Cliff7600

Hi I started a thread called "Tactics for reco mission" and I had some great advices about how to deal with recce flights. We made reports and tried different ideas. Maybe you'll find it with the "search thing" because it's out of sight now. It was in the Thirdwire general discussion section. Hope it'll help! Cliff

Hi Gepard, I've added a Royal Navy FAA squadron flying SeaVixen FAW1 and I was wondering which nations to ally with each side. According to you, who's going to fight with the UK side and who with the French side? Cliff

Hey Lt, sorry that your french wingmen wasn't skilled enough... (Jean Lefebvre was a french actor, playing often silly characters. Btw, John Sykes is a tremendous british rock guitar player. ) Anyway... 7th mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 11/06/68 Take off : 11.23 – Landing : 12.53 Target : Schwerin, CAP 2 IL-28 Tomahawk 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Tomahawk 12 : 2Lt Jerry Watson Tomahawk 13 : Capt Clifton Massen Tomahawk 14 : 2Lt Gerald Day Tomahawk 21 : Maj Richard Howerton Tomahawk 22 : 1Lt Edward Thomas Tomahawk 23 : 1Lt Eldon Rose Tomahawk 24 : 2Lt Billy Pickett Report : Once again, we flew 2 sections, Major Howerton led the 2nd one. We went to Schwerin, further in the enemy lines. I like that. All went Ok, the weather was clear and we followed the flight plan. We engaged 4 Il-28 Beagles. Two of them were flying alone and we jumped on the first one all 8 together. I launched my SuperFalcon and my AIM-4Gs and went to chase the second bomber with my number 2. I thought that they would shot down the first bomber ; they were 6 fighters against 1 bandit. I locked on my target and took him out with my second AIM-4F. But they didn’t got the first bandit! I called for #2 to attack it, and he finally shot him down. We were told to RTB and set a course to home base. As usual, the egress wasn’t that easy with MiG-19 trying to engage second flight. Maj Howerton tried to shoot one down without success and Billy escaped from another one, climbing hard full power. I’ve noticed that Tomahawk 13 and 14 were quite far from the fight and I know that Capt Massen is trying to get his 5th kill. I think he would have made ace if he had stayed with us today… but it’s only my opinion.

Aw! Bad news... No-one will tell you how to deal with triple A, but Slartibartfast's remark sounds right. It's a huge price to pay for your bravery. Best DiD pilot ever! #1 without contest. 45 combat missions is the record.

Hey Unknown, that sucks! Hope you'll get that fixed soon... 6th mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 11/05/68 Take off : 10.23 – Landing : 11.40 Target : Wunstorf, Sweep 1 MiG-17, 1 MiG-21 Memphis 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Memphis 12 : 2Lt Clayton Jefferson Memphis 13 : Capt Clifton Massen Memphis 14 : 2Lt Gerald Day Memphis 21 : Maj Richard Howerton Memphis 22 : 2Lt Norman Howenton Memphis 23 : Capt Rolland Kullman Memphis 24 : 2Lt Billy Pickett Report : Big show today, we must go to Wunstorf and clean the sky from enemy threats. No less than 2 sections, I’m in charge of the first and the Major Howerton will lead the second. I feel confident with my team but before we flew over the tasked area, we were told to RTB. We stayed and tried to engage any fighters and there were few bandits left. I hunted a MiG-17 and took him out with an AIM-4F. I went after another one but went Winchester. I radioed Memphis 12 to take care of him but the guy answered “Unable”. So I decided to broke up, but realized soon that it could be more dangerous for my wingmen to turn back than to fight. I climbed to have a high level rendez-vous and everybody managed to rejoin. Capt Kullman shot down a MiG-21 to clear the way, as usual Capt Massen left far behind searching for one more kill, but my number 2 didn’t made it and a MiG shot him down. He was rescued but wounded. Back to Wiesbaden, there were a bunch of Phantoms, asking their clearance at the same time we did. I landed first, but Billy (Memphis 24) waited damn long before he could land. 2 for 1 ain’t a success to me, but I got promoted to 1Lt grade and I got a citation for the Air Medal. I’m honoured and proud to serve with my squadron, and I will not take that citation for my own. The whole squad deserves it. _

F-106 Vs MiG-17 5th mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 11/04/68 Take off : 09.33 – Landing : 10.22 Target : Osnabrück, Sweep 2 MiG-17 Fresco, 1 MiG-19 Farmer Zebra 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Zebra 12 : 2Lt Billy Pickett Zebra 13 : Capt Clifton Massen Zebra 14 : 1Lt Fred Sumner Report : Sweep over Osnabrück today. I know that we have to engage enemy fighters but the point is to fight the most important threat and not to be left aside of the main fight. We joined Osnabrück and there were few dogfights here and there. Who to engage? We left a MiG-19 with a F-4 on his tail. And we finally met some Su-15. I engaged one of them and launched 2 AIM-4G which didn’t hit the target. Zebra 13 and 14 engaged MiG-17 and MiG-21 and were in a big mess. So Billy and I went to help them. We arrived too late, 1Lt Sumner had been shot down before. I managed to get a lock on one of the Fresco but I was too close and wasn’t able to fire neither a AIM-4F or a AIM-26B. So I decided to break up. But before RTB, I had to be sure that none of my wingmen would be shot at while returning. I went to rescue Zebra 13 and this time I was far enough to fire a Falcon. The AIM-4F took out the Fresco after I carefully checked that I was aiming a bandit and not a F-106. But I saw flashing yellow lights reflecting on my canopy, “Someone is firing at me, I must escape now!” and I went to the deck, full burner, making a wide turn to gain some speed. I thought it was a Fresco so it wouldn’t be able to follow if I reach max speed. As a fact , Capt Massen told me my six was ok and we set a course to the south. There was a spot on the scope, right ahead, and it wasn’t identified as a friend. I locked on him and fired the remaining AIM-4F and AIM-26. The first one was the good and I had my second victory of the day. Nothing to fight ahead we kept a low altitude as we were still above enemies positions. Zebra 12 was followed by two bandits but they didn’t caught him up and gave up. Same difficulty as usual to make a decent approach but everything went alright, the weather was shinny. Capt Massen have had a MiG-19 but we don’t know what happened to 1Lt Sumner…

Hi, I'm currently playing a NF4 F-106 campaign and I found it difficult to see the runway when I land. I'd rather say impossible... I know that there is many F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart pilots who find those planes awesome (I'm amongst them). But how do you manage the lack of visibility ahead?

Hi, I'd like to make the following request : A terrain as simple as the bombing range, but dedicated to a race track, like Reno air races. The aim is to race against the time, not against another plane. I know there's must be targets but just a hangar is enough? I think it should be done like the bombing range, 2 differents terrains (friendly/enemy), in order not to be hunted while racing. The track could be delimited by 150 ft tall pylons (yes somebody have to model them), and a way point should be placed at the location of each pylon. I know that in the Bering Straight terrain, there's big red and white antennas that could be perfect for that... The thing is to have a track with a precise length, like 100 kilometers, to establish speed records (with stock settings of course). I find it fun to use those war planes like race cars for a while :) It's just an idea... the fact is I'm not skilled enough to do it myself, it's not an excuse, I'm willing to help if I can. Cliff

Great terrain Baltika , but I didn't find Chtulhu yet. Let me share with you what I discovered : I looove the Attu Islands Air Base approach, heading 210. I did it in a F-111. The mountain is too high to perform the direct approach, the F-111 should have been too fast to land safely. So it requires a landing pattern but there's just enough place between the outermarker and the mountain to make the final 180° turn at ~150knt. It looks like a carrier landing! After a 2 hours and 50' long flight that's a great surprise! (none of my wingmen survived the approach) Thanks for that challenging terrain!

4th mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 11/03/68 Take off : 08.51 – Landing : 09.33 Target : Merseburg, Escort Trout flight (4 F-100D) Olds 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Olds 12 : 2Lt Gerald Day Report : Today, it was a good flight. Good weather, good timing and we engaged the enemy. But we cannot be proud of the result. We missed the rendez-vous with Trout flight, it seems the flight plan wasn’t appropriate, we respected it till the IP. Trout finally attacked from the north and we were coming from the south… There were fighters everywhere and we tried to engage somebody. On the way back, a bandit came close to us, he was chasing another allied fighter. The visibility was very good and I engaged him, Olds 12 covering me. I came very close to him, it was a MiG-17 Fresco, he was so close. I launched my 2 AIM-4G and both went wide. I was too close to launch the AIM-26 or AIM-4F so I started to slow down to have the good fire range. Then I saw a missile coming from starboard heading to the MiG and hitting him. He was smoking, downed by another pilot who didn’t wait for me to take out the Fresco. Too bad! We returned home and I was obviously too slow in every aspects of my flying today because Gerald overtook me as I was on final approach and landed just before me although I was number one, according to approach… “One must be fast” seems to be the meaning of the day!

Here's a screenshot of my latest landing. It was a good landing and I watched the VOR to keep the runway alignement. I guess it will become easier with more practise... Thanks for the answers _

3rd mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 11/02/68 Take off : 07.19 – Landing : 07.51 Target : Geilenkirchen, intercept 2 IL-28 Beagle Asp 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Asp 12 : 2Lt Norman Howerton Report : Roger hasn’t been rescued yet, I must stay to replace him and there will be further investigations later. Today I will carry only radar guided weaponry, no IR. 3 AIM-4F and 2 AIM-26B. With 2Lt Howerton we scramble to intercept enemy raid near Geilenkirchen. We must be fast so we climbed to level 10 and keep an average mach 1 speed using the burner. Today the weather is sunny and that’s good news. We soon jump on the bombers, they don’t have a chance. My second launch was the good one and the AIM-26B destroyed the first Beagle. The second one was harder to take out, my last AIM-4F did the job. As I was looking the Beagle falling to the ground, I noticed that Asp 12 was just behind him and if I have launched an IR missile he may have been hit instead of the bandit. There something wrong, we cannot hunt the same prey using IR missile that way. _

Lt Col J. Sykes is going to be a Vietnam war veteran, are you planning a Linebacker campaign? Unknown, the F-106 is great but you cannot see anything with the original cockpit because of the V windshield. It isn't a problem for take off, the flying and the fighting, but when the landing comes, it's a guessing about where is the runway. I know there is several guys who flew the NF4 campaign in the F-102 or something like that. I don't know if they find it easy to land without seeing anything ahead. I'll ask that... 2nd mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 10/31/68 Take off : 11.44 – Landing : 12.23 Target : Gûtersloh, sweep 1 F-106 (friendly fire) Memphis 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Memphis 12 : 2Lt Roger Radeker Report : I’m in trouble! This was a sweep mission over Gütersloh and the weather was really cloudy. 2Lt Radeker was my number 2 and we followed the flight plan to IP. A bandit engaged us and we got the clearance to open fire. It was really easy to get his 6 and I saw him pushing hard full burner to escape. I fired the AIM-26 and then an AIM-4F and both went wide. Then I switched to the AIM-4G and got a lock. I fired and I heard that call “check your fire”. F…, I’ve shot at the wrong plane. The bandit was still ahead and I pushed full throttle to catch him, flying IRF. I fired the remaining missiles without success. I called for Memphis 12. No answer… Back to the base, I was informed that there was no other fighter than us over that area when I did the friendly kill. I’ve shot down 2Lt Roger Radeker over enemy lines… _

Congrats Lt. you've made it. 40 flight hours and 33 missions, that's very impressive! Talking about being embarrassed, I need advice about my current pilot, I don't know exactly what to do : end the campaign or go on with it. The problem is I've just shot down my wingman and he's reported MIA. (We were chasing the bandit in the clouds) I think it's unrealistic that the pilot can fly after that. Tell me... Cliff PS: With the F-106, all is beyond vision range, even the landing...

Lt. you're crazy! You're playing with Lady Luck. May I suggest you take one day off? My new DiD pilot : 1st mission 2Lt Sean Rosewood 87th FIS, Wiesbaden-Erbenheim – F-106A Delta Dart 10/29/68 Take off : 11.14 – Landing : 11.44 Target : Eisenach, CAP 2 Il-28 Beagle Buick 11 : 2Lt Sean Rosewood Buick 12 : 2Lt Norman Howenton Buick 13 : Capt Clifton Massen Buick 14 : 1Lt Fred Sumner Report : First mission in Europe, the weather is horrible, thick fog. We’re tasked to patrol near Eisenach with a 4 fighters flight. As we don’t expect to carry the AIR-2 Genie, we choose to load an AIM-26B with the regular AIM-4Fs and Gs. We took off and when we reached the patrol level (21) we were over the cloud. So they know what the sun is here! Tactical Control told us to RTB cause other flights did our job. I decided to see what was going on there and we went down near the ground. Control guided us to the show and I locked a guy beyond vision range. Control confirmed fire granted and I tried the SuperFalcon, no success. Then an AIM-4F and it went wide. I made a 270 turn to get the 6 of my bandit, an IL-28 Beagle. My first AIM-4G buzzed instantly and I fired it. Bull’s eye! I saw the smoking wreck going to the ground. That was ok for today. I set the course to WP7, but… another Beagle was just in front of me. My MA-1 locked on him and I launched an AIM-4F which went directly in the bomber. Twooo! We climbed over the clouds and get back home. With the fog, the landing pattern was difficult to perform and I made an awful approach. But the Six is maneuverable, and I landed without problem. Fred’s landing wasn’t nicer than mine :) _

I think this is a specific Parani MiG-29 skin : http://forum.combata...s&showfile=9001 MiG-29C for 1st generation ThirdWire Series, I don't know if it's Ok without modification...

8th mission was the last for Henry Golfaurla, shot down near Trier, by the Beagle tailguns he was chasing. Lt., you're far ahead. Well done! I'm thinking about the next DiD guy, there's too much choice :) Good luck for all! Cliff

7th mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Brüggen – F-104G Starfighter 08/28/68 Take off : 10.37 – Landing : 10.59 Target : Bonn, CAS Ford 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Ford 12 : 2Lt Jan Peeters Ford 13 : Capt Hans d'Aische Ford 14 : 1Lt Hans Detal Report : What a nightmare… After a week of combats, we’re losing the war. Today, we was tasked to a close air support mission. The F-104 were loaded with rocket pods and a bomb under the belly. Rockeye for no.1, 2 and 4, and no.3 will carry a Mk82, we needed to test that. We decided to follow the flight plan from the beginning until the end, to be the most efficient as possible. After the take off, I realized that the flight plan was making us fly in the clouds. No problem, IFR for everybody, but I turned on the position lights, we don’t need a midair collision. We turned WP3 and then Tactical Control told us to RTB! What?! We go on, as scheduled, and we’ll try to drop our ordinance on opportunity targets. But we can’t see a thing, the weather is rainy and foggy. “Ford flight, triple A reported over DZ” All right, we give up! And I turned my Starfighter to avoid the battle field. Jan radioed :“Ford one, two, there’s fighters”. Well, let’s see what’s going on. I saw a Fitter and decided to engage him. I called Jan to stay with me, I soon got his 6, but he was making a strafing pass. Too late, I didn’t caught him up on time. He made a 180° turn and I pushed to the max full burner. I decided to use the rocket pods, that would be perfect. But he was turning and banking and I fired all the rockets but all went wide. My Vulcan will shot him from distance. Perfect aim, a good long burst, and another, but nothing. I must catch him up! Full burner once again, but he had the time to make another pass over Köln-Wahn AB. What a mess! F…! A last long burst and he was still intact. I decided to RTB without playing anymore with my wingmen. As a fact, Ford 13 didn’t answer. IFR conditions to get back home and I thought my landing was good until Control told me I lost my Rockeye on the runway. By luck, it didn’t explode and no.2 and 4 landed safely. Capt. d’Aische was unharmed, and told us he was shot down by an enemy fighter. Bonn is saved, and that’s what matters.

6th mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Brüggen – F-104G Starfighter 08/27/68 Take off : 09.51 – Landing : 10.37 Target : Dortmund, CAP 1 MiG-19 Tuna 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Tuna 12 : 2Lt Victor Depreez Report : This morning, I went to the briefing as if nothing had happened before. I listened to major Jottard and was hiding in the back of the room. What a surprise when he said “This patrol will be led by 2Lt Golfaurla and his number two will be 2Lt Depreez”. I went to the major and asked “Am I flying today?” – “Of course you are! And this is your last chance. Land the plane in one piece or this will be your last flight in a jet fighter”. Victor was smiling “Don’t worry Gogo, I’ll take care of you”. We took off and followed the flight plan and flew in the clouds (11400ft, as scheduled). I didn’t want to make a mistake. As we were turning WP3, We heard Anvil flight which was outnumbered by MiG-21. I decided not to f… up with the mission and kept the initial course. We reached the Patrol Area, and Tactical Control tasked us to engage bandits over Dortmund. I saw their tracers right in my direction before I could see them! As I was turning to place me in a good position, I heard Tuna 12 “I’m taking damage!” and when I completed my turn I saw Victor’s Starfighter burning in the sky. Man… I engaged a MiG-19 and fired two AIM-9, and one hit him! But the Farmer was still flying. I tried to follow him but I wasn’t able to turn as tight as he was, and I realized that I was outnumbered myself. So I decided to run away, full burner. It wasn’t difficult, the F-104 is a real rocket. I was still very low (1000 ft) and was still able to see my opponent. A MiG-19 tried to engage me but he soon turned back to the East. So I turned to his 6 and began a pursuit, still full burner. I thought “watch for fuel…” but I caught him up and he saw me. But he was still flying straight. I launched my two remaining AIM-9, the first exploded before hitting the ground and I almost caught up the second! Weird… I followed the Farmer as he was dodging and ducking. I almost overtook him but I finally shot him down when he tried to turn “you’re doomed”. A quick glance on the map, I was still over West Germany. I headed back to Brüggen, flying high to save fuel. I made a very good approach, very safe, but when the Zipper touched the runway he bounced! “No way! You won’t do that to me! You can’t! I won’t let you do that!” and I push the stick to avoid the tail strike. The nose wheel bounced twice but the plane was Ok. Victor was safe and has been rescued. With great concerns, we were told that we were losing battles and the enemy was closing. Major Jottard told me “You stay! I need pilot and you’re an ace. I don’t care about your backache as long as you fly my planes.”

UnknowPilot, yes I survive but I break Starfighters one after the other! 5th mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Brüggen – F-104G Starfighter 08/26/68 Take off : 09.38 Target : Twenthe, Intercept Anvil 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Anvil 12 : 2Lt Jan Peeters Report : In fact, the No.350 Squadron was relocated to Brüggen AB. I welcomed my mates when they arrived but Major Jottard told me I was assigned to “two minutes alert” with my friend Jan Peeters, who was in good shape. The crew chief selected for me the Starfighter of 1Lt Crombez and Jan stayed in his plane. 09.38, we took off to intercept a raid against Twenthe. Now they go to the Netherlands! We did a great take off and flew to Twenthe. We intercepted the bombers but they broke up when we engaged them. The same fight than yesterday but I didn’t shot down anyone before my plane caught fire. Two in a row. I evacuate the F-104 just above Enschede and the plane crashed in a building. Local authorities recovered me and sent me back to Brüggen without a smile. Major Jottard asked me to bring back the planes or I will be banned from flying. And the doctor warned me about my back : “You won’t last long at this rate, I recommend a suspension of flight, or you will be killed, and that will preserve the aircrafts”. This was my fifth mission and I ejected three times, damaged one plane on landing, and only made one flight without breaking anything. No good at all…

4th mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Wittmundhafen – F-104G Starfighter 08/25/68 Take off : 09.22 Target : Gütersloh, Intercept 1 Il-28 Beagle Zebra 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Zebra 12 : 2Lt Victor Depreez Zebra 13 : 1Lt Bruno Werbrouck Zebra 14 : 1Lt Hans Detal Report : Scramble alert today. We took off and went to Gütersloh to intercept an enemy’s raid. I feel much more confident since some veterans operating the Starfighter provided us some very useful advices. A quick flight in a TF-104G without telling anyone and this was it. My wingmen were efficient today and they formed up without delay. We reached Gütersloh right on time and Tactical Control guided us to our target, a Beagle bombers flight, 12 o'clock, 1 mile. I was in a perfect position and tried and frontal pass. It was too fast and I missed the leader. I did a wide 180° turn and the Beagles flight broke up as if they were performing an air show. “Zebras, Zebra one, each his own”. Mine was in a vulnerable position although he was low (1500ft). Too close to fire a Sidewinder, I kept the Vulcan but I didn’t manage to aim properly. I did a roll then another and he was right in front of me. I shot, he exploded. But… fire alarms lit on the board, I turned off the engine and then I saw flames in the mirrors, and I ejected. I landed without problem and was assisted by local people who drove me to Hopsten AB (kindly, they didn't forget to give me some beer cans and some sausages). There, I was told to go to Brüggen AB and wait there for further instructions.

@ UnknownPilot, Fubar512 and Lt. : You guys rule! Thank you very much! I will study your advices and I hope the F-104 will not scare my DiD pilot anymore ;) I like that plane even if I barely control it. A new challenge in the DiD challenge... Thx again! Have good flights! Cliff

Hi, I have a new pilot, flying for the Belgium air force during the 68' Red Hammer campaign (NF4). Does anybody know how to fly the F-104G? I need some advices, as you can read... 1st mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Wittmundhafen – F-104G Starfighter 08/21/68 Take off 07.19 – Landing : 08.00 Target : Gütersloh, Intercept 3 Il-28 Beagle, 2 MiG-21F Fishbed-C, 1 MiG-21PF Fishbed-D, 1 MiG-19S Farmer-C Mamba 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Mamba 12 : 2Lt Michel Robin Mamba 13 : Capt François Mathy Mamba 14 : 1Lt Bruno Werbrouck Report : I was very nervous for my first mission with the No.350 Squadron. On the one hand it was my baptism of fire and on the other hand two rookies had been killed last week, on their first mission too. The first one crashed when he took off and the second made a tail strike when touching the runway as he was landing, the engine caught fire and the jet exploded before the poor guy eject or evacuate. So the officers seriously warned me to respect carefully the procedures. The fact is I barely made a short flight with a U.S. TF-104G and the instructor told me “Good, there’s gonna be no problem for you”. So I wasn’t definitely familiar with the procedures, I am a rookie and I was shaking hard when I put the throttle to the panel for today’s scramble. But the Zipper took off, and I reach our Angel, 19600 ft. I didn’t push too hard because I wanted my wingmen to form up before things get tough. As I was beginning to panic because there were too many bandits in the DZ, Red Crown gave me the proper vector to intercept our target “12 o’clock, 25 miles”. As a matter of fact, they were just under my nose, flying low, I locked the radar on one of them and radioed the engagement order. They were Il-28 Beagles and it was going to be a serious task to complete because of their speed and their tail guns. I tried to intercept them from the side but I just managed to get their 6, just where I didn’t wanted to be. Mamba 2 took him out before I reached shooting range. And then it became a big mess. I lost my wingmen and I tried to get another target to attack. I finally saw another Il-28 and, after I fired my four AIM-9 (1 hit him but he kept on flying, same speed, same altitude) I decided to get him from under. Not a bad idea but when I climbed to catch him I didn’t succeed to hit him and overtook him. Lousy attack… I made a 360° turn and I did the same mistake on my second attempt, and the tail gunner seemed to be more precise than me! The third assault was the good one and I shot his left engine and wing. I thought that it was time to get back to the base but a fighter was marauding in front of me. After a long hesitation, I decided to engage him and “we’ll see”. It was a MiG-21 and he was fast! I broke the barrier of sound several times before I caught him and it was far more difficult to aim at him, not to overtake him and not to crash to the ground, because he was low. To be honest, I don’t think the guy saw me because it wasn’t really a dogfight but more a pursuit. I tried to shoot him from distance but I finally caught him and he begun to try evasive maneuvers. I had to be a bit more violent with my Zipper to follow him and I finally shot him. It was too much for me and I set a course to RTB and gained altitude. I saw two Beagles passing in front of me and I tried to engage the second one. He was turning and when I realize that I will have to shoot him from his 6, I gave up. I was exhausted after the hunt for the Fishbed and I found this last attack was more risky and stupid than really necessary. Others pilots would have go after that Beagle but I was just not able to do that. My wingmen formed up but Capt Mathy didn’t answer my calls. We returned safely to Wittmundhafen AB and as I was clear to land I began to concentrate. All went Ok until I touched down. I had too much speed and the Zipper bounced. The nose went up and the tail stroke the runway. The master caution alarm lit and I cut off the engine to avoid it to catch fire. I went on the brakes and stopped my plane on the right side of the runway, in order to let the others Mambas land after me. There wasn’t so much damage and I wasn’t harmed so I wasn’t blamed for that. Capt Mathy was rescued and hospitalized, his life isn’t threatened. I survived my first show and won two victories, but I really have to learn how to make a good landing with that damn rocket-plane. Nevertheless I think that its powerful engine and its speed capacity were the key for my survival today. 2nd mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Wittmundhafen – F-104G Starfighter 08/22/68 Take off 09.01 Target : Hannover, CAP Report : My second mission and my first crash. When I pulled the stick to take off I stroke the tail and the engine caught fire. There was the city just ahead of me and time was short before crash. I started a slight turn starboard and ejected. I saw the plane crashed in a field and felt relieved for it didn’t harmed anyone on the ground. I was hospitalized and came back to the base the day after. No one said anything, good or bad. I was just another rookie that will kill himself because that type of aircraft doesn’t forgive pilot errors. 3rd mission 2Lt Henry Golfaurla No. 350 Squadron, Wittmundhafen – F-104G Starfighter 08/24/68 Take off 07.22 – Landing : 09.16 Target : Bitburg, Intercept 1 Il-28 Beagle Tuna 11 : 2Lt Henry Golfaurla Tuna 12 : 2Lt Michel Robin Tuna 13 : Capt Hans d'Aische Tuna 14 : 1Lt Filip de Grunne Report : Scramble alert, there were bandits to intercept near Bitburg. I took off very carefully and as the plane was climbing and everything was Ok, I thought I made it. That plane scares me. We climbed till Angel 11 and set a course to the south. We were on time to intercept the target, a bunch of Il-28. Things went wrong, I didn’t managed to get them from the side and Tuna 2 and 4 were shot down by the Beagles tail gunners. They were low (1000ft) and it was difficult to place the plane in a good position. I fired my 4 AIM-9 without result. And I did the same thing than I did on my first sortie : catch the Beagle, firing at him and break before the gunner aimed. But this time the Beagle pilot was a good one. He flew his bomber low and made tight turns. It seemed difficult for me to do my job, it was almost a dogfight. I started to lose my concentration and made unbelievable mistakes like doing a 360° aileron roll instead of a 180°, in order to fly inverted and not losing sight. But that brilliant bomber pilot seemed to calm down. We were close to the ground and I thought he made errors himself. And he begun to fly steady. I grabbed my chance and hit him with the Vulcan. The gun camera revealed that I shot him three times before he started to slow down and lose altitude. I overtook him and Tuna 3 told me he was down. We buggered off and climbed at 11400 ft to return to Wittmundhafen. On approach, I realized that I was going to do the same error than the first time. Too much incidence, the tail was going to hit the runway. So I lowered the nose before I touched down. It was a hard landing but the plane was Ok. We didn’t prevent the enemy’s strike force to drop their bombs and lost two planes. Both 1Lt de Grunne and 2Lt Robin are alive and hospitalized.

9th mission Lt jg Peter J. Raczesky May 03 1966 VF-114, CVA-63 Kitty Hawk – F-4B Phantom II – Take off 12.01 Target : Hoa Lac, Strike, Barrack Python 11 : Lt jg Pete "Linger" Raczesky / Lt jg Mark "Snake" Short Python 12 : Ens Spence "Baron" Flagg / Lt jg Tom "Butcher" Speer Python 13 : Lt Samuel "Indian" McCoy / Lt jg Bud "Daisy" Ketchie Python 14 : Lt jg Scott "Machine" Ruliffson / Lt jg James "Clockwise" Stender Report : Lt jg Pete Raczesky and Lt jg Mark Short have been KIA. Their wingmen reported that Python 11 was flying low and then both engines caught fire. No enemy fire has been detected and the most likely cause of the accident should be the insufficient altitude over terrain. Lt jg Raczesky was known to be a relatively unsafe pilot, but the official cause of the loss of the VF-114 F-4B modex 201 will be : unknown. Python 12, 13 and 14 completed the strike mission and RTB safely. (I don't know what happened, I was looking for another route than going south of Hanoi and I thought I get shot by AAA. But the mission log just said that I crashed - Cliff) _

8th mission Lt jg Peter J. Raczesky May 02 1966 VF-114, CVA-63 Kitty Hawk – F-4B Phantom II – Take off 7.27 - Landing 7.59 (Emergency) Target : Hoa Lac, Escort Ramrod flight (8 F-105D 357 TFS Licking Dragons) 1 MiG-21 Asp 11 : Lt jg Pete “Linger” Raczesky / Ens Mark “Snake” Short Asp 12 : Lt Samuel "Indian" McCoy / Lt jg Bud "Daisy" Ketchie Asp 13 : LCdr Mace "Midnight" Greer / Lt Jeremy "Badboy" Unruh Asp 14 : Lt jg Clinton "Breaker" Irwin / Ens Charles "Vulture" Vohden Report : It’s been close this time! We were assigned to escort a F-105 strike to Hoa Lac. I was glad to do this mission because the rendez-vous point was near Nakhon Phanom AB and it was a good opportunity to break the routine. Lt McCoy was number 3 so I went to LCdr Greer to tell my concerns about leading this mission. He told me that Lt McCoy would be number 2 and himself would be number 3. Number 4 was my good friend Breaker, first ace of the squadron. We took off and I tried to find a relatively secured path to cross North Vietnam. We reached level 10 but get painted by hostile radars. So we went low (1400ft). I tried to find a path to the south, and I decided to fly over the Gianh river. What a mistake… A dense AAA barrage welcomed us when we reached the shore. A shot in the frame and the master caution alarm lit. We were hit… no good at all… I informed Midnight of our situation and made a 180° turn to the sea. LCdr answered “You’re out, 2 is in charge”. And they continued the flight as scheduled without us. We made a full check and I didn’t really knew what parts were damaged. We were flying, handling the plane, the engines were OK. Snake made a quick RTB navigation and brought us right back to the carrier. Observers from the ship told us that the plane seemed OK to land but we had the port flap missing. We waited for the clearance and I started my approach. Something was wrong with the rolling. We had slowed down and the plane was more difficult to roll. As we were closing to the ship the F-4 was losing too much altitude and I waved off. I decided to try with the only flap remaining down and the bird kept steady on the second approach. It was not a bad trap and we were relieved to be back in one piece. My wingmen completed the mission. They engaged some MiG-21 and Asp 14 (Breaker/Vulture) shot down their sixth bandit. The crew chief told us that our F-4 had been hit by five 14.5 mm bullets. We were lucky this time! _