F-105 and 'Nam

[MikeD]

Old.

School.

The USAF as it used to be, and never will be again unfortunately.

You'll see in these slideshows of the F-105 wings at Korat/Takhli, Thailand during Vietnam, that it was a big deal to finish 100 missions against the toughest Integrated Air Defense System in the world at the time, and still make it home, much less to 100 missions. Considering that the US Lost over 400+ F-105s in Vietnam (nearly 50% of the number built), it's no surprise that an event like this was such a big event....as the slideshow shows, so many people would show up to greet the survivor, parade, fire truck washdowns, celebratory cannon burst, tossed into a pool. you never truly knew if that day's mission was going to be your last. And with fairly high loss rates during the Rolling Thunder years, you had a very good chance of either being dead, or a longtime resident of the Hanoi Hilton. Couple that with BS rules of engagement that put the pilots at a disadvantage, lousy politically-driven tactics, and no will to win from the government; and its no wonder there was the well-earned and appropriate "don't give a crap" attitude. All they really had were themselves and their fellow aircrews to depend on.

When squadron ready rooms had Playboy centerfolds adorning the walls, and squadron bars were true bars.....not "heritage rooms".

On the first set, the 105 with the 3 MiG kills is very full up.

http://www.burrusspta.org/slideshowtest.html

See if you can spot the F-105 on the tanker, with the tan portion of the camo shaped like a woman lying on her back with legs spread, and the AR receptacle between her legs....lol.

http://www.burrusspta.org/slideshowtest2.html

Was a different time in the AF........definitely had its issues just as it does today, but we have 10 times the amount of BS and little of the heritage anymore. Just alot of rank stupidity.

 

[Corporate Pilot]

Nice slideshow. Cavanaugh at KADS has one. http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/Thunderchief.htm

 

[Minuteman]

Gaaugh!!! You're a time traveler!

and

 

[WacoFan]

Awesome stuff

 

[juan valdez]

Awesome find Mike.
I like the aircraft art especially, we merely had some light checkerboard type design on our vert stabs and shadowing on teh aircraft numbering and a general freaked out and made us get rid of it. :dunno:

 

[aloft]

You make a "fighter" the size of a 737 and no wonder so many were lost--the Thud made a big eff'ing target.

 

[MikeD]

Awesome find Mike.
I like the aircraft art especially, we merely had some light checkerboard type design on our vert stabs and shadowing on teh aircraft numbering and a general freaked out and made us get rid of it. :dunno:

Typical of nowdays. The old school nose/fuselage art was part of the camraderie and esprit. I remember in the opening of OEF in Afghan, our weapons loaders were told by leadership that they couldn't write on the bombs anymore, because someone would "get offended". Who? The people we're dropping them on?

 

[Hacker15e]

Typical of nowdays. The old school nose/fuselage art was part of the camraderie and esprit. I remember in the opening of OEF in Afghan, our weapons loaders were told by leadership that they couldn't write on the bombs anymore, because someone would "get offended". Who? The people we're dropping them on?

We had both noseart and bomb-writing when we kicked off Shock-and Awe in '03. Dunno what your guys' problem was.

 

[juan valdez]

Exactly. About two months before we left we had a guy draw up some pretty awesome art that was going to go right behind the crew door. The CO supposedly was on board with it but we soon figured out he was merely saying one thing to our faces and another when we were gone.
Also sucked bc the same guy who drew up the art spent his own money on getting a consultation with an aircraft painter on an estimate.

Military is cracking down big time on old school stuff, some for the better I guess but mostly seems to kill esprit and morale.

 

[MikeD]

We had both noseart and bomb-writing when we kicked off Shock-and Awe in '03. Dunno what your guys' problem was.

We had it for a bit, but the ass-covering WG/CC was the problem. Also had an E-9 that complained about our SOF truck that had twin Hog tails on the sides of the pickup bed and a 30mm sticking out front of the grille. Complained that it was "unprofessional".

Wankers.

We'll never see it today, like it was before. And thats too bad.

 

[Hacker15e]

Guess the F-15E community is just a little different.

Here it is again being painted at Bagram in '07

 

[MikeD]

Guess the F-15E community is just a little different.

Here it is again being painted at Bagram in '07

It's not an MDS issue, the problem is the DM wing. DM is where the "empire building" in the Hog community is, hence you get a good number of clowns looking to rise up the chain, going there.

 

[Hacker15e]

a consultation with an aircraft painter on an estimate.

In all fairness, that is pretty gay.

Noseart is *supposed* to be applied in the field by people who aren't pros.

I'm no artist, but I drew and painted my own noseart (and for a couple other jets, too) for OIF.

If your bud was talented enough to draw up the idea, he should pick up a grease pencil and start drawing on the airplane. That is how it should work.

 

[juan valdez]

Here's a good shot of the shadowing on the aircraft number and checkerboard pattern on the rudders. We had this for like a year before we went to OIF and about 4-6 weeks in were told to remove it by a General. This was in 07.

 

[Mark815]

I remember in the opening of OEF in Afghan, our weapons loaders were told by leadership that they couldn't write on the bombs anymore, because someone would "get offended".

I can't believe they would say that! That's gotta be one of the dumbest things i've read in a while. People would get offended? People wouldn't get offended dropping bombs, but writing on them might hurt someone's feelings?

 

[aloft]

A few Thud era patches from my collection, some of which could be seen in those slides.

 

[woutlaw]

Typical of nowdays. The old school nose/fuselage art was part of the camraderie and esprit. I remember in the opening of OEF in Afghan, our weapons loaders were told by leadership that they couldn't write on the bombs anymore, because someone would "get offended". Who? The people we're dropping them on?

" We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "" on their airplanes because it's obscene! "

One of my father's tennis buddies was an ex-F105 driver.

I was pretty young when I had the good fortune to meet him, but IIRC he got shot down twice, finished out his tour, got the hell out of the Air Force and somehow wound up at the ATL TRACON..

That was, man, at least 30 years ago. I've loved that airplane ever since then.

I was born a generation too late.

 

[MikeD]

" We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "" on their airplanes because it's obscene! "

One of my father's tennis buddies was an ex-F105 driver.

I was pretty young when I had the good fortune to meet him, but IIRC he got shot down twice, finished out his tour, got the hell out of the Air Force and somehow wound up at the ATL TRACON..

That was, man, at least 30 years ago. I've loved that airplane ever since then.

I was born a generation too late.

Col. Kurtz's quote above it spot-on.

I used to see 105s come into Luke and DM. I unfortunately saw them also when they were pulled from the boneyard and sent to the bombing range as range targets for us to bomb and shoot.

I always aimed for something else.

 

[Bandit_Driver]

It is a ashame what the politicans have done to the greatest military on earth. I don't see the harm in something simple as nose art if it boost morale, let them do it.

Thank you to all the service men and women of the US Armed Forces!

 

[brent p h]

EFFFIINNN PRICELESS .... -IM JEALOUS--