Tailhook Daily Briefing

Great Tribute to the A-6 Bubbas over at Air & Space Smithsonian

Legends of Vietnam: Shoulder to Shoulder

On a May afternoon in 1972 a flight of four Grumman A-6 Intruders, the lead elements in an air wing strike, flew a hundred feet above North Vietnamese rice paddies west of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 25 miles south of Hanoi. Loaded with Mk 20 Rockeye bomblet canisters, the jets were headed toward Bai Thuong, an enemy airfield. Navy pilot and air group commander Roger Sheets flew the lead Intruder. He and his bombardier/navigator Charlie Carr, a Marine Corps captain, used the aircraft's radar and visual cues to guide them to Bai Thuong. "The A-6 was the all-weather attack aircraft," says Carr. "Monsoon season never affected our operations." But that day was clear; Sheets and Carr were getting a good look at North Vietnam, and any other aircraft sharing that patch of sky could get a good look at them. [More]

Milk Bucket Under a Bull

Some things just don’t seem right…

From Military.com

Murtha Award Sparks Vet Outrage

March 26, 2009

Military.com|by Christian Lowe

In one of his last moves before leaving office March 13, then-Navy Secretary Donald Winter quietly awarded 19-term Democratic congressman John Murtha (Pa.) with the service's highest civilian honor.

Citing Murtha's "courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy," Winter presented the influential chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense panel with the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award, an honor bestowed in "those extraordinary cases where individuals have demonstrated exceptionally outstanding service of substantial and long term benefit to the Navy, Marine Corps, or the Department of the Navy as a whole," a Murtha release stated.

The award generated little publicity when it was given to Murtha in early March, but as news of the honor trickled out, some veterans groups ignited a firestorm of protest… [more]

The Ault Retort

A lot of buzz is headed around the Blogosphere and World Wide Web (that’s the www. part of a web address for our P-3 Bubbas) recently about the Brits sticking their nose into the history of TOPGUN…

According to an Article posted in the Telegraph (a UK paper)…

American Top Gun fighter pilot academy set up by British

When British pilots arrived at Miramar airbase in California in the early 1960s the Americans were losing a large number of dogfights in their multi-million Phantom fighters to the enemy's relatively "cheap" MiG 21s.

The tuition from the British pilots, all graduates of the intense Air Warfare Instructors school in Lossiemouth, Scotland, led to the Americans dominating the skies, the military historian Rowland White has revealed in Phoenix Squadron.

It was then that the their Naval Warfare Academy became known as Top Gun.

"Through the instructors on exchange at Miramar the AWIs methods made their way into perhaps the most well-known programme in the history of naval aviation: Topgun," he said.

The history of TOPGUN is well known in these here parts as many o’ Tailhooker actually took part in the furballs above the SoCAL, Nevada, and Arizona deserts and ocean ranges. It usually goes something like this… (according to wikipedia)

TOPGUN is the popular name of the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) program. SFTI is the modern-day evolution of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School and carries out the same specialized fighter training as NFWS had from 1969 until 1996, when it was merged into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at NAS Fallon, Nevada.

The United States Navy Fighter Weapons School was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California after a United States Navy study (sometimes referred to as the "Ault Report") directed by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) at less than desired performance of fighter aircraft, aircrews and weapons. The head of the study group, CAPT Frank Ault recommended that a graduate-level school be established to train fleet fighter pilots in air combat tactics to improve the relatively poor air combat performance of Navy aircrews over Vietnam.

The school was initially formed and placed under the control of Miramar-based fighter squadron VF-121 "Pacemakers", an F-4 Phantom Replacement Air Group (RAG) unit responsible for providing type-qualified air and maintenance crews to first-line units of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. It received relatively scant funding and resources and built its syllabus from scratch, while borrowing aircraft from its parent unit as well as other units to support the practical aspects of their operations.

Its objective was to develop, refine and teach Air Combat Maneuvering tactics and techniques to selected fleet air crews, using stand-in aircraft that could realistically replicate the nimble Russian-designed fighters that they were most likely to oppose in combat. At that time the threat aircraft were in the form of the transonic MiG-17 'Fresco' and the supersonic MiG-21 'Fishbed'. This teaching concept is known in military aviation parlance as DACT, or Dissimilar Air Combat Training, and presently is widely used in air arms the world over.

Air crews selected to attend the TOPGUN course were usually considered to be the best that their units could offer. Upon graduating they would then return to their parent fleet units to relay what they have learned to their fellow squadron mates, in essence becoming instructors themselves. Such personnel are known as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

The “Ault Report” is legendary in these here parts.  Capt. Frank Ault was assigned the task by CNO, Admiral Tom Moorer, to identify the contributing factors in the Navy’s dismal Air-to-Air combat performance early in the Viet Nam War.  Admiral Moorer wanted answers to the following questions (link):

1. Is industry delivering to the Navy a high quality product, designed and built to specifications?
2. Are Fleet support organizations delivering a high quality product to the CVA’s (aircraft carriers) and to forward sites ashore?
3. Do shipboard and squadron organizations (afloat and ashore) launch an optimally ready combat aircraft-missile system?
4. Does the combat aircrew fully understand and exploit the capabilities of the aircraft-missile system? (Corollary question: Is the aircraft-missile system properly designed and configured for the air-to-air mission?)
5. Is the air-to-air missile system (aircraft/fire control system/missile) repair and rework program returning a quality product to the Fleet?

Captain Ault and his team from the Naval Air Systems Command, took the challenge (what else were they going to do?) and delivered the now historical “Ault Report” contained within is the stated recommendation that the Navy create an Advanced Fighter Weapons School (a masters level course in ACM).

VF-121, the Phantom RAG was the obvious place to start.  And the instructors were assigned the task of establishing the curriculum and syllabus for this program.  LCdr Dan Pederson and Lt Jim Ruliffson became the first two TOPGUN instructors.

VF-121 utilized the assets of VA-126’s A-4’s to provide the needed dissimilar aircraft training.

 

OK… y’all know the rest of the story… But apparently the Brits want some credit too…  Even in Wikipedia on the Ault Report reference page, as of today there is an addendum relating to the Brits…

Critical to the training of the first instructors was a team of British pilots from the Fleet Air Arm, all graduates of the Air Warfare Instructors School in Lossiemouth, Scotland. Foremost among these was Lt-Cdr Dick Lord. Other members of this team were Lt-Cdr Paul Waterhouse and Cdr Doug MacDonald^[1].

Needless to say this isn’t going over real well in the Been there Done that Have the Tee-Shirt Fighter Community…

From Neptunus Lex:

“…Well. That forms no part of the institutional memory of the institution I was a part of. In fact, the staff in my day paid a great deal more obeisance to the Israeli Air Force than the Brits, who after all, hadn’t fired an aerial shot in anger (or even petulance) since the Battle of Britain.

Not saying it’s not true - can’t know - but I will admit to a sneaking suspicion that amongst a certain class of Englishman, there is the assumption that anything useful to come out of the rebellious colonials has to do with the legacy of empire, while anything less savory owes to our own degraded nature…”

From Barking Moonbat Early Warning System:

“…Oh how I did not like reading this purely from a standpoint of national pride.  With no disrespect to Brits EVER cause I always admired their military and know they are damn good.  BUT ... well, you know…”

Flightdeck Friday: Torpedos and OOB Thinking

1 MAY 1951

Today's subject - the torpedo attack on the floodgates of the Hwachon Dam, is an example of what today is described as "thinking out of the box."  Things were desperate on the ground following the combined Chinese/North Korean offensive launched in early April. As described in the May 2001 issue of Naval Aviation News:

On 5 April the Chinese and North Koreans launched their fifth offensive aimed at pushing the United Nations (UN) forces back from the 38th parallel. Numbering 70 divisions, the communists were determined to isolate South Korea's capital of Seoul with a double-flanking movement, and launched four Chinese communist army groups against the 75-mile front between the Hwachon Reservoir and Munsan. Two weeks of seesaw fighting stretched the 1st Marine Division thin. On 22 April when the 7th Marines were dug in around Hwachon and spotted movement on the nearby hills, they knew what was coming. Shortly after dark the stillness exploded as bugles, sirens, whistles, gongs and screams announced a huge Chinese attack. On their left the 6th South Korean Division disintegrated, exposing the Marines' flank.

Yet as tough as things were on the ground, it would have been worse if the Communists had control of the air:

Chinese General Peng Dehuai bitterly observed that had the communists controlled the skies during these earlier offensives, "the American and British invaders would already have been eliminated in Korea." The truth was that in their effort to stop communist aggression, U.S. planners were increasingly forced to rely upon the firepower of the air-ground team to offset the enemy's numbers.

And now, in the Hwachon region, American commanders were pondering some way to leverage their advantage in the air to benefit those on the ground...

With rising casualties, U.S. planners desperately searched for a way to break the deadlock, and looming foremost was the Hwachon Dam. Located almost 50 miles northeast of Seoul, the 250-foot-high dam impounded the waters of the Pukhan River, which were high due to the spring thaw. The enemy held two aces. If they blew the dam's sluice gates, the released waters would flood the valley and stop further UN advances. If they held back the water by closing the gates, the river would be lowered to fordable depths and enable communist infiltration across the river against the exposed allied flanks. Either way, it had to go.
The attempts to blow up this dam rank as some of the most determined of the war. The Air Force was the first to try, using Boeing B-29s to bomb the dam, but they barely dented the 2fi-foot-thick gates. Unfortunately, the bombing spooked the enemy, who promptly blew most of the vital Pukhan bridges and opened some of the gates, flooding the lower river.

Time for something different:

You Caption it Friday 3-13-09

Apply your creative wit in the Comments Section!

So You Never Flew a Tomcat in an Airshow

But you always wondered what it was like?… Well here you go.  Looks like the Demo at Moffett Field.  Not sure when… Any Tomcat Bubbas want to own up to flying this demo?   Snort?

And part 2

The two attached videos above really serve to illustrate the two-man crew of the F-14, and the coordination between the two throughout the demonstration envelope. (HT to YouTube Member “KutWrite”)

And if you long for a good Turkey demo from the outside, this still remains one of my favorites… disregard the fifth generation preview just before the Tombird takes wing.  But enjoy the definition of LOW TRANSITION!

 

The Tomcat always gave good show…  Some of my fondest memories were of this great plane… and well before THAT movie!

I grew up in Naval Aviation!  Spending many a day sitting on the patio at the Miramar Ops Building, watching Tomcats come sizzlin' into the break pattern with their swing wings in full retreat, only to transform from intimidating point of the arrow, to a flailing, waving dynamic of horizontal stabilizers, wings and spoilers, fully living up to her other nickname of “Turkey-bird” all in a matter of 360 degrees of a landing pattern.  I could watch for hours as  Pilot and RIO (radar intercept officer) shot Touch and Go's on Miramar's “Two-Four Right” and “Two-Four Left” runways.  What a great way to be exposed to the "Sound of Freedom!"

One of my favorite memories (not Capt. Hackinson's then CO of NAS Miramar) involving the Tomcat was during a rehearsal for the Miramar Airshow.  My Dad then COMNAVBASE San Diego  was invited by Capt. Hackinson to come out to Miramar the day before the weekend's airshow to watch some of the rehearsals and "Of course please bring your son John with you, he'll have a blast!" 

Oh Yeah!

Well the usual opening act of the Miramar air show was to have an F-14 perform a NEAR-Supersonic flyby.  Capt. Hackinson, proudly pointed off to the eastern horizon over the low hills guarding the approach end of Miramar's runways, at a very small, but rapidly growing, slightly descending, very menacing looking F-14!  displaying those great broad shoulders head-on HAULING THE CHILI!  The good Captain announcing to me and my father that he'll be passing by show center at about "Point Nine-Eight Mach!"  Hot Damn this ought to be fun!  Especially since... well... we're at "Show Center!"

That F-14 did not disappoint!…  Me anyway!  Wish I could say the same for Capt. Hackinson. 

Having grown up around high powered fighter aircraft I am very familiar with their sounds and flight characteristics.  And when a fighter approaches at near supersonic speeds some really fascinating stuff happens!  First, it is very VERY Quiet as the aircraft approaches you!  Remember he is damn close to the same speed as the sound he is creating is traveling!  Second, the extreme bow-wake and aerodynamic pressures start to create Vapor Compressions, usually in the shape of a cone extending out and back from just aft of the cockpit.  The faster the plane, the less the sound, and the more the shockwave cone.

As the Tomcat passed us at show center some 100 feet off the deck, Dad, Capt. Hackinson and I all noticed the very same thing at the very same time!  The F-14 had just passed us and we still had not  heard him!…

Uh Oh! 

Actually I'm pretty sure I heard in stereo from the two Senior Naval Aviators on my sides...  "Ahw  SheeeeeiT!"  As an exclamation mark to their expletive, the ShockWave of the SONIC BOOM hit us!  WABOOM!

Heheh....  uh.... whoops! 

As I glance over to a none-too-happy Capt. Hackinson I hear my father with his great Georgia drawl ask in four eloquent words... "Point Nine Eight Huh?" 

Capt. Hackinson promptly excused himself to go deal with the soon to be ringing off the hook noise complaint line at NAS Miramar.  Turns out that little over-speed broke not only the Sound Barrier but some 29 Bank and Businesses windows on Miramar Road.  I Loved it!… Of course, I wasn't paying for the windows!

-JC