The Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter, was a privately funded “light supersonic fighter aircraft, of the 1950’s. The Air Force had no need for a so-called “light jet fighter,” but was interested in the training aspects of the F-5 for it’s pilots. A version of the F-5 called the T-38 Talon, was produced for the Air Force.
Archive for the ‘AF Days’ Category
Medic’s to the Rescue
April 29th, 2012 
Sgt. Mac Although physical exercise was conducted during the morning hours, the Texas heat, was always approaching unbearable heights. As I recall the parade area, where we performed our exercises was blacktop but it could have been concrete. Because of the extreme heat that year, black flags were put out, which meant canceled calisthenics, for most of our training. We jumped for joy for about ten seconds, before we learned that marching drills would increase, to make up for the lack of sit-ups, push-ups and jumping jacks.
Century Fighters: McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
April 10th, 2012 Sgt. Mac Like it’s cousin the F-100 Supersabre, the F-101 Voodoo, was a supersonic jet fighter. It’s original intent, was as a long-range bomber escort, for the SAC-Strategic Air Command, but SAC backed out of its use. It was then claimed as a nuclear armed fighter-bomber for the TAC-Tactical Air Command, and as a photo reconnaissance aircraft.
Hawker Siddeley Vulcan B2
February 21st, 2012 Sgt. Mac The Hawker Siddeley Vulcan B2 bomber was one of the strangest looking planes I had ever seen. Other than the silver colored B-47′s that I watched streak across the skies of Idaho as a youth, I had never seen a bomber of that size or shape.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter-Missile with a man in it!
February 19th, 2012 Sgt. Mac Chuck Yeager-Famous, as the man who broke the sound barrier in the X-1 rocket plane, not to mention one of my early heroes, was a test pilot. This book recounted his tale of a harrowing escape from an experimental rocket powered NF-104A, more commonly known as the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
North American F-100 Super Sabre Fighter-Bomber
January 16th, 2012 Sgt. Mac I first saw the North American F-100 Super Sabre Fighter-Bomber, when I joined the Air Force in 1966. Initially we thought we were headed to Vietnam, but somehow ended up in jolly ol’ England.
Posted in AF Days 
Tags: F-100 Super Sabre, North American, RAF Lakenheath, supersonic jet 
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SAC Bomber Force: The B-47 Stratojet
January 11th, 2012 Sgt. Mac Us kids watched in amazement, as massive formations of silver colored B-47′s, zoomed at low-level across Idaho’s desert landscape. Like a gigantic swarm of locust, they flew through cloudless skies, leaving large white contrails from whence they came.
C-124 Globemaster: “Old Shaky” was a Bit Tipsy
December 20th, 2011 Sgt. Mac While stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England in the mid-sixties, I had the pleasure to see, the C-124 Globemaster-one of the great old cargo planes of the past.
Pirate Radio & The Maunsell Forts of Britain
December 8th, 2011 Sgt. Mac One of the more interesting memories from my Air Force days in England, during the mid-sixties, was something called “Pirate Radio.” (Perhaps you have seen the movie of the same name, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman). It was 1968, and I had recently volunteered for a new assignment. They told us that our new airfield was [...]
