhanh,
eject ing s ~ ly). Another F- l OOC (54-
U DER FOREIGN FLAGS
Re-arming is in progress on F-1000-56-NA 55-2910 during a visit to RAF lakenheath in May 1970. The nose undercarri age
often made a useful prop for the gun-bay doors. Norm Taylor Collection
F-100F-15-NA 56-3946, one of the Turkish AF's 1969 delivery batch, being prepared for
towing. Norm Tayl or Coll ecti on
147
2083), crashed into some barriers on take-
off at Sivrihi ar AB.
In a tragic incident, Turkish jets mistook
the Turkish Navy' earing' lass destroyer
T. C. G. KocateJJe ( D-354) for a imilar-
looking Greek vessel and sank it with
750lb bombs on 21 July. F-100s from 111
Fil o and 11 2 Filo at Eskisehi r, others from
181 Filo from Adana with several 141 Fi lo
F-104Gs from Murted AB, Ankara took
part in the attacks on the shi p in which
fift y- four sailors died. In the earl y morning
of 21 July, the vesse l T. . G. Maresal Fevzj
Cakmak rescued an F-1 00 pilot, 1st Lt
Sadik Dulger, who had b n hot down
over Cyprus the previous day. Ironi call y, Lt
Dulger had to witness the ent ire attack on
the KocateJJe from hi s po it ion on the Cak-
mak next to the stri cken destroyer.
After t he invas ion, the Gr eks were per-
suaded by US diplomacy not to r tali ate.
However, Turkish F- l OOs were in act ion
aga in during as cond phase of t he conflict
aft er the northern outskirts of Nicosia
were taken by Turkish forces in earl y
August , followed by Famagusta in an oper-
ati on in which no aircraft are known to
UN DER FOREIGN FLAGS
Close communication by hand signals between a 111 Filo crew and the crew chief of F-100F-15-NA 56-3957. Turkish AF/ Soner Capoglu
have been lost. An armi tice was agreed on
16 August and the island was then parti -
tioned into Greek and Turkish areas,
though THK units remained on fu ll alert
for veral more weeks. By the time ten-
sions increased aga in in 1987 over disput-
ed oil explorati on territory, Turkish F-l OOs
were being retired.
Turkey started to receive F-4Es in late
1974 and on 10 October 1975 the F-l OOs
of L 12 Filo were replaced with the newly
arri ved Phantom . 171 Fil o followed in
1977 with 11 1 Filo and 172 Filo in 1978.
However, deli veri es of F-lOOs also contin-
ued with another fifteen ex-USAF aircraft
in 1977- 78 and twenty F- lOODs, with a
pair of F-1 OOF from D nmark in 1981 and
early 1982. The form r Dani h Huns
retained their Martin Baker DB-SA ejec-
tion s at and other RDAF modifications.
182 Fil o became t he last THK unit to con-
vert to the F-1 00 when it replaced its
delta- wing F-102A fighter in 1980. By
1983 onl y four THK units had Huns: 181
Fil o (15 F-l OODs, 5 F-l OOFs); 182 Filo (15
F- l OOC/Ds, 5 F-lOOF ); 131 Fi lo (15 F-
lOODs, 15 F-l OOF ) and 132 Fil o (20 F-
lOODs, 5 F- lOOFs). After 18 L Fil o and 182
Fi lo completed their re-equipment in
March- Apri l 1985 with ex-RCAF CF-
104s, the Konya- based 131 and 132 Filos
were the only Super Sabre operators and
they retained the type until the end of the
F-100 era in 1988. It is known that from
1986 to 1988, thirty- fi ve F-100 /Ds and
twenty F-1 OOFs were used by the two
squadrons, both of which had reverted to
the role of Weapons (OCU).
Three ex-THK Huns (F-100 54-209 1,
F-l OOD 55-2888 and F-100F 56-3948)
were sold to FSI and fl own to Mojave, al-
ifornia on 5 August 1989, all three of them
remaining airworthy in 2002. However,
the final destinati on for almost all THK
Huns was the Ankara junkyard where
they were sold to scrap merchants and
melted down.
Turkish F-100s generally retained their
USAF camouflage, though earl y examples
arri ved in bare metal. While orne of the
former Danish aircraft were repainted in
USAF camouflage, most retained their
overall fad ed olive-green scheme and even
their Dani sh buzz number (F-100D-40-
NH 55-2768 still bore it Danish ide-
number G-768 when it was scrapped in
Ankara in 1990) . Colourful unit markings
were worn on sil ver aircraft, with 'FW'
buzz numbers and squar -format Turkish
insignia, which were repl aced by roundels
748
in 1972. Towards the end of the 1970s,
code app ared on the fuselage. The most
common practice was in the form of four
thin black digits with white outlines, the
fir t denoting the main jet airbase where
the aircraft wa stationed. The next three
number were the ' last three' of its serial.
Thus, '3-732' on an F-100C denoted 53-
1732 from the 3ncu Ana ]et Ussu (3 rd
Main Jet Airbase) at that date.
everal Turkish pilots fl ew more than
1,000 hour on F-1 OOs, with Brig Gen Erol
Ozgil clocking up 2,153 hours. Dur ing the
thirty years of the Turkish F-1 00 era at
least forty-two F-100Cs, thirty-three F-
lOODs and twenty F-1 OOFs are known to
have been lo t : almost a third of the fleet.
A total of forty- nine pilots were killed,
most of them young lieutenants. Of the
267 del ivered, twenty-four were still pre-
erved in 2002.
[Turkish A. F. ection compiled by Batur
Avgan 2002 with reference to:
Ole Nikolajsen, Turkish Aviati on History,
Vol II (2002); Cumhur Ercl eniz, F-100
(2001); Johan van cl er Wei, Bulent Yil -
mazer, Lance Barber (' abre' ) and Marco
Dij kshoorn, Marco (2002)]
The following is an account of a 1979 close air support
(CAS) mission by an Esk 727 pilot, J. E. T Clausen. One
of the squadron's more experienced pilots. he had over
900 hours on the Hun. 'Craven' was the Esk 727 call-sign
and 'Mission 3401' was the call-sign used for this mis-
sion within an exercise.
'Yes. yes. affirm', I stutter while my eyes are wandering
around the landscape.
'From the farm, one nautical mile to the south-west. a
small wood. Do you see the small wood?'
'Tally-ho! ' I shout as I am pulling the nose over the hori -
zon only to point it downward again at the wood using the
correct dive angle. 'Mission 3401 in dummy.'
'You are cleared'. shouts the Forward Air Controller
IFAC)
The bombsight is lined up on a tank in the fringe of a
wood. plus a bit to the west to compensate for the wi nd.
Press the trigger, power and pull off. Whoops, that was a
bit low and God. how I sweat behind the oxygen mask. Now
it is time for some info to my wingman who is approaching
from the east: 'Number One is off to the west'.
Now the FAC is guiding Number Two towards the target.
'OK, I got you visuaL Come 10 degrees to the right. Do you
see the red-roofed farm at your 12 o'clock? From the farm,
1 nm to the south-west...' etc. as before.
'Mission 3401. nice attacks. Go back to IP3C and I have
some new targets for you.' Yeah. yeah. that's easy for him
to say. Right now I only know I am somewhere over the
western part of Jutland and my wingman is 2 miles (3km)
behind.
Before this mud-moving climax is reached, a long period
of preparation has passed. We met that morning in the
squadron briefing room where I received a time hack at
0800 and a 'Good morning' from the Squadron Duty Oper-
ational Officer (Duty-Ops). Today there are no penalties for
the moneybox as everyone was in the briefing room on
time. According to the briefing, the weather was OK and
there were just the usual NOTAMS and active danger
areas. Bird intensity was 'One' , just perfect for my low-
level. FAC-controlled mission in the Army training area at
Oksboel for the first pass. After the commanding officer's
(CO's) usual words of wisdom it was time to find out who
should pay for coffee. Duty-Ops drew a line on the black-
board and each of us, seated in our chairs. attempted to
guess how long it was in 1:100.000 scale. Good training for
a fighter-bomber pilot. Fingers stretched. eyes squinting,
everyone made their guess. Lady Luck (disguised as Duty-
Ops) measured the correct distance and the loser. the guy
whose guess was farthest off. was found.
Now for mission preparation. We had better hurry so that
we can meet our time-over-target (TOT). My Number 2 is
given the necessary line-up information: engine start time.
aircraft tail numbers. parking, configuration, etc. The Ground
Liaison Officer (GLOI is asked to get his briefi ng ready and
assist in planning the mission. We pull out the relevant
NATO and national Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs)
covering the exercise. study the air task closely, decipher
coding to real aircraft frequencies and waypoints. check the
pilot qualificati on table to see if this mission could add some
of the necessary check marks. and copy master navigation-
al charts prepared by the pilot responsible for this exercise.
Contact Points (CPs) and initial points (IPs) from the air task
UNDER FOREIGN FLAGS
F-100 CAS Mission, Danish Style
are plotted both on the low-level navigational chart
(1 :500,000) and the target maps (1 :1 00,000) and the highest
obstacles are highlighted.
Number Two is putti ng the finishing touches to the nav
charts while I am doing a bit of smart planning: weapons
del ivery tactics and parameters (we are carrying a simu-
lated weapons load of four Mk 82s and a full load of
20mm). bingo fuel states. formation types. 'silent' take-off
procedure. air combat tactics if we are jumped by hostile
aircraft. etc. How time is going byt We had better get the
briefing started. A quick check with Duty-Ops to see if
there are any last-minute changes. Yes, I have to fly anoth-
er plane that is parked at the other end of the air base.
Great! Another five minutes lost.
The briefing. The GLO begins with his situation
overview Then I brief the 'domestic' stuff like parking,
silent taxiing (without contact to Air Traffic Control). for-
mation take-off. departure. etc. then on to the essential
part: countermeasures if we meet hostile aircraft. tactics
in the attack phase and not least, flying safety aspects in
the tougher parts of the mission. Questions? Fine. Off we
go, but first to the Duty-Ops desk to sign the authorization
sheet. Sh't! Two new pages of information that must be
read before the next flight. An ultra-quick scan convinces
me that they are not relevant to this mission. but I make a
mental note to read them more thoroughly after the mis-
sion. Remember to sign out or penalties are due.
lime to change clothes. Luckily there is no need for
immersion suits as the water temperature is above 1 oc. I
grab my helmet and oxygen mask. Oh no! Another delay.
The Life Support guys have changed my oxygen mask so I
have to check it before flight. I plug it into the 1950s-vin-
tage test box and take a couple of quick breaths: 'shyy-haa.
shyy-haa' ... yes, it works. Now I need to find the crew chief
in a hurry or I will not make it to my agreed silent taxi time.
Luckily, he is outside the building, ready with the aircraft
log and a set of car keys. Did I remember everything? Hel-
met. gloves, line-up slip, navigational charts and the secret
'pilot information file' (PIF).
At last we reach the ai rcraft. A quick walk round and
then into the 'office'. My crew chief has al ready put my hel-
met on the edge of the windscreen and the ejection seat
shoulder straps hang out over the cockpit sides. This is ser-
vice! A couple of firm kicks on the brake pedals produce
the expected howling noise. An enormous black cloud from
the auxilliary power unit (APU) indicates that it is time for
engine start-up. Taxiing begins at the agreed time- only
just -and there on the other side of the runway I can see
my wingman appearing. Finally things look right.
After a green light from the tower, we line up and with
my circling index finger I give the order to run up the
engines. My wingman is nodding to indicate that engine
values are in the 'green' and he is ready. I nod deeply to
indicate brake release and we are rolling. Well airborne. I
'fishtail' the F-1 00 a bit, using the rudder to loosen up the
formation. Finally, it is time to enjoy all that work we did
on the ground.
Heading due north and soon the Jels-lake- our depar-
ture point- should appear. Yep, there it is. Is the stopwatch
wound up and ready? Yes. we are ready to start timing. I
am rocking the wings to indicate to my wingman that the
watch should be activated. Hack. The watch is running and
the speed is close to 420kt - 7nm per minute. I re-check
149
using the AN/APN-153 Doppler navigation system (NAVS),
the engine pressure ratio (EPA) indication and the airspeed
indicator. I also make the necessary corrections for wind at
500ft (150m). as forecast by our meteorologist (the patho-
logical liar). Our altitude is 600ft (180m) indicated. Tactical
Air Command (TAC) approved the 500ft and I have added a
bit to compensate for the field elevation. At the next way-
point we have agreed to check in on our squadron fre-
quency and thereby we terminate the silent departure pro-
cedure. Until now we have been listening in on Channel14
(local tower) in case Air Training Command (ATC) should
want to contact us for flying safety reasons.
Right now we have a few minutes to let our souls catch
up because all we have to do is navigate on 'time and
heading' , just like Charles Lindbergh I In twenty minutes
we will go 'feet wet' over the North Sea where. according
to the exercise brief. we might meet hostil e fighters in the
shape of good old Danish F-1 04 Starfighters.
'Mission 3401. Manual 313. 6. Go.' We change to the
common frequency where we have to transmit blind that
we are coasting out into the North Sea area with two air-
craft at low altitude. What next? Will we be required to say
when we reach the next waypoint? Those air defenders
only know the date anyway: the rest they will get from the
ground controlled interception (GCI) station.
Speed is now increased to 450kt and my wingman is
ri ght where he is supposed to be - line abreast at a good
distance since the weather is clear. Down to 300ft (90m)
and keep scanning 360 degrees for fighters. At intervals
we also look upwards because the air defence pilots love
to make hit-and-run attacks, diving at high speed, calling
'Fox two' and climbing again as fast as the 'wingless won-
der' [F-1 04] allows.
Aren't those smoke trails at 5 o'clock? 'Craven Red.
Break right. Bogies 5 o'clock, slightly high, about 4 miles
(6km[ .'
Plug in the afterburner. Careful not to overstress the air-
craft. KA-POW! Great. No compressor stalls this time.
Nose over the horizon, not down in the waves. 'Tallyho! '
my wingman shouts and the dogfight is on. 'Camera ont '
Hopefully, we will be able to shoot some pictures with the
sight reticle on an F-1 04 canopy. In this clear weather we
have no problems picking up a smoking J79 engi ne at long
range, so the air defence pilots didn't get the advantage of
surprise this time. We manage to meet the enemy head on
and at our speed they don't manage to catch us before we
have left the fighter engagement zone.
Back in a sensible formation. we set course towards the
coast. Now we have to find out where we are. After a bit
of dog fighting, the F-1 OO's compass shows whatever takes
its fancy until we have flown straight and level for some
time. Well . the sun is over there so the coast must be in
that general direction. We use the TLAR principle: 'That
Looks About Right' . Great. There is the Cheminova factory.
Then our next waypoint is slightly to the south near Bovb-
jerg lighthouse. A masterpiece of navigation!
'Red Two. What is your fuel state?' Now both fuel
gauges and compasses should be steady again and as
accurate as possible. Good. we have enough fuel for at
least two attacks in the Oksboel area. Another time hack:
approximately 420kt and a 20kt wind from the right gives
us a heading of 165 degrees to match the track on our nav-
igational chart . Now it is time to change to the ALD/ FAC
frequency to get a briefing. If we have a "rear briefer" on
this frequency he will already at this early stage be able to
give us some overall guidelines before we contact the FAC.
If not. we will have to make do with the information from
the Air Task and the GLO briefing.
Now it is time to get organized in the "office . Pull out the
relevant maps and fix them under the clip on one knee. The
PIF is wedged in between the canopy and the left-hand rail
and the others go on the right side. My right kneeboard is
reserved for notes from the FAC briefing leach pilot has his
own system. almost wi th clothes pegs to keep all the
papers organized). I am happy that I know my USAF Map
Folding Manual by heart.
We are approaching Ringkoebing and it is about time to
contact the ALD. This is mission 3401. on time. over."
Crackle. crackle. After the mandatory authentication pro-
cedure he tells us to contact Whitecliff on one of the coded
ai r task frequencies and fly to IP B4. leaving it asap. "Red
Two. Go offensive." All he has to do now is hang on and
keep a good lookout to warn me of other aircraft or towns
we can't fly over because I hide my nose in the low-level
chart . IP B4 .... IP B4 ... where is it? Ah. it"s a small lake. OK.
After the next waypoint we go directly south. Fine. then we
don't have to make any stupid 360-degree turns while we
set everything up. They aren't too healthy close to hostile
territory anyway.
"Red Two. Manual 314. 1. Go."
Whitecliff. Whitecliff. Mission 3401.1P B4 in three min-
utes." No answer. Typical! We climb a bit to let his
advanced walkie-talkie reach us. Contact at last. I am now
flying the Hun with my left hand whi le the right is busy
making notes - a sweat-provoking kind of flight that only
right-handed CAS pilots get to experience.
UNDER FOREIGN FLAGS
F-100 CAS Mission, Danish Style (cont.)
"From IP. .. Icrackle crackle) ... heading ... lbuzz crackle) ... 174.
Four minutes 30 seconds ... lcrackle whine buzz) ... target
consists of ... column of tanks standing next to a wood.
camouflaged."
At least the footsloggers didn't dig the tanks in. 'Two.
Are you ready?' Perfect. Here we go. 'Two, you may take
spacing." Now he has to distance himself from me so that
he doesn't fly into the cloud of fragments from the bombs
and the target that I will pretend to cause in a short while.
The IP is to my right at 1 o'clock; a small lake. A time hack
and down to 300ft 190m). The adrenaline is pumping
through my body and time flies. Speed: 450kt. How is the
camera set? I have to take my oxygen mask off to see any-
thing at all. Who designed this cockpit, where some of the
bunons are positioned almost behind your back? After this
acrobatic achievement I check airspeed and time: 1 minute
10 seconds.
'After 1 minute 30 seconds you will pass a paved road
with a smal l windmill. From that windmi ll look to your 2
o'clock about 2nm and you will see a red-roofed farm .. ."
and we are back to the point where the pi lot's thumb firm-
ly presses the pickle button and the bomb load leaves the
aircraft directly towards the 'hostile' tanks. For the sake of
training, we make a second attack, this time from another
IP and then it is time to leave Oksboel. Just after the last
attack I see the FAC in my peripheral vision. He was risk-
ing his life a few kilometres from the tanks - within firing
range. But those are the FAG's conditions.
'See you in the Officers' Mess for happy hour?'
'Yes. I'll be there." I recognize his voice as one of the
Reserve Officers flying for Scandinavian Ai rlines.
After our in-flight report has been submitted to HOwe
set course for the Blaavandshuk lighthouse and make a
150
friendly call to the Range Safety Officer at the Roemoe air-
to-ground range. We have both fuel and time for an airfield
attack. I had better inform Duty-Ops so that he can warn
the rest of the squadron over the tannoy. Last time, one of
our crew chiefs got pissed off when my afterburner lit
exactly over the squadron maintenance hangar when I
passed, unannounced, at low altitude.
Inadvertently, he got up and his head hit the airbrake on
the aircraft he was servicing. It cost me an apology, coffee
and a doughnut. After getting clearance from the tower I
call my wingman in close and assign the south-western
squadron dispersal area as his aim-point while I 'take out'
our own squadron building. Luckily, the guys got some good
decibels and the afterburner li t at exactly the right time.
That is a bit of an art, garnished with a good helping of luck
to make it light at the right time, if at all.
After this team-building exercise we join down-wind
directly and manage to touch-down before reaching mini -
mum fuel ; 1 OOOib l450kg). Unfortunately the headwind is
too weak to avoid using the drag chute. My crew chief
prefers not to install a new chute if it can be helped as it is
a cumbersome system and prone to failure in operation.
We taxi in, debrief with the crew chief, sign the manual
and get out of sweaty flight gear. Quickly, we have to send
a supplementary mission report to Tactical Air Command,
Denmark, develop the film with F-1 04 kills and ground
attack results and then debrief with my wingman. the GLO,
Outy-Ops and ATC before the next mission: an exercise
with the Navy. That means a new Exercise Order, master
chart, airtask, etc. l grab a sandwich, find my wingmen and
it's full speed ahead with the planning.
CHAPTER 7
Son of a Hun: The F-107A
,- .-
-
-
F-107A 55-5118, the first aircraft, with a 500-gal centreline tank containing flight-test recording gear and fire extinguishing
equipment. Unlike the other two aircraft it had its 'F-107A' logo behind the cockpi t. Davi d Menard Collection
North Ameri can Aviat ion (NAA) pro-
posed a number of improved versions of
t heir out tanding new fighter but only
one, the F- L07 A, proceeded beyond t he
outline stage. Most version involved mi.n-
imum change to the aircraft in order to
reduce tooling and producti on cost . For
example, the F-l OOK would have been an
F- l OOF with t he up-rated and more reli-
able ) 57-P-55 engine. The F-l OOL would
have given t he F-1000 the same t reat-
ment. ATO air forces, seeking a low-
cost, upers nic replacement for t heir F-84
and F-86s were offered the F- l OON with a
implifi d electronics package.
A more serious proposal involved
replacing t he J57 with a Roll s- Royce RB-
168-25R Spey turbofan, as used with qual-
ifi ed success in t he F-4K/ M Phantom. The
engine could have been produced in its
All ison TF-41 variant with afterburner.
This change of power-plant wa uppos d
to offer 30 per cent better range wit h a 50
per cent improvement in ordnance load
and up to lO,OOOft (3,000m) extra ce ili ng.
Improved take-off distances and rates of
75 7
cl imb were also li kely. At thi time, Roll -
Royce also suggested 'Speyed' F-8 Cru-
saders and F-104 Starfi ghters, but in 1964
the F-1 OOS (for Spey) proposal wa
thought to have real potential for th
European market. The French were seen a
customers for up to 200, based on the
F-lOOF and li cence-buil t in Fran e for the
Armee de l' Air and t hen for follow-on cus-
tomers. Sadly, this sugge tion never
advanced beyond initi al paperwork.
More promising sti ll were projects that
sought to increase the F- lOO's intercepti on
SON OF A HUN: THE F- 107A
Sharing the ramp with the fifth F-lOOA (in engineering test flight colours) is the Number 3 aircraft, 55-5120. Its nose logo reads
'North American F-107A' . The F-107A Air Staff Project Officer, Brig Gen Coberly, described the fighter's performance a 'quite
incredible for that time period'. David Menard Coll ection
and all -weath r capabili ty. Th F-100]
would have had a search and t rack radar
installat ion and might have attracted
Japanese interest. Before that , the F-1001
was suggested a an interceptor with air-to-
air rock t pa ks replacing its guns. How-
ever, the most important of all these pro-
ject was the first: the F- 100B. This
b came the foundati on r th F-107 A,
trul y a 'Super' up r abre.
NAA rece ived USAF requests for stud-
ies of an improved version of t he F-100
ea rly in 195 , before the F-1 OOA fir t fl ew.
Around March, the company drafted th
A-211 (F-1008) , initi all y a faster, li ghter
day-fighter capable of Mach 1. with a
th inner wing, area- ruled fuse lage and a ]57
engine up-rated to 16,000lb (7, 250kg)
thrust with a n w convergent/d iv rgent
engine nozz le. It mi ght have had dual-
whe I ' rough-field' main landing gear and
no provision for under-wing fuel tanks.
Thi s all had to be modified when Tactica l
Air ommand (TA ) i ued n w demands
featuring a powerfu l air-to-a ir radar. In
response, AA des igned a pointed nose
radome above a bifurcated F- 6D-style
'chin' intake, but this caused airflow prob-
lems for t he release of weapons, 'semi -sub-
merged' in an innovative 'trough' bay
und r the fuselage. The re-design of june
1953, known internall y as t he F- 100Bl,
featured a retractable inflight-refuelling
probe and a re-appearance of drop tank .
By Octob r the model number NA-212
had been allotted and a mock-up was com-
menced together with stud ies of variable-
area air inlets that eventuall y I d to th air
intake being pos iti oned abov th fuse-
lag . Th locat ion was chosen to prevent
airfl ow interfe rence with ordnance
dropped from the centreline stat ion, a by
November 195 the company was empha-
sizing the type' potent ial as a fi ghter-
bomber with air-superiority capabil ity.
Probabl y NAA had already decided to
compete unoffi ciall y with R public'
306A design, the fighter-bomber propo al
that eventuall y became TA 's F-105
Thunderchi f. Republic had received a
contract dated 25 September 1952 for 199
F-105As, although at that stage t he air-
craft bore little resemblance t the even-
tual F-1 05 B pr ducti on model and AA
752
were aware of the t ype's protracted and
troubl some development proce s. AA
even began stud ie of a naval NA-212 ver-
sion, the 'Super Fury' to foll ow its FJ Fury
serie . U AF interest in the F-100B/Bl at
that stage was actually minimal and the
interceptor programme was cut back. How-
ever, in April 1954 AA became aware of
renewed interest in a fi ghter-bomber
r quirement and it began work on beefing
up the A- 212 for this mi ss ion. n 11
June 1954, NAA rece ived a contract for
thi rty-three copi sofa fi ghter-bomber that
wa ti ll ca ll ed F- 100B, although on 8 July
the designati on was offi ciall y changed to
F- 107 A to refl ect t he aircraft's sub tantial
differences from the basic F-100. Three
prototypes were initi all y ordered (55-
5118, -5 119, -5 120) with nine service test
aircraft to follow.
Although it was essentiall y a new
design, the aircraft retained th ba ic F- 100
wing with six hardpoints and leading edge
lats, but it was posit ioned mid-way up the
fusel age. Fli ght control was achi ved by
spoilers above and below each wing.
Inboard fl aps, similar to tho e eventuall y
S01 OF A HUN: THE F- 107A
The second aircraft has the Sandia 'Shape 27' special store on its centreline saddle tank. Although they are no emphasized in
this view, 55-5119 had the same red markings as the other two F-1 07 As. David Menard Coll ection
installed on the F-1000 , were introduced
but with boundary layer control to reduce
land ing peed by up to 25kt. An F-100- type
hori zontal stabili zer was used but the
enlarged verti ca l stabili zer incorporating
the AN/APS-54 RWR rose almost 20ft
( 6m) from the ground and wa 'all moving'
above a point roughl y 2ft (0.6m) above
t he rear fuselage. Defl ecting 3 degrees l ft
and right ( 6 degrees wit h the undercar-
ri age down) it provided powerful 'rudder'
control and later appeared in modified
form on t he company's A3J Vigilante
design. A new augm nted longitudinal
cont rol sys tem (ALCS, nicknamed
'Ali ce' ) was included. Essentially, it was an
ance tor of fl y- by- wire control systems.
The F-1 OO's rather inconveni entl y placed
airbrake wa replaced by two units extend-
ing from the bulky rear fuselage, but the
four-M39A1 gun bas ic armament was kept
and moved further up t he fuselage sides.
An F-100-style nose landing gear was
accompanied by newly designed main
landing gear member extending from t he
fuselage, again like t he later A3] .
Crucially, the ]57 was replaced by Pratt
& Whitney's (P& W) much more powerful
) 75-P- 11 at almost 24,000lb (ll,OOOkg)
thrust with afterburning, upplied by
around 2,000gal of internal fuel. A new
NAA/USAF XMA-12 fire-cont rol system
(North American Search and Ranging
Radar: NA R) was specified and installed
in the second F-1 07 A although its flight
test ing under Phase Ill of the programme
was never completed. lt provided low-alt i-
tude bombing system (LABS) delivery of
the electrically fused 10,000lb (4,550kg) of
external ordnance and control of gunnery.
753
A TX-28 (B-28) nuclear store could be car-
ri ed semi -recessed in the open fuselage bay
or on an adapter that doubled as a 250gal
fuel tank. This weapons installat ion was
thought to be less troublesome for high-
Mach bomb deli very than R public's stan-
dard internal bay.
A large, clamshell cockpit canopy
opened vertically, ri sing 28in (7 1cm) - only
when the engine was turned off! - to allow
the pi lot to squeeze in and out. everal ejec-
tion tests from the fi rst aircraft reassuringly
showed that the NAA ejection seat could
propel the pilot past the intake at all speeds
without being sucked in.
Production de ign began on 1 May
1955, and t he first aircraft fl ew only eigh-
teen months later on 10 September 1956
with NAA pilot Bob Baker in control. lt
achi eved Mach 1. 03 in a dive on the first
: THE F- 107A
F-107A Statistics
36 58h (11 15m)
6081h(1853m)
19.54h (5 95m)
367 .02sq h (34.96sq m)
25,1441b (11.405kg)
41,5371b (18,841kg)
Wingspan
Length
Height
Wing area
Weights
empty
gross
Internal fuel 1 ,260gal, supplemented by a 500gal bell y tank and
drop tanks on the wings
Armament
Power
Four M-39 20mm guns with 200 rounds per gun.
One P&W Y J75-P-11 turbojet at 15,5001b (7,000kg) mili tary thrust and
23.5001b (10,500kg) thrust in full afterburner.
Fire control system NAA/ Autonetics XMA-12 wi th ai r-to-ai r and air-to-ground modes using an
Autonetics R-14 radar. The system was later adapted as the XMA-S for use in
the Republic F-1 050.
588mph (956km/h) Cruise speed
Maximum speed 890mph (1 ,432km/h) at sea level
Service ceil ing
Maximum rate of cl imb
Combat range
1 .295m ph (2,083km/h) at 36,000h (10,970m)
53.200h (16,215m)
39,900h/min (12, 161 m/min)
788 miles (1 ,268km)
Ferry range 2.428 miles (3,907km)
flight and would have gone faster but for
engine gearbox problems. At the conclu-
sion of the flight, Baker touched down at
almost 200kt using half- fl aps rather than
the u ual 45-degree po iti on and had to
make a landing roll of no less t han
22,000ft (6,700m) when the drag-chute
failed to deploy. The aircraft ran on into
the dried mud section of Edwards AFB's
runway, hit a rut and broke off its nose
land ing gear. The normal landing run with
chute and fu ll fl aps was later found to be a
more comfortable 3,600ft (1 ,100m).
Repaired by 1 October, 55-5118 resumed
testing and on 3 Novemb r J. . Roberts
fl ew it to Mach 2, the main obj ecti ve of
the thirty flights comprising Phase I of t he
programme. Pha e II (3 December 1956-
15 February 1957) used the second aircraft
on thirty- two fli ghts to test bas ic p rfor-
mance and handling. Rates of climb of up
to 30,000ft (9,000m) per minute at sea
lev I were recorded. The aircraft handl ed
very well and was easier to trim and more
stable than the F-1 00. Joining for the
Phase Ill tests wa the final aircraft (55 -
5120), incorporating an automatic vari-
abl air inlet duct (VAID), whi ch
incr ased the volum of'free strea m' air to
the engine by 30 per cent and gave much
improved performance at high altitude.
Meanwhil e, ' 118 was used for a eri e of
zoom climb tests that showed it could
cl imb at Mach 1 in both normal and zoom
cl imbs. Al White fl ew weapons tests in the
second aircraft, including LABS drops at
peed up to Mach 1. 2 and centreline 'spe-
cial stores' drops at Mach 1. 87. Later tests
with the TX-28 store took the speed
beyond Mach 2 at 35,000ft (10,700m)
with clean weapons separation.
NAA's hopes were raised on 8 March
1957 by Air Defense Command's (ADC)
expressed interest in a rocket-armed F-
107B vari ant. However, this became acad-
emic when TAC made clear that it want-
ed the F-105 as its next aircraft, a decision
that was made well before Phase II tests of
the F-107A were finished. The six addi -
tional F-107 A that NAA had anti cipated
bui lding w re cancel led.
0 chni ca ll y, t here seemed littl e to
choose between the two des igns. The F-
107 A had shown earl y promise of being an
unusuall y capabl and reli abl aircraft that
fu lfi ll ed all TAC's requirements rather
than simpl y a ' banker' for TAC against the
fa ilure of t he F-105. Duri ng flight te t ing,
the F- 1 07 A had shown far few r develop-
mental problems than the F-105 and in
mid-1956 there seemed a real poss ibility
that the Republi c fighter would be can-
celled in favour of the F-107A. Pos ibly
Republic was favoured politica ll y since it
754
had no other work in prospect, or because
its design included a specialized internal
nuclear weapons bay that might enable
TAC to preserve its nuclear capability in
the face of increasing dominat ion by
Strategic Air Command (SAC) influence.
After cancellation of further work on
the F-107A in March 1957,55-5 119 con-
tinued it serie of weapon t t . The other
two aircraft were passed to NACA's High-
Speed Flight Installat ion at Edwards AFB
for continuation testing of their innovative
de ign feature including th VAlD y tem,
all -moving tail and ALCS. Valuabl e data
resulted which helped in t he later develop-
ment of types such as t he XB- 70A bomber,
R-7 1 and a new generati on of fighters
including the F-15 and F-16. Th third air-
craft was equipped with a side-st ick con-
troller in place of the conventional ' joy
stick' to prove the concept for the X- 15A
research vehicle. 55-5 118 became 'NA A
207' but it fl w very litt le and was soon
cannibalized to keep ' 120 fl ying.
On 1 September, Scott Crossfield expe-
rienced trim-setting problems that pre-
vented him from getting ' 120 airborne.
The aborted take-off blew the nose- wheel
tyres and on t he run-out the left brake and
tyre overheated, causing a fire that dam-
aged the aircraft before a fire- truck could
be brought up. The aircraft was beyond
economical repair and it ended its clays on
Shepard AFB' fire dump. The other two
F-107 As wer returned to USAF charge
on 3 June 1960.55-5 118 ended up at Pima
County Museum aft er spending many
years deteriorat ing in outdoor storage and
' 119 was placed in t he Air Force Museum
at Wright-Patterson AFB.
Although TAC gained a valiant work-
horse in the F-105 it also lost an exception-
al aircraft in th F-107 A. In common with
most NAA designs it was significantly
ahead of its t ime. ln the earl y 1950s, t he
company was the foremost U defence
contractor. Its cl terminati on to remain at
the forefront of development led it into
some technicall y bri ll iant but enormously
costly projects including the Mach 3, mis-
ile-armed F-108 interceptor and the
extraordinari ly advanced XB-70 Valkyrie
bomber. Although the company in its
restructured North American Rockwell
form went on to produce t he B- 1 B bomber,
the cancellation of the F-107 A took it out
of the fi ghter business.
APPENDIX I
F-1 00 Statistics and Perfor01ance
YF-100 F-100A F-100C
Wingspan (ft/ in) 36' 7" 38' 9" 38' 9"
Length (ft/ in) 46'3" 4 7' 1" 4 7' 1"
(fuselage, excluding pi tot boom)
Height (ft/ in) 14' 5" 15' 4"* 15' 4"
Wing area (sq. ft) 376 385 385
Weight (l b/kg)
empty 18, 135 (8,226) 18, 135 ( ,226) 19,270 (8, 740)
combat 24,789 (11,244) 24,996 (11,338) 28,700 (13, 018)
gross 28,561 (12,955) 28,899 (13,1 08) 36,549 (16,5 78)
Engine XJ57-P-7 ]57-P-7/P-39 J-5 7-P-21
Thrust (lb/kg)
mil 8,700 (3,946) 9,700 (4,400) 10,200 (4,630)
afterburner 13,200 (5,990) 14,800 (6,700) 16,000 (7,250)
Max. sp ed (kt)
at 35,000ft ( l0,700m) 634 740 803
Stalling speed (kt) 139 138 146
Service ceiling (ft/m) 52,600 (16,000) 44, 900 (13,700) 38,700 (11, 800)
Rate of climb (ft/ m min) 23,800 (7 ,250) 21, 600 (6,600)
ombat radius (mil es/km) 358 (575) 572 (920)
Ferry range (mi les/km) 1,294 (2,080) 1,954 (3 ,145)
*(F-100A with 'short' vert ical stabilizer was 13' 4")
F-100 Production
Li sted in order of serial allocation.
Type/Block
YF-100A
F-100A- 1-NA
F-100A-5-NA
F-100A- 10-NA
F-100A- 15-NA
F-100A-20-NA
F-100C- 1-NA
F-100 -1-NA
F-100C-5-NA
F-100C-15-NA
F- 100C-20-NA
F-100C-25-NA
F-100 -10-NH
Quantity
2
10
13
40
40
100
70
30
45
45
111
150
25
AF Serials
52-5754/-5755
52-5756/-5765
52-5766/-5778
53- 1529/-1568
53-1569/-1608
53- 1609/- 1708
53-1709/- 1778
54-1740/- 1769
54-1770/- 1814
54-1 15/- 1859
54-1860/- 1970
54-1971/-2120
55-2709/-2733
155
F-1000 F-100F
38' 9" 38' 9"
4 7' 1" 50' 4"
16'2" 16' 2"
400 400
20,638 (9,361) 21,712 (9,848)
30,061 (13 ,635 ) 31,413 (14,248)
38,048 (17,258) 39,122 (17,745)
]57-P-21/-21A J57-P-21/- 21A
10,200 (4,630) 10,200 (4,630)
16,000 (7,250) 16,000 (7, 250)
765 760
147 157
39,600 (1 2,000) 3 ,500 (11,750)
19,000 (5 , 00) 18,500 (5,600)
520 (835 ) 508 (817)
1,995 (3,210) 1,661 (2,670)
Construction Numbers
(Model) NAA-1 0- 1/2
NA-192- 1/ 10
NA- 192- 11/23
NA- 192-24/63
NA- 192-64/ 103
NA-192- 104/203
NA-214-1/70
NA-217- 1/30
NA-217 -3 1/75
NA-21 7-76/120
NA-217-121/23 1
NA-217-232/381
NA-222 1/25
F-100D- l - A
F-l OOD-5- A
F-l OOD- 10-NA
F-100D-15-NA
F-100 -10-NH
F-l OOD-35-NH
F-100D-40-NH
F-l OOD-45-NH
F-lOOD-50-NH
F-l OOD-55- H
F-IOOD-20-NA
F-IOOD-25- A
F-100D-30- A
F-100D-60-NA
F-!OOD-65-NA
F-100D-70-NA
F-100D-75-NA
F-100D-90-NA
F-100D-80-NH
F-100D-85-NH
F-100F-1- A
F-100F-5- A
F-100F-10-NA
F-100F-1r- A
F-l OOF-20- A
F-l OOF-15- A
F-l OOF-15-NA
12
19
70
82
25
10
40
80
45
46
100
100
113
60
60
120
56
14
28
85
15
30
150
100
29
9
6
F- 1 00 STATI STI CS AND PERFORMANCE
54-2121/-2132
54-2133/-2151
54-2152/-2221
54-2222/-2303
55-2709/-2733
55-2734/-2743
55-2744/-2783
55-2784/-2863
55-2864/-2908
55-2909/-2954
55-3502/-3601
55-3602/-3701
55-3702/-3 14
56-2903/-2962
56-2963/-3022
56-3023/-3142
56-3143/-3198
56-3199/- 346
56-335 1/-3378
56-33 79/-3463
56-3725/-3739
56-3740/-3769
56-3770/-3919
56-3920/-4019
58- 1205/- 1233
58-6975/-6983
59-2558/-2563
(F-100A- 10-NA53- 1545/- 1548, -1551 and -1554 were modifi d to RF-100As.)
Sub-totals
YF-1 OOA/ F-1 00
F-l OOC
F-lOOD
F-lOOF
Total production:
205
476
1,274
339
2,294
F-lOODs equipped with NAYS (Doppler Navigation System)
All FY58 F- l OOFs equipped with AVS.
F- 1 OOD-55/ 90
A-223-1/12
NA-223- 13/3 1
NA-223-32/101
NA-223- 102/183
NA-222-1/25
NA-224-1/10
NA-224-11/50
NA-224-5 1/130
A-224-13 1/1 75
A-244- 176/221
NA-223- 184/283
NA-223-284/383
NA-223-384/496
A-235-1/60
NA-235-61/120
NA-235- 121/240
NA-2 5-241/296
NA-235-297/444
NA-245- 1/28
NA-245-29/113
NA-243- 1/15
A-243-16/45
A-243-46/195
NA-243- 196/295
NA-255- 1/29 (MDAP)
NA-261- 1/9( MDAP)
NA-262- 1/6 (MDAP)
-2795,-2837,-2845,-2849,- 2853,-2855/6,-2861,-2863,-2 65,-2870,-2878/9,-2881,-28 3,-2 89,-2892,-2901,-2903/4/5,-29 17,
-3502, -3508, -35 12, -35 16, -35 1 , -3521/2, -3525, -352 , -3530, -3532, -3534/5, -3541, -3543, -3545,- 549, -3550, -3553, -3555,
-3558/9, -3560, -3562, -3564, -3566, -3568/9, -3570, -3572/3/4,-3576, -3580/1/2, -3581, -35 5, -3586, -3587, -3589, -3590/1/2/ ,
-3595, -359 , -3600/1/2/3/4/5/6, -3608, -3611, - 613, -3615, - 61 /9, -3620, -3622/3, -3625, - 628, -3630/ 1/2, -3634, -3639,
-3640/1/2,- 647, -3650,-3653,-3740,-3745,-3762-3765/6,-3780,-3782,-3784/5,-3793, -3803/4,-3806,-3809,-3811/2/3/4.
F-l OOD-56
-2903,-3259,-3263/4/5/6/7,-3269,-3270,-3270,-3272/3,-3275/6/7/ /9,- 280,-3282/3,-3285/6/7,-3320,-3324,-3326/7/8/9,-3330,
-3331/2/3/4/5/6, -333 /9, -3340/1, -3 43, -3 45/6.
156
F- 1 00 STATI STI CS A D PERFORMANCE
MAIN DIFFERENCES TABLE
MMAMINT
STARTII
DllOP TANKS
INTtaNAL FUR
IIFUIUNO
PIIOVISIONS
FLAil'S
OXYGEN STSTIM
AUTOI'ILOT
ENGl ..
ACRECRICAL
I'OWDSOUICI
MMAMINT
STAITII
DllOP TANKS
INTtaNAL FUR
IIFUIUNO
PIIOVISIONS
FLAil'S
OXYGEN SYSTIM
AUTOI'ILOT
F-100 SERIES
THIEE INVIIIlBIS
FOUl GUNS AND VARIOUS COMaiNAnONS OF EXTERNAL
LOADS INCLUDING lOMaS- lOCKETS AND MISSILES
MOUNTED ON IEMOVAILE "LONS.
I'NEUMATIC
TWO 275-GAUON AND/ 01 COMaiNAnON Of
:zoo..GAUON (TWO 33S-GAUON ON SOME AIIP'I.ANES)
RJSELAGE AND WING
l'lllSSUIE TTPE (SINGLE-POINT AND
All IEFUB.JNG)
NO
LIQUID, Willi D-2A IEGULATOI
NO
J57-21A Wllll AflRMMNO
ONE E N G I N I ~ I V I N AC GENEIA TOI
Willi ONE STAND-BY INVBilBI
TWO GUNS AND VARIOUS COM&INATIONS Of IXlBINAL
LOADS INCLUDING IOMIS, IOCKm, AND MISSILES
MOUNTED ON FOICE EJECTION PYLONS
CAITIIDGI AND I'NEUMATIC
ENGl ..
AC WCRICA&.
I'OWDSOUIICI
STAIITDI
DllOPTANKS
INTtaNAL FUll
IDUIUNO
PIIOVISION5
OXYGEN SYSTIM
AUTOPILOT
TWO 275-GAUON TWO 450-GAUON 01 TWO 335-GAL-
LON ' AND/01 COMaiNATION Of 200-GAUON.
RJSILAGI AND WING
PIESSUIE-TTPE (SINGLE-I'OINT AND
AlllfRIBlNG)
YES
LIQUID Wllll MD-I IEGULATOI
YES
757
ENGINE
AC D.KTaiCAL
I'OWDSOUICI
J57 -21 A Willi AfTBIIUINEI
THI& NVIItlBIS
MMAMINT FOUl GUNS AND MISSIW
STAITta
DllOP TANKS
INTIINAL FUll
URIIUNG
PIIOVISION5
I'NEUMATIC
TWO 27S-GAUON
RJSB.AGE
GRAVTTY TANK RU..c;
NO
OXTGIN STSTIM GASEOUS, Willi D-2 lfGUI.ATOI
AUTOPILOT NO
ONE ~ I V I N AC GINEIATOI
Willi ONE STAND-BY -
FOUl GUNS AND VARIOUS CO-NAnONS Of EXTIINAL
LOADS INCLUDING IOMIS, lOCKETS, AND MISSILES
MOUNTID ON FOICE EJECTION PYLONS.
CAITIIDGE AND PNEUMATIC
TWO 275- GAUON, TWO 450-GAUON 01 TWO 33S-
GAUON AND/01 CO-NAnON Of 20D-GAUON.
RJSB.AGI AND WING
PIESSUIE-TTPE (SINGLE-POINT AND All
IEFUB.JNG)
YES
LIQUID Wllll MD-I IEGULATOI
YES
F - 100-1-00-1
APPENDIX II
F-100 Units
USAF F-100 Units
3rd TFD F- 1000 /F from June 1964
Based: England AFB, Loui siana
90th TFS (light blue) Pair o' Dice
Deployed to Bien !-loa AB, RVN, 8 Feb 1966- 3 1 Oct 1970. Transi-
ti onecl to A-37B.
416th TFS (blue) Silver Knights
From 21st TFW, June 1964. Deployed to: Da Nang AB, RVN, March
1965; Tan Son Nhut AB, RVN, Nov 1965-June 1966; 37th TFW, Phu
at AB, RVN, 15 Aprill 967; 31st TFW, Tuy !-loa AB, RVN, 28 May
1969 (coded SE). Non-operat ional from 5 Sept 1970. To 4403 rcl TFW,
England AFB, 23 Sept 1970.
SlOth TFS (purple)
F-1000 from March 1964. Depl oyed to Bien !-l oa AB, RVN, 10 Nov
1965. Inacti vated 15 Nov 1969.
53 1st TFS (reel)
From 21st TFW, June 1964. Deployed to Bien !-l oa AB, RVN, 8 Nov
1965. lnactivatecl 31 Jul y 1970.
307th TFS
TOY from 31st TFW to Bi en Hoa AB, RV , Jul y- Nov 1965.
308th TFS
Assigned to 3rd TFW, Bien Hoa AB, RVN, 2 Dec 1965-15 Nov 1966.
Reassigned to Tuy !-loa AB, RVN, 15 Nov 1966.
Codes used at Bien !-loa: CB (90th TF ), CE (5 1 Oth TFS), CP (53 1st
TFS)
4th FDW From F-861-1 to F- 100C, early 1958
Based: Seymour Johnson AFB, North arolina
333rd FDS (reel) Lancers
334th FDS (blue) Eagles
335th FDS (green) Chiefs
336th FDS (yell ow) Rocketeers
Transit ionecl to F- 105B from 16 June 1959.
8th TFW Attaquez et Conquerez From F-84G and F-86F to
F-1000 / F, late 1956
Based: ltazuke AB, Japan
35th TFS (blue)
36th TFS (red ) Flying FiencLs
80th TFS (ye llow) Headhunters
To F-1050, May 1963, then F-4C via re-cl esignati on of 32ncl TFW as
8th TFW, 1965.
18th TFW From F-86F to F-1000 / F, 1957
Based: Kadena AB, Japan
12th TFS (yell ow/black/yell ow) Bald Eagles
44th TFS (blue) Vampires
67th TFS (reel) Fighting Cocks
To F-1050/F from Oct 1962.
20th TFW Victory by Valor From F-84F to F-1000 /F, 16 June 1957
Based: RAF Wethersfield and RAF Woodbridge, UK
55th TFS (blue) Fighring Fift y Fifth
Moved to RAF Upper Heyforcl , UK, 1 June 1970.
77th TFS (reel) Gamblers
Moved to RAF Upper Heyford, UK, 1 Jun 1970.
79th TFS (yell ow) Tigers
Bas cl: RAF Woodbri dge, UK
Moved to RAF Upper 1-l eyford, UK, 15 Jan 1970.
To F-1ll E from ept 1970.
21st TFW From F-84G to F-1000/F, late 1958
Based: Misawa AB, Japan
416th TFS (blue) Silver Knights
531stTFS (reel)
Transiti onecl to F-1000 from Jul y 1958. Deact iva ted June 1960, both
squadrons reassigned to 3rd TFW.
27th TFW F-1000 /Ffrom Feb 1959
Based: Cannon AFB, New Mex ico
48 1st TFS (green)
T OYs to Takhli RTAFB, Thail and, 1963; Mi sawa AB, Japan and Kun-
san AB, Korea, 1964; Tan Son Nhut AB, RVN, 27 June 1965-1 Jan
1966. To F-1llE late 1969. lnacti vatecl 31 Aug 1973.
522nd TFS (red) Fheballs
Saw Buck Ill TOYs to Takhl i RTAB, Thailand, 13 Dec 1962- l June
1963, TOY to Da Nang AB, RVN (6 aircraft) and Takhli (6 aircraft),
14 Aug 1964, then Da Nang (whole squadron) until6 May 1964.
TOYs to Misawa AB, Japan, May 1965, Clark AB, Philippines, late
1965. To F-111A, 1972.
523rd TFS (blue)
Reassigned to 405th TFW, Nov 1965.
5 24th TFS (yellow) Hounds of Heaven
Flew F-1000 until March 1969. To F-111 0, 1972.
312th TFW renumbered 27th TFW, Feb 1959. 18 aircraft Oet main-
tained at Takhli , RTAB, May 1962-May 1964, reduced to 6 aircraft,
Feb 1963. 27th TFW became F-100 RTU, l Jan 1966. Flew last regular
USAF F-100 mission, 19 Jul y 1972 (56-3333).
Coded from Jul y 1968: CA (481st TFS), CC (522nd TF ), CD (524th
TF ).
Common base code CC used from 1972.
3 1st TFW From F-84F to F-1000 / F, micl - 1957
Based: Turner AFB, Georgia
306th TFS (green)
307th TFS (red )
308th TFS (ye llow)
309th TFS (blue)
All air assets transferred to 354th TFW, Myrtl e Beach from 15 March
1959.
758
F- 100 UNITS
3 1st TFW F-1000/F from 15 March 1959
Ba eel: George AFB, Californi a
306th TFS (red)
Inact ivated 28 Sept 1970.
307th TFS (blue)
TOY to Bien Hoa AB, RVN, June 1965. Aircraft left for use by 53 1st
TF . R ass igned to Torrejon AB, Spain, April 1966.
308th TFS (green ) Emerald Knights
TOY to Bien !-l oa AB, RV , Dec 1965- Nov 1966. Reassigned to
4403rd TFW*, 15 Oct 1970.
309th TFS (yell ow)
Reass igned to 4403rd TFW*, England AFB, 5 Oct 1970.
Wing formed by a ' paper' transfer on 15 March 1959 of as et ofTFW,
retai ning markings and colours of 4 13th TFW. Moved to Homestead
AFB, mid- 1960, deployed to Tuy Hoa AB Dec 1966- 15 Oct 1970, tak-
ing 306th, 30 t h, 309th TFS. Foll owi ng units assigned at Tuy Hoa:
355th TFS
15 May 1969- 30 Sept 1970, then to 354th TFW with A-70 orsair ll .
4 16th TFS Si lver Knighrs
28 May 1969- 5 ept 1970, th n to 4403rd TFW*, England AFB, 23
ept 1970.
136th TFS New York ANG Rocky's Raiders
14 June 1968-25 May 1969.
I 88th TFS New Mexico ANG Enchilada Air Force 7
May 196 - June 1969.
Wing transferred to USA 'on paper', 30 Oct 1970. Aircraft passed to
vari ous ANG uni ts.
Codes used at Tuy Hoa: SO (306th TFS), M (308th T FS), SS (309th
TFS), P (355th TFS) , SE (41 6th T F ), SG (136th TFS), SK (1 88th
TF ).
* 4403 rd TFW was a Provisional Wing at Homestead AFB that han-
dled F- 100 unit returning from outh Ea t Asia and passed their air-
craft on to A G units. Returning squadrons were assigned for about a
year, the 41 6th TFS being the last under its control.
35th TFW F-1000/ F from ct 1966
Based: Phan Rang AB, RV
352nd TFS
Act ive 10 Oct 1966-3 1 July 1971.
612th TFS, Det 1
HQ squadron using F- JOOF in Misty FAC role lO ct 1966-8 June
1967 and 14 April1 969-3 1 Jul y 197 1. (At Phu Cat AB between these
elates. )
614th TF Lucky Devils
Act ive 10 Oct 1966-31 Jul y 1971. Reas igned to 401st TFW, Torrejon
AB, pain.
615th TFS
Active 10 Oct 1966-31 Jul y 1971.
I 20th TFS
Colorado ANG (F-l OOC). Assigned 30 Aprill968-18 April1969.
Wing became F- 100 unit through exchange of designati on numbers
with 366th TFW, Phan Rang AB wh il e 35th TFW was at Da Nang AB
in Oct 1966, hav ing ini t iall y form d there in April 1966. 366th then
became an F-4 Wing at Da Nang.
odes u eel at Phan Rang: VM (352nd TFS), VS (6 12th TF ), VP
(614th TF ), VZ (615th TF ), V (] 20th TF whil e Det l, 6 L2th
TF was at Phu Cat).
36th FDW From F- 6F to F-1 OOC, 1956
Based: Bitburg A B, West Germany
22nd FDS (red)
To F- 1050/Ffrom May 1961.
23rd FDS (blue)
To F- 1050/Ffrom May l 96l.
53 rd FDS (yell ow)
Ba eel: Landstuhi/ Ramstein A B, West Germany
To F-1050 from May 1961.
46l st FDS (black)
Ba eel : Hahn AB, West ermany
0 activated ov 1959.
32nd FDS (green)
Based: oesterberg AB, therl and
To F/TF- l 02A with 86th FIW, 1960.
Wing also respon ible for kyblazers Flight Demonstrati on Team
1956- 196 l. Aircraft then passed to 50th TFW. Like other FDWs and
FBWs, Wing became a TFW after l Jul y 1958.
3 7th TFW Act ivated as F- 1000/F unit, 1 March 1967
Based: Phu Cat AB, RVN
416th TFS Silver Knights
Assigned 15 April l 967-27 May 1969, then to3 l stTFW, Tuy Hoa
AB, RVN.
355th TFS
Assigned from 354th TFW, 3 Feb 1968- 15 May 1969, then to 31st
TFW, Tuy Hoa AB, RVN.
612th TFS, Det 1
(Misty FA ). From Phan Rang AB, RVN, 8 June 1967- 13 April 1969,
th n returned to Phan Rang.
1 74th TFS Iowa ANG
As igned from 14 May 1968- ll May 1969.
odes used at Phu Cat: HE (416th TFS), l-IP (355th TFS), l-I S (6 12th
TF ), HA (I 74th TF ).
45th FDS (black/ye ll ow/black) F- 100C/D train ing and transiti on for
U AFE units from March 1956
Based: idi limane AB, French Morocco
F- 100Cs passed to 36th FDW, Bitburg AB, and 7272nd FTW, Wh elus
AB. Replaced by F- LOODs. Deact ivated 8 Jan 1958.
48th FBW tatue de la Libene From F-86F to F-1000/F, late 1956
Based: Chaumont AB, France
492nd FBS (blue) Bolars
493 rd FBS (yell ow) Roosters
494th FBS (red) Panthers
Wing transferred to RAF Lakenheath , UK by 15 Jan 1960 as 4 th
TFW. Transitioned to F-40 from Feb 1972.
odes used at La ken heath from March 1970: LR ( 492nd TFS), LS
(493rd TFS), LT (494th TF ).
49th FBW Tutor et Ultor F- 1000/ F from 10 Dec 1957
Based: Etain-Rouvres AB, France
7th FBS (blue)
8th TFS (yell ow) Black Shee/J
9th TFS (red) Iron Knights
Wing activated by re- numbering 388th FBW. Moved to Spangdahl em
AB a 49th TFW, 1960. onvertecl to F- 1050/F from Oct 196l.
159
F-1 00 NITS
50th FBW Masten of the Sky From F-86H to F- 1000/F, 1957
Based: Toul Ros ieres AB, France
lOth FBS (blue)
Sl st FBS (yell ow)
417th FBS (red)
Wing transferred to Hahn AB from 10 Dec 1959 as 50th TFW. on-
verted to F-40 from Oct 1966 with 8l st TF receiving F-4Cww.
57th FWW (formerly 45 25th FWW) F- 1000 / F 1960, Oct 1969
Based: Nelli s AFB, evada
4536th CCTS
65th FW from late 1969 when Wing became 57th FWW. Inact iva ted
31 Dec 1969.
oded WB from Oct 1969.
72nd TFS (red) F-1000 /F 1 July 1958-9 Apr il1959
Based: lark AB, Phili ppines
Formerl y 41 8th FBS May-Jul y 1958, squadron controll ed by 6200th
ABW. Re-des ignated Sl Oth FBS with 405th FBW, 9 Apr il1959.
113rd TFG F- 100C/F, 26 Jan 1958-9 Apr il 1959
Based: Myrt le Beach AFB, outh Carolina
119th TFS New Jersey ANG
To F-101B, June 1970.
121 TFS Di stri ct of Columbia ANG
ToF- 1050 /F,July 1971.
HQ Flight, DC ANG
ailed to act ive service during the Pueblo risis at Andrews AFB.
Transferred to Myrtl e Beach.
odes used at Myrtl e Beach: XA (11 9th TFS), XB (12l st TFS), XD
(HQ Flight) .
312nd FBW From F-861-1 to F-1000 /F, late 1956
Based: anna n AFB, New Mex ico
386th FBS (red)
387th FBS (blue)
388th FBS (ye ll ow)
477th FBS (gr en)
Wing became 312nd TFW, l July 1958. Re-designated 27th TFW, Feb
1959
322nd FDW From F-86F to F- 100C, mid-1955
Based: Foster AFB, Texas
450th FDS (red)
45l st FDS (yell ow)
452nd FDS (green)
First TAC Wing with F-100 . De-act ivated late 1957, aircraft passed
to 4th FDW and 36th FOW.
323rd FBW (323rd FBG and 386th FBG) From F-86F to
F-1000 /F, Aug 1956
Based: Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana
With 323rd FBG were:
453rd FBS (red)
454th FBS (blue)
455th FBS (ye ll ow)
ome F-100As used ini ti all y. Deact ivated summer 1957.
With 386th FBG were:
552nd FBS
553 rd FBS
554th FBS
At Bunker Hill from late 1956 until Aug 1957.
354th FBW/ TFW F- 1000 /F from earl y 1957
Based: Myrt le Beach AFB, South Carolina
352nd TFS (ye ll ow)
TOYs to Phan Rang Bay AB, RVN, 15 Aug-10 Oct 1966 with 366th
TFW; and10 Oct 1966-3 1 July 197 1 with 31st TFW.
353rd TFS (reel) Black Panther
Transiti oned to F-4E 1970 and designati on passed to an A-70 unit .
355th TFS (blue)
Attached to 37th TFW, Phu at AB, RVN, 3 Feb-15 May 1969 and
31st TFW, Tuy !-l oa AB, RVN, 15 May-30 Sept 1970.
356th TFS (green) Green Demons
Transit ionecl to F-4 by Nov 1967.
Wing took over F-1000 / Fs from deactivated 3 1st FBW, 1957. Deployed
squadrons to pain, 1raly and Japan. Became 354th TFW, July 1958.
Squadrons reass igned to other units by June 1968 and it moved 'on
paper' to Kunsan AB r placing 4th TFW as controlling unit for two
ANG F-100C/F squadrons:
127th TFS Kansas ANG (red )
5 Jul y 1968-10 June 1969. Returned to Kansas State control 18 June
1969 and transitioned to F-1 05 0 / F 1971.
166th TFS Ohio ANG (blue)
5 Jul y 1968-lO June 1969. Returned to Ohio State control, 19 June
1969. To F- 1000 /F ov 1971.
Codes used at Kunsan: BO (I 27th TFS), BP (166th TFS).
366th FBW From F-84F to F-1000/F, late 1957
Based: England AFB, Loui iana
389th FBS (reel)
390th FBS (blue)
39 l st FBS (yell ow)
480th FBS (green)
Deact ivated earl y 1959 as 366th TFW. React ivated at Da Nang AB,
RVN, April1966, moving to Phan Rang AB, RVN, 20 March- 10 Oct
1966 controlli ng:
352nd TFS
15 Aug-10 Oct 1966.
6 14th TFS Lucky Devils
18 Sept- 10 Oct 1966.
615th TFS
15 May-10 Oct 1966.
Wing to Da Nang AB to fl y F-4 and F-100 squadrons passed to 35th
TFW control, Phan Rang AB.
388th FBW From F-86F to F-1 OOC/F, late 1956
Based: Etain-Rouvres, France
56 1st FBS (yell ow)
562nd FBS (blue)
563rd FBS (red)
Wing re- numbered 49th FBW, Dec 1957. 388th TFW reactivated at
McConnell AFB, 1 Oct 1962 with one squadron:
560th TFS
Tasked as a train ing and profi ciency squadron . To F-1050 mid-1963
when Wing (including 56 1st, 56 2nd, 563rd TF ) react iva ted on F-
105 0 / F 388th TFW inacti vated once again, Feb 1964. Replaced by
23rd TFW before reacti vating at Karat AB, 8 Apri l 1966 with F-
1050/F to replace 6234th TFW.
160
F- I OOU ITS
401st TFW aelum Arena Nostrum From F-84F to F-1000/F, late
1957
Based: England AFB, Louisiana
612th TFS (blue) Smaming Eagles
TOY to Da Nang AB, RVN, Sept-Nov 1964. Activated as Det 1,
612th TFS with 366th TFW, Phan Rang AB, RVN, 15 May 1966 then
with 5th TFW, Phan Rang from 10 Oct 1966; 37t h TFW, Phu Cat
AB, RVN 8 June 1967, returning to 35th TFW, Phan Rang, 14 April
1969- 31 Jul y 1971. To F-4E in 1971 with 307th TFS assets and reas-
signed to Torrejon AB, Spain.
613th TFS (yellow) Squids
TOY to Da Nang AB, RVN, Nov 1964- Jul y 1965. Reassigned to Torre-
jon AB, pai n, April 1966. To F-4E 1970.
614th TFS (red) Lucky Devils
TOY to Clark AB, Philippines and Da Nang AB, RVN, Nov 1964. To
35th TFW, 18 Sept 1966. Tran it ioned to F-4E 197 1.
61Sth TFS (green)
TOY to Clark AB, Phili ppines and Da Nang AB, RVN, June 1964. To
Phan Rang AB, RVN with 35th TFW, 10 Oct 1966.
When Wing transferred to Torrejon AB it had only the 61J rd TFS but
added:
307th TFS
From 3 1st TFW, Bien Hoa AB, RVN, April 1966. To F-4E 1970.
3S3rd TFS Black Panthers
From 354th TFW. To F-4E 1970.
405th FBW From F-84F to F-1000, late 1956
Based: Langley AFB, Virgini a
S08th FBS (yellow)
Deactivated 1 Jul y 1958.
S09th FBS (red)
Reactivated 9 April 1959 a FIS with F-860.
SlOth FBS (purple) Buzzards
Reactivated at Clark AB, Phili ppines, 9 April1 959.
Sllth FBS (blue)
Deacti vated 1 July 1958.
First TA F- lOOD uni t, 405th deactivated 1 July 1958. Reactivated as
405th FW at Clark AB, Philippines, 9 April1959 with onl y one F-lOOD
unit:
SlOth TFS
TOY to Don Muang RTAFB, Thailand, April- Nov 1961. To 3rd TFW,
England AFB, 1964.
413th FDW From F-86H to F-l OOC/F, late 1957. F- 1000 /F, 1958
Ba ed: George AFB, California
1st FDS (red)
21st FDS (blue)
34th FDS (green)
4 74th TFS (yellow)
Assigned when Wing transitioned to F-1000/F as 41Jrd TFW, 1958. Wing
deactivated, 15 March 1959, re-designated 31st TFW.
4SOth FDW From F-86F to F-lOOC, 1955
Based: Foster AFB, Texas
720th FDS
72lstFDS (red)
722nd FDS
723rd FDS
Deactivated Dec 1958.
474th FBW From F-86H to F- 1000/F, late 1957
Based: annon AFB, New Mexico
428th FBS (blue) Buccaneen
TOY to Takhli RTAFB, Thailand 18 May-3 ept 1962. TOY to Da
Nang AB, RVN from Nov 1964 (using 522nd TFS assets) and Takhli ,
Aug 1964-March 1965.
429th FBS (ye llow) Black Falcons
TOY to 625 l st TFW, Bien Hoa AB, RVN, lJ July- Nov 1965.
Attached to 3rd TFW, 21 Nov- 16 Dec 1965.
430th FBS (red) Tigers
TOY to Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, 3 Sept- 13 Dec 1962.
478th FBS (green)
Deactivated late 1965, reactivated on F-11 1A Jan 1968 with 428th,
429th, 430th TFS.
4 79th FDW From F-86F to F- lOOA, late 1954
Based: George AFB, Californi a
434th FDS (red )
43Sth FDS (green)
436th FDS (yellow)
476th FDS (blue)
Added from 8 Oct 1957.
Fi rst TAC F-100 unit. To F- 100C/F by 1956, then F- l04A, 1958.
S06th FBW From F-84F to F-1000/F, Sept 1957
Based: Tinker AFB, Oklahoma
4S7th FBS (red)
Deployed to Landstuhl AB, West Germany, 22 March- Sept 1958.
(Aircraft left in place for 458th FBS.)
4S8th FBS (yellow)
Deployed to Landstuhl , West Germany, Sept 1958-March 1959 using
457th FBS aircraft.
462nd FBS (blue)
470th FBS (green)
Deact ivated 1 April1 959.
Air National Guard (ANG) Units
Arizona ANG, 162nd TFG
1S2nd TFTS (yellow)
Based: Tucson lAP
From F-86F to F-lOOA, May 1958. From F- 100A to F-102A from Feb
1966 as AD -gained uni t. To F-lOOC/F from mid- 1969 as 152nd TFTS
training ANG F-100 crews. To F-1000/F, June 1972. Began A-70
trai ning late 1975 in parallel with F-100 training. F-100 fl ying ended
March 1978.
Arkansas ANG, 188th TFG
184th TFS (red) Flying Razorbacks From RF-101 to F-1000/F,
summer 1972
Based: Fort Smi th muni cipal airport
To F-4C, summer 1979.
Colorado ANG, 140th TFG
120th TFS (blue) From F-86L to F-1 OOC/F, 1 Jan 1961
Based: Buckley Field, Aurora
Call ed to act ive duty 1 Oct 1961 during Berlin Crisis but remained at
Buckley ANGB. Called to active duty 26 Jan 1968 during Pueblo Crisis
and deployed to Phan Rang AB, RVN, 3 May 1968. Returned to State
control, 30 April1969. To F-1000/F Oct 197 1, A-70 April1 974.
oded VS at Phan Rang AB.
767
F-100 UNIT
Connecticut A G, 103rd TFG
!18th TFS Flying Yankeess From F-861-1 to F- l OOA, summer 1960
Based: Brad! y Field lAP
F/TF-102A, June 1966, F- l OOD/F, spring 197 1, A- l OA, summer 1979.
Camoufl aged aircraft coded CT after 197 1.
Di strict of Columbia ANG, ll3th TFG
121 st TFS (red or yell ow) From F-861-1 to F- l OOC/F, mi d-1 960
Based: An rews AFB
ailed to act ive duty duri ng Berli n Crisis, I Oct 196 1 but remained at
Andrews AFB. Deployed to Puerto Rico, Nov 1963 and to Europe,
Aug 1964. Call ed to act ive duty 26 Jan 1968 during Pueblo Cri sis and
deployed to Myrtl e Beach AFB as F- 100 CCT unt il 18 June 1969. To
F- 105D/F, Jul y 1971.
Coded XB at Myrde Beach AFB.
Georgia ANG, I 16th TFG
! 28th TFS From C- 124C to F- 1 OOD/ F, spring 1973
Based: Dobbins AFB
To F- 105G/F, summer 1979.
Indiana A G, 18 l st TFG and 122nd TFG
113rd TFS, 18 l st TFG From F- 4F to F- 1 OOD/ F, ept 197 1
Based: !-!ulman Field, Terre Haute
To F-4C, summer 1979.
Coded HF after 1970.
I63rd TFS (yellow), Marksmen, 122nd TFG From F-84F to
F- LOOD/F, June 197 1
Based: Baer Field, Fort Wayne
To F-4 , pring 1979.
Iowa ANG, 132nd TFG and 185th TFG
124th TFS From F-84F to F-100 /F, Aprill 971
Based: Des Moines muni cipal airport
Phased out last F- IOOCs in AN for F-100D, 1975. To A-7D, Jan 1977.
!74th TFS, 185th TFG From RF-84F to F- LOO /F, summer 1961
Based: Sioux ity muni cipal airport
To F- l OOD/F June 1974, then A-7D Dec 1976.
Kansas A G, 184th TFG
127th TFS (red))ayhawks From F-86L to F- LOOC/F, spri ng 196 1
Ba eel : McConnell AFB
Call ed to active duty 26 Jan during Pueblo Crisis. Deployed to Kun an
AB, Korea with 354th TFW, 5 Jul y 1968-10 June 1969. Returned to
tate control, June 1969. Converted to F- l05 D/F, spring 197 1.
Coded BP at Kunsan AB.
Loui siana ANG, 159th TFG
122nd TFS (red, blue or green) From F/TF- l02A to F-100D/F, wi nter
1970
Based: NA ew Orl eans
To F-4C April 1979.
Massachusetts ANG, 102nd and 104th TFG
lOl st TFS From F-84F to F-100D/F, May 197 1
Based: Logan airport, Boston
ome F-100 a signed for conversion tra ining in 1960 but uni t
continued to fl y F- 61-1 instead at that time. To F-l06A/B as AD
gained unit, 10 June 1972.
! 3 1st TFS (red), 104th TFG From F-84F to F- 100D/F, June 197 1
Based: Barnes Field, We tfield
To A-lOA, Ju ly 1979.
Coded MA.
Michi gan ANG, 127th TFG
l07th TFS (red) From RF- LOLA/C to F- l OOD/F, mid- 1972
Ba ed: elfr idge ANGB
ToA-7D, S pt 1978.
oded MI.
Mi ssouri A G, l31st TFG
!lOth TFS (red) Lindbergh's Own From F- 4F to F-100 / F, Sept 1962
Based: Lambert Field
To F- l OOD/F Dec 197 1, then F-4C, earl y 1979.
ew Jersey A G, !77th TFG
I 19th TFS From F-861-1 to F-LOOC/F, Sept 1965
Based: Adanti c ity
Call ed to active duty 26 Jan 1968 during Pueblo Cri sis and transferred
to Myrde Beach AFB as F- LOO RTU unt il18 June 1969. To F- IOI B,
June 1970.
Coded XA at Myrde Beach AFB 1968- 69.
New Mexico ANG, !50th TFG
! 88th TFS (yellow) Enchilada Air force From F-80C to F-IOOA, April
1958
Based: Kirdand AFB
Fi r t A G F- 100 unit (as !88th FIS). To F- LOOC/F spring 1964 as
188th TFS. Call ed to active duty 26 Jan 196 duri ng Pueblo ri sis and
deployed to Tuy Hoa AB, RVN, May 196 - 5 June 1969. To A-7D,
autumn 1973.
oded Kat Tuy Hoa from 7 June 196 .
New York ANG, 107th TFG
!36th TFS (yell ow) Rocky's Raiders/ ew York's Finest. From F-861-1
to F- LOOC/F, Aug 1960
Based: iagara Fall lAP
ail ed to act ive duty during Berlin Cri is, ct 196 1 but remained at
Niagara Falls. Call ed to active duty 26 Jan 1968 during Pueblo risis
and deployed to Tuy 1-l oa AB, RVN, 14 June 1968-25 May 1969. Tran-
sit ioned to F- 101B/F, April 1971.
Coded SG at Tuy 1-l oa 196 - 69.
Ohio A G !80th, 178th, I 79th and l 21st TFG
112th TFS (green) , 180th TFG From F-84F to F-100D/ F, Oct 1970
Ba eel: Toledo Airport, wanton
To A-7D, summer 1979.
162nd TFS (red) , !78th TFG From F-84F to F- LOOD/F. Apri l 1970
Based: Springfield, Ohio
To A-70, April 1978.
!64th TFS (yell ow), !79th TFG From F-84F to F- l OOD/F, Feb 1972
Based: Mansfield-Lahm airport
To C- 130B, winter 1975.
!66th TFS (blue), I 21st TFG From F-84F to F- 100C/F, Oct 1962
Ba eel : Lockbourne AFB
ailed to act ive duty during Pueblo ri si 26 June 1968 and deployed
to Kunsa n AB, Korea, assign d to 354t h TFW unt il 19 June 1969. To
F- 100D/F ov 197 1, then A-70 Dec 1974.
oded B at Kunsan AB.
Oklahoma A G, 138th TFG
125thTFS (blue,green or red) From -124 to F-100D/F, Jan 1973
Based: Tul sa
To A-70, July 1978.
South Dakota ANG, 114th TFG
!75th TFS From F/TF-102A to F-100D/F, pring 197 1
Based: ioux Falls Muni cipal Airport
To A-70, 1977.
Texas A G, 149th TFG
182nd TFS (red) From F-84F to F-100D/F, pring 1971
Based: Kell y AFB
To F-4 , spring 1979.
162
Other USAF Units
3595th CCTW From F-84 and F-86 to F- IOOA from 1954
Based: elli s AFB, Nevada
Re-designated 4520th CCTW, Ju ly 1958.
F- 100
3600th CCTW, Air Tra in ing Command F-100 /F from D c 1957
Based: Luke AFB, Ari zona
Re-des ignated 45 10th CCTW, Jul y 1958 then 58th TFTW, Oct 1969.
3600th Air Demonst ration Fli ght (Thunderbirds). F- lOOC/F mid-
1956- Dec 1963, F- lOOD/F June 1964- Nov 196
Later, 3595th Ai r Demon nati on Flight , then 4520th Air Demonstra-
ti on Flight.
4510th CCTW F-100D/FfromJ uly 1958
Based: Luke AFB, Ari zona
451lth CCTS
Inact ivated 18 Jan 1970 and rep lac d by 31st T FT
4514th CCTS (green)
To 58th TFTW, 15 Oct 1969. Inact ivated 15 D c 1969. Replaced by
310th TFT with A-70.
45 15th CCTS
Act ivated l Sept 1966, inact ivated 18 June 1970 and react ivated as
426th TITS.
45 17th CCTS
Ass igned to 45 10th CCTW, 1 ept 1966. Reas igned to 58th TFTW,
15 Oct 1969.
All squadrons coded LA from July 1968.
58t h TFTW F- lOOD/F from Oct 1969
Based: Luke AFB, Arizona
3 11t h TITS
F- 1000/F 18 Jan 1970-21 Aug 1971 with asset of 4515th CT .
426th TFT
F- lOOD/F 18 Jan 1970-13 Sept 197 1. Activated with a sets of 4515th
T
4520th CCTW (bla k/yellow chequers) F-100A/C/D/F from July 1958
Based: Nellis AFB, Nevada
Took over F- 100 training when it was transferred from Ai r Training Com-
mand to Tacti al Air Command, July 1958. Two quadrons moved to Luke
AFB, Ari zona, ct 1962. By 1969 all rema ining F-100D/Fs were a igned
to 4536th Fighter Weapons Squadron (coded WB) within 4525th Fighter
Weapons Wing. This became 57th FWW. 45 6th FWS then became 65th
FW (also coded WB) that continued to operate F- lOOD until inactivat-
ed 31 Dec 1969.
4530th CCT W (yell ow) F-100C/F from July 1958
Will iam AFB, Ari zona
Re-designat ion of 3525th TW. Ceased F- 100 operation ct 1960.
7272nd FTW B-5 7E and F- 100C from Jan 195
Based: Wh elu AB, Libya
7235th upport quadran (red, then blue) suppli ed target-towing
F-100 s for U AFE uni t visit ing Wheelus AB unt il1965.
4 758th DSES (Defense Systems Evaluat ion Squadron) F- lOOC/F
from Jul y 1962
Based: Biggs AFB, Texas
Provided hi gh- peed target towing aircraft. To Holloman AFB, New
Mex ico, Apri l 1966-0ct 1970.
475 th WEG (Weapons Evaluation Group) QF- l OOD/F
Based: Tyndall AFB, Florida
Supported 2nd Tactical Aeri al Targets Squadron, Holloman AFB,
New Mexico using QF-1 00, April 19 1- 92.
ITS
ARDC (Air Research and Development Command, later Air Force
Systems Command)
WADC (Wright Ai r Development Center) EF- 100A,
JF-lOOA/ /F from 1954
Based: Wri ght Field, Ohio ( later Wri ght- Patterson AFB)
' EF' ( in EF- 100A) indicated 'Exempt'. Changed in 1955 to 'JF' to avoid
confusion wit h 'E' for 'electronic' (as in 'EB-66' ).
AFFTC (Air Force Flight Te t enter)
Baed: Edwards AFB, ali forni a
Fli ght test work under ARDC using various F- 100s.
Aerospace Medi cal Divi sion F- lOOF
Bas d: Brooks AFB/ Kell y AFB, Texas
Used for aircrew med ical research under ARD
Air Force Special Weapons Center F- 100F
Ba ed: Kirtl and AFB, ew Mexico
Atomic weapons deli very research.
4925th Test Squadron (Atomi c) F- 1 OOA
Based: Kirtl and AFB, New Mexico
Air Proving Ground Command ( later, Armament Development and
Test enter; ADTC)
AFLC (Air Force Logist ics ommand) F-100A/C/D
Based: McClellan AFB, California
Used several 'pattern' F-lOOs to assist with depot level maintenance
work.
MATS (Military Air Tran port ervice)
1708th Ferrying Wing F- lOOA
Trained ferry and deli very pil ots on F- 100.
Non-USAF Units
NACA/NASA
everal F- lOOA/Cs used for supersoni c test programmes and to develop
boundary layer control including: F- lOOC 53- 1585 (NACA 200) and
53- 1709 (NASA 703 )
US Army
Several F- 100D/ F u ed in onnect ion with Hawk AM and other tri -
als incl uding: F- lOOD 56-3 186, -3 187, -3426 and F- lOOF 56-3889,
-3897,-3899, -3904, -3905,-39 11 .
Tracor/Flight Systems
Several F- 100D/Fs used for air-to-air training under civilian ontracts
and other experi mental work in add it ion to QF- 100 provision.
Approx imately ten F- IOOs were fl ying in vari ous civilian ownership,
2000-200 1.
MDAP F-100 Users
Republic of China
4t h FBW F- l OOA/F from Aug 1958
Chiayi AB
21st FBS (red)
22nd FBS (yellow)
23 rd FBS (blue)
Later r ass igned to l l th Group. F- 100A phased out earl y 1980s,
replaced by Northrop F-5 E/F.
11th Group, 2nd FBW F- IOOA/F from 1959
H in hu AB
163
F- I OOU ITS
41st FBS (red)
Transiti oned at Chiayi as 17th FBS.
42nd FBS (blue)
48th FBS (red/whi te/blue)
Last F-100A flight, 5 Sept 1984
4th Squadron
Taoyuan AB RF- l OOA from Dec 1958 to Dec 1960
Serials of Aimaft Used
Serial followed by RoCAF Code.
(P) = preserved exampl e, w/o = write-off through accident.
F- 100-A
53- 1529/0101 (P), 53- 15 0/0102,53- 1537/0103,53- 1539/0104,53-
1540/0 105 (P) , 53-1549/0106,53- 1584/0107 (w/o 7.4.72) , 53-
1593/0 LOS ( w/o 21.2. 72), 53- 1595/0109 ( w/o 11 6 69), 53- 1605/0110
( w/o 26.4 60), 53- 1608/0111 ( w/o 30. 11.71 ), 53- 1609/011 2, 53-
1610/0113 (P) , 53- 1611/0 114,53- 1613/0115 (w/o 9.3 .65), 53-
1614/0116,53- 1616/0117 (w/o 12.1.79), 53-1618/0118 (w/o 16.4. 79),
53- 1619/01 19 (w/o 4.9.63), 53- 1621/0120 (w/o 27.4.76), 53-
1622/0121,53- 1623/0122 (w/o 16.3.82), 53-1624/0123 (w/o 26.3.65 ),
53- 1627/0124, 53- 1628/0125 (w/o 27. 1268) , 53- 1630/0126 (w/o
2.2.78), 53- 163 1/0127 (w/o 2411.65), 53- 1632/0 128,53- 1633/0129,
53- 1634/0130,53- 1635/013 1,53- 1638/0132,53- 1640/0133,53-
1643/0134, 53- 1645/0135 (w/o 23.5.69), 53-1646/0136,53-1648/0137,
53- 1649/0138,53- 1650/0139 (w/o 23 .1 2.61), 53- 1653/0140,53-
1655/0 141 (P), 53- 1656/0142 (w/o 19.8.69), 53- 1657/0143 (w/o
3.3 77), 53- 1658/0144,53- 1664/0145,53-1665/0146 (w/o 17.865), 53-
1666/0147,53- 1667/0148 (w/o 10.3.76), 53- 1668/0149,53-1669/0150
(w/o 23.7.77) , 53-1670/0151 (w/o 5.9.61), 53- 167 1/0152 (w/o 7.9.75),
53-1672/0153 (w/o 10.8.63 ), 53- 1673/0154 (w/o 5.2.63), 53-
1675/0155, 53- 1676/0156 ( w/o 4.11.65 ), 53- 1680/0157 ( w/o 8.9.65),
53- 1681/0158 (w/o 3.7.70), 53-1682/0159,53- 1683/0160,53-
1685/0161 (w/o 25.3.80), 53- 16 6/0162 (w/o 13.3.63), 53- 1687/0163,
53-1689/0164 ( w/o 18. 10.70), 53- 1690/0165, 53- 1691/0166 ( w/o
18.3.65), 53-1692/0167,53- 1693/0168 (w/o 16.3.7 1) , 53- 1695/0169
(w/o 3.3. 77) , 53-1696/0170, 53- 1697/0171,53- 1698/0172,53-
1699/0173, 53- 1700/0174 ( w/o 22. 1. 64 ), 53- 1702/0175, 53- 1703/0176
(w/o 17. 8.61) , 53- 1704/0177 (w/o 18.9.76), 53- 1705/0178,53-
1706/0179 (w/o 15.2.74), 53- 1708/0180,53- 1535/0201 (w/o 11.11.77) ,
53-1536/0202 ( w/o 13.11 . 77) , 53- 1538/0203, 53-1541/0204, 53-
1542/0205,53- 1543/0206,53-1550/0207 (P), 53- 1552/0208,53-
1555/0209,53- 1560/0210,53- 1561/021 1 (P), 53-1563/0212,53-
1565/0213,53- 1571/0214 (P), 53-1577/0215 (P), 53-1582/0216,
53- 1583/0217 (P), 53- 1589/0218 (P) , 53- 1594/02 19 (w/o 20.6.73), 53-
1596/0220,53- 1598/0221,53- 1601/0222,53-1602/0223 (P) , 53-
1603/0224,53- 1604/0225,53- 1606/0226 (w/o 30.3.76), 53- 1612/0227
(w/o 4.1.73), 53- 1615/022 (w/o 19.1.78), 53-1620/0229,53-
1625/0230,53- 1626/0231,53- 1637/0232,53-1638/0233 (P) , 53-
1642/0234 (P), 53- 1570/0235,53-1569/0301,53- 1581/0302 (P), 53-
165 1/0303 , 53- 1662/0304.
RF- IOOA
53- 1545/5645,53- 1546/5646,53-1547/5647,53- 1554/5648.
F- I OOF
56-3968/0001 (P) , 56-3977/0002 (w/o 27.5.76), 56-3978/0003 (w/o
28.8. 76), 56-3979/0004 ( w/o 4. 8 60), 56-3987/0005 (P) , 56-3988/0006,
58-6975/0007 (w/o 17.7.64) , 58-6977/0008,58-6980/0009 (P), 59-
2561/0010,56-3753/0011,56-3862/0012,56-3733/0013,56-
3808/0014.
France
F-100D/Fs were ass igned to Wings (Escadre de Chasse), each with two
or three squadrons (Escadron de Chase) divided into Flights
(Escadrill es ) with 'pooled' aircraft that carri ed the badges of both
fli ghts: the 1st Escadrille on the left side of the tail and the 2nd on the
right. Two Escadre fl ew F-l OOs: the 3rd (1/3 , 2/3 ) and 11th (1/11 ,
2/11, 3/11' 4/ 11 )
3e Escadre
EC 1/3 Navarre (yellow) F-84F to F-100D/F, Jan 1959
Escadrilles: SPA 95 ('swallow' badge), SPA 153 ('Egyptian falcon'
badge).
Based: Reims- Betheny. Coded 3- lA- IZ.
Deployed to Lahr, West Germany, June 1961- j an 1966.
EC 2/3 Champagne (red) F-100D/Ffromj an 1959
Escadrill es: SPA 67 ('stork' badge), SPA 75 ('falcon' badge).
Based: Reims- Betheny. Coded 3-JA-JZ.
Deployed to Lahr, West Germany, 10 June 1961- Jan 1966.
lle Escadre
EC 1/ 11 Rousillon F-84G-F-84F, F- l OOD/F. May 1958
Escadrilles: GC lll 6-5e (' comedy mask' badge), GCIII/6-6e ('tragedy
mask' badge).
Based: Luxeil -St Sauveur. Coded 11-EA-EZ.
Deployed to Bremgarten, West Germany, june 1961-Sept 1967.
Moved to Toul -Rosieres, Sept 1967- 10 Oct 1975. Transitioned to
Jaguar thereafter.
EC 2/ 11 Vosges F-84G-F-84F, F-100D/F, 1 May 1958
Escadrill es: SPA 91 ('eagle and skull ' badge), SPA 97 ('pennant wi th
ermine' badge).
Based: Luxeii-St Sauveur. Coded 11-MA-MZ.
Deployed to Bremgarten, West Germany, June 1961-Sept 1967.
Moved to Toui-Rosieres, Sept 1967- 1976. Transiti oned to Jaguar by
end of 1976.
EC 3/ 11 Corse F-l OOD/F from 1 Aprill966
Escadrilles: SPA 88 ('serpent' badge), SPA 69 ('eat's head' badge ).
Based: Luxeil -St Sauveur. Coded 11 -RA-RZ. Became F-100 OCU.
Deployed to Bremgarten, Colmar and Toul -Ros ieres. Transitioned to
Jaguar, 1976.
EC 4/ 11 jura F- l OOD/F, 1 Jan 1973
Escadril les: SPA !58 (' serpentaria bird holding snake' badge), SPA 161
('sphinx' badge).
Baed: Toui-Ro ieres and Djibouti. Coded 11-YA-YZ.
Activated at Djibouti, Jan 1973- 12 Dec 1978. Transitioned to Jaguar
1978- 79
Esc de Convoyage EC-070
Coded MA- MZ. Tasked with ferrying F-100s to RAF Sculthorpe and
USAF charge, 1977-78.
Serials of Aimaft Used
' P' = preserved example, 'ret' = an aircraft returned to USAF charge at
RAF Sculthorpe 1975-77, 'wfu' =aircraft withdrawn from u e for other
reasons, 'w/o' = aircraft destroyed in accident.
F- 1000-54-NH
-2121 (w/o 18.10.66), -2122 (w/o 26.5.75), -2 123,-2124 (w/o), -2 125,
-2128 (ret ), -2 129 (w/o 24.7.73), -2 130 (P) , -2 131(P), -2 133 (w/o
17.7.75) , -2135 (w/o 14.11.67), -2136,-2137 (w/o 1.10.64) , -2138 (w/o
2.8.77), -2140 (w/o 17.10.58) , -2 141 (w/o 8.9.59), -2144 (w/o 1.6.67) ,
164
F-100
-2 146 (ret) , -2148,-2149 (ret), -2150 (w/o 5.9.67), -2152 (ret) , -2154,
-2156 (w/o 20. 11.78), -2157 (ret), -2 158 (w/o 10.2.77), -2160 (ret),
-2 162 (w/o 10.10.73), -2163 (ret) , -2164, -2 165 (ret ), -2 166 (ret) , -2 167
(w/o 23.6.67), -2 169 (ret 2.3. 76), -2 171 (wfu 17. 2. 70), -21 74 (ret) ,
-2184 (w/o 17 . . 64) , -21 85, -2 1 6,-2187 (w/o), -2 1 9 (w/o), -2 194
(ret ), -2195 (w/o 12.5.60), -2196 (ret), -2 198 (w/o 26. 1. 60), -220
(ret), -2204 (w/o 29.5.77) , -2205, -22 10 (w/o 13.9.66), -22 11 (ret ),
-22 12 (ret), -22 13 (w/o 3.6.60), -22 15 (w/o 31.12.64) , -22 17 (w/o
11.9.63 ), -2220 ( w/o 15.6.60), -2223 (ret), -2226 ( w/o 14.8.63 ), -223 1
(w/o 7.10.64) , -2235,-2236 (w/o 13.9.66), -2237 (w/o 22.6.61) , -2239
(ret), -2243 (w/o 21.8.63), -2246 (ret), -2247 (w/o 29.1.71) , -224
(ret) , -2249, -2252 (w/o 16.01.62), -2254 (ret), -2255 (w/o 3 1. 0 1. 64) ,
-2257 (w/o 3 1.1 2.64) , -2260 (w/o 5.3.59), -2264 (w/o 17. 12.73), -2265
(ret), -2267 (wfu) , -2269 (ret), -2271 (w/o 10.69), -2272 (ret), -2273
( w/o), -2293, -2295 (P).
F-1 OOD-55-NH
-2734, -2736 (P) , -2737,-2738, -2739(P) , -2741 (w/o 6.72), -2745
(?29.3.61).
F-JOOF-56-NH
-3928,-3935 (ret), -3936 (ret), -3937 (P), -3938 (ret ), -3939 (w/o
24.6.69), -3940 (wfu 18.6.71), -3941 (w/o 19. 10.73), -4008 (w/o
10.7.64), -4009 (ret ), -40 12,-4013 (w/o 5.8.59) , -4014, -4017.
Denmark
Esk 725 F-100D/F, April1961
Based: Karup AB
To F 35/TF 35 Draken, Sept 1970.
Esk 727 F-100D/F, May 1959
Based: Karup AB
To kryd trup AB, April1 974- April1 98 1 then converted to F- 16A.
Esk 730 F-100D/F, 3 Jul y 1961
Ba ed: kryd trup AB
Esk 730- 100 fl ew last eight F-100Fs until 11 Aug 1982 whil e rest of
squadron converted to F- 16A.
Serials of Aimaft Used
F- lOODs were given code using ' ' and the last three digits of the seri -
al; F- 100Fs had the la t three digit prefixed by 'GT' .
'FS' = transfer to Flight Systems, 'P' = preserved example, ' ret' = air-
craft returned to USAF charge at RAF Scul thorpe 1975- 77, 'T' =air-
craft transferred to Turkey, ' wfu' = aircraft withdrawn from u e for
other reasons, 'w/o' = aircraft destroyed in accident.
F-lOOD
54-2 132 ( w/o 14. 11 .62 - mid-air) , 54-2134 ( w/o 19.3.63- mid-air ),
54-2 177 (T), 54-2 179 (w/o 17. 1. 66 - hit sea), 54-2 183 (w/o 13 ... 77 -
fuel problem) , 54-2190 ( w/o 4.1 2.64 - fuel fire), 54-2 192 ( w/o 10.11. 62
- fuel tank expl osion), 54-2199 (w/o 23.8.67 - engine blockage), 54-
2206 (T), 54-222 1 ( w/o 9 .. 61 -engine explo ion) , 54-2222 (T) , 54-
222 7 ( w/o 30. 1. 63 - hi t ground), 54-2240 ( w/o 3. 7.63- fuel leakage),
54-2244 ( w/o 29. 11.76 - hi t ground) , 54-2253 ( w/o 12.12.63 - hi t
ground), 54-2256 (w/o 26.6.62 - oil pressure fail ed ), 54-2261 (T), 54-
2262 (T, w/o 29. 7. 83 ), 54-2266 (T) , 54-2270 (T, w/o 11.2. 82), 54-2274
(T, w/o 11.10. 4 ), 54-2279 ( wfu 9. 11.76 - nose-gear coll apse ), 54-2283
(T, w/o 14.8.85), 54-2284 (w/o 14. 11.62 - mid-air), 54-2288 (w/o
19.7.68 - drop tank hi t rail ), 54-2289 ( w/o 5. 10.67- vertigo, night
take-off), 54-2290 (T, gateguard, Aviano), 54-2300 ( w/o 19.3.63 -
mid-air), 54-230 1 ( w/o 27.7.65 - compressor fa ilure), 54-2302 ( w/o
ITS
13.4.72 - hi t ground) , 54-2303 (T, wfu 14. 7.87), 55-2744 (T, w/o
12. . - mi d-air) , 55-2747 ( w/o 6.5. 0 - fuel srarvari n), 55-2748 (T,
wfu 14.7. 7) , 55-275 1 (T, w/o 12.3.85) , 55-2756 (w/o 8.3.6 - hi t
ground, night ), 55-2765 (T, w/o 12. 10.8 1), 55-2768 (T, wfu 13.6.88),
55-2769 (T, wfu 1 .6. ), 55-277 1 (T, wfu 13.6.88), 55-277 (wfu
5.10. 76 - nose-gearfai led) , 55-2775 (T, wfu 5.1 1.86), 55-2776 ( w/o
10.3 .73 - engine fa il ure), 55-2777 (w/ 29.7.64 - adver e yaw), 55-
2778 (w/o 11 .. 70 - engine f ilure) , 55-2779 (T, w/o 26.4.83), 55-2781
(w/o 4.5.77 - runaway trim) , 55-2782 (T, wfu 14.5. 86).
TF- /OOF
56-3826FS(N414FS,w/o lU.94),5 - 42F (N417F ), 56-2844
FS (N415FS, Greco Air N26AZ), 56- 5 (w/ 16.3.76 - engine fail -
ure), 56-3870 (P, krydstrup AB) , 56-3 74 (1, ani. h Aviati n Mu e-
um) , 56-3892 ( w/o 9.6. 76 - engine fa ilur ), 56- 90 (P, kry t rup AB),
56-3916 FS (N416F ), 56-3927 (P, Dani h Aviat ion Mu urn), 56-
3961 (wfu 8.9. 81 - nose-gear collap e), 56-3 71 F ( 419F ),56-3996
FS (N418FS).
F- IOOF
56-4015 ( w/o 20.3 . 70- adver e yaw), 56-4018 ( w/o 2 1. 2. 73 - mi d-air),
56-40 19 (T, w/o- mid-air ), 58-6976 (T, wfu 29. 12. 7), 5 -697 ( w/o
12.5.61 - flat spin) , 58-6979 (w/o 2. 8.66 - ricochet, trafi ng), 5 -69 1
(w/o 7.7.64 - hi t ground) , 58-6982 (w/o .2.76- engine fa ilure), 58-
6983 ( w/o 1.6. 77 - fuel pump fail ed) , 59-2558 ( w/o 25.2. 76 - engine
fa i lure/oi I leak) .
Turkey
F- IOOC/D/F units. (Full squadron t itl es in brackets.)
lnci Ana Jet Ussu (l sr Main Jet Air Base ), Eskisehir
111 Fi lo Pante1 (Panther). ( 111nci Av-Bombard iman Fil osu) Nov
1958- 79.
112 Fil o Seytan (Devil ) ( 11 2nci Av-Onl eme Filosu) 1962-65 and
1969- 74.
113 Fi lo lsik (Light) (113ncu Av Filosu) 1959-72.
3ncu Ana Jet Ussu (3rd Main Jet Air Base), Konya
13 1 Fil o Ejder (Dragon) (13 1nci Jer Egirim Fil osu) 1974- 78.
132 Fil o Hancer (Dagger) ( 13 2nci Av- Bombardiman Fil o u) 1974-87.
7nci Ana Jet Ussu (7th Main Jet Ai r Base), Malatya
171 Fi lo (re- named from 113 Fil o) 1972- 77.
172 Fil o (renamed from 182 Fi lo) 1972- 79.
8nci Ana Jet Ussu (8th Main Jet Air Base), Diyarbaki r
181 Fil o Pars (Leopard) (181nci Av-Bombardiman Fil osu) 1972- 86.
182 Filo Atmaca (Sparrowhawk) (1 82nci Av-Bombardiman Filosu)
1969- 86.
(Av-Bombardiman Filosu = Fighter-Bomber Squadron; Filo = quadran;
Av-Onleme Filosu = Fighter-Interceptor quadra n; }et Egirim Filosu =
Jer Training Squadron.)
Serials of Aircraft Used
1958 Deliveries
F-100D- 10-NA 54-2 161, -2 164, -2 17 , -2201, -2202;
F-100F-15-NA 54-2224, -2238, -225 1, -2275;
F- 100D-40-NH 55-2749, -2755, -2757, -2763;
F-100F-16-NA 56-3967, -3976, -3989, -3977, -3998, -4007.
765
F- IOOU ITS
1959 Deliveries
F- LOOD-5-NA 54-2 L43, -2 14 7;
F- LOOD-LO-NA 54-2 159, -2 170, -2 172, -2 175, -2 L82, -2 193, -2200,
-2207, -2208, -22 16, -2218, -22 L9;
F- IOOD- LS-NA 54-2228, -2230, -2242, -2245, -2277, -2282;
F- IOOD-35-NH 55-2742, -2743;
F- LOOD-40-NH 55-2746, -2750, -2752, -2753, -2754, -2758, -2759,
-2760, -2766, -2767;
F-LOOF- L6-NA 56-3999.
1960-62 Deliveries
F- LOOD- LO- A54-2214;
F- LOOD- LS- A 54-2776;
F- IOOD-35- H 55-2740;
F- LOOD-40- H 55-2764;
F- LOOF- 15-NA 59-2559, -2560, -2562, -2563.
1969 Deliveries
F- LOOD-46-NA 55-2825;
F- LOOD-5 1-NA 55-2874, 55-28 8;
F- LOOD-56-NA 55-29 LO, -2916, -2940;
F- LOOD-20-NA 55-3596;
F-LOOD-26-NA 55-3700;
F- LOOD- I-NA 55-3718, -3721;
F- LOOD-6 1-NA 56-295 L, -2960;
F-IOOD-71 -NA 56-3083;
F- IOOD-8 1 -NA 56-3355;
F- LOOD- 6-NA 56-3399, -3457;
F-IOOF-15-NA 56-3946,-3952.
1970 Deliveries
F- IOOD-50-NH 55-2899;
F-1 OOD-20-NA 55-3509;
F-IOOD-25-NA 55-3617, -365 1;
F-IOOD-30-NA 55-3 750, -3 756;
F-IOOD-3 1-NA 55-3 761, -3 798;
F-IOOD-60-NA 56-2919, -2929, -2941;
F- 1 OOD-65-NA 56-2966;
F-IOOD-70-NA 56-3039, -3096;
F-1 OOD-90-NA 56-3235;
F- IOOD-80-NH 56-3376;
F-100D-85-NH 56-3390,-339 1,-3433, -3454;
F-100F-16-NA 56-3930, -3970.
1972 Deliveries
F-100 -2- NA 53- 1715,-1727,- 1729, -1746,- 1747, - L7 61, -1767,
- L774, 54- 1759;
F-1 OOC-6- N A 54- 1 793;
F- l OOC- 16-NA 54-1826, - I 44;
F-IOOC-2 L-NA 54-1870, -1872, - L875, -I 8 , - L925, -1929,- 1944,
- L950;
F-100 -26-NA 54-1978, -2022, -2056,-2074,-2 77,-2084, -2087,
-2108, -2 1L 7, -2 1L8;
F- IOOC- 11 -NH 55-27 12, -27 L5, -2720,-2722.
Forty-three more F- LOOCs deli vered in 1973 from the foll owing and
the re tin 1974:
F-100C-2- NA 53-1725, - L73 2, - 1738, -1757, 54-1741 , -1749, -1755,
-1756, -1766;
F-100 -6-NA 54-1777, - L780, - L7 82, -1787, -1794, -1798, - L800,
-1804, -1805, -1807;
F- IOOC- 16-NA 54-1 L8, -1835,- 1838,- 1850, -1858;
F-LOO -21-NA 54-1868,- 1877, - 1883, - L89 L, - L903, - L908, - L9L5,
-1919,- 1920, - L92 L, - L926, - L932, -1934,- 1937, - L939, -1942, - L945,
-1948,- 1949, -1959;
F- LOOC-26- NA 54-1989,- 1999,-2013, -203 L, -2032,-2034, -2042,
-2046, -2047,-2052,-2053 ,-2057,-2058,-2059,-2060, -2066,-2068,
-2070,-2076, -2083 , -2089,-2091,-2092,-2097,-2100,-2103,-2 104,
-2 LI3 , -2 LI 5, -2120;
F-100C- ll -NH 55-27 16,-272 1,-2724.
Also in 1972-74
F- IOOF-5-NA 56-3759;
F-100F-10-NA 56-3774, -3803, -383 1,- 43, -3 50, -3867, -3876,
- 884, -3890, -3896, -3902, -3903, -3909, -3919;
F-100F- L5-NA 56-392 L, -394 7, -3948, -3957, -3963.
1977- 78 Deliveries
F- LOOF-6-NA 56-3 766;
F-100F-ll -NA 56-3895;
F-100F- 16-NA 56-3950,- 958,-3966,-3992 (all in 1977);
F-IOOF-2-NA 56-3 732, -3 739;
F- 100F-6-NA 56-3 752;
F- LOOF-1L-NA 56-3783,-3788, -3800,-3846,-3854, -3914 (all in
197 ).
198 1 Delive1ies ( ex- RDAF)
F-IOOD-10-NA 54-2177, -2206;
F- LOOD- LS-NA 54-2261,-2266,-2270,-2274, -2283;
F-1 OOD- LS-NH 54-23 3;
F-IOOD-40-NH 55-2744,-2748,-2751,-2765,-2768,-2769,-2771,
-2775, -2779, -2782;
F-IOOF-16- A 56-4019;
F-100F- 15- A 58-6976.
198 2 Deliveries (ex-RD A F)
F-IOOD- LS-NA 54-2222, -2262;
F- IOOD-40-NH 55-2771.
An additional F-lOOD (54-2290) be arne un erviceable on it delivery
Ai ght to Turkey and was consigned to a dump at Sigonell a, Italy. It was
later rescued and restored by the museum at Vigna di Vall e, donated to
the 31 t TFW, USAF at Aviano AB and displayed on the gate as Thor's
Hamme1 (309th TFS, 31st TFW, coded SS) in Vietnam camouflage.
The original Thor's Hammer wa 56-2927.
166
APPENDIX Ill
F-1 OOC/D Nuclear Weapons
Control Procedures
Th Mk 7 fi sion weapon wa the only
nuclear devi ce to be carried by F- 100 s
and early F- l OODs (see Chapter 3). It was
deployed for more than fifteen years,
longer than any other U free-fall nucl ear
weapon and produced in nine variant
between 1952 and 1967.
In t he aircraft it was controll ed by the T-
145, T-270 (T-145) or in later F- l OODs by
the T-270 control panel. The T- 270, using
tb Fusing elector (F-SEL) rotary switch
togeth r with two other rotary witche
and five timer di als inside the weapon, pre-
s t b fore the mi ion, t the fu ing
options prior tor leas . The cockpit pan l
was install ed centrall y, b low th front,
main instrum nt display.
n the T-270, a top row of three indi-
cat r li ghts were labelled (l eft to right):
EXT (t indicate that the Mk 7's large,
low r tabil izing fin was extended or
releas d) ; IN(to indicate thatthes parate
capsule containing the nucl ear fi ssion el e-
ments was in place inside the bomb cas-
ing); and A/S (to indicate that the weapon
s ~ ty witch was d o ed, necessary for det-
onati on). Below thi on th control pan l
(left to right) was the FIN EXT/RET
switch (to extend or retract the bomb's fin,
u ing battery power), OUT (showing the
fis ion capsule was in the 'out' positi on)
and A/ (a switch to arm or afe the
bomb). Between t he I and OUT lights
was an in-fli ght insertion (I FI) switch to
control the IF! mechanism.
In the third row was a row offive circuit-
breaker switches to provide for aircraft
power with circuit-breaker protecti on for:
1. Bomb fin operati on;
2. Weapon batteri es heaters;
3. IF! operat ion;
4. Warm-up power for the bomb's radars
(two witcbe ).
Located on th bottom of the T- 270 wa
an F- EL switch to contr l the weapon
fu ing opti on . This switch (u ing al o th
ground pre- et lections on a panel inside
th Mk 7) was us d to s t the proper fu ing
opti on.
Using a setting between 1 and 4, the
timer would start at weapon release, turn
on the radar, electri ca ll y arm the bomb
and allow th radar to detonate the
weapon at a pre-determined altitude. On
sett ings 5 and 6, the timer would arm the
weapon and allow the contact fuse to det-
onate. Setting 7 would start the timer
when the pilot pre ed the bomb release
button at the identifi cati on point (I P) in
the mi ss ion route, indi cated by a T/0
li ght. It would continue to run at rel ease
and detonate at completi on of the timer
F- EL Timer Radar Detonat ion Deli very
umber Alt itude Opti on Opti on
l 1 1 Radar LABS OTS*
2 2 1 Radar LABS OTS
3 1 2 Radar LAB OT
4 2 2 Radar LAB OT
5 3 Contact LAB OT
6 4 Contact Dive
7 5 Tim r LAB IP
*LABS - low-altitude bombing system; OTS - 'over the shoulder' nuclear cl livery.
167
p ri d. f el a ing h bomb rel ase button,
to ab rt th run, w uld the weap n
t imer to return t z r .
The last items on tb
panel provided A and pow r t the
F- EL switch so that it could
opti ons detailed below. The U L li ght,
when ext ingui heel, indicated th pr p r
fusing opti on as selected by th F- L
switch. Any special store was rel a eel by
use of the bomb release button on top of
the control st ick.
The armament panel witch
tr llecl the release. The M DE
T R witch selected the type of r l a e:
LAB , LAB ALT, low-alti tude drogue
delivery (LADD) or MANUAL. The
ARMAMENT ELECTOR switch select-
ed the special store, left intermedi ate or
centreline station. Pilots were required to
memori ze all these settings and proce-
dures.
For !at r weapons such as the Mk 28 EX
(externall y carri ed), Mk 28 RE (retarded,
externall y carried) or B-43, t he T- 270
panel was replaced by the 'idiot proof' T-
249, DCU-9A or DCU-117 A version. On
t hese, a large rotary selector switch could
be set to AIR (giving a pre-set detonat ion
at an alt itude determined by t he radar
fuse), G D (laydown or ground contact)
detonati on or SAFE. 'Laydown' on
weapon capable of thi opti on had to b
et on pre- fli ght. There w re 0 and GA
sett ings in which the panel could be
locked with afety wire to all ow d tect ion
of any unauthori zed operati on of the
weapon controls. A simi lar locking
pti on was u ed in the D U-9A, wh il e
the D U-11 7A had p rmi ive acti on
link (PAL) - four knob with digits to pro-
vide a code combinati on for unl ocking the
bomb release controls. A warning li ght
illuminated while the weapon fu ing
options were changed by the pi lot during
the mi sion.
APPENDIX IV
F-100 Losses in
South East Asia
Includes seri als followed by date of both
combat and operat ional losses.
lashed digits indicate a loss at night.
F-JOOC
53-1713 (8. 8.68)
53-1740 (14.3.69)
53-1741 (4.5.69)
53-1765 (27.9.68)
54-1775 (2.8.68)
54-1897 (27.3.69)
54-1912 (25.7.68)
54-1922 (23.8.68)
54-193 1 (18.12.68)
54-1956 (25/26.1.69)
54-1973 (29.12.68)
54-2004 (14.7.68)
54-2030 (4.1.69)
54-2041 (31.1 .69)
54-205 1 (4.1.69)
F- l OOD
55-2795 (13. 11 .65)
55-2837 (31.7.65)
55-2849 (1 2.7.69)
55-2857 (2.3.65 )
55-2875 (2.4.68)
55-2890 (9.3.70)
55-2895 (23.8.69)
55-2900 (4.7.68)
55-2901 (1 1.2.71)
55-2903[?]18.9.69
55-2904 (15.9.67)
55-2911(?] (26.1.67 or 6.4.68)
55-2912 (19.3.67)
55-2914 (18.6.68)
55-2918 (22.2.69)
55-2920 (16.12.68)
55-2921 (23. 10.68)
55-2923 (23.4.68)
55-2929 (1 7.10.68)
55-2935 (4.10.69)
55-2943 (8.7.70)
55-3071 (13.9.66)
55-3 100 (3.10.66)
55-3502 (30.9.66)
55-3510 (13.6.67)
55-3511 (28.12.69)
55-3513 (21.1.69)
55-3516 (26.6.69)
55-3522 (9.5.69)
55-3534 (30.3.66)
55-3535 (25.6.68)
55-3541 (26.1.67)
55-3543 (1 .10.65)
55-3548 (1 8.5 .68)
55-3549 (12.7.67)
55-3550 (28.4.71)
55-3555 (24.5 .69)
55-3559 (14.10.66)
55-3562 (8.2.69)
55-3568 (30/3 1.1. 68)
55-3569 (9.1.70)
55-3572 (9.7.70)
55-3574 (26.1.70)
55-3581 (8.8.69)
55-3585 (10.2.70)
55-3587 (6.3.68)
55-3589 (5.7.69)
55-3600 (13.6.65)
55-3603 (6.11. 66)
55-3606 (20.3.68)
55-3608 (28. 7.68)
55-3611 (12.3.67)
55-3613 (29.9.65)
55-3618 (10.5.67)
55-3619 (7. 1. 68)
55-3625 (3 .4. 65)
55-3631 (3 1. 9.65)
55-3632 (22.4.69)
55-3635 (1 8.3.69)
55-3639 (6.8.67)
55-3640 (14.9.66)
55-3642 (1 0. 10.69)
55-3643 (20.4.68)
55-3647 (20.1 2.68)
55-3653 (16.11.68)
55-3661 (2.10.68)
55-3702 (12.6.65)
55-3704 (20.1 69)
55-3714 (15.2.67)
768
55-3717 (1.4.68)
55-3719 (29.12.65)
55-3722 (14.7.68)
55-3737 (24.9.69)
55-3738 (23.9.65)
55-3739 (25.7.66)
55-3749 (13.4.71)
55-3762 (26.2.68)
55-3765 (4.1.68)
55-3766 (6.6.67)
55-3773 (10.5.66)
55-3777 (13.1.70)
55-3 780 (5.3.66)
55-3782 (8.5.70)
55-3783 (19.2.65 )
55-3787 (11.1 2.66)
55-3790 (3.6.69)
55-3793 (14.3.66)
55-3803 (29.5.70)
55-3806 (1 6.9.70)
55-3809 (1 2. 10.66)
56-2905 (21.7.68)
56-2907 (16.2.67)
56-2908 (2.1.65)
56-2922 (22.12.67)
56-2923 (24.9.65)
56-2924 (22.6.66)
56-2925(?] (12.2.67)
56-2927 (19.2.67)
56-2935 (16.11.68)
56-2936 (3.7.68)
56-2937 (11.4.7 1)
56-2949 (17.5.68)
56-2954 (1 2.5.67)
56-2955 (15.4.7 1)
56-2956 (29.7.66)
56-2960 (25.3.69)
56-2965 (21 .10.67)
56-2968 (26.12.68)
56-3027 (30. 3.67)
56-3040 (19.11.67)
56-3041 (2. 8.67)
56-3049 (10.7.69)
56-3063 (8.1 2.66)
56-3066 (22.7.68)
56-3069 (14.10.69)
56-3074 (5.10.65)
56-3075 (30-4.69)
56-3085 (1 8.8.64)
56-3090 (6.8.69)
56-3094 (14.5.67)
56-3097 (1 4. 1.70)
56-3 113 (2 1.1 .69)
56-3 114 (1 8.8.67)
56-3 119 (25.5.69)
56-3120 (4-4.71)
56-3 121 (4.3. 70)
56-3 122 (2.7.68)
56-3 124 (9.7.68)
56-3 125 (19. 11. 65 )
56- 132 (1 2. 12. 70)
56-3 136 (26.5.70)
56-3 147 (17. 2. 70)
56-3 150 (2.3.65 )
56-3 151 (1 0.4. 65)
56-3 152 (23.3.68 )
56-3 158 (21.1 .69)
56-3 166 (9. 1. 66)
56-3 167 (26. 10.66)
56-3 170 (20.7.65 )
56-3 174 (5.3.69)
56-3 177 (20.9.65)
56-3 180 (22.3.71)
56-3 181 (11.3.71)
56-3 185 (9.8.65)
56-3 197 (27. 1.71)
56-3237 (29. 11. 68)
56-3242 (30.5.70)
56-3245 (1 2.9.68)
56-3252 (24.7.69)
56-3261 (25.2.6 )
56-3264 (22.8.67)
F- 100 LOSSES I SOUTH EAST AS IA
56-3269 (6.3.68)
56-3270 (6.3.69)
56-3275 (15.7.67)
56-3277 ( 15.3.67)
56-3278 (6-4.70)
56-3283 (15.8.69)
56-3285 (21. 5.67 )
56-3287 (30.6. 70)
56-3301 (25/26.1.69)
56-3304 (14.2.68)
56-3305 (22-4.69)
56-3330 (19.9.67)
56-3332 (10.12.69)
56-3334 (21.7.65)
56-3335 (23-4.69)
56-3339 (24.6.68)
56-3340 (22.6.65 )
56-3343 (24. 7 .66)
56-33 72 (30.6.68)
56-3375 (3.8.66)
56-3380 ( 10.3.69)
56-3383 (25. 10. 70)
56-3384 (9.3. 70)
56-3403 (16.4.69)
56-341 5 (1 2.3.7 1)
56-3420 (16.7.69)
56-3429 (14.1. 68)
56-3431 (16. 11. 66)
56-3435 (21. 8. 70)
56-3437 (1 .8.67)
56-3438 (1 2. 11. 68)
56-3446 (9.11.68)
56-3448 (13.1.67)
56-3451 (1 2.2.67 )
56-3452 (17.11 .68)
169
F-IOOF
56-3731 (24.1. 69)
56-3734 (9.8.69)
56-3750 (27.7.68)
56-3764 (8. 11. 67)
56-3772 (10.9.68)
56-3 775 (20. 11. 68)
56-3784 (1 8.3.68)
56-3796 (1.11.69)
56-3827 (8.5.70)
56-3834 (17. 8.68)
56-3839 (7-4.68)
56-3847 (19. 1.70)
56-3863 (1.4.69)
56-3865 (1 6.8.68)
56-3869 (1 2. 10.66)
56-3878 (30. 12.67)
56-3886 (22. 1.69)
56-3887 (24.10.69)
56-3923 (17/18.2.68)
56-3954 (26. 8.67)
56-3959 (17 .2.68)
56-3975 (1 8. 1.70)
56-3980 (2.5.67)
56-3995 (12.1. 69)
56-4002 (1 .7.67)
56-4005 (20.12.67)
58-1212 (23.3.66)
58- 1215 (11.1 2.69)
58- 1217 (19.7. 66)
58- 1221 (13.3.66)
58- 1226 (5.7.68)
58- 123 1 (20. 12. 65)
F-1 000 losses al o occurred on 18/11/64
and 13/1/65 but serials of these aircraft
were not recorded at the time.
APPENDIX V
Preserved, Ground Instructional and
Displayed F-1 00 Airfra01es
Incl udes seri als foll owed by location.
YF- IOOA
52-5755
F- IOOA
52-5756
52-5759
52-5760
52-5762
52-5773
52-5 777
53- 1529
53- 1532
53- 1533
53- 1540
53- 1550
53- 1559
53- 156 1
53- 157 1
53- 1573
53- 1577
53- 1578
53- 158 1
53- 15 3
53- 15 9
53- 1610
53- 1639
5 - 1642
53- 1655
F- IOOC
53- 1712
53- 1716
53- 17 4
54- 1752
54-1573
54-1784
54-17 5
54-1786
54- 1 23
54-1 51
54-1986
54- 1993
54-2005
54-2089
54-2 106
54-2 145
F- lOOD
54-2 l30
54-2 13 1
54-2 136
54-2 151
54-2 157
54-2 163
54-2 165
54-2 174
54-2 1 7
54-2 196
54-22 12
54-2223
Edwards AFB, Californi a
18th Wi ng, Kadena AB, Oki nawa
37 TFW/MU Lackland AFB, Texas
95 ABW/MU Edwards AFB, Californi a
Grand Haven, Michi gan
Ameri can Airpower Heritage Museum, Midland, Texas
75 ABW/MU Hi ll AFB, Utah
Chiayi RoCAF AB, Ta iwan
ISO FW, M A Ki rtl and AFB, New Mex ico
Melrose, ew Mexico
hung- Yeng Technical School, Taipei, Taiwan
hung heng Aviati n Museum, Taiwan
17 FW OH A G, pringfield, Ohio
Ro AF Museum, Taiwan
Tam Kang, Taiwan
17 LS, Goodfell ow AFB, Texas
GIA at Tainan High School, Taiwan
140 SUG, CO A G Aurora, Colorado
Chung Chen Insti tute, Taiwan
Taitung ity rad ium, Taiwan
ational University of Taiwan
heng Kuang, Ta iwan
Huali en City, Taiwan
hung Hsin, Taiwan
Hsinchu AB, Taiwan
Gri ssom AFB Museum, Indiana
56 EM Luke AFB, Ari zona
366 LG, Mounta in Home AFB, Idaho
Dyess AFB, Texa
Air Force Museum, Wri ght- Patterson AFB
Octave-Chanute Museum, Ramoul, Illi nois
crave-Chanute Museum, Rantoul, Illi nois
March Fi eld Museum, March ARB, Cali forni a
I ima Air Museum, Tucson, Ari zona
78 ABW, Robins AFB, Georgia
96 ABW, Egli n AFB, Florida
184 BW, K A , Me onnell AFB, Kansas
185 FG, lA A G, ioux City, Iowa
Turk Hava Muzes i, Ataturk Airport , Istanbul , Turkey
WI A G RTC, amp Douglas, Wisconsin
Hampton, Virgini a
avigny- les- Beaune, France
Toui -Rosieres, France
chawbische bavern unci Technik Mu eum, Stuttgart, West
Germany
2 TRW, Sheppard AFB, Texas
orth East Aircraft Museum, Tyne-and-Wear, UK
Dumfries and Ga ll oway Aviat ion Museum, K
American Air Museum, Duxforcl, UK
Mi dland Air Museum, Baginton, UK
avigny- les- Beaune, France
orfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Bungay, UK
422 ABS, RAF roughton, UK
ewark Air Museum, UK
54-2239
54-2265
54-2269
54-228 1
54-2290
54-2294
54-2299
55-2734
55-2736
55-2739
55-2855
55-2884
55-350
55-3595
55-3650
55-3667
55-367
55-3 754
55-3805
56-292
56-2940
56-2967
56-2993
56-2995
56-3000
56-3008
56-3020
56-3022
56-3025
56- 055
56-3 154
56-3 1 7
56-32 10
56-3220
56-32 8
56-3299
56-3320
56-3426
56-3434
F- IOOF
56-3727
56-3730
56-38 12
56- 813
56-3814
56-38 19
56-3822
56-3 25
56-3855
56-3862
56-3870
56-3874
56-3894
56-3 97
56-389
56-390
56-3927
56-3929
56-3949
56-3982
56-3990
58- 1232
58-3837
7 70
Musee de I'Air et de I'Espace, Pari s, France
Mil itaire Luchtvaart Museum, Soesterberg, Netherl ands
48 FW, RAF Lakenheath, UK
Glendale, Ari zona
Aviano AB, Italy
Homestead ARS, Fl orida
Palmdale, California
Chatillon-en-Dois Campsite, France
Musee de I'Air et de I'Espace, Pari s, France
avigny- les- Beaume, France
I 0 FW H A G, Swanton, Ohi o
121 ARW, Oil A G, Columbus, Ohio
Fred E. Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, Pueblo, Colorado
57 LG, ellis AFB, evada
138 FW, OK A G, Tul sa, Oklahoma
l3 l FW, MO AN , Bridgeton, Mis ouri
42 LG, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Air Force Mu eum, Wright-Patterson AFB
103 FW CT A G, East Granby, onnecticut
116 CG, G A G, Robins AFB, Georgia
27 LG Cannon AFB, ew Mexico
Myrtle Beach, aliforni a
107 ARW, NY ANG, iagara Fall s, ew York
102 FW, MA A G, Oti A GB, Massachusetts
149 FW, TX A G, Kell y AFB, Texa
104 FW, MA A G, Westfield, Connecti cut
LA A G, ew rl ean , Loui siana
179 AW, OH A G, Man field, Ohi o
127 WG, Ml A , elfridge ANGB, Mi chigan
162 FW, AZ ANG, Tucson, Arizona
Lone Star Flight Museum, alveston, Texas
114 FW, SO A G, ioux Fall s, South Dakota
122 LG I ANG, Fort Wayne, Indiana
49 LG, Holl oman AFB, ew Mexico
77 ABW, McClell an AFB, California
140 UG, 0 ANG, Aurora, Colorado
181 FW, IN A G Terre Haute, Indiana
132 FW, lA G Des Moines, Ind ia na
AR ANG, North Littl e Rock, Arkansas
355 LG, Davis- Momhan AFB, Ari zona
SAF Academy, olorado
Duncan, Ari zona
Independence, Kansas
Texas ity, Texas
Saint Mar ies, Idaho
Li nevill e, Alabama
Aurora, ebraska
Las Cruce , ew Mexico
Air Force Museum, Wri ght-Patterson AFB
Skrycl srrup AB, Denmark
Danish Aviation Museum, Billuncl, Denmark
127 WG, Ml ANG, Selfr idge A GB, Michigan
177 FW, J ANG, Egg Harbor Townshi p, ew Jer ey
Lashenden Air Warfa re Museum, Ashford, Kem, UK
Skrydstrup AB, Denmark
Danish Av iation Museum, Bill und, Denmark
La Grange, Texas
Karup AB, Denmark
Lago Vista, Texas
Burnet, Texas
70 ABG, Brooks AFB, Texas
Ai r Force Museum, Wright- Patterson AFB
APPENDIX VI
QF-1 00 Conversions
Conversion number foll owed by eri al.
All were F- l OODs apart from examples with an asterisk, indicating an F-100F.
Sperry Conversions
092/56-3414, 093/55-3610, 094/56-3048, 095/55-3669, 096/56-2979, 097/56-3984*, 098/56-2912, 099/56-2978, 100/56- 324,
101/55-2809, 102/56-3006, 103/55-2816, 104/55-2789, 105/55-2828, 106/55-2821, 107/55-2823, 108/55-2845, 109/55-3657, 110/55-
3663, 111/55-3662, 112/55-3 712, 113/55-3668, 114/55-3 726, 115/55-3692, 116/56-294 7' 117/56-2977' 118/56-2982, 119/55-3 746,
120/56-2987, 121/56-3037, 122/56-3056,123/56-3 14 ' 124/56-325 1, 125/56-3044, 126/56-3239, 127/56-3253, 12 /56-3291, 129/56-
3313, 130/56-33 10, 131/56-332 ' 1 2/56-3389,133/55-3673,134/56-3402, 135/56-3410,136/56-3 176,137/55-2841 ,138/55-2877,
139/55-2860, 140/55-2867' 141/55-3620, 142/55-3593, 143/55-2898, 144/55-3623, 145/55-28 9, 146/55-2949, 14 7/55-2856, 14 /55-
3564, 149/55-3724, 150/55-3710, 151/55-3674, 152/55-3797, 153/56-2942, 154/56-2950, 155/56-3068, 156/56-2975, 157/56-2961,
158/56-3107, 159/56-31 1 ' 160/56-3133, 161/56-3218, 162/56-3 153, 163/56-3233, 164/56-3 123, 165/56-3 129, 166/56-3 183, 167/56-
3109, 168/56-3309, 169/56-3276, 170/56-3369, 171/56-3439, 172/55-2801, 173/56-3400, 174/55-2834, 175/55-3752, 176/55-3788,
177/55-2830, 178/55-3812, 179/55-2833, 1 0/55-3545, 1 1/55-2827, 182/56-3298, 183/56-3010, 184/56-2980, 185/56-3205, 186/56-
3017, 187/56-3256, 188/56-2992, 189/56-3 162, 501/56-3801 *, 502/56-3740*.
All the above were ex-ANG lost during fli ghts from Tyndall or Holloman AFBs.
Flight Systems Conversions
F-lOOD
201/55-2863,202/55-2925,203/55-2939,204/55-3666,205/55-2951,206/55-3528,207/55-3578,208/55-3601,209/55-3566,210/55-
3709, 211/55-3744, 212/56-2915, 213/55-3775, 214/56-2918, 215/56-2920, 216/56-2944, 217/56-2959, 218/56-323 1, 219/56-2981,
220/56-29 9, 221/56-3 117, 222/56-3034,223/56-3184,224/56-3248,225/56-3130,226/56-3 191,227/56-3210,228/56-3241,229/56-
3232, 230/55- 689, 2 1/55-3679, 232/55-3727, 233/55-3683, 234/56-2999, 235/55-3685, 236/56-3011 , 237/56-3213, 238/56-3260,
239/56-3295,240/56-3422,241/55-3558,242/55-3688,243/56-3234,244/56-3201, 245/56-3255,246/55- 690,247/55-2846,248/56-
2910, 249/55-2 70,250/55-3604, 25 1/55-3508,252/56-3003, 253/55-3505, 254/55-3570, 255/56-3 140, 256/56-3259, 25 7/56-3265,
258/56-3303, 259/56-3306, 260/56-3296, 261/56-33 11 ' 262/56-3356, 263/56-33 71 ' 264/56-338 1' 265/56-3393, 266/56-3413, 267/56-
3426, 268/56-3443,269/56-3019, 270/56-303 1,271/55-3672, 272/56-3072,273/55-3703, 274/56-33 15, 275/55-3811 , 276/56-3405,
277/56-3331,278/55- 6 0, 279/55-3740,280/55-3705,281/55-2865,282/55-2873,283/55-2927,284/55-3733,285/55-3770,2 6/55-
3580, 287/56-3397,28 /56-34 12, 289/55-3552, 290/56-3135, 291/56-3 141 , 292/56-3307, 293/56-3462, 294/56-3345,295/55-3758,
296/56-3 155, 297/56-3365, 298/55-3 759, 299/55-2942, 300/55-3616, 30 l /56-2974, 302/56-3 163, 303/55-2 793, 304/55-3664, 305/55-
2 07,306/55-2813,307/55-28 18,308/55-2826,309/56-3171,310/55-2853,3 11/55-2859,3 12/55-2879,313/55-288 1,314/55-3665 ,
315/56-2917' 316/56-2932, 317/56-3007' 318/56-2952, 319/56-3024, 320/56-2953, 321/56-3028, 322/56-3033, 323/56-3035, 324/56-
3053, 325/56-3054, 326/56-3195, 32 7/55-2905' 328/55-2917' 29/55-2933, 330/55-2945, 331/55-2952, 332/55-3521' 333/55-3567,
334/55-3557' 335/55-3576, 336/55-3622, 33 7/55-3634, 338/55-3644, 339/56-30 1' 340/56-3 101, 341/56-3082, 342/56-3 11 2, 343/56-
3168, 344/56-3 169, 345/56-3173, 346/56-3187' 34 7/56-3190, 348/56-3 194, 349/56-3198, 350/56-3221' 351/55-3 75 7' 352/55-3 771,
353/55-3 784, 354/55-3 741 ' 355/56-2970, 356/56-342 7' 357/56-3 179, 358/56-3463, 359/56-3222, 360/56-3404, 361/56-3093, 362/56-
3425,363/56-3279,364/56-3361,365/56-3046,366/56-3406,367/56-3385,36 /56-3333,369/55-3804.
F-JOOF
3 70/56-3868, 3 71/56-3 73 7' 3 72/56- 748, 3 73/56-3 751 ' 3 74/56-3 754, 3 75/56-3 760, 3 76/56-3 763, 3 77/56-3 762, 3 78/56-3 765, 3 79/56-
37 7, 380/56-3795, 381/56-3746, 3 2/56-3805, 383/56-3818, 3 4/56-3830, 385/56-3840, 386/56-3836, 387/56-3859, 388}56-3860,
3 9/56-3882, 390/56-3 91' 391/56-3893, 392/56-3883, 393/56-3906, 394/56-3898, 395/56-3907' 396/56-3910,397/56-3915, 398/56-
3917, 399/56-3922, 400/56-3928, 401/56-395 1, 402/56-3956, 403/56-3962, 404/56-3791, 405/56-3994, 406/56-3738, 407/56-4001,
40 /56-3 768, 409/56-3 773, 410/56-3 794. 411/56-3812, 41 2/56-3813, 413/56-3814, 414/56-3819, 415/56-3 55, 41 6/56-3822, 417/56-
3 61, 418/56-3 25, 41 9/56-3832, 420/56-3880, 421/56-3837, 422/56-38 9, 423/56-3 97, 424/56-3904.
onversion 411-421 r turned to AMARC in 1991, 422/423/424 transferred to U Army. The others were destroyed during fli ghts
from Tyndall or Holl oman AFB .
171
Glossary
AAA anti -aircraft artillery HE! hi gh explosive/incendiary
AB air base HVA(R) high velocity aircraft (rocket)
a. b. afterburner
ACM air combat manoeuvring ICBM intercontinental ballisti c mi ss ile
ACT air combat tacti cs IFF ident ification, fri end or foe
ADC Air Defense Command IFR instrument fli ght rul es
ADF automat ic direction finding IOC initial operati onal capability
AFB Air Force Base IP identifi cati on point/initial point/Instructor
AGL above ground level Pilot
AIM air intercept miss ile IR infra- red
AMARC Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration IRAN inspect and repair as necessary
Center
ANG Air Nati onal Guard KlAS knots, indi cated airspeed
APU auxiliary power unit kt knots
ARS Air Refuelling Squadron
ATC Air Training Command LABS low-altitude bombing system
LADD low-altitude drogue delivery
BUFF B-52 bomber LOX liquid oxygen
BW Bomb Wing
MAS DC Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center
CAS close air support MiGCAP combat air patrol to counter enemy air
CBU cluster bomb unit defences
CCTS/CCTW Combat Crew Training Squadron/Wing MM Munitions Maintenance Squadron
co commanding offi cer
CONUS continental USA NAA North American Aviation
CRT cathode ray tube NAYS Doppler navi gation system
CSD constant speed drive NOLO no li ve operator onboard
NOT AM notice for airmen
DEFCON defense conditi on NVA North Vi etnamese Army
ECM electroni c countermeasures ocu Operational Conversion Unit
ELI NT electronic intelligence ore Officer in Charge
EPR engine pressure ratio OR! Operational Readiness Inspection
EWO electroni c warfare officer OTS 'over the shoulder' nuclear deli very
FAC forward air controll er PACAF Pacifi c Air Force
FBS/FBW Fighter-bomber Squadron/Wing PAL permi ss ive action link
FDS/FDW Fighter (Day) Squadron/Wing PCS permanent change of station
FFAR folding fin aircraft rocket POW prisoner of war
FS/FG Fighter Squadron/Group PSP pierced steel planking
FSAT full -scale aeri al target
RADAN radar navigation system
GAR guided air rocket RAT ram-air turbine
GCA ground controlled approach ResCAP combat air patrol over recovery of downed
GCI ground controll ed interception aircrew
GE General Electric RHAW radar homing and warning
GP general purpose (bomb) RoCAF Republic of China Air Force
RTAFB Royal Thai Air Force Base
HEAP high explosive/armour piercing RTU Replacement Training Unit
172
SAC
SADS
SAM
SAR
SEAD
SEATO
SOP
sos
TAC
TACAN
TBO
TOY
TF (fFG(fFW
TFTS(fFTW
THK
TIC
Strategic Air Command
surface- to-a ir defence sy tem
surface-to-air miss il e
search and rescue
suppression of enemy air defences
South East Asia Treaty Organization
standard operat ional procedure
Special Operations Squadron
Tacti cal Air ommand
tact ical air navigation
t ime between overhauls
temporary duty
Tact ical Fighter Squadron/Group/Wing
Tact ical Fighter Training Squadron/Wing
Turk Hava Kuvvetl eri (Turkish AF)
troops in contact
GLOSSARY
TO
TOT
U AFE
vc
VFR
VNAF
VPAF
WADC
WP
ww
ZEL
173
Technical Order
time-over-target
United States Air Forces Europe
VietCong
visual fli ght rules
Vietnamese Air Force (South Vi etnam)
Vietnamese Peoples' Air Force (North
Vi tnam)
Wright Air Dev lopm nt enter
white phosphorus
Wild Weasel
zero- length launch
A/ A37U-5 target 43
A-I , Douglas 85, 90
A-lOA 121
A-4 gunsi ght 44 , 45, 46, 47, 52, 54
A-4 , Douglas 10, 24
A-7, LTV 121, 122, 145
AC- 11 9, Fairchi l d 94
Ackerl y, Col Robert 89
ACM (air combat manoeuvring) 42, 43, 45, 46,
51, 54, 88, 127
AGM-12 Bullpup 40, 79, 84, 85, 87, 138, 140
AGM-45 Shrike 108, Ill
AIM-4 Falcon 45
AIM-7 Sparrow 124, 131
AIM-9 Si dewinder 24, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 85, 88,
125, 130, 131, 137, 138, 139
AN/ ALR-45 141
AN/ APG-30A 24
AN/ APR-9 109
AN/ APR-25 107, 108, 109, Ill
AN/ APR-26 107, 108, 109, 111
AN/ APR-370 141
AN/ APS-54 25, 138, 140, 153
AN/ APX-6A/ 25 24, 32
AN/ ARN-6 15, 24
AN/ ARN-21 24
AN/ ARN-27 140
AN/ ARN-31 24
AN/ ASN-7 40
AN/ ASN-25 41
Armee de !'Air ser vice 133-1 36
Armst rong, Capt J.W. 58
B-47, Boeing 14
B-52, Boeing 6, 45, 106, 110
B-57, Marti n 89, 90
BAK-6/ 9 arresting system 40, 126
Baker, Bob 34, 153, 154
Baker, Col Royal 81
Barwi ck, Capt P. L. 78
Bendi x Air Race 20
Bennett , Maj Frank 88
Bil cik, Mike 72, 73
Blackburn, AI 38, 39
B1esse, MGen Frederick, 6 8
Blodgett, Capt Don 45
Blood, Col Arli e 27
BLU-1 napal m 84
Boichot , Col 136
Boyd, MGen Al bert 12
Braswell , Capt Steve 137
Brattkus, Art 110
Brooks, CoiJohn 59, 68
Broughton, Maj Jack 70
Brown, Gen George 11 6
Brown, Lt Warren 11 7
Bruce, Capt Wal t 46
Index
Burns, Maj Curti s 28, 32, 42, 50, 52, 59, 61 62,
67,68
Bush, Bob, I 10
But ler, Maj G. 93, 94
C- 130, Lockheed 118, 121
Cameron, Capt Robert 137
Carroll , Lt Patri ck 11 5
CBU dispensers 24, 40, 44, 104, 118
CF-100, Avro 59
Cl arity, John 10, 40, 49, 74, 76, 97, 98, 100
Cl ark, Capt Don Ill
Cl ark, Lt Arni e 84
Cl arke, Troy 74
Clausen, J. E.T. 149
Clayton, Capt John 59
Cl ements, Lt Herdi s 73
Cohagan, Capt Paul 101
Col eman, Capt 101
Combat Skyspot (MSQ-77) 105, 106
Comstock, Lt Col Harol d 90, 100, 102
Connoll y, Capt Keith 88
Cook-Craigi e Pl an 6
Craig, Lt George 87
Creech, Capt Wilbur 58, 71
Crooks, Thad 94
Crossfi eld, Scott 154
Cuban missil e crisi s 47, 78
Cull en, Lt J. A. 85
Cut shall , Dean 4
Darnell , Dan, 7 25
Dawson, Capt Clyde Ill
Dawson, Capt James 103
Day, Maj George 11 2, 115
de Gaull e, Gen Charl es 73, 135
de Havilland, Geoffrey 5
Donner, Lt Col Laverne 118
Donovan, Capt Jack 109, 110
Dowdy, Maj Bert 16
Draken, SAAB 143
Duke, Neville 12
Dul ger, Lt Sadik 147
Duxford Amer i can Ai r Museum 72, 136
Dvorchak, Capt Stephen 86
Eddins, Maj Neil 70
Edney, Lt Bob 77
Edwards, S/ Sgt 93
Eell s, Capt Gordon 71
Elli s, Bill 70
Emory, Frank 18
Engl er, Jack 32, 99, 100
ER- 142 receiver Ill
Everest , Col Pet e 7, 8, 12
Exercise Mobile Bal1er 57
Exerci se Swift Strike 125
174
Exercise Tropic Lightning 125
F-4/ RF-4, McDonnell 4, 34, 52, 57, 71, 73, 81,
82, 88, 95, 100, 104, 105, 106, 108, Ill , 112,
115, 121, 131 , 145, 148, 151
F4D, Douglas 6, 12
F-5, Northrop 10,
F-8/ RF-8, Vought 83, 87
F- 15, McDonnell Douglas 6, 15, 76, 124
F- 16, GD 131, 143, 144
F-84, Republi c 4, 13, 20, 25, 41, 42, 56, 66, 70,
71 , 74, 80, 96, 112, 117, 118, 121, 122, 132,
137, 140, 141 , 144, 145, 146
F-86, NAA. 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 20, 25, 33, 41,
45, 48, 51, 58, 59, 61, 71, 73, 96, 11 7, 137
F-100, NAA:
aft erburner 42
avi onics 24 , 109
camera pods 106
cockpit 29, 36, 69,
drag 'chute system 28, 31, 40, 126
drone conversi on (QF-100), I 24, 127,
129- 132
ECM mods 106-11 2
ej ection seat 30, 32, 33
engine maintenance 58, 74, 76, 84, 97, 126,
127
first fli ght II
fli ght cont rol systems 8-11 , 42, 88, 99
fuel system 21, 24, 40, 53, 55, 58, 80, 126
hydr aulic systems 126
in-fli ght refuelli ng, 4, 22, 23, 67
l anding gear II, 32, 97, 98, 126
landing 4, 28
liquid oxygen provision 126, 127
nucl ear weapons deli ver y 46, 49, 50, 52,
68-9, 71, 77, 78
ordnance capability 24, 33, 40, 51, 90, 94,
100, 103-105
paint schemes 99, 100, 135
pre-flight routine 98, 99, 126, 127
reconnaissance versi on (RF- 100A) 15, 16,
139
record-breaking fli ghts 12
'sabre dance' 101, 102
st ructure 7, 9, 106
F-101/ RF-101 , McDonnell 6, 9, 10, 20, 45, 49,
57, 80, 85, 87, 90, 11 7, 120, 140
F-102, Convai r 5, 6, 9, 33, 45, 68, 121, 122, 127,
129, 145, 146, 148
F-104, Lockheed 4, 5, 19, 33, 39, 80, 85, 137,
146, 149, 150, 151
F- 105, Republ ic 4, 5, 52, 57, 73, 74, 80, 82, 85,
87,96, 108-111, 118, 120, 122, 152, 154
F-106, Convai r 9, 121, 129
F-Ill , GD 4, 40, 52, 81
Ferguson, Capt 85
Fernandez, Maj Pete 26
FFAR ( rockets) 46, 47
Fitzgeral d, Maj Bob 70
FJ Fury, NAA, I 3
Flight ystems, Inc. 131, 144
Fogleman, Capt Ronald 92, 11 2
for ward air controller (FAC) 35, 103, 104, 11 2,
11 8, 149
Fraizer, Maj Don Ill
Gabreski, 'Gabby' 46
Garrett , Maj Dick 99, 100, 103, 105
Ger mschei d, Col Tom 22, 25, 26, 41, 43, 45, 46,
53,66, 76, 77--Sl
Gol d, Col Bruce 106
Goldberg, Marshall II I
Hall , Van 11 8
Han s, Col H. A. 12
Hanh, apt Tran 88
Hardy, Col li S
Hays, Lt Col Emmett 8
Heinemann, Ed 18, 24
Hem mel, Capt Joseph 38
Herri ck, Col Ron 28, 31, 33, 42, 50, 51, 52, 69,71
Hettlinger, BGen Frank 124
Hi ckerson, T/ gt Wil fred 126
Hinton, Bru e 41
Hoov r, Bob 6
Horner, Chuck 77
Howard, Le 32, 102, 104 , 105
Howbower, Capt Hal 90
Hunter, Hawker 59, 61
HVAR proje til es 24 , 44, 46
Inni s, Maj 'Skinny' 77
IR-133 r iv r 107, 108, 109, 110, Ill
IRA insp ti n pr c dur 34
J35 (G ) 6
J40 (W tinghouse) 6
J47 (GE) 5, 6
J4 (P W) 5
J57(P W) 6, 16, 17, 24, 40, 127, 131, 142, 151
J75 (P&W) 153
Jabara, I Jam 91
Jaguar, EPE AT 136
Javelin, Gloster 59
Jenny, Capt Dave 11 5
Jesperson, Capt Max 137
Johnson, Clarence 15
Johnson, Col Art 2 , 42, 45, 46
Johnston, Capt Bob 137
Karter, Lt llker 146
Kast il an, Maj 'Kas' 100
KB-29, Boeing 23
KB-50, Boeing 30, 48, 72, 0
KC-97, Boeing, 23 125
KC- 135, Boeing 84, 87, 90, 135
Kell ey, Col Wendell 81
Kemp, Bob 12
Kempton, Lt Jim 100
Kil gus, Capt Don 87, 88
Kindel berger, Dutch 12, 18
Ki ppenhan, Capt Corwin 11 3, 115
Kramer, Capt Pat 58
Kropni k, Lt Col James 108
Kul czyk, Col Mike, 65
L' Huilli er, Capt Jake 11 8
LABS 40, 46, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 68, 136, 154
Lamb, Allen T. 62, 67, 109- 11 2, 126
Lancaster, Col ' Lanny' 80, 11 2, 11 4, 115
I DEX
Lane, Capt Mi tch II I 03
Laskowski , Lt Mike 11 8
LAU-3/ A rock t laun h r 46, 47, 83, 84, 108,
109, Il l , 141
Laven, Col George 83,84
Layne, Lt Willi am 124
Le Baill ey, General 66
Lee, Col Raymond 91
Lifsey, Capt Truman I 09
Li ghtning, BAC 61, 80
Li thgow, Mike 12
Lockhar t , Lt Hayden 86
Loi twoocl , Lt Tic 74 , 75, 76
Long, Lt Col M. 13
Lowe, Lt Thomas 90
Lukers, Capt 65
Lynch, Joe 7
M-1 bombing system 24, 46
M-39 gun 10, 15, 43, 44, 85, 93, 153
M-61 gun 10
MA-l bar rier 26, 28
MA-2 (see LABS)
MA-2 AP 27, 42, 5 , 76, 77, 9 , 125
MA-3 laun h r 46
Macavoy, Bob 93, 96, 11 6
Mace, Gage 34
Mackay Trophy 22
Maene, John 125, 126, 127
Magli one, Lt Col Ralph 70
Magnusson, Capt James 88
Martin, Alex 24 , 31, 32, 40, 48, 49, 51, 55, 56,
61, 65, 66
Mar tin, Capt W. M. 5
Martin-Baker Mk-DB/ DESA seat 140, 143, 148
MB-3 autopil ot 24, 40, 55
McCarthy, Jay 96, 97, 98
McElhanon, Maj Mike 11 4
McKee, Maj Frankl yn 11 7
McPeak, Merrill 'Tony' 70, 71, 100, 11 2
MiG-I S 6, 137
MiG- 17 59, 84, 87,8 , 137
MiG-21 88
Mill , Lt Duane, I 37
Mi sty FAC operations 11 2- 115
MJ-1 loader 84, 94
MK-seri es bombs 24
MN- 1 di spenser 32, 46, 69,
Moore, Maj Roy 49, 51, 53, 65, 66, 137
Morgan, Capt Ri ck 110
Moseley, ' Moose' 45,
Myst ere, Dassault 59
NAV (Doppler navigati on system) 41, 57, 106
Neeld, Maj Bobby 103
Neubecker, AI 92, 93, 107
Newell , Ri ch 32, 97, 98
Nolen, Lt Col Cregg 84
nuclear stores 12, 32, 39, 46, 50, 52, 54, 65, 136
O'Donnell , Capt Frank II 0
O'Neill , Capt J. E. 11 6
Obenlancl , Capt Roland 93
Operat ion Barrel Roll 85
Operati on Bell Tone 82
Operat ion Big Wing 70
Operati on Boom Town 140
Operat ion Combat Fox 57
Operation Flaming Dart 85
Operat ion Freloc 74
Operati on Cold Rush 125
Operat ion Mobile Zebra 49
Operat ion Rolling Thunder 85- 115
Operat i on Saw Buell 83, 87
7 75
Operati on Toolbo 13
Op ration Two Bu ~
Ov r io k, MajJ hn 114
Ozgil , BG n Er I 14
RADAN (PC-212) 40
Rader, Don 15
' 1, 70, 0, 13 ' 145
ram-air turbine (RAT) II
RB- 16 pey, Rolls-Royce 151
RB-57, Mar t in 17
RB-66/ EB-66, Dougl as 106, 108, 109
Rectenwald, Larry 13
Republi c of China Ai r Force ser vice 136- 140
Reynes, Capt Joe 10, 87, 90
Ri sner, Lt Col Robinson 57, 87
Rober ts, J.O. 154
Robinson, Maj Robby 70
RoCAF 19
Ronca, Lt Col Bob 85
Ross, Capt Paul 70
Royal Dani sh Air Force ser vice 140- 144
Rutan, Dick 112
Ryan, Major John 24
Ryan, Mike 33
SA-2 Dvina 106, 11 0
SA- 16B/ HU- 16, Grumman 73, 5
Salazar, Dick 125
almon, Col 136
Sal ome, Lt Ger ald I 00, 10 I
Sancl elius, Capt Eel 109, 110, Ill, 113
Scharnhorst, Lt Col Gordon 58, 59
Schmenk, Don 24 , 34, 39, 59, 77, 78, 79, 80,
103
chwart z, Maj Bob 109
SEAD 35,37
Seil er, Maj Clyde 11 6
Sibson, Maj Don 115
impson, Jack 17
Smar t, Lt Ford 59
Smi th, Col Fost er 17
Smi th, Col St anton 71, 72
mi th, George 18
nyder, Capt LI S
Sopko, St eve Ill
perr y Fli ght Systems 131
Sprous, Everett 94
tephenson, Air Cdr G. 18
Such, Ri chard 10, 94, 95,
SUU-7 di spenser 92
SUU-20/ A dispenser 46
SUU-21 dispenser 77, 139
T-33, Lockheed 18, 42, 51,
TACAN 32
Talbott , Col Carlos 20
Thorkeldsen, K 140
Titus, Capt Robert 38, 57
Toliver, Col Raymond 71
Tomkinson, Lt 93
Topel. Capt Cengiz 145
Trier, Capt Bob I 09
Turkish Air Force service 144-148
Turley, Capt Morvan 61
Turner, Capt Norm 90
Twiss, Peter 12
U-2, Lockheed 6, 17, 107
Unhan, Capt Recai 146
USAF Units:
3rd TFW 53, 56, 89
4th FDW/TFW 26, 42, 45
gth FBW/ TFW 28, 32, 49, 51, 88
gth sos 89
9th TFS 74
12th TFS 50, 60
12th TFW 88
1gthTFW 48,49, 50, 60
2oth FBW/ TFW 26, 57, 67, 71, 72, 75, 78,
80
21st FDS 26
21stTFW 55,56
22nd FDS/TFS 67
23rd FDS/TFS 6. 67
23rd TFW 85
26th TRW 74
27th TFW 45, 47, 82, 83, 90
31st FBW/ TFW 45, 46, 62, 89, 91, 94, 116,
142
32nd FBG 57
32nd FBS/TFS 67, 68, 80
35th FBS/ TFS 50, 63
35th TFW 88, 89, 116
36th TFS 50, 62, 68, 82
36th FDW/TFW 57, 58, 59, 64, 68, 71 , 76, 144
37th ARRS 118
37th TFW 38, 89
45th FDS 59
43th FBW/TFW 72, 76, n, 81 , 133, 140, 141 ,
142
49th TFW 71, 73, 74, 82, 140
soth TFW 57, 65, 68, 73, 74, 141 , 144
53rd FDS/TFS 59. 65, 67, 68
55th TFS 79, 80
56th TFS 38
sgth ARS 73
66th TRW 81
72nd TFS 51 , 53, 54
nth TFS 76, 80
79th TFS 71, n, 80, 81
goth TFS 49, 51
81st TFS 64
82nd TATS 131
goth TFS 56, 89, 101
INDEX
101st TFS 121
103rd TFG 128
107th TFS 121
110thTFS 121,122, 131
112thTFS 121
11 3th TFS 121 , 130
11 3th TFW 97, 124
!18th FBS/ TFS 19, 121, 138
119th TFS 98, 118, 119, 120, 125
120th TFS 89, 116, 118
121stTFS 98, 11 8, 119
122nd TFS 72, 122
124thTFS 118, 122, 128
127th TFS 57, 118, 120
!28th TFS 122
131st TFS 121 , 122
136thTFS 31,64, 91, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120,
125, 127
152
11
d TFTS 18, 19, 121 , 138
163rd TFS 121 , 123, 124
I66thTFs 57, IIS, II9, 121
174th TFS 89, 117, 118
175th TFS 122
I nth TFS 126
182nd TFS !22, 125
!84th TFS 121
!88thFBS/ TFS 19, 45,92, 117, 118, 119, 121 ,
127, 138
306th TFS 80, 91, 98, 114
307th FBS/ TFS 73, 89
30gth FBS/ TFS 37, 89, 91, 98. 104, 114, 131
309th FBS/ TFS 28, 45, 91, 107, 109, 114
312th TFW 27, 45
322nd FDG 20, 23, 24, 57
323rd FBW 18
334th FDS 26
336th FDS 41
352ndTFS 88, 93, 100
353rd FBS/ TFS 4, 73, 112
354th TFW 45, 48, 49, 61 , 62, 65, 66, 118
355th TFS 89, 91, 97, 98, 101, 114, 118
366th TFW 45, 60, 88, 89, 105
3ggth TFS 27
388th FBW 73
401 st TFW 45, 66, 73, 91
40sth FBW 25, 45, 53, 141
416th TFS 55, 87, 88, 89, 91 , 95, 100, 143
417th TFS 64
42oth ARS 72
422nd FDS 57
428th TFS 82, 84, 85
429th TFS 45, 89
430th TFS 83
436th FBS 17
45oth FDG/ FDW 19, 45
452nd FDS 57
457th FBS 62, 65
45gth FBS 65
474th TTW 45, 53, 58, 65
176
475th WEG 131
479th FDW 13, 18, 19, 83
48lst TFS 10, 86, 90, 91 , 100
492nd FBS/ TFS 72, 73
493rd FBS/ TFS 63, 136
494th FBS/TFS 65, 72, n , 79
506th FBW/TFW 25, 45, 65, 67
sogth FBS 53
sogth FIS 51
510th TFS 51, 53, 56, 82, 89, 92, 102, 106
511th FBS/ TFS 48, 137
522nd TFS 83, 88
53 1 st TFS 56, 85, 89, 99
612th TFS 89, 104, 112
613rd TFS 73, 85, 88
614th TFS 83, 84, 88
615thTFS 83, 84, 88, 93, 94, 97, 108
3595th CCTW 18
452oth CCTW 82, 140
4 753th DSES 129
6234th Wing (P) 85, 109
6521 st TFW 89
7272nd FTW 23, 25
7407th ss 16
AFFTC II , 38
AFLC 18, 131
ARDC 138
CTAF 14
Skyblazers 58
Thunderbirds 4, 21, 30, 50, 70-71 , 58, 137
WADC 7, 129
Valentine, Hank 93, 97
Van Overschelde, Leo 58
Van Scyoc, James 45
Vanderhoef, Pete 40, 87, 90, 91, 101 , 102
Verdin, LCDR James 12
Victor Alert 62, 79, 136,
Vincent, Joe 39, 40, 101, 104, 105
VTOL 37
Ward, Major Dave 84
Watson, Lt Don 90
Weart, Col George 88
Welch, George 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 18
Weyland, General 46, 47
White, AI 25
White, Capt Ed 109
Whitford, Col Lawrence 115
Wild Weasel I operations 107-112
Willard, Maj Garry 108, 109
Williams , BGen David 0 47, 51 , 80, 83, 84. 88,
115
Wright, Bobby 31, 74, 115. 125, 126, 127
Yeager, Chuck 5, 12
Young, Lt Col Gordon II 7
zero length launching (ZEL) 37, 38, 39, 140