Testimony of Pilot -Series
Midway – 4 June 1942 – “Remembered Sky Day” Reflections
1942 - The Year of the Aircraft Carrier Please note the six new options on the Home page to allow quick access to the major subject matter threads for RememberedSky As a wingman on an "Alpha strike" to targets in North Vietnam during Linebacker I in 1972 - with 30 -40 A-7s, A-6’s, F-4’s, bombers, fighters, Iron-Hand, MiG Cap, tankers, Electronic Warfare birds and an E-2 control, inbound was both a time of anticipation and building tension, and additionally, a period of just waiting and thinking. Over several dozens of these Alphas in an 11 month cruise, I don’t [...]
Fight’s ON: Aerial Attack in California
Testimony of Pilot #38 Vegetation fires, or wildland fires, are the closest thing to military aerial combat a civilian pilot will ever get. Thanks to Ray “Drifty,” DiLorenzo, a former California fire pilot now living in Montana. And to Skip Leonard for the post in his daily “List.” This is a unique and most important story telling about a different kind of flying than those of us he and I mostly write about – fast mover aviation by Navy, Marine and Air Force fighter/attack/strike fighter pilots. This type of ” Attack” down in the weeds and canyons with high gust [...]
Fight’s On: The Aviator Cancer Examination Study (ACES) Act – H.R 4886 > H.R.530
Testimony of Pilot #37 On October 15, 2021 Commander Thomas ‘Boot’ Hill, Navy F-4 and F-14 fighter pilot, passed away from esophageal cancer. A-6 pilot Capt. Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly died from melanoma of the brain on 16 March 2014. Randy Anderson, Navy F-8, F-4, and Air Guard F-105 pilot died from Glioblastoma – brain cancer – 0n 4 Dec 2007. Randy was my best friend out of college and roommate for the first half of flight school, until he got married and we went off to two different air stations for advanced flight training. ‘Snako’ and I were in the [...]
Last of the Few
Group Captain John Hemingway, now 104, was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. He is the last known surviving member of the group Sir Winston Churchill famously described as “the few”.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
TAILHOOK…A Gift
Testimony of Pilot # 30 The organization of carrier aviation – Tailhook – held its annual convention in Reno Nevada 9-11 Sept. As indicated above, this year’s focus was on the Vietnam war. The comments below – indeed the moving testimony of a Vietnam era Naval Aviator’s son – are, I submit, well worth a read! Tailhook -21 – My debrief by Rodd KarpI was given the gift to attend Tailhook this year by Richard ‘Smokey’ Powell. I didn’t know what to expect, and as we’ve heard described by those with much more experience than ourselves, regarding Junior Officers and [...]
Phantoms to WartHogs
Testimony of Pilot # 29 ‘Dogfighting makes movies. Close air support wins wars,’ Colonel Steve Ladd (USAF, Ret) recently published From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog; Memoirs of a Cold War Fighter Pilot, and has graciously provided RememberedSky with a key excerpt particularly pertinent to RS’s major thread of air-ground or attack missions recently catalogued and highlighted in the post Anthology – RememberedSky Vietnam Airwar ’72-73 Stories. Note that definitive of US Air Force usage, despite half of Steve’s 4000+ hour career in the A-10 attack aircraft, he refers to himself as a fighter pilot, and indeed in both the [...]
Blogroll
Testimony of Pilot -Series
Midway – 4 June 1942 – “Remembered Sky Day” Reflections
1942 - The Year of the Aircraft Carrier Please note the six new options on the Home page to allow quick access to the major subject matter threads for RememberedSky As a wingman on an "Alpha strike" to targets in North Vietnam during Linebacker I in 1972 - with 30 -40 A-7s, A-6’s, F-4’s, bombers, fighters, Iron-Hand, MiG Cap, tankers, Electronic Warfare birds and an E-2 control, inbound was both a time of anticipation and building tension, and additionally, a period of just waiting and thinking. Over several dozens of these Alphas in an 11 month cruise, I don’t [...]
Fight’s ON: Aerial Attack in California
Testimony of Pilot #38 Vegetation fires, or wildland fires, are the closest thing to military aerial combat a civilian pilot will ever get. Thanks to Ray “Drifty,” DiLorenzo, a former California fire pilot now living in Montana. And to Skip Leonard for the post in his daily “List.” This is a unique and most important story telling about a different kind of flying than those of us he and I mostly write about – fast mover aviation by Navy, Marine and Air Force fighter/attack/strike fighter pilots. This type of ” Attack” down in the weeds and canyons with high gust [...]
Fight’s On: The Aviator Cancer Examination Study (ACES) Act – H.R 4886 > H.R.530
Testimony of Pilot #37 On October 15, 2021 Commander Thomas ‘Boot’ Hill, Navy F-4 and F-14 fighter pilot, passed away from esophageal cancer. A-6 pilot Capt. Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly died from melanoma of the brain on 16 March 2014. Randy Anderson, Navy F-8, F-4, and Air Guard F-105 pilot died from Glioblastoma – brain cancer – 0n 4 Dec 2007. Randy was my best friend out of college and roommate for the first half of flight school, until he got married and we went off to two different air stations for advanced flight training. ‘Snako’ and I were in the [...]
Last of the Few
Group Captain John Hemingway, now 104, was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. He is the last known surviving member of the group Sir Winston Churchill famously described as “the few”.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
TAILHOOK…A Gift
Testimony of Pilot # 30 The organization of carrier aviation – Tailhook – held its annual convention in Reno Nevada 9-11 Sept. As indicated above, this year’s focus was on the Vietnam war. The comments below – indeed the moving testimony of a Vietnam era Naval Aviator’s son – are, I submit, well worth a read! Tailhook -21 – My debrief by Rodd KarpI was given the gift to attend Tailhook this year by Richard ‘Smokey’ Powell. I didn’t know what to expect, and as we’ve heard described by those with much more experience than ourselves, regarding Junior Officers and [...]
Phantoms to WartHogs
Testimony of Pilot # 29 ‘Dogfighting makes movies. Close air support wins wars,’ Colonel Steve Ladd (USAF, Ret) recently published From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog; Memoirs of a Cold War Fighter Pilot, and has graciously provided RememberedSky with a key excerpt particularly pertinent to RS’s major thread of air-ground or attack missions recently catalogued and highlighted in the post Anthology – RememberedSky Vietnam Airwar ’72-73 Stories. Note that definitive of US Air Force usage, despite half of Steve’s 4000+ hour career in the A-10 attack aircraft, he refers to himself as a fighter pilot, and indeed in both the [...]