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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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Of tin gods and STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Testimony of Pilot #27 There are much safer and more bountiful ways to proceed successfully through life than jumping into a “tin” fast mover, looking for fun and adventure playing with the clouds or screaming down some riverbed at 100 feet with your rear end on fire. This is strikingly and soberingly true when you are called to do for real what you’ve been trained for, war from the air. This post is for the wives who wait… sometimes in vain… for the return of their tin gods from that charge into the fire. These women most assuredly were and [...]
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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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Of tin gods and STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Testimony of Pilot #27 There are much safer and more bountiful ways to proceed successfully through life than jumping into a “tin” fast mover, looking for fun and adventure playing with the clouds or screaming down some riverbed at 100 feet with your rear end on fire. This is strikingly and soberingly true when you are called to do for real what you’ve been trained for, war from the air. This post is for the wives who wait… sometimes in vain… for the return of their tin gods from that charge into the fire. These women most assuredly were and [...]