Category Archives: Fighter Pilot

WWII, Korean War Ace Slips the Surly Bonds

Ret. Col. Walker “Bud” “Honest John” Mahurin, credited with 24.25 kills in both WWII theatres and the Korean War, passed away on May 11 at the age of 91.  Besides shooting down aircraft in three theatres, Mahurin had the dubious honor of being shot down in each one.  He escaped France with the aid of the French resistance (as did Chuck Yeager).  Yeager talked his way into continuing to fly in Europe (despite his exposure to the underground); Mahurin went to the Pacific theatre instead.  In the later conflict, Mahurin was a Korean POW for 16 months.

For those who are wondering, “honest John” Read more

F-15C Ends Training, End of an Era

The F-15C Eagle, the US Air Force’s only dedicated air superiority fighter, has just seen its last class of students graduate, at least on the active duty side.  The five-man B-course graduated May 14th.  The Oregon National Guard will continue to train Guard pilots, at least until the Air Force finally retires the Eagle.

Their graduation speaker was retired Brigadier General Steve Ritchie, the only Air Force officer to become an ace in Vietnam.

The Tyndall B-course was also the scene for American Fighter Pilot (reviewed here), a short-lived “reality” series following a trio of students through training.

US Still Training Afghan Military in Basics

The US military has been in an “advisory” role to the Afghan military for years.  An interesting article at the Air Force Times notes some of the challenges occurring even now, as the deadline for removing forces from Afghanistan begins to approach:

Even after more than a year, the 500 Afghan airmen in Kandahar still grapple with the basics — even personal hygiene. The dining hall workers still have to be told to wash their hands before they handle food.  The pilots sometimes refuse to land their Mi-17s [helicopters] because they’re too tired, forcing their American advisers to take the controls.

Sounds like they still need a little work.

Airstrike Limits Frustrate Ground Forces, Pilots

The Air Force Times reports on comments from troops in Afghanistan that the restrictions on airstrikes over the past year have emboldened the adversary.  While the mere sight of B-52 contrails was once enough to send the enemy scurrying, they now often ignore armed fighters directly overhead.

The Taliban no longer run and hide when they see a fighter jet overhead, brazenness that airmen attribute to the nearly year-old directive to limit close-air support.

[JTACs] and fighter pilots report that insurgents are encouraging Read more

The Next Fighter Aircraft: The FC-130

The US Marines are putting Hellfire surface-attack missiles on one of their less traditional airframes:

A KC-130 aerial refueling tanker/transport.

In fact, it’s a fascinating (if not completely new) idea.  Over the years ideas have been floated from putting hundreds of air-to-air missiles on the B-52 to turning C-5 and C-17 cargo aircraft into bombers.  (The payload of a B-2 is reportedly 40,000lbs.  The C-5: 250,000lbs.)  What were once innovative flights of fancy by aircraft designers and Air Force operators are now standard fare (ie, the addition of Hellfire missiles to the Predator UAV).

Still, a little caution is warranted.  Necessity is often the mother of invention (reference the early AC-119 Gunships in Vietnam).  However, boredom and “mission-envy” sometimes play a role as well.

USAF Not Seeking Light Attack Aircraft

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz has apparently said the Air Force is buying light attack aircraft — like the AT-6 — but not for its own use, as some thought late last year.

“What you’re suggesting here is we need a light strike, light attack platform to perform our organic requirements and I would argue that there is a limited need for that. Again, with the platforms that we already have in our force structure, in our capability, we can service any close-air support requirement. As simple as that”…

The Air Force’s sole purpose for buying the light aircraft, Schwartz said, is to help poorer nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan establish Read more

The True Enemy of Military Efficiency: PowerPoint

Someone recently asked what fighter pilots do when they’re not flying.  Here’s a pretty good answer, and it’s mostly serious.

The New York Times takes an interesting look at the US military’s reliance on Microsoft’s PowerPoint, to the point that Army officers in combat freely admit they spend more time creating slides than they do fighting the enemy.  They aren’t the only ones; the military has entire rooms of staff personnel whose entire purpose in life is to generate PowerPoint slides.

If it can’t be said in three, one-line bullets, (14 point font, black on white background, of course) it appears it shouldn’t be said.

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