FORMOSA ALERT
by BOBBY F. WALLS
We began the move on 3 October 1954, leaving K-55 in Korea (Osan AB), bound for Kadena, Okinawa The 18th FBG moved everything from both squadrons, the 12th and 67th FBSs, which were equipped with F-86F-30 Sabres retrofitted with the '6-3 hard wing'.At Kadena, we briefly enjoyed individual rooms, flush toilets, hot showers, and stateside-type facilities. Then we moved to Yontan, an abandoned WW2 airstrip. It was quite a letdown, moving back into tents after tasting the 'good life' at Kadena. The good news was that the 18th was once again a normal three squadron wing, when the 44th FBS rejoined us after having been at Clark since the early days of the Korean War.
On 11 December 1954, the wing moved back to Kadena and hot showers. Hot Dog! But we were there only a short time when the hooch maid calmly told me "Soon you go-fly away, ne?". But no one had told us anything, so I assured her that we weren't going anywhere. We had just returned and we were here to stay!
WRONG! Lo and behold, not long after the maid's announcement, we started getting rumbles about an impending operation. But you know how rumors go. So we paid little attention. Wrong again!
One night in late January 1955 we were in the O-c1ub when wing staff officers started coming into the club and whispering to the pilots to report to their squadrons. We were told to begin planning for an early morning departure for Formosa. FORMOSA!? We were going to fly top cover for the evacuation of the Tachen Islands, currently held by the Nationalist Chinese. However, Red China had made it clear they weren't going to allow the evacuation.
We departed the next morning, 27 January 1955, with all the flyable aircraft, in flights of four. Our destination was Chai-Yi AB, Formosa, arriving without incident. As a flight leader, I was told to immediately report to the Chinese commander's office, where I joined the 67th FBS CO, the Operations Officer, and all the other Flight Commanders. We learned exactly what our responsibilities were going to be, and given a brief intel briefing on the situation. Then I was told to take my flight and get airborne as quickly as possible to show our rapid turn-around ability, and that we were ready for action immediately. No problem!
A few days after we arrived, the weather turned into crap, 50-100 foot ceilings, with visibility of about 1-2 miles. We still had one flight of four inbound from Kadena, which really puzzled me as to why they launched in the face of the weather. Later we found they'd been given a forecast of 500-1500 foot ceilings for the entire day!
I went down to mobile control to talk them down. The flight arrived overhead and I advised them of the weather, asking if they could go back. The flight commander informed me they had to get on the ground fast as they were all at 'Bingo' fuel, and they had no alternates.
They started an ADF approach, but when they had station passage at 500 feet they were still above the cloud deck! They executed a missed approach and started looking for holes in the cloud deck. Shortly thereafter, Griff Mansfield announced that he was down to 100 lbs., and he was going out over the water and eject. Griff was flying My aircraft. On an earlier flight he'd experienced a brake failure in my aircraft, nudging the barrier. I told him if he ever scratched my airplane again, I'd kill him! Griff ejected successfully, and was picked out of the drink shortly thereafter. I could hardly wait to tell him it was OK about my scratched I really felt bad until I found out he was OK.
The rest of the flight saw a hole and came down through it. Unknowingly, they had skimmed right down the side of a very large mountain, thankfully heading in the right direction. They roared over the base at about 50-100 feet, made a 90-270 turn, and landed safely. It's always better to be lucky than good, anytime, anywhere. Of course, my jet was now a submarine.
At Chai-Yi, we lived in a bombed-out building, slept on cots and ate out of mess kits. Just like Yontan, except we didn't even get hot food for several days. We ate cold cans of lima beans, spaghetti, etc. for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most of us existed on bananas, tangerines and oranges the Chinese locals brought out to us as we sat strip alert right in the airplanes. They also had plenty of beer.
Strip alert started an hour before sunrise. Security was really tight, and communication between the guards and our pilots was almost non-existent. The Chinese couldn't understand us, and we sure as hell couldn't understand them. With almost no communications, we had little confidence in their being able to understand the system we developed.
The system involved different colored flashlights, red, white, blue or some combination thereof. Sounds like it would work, right? Wrong again! So we started going to the flight line singing at the top of our voices and yelling "DING HAO". That they understood and we had no problems afterward.
We flew missions every day that weather permitted. All the flights were uneventful, as the Chinese Reds played the part of "the Paper Tiger". We were really disappointed with the lack of engagements, as we had hoped to run into some MiGs. We saw them, or at least their contrails, but they were several miles inland over the Chinese mainland. And they never came out to fight A few of us started patrolling three miles or so off the coast in the hopes the Migs would come out But our own radar caught us, and we were told we were there to STOP a war, NOT START ONE! So we stopped 'trolling' along the coastline. The Chinese commander and his staff threw us a party soon after we arrived. It was a "Kom-Pei Party", the idea being they would get us so drunk we would 'lose face'. Being good, young, aggressive fighter pilots, we accepted the challenge with gusto, even 'warming up' by drinking a lot of bourbon and scotch before going to the party! We held our own fairly well, and even caught the Chinese cheating by tossing their drinks into the plants. With that we announced that we had won.
On 17 February, the squadron was alerted to go back to Kadena. The first 'Formosa Crisis' had ended. Almost as soon as I arrived back at Kadena, I rotated back to the States. The unit returned to Formosa again, as did several others over the next 10 years. But my time was done. It had been an interesting month, albeit a little boring while in the air. But we didn't lose anyone and the evacuation of the islands went as planned. And that's what counts.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
THE 50TH FIGHTER BOMBER WING
by Dave Tilton
The 50th Fighter Bomber Wing was activated at Seifridge Field on 15 January 1941 as the 50th Pursuit Group. Redesignated the 50th Fighter Group in May of that same year, the unit was part of the Fighter Command School, training pilot cadres for night fighter units operating in Europe and the Pacific.
The 50th went to England in April 1944, flying P-47 Thunderbolts from RAF Lymington with the 9th AF, until Allied forces had a foothold on the Continent following the Normandy Invasion. The 50th flew many ground support missions in support of the GIs slugging their way off the beaches during those fateful days in June 1944. Operating from forward bases in France, the 50th leap-frogged across France and Germany, finally ending the war at Giebelstadt AB, Germany. The 50th returned to the US after the end of the war and was inactivated on 7 November 1945.
On 1 April 1951, the 140th FBW, with 120th FBS, Colorado ANG, 187th FBS Wyoming ANG, and 191st FBS Utah ANG, were federalized and reopened Clovis AFB, New Mexico. They were equipped with F-51Ds at the time. One of our early members was a recent returnee from Korea, an 'ace' with 8 MiGs, and a gentleman many of you know - Captain Robinson 'Robbie' Risner. Robbie was my Ops Officer in the 187th, and a real pleasure and thrill to fly with. He was a real PRO.
On 1 January 1953, as part of the emergency buildup to counter the Soviet threat to the Western nations, the federalized 140th FBW became the 50th FBW, and was slated to fly F-86F fighter bombers. The pilot cadre comprised quite a few 'jocks' with World War Two experience, plus quite a few pilots that had recently returned from the fighting in Korea Many of the pilots had F-86 training, although there were quite a few that had flown the venerable F-51D Mustang in Korea. And that was a good thing, as the group was equipped with F51Ds when we were first activated at Clovis
We transitioned from '51s into F-86Fs very soon, spending the next 7 months learning fighter bomber tactics. Our COs at this time, Colonel Gerald Dix and Colonel Al Schinz, demanded only one thing from us -perfection. By the summer, we felt we were ready for anything. And with that kind of attitude, the Air Force put us right in the front lines of the Cold War. On 22 July 1953, we departed Clovis for operations in support of NATO. On 10 August 1953, we began operations at Hahn AB, Germany.
Although the 50th was a fighter bomber group, our mission at Hahn was similar to that of the 36th Fighter Day Wing, (The 36th FDW was covered in a story in Sabrejet Classics, vol.3-3 "Zulu Alert At Fursty". Ed.) When we weren't standing "Zulu Alert", we often would fly border patrol flights. We had to stage through the forward field at Giebelstadt (our old home during WW2), which was about 5 minutes from the border. Taking off from G'stadt, we would rush headlong toward the border, turning back at the very last moment. It usually got the Soviet air defenses all fired up, and sometimes the Migs would come buzzing around.
Near the end of my tour with the 50th, another aviator with 'some experience' came to the 50th. He was my CO in the 417th FBS and his name was LtCol Chuck Yeager. By this time our squadron had transitioned into the F86H, and it was my extreme pleasure to give the original Mach-buster his 'check-out' in the new 'H. What a ride that was trying to keep up with Chuck Yeager, making sure he knew how to fly it!
About twice a year we would jet down to sunny Wheelus AB, near Tripoli, Libya. Ah yes, Wheelus, that resort on the Mediterranean. There was sun and sand - and very little else. USAFE and 12th AF held gunnery competitions at Wheelus in December 1954 and July 1955. With Chuck Yeager leading our squadron, the 417th won the USAFE Gunnery Meet in 1954. I was fortunate enough to be named the Top Shooter of our squadron. Those were the days. The 50th flew F-86Fs and F-86Hs from 1953 into 1958, before transitioning into the supersonic era with the F-100 Super Sabre. But that's another story.
THE SABRE IN PAKISTAN
by Air Chief Marshal Jamal A. Khan, PAF (Ret)
The Republic of Pakistan turned fifty in August 1997, and so did the Pakistan Air Force. Pakistan is located in an area of crises and disputes, and its airmen play a major role in deterring neighborhood hegemons. During the fifty years, the PAF has had in its inventory over eighteen combat airplanes, from the British WW2 Tempest to the F-16 which the PAF flies today. Between these models there have been several British, American, French, and Chinese-built multi-role airplanes.Of all the fighters that the PAF has operated, the most popular, by far, has been the F-86. This superb airplane remained in the inventory of the PAF for twenty three years, from 1956 to 1979. During that period, all told, the PAF inducted some 240 F-86s. Despite eighteen years having passed since the last Sabres were taken off flying status, Pakistani senior pilots still speak fondly of the F-86, its agility, handling qualities and exploits in peace and war.
Pakistan, long a Cold War ally (Gary Power's last U-2 flight over the Soviet Union was launched from a PAF base), received its first lot of thirty F-86Fs in mid-1956. By then a group of PAF pilots had already done its combat crew training on the Sabre in Texas and Arizona. This nucleus rapidly trained other pilots in all air and surface attack missions that the F-86F was designed for, and within three years quite a few high time pilots had crossed well over a thousand hours. By the time they went to war many of them had over two thousand hours and this, together with the F-86 itself, proved to be the key to their remarkable success.
The first thirty F-86Fs had "hard' wings that were later modified with slats and wingtip extensions. Their fire control system was based on the older A-4 gunsight and rather temperamental ranging radar. Then arrived the "Sports Models", ninety brand new F86F-40s, all delivered in 1957. These came with the full upgrades - extended wingtips, additional wing stores capabilities, Sidewinder missile wiring, the latest AA gunsight with radar, and separate rocketry and bombing control panels. The 147 engine was fully developed by then, and the pilots experienced only occasionally the troubles they had heard about in America regarding compressor stalls, thrown turbine blades and bearing seizures.
The latest series of slats worked flawlessly, giving the Sabre its superb maneuvering qualities to handle the toughest dynamics of air combat. Within a few years these outstanding attributes were tested in the wars of 1965 and 1971 with India, both of which confirmed the already high reputation of the F-86. During these conflicts, the PAF F-86s were frequently pitched against rival jets that enjoyed far better thrust-weight ratios. The Sabre nearly always outfought them and proved its ruggedness as well. After one of the air-to-air encounters, an F-86 returned with several holes in its aft fuselage and minus half an elevator, but the pilot barely noticed a minor vibration. The cumulative exchange ratio for both wars worked out to 1:5.6 in the Sabre's favor.
The PAF F-86s also lived up to this fighter's high reliability and in-commission rates that, for many years, remained above 80%. It regularly came out best in many gunnery meets and Allied CENTO/SEATO joint exercises. During the mid-1960s, the PAF managed to bolster its dwindling Sabre force by purchasing ninety ex-Luftwaffe F-86Es. These used machines had the more powerful Canadian Orenda 14 engines that could take the plane to well over 50,000 feet. The F-86E too became a favorite, one of them even shooting down a MiG-21 that tried to turn with it.
The F-86 played a leading role in projecting the air force image among the Pakistani youth, with regular air shows and open days at the air bases. The longest lasting formation acrobatic team of the PAF - the "Falcons" - performed with Sabres for over a decade. The team progressed through four, six, nine, and finally reached sixteen F-86Fs. The 16-ship loop, reported by the international aviation press as a first, was performed during one of the public displays in 1958. The F-86 appears as centerpiece of many war paintings of the PAF and carefully burnished Sabres can be seen mounted at the gates of the largest Pakistani air bases today. The Official History of the PAF pays this tribute to the Sabre: It was perhaps the finest of the generation of jet fighters which still permitted classic dog fights between adversaries, where the skill and determination of the fighter pilot remained the sole deciding factor."
note: The contributor of this piece checked out in the F-86F at Williams AFB, AZ, and flew the F-86 for the next eighteen years, including the three years that he was an F-104 Squadron Commander. Such weekend bargains were usually struck by offering his F-86 counterparts Mach 2 rides in his F-104B! The air marshal was the Chief of Staff of the PAF before he retired in 1988.
TEST FLIGHT
by Lt.Col. George Jones
4th FIG Mission #J-01
F-86F-2 #52-2867 date: 29 March 1953
Pilot: G.L. Jones Position in Flight: #3 in a flight of four.
Type mission: Fighter Sweep of the Yalu River. Altitude: 42,000 feet
Weather: Clear Contrail levels: 30,000 to 38,000 feet. 460 rounds loaded.
92 rounds fired. No stoppages. No attempt was made to 'fire out' the guns.
The date was 29 March 1953, during the Korean War, a mission that remains vivid in my memory. I remember it so well because it was a mission whose outcome pivoted around the reactions of two wingmen in a combat situation - my wingman and his enemy counterpart in a MiG-1 5.We were flying F-86Fs at the time. Ordinarily the F-86F is equipped with six .50 caliber machine guns. However, in our aircraft (F-86F-2s), the machine guns had been removed and replaced with four T-160 2Omm cannons, capable of firing a high explosive shell at high velocity. Our mission was to find and engage MiG-15 aircraft in air to air combat to test the effectiveness of the new guns.
Originally, we had a flight of four aircraft scheduled for the mission. But somewhere along the line, two of the flight didn't get off, and my wingman, Major Wendall Brady, and I proceeded with the mission as a flight of two.
Climbing out from K-14 (Kimpo), we crossed the no-bomb line, turned on our gun switches, and fired a short burst into the clear air to check the weapons. They worked perfectly, and we continued north, climbing through 20,000, past 30,000. We maintained radio silence shortly after leveling off around 35,000 feet.
Far behind us, we heard the chatter of the rest of the mission taking off. Some six flights of four checking in on the radio as they also climbed out to the north, taking the same track we had taken. Flicking my left wing down for the crossover signal, I moved my wingman to the left side and gave him the "Heads Up!" signal. I knew there were plenty of MiGs in the area and I wanted no surprises. Rather selfishly, we hoped that the large formation of Sabres behind us would be the focal point of attention on the enemy radar scopes. Our small flight might have a good chance to make a surprise 'bounce' on the MiGs trying to intercept the north-bound flights.
As we approached the Yalu River, I spotted a glint in the sky high above us and to the right. I waggled the stick rocking my wings to get my wingmans attention. Wendal looked across and I silently signaled to "Drop tanks!" They arced down, empty of fuel, tumbling slowly to the brown earth far below. Again a silent signal to push up the throttle, and we started a slow turn under the 'glint' in the sky.
Now we could see many other flashes in the sun up ahead. "Keep your speed up!" I thought "Turn slow, look for the 'climbers'." All of a sudden I saw them. First there was nothing in front, then they jumped into focus A flight of 8 MiGs in loose trail, climbing as they crossed the YaIu heading south. Ever so gently we increased our rate of turn and started an easy climb behind them. I swung in behind their last man, but still too far out to shoot We had to close on them.
I watched the range dial unroll - 2800 feet, 2600, 2400. We were closing on them, but slow. I edged around in my seat and glanced behind. Bad news! Coming in from below, almost in position for an attack on me, was a MiG. I realized now that I had cut between the last two MiGs, between the leader and his wingman! Jerking around I looked to my right for my wingman. Wendall was right there. As I watched, he dropped his wing as if to start a firing pass on the MiG coming up.
Good boy! I snapped my head around to the left The MiG which had tilted his wing down for the start of a slanting pass at me suddenly straightened up and leveled out. No attack this time. Evidently, the MiG pilot realized if he jumped me, Wendall would swing in behind him for a firing pass.
By now we were climbing through 40,000 feet The MiG I was chasing was closer. The range gate marker stood at 1800 feet I wanted 800 feet I wasn't sure how long the game between the two wingman, the Mig leader's and mine, would keep up. Each feinting an attack, one at me, one at the other.
In the back of my mind I remembered the engine compressor stalls which had been occurring when we fired the new cannons at high altitude, a stall which robbed the engine of power, leaving you a sitting duck unless you could recover by diving to a lower altitude for a try at an air start I dismissed the thought - "Shoot first! Worry about the stall later.".
Now the range dial on the A-4 gunsight indicated 1,000 feet. But the Mig pilot at my rear was getting frantic. For the first time during the flight, Wendall broke radio silence - "I can't hold him much longer. Get out of there! Get out of there!" "Watch him", I said "Call if he turns in." I eased the nose of my 86 up, the pipper was just under the MiG. "A little more.", I thought, "Up a little, easy, don't lose air speed."
The pipper was on his tailpipe now. The range dial at 800 feet The little orange colored diamonds of the sight reflected on my windscreen, circled the MiG perfectly. I pressed the trigger. Instantly a stream of incandescent flashes exploded in rapid succession on the MiG ahead Bursting out in fire and smoke, the MiG seemed to stop in mid-air. I was momentarily fascinated by the sight Then with an awful start, I realized that I was about to run into him.
Before I could do anything, I was completely enveloped in smoke. I felt there was a solid wall of debris ahead in the darkness. Instinctively I retarded the throttle, my thumb jerking back the speed brake switch to slow down. Now I could only pull back on the stick and try rolling upside down in a barrel roll, hoping to get out of the way. Suddenly, I was out of the smoke. Looking through the canopy, I saw the MiG. The canopy was gone, the cockpit empty. It was starting down with debris, smoke and flames trailing behind. I rolled upright.
It was then that I first noticed the sound of my engine in a compressor stall. it was a roaring, buzzing noise that vibrated the whole airplane. At that point I wasn't too worried. I knew what to do about it point her nose down. In the past, we usually recovered from these stalls around 30,000 feet However, when I passed through 30,000 with the engine still stalling, I began to worry. At 25,000 nothing had changed.
The stall really had my attention now. I remember thinking, - "At 18,000 feet I'll have to pull out. Maybe I can glide out to the Yellow Sea" - although the sea looked awfully far away.
Then I noticed that my speed brake switch had broken off, and the brakes were still open, and still slowing me down. I pushed my index finger down between the thumb guard to the nub of the switch and edged it forward. All at once, the brakes closed and I felt the aircraft accelerate. With the increased speed the buzzing stopped, the engine smoothed, and the compressor stall broke. I eased the power on. It was 18,000 feet I took a deep breath.
Now I felt better about the situation and looked around for my wingman. There he was, just off my right wing, staring through the oil-smeared canopy at me. I couldn't have been happier. I started to relax a little and gave him a signal meaning, "let's get the hell out of here! I'll buy the drinks tonite!" For the second time during the entire flight, he broke radio silence, "You're all heart Lead!" He was 'there' all the way, a great wingman, Major Wendall Brady was an accomplished flier to whom the flick of a wing tip spoke volumes. If not for a great wingman today, I would not have been able to make 'ace'.
GEORGE L JONES, Lt Colonel, USAF DCS/Operations, Hq Fifth Air Force
(note: Colonel George L Jones, USAF Ret, passed away on 18 February 1997.)
THE NOLO SABRES
Civilian Operators and Army/Navy Drone Sabres
by Larry Davis
During the 1970s, the US government acquired large quantities of Sabre air frames, mostly Canadalr and Mitsubishi manufacture. Their use varied from that of target tug to unmanned drone. And more than a few were flown as aggressor aircraft, much to the chagrin of unknowing F-14 and F-4 pilots. Flight Systems Incorporated, based at Mojave, California, was one of the main civil contractors to use the Sabre. They acquired some 55 Canadair CL-13A Sabre Mk. S aircraft, 6 CL-13B Sabre Mk. 6s, and a number of Mitsubishi F-86F and RF-86F aircraft.The Sabres were used as high altitude remote piloted vehicles, commonly called a Full Scale Aerial Target or FSAT. Most were modified using the Vega Precision Laboratories ground control system, or the IBM Drone Formation Control System (DFCS). Externally, the F-86 drones usually had no gun ports, and had a small antenna either atop or underneath the nose intake. There were large, black antenna panels midway down the fuselage sides, and a Vega System antenna cable on the left side of the aft fuselage. Some had large antenna panels in the fin tip.
The FSI aircraft were used to test new munitions, ECM pods, flares; and to test new air-to-air or surf ace-to-air missile systems. Except for 'live-fire' missile tests, the Sabres were flown with a human pilot aboard. On 'live-fire' missions, the Sabres were flown by a controller in the Vega Systems van on the ground. 'Live-Fire' missions used missiles without warheads. If the 'live-fire' mission resulted in a hit or near-miss that crippled the drone Sabre, the aircraft had a self-destruct panel so that the ground controller could destroy the Sabre.
The US Army utilized a number of these FSAT Sabres during tests of the Stinger shoulder-fired, heat seeking surface-to-air missile at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, and to monitor the 'live-fire' test flights of the new Pershing II missile. The US Navy had a similar operation utilizing FSAT Sabres, both F and H models, at the Naval Weapons Center, China take NAS. The US Air Force operated several FSAT Sabres for weapons tests at Edwards AFB.
Army drone Sabres were all designated QF-86E, as most owed their ancestry to Cariadair Sabres of some type. Air Force and Navy designated their FSAT Sabres based on the original type, i.e. QF-86F-40 and QRF-86F. The Navy had a number of ex-National Guard Hs, that were operated by VX-4 as aggressor aircraft in the TOP GUN program. The QF-86H looked and flew a similar flight envelope to the MiG-17, which US forces were still encountering in the skies over North Vietnam. The drone Sabre 'live-fire' missions are flown NOLO, or No Onboard Live Operator. Since no warheads were fitted to the 'live-fire' missiles attempting to shoot down the FSAT Sabres, the drone aircraft could be flown again and again, unless an unlucky hit resulted in catastrophic damage. It was then that the Vega ground controller would use the self-destruct mechanism. However, the Sabres were a tough breed, and one Army QF-86E survived 17 missile attacks.