Last of the Few

Testimony of Pilot #36

I’m 104 and the last survivor of the Battle of Britain – I want to live to 106 to see my crashed plane fly again.

Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway is the only surviving pilot of the 2,937 who helped to win the Battle of Britain.

Group Captain Paddy Hemingway.103, is united with a World War11 Hurricane at Casement Air base Baldonnel Near Dublin Ireland Paddy baled out of his Hawker Hurricane over the Thames Estuary After after a dog-fight with German Me 109 fighters. He landed safely near Pitsea his aircraft diving into Fobbing Creek Essex.

“I’m not a great man – I’m just a lucky man.” Continue reading

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Hymn to a Humble Hero

Testimony of Pilot # 35

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National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day -Reflections

Testimony of Pilot #34

War and remembrance
No matter the old, “smart” decision makers
No matter the politics
Or “statecraft” of the DC pundits
It was our war
We fought it
Some lost years
Some lost lives
Some lost family
As young’uns we never set out to buy
but still …
We own it
Band of brothers and sisters
WE SHALL EVER BE

National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day is today, March 29th, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of this special memorial observance. This is the purpose:

As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect with solemn reverence upon the valor of a generation that served with honor. We pay tribute to the more than 3 million servicemen and women who left their families to serve bravely, a world away from everything they knew and everyone they loved. From Ia Drang to Khe Sanh, from Hue to Saigon and countless villages in between, they pushed through jungles and rice paddies, heat and monsoon, fighting heroically to protect the ideals we hold dear as Americans. Through more than a decade of combat, over air, land, and sea, these proud Americans upheld the highest traditions of our Armed Forces. Continue reading

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INNOVATION IN ATTACK AVIATION: The A-7 Avionics Case

Blown Slick Series #16

The A-7A/B should be recognized as the end of the line for pure, iron bomb dive bombers including most famously the Dauntless and the A-1 Skyraider, and the A-7D/E as the  beginning of a new era of attack a/c – same airframe and aerodynamics but with a major improvement in the systems/avionics. It is not unreasonable to state that the F/A-18 and F-35 have at their core a technical and operational capability that is Corsair II D/E in design concept technically and philosophically – what we now characterize as “strike fighter.” (F-16, F/A-18, F-35)

The story of the A-7 evolution is a central piece of RG Head’s book, reviewed in the previous post. The following is an excerpt by RG from that story.

The Navy developed the A-7 Corsair II in 1963 to replace the venerable A-4 (A4D). In 1965 the Air Force joined the program, and together they developed the A-7D and E with a revolutionary avionics/weapons delivery system. This is the story of that innovation. Continue reading

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Book Review: US Attack Aviation: Air Force and Navy Light Attack 1916 to the Present

Blown Slick Series #15

The “attack” mission combines the capabilities and objectives of air interdiction, close air support, strike, and what has come to be known as strategic attack.

     “This is a story about flying. It is told by naval aviators, Air Force fighter pilots, and the men who built the airplanes they flew. All served our country with honor. This narrative on attack aviation is a part of our history, an important link from those who were the pioneers of early aviation. They invented ways to use the airplane, built it, maintained it, extended its range, and made it lethal against America’s adversaries. … This story is told using a wide sweep of history over a century, but with concentrations on several case studies that characterize the evolution, technology, and tactics of the time. … The heroes in these stories are the aircraft and the young men (and now women), warts and all, who debated, built, flew, and fought with these aircraft.

These are their stories and their history. We owe them our freedom.” RG Head

Continue reading

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Blown Slick Series update

Blown Slick Series# 14

“… it has been decades since the last significant contribution to airpower theory. Given the shifting character of war and rapid technological change, a solid modern airpower theory will be required for the West to achieve strategic success in future conflicts.” Reviewing Airpower Reborn;The Strategic Concepts of John Warden and John Boyd  by JP ‘Spear’ Mintz

This is an update on the series begun in early 2015 Blown Slick; Light Attack Fast Pursuit Airpower Analysis by Boris.

Since January 2020 I have been primarily focused (and leveraging RememberedSky posts) on supporting my long time friend RG Head (PhD, Brigadier General USAF, Ret) on his just released book US Attack Aviation – Air Force/Navy Light Attack/1916 to Present.

The following is an update on the series and precursor to a  book review which will follow shortly. Continue reading

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H-Grams – The Easter Offensive—Vietnam 1972

War and Remembrance

The actions of Navy aircraft and surface ships in defeating the NVA offensive arguably represent one of the U.S. Navy’s finest hours since World War II. 

Rear Admiral Samuel Cox (USN, Ret), Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command

VA-115 Intruder preparing to launch from USS Midway for a night mission into Vietnam during Linebacker. Painting by 115 pilot Jim Horsely

Remembersky was first posted ten years ago with intent to fill in a perceived gap in Vietnam War stories in regard to USS Midway, Carrier Airwing Five, and in particular  the air-ground missions  in response to the 1972 Easter Offensive. Midway and its airwing had set the record for most days for a carrier on-line in the Gulf of Tonkin and was only one of four carriers to receive the Presidential Unit Citation in that war. And yet, reading multiple books and articles revealed limited stories. There are currently 42 offerings including ten focused on Operation Homecoming and the POW return, the  collection captured in Anthology – RememberedSky Vietnam Air War ’72-’73 Stories.

This site is about the collection of stories and given that 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Easter Offensive and Operation Linebacker I &II, it seems appropriate to offer up sea stories of that timeframe on a broader front. Along the way, H-Grams from Naval History and Heritage Command have been a constant source for great stories and history for Rememberedsky.  I highly recommend your reading of  the current H-Grams by Admiral/Director Samuel Cox:

Below are summaries  to these recent H-Grams  in regard to the  anniversary of the North Vietnamese 30 March 1972 large scale invasion of South Vietnam, and the subsequent U.S. Linebacker I and II operations. Continue reading

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Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 2 of 2)

Testimony of Pilot #33

Will he finally receive the Medal of Honor?

In San Diego Harbor on the USS Midway, now a museum ship , Capt. Royce Williams (USN, Ret) stands next to  an F9F Panther with the silhouettes of four MiGs  under the cockpit. The aircraft and its markings are there as a tribute to the man who downed at least four Russian MiGs in an extraordinary 35+ minutes on one mission on  Nov. 18, 1952. 

For over half a century his achievement was classified; nobody knew what he did that day over the skies of Korea.  If you don’t know his story please see Part One.

Now retired he is one of the Korean War’s forgotten heroes. Royce Williams’ heroics in the Korean War flew under the radar for more than a half-century. Now,  after his heroic engagement with seven Soviet MiG 15s – kept secret for decades – the 97-year-old retired Navy captain could be in line for the Medal of Honor based  on a movement, sponsored by a U.S. Senator and several Navy flag officers.

Royce Williams accomplished what no other American fighter pilot would ever accomplish: Continue reading

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Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 1 of 2)

Testimony of Pilot #32

On Nov. 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator and the top-scoring naval aviator in a Navy jet of the Korean War.

A signed print by prominent military aviation artist Stan Stokes displayed on a wall in the home of the veteran Royce Williams depicts a U.S. Navy F9F-5 Panther fighter jet, which was the plane Williams flew in a dogfight against seven Soviet MiG-15 fighters. (Charlie Neuman/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

On Nov. 18, 1952, during the Korean War, Navy Lt. Royce Williams, along with three other pilots from his fighter squadron, VF-781, launched from the USS Oriskany into the stormy skies over the Sea of Japan. There were more than 250,000 sorties flown by the Navy during that conflict, but the ensuing engagement would end in one of the great feats of aerial combat, yet it was covered up for decades due to the tense political environment of the Cold War. Continue reading

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Flight Into Remembered Sky

Testimony of Pilot #31

Once at a dinner party I was asked by a woman what on earth I had ever seen in military life. I couldn’t answer her, of course.

I couldn’t summon it all, the distant places, the comradeship, the idealism, the youth. I couldn’t tell about flying over the islands long ago, seeing them rise in the blue distance wreathed in legend, the ring of white surf around them… I couldn’t tell about Mahurin being shot down and not a soul seeing him go… I couldn’t tell her about brilliant group commanders or flying with men who later became famous, the days and days of boredom and moments of pure ecstasy, of walking out to the parked planes in the early morning or coming in at dusk when the wind had died to make the last landing of the day …

To fly with the thirty-year-old veterans and finally earn the right to lead yourself, flights, squadrons, a few times the entire group. The great days of youth when you are mispronouncing foreign words and trading dreams.

 Money meant nothing and in a way neither did fame. I couldn’t tell any of that or of the roads along the sea in Honolulu, the dances, the last drinks at the bar, or who Harry Thyng was, or Kasler, or the captain’s wife. James Salter, Burning the Day

Collected years ago, probably from a Sunday Magazine …

Flight Into Remembered Sky

By Thomas French Norton

He didn’t look like the ordinary street bum.

Perhaps it was his eyes, which were clear and blue and focused on some distant horizon. Or his stance. He carried his head up and his shoulders squared. He needed a shave, but he wore a white military mustache thar had seen recent trimming.

Our eyes met for a moment and some kind of recognition passed between us.”Could you spare something for an old B-24 pilot?” he asked.

He had been a tall skinny kid of 20 when he joined the Army Air Corps in 1943. He was sent to Texas, where he went through flight school. It was hard work, he said, but it was exciting and it gave his his first real purpose. He loved every minute in the air. Continue reading

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