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***WARNING***ATTENTION WHORE POST****WARNING****** This is the first Presidential election I've voted in since college. The years in between I wore Uncle's uniform and I never thought it appropriate to vote for my boss. Local and state elections, yes, but not for the CinC. *****END ATTENTION WHORE POST******** As to what CH initially posted, beside the UCMJ ramifications, talking politics - badmouthing any party/incumbent/candidate - to anyone who knows you serve, to me, lessens the professionalism of the military. Even though we get tools in the chain of command, we took that Oath to Protect and Defend the Constitution. Don't ruin it by taking away the respect of one of the last bastions of perceived honor in our country. Say, how'd this soapbox get so high?

A little lovin' for the USN Cold War shore-based warriors... Between The Rock and a Hard Place “We were getting our socks jammed off by the cabbies in Morocco on one side and other ones on Gibraltar on the other side. The only way we could maintain contact was to take it down on the deck.” This is how former Lockheed P-3 Orion pilot John Maffei describes tracking a Soviet nuclear submarine entering the Mediterranean Sea during the Cold War. His quarry in this case was a ‘Victor I’ class Soviet attack boat. Attack subs in any navy have a primary responsibility for taking out the other side’s ballistic missile-carrying submarines (nicknamed “boomers” for obvious reasons) as well as preying on adversary attack boats. Additionally, many subs, can lob cruise missiles and carry the sobriquet of “shooter.” In Maffei’s case, the taxi drivers on either side of the busy Strait of Gibraltar weren’t engaged in some massive James Bond-style operation to thwart the good guys, it was just that their dispatch radios in the cabs operated on some of the same frequencies that the P-3 used to track underwater targets via sonobouys. Coming in a variety of flavors, sonobouys are disposable, self-contained sonar receivers and radio transmitters. Dropped at low level, the sonobouys listen below the waves for sound and transmit those sounds to the P-3’s highly trained crew to classify and identify. Each sonobouy is programmed to transmit on a separate frequency so as not to interfere with another, but with only so many frequencies available, the cabbies’ chatter was interfering with prosecuting this contact. After a set time, the sonobouys run out of electrical power and sink. By getting below the line of sight transmissions of the cabs, the sensor operators in the P-3 could better listen to the string of sonobouys that Maffei and company had dropped to pick up the Victor. The US Navy spent an enormous amount of time, effort, energy and money to negate the massive USSR submarine fleet during the Cold War years. There was a real fear in the Pentagon that the Russian’s submarine quantity would overwhelm the U.S. and NATO’s maritime quality, thus stopping any reinforcements from reaching Europe in the event of another war on that battered continent. Likewise, if the Soviets could take our US boomers in the opening stage of a nuclear Armageddon, then a very large part of U.S. retaliatory capability was lost. Thus the USN wanted to know where the bad guys were, 24/7. To track those subs and if need be, kill them, the Navy invested in many squadrons of P-3 sub-hunters. Deployed around the world, these aircraft spent hundreds of thousands of hours airborne searching for, tracking, monitoring, occasionally annoying, and sometimes helping Soviet subs. Thus it was that Bronx-born Naval Academy graduate aviator Lieutenant John Maffei found himself launched from Rota Air Field, Spain to find this sub entering the Med. He and his crew (see sidebar for crew composition) gathered their flight material and received a briefing from the ASWOC (Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Center). “The ASWOC gets its data from a variety of sources – the Sound Surveillance System, a multi-billion dollar network of underwater microphones scattered around the world’s oceans; from contacts gained by US or allied submarines, other P-3s as well as other means still classified. In any event, the crew knew that a Victor sub was lurking in the Atlantic not far from the Strait of Gibraltar and that it was probably there to relieve another Soviet sub already on-station within the Mediterranean. My crew’s job was to find this sub and track it until relieved by another ASW platform,” says Maffei. As mentioned earlier, the Navy took sub hunting seriously. In peacetime, careers were made or broken over successful sub tracking whether in an aircraft, ship or submarine. If you found a bad guy sub, you tailed it until the higher ups said “enough.” If you lost contact and the sub got away, you could expect to “dance with the skipper” upon your return. And that dance was usually not very enjoyable. The commander of the attack sub USS Lapon, legendary within the ASW community, tracked a new Soviet boomer for 47 days without being discovered. By that time, the US sub, in conjunction with P-3s orbiting overhead, recorded every sound, captured via underwater photography every rivet and detail, and monitored every transmission the unsuspecting Soviet boat made. Think of the sub tracking scenes from the movie “Hunt for Red October” and you’ll have a fair idea of the game. In wartime, these abilities to find and monitor had to be quickly adjusted to find and kill. If the nuclear balloon was to ever go up, it is fairly safe to say that a boomer opening his missile launch tubes would have found himself in small pieces before the launch order was given. Back to Maffei’s problem; he had a fixed target time to arrive where the intel shop thought the sub would be so he and his crew backed all their preparations, pre-flight, equipment checks, start/taxi/take-off times to mesh with the required overhead time. With a big, complex aircraft like the P-3, prepping the plane and preflighting was no “kick the tires and light the fires” affair. Maffei describes what it was like, “The pilots, the TACCO and nav, Sensors 1 and 2 would meet at the ASWOC to get the ‘gouge’ for this mission. Meanwhile, the ‘Ord,’ (Ordinanceman) would take a truck to the munitions area and get the number and type of sonobouys that he and the TACCO had previously briefed. “The Eng (flight engineer) would head out and start looking over the aircraft. Soon the 3P and the nav would arrive carrying the box of crypto codes. While the 3P and eng pre-flighted, the nav would load up all the crypto in the secure radios and other equipment, ops check the radios to make sure they worked. “Meanwhile, whoever was the mission commander, could be the PPC or the TACCO depending on seniority or training, would fine-tune the mission and prepare the expected sonobouy patterns we thought would work best to acquire the contact. “As it got closer to take-off, the 2P would file at base ops for our ATC clearance. Once we were away from traffic, we would leave ATC freq and go tactical for the mission until we were heading home again.” “Ord has loaded the sonobouys on the aircraft per the TACCOs instructions; we carried 48 externally in the belly and as many as we could stuff internally that we dropped via sonobouy chutes in the fuselage. He would load those when it came time to drop. “Ground ops were pretty standard and off we went.” Transit time varied from one to several hours depending on where the plane was based and where the sub was thought to be. “We arrive overhead our patrol area, drop an area search pattern called a “a barrier” of sonobouys to try and pick our boy,” says Maffei of this hunt. “The Med is one of the busiest areas of shipping in the world and the Strait of Gibraltar is a very busy choke point for traffic entering or exiting the Med. Only eight miles wide and less than a thousand feet deep, everything has to funnel through it. All that traffic makes for a lot of noise underwater. Noise is a sub’s best friend when he’s trying to evade detection and an ASW platform’s worst enemy. “In quiet, deep water like the North Atlantic or North Pacific, we might get sonobouy ‘hits’ from 30 miles or more. In churned up, busy water like the Straight, detection drops to a few hundred yards. In fact, the ASW in-house joke is that the Strait is actually much shallower than it used to be because of all the sonobouys dropped in it over the years. “A favorite tactic of sub drivers entering a congested area is to hide underneath a surface ship. By using the ship as a shield in both noise and metal detection, a sub can get away if you are not careful. That takes some skill on his part to get in close and stay there. “We picked up our contact just west of the Strait, with a faint acoustic contact. We stayed with him, but just barely. With intermittent contact due to all the shipping noise and the radio interference, we were sweating this one. If we didn’t establish a solid track on him soon, we might not find him until he was within potential shooting distance from a battle group or such.” “Finally, our contact made his move. Trying to mask himself underneath an inbound freighter, he entered the Strait. Here we were darting low level at 200 feet or less, trying to maintain a plot, avoid going over somebody else’s territory and setting up an international incident, and we are about to lose this guy. “Finally he did fade. We went to our back up plan and zipped over to the eastern exit of the Strait. We laid our last line of sonobouys across the Strait and set up an orbit listening until our ears were just about bleeding. “As the time for likely intercept wound down, we were only getting confusing garbage – many ships’ screw noises, marine life like shrimp, whales and who knows what else, but no Victor noise.” “We were just about out of gas and ideas when on the last sonobouy at the end of the line when we could reasonably expect to hear him, we saw a feather of breaking water just about directly underneath us. “As I racked the P-3 around for another pass, marking the spot of our contact, I directed Sensor 3 to ready the MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detector –essentially a tail boom mounted metal detector). Normally, we depend on sound for detection, but with all the scrambled noise in the area, I chose the MAD even though it is a close in sensor. “As we passed over the spot, Senor 3 bellowed “MAD, MAD, MAD!” which was a short way of letting the crew know he had a good, solid contact. We had just gotten extremely lucky because the Victor’s captain had brought his boat up to periscope depth for a quick look around. “We were able to drop down on top of him and take pictures at low level. Even if the Soviet skipper didn’t see us through his ‘scope,’ he could hear us through his own sound systems. The four turboprops set up quiet a harmonic disturbance in the water that he’d have to be deaf not to hear. “He wasn’t and he went just about ape-s*** to lose us. He tried the whole ‘Crazy Ivan’ dance, diving while turning sharply, ascending and changing speed, the whole pocketful of tricks he had to lose us. “We had him solid now though. Since he was through the Strait and had to go relieve the other waiting boat, he was committed to staying in. That fact really simplified our targeting. “Eventually, he settled down and resumed his course towards his patrol area. We stayed with him until another of my squadron’s P-3s relieved us. We turned for the barn and landed after nearly a 12-hour mission. Now a United Airlines pilot, Maffei concludes his tale, “The beer tasted really good that evening.” SIDEBAR P-3 Crew composition PPC- Patrol Plane Commander – the aircraft commander, the head guy responsible for aircraft safety and operation. Can also be the Mission Commander, person responsible for successful specific mission accomplishment. Since most P-3 missions were 8-14 hours long, much of it at low level, an extra pilot is a vital part of the crew’s safety. 2P – 2d Pilot – a more experienced pilot than a new guy, but still in upgrade to becoming a PPC. 3P – 3d Pilot – most junior of the pilots, usually just reported in from pilot training/type conversion. Does most of the ‘grunt’ work; preflighting the aircraft, inventorying and guarding the extensive cryptographic codes used by the crew to carry out a mission as well as gaining flying experience. Flight Engineer – enlisted aviator monitors engine and aircraft performance, fuel flow, and assists in flight deck duties. Acts as the plane’s crew chief if the P-3 has to land at other than home station during a mission. Usually due to mission lengths, two are aboard. TACCO – Tactical Coordinator – senior of the two naval flight officers (navigators), responsible for coordinating the use/presentation of the P-3’s multiple sensor systems in conducting the assigned mission., positioning the aircraft during the tactical portion of the mission. Navigator – junior of the NFO’s, responsible for the ‘point A to point B’ positioning, monitoring the various communication systems; obtaining, loading, accounting for the crypto items. Sensor 1 & 2 – enlisted acoustic sensor operators; monitor and interpret the data collected from the sonobouys; air dropped miniature sonar receivers used to listen for underwater activity. From detected sounds, the sensor operators can classify and identify most things in the water. Once a target is acquired, they will track it until the mission is completed. Sensor 3 – enlisted non-acoustic sensor operator- uses the P-3’s radar, forward looking infrared (FLIR) pod, magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), and electronic support (ESM) equipment to aid in mission accomplishment. Ordinanceman – enlisted weapons specialist; responsible for loading, setting directed parameters, on-board caretaking of the aircraft’s various weapons when loaded and for the same functions for the multitude of sonobouys carried. In flight Technician – enlisted electrical repairman; performs on-board trouble-shooting/repair of the electrical components on the P-3. Typical P-3 Missions Primarily developed from the Lockheed Electra airliner of the 1950s as a long-range patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft, the continuously updated P-3 conducts a variety of missions ASW – using on-board sensors, the P-3 locates, identifies, tracks, and if need be, kills enemy submarines. The P-3’s weapons inventory for this mission includes torpedoes and depth charges. SSC- Surface Search and Control – the P-3 identifies all surface shipping within a defined area. Ducking down to 200 feet above the water, the P-3 will fly close to a ship and “rig” it; inspecting it visually and photographically. Often used against warships in open water, it is also useful in counter-drug operations, environmental maritime patrol and anti-terrorism missions. Strike – the P-3 can carry an amazing variety and amount of ordinance. For anti-shipping strikes, HARPOON anti-ship missiles and torpedoes are the weapons of choice. For ground targets, everything from iron bombs, Maverick anti-armor missiles, cluster bomb units (CBUs), to Zuni rockets are pickled from the Orion. CSAR – Combat Search and Rescue – with a long loiter ability and extensive communications capability; the P-3 can serve as the airborne command post for any rescue operations.

Technique only, but.... Don't do the help no matter what rank (O or E) you are. Keep the paycheck and the fun separate, at least until after the marriage. Then the fun disappears, so the adage is still valid.

On Okinawa? Other than the MWR site (which was a remote, 1 O, a couple of Es, playing Skipper and a couple of Gilligans for the facility) I'm curious as to anything else USAF on the island.

Now that is the most effective mix of disturbing and funny seen in a long while. My stomach is quesy...

Can you smell what the caveman is cooking? I see political office in M2's future. In order from the paraphrased quote above: He's succinctly nailed (sts) what the mainstream America wants/likes He's articulated a policy of restoring personal responsibility into society. He's crafted an easily understood, no nonsense foreign policy.

Ah, that'd be British cuisine...

Great. Just f)ckin' great. A dude who can do it and write about it. Just what a former scope dope who thought he could write marginally about it needs. That was some awesome reading! I hope greasy is still flying and writing. You should write that book. You'd be able to buy your own personal Viper from the success. Very nice, sir.

Winner! Outstanding, sir, outstanding! More of this by officers and NCOs is what the leadership should get. Telling the emperor he/she has no clothes is the only way to stop stupidity.

Remember the cuts/VSPs, etc of the last two years to cut bodies to pay for new equipment? Now we're cutting more equipment to pay for that new equipment. And to add back to the bodies we just cut. Nice...

With respect, ugh! One of the WORST books ever. His apology for US actions in WWII, his 'understanding' of the Japanese, and his complete disregard for historical accuracy made me throw this in the trash. His "Flags of Our Fathers," about his dad being one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers was very good, but it was so obvious that he had a bunch of left over material from the research on that one that he cobbled together this POS. B-25 "Billy." Indeed.

A). Which one? B). I'd argue that the one who really 'needed killing' is just now getting his just desserts. I just found out, after telling a good friend about the book, that he was one of the GCI controllers during the 1980s. Weapons School, 422, et al. He's still hinky about talking about it. But he was surprised and glad to hear about this book.

German Training Center Holloman AFB It's been since '04 when I wrote about a group of Phantom phanatics (groupies) having a pilgrimage to honor the 20FS and its training of the last German Rhinos and subsequent closing that I've been back to Holloman. I thought there were even more Tornadoes now (in excess of 40-ish?) German Air Force in the US Fact Sheet

Don't forget ze Ghermans mit der numerous Tornadoes. Might be able to see some neat stuff up close there as well.

Cloudcroft - 20/30 minutes from Alamogordo, really nice, up in the mountains, think Sedona-lite. If you are looking to get hammered and laid, probably not the place.

Ok, so how sad is it that I spent my Saturday night finishing this book? It's either a very good book or I'm just pathetic. These facts are both true. Steve did a very good job with a fascinating subject. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but let me say the craftmanship is very good, he lets the pilots and maintainers tell most of the story and fills in the historical context as needed, but it doesn't overwhelm. The guys who flew the MiGs had some big brass ones due to the difference in Soviet mentality for maintenance compared to the West - use and throw away vs. repair and replace. So the US maintenance guys had to find ways to keep the Soviet stuff going long after its design life was expired and flight suit guys had to aviate with the things. Scary to me... Some amazing flying stories and a great lesson in realistic training. And the fact of "Bandit 69." You couldn't make that up. Well done, sir!

I've been E-3'd, E-8'd, FACP (CRC-lite to the young 'uns), and even a little E-2 time. Fair comments about lack of experience (which gets displayed over the freq for the AOR to hear) and as soon as that experience is gained, you are yanked into other positions. Fail on leadership/crew manning by KTIK. As was amply demonstrated by the Black Hawk shootdown - inexperience WDs supervised by an inexperienced (some would argue unqualified SD) played their part in getting people killed. Not the only role in that tragedy, but certainly not an 'extra's' part, either. So, to the non-ABM'ers who scoff, I hope you will learn a little about the job/platforms before opening fire 'just because,' but I don't hold my breath. To the ABM'ers, don't try to earn the respect of your controllees respect by adopting their habits. That comes across as "Hey, Butch, whaddya wanna do now? Huh? Huh" like the old cartoons where the little yippy dog is fawning all over the big bulldog. Earn it by doing a good job then it doesn't matter what 'they' think.

Steve, I had already pre-ordered via Amazon when you made your offer. And for your SA, I got my copy from them today and have just started it. Forward by John Jumper...

Norman, OK due to OU (chicks, larger age relevant grouping, good prices.) Edmund, OK, nice houses, decent prices, more the upper-end family environment. Around the base itself, in my opinion, not so much. There are other good areas, but it's been too long for my experiences there to be of any help.

An Interesting Detour: Flying the RAF’s Lightning “In 1966, I was a Weapons Instructor at the Interceptor Weapons School at Tyndall Air Force Base, flying F-106s. I’d been an air defense guy since I first started flying for the Air Force, first as an F-89 ‘back seater’ then as a pilot. With Vietnam heating up, the need for ‘Thud’ drivers was urgent, not air intercept pilots, so I had my application for F-105 training ready and ready to submit for an assignment. “I got an assignment alright, but instead of going west, I was sent east and the best tour of my career.” So begins Colonel Robert ‘Bob’ Priest’s tale about his flying tour in the Royal Air Force’s jet interceptor, the Lightning. Classic sports car Conceived in the late 1940s by the then-English Electric Company, the Lightning first flew in 1954. Sleek, elegant and with all the necessary bits crammed into as small an airframe as possible, the Lightning was the first British-built aircraft to exceed Mach 1 in level flight. Eventually, the jet’s top speed clocked at over Mach 2. American designs of the time, like the Republic F-105 ‘Thunderchief’ or the Convair F-106 ‘Delta Dart’ were going bigger; much bigger. The ‘Thud,’ in which Bob Priest thought he’d see action in Vietnam, was twelve feet longer and more than six tons (!) heavier than the RAF’s Lightning. To put it in automotive terms, the Lightning was more like an MG sports car as compared to the large-block Chevys and Dodges of the day. Pure and simple, the Lightning’s design was that of a point interceptor against the perceived Cold War threat of Soviet bombers. Thus, time to altitude and speed were of paramount importance to intercepting the enemy as far from the United Kingdom’s shores as possible. The P1 prototype had two turbojet engines; mounted in a unique ‘over and under’ configuration, shoulder-positioned sweptback wings, low mounted horizontal stabilizers, nose mounted intake and cockpit recessed into the fuselage above the intake. From some aspects, the Lightning looks remarkably like a MiG-21. The placing of the wings also dictated a long, spindly undercarriage for the jet complete with narrow, high-pressure tires. One of the first things manifested during the testing period was the Lightning’s lack of endurance. This was a problem that would dog the fighter throughout its career, although much time and effort went into increasing its ‘legs.’ Another item brought out during testing was the aircraft’s phenomenal climb ability. From releasing the brakes to reaching 40,000 ft, just over two and half minutes would pass. For a 1950s jet, this was stunning performance; indeed it was still able to hold its own in this category well into the 1980s. Never produced in great numbers, only 329 being built, the Lightning was supposed to have a service life of around ten years. Due to many policies and decisions that are beyond the scope of this article, it soldiered on for a quarter century in several variants starting with the original production run of the F1, armed with two 30mm cannons and two infra-red air-to-air missiles, the Red Top. Later marks went all the way to the F6, which featured an improved avionics suite, better missiles, a large ventral tank and the ability to carry overwing fuel tanks (overwing because the stork-like landing gear precluded hanging anything below the wings). This extra fuel capacity went a long way to curing the Lightning’s ‘short legs’ as did the retro-fitted aerial refueling capability using the ‘probe and drogue’ method of tanking. A Yank in the RAF Similar to the famous ‘Eagle’ squadrons of World War II where Americans manned RAF squadrons and served under British orders, the RAF and the Americans had had a robust exchange program for many years. In the program, a pilot or crew, depending on type of aircraft, would serve in a sister nation’s squadron, fully immersed in that country’s way of operating and living. As an example, the RAF had one of its pilots flying in a USAF F-117 squadron as recently as 2003. Thus, then-Captain Bob Priest was surprised, but pleased to find he’d been selected for the program in 1966. In November of that year, he arrived in the UK to serve the tour he calls “the best time of my career.” Before being allowed to climb into the Lightning, however, Priest recalls having to prove himself in a more docile jet, the Hawker Hunter. “At RAF Chivenor, in the southwest of England, I had to go through a check out. It was not particularly challenging, but it gave the RAF a chance to size me up. They were checking me out to make sure that I could really fly before trusting me with anything hotter. “It also gave me a chance to learn the language and get used to some of the idiosyncrasies of English jets versus American aircraft. “For example, the Hunter used a hand brake control system instead of the toe brakes I was used to. You had to squeeze the handle on the stick to apply brake pressure while moving the rudder to steer. You could always tell a new guy by the weaving around during taxi. Looked like a drunk was taxiing. But, the Hunter was a lot of fun to fly. “After that, I moved to the RAF’s Lightning training base of the time, RAF Coltishall. I was put in with a class of other RAF pilots, from guys coming right out of flight school to those transitioning into the Lightning from other types. “It was because of that mix that my initial assignment changed. The Wing Commander who was going to take over the newly reformed 11 Squadron was in my class and we hit it off during the course. He asked me if I’d go with him, along with several others in the class already assigned to the squadron. I said “Sure.” “So it was that I went to RAF Leuchars and had the time of my life.” At Leuchars, Priest joined the squadron, flying the brand new F6 model, with his first operational flight on July 3, 1967. A year later, he had racked more than 600 hours in the jet. Says Priest of the jet, “The cockpit was tiny; my shoulders touched both sides. The instrumentation was ‘unusual’ to say the least. For example, the airspeed/mach indicator was a horizontal tape display. Other instruments were scattered around the cockpit wherever they could find room. “To operate some switches, you had to cross hands and switch the stick to your left in order to get to everything. It was a handful as compared to flying the F-106. “It took me a lot longer than I liked to get comfortable with instrument flying in the Lightning. Since that had to be second nature to be a good intercept pilot in order to focus on operating the radar and weapon systems, I didn’t like the initial adjustment. But I managed eventually. Climbing into the jet required a long climb because ladder had to go up nearly 12 feet. In addition to a flight suit, G-suit, helmet and gloves, another necessary garment was the infamous ‘poopy’ suit. This hot, uncomfortable immersion suit gave at least a small chance of survival to an unlucky pilot forced to eject at sea. Once settled into the tiny space, Priest set up the cockpit like he wanted, flipping switches and setting knobs in preparation for engine start. If he were sitting active alert, waiting on the klaxon to send him aloft against a target, all of those actions would have already been accomplished. Cranking the two Rolls-Royce Avon Mk. 301 jets was fairly straightforward. A small starter motor fueled by a noxious mixture called “avpin” spun up to very high RPMs with a distinctive “whee” noise, followed by the spool up of the Avons. A check of engine temperatures, fuel flows, etc. and it was time to taxi. With the limited endurance of the jet, ground operations were held to a minimum. Indeed, if the launch were an actual ‘scramble’ against a target, Priest would have been rolling, with a wingman, in 90 seconds or less. “At take-off,” Priest recalled, “I’d climb out with GCI (ground control intercept – a radar station) control, using 100% power to get to altitude. “For a VIP or airshow-type of take-off, I’d use full afterburner (the Brits call it ‘reheat’), level out, then pull about 4G’s and go straight up If I held the jet down on the deck before climbing, I could get 450 knots before the runway’s end and then go vertical. “The Lightning was a decent dogfighter and handled okay, but that really wasn’t what it was designed to do. It accelerated well and slowed down quickly as well. With its almost 1:1 thrust to weight ratio, it was an excellent climber. It was very responsive to throttle inputs, but you had to be sensitive at some settings. “Landing was fairly hot due to the high wing loading, but unless you had a crosswind, it was no big deal. With a crosswind, however, it could be a handful to get down. With the slab-sided fuselage and a 60-degree swept wing, a crosswind could really shove the jet around close to the ground. “One of the things I used was the F-106 technique of landing in a crosswind with one wing low. It was a bitch to do at night, but it really helped under those conditions. The RAF, however, looked askance at my wing down landings.” Scramble! Of course, the sole reason for the Lightning’s existence was to defend the UK from air threats. During Priest’s tour with the RAF, that threat occurred primarily from the Soviet Union’s long-range bomber force. The most numerous foe that Priest intercepted as the Tupolev Tu-16, NATO code-named “Badger.” The Badger was a large, four engine jet bomber, capable of intercontinental range and able to carry nuclear weapons. It was a definite threat and one the RAF took seriously. Priest described what a scramble was like, “We always had two birds on alert, 24/7. They sat in what was called the ‘QRA’ hangar (quick reaction alert). The pilots and ground crews lived there while on alert, always dressed and ready to respond. “We had a ‘squawk’ box in the crew room that connected us to the local GCI site. We could get the information from GCI as they detected a target and determined what to do about it. “For instance, they’d call, “Two Lightnings to two minutes” which meant for us to strap in and be ready to crank engines. “If the scramble was given, we started and taxied to the runway, lit the ‘burners, and climbed while taking the heading GCI was feeding us via radio. “The Lightning’s FCS (fire control system) was not that sophisticated and would bite off on chaff (bundle of radar reflective material ejected by a pursued aircraft) pretty easily, so we stayed tuned to GCI and used our eyeballs quite a bit. With only an IR (infra-red) missile for a weapon, we had to get in close anyway. “We usually picked up the ‘bogey’ about 300 miles out, over the North Sea and shadowed him until another flight relieved us as the bomber flew down the British coast outside of controlled airspace. “I intercepted this one Badger and the Russian pilot and I exchanged waves and camera shots. He indicated for me to do a roll, so I did. After I pulled in again on his wing, I motioned for him to do it. He declined. “Another time, I intercepted a Badger over the English Channel and tailed him until the (RAF) Wattisham jets took over. That Badger later buzzed a US Navy aircraft carrier at low level and crashed when he went too low. I watched the news replay later the same day.” Mach 2 Flameout It was while flying chase during a missile test that Priest recalled one of his most memorable Lightning flights. “The IR missile seeker heads kept getting pitted from flying through rain and snow. This pitting really reduced their ability to detect any kind of heat source so they were not the greatest thing to take to a fight should we need them. “The RAF engineers came up with a seeker head cap that could be ejected by compressed air if you needed to lock to a target. That ejection capability had to be tested throughout the full operational speed range of the jet; so 11 Squadron drew the task. “I was flying chase on an RAF test pilot who was supposed to test the system going full out. We had just gone through Mach 2 when a fire warning light in my cockpit got my attention. It’s never a good time to get a fire indication but going that fast was even worse. “I stopcocked the number 1 (lower) engine. I was later told that had never been done in the Lightning going Mach 2 so I had no idea how the jet would handle the stress. Next, I hit the fire extinguisher, called “Mayday,” and took a heading for home. “Luckily, the fire light went out and the jet stayed together, but now I had the problem of getting down in a hurry with only one engine. I set up for a simulated flame out approach which was not something Lightning pilots trained for, but I remembered it from my F-106 days and it worked in this case In case of ejection, I wanted all the altitude I could get right up to landing. “I landed ok and after the jet was taken apart, we found that a burst air duct had let hot air from the 15th compressor stage burn into the fuselage. Could have been worse, but I’m here to tell the story, so it turned out okay.” Postscript In August 1969, Bob Priest’s English interlude came to an end. It was time for him to rejoin the USAF. When he did, he did find himself with orders to Vietnam but not in a ‘Thud.’ The McDonnell-Douglas F-4 was assuming the workload of the F-105 so after checking out in the ‘Phantom,’ Priest did find himself in Vietnam. After nearly a year of combat there, he was shot down by a surface to air missile, but was rescued by the USAF’s search and rescue forces.

ABM above two-star? Not yet. Likely? One day, sure. KTIk had (has?) an ABM WG/CC. There are numerous ABM squadron commanders flying and ground control units. The comparison of pilots to ABMs for GO doesn't exactly hold as the percentages of each as a measure of the USAF officer corps is very skewed. Me, I like to believe it's the officer not his rating that makes the rank. However, your point is valid. Only been a few non-rated four stars despite there actually having been some good ones (not all are shoes.) However, it is the Air Force. If you know the basic rules going in, b1tching about it doesn't help. Besides flying E-3s and E-8s, there are also the ACS - Air Control Squadrons and the Sectors (ANG though). I had the best time of my mediocre career at an ACS. Finally got to be a leader not just a technician - scope dope or pilot, doing the job is a technician's bit not a leader per se. I volunteered for ALO duty but that was before ABMs (weapons controllers in the day) were 'rated,' thus I was turned down. Pity, would've been fun. Also, as was pointed out above, ABMs, except in rare instances, don't 'command' the air battle. There have been ABM mission commanders. However, in flying E-3s and E-8s, note that those are coded as 'combat support.' Act accordingly. Finally, coke bottle glasses from early on were my windmill. I would have like to have had a shot at being a USAF pilot, but that wasn't in the cards nor do I know if I would have made it. However, you don't have to be a pilot to contribute to the mission. Just don't take yourself (or 'them') so seriously. Controlling is an art - I was pretty competant but there are some who are one with the radar and can be freakin' awesome at adding SA to a fight. Others can be huge SA leeches and suck it right out (sts). Good luck.

Maybe Hans-Ulrich Rudel? Stuka pilot with those stats. Ernst Udet was a WWI ace with 62 (second behind Richthofen) then the chief of aircraft design/procurement (rough translation of his title) for the pre-war Luftwaffe. Fall guy for Goering for the failure to develop heavy bombers or enough fighters. Committed suicide in November 1941.

Yes. After trying through the chain of command to correct something heinous done by a 1 star Wing Commander and getting stiff-armed, I went and narkedto the IG. 5AF investigated, found it did involve a GO and kicked it to PACAF, who investigated, found it involved a GO, and kicked it to AF/IG, who investigated, found I was correct, made the GO write a letter of apology for gross violation of an AFI, but he was not officially reprimanded nor was the action he took overturned. The GO retired as a 3-star. You'd be surprised at what Big Blue decides is not 'in the best interest' of the service. I can fully believe that there's something to the Metzger story with some senior leadership. I just wish it was brought into the daylight by something better than this venue.

There are some very interesting nuggets within the hysterical article. Too bad they went all 'psycho-b1tch' in the editorial tone versus just laying out the facts as they know them and letting slip some of the allegations at the end. If those allegations and insinuations are legitimate facts, then why not report them and let the chips fall where they may?

Galley slave in the Pentagon. Big boss was TDY in the UK. Deputy was in an (then) XO meeting about the USAF response to part 1 of a two part CBS News series on 'dangerous' DoD flyovers. One of our subordinate offices at the FAA's ATC Command Center called us to tell us about the 1st WTC, no clue it was something bigger at the time. Went to tell the XO meeting, back in the office in time to see hit #2. Followed by a near non-event for us as the plane hit the Pentagon. We were 180 out from the impact point and that big building absorbed most of the force before it got to us. A weird movie-theater Dolby-like rumble in the feet... Some left then to South Parking which was where the impact was. I stayed behind to close up/answer calls from families as my wife (and kids) were at Ft Leavenworth attending GCSC. I was ordered out to North Parking and had no idea of what hit. Could only see the smoke plume. Worked my way out to the FAA's ATC Command Center to help out the AFR buds from our subordinate office who happened to be on duty - it was a part time gig until then. (I wound up going Reserves and getting an AGR gig there afterwards as an air defense liaison. I profited from the attack, kinda sad in a way...) Normally, there's 5-6K worth of IFR flights displayed on the CONUS 'big board.' By the time I got there, there were 35. All fighters or tankers. That's when it hit me.