A
Anonymous
Guest
Some of you have emailed question about some of the nicknames I've used. A 'HUN', is an F-100[ one HUN dred] SUPER SABER;
'THUDS' are F-105 THUNDERCHIEFS, and they got that nickname because that is the sound one made when it crashed. Now these planes are huge, I mean MONSTERS.
They were built so that they could also double as bombers by carring 'NUKES' in an internal bomb bay, were capable of mach 2.5., but there was a problem. Now B-52s have computers that allow them to fly so high that you don't know they are around until the earth erupts; and to be able to do this they have a computer that takes into consideration speed, height,crosswinds, the earth's rotation, and corrects for true north. They can literally drop a bomb in a barrel. The F-105 did not have this capability, so they flew at low level & around 400 to 500 mph. And a high speed wing at low speed means they can't manuveur. So not only were SAMs-surface to air missles, knocking them down, but also ground fire. Now not only do I mean arms like, .50 cal. machine guns, and 20, 23, 30, 37, 40 and 60+ milimeter anti-aircraft CANNONS, but also rifles. Once you get over 23 mm, the old saying is "if they can see you, you are in range." And they dropped from as low as 200 to 300 meters. Then they found out that sometimes bombs dropped at that level also destroyed the planes. Hence, the invention of the bomb known as 'SNAKE EYES'. When released, fins would pop out sideways and slow their descent enough for the plane to be out of the blast radius. The nickname came from the big circle in the middle of the popped out fins, seeing the bombs from above, and looking down on them, which is the only way you EVER want to see close air support bombing. So many THUDS were lost, that we literally ran out of them, and they were replaced by the PHANTOM. One time we had 4 PHANTOMS, after dropping their ordnance, fly over at about 400 feet above us; and then they kicked in their afterburners; an entire battalion hit the ground HARD, because we thought they had dropped bombs on us. Never heard anything so loud in my life.
The best show was the C-130 SPECTER GUNSHIP. This badboy had 2, .30 electric gatling guns, 2, 20 mm VULCAN electric gatling gun Cannons, 2, 40 mm BOFORS cannons, and 2, 105 mm HOWITZERS pointed out from the left side. The tactic was to fly in a circle, with the left wing slightly dipped, and at every point of that circle, you could hit the target, CONTINUOUSLY. I don't know the rate of fire for the 40mm & 105mm, but those gatling guns could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute, per gun. At night I saw 2 firing on one target once, and the tracers looked almost like lasers, but the astonishing thing was that only 1 round in 6 was a tracer, so you didn't see THE OTHER 5, [UNTIL THEY HIT THE GROUND.] It was the grandest fireworks I've ever seen. The best known of the SPECTERS, was 'PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON.'
The other things that really put on a show was a squadron of B-52s carpet bombing some place to where it looked like the MOON afterwards. Being within 1500 meters of the impact area, made the ground under us turn liquid. They also had a bomb known as the BIG BLUE 82, which was a fuel air bomb, which literally acted like a GIANT cookie cutter in the jungle. It dispersed the fuel into the air, widely, then a charge set it off. Swear to god, the 1st time we saw one used, we all thought the U.S. had gone NUCLEAR.
But the blast area on the ground was a nice big PERFECTLY FLAT circle. And the size was big enough for 2 dozen Hueys to land in at ONE time.
Now I will tell you about my uncle, OLLIE [that was his given name]. He is one of the most famous characters in the history of the AAC/USAF. He was on OKINAWA after the war. Poker and booze was probably their most popular pastime. Late one night after a game, he decided he did not want to walk within the big roped off walkway to his hut; the circle was too big. So he steps over the rope and takes a shortcut.
Evidently, the muddy foot prints were noticed by someone higher up,the next morning, and everyone sharing that hut was called on the carpet for not staying inside the ropes. Turned out that particular area was an uncleared mine field.
But he is in the record book as the only man to accidently lose an ATOM BOMB. They were flying out in
N.M., somewhere, to make a drop. Bomb bay doors open, he hit the switch, and got a malfunction light.
So he hits the switch again, and the same thing happens. Well his BOMBARDIER, & FLIGHT ENGINEER go back to see what was wrong. The doors were open, but the bomb was hung up in the mechanism. Nothing works, even the flight engineer hauling himself up by 2 cargo straps, and jumping up and down on the bomb.[think that guy didn't have a PAIR]. They take out the fuse, and everyone goes forward to try to figure out what to do. After talking to higher-up at the base, they decide that everyone will bail-out, and just ditch the plane. No danger now of it going off, but if it came loose during landing, it would probably wreck the plane and kill everyone.
Then he gets a call from someone amidship- the bomb is gone. So they close up the bomb bay doors, and land the plane,back at the base. Everybody goes over the flight plan to figure out where it was dropped. The next day, EVERONE is out looking for that bomb. And they look,
and look, and look, for 3 months,......and they find it NOWHERE. They basically told my uncle "you find that god---ed bomb, or your ASS is out of the AIRFORCE. Well, they did not find it, and he did not get kicked out. But 5 years later a troop of boy scouts found it 100 miles from the place where everyone thought it had been dropped. And that is a true story. Ollie is now 85 years old, and living in an air force retirement community, and picking everyone's pockets by playing dominos.
<IMG SRC="/metal/html/flag.jpg" BORDER=0 width=32 height=17 ALT="usa~"> <img src="/metal/html/clap.gif" border=0 width=20 height=30 alt=":clap"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
'THUDS' are F-105 THUNDERCHIEFS, and they got that nickname because that is the sound one made when it crashed. Now these planes are huge, I mean MONSTERS.
They were built so that they could also double as bombers by carring 'NUKES' in an internal bomb bay, were capable of mach 2.5., but there was a problem. Now B-52s have computers that allow them to fly so high that you don't know they are around until the earth erupts; and to be able to do this they have a computer that takes into consideration speed, height,crosswinds, the earth's rotation, and corrects for true north. They can literally drop a bomb in a barrel. The F-105 did not have this capability, so they flew at low level & around 400 to 500 mph. And a high speed wing at low speed means they can't manuveur. So not only were SAMs-surface to air missles, knocking them down, but also ground fire. Now not only do I mean arms like, .50 cal. machine guns, and 20, 23, 30, 37, 40 and 60+ milimeter anti-aircraft CANNONS, but also rifles. Once you get over 23 mm, the old saying is "if they can see you, you are in range." And they dropped from as low as 200 to 300 meters. Then they found out that sometimes bombs dropped at that level also destroyed the planes. Hence, the invention of the bomb known as 'SNAKE EYES'. When released, fins would pop out sideways and slow their descent enough for the plane to be out of the blast radius. The nickname came from the big circle in the middle of the popped out fins, seeing the bombs from above, and looking down on them, which is the only way you EVER want to see close air support bombing. So many THUDS were lost, that we literally ran out of them, and they were replaced by the PHANTOM. One time we had 4 PHANTOMS, after dropping their ordnance, fly over at about 400 feet above us; and then they kicked in their afterburners; an entire battalion hit the ground HARD, because we thought they had dropped bombs on us. Never heard anything so loud in my life.
The best show was the C-130 SPECTER GUNSHIP. This badboy had 2, .30 electric gatling guns, 2, 20 mm VULCAN electric gatling gun Cannons, 2, 40 mm BOFORS cannons, and 2, 105 mm HOWITZERS pointed out from the left side. The tactic was to fly in a circle, with the left wing slightly dipped, and at every point of that circle, you could hit the target, CONTINUOUSLY. I don't know the rate of fire for the 40mm & 105mm, but those gatling guns could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute, per gun. At night I saw 2 firing on one target once, and the tracers looked almost like lasers, but the astonishing thing was that only 1 round in 6 was a tracer, so you didn't see THE OTHER 5, [UNTIL THEY HIT THE GROUND.] It was the grandest fireworks I've ever seen. The best known of the SPECTERS, was 'PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON.'
The other things that really put on a show was a squadron of B-52s carpet bombing some place to where it looked like the MOON afterwards. Being within 1500 meters of the impact area, made the ground under us turn liquid. They also had a bomb known as the BIG BLUE 82, which was a fuel air bomb, which literally acted like a GIANT cookie cutter in the jungle. It dispersed the fuel into the air, widely, then a charge set it off. Swear to god, the 1st time we saw one used, we all thought the U.S. had gone NUCLEAR.
But the blast area on the ground was a nice big PERFECTLY FLAT circle. And the size was big enough for 2 dozen Hueys to land in at ONE time.
Now I will tell you about my uncle, OLLIE [that was his given name]. He is one of the most famous characters in the history of the AAC/USAF. He was on OKINAWA after the war. Poker and booze was probably their most popular pastime. Late one night after a game, he decided he did not want to walk within the big roped off walkway to his hut; the circle was too big. So he steps over the rope and takes a shortcut.
Evidently, the muddy foot prints were noticed by someone higher up,the next morning, and everyone sharing that hut was called on the carpet for not staying inside the ropes. Turned out that particular area was an uncleared mine field.
But he is in the record book as the only man to accidently lose an ATOM BOMB. They were flying out in
N.M., somewhere, to make a drop. Bomb bay doors open, he hit the switch, and got a malfunction light.
So he hits the switch again, and the same thing happens. Well his BOMBARDIER, & FLIGHT ENGINEER go back to see what was wrong. The doors were open, but the bomb was hung up in the mechanism. Nothing works, even the flight engineer hauling himself up by 2 cargo straps, and jumping up and down on the bomb.[think that guy didn't have a PAIR]. They take out the fuse, and everyone goes forward to try to figure out what to do. After talking to higher-up at the base, they decide that everyone will bail-out, and just ditch the plane. No danger now of it going off, but if it came loose during landing, it would probably wreck the plane and kill everyone.
Then he gets a call from someone amidship- the bomb is gone. So they close up the bomb bay doors, and land the plane,back at the base. Everybody goes over the flight plan to figure out where it was dropped. The next day, EVERONE is out looking for that bomb. And they look,
and look, and look, for 3 months,......and they find it NOWHERE. They basically told my uncle "you find that god---ed bomb, or your ASS is out of the AIRFORCE. Well, they did not find it, and he did not get kicked out. But 5 years later a troop of boy scouts found it 100 miles from the place where everyone thought it had been dropped. And that is a true story. Ollie is now 85 years old, and living in an air force retirement community, and picking everyone's pockets by playing dominos.
<IMG SRC="/metal/html/flag.jpg" BORDER=0 width=32 height=17 ALT="usa~"> <img src="/metal/html/clap.gif" border=0 width=20 height=30 alt=":clap"> <img src="/metal/html/lol.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=":lol">
"> Great stories, keep em coming!