TU-95 Bear Intercept

[delta6 0]

For those who like the new F-101B, and Intercepting the TU-95 BEAR, here is a true story for you. Link attached.

 

RCAF/CF Voodoos made numerous Bear intercepts over the years. In a typical case, on June 26, 1968, 416 Squadron was on alert at Chatham with two Voodoos on 5- and two others on 15-minute readiness. Lead for the latter pair was F/L R.D. "Pat" Pattison (his AI nav was S/L Ron Neeves). Pattison recalls:

 

It was a clear summer day and we on alert were busy getting bored by sitting and reading, watching TV, or playing cards to pass the time. As we lazed about just after lunch, the scramble horn sounded and away dashed the 5-minute crews, strapping in, firing up and taxying out of the barn for takeoff. With burners lit, they lifted off Runway 27, carved around to the east and disappeared from sight in their A/B climb.

 

This was a "hot" scramble. Now the 15-minute crews came up to 5-minute status. We got the information that Northern NORAD radar had picked up a trio of unidentified aircraft coming down between Iceland and Greenland, heading for Newfoundland. The GCI radar operators were certain that these were Russian bombers, which had radar of their own -- they soon picked up the incoming blips of our Voodoos. To confound our efforts, they set up an enormous 100-mile holding pattern over international Atlantic waters. This caused the Voodoos to burn excessive fuel, forcing them to set course for Gander.

 

Having shaken off the first pursuers, the Russians completed their holding pattern and returned to their original track of 235° at 35,000 feet. Now GCI decided to scramble the new 5-minute alert birds to see if they could catch the Russians with their pants down. The horn sounded and off we scrambled. Ron and I donned our Mae West and parachutes, sprang up the ladder and into the cockpit, hooked up the seat pack connections, Mae West and oxygen, then I hit the start switches to bring the engines to life. In 2 1/2 minutes we were taxying and closing the canopy. I plugged in the burners and quickly lifted off, climbed and bent around to the right onto the initial vector of 090°, then came out of burner. No.2 was a bit slower getting airborne, but he caught me in the climb.

 

We torqued eastbound at Mach .85 at 35,000 feet -- GCI wanted us to get there ASAP. They called "Gate", we stroked the burners and were rocketing along at Mach 1.3 over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Ron soon had a radar contact with three aircraft flying line astern each about five miles apart. Now cruising at .85, we picked their leader as our target, called that we were taking over from GCI, then heard our wingman declare Bingo fuel. He was breaking off and heading for Gander for fuel. We had more than enough fuel to complete the intercept, so wondered about this. But, rather than argue, I told him to get lost. Now we rolled in two miles behind the lead bogie, so we could make a visual ident. To protect against possible Bear retaliation (i.e. cannon fire from the tail turret), I had my missiles timed out and armed, ready to launch with the squeeze of the trigger. As we closed to minimum launch range, I noticed that the tail stinger was locked up in the caged position, so wasn't ready to track and fire. My heart beat slowed, I let the missiles revert to passive mode, and we continued with our vis-ident.

 

We had intercepted a Tu-20 Bear "D", a huge, swept-wing bomber with giant counter-rotating propellers. As we came abreast of its tail, we noted a large perspex bubble. Sitting there were three crewmen waving at us. Then they hauled out a copy of "Playboy" and showed us the centerfold! They gave us the thumbs-up and we returned the gesture. We now moved along to the cockpit, where the co-pilot was eyeing us. We signalled that they were in Canadian airspace and should follow our orders. We positioned ourselves at their 1 o'clock, waggled our wings and turned seaward. Lead followed, as did the other two Bears. Once they were over international waters, they headed south (probably to Cuba) and we set course for Gander. We landed with 2000 pounds of fuel, enough for a couple of overshoots and close-patterns. We taxied in, shut down, then debriefed the NORAD guys as our Voodoo was refuelled. On reaching Chatham later that day, I executed a victory roll over the field, pitched out and landed to be welcomed by the CO.

 

Over the years I've been asked about pictures of this exciting intercept. The first 2-ship that had scrambled carried hand-held 35-mm cameras. They missed the chance for photos, and we were not equipped with cameras. Later, a Canadian general, quizzing us about photos, reamed us out for not coming home with any. His USAF counterpart sent us each a Certificate of Recognition for our good show. Makes you think, doesn't it!

 

http://www.canavbooks.com/Editorial/TheGreatArrowDebate.php

[Syrinx 13]

Cool.

 

You can never get enough of these kind of anecdotes in my book.

[Rambler 1-1 9]

wow, I didn't even know that the Voodoos were ever scrambled. Perhaps I'll try to reenact that with the F-101B and the bear that are up here now...

[mppd 16]

Goose AB was used as a forward operating base by CAF and ADC interceptors from 1968. Here is a little historical blurb (hope it is not too boring):

 

Per NORAD directive dated 05 March 1968: Due to increasing Soviet air activity off the Labrador Coast, the 416th AW(F) Squadron at CFB Chatham will establish an alert detachment at Goose AB with two CF-101B aircraft on armed 5-minute alert.

 

On 01 October 1968 ADC drew up an operationas plan known as College Shaft, which charged the closest ADC F-106 squadron to be able to deploy two Delta Dart aircraft to Goose AB, Labrador for possible use in identifying intruding Soviet bombers penetrating the Greenland-Iceland-U.K. (GIUK) Line, which had been occurring with increasing frequency during the year. Soviet Bear bombers woiuld frequently fly through Icelandic airspace (escorted by F-102As of the 57th FIS) and head towards the North American continent, intercepted by CAF CF-101B and ADC F-106 aircraft, then would continue on down the east coast to land in Cuba. The 27th FIS at Loring AFB, Maine was the first assigned College Shaft squadron. On 13 May 1969, after 3 TU-95 Bear bombers penetrated the GIUK Line, 2 F-106As of the 27th FIS were scrambled from Loring, landed at Goose and were refueled, then intercepted the Bear bombers 150 miles from the North American continent (700 miles from Loring). This was the first time that east coast CONUS-based ADC interceptors made contact with Soviet bombers. The Bears turned back after interception. ADC interceptors from Iceland and Alaska had already made interceptions of Soviet bombers previously.

 

Mike D.