Vietnam War
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 [...]
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 [...]
Anthology – RememberedSky Vietnam Air War ’72-’73 Stories
Testimony of Pilot # 28 “Those of us who came home will never forget those who could not ” Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association My return to Schoolboy from first combat mission, 28 April, 1972. Photo by Keith ‘Floo’ LaFlair Rememberedsky was begun so as to tell stories from the ’72-73 Vietnam War beginning with response to the North Vietnamese 30 March Easter Offensive, on into Linebacker I & II operations by the USS Midway Carrier Airwing Five (CAG 5) and inclusive fighter and attack squadrons – VF-151, VF-161, VFP-63, VA-56, VA-93, and VA-115. Perspective [...]
Missmus Bismus #4: Epilogue
Testimony of Pilot# 26 I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable. — Viktor Frankl All I claim to know is that laughter is the most reliable gauge of human nature. — Feodor Dostoyevsky At the ‘Prom’ – Mike ‘Manny’ Bader, Kent Bader, Ed ‘Boris’ Beakley, Paulette Beakley The four part Missbus Bismus series is based on memories brought on by the Christmas season and particularly those of 1972 during the Vietnam War. I’ve tried very hard to center the writing [...]
Missmus Bismus #3: Shangri-La…found
Testimony of Pilot# 25 The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow. Socrates The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark Twain Shangri-La is a fictional place sought and wished for by many, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley amongst high mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. USS Midway and Airwing Five had deployed seven weeks early because of the North [...]
Missmus Bismus #2: The Ornaments
Testimony of Pilot# 24 Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas USS Midway in San Diego Harbor. Photo by Sandi Whitteker. Remembered Sky was introduced on September 15th of 2012 and the first post included the introductory piece of Ghosts Of Christmas Past written for Christmas 1999 in relation to the upcoming first meeting over the holidays with “Frenchy”- fellow Naval Aviator and my future son-in-law. Ghosts offered the words of writers like James Michener and Herman Wouk as Christmas “ornaments” collected over a career and love affair with flying and Naval Aviation. Originally sent along the old-boy naval aviator e-mail chain, it was [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]
TOPGUN – Book Recommendation (2)
Highest recommendation for Dan Pedersen’s (CAPT. USN, Ret) just released book TOPGUN; An American Story … we sent our people out there not trained for dogfighting. We sent the aircraft out there not equipped for dogfighting… and we got into nose-nose combat situations where neither the guy flying the airplane nor the airplane itself had ever fired a missile. Further, based on the expected nature of air war and our technical developments to intercept bombers at long range, we have lost expertise and continuity in ‘being dogfighters’ … there is a need to establish a fighter weapons school to reverse this trend [...]
Scream of Eagles – Happy Birthday TOPGUN (1)
As the first of two parts recognizing 50 years of training fighter pilots/instructors the below is a modified version of the article written for TOPGUN’s 40th anniversary and serves as introduction for a book review of TOPGUN; An American Story by Captain Dan Pederson USN, Retired, the founder and first Officer -In -Charge. Fifty years ago, the first Fighter Weapons School -TOPGUN – class was in their second week of“graduate level” fighter pilot education and training in an old trailer next to the VF-121 hangar at Naval Air Station Miramar. (3 March 1969 start date) They were there because eagles screamed. [...]
War and Remembrance 18 December 1972; Linebacker II and the General Who Made It So
On the third night of LB II three B-52s were shot down on the first raid. Seventh Air Force Headquarters Headquarters in Saigon and SAC Headquarters in Omaha went into shock. As a result they recalled the six B-52Gs targeted for Hanoi on the second raid, with the result that the North Vietnamese had done something that the Germans, Japanese, Soviets, Chinese, and North Koreans had never been able to to achieve - they had made an American bombing raid abort for fear of losses (Michelle, The Eleven Days of Christmas). On the third wave, two more G's were lost with [...]
Blogroll
Vietnam War
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 [...]
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 [...]
Anthology – RememberedSky Vietnam Air War ’72-’73 Stories
Testimony of Pilot # 28 “Those of us who came home will never forget those who could not ” Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association My return to Schoolboy from first combat mission, 28 April, 1972. Photo by Keith ‘Floo’ LaFlair Rememberedsky was begun so as to tell stories from the ’72-73 Vietnam War beginning with response to the North Vietnamese 30 March Easter Offensive, on into Linebacker I & II operations by the USS Midway Carrier Airwing Five (CAG 5) and inclusive fighter and attack squadrons – VF-151, VF-161, VFP-63, VA-56, VA-93, and VA-115. Perspective [...]
Missmus Bismus #4: Epilogue
Testimony of Pilot# 26 I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable. — Viktor Frankl All I claim to know is that laughter is the most reliable gauge of human nature. — Feodor Dostoyevsky At the ‘Prom’ – Mike ‘Manny’ Bader, Kent Bader, Ed ‘Boris’ Beakley, Paulette Beakley The four part Missbus Bismus series is based on memories brought on by the Christmas season and particularly those of 1972 during the Vietnam War. I’ve tried very hard to center the writing [...]
Missmus Bismus #3: Shangri-La…found
Testimony of Pilot# 25 The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow. Socrates The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark Twain Shangri-La is a fictional place sought and wished for by many, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley amongst high mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. USS Midway and Airwing Five had deployed seven weeks early because of the North [...]
Missmus Bismus #2: The Ornaments
Testimony of Pilot# 24 Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas USS Midway in San Diego Harbor. Photo by Sandi Whitteker. Remembered Sky was introduced on September 15th of 2012 and the first post included the introductory piece of Ghosts Of Christmas Past written for Christmas 1999 in relation to the upcoming first meeting over the holidays with “Frenchy”- fellow Naval Aviator and my future son-in-law. Ghosts offered the words of writers like James Michener and Herman Wouk as Christmas “ornaments” collected over a career and love affair with flying and Naval Aviation. Originally sent along the old-boy naval aviator e-mail chain, it was [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]
TOPGUN – Book Recommendation (2)
Highest recommendation for Dan Pedersen’s (CAPT. USN, Ret) just released book TOPGUN; An American Story … we sent our people out there not trained for dogfighting. We sent the aircraft out there not equipped for dogfighting… and we got into nose-nose combat situations where neither the guy flying the airplane nor the airplane itself had ever fired a missile. Further, based on the expected nature of air war and our technical developments to intercept bombers at long range, we have lost expertise and continuity in ‘being dogfighters’ … there is a need to establish a fighter weapons school to reverse this trend [...]
Scream of Eagles – Happy Birthday TOPGUN (1)
As the first of two parts recognizing 50 years of training fighter pilots/instructors the below is a modified version of the article written for TOPGUN’s 40th anniversary and serves as introduction for a book review of TOPGUN; An American Story by Captain Dan Pederson USN, Retired, the founder and first Officer -In -Charge. Fifty years ago, the first Fighter Weapons School -TOPGUN – class was in their second week of“graduate level” fighter pilot education and training in an old trailer next to the VF-121 hangar at Naval Air Station Miramar. (3 March 1969 start date) They were there because eagles screamed. [...]
War and Remembrance 18 December 1972; Linebacker II and the General Who Made It So
On the third night of LB II three B-52s were shot down on the first raid. Seventh Air Force Headquarters Headquarters in Saigon and SAC Headquarters in Omaha went into shock. As a result they recalled the six B-52Gs targeted for Hanoi on the second raid, with the result that the North Vietnamese had done something that the Germans, Japanese, Soviets, Chinese, and North Koreans had never been able to to achieve - they had made an American bombing raid abort for fear of losses (Michelle, The Eleven Days of Christmas). On the third wave, two more G's were lost with [...]