lessonslearned Bombs Away I


A fi ghter pilot, eager to arrive in Vietnam, makes a trip to Thailand and, through a series of narrow escapes, confi rms that discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.


In August 1969, I was assigned to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, as a pilot in the F-4C. Like most fi ghter pilots, I was eager to arrive in country and drop my fi rst real bomb. My navigator and I were given the opportunity to transfer a replacement F-4 to Southeast Asia. Two F-4s — includ- ing ours — were going to Ubon, Thailand; fi ve more would land in Vietnam. The seven F-4s, accompanied by two


KC-135s, left California for Hawaii on the fi rst leg of our journey. The F-4s would receive fuel from the two tankers several times during each leg of the trip. During my fi rst cycle on the tanker, I noticed my centerline fuel tank was not feeding. This typically would mean I must return to California and wait several weeks for the next set of replacement fi ghters. My navigator and I decided to remain quiet and ask for additional hook-ups once we were close to Hawaii. When we arrived, we discovered maintenance had not wired the centerline tank. The next morning, all seven of us de- parted for Guam, and the morning after that we left Guam for Thailand. It was pouring rain when I did the prefl ight. My navigator normally checked and placed the aircraft forms, which were in a large hard binder, in the rear cockpit. We both were soaked by the time we closed the canopy. The tankers gave us our last refueling prior to reaching Vietnam. The two of


104 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2015


us going to Ubon did a low-level sight- seeing tour across South Vietnam and Laos, checking out targets we might bomb later. When we landed at Ubon, the crew chief climbed up the ladder and asked for the aircraft forms. It was then I discov- ered the navigator had placed the forms in the nose gear rather than storing them in his cockpit. When we had lowered the gear to land at Ubon, the forms and all their papers had been drawn into the engines. There was paper on the front blades of the engines. The crew chief said it was a miracle the engines didn’t compressor-stall. He also said the wing commander was going to be very unhappy with us, because this would require them to pull both en- gines. I asked the crew chief when the


discretion


fi rst cargo plane was leaving Ubon. He said one was leaving within the hour; we gladly took it and avoided facing the wing commander. I did make it to Cam Ranh Bay on time, and I dropped my fi rst real bomb, along with many more.


MO


— Richard G. Rhyne retired from the Air Force as a colonel. He lives in Lithia, Fla., and is a member of MOAA’s Tampa (Fla.) Chapter. For submission information, see page 6.


Tell Your Story Submit your lessons learned by email to profseries@moaa.org or by mail to MOAA Professional Series, 201 N. Washington St., Al- exandria, VA 22314. All submissions will be con- sidered for publication.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124