Dean Hess, a retired US Air Force Colonel and fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, died last week at the age of 97. Col Hess was a preacher who left the pulpit to become a fighter pilot, and he was a little-known key to the development of the South Korean Air Force. He was most famous, however, for helping rescue orphans during the Korean War: Read more
A South Carolina-based US Marine Corps F/A-18 crashed in Georgia near the end of February. Both of the crewmembers ejected safely.
The F/18A Hornet was conducting low-altitude tactics training when it crashed…
The two-man crew parachuted from the plane…The Marine Corps identified the men as Maj. Roy Nicka, the pilot, and 1st. Lt. Robert Reynolds, the weapons system officer
As with other such incidents, Read more
In a relatively rare occurrence for the big bomber, the US Air Force un-mothballed a 50-year-old B-52 from the storage base in Tucson, AZ, and flew it to Barksdale AFB:
The 53-year-old Stratofortress, tail number 61-1007, nicknamed the “Ghost Rider” had been in storage at the desert in the care of [AMARG] since 2008…Ghost Rider, after upgrades, will become the first B-52 to return to duty from the Boneyard.
The plane was reportedly revived to replace Read more
Last October’s midair collision between two Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16s was blamed on pilot error:
The pilots…were flying in formation, conducting tricky combat maneuvers, with a third F-16 role playing as an attacking enemy. The two pilots lost sight of each other before their right wings collided 16 seconds later in clear skies.
The instructor lost control and ejected; the student returned Read more
While “spouse groups” in the Air Force are technically gender-neutral, the fact remains they are often perceived as re-labeled “wives groups.” They are made up almost exclusively of women who are married to male military members. That leaves male spouses as a potentially underserved minority.
A male spouse at Aviano experienced the results of that long “history”:
Spouses are often assumed to be women and at a commander’s convention with his wife, Lt. Col. Rosie Duarte, the 31st Force Support Squadron commander, there was no exception. When spouses received their gift at the end of the event, [John] Duarte got what every spouse did — a broach.
Duarte decided to found a new group — which is explicitly male. He Read more
The Air Force announced Tuesday that Capt William DuBois was killed when his F-16 crashed “in the Middle East” in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. Officially, the crash was declared not combat related and was said not to have occurred in Iraq or Syria. CNN reported it occurred in Jordan.
As with all such incidents, the Air Force will investigate the cause. The crash follows another recent fatal crash out of Tyndall AFB just last month.
An F-16 pilot from Tyndall AFB was killed last Thursday morning when his jet crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The pilot was civilian Matthew LaCourse, a retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel and 1978 US Air Force Academy graduate. LaCourse was a part of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, which is the unit fielding the pilotless QF-16s as full-scale drones. He had previously topped 2,000 hours in the F-4/QF-4, which preceded the QF-16.
As with all mishaps, Read more
The following video captures the audio of a (genuine) 1966 spoof public affairs interview, in which a fighter pilot gives “real” answers to a reporter’s questions, and a Public Affairs officer then “translates,” with the repetitive lead-in, “what the Captain means…”
Some might say the “filter” from front line reality to the media portrayed in the piece is as true today as it was then.
Warning: The audio contains multiple profanities — in answer to every single question.
The video was reportedly created by two US Air Force PA officers.