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Anecdotes
submitted by numerous B-66 Personnel.
More than 50 stories of interesting,
exciting, tragic, amusing and
silly, experiences and incidents that occurred
during 1953-1974.
Click
Here...
NOTICE: Click on links highlighted
below for additional details
Korea
TAC "Hunter Killer" Attempts (1950
to 1953)During
1952, a few B-26 Invader attack bombers were modified for the "radar hunting"
role, carrying APA-24 direction-finding antennas and an APR-4 receiver. The planes
flew with the 452nd Bomb Group based near Pusan in South Korea (footnote referred
to: Streetly, Martin, "World Electronic Warfare Aircraft", p 48). According to
one official US Air Force account these missions achieved little: "An effort to
locate enemy radars with airborne direction finding equipment carried in B-26s,
and test of B-26 . . . operations against them, were noteworthy for the meager
results achieved. These efforts either ran into never-ending problems or triggered
differing and unresolved debates over concepts of operations, or simply failed
completely.
Click
Here...
TAC
ECM "Hunter Killer" Mission at Shaw AFB, SC (1953 to 1956)The
result of a recent skirmish in Exercise Sagebrush, the joint Army-Air Force maneuver
now going on in Louisiana, is greatly worrying U. S. military leaders. Using new
electronic devices, an "enemy" Air Force totally blinded the best U. S. radar
equipment to score a devastating atomic knockout of defending forces. Vast stock
of complicated equipment for spotting planes, bombing, and guiding missiles may
possibly have been made obsolete. Click
Here...
MIGs
Jumping a B-66C Northwest of Hanoi, by Stan Tippin (EWO) Tom Taylor
mentioned that MIGs jumped a B-66C northwest of Hanoi, and one of the F-4 escorts
shot one down. I was with Col. Webb on that mission, and have audio recording,
plus newspaper coverage. Norm Kasch was also one of the EWOs, as was Gingery.
I'd have to go to my files to recall the rest of the crew.
Later, we got
in a fight with Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, when China accused us of
crossing their border (we actually only violated the 20-mile-wide Buffer Zone)
and he agreed with them, and our whole crew, along with Maj. Wilbur Dudley and
his back-seater (F-4 from DaNang that shot down the MIG-17 with an AIM-9) had
to spend a grueling eight days at 7th AF Hq in Saigon documenting our case. (Sure
made one sick at one's stomach to experience our own Secretary of Defense siding
with the Communist Chinese against his own combat aircrews.)
Black
Sea Mission Attacked by Soviet MIGs
I flew RB-66C and WB-66D
models in the 42nd TRS, 10th TRW at Spangdahlem AB Germany and RAF Chelveston
in 58 to 60. On one flight from Spang in 1958 we flew along the north coast of
the Black Sea. We were intercepted by two MIG 15 fighters because my gunner was
asleep. I pushed up the throttles and stood the airplane on its nose, quickly
accelerating to .95 mach, the limiting speed of the RB-66 and never saw the fighters
again. We were at .8 mach to start and the MIG was not stable above that speed
so they were surprised by my maneuver and unable to get in a shot after discovering
where is was. A 90 degree turn while headed straight down took us south of the
Black Sea to our destination of Adana AB Turkey. This was described in the Sept.
'98 VFW Magazine. The gunner was permanently grounded following my report but
no other action was taken. Today I would have been awarded a decoration for my
actions which prevented our capture by the Russian fighters.
Written by:
Major Richard Starke, USAF (ret'd), Burlington, ND on 04/04/2001
Two
Unique RB-66 Far East Operations
1. In 1959, the
Far East was in chaos. I was transferred to Yokota AFB, Japan to another B66 outfit.
Our mission was to probe Russia's and China's radar capabilities to determine
just what their intercept ranges and patterns were. We would fly straight in toward
China and when they would launch their fighters, we would turn away. Often their
fighters would come up and fly on our wing till we were no longer a threat to
them. They were very careful not to get into my attack zone because I would bring
my guns to bear and shoot them down. Neither them nor me wanted to be the one
to fire the first shot of World War III. Written by: Jim Wills (Gunner) March
23, 2001.
2. Other missions we flew involved the Russian MIR returning
to earth yesterday reminds me of the time that I was flying out of Johnson Island
monitoring the Russian launches in Siberia back in 1959. They would fire a missile
from Siberia down-range to the South Pacific. RB-66s were in orbit watching them
re-enter hundreds of miles South of Johnson. Quite often we would have the tail
of the airplane to the reentry and I, as briefed, would call "hack" every time
there was a change in the reentry. Later at debriefing I would describe what each
"hack" meant to a group of civilians back on Johnson. First thing I would see
was a large ball of fire, and then it would divide, and then further divide all
the while changing colors, etc. It didn't last very long. The navigator would
log each "hack" time and location. I suppose the civilians were scientist or CIA
who found the information useful. It was interesting duty.
Written by: Jim
Wills (Gunner) March 23, 2001.
Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD)
As in the B-57's case, the Air Force
bought the B/RB-66 for lack of any better choice. The analogy did not stop there.
Like the stopgap B-57, which it was due to replace, the B/RB-66 was to be an interim
weapon, primarily earmarked for tactical reconnaissance, until the subsequently
canceled B-68 came into being. Click
Here...
B-66
Destroyer -CLASSICS:
Very few military aircraft built by
any country have proved to be as versatile as the Douglas B-66 Destroyer. It was
involved in some of the USAF's most classified missions flown during the height
of the Cold War in Europe. Click
Here...
Introduction
of the RB-66 to US Air Forces Europe (USAFE) The first RB-66
to arrive at Sembach, Germany was, in fact, a 19th TRS aircraft on the 26th February,
1957. The purpose of this flight was to test out the Sembach runway for RB-66
operations. There was some doubt about whether or not the runway was long enough.
In the event the 30th was sent to Landstuhl to transition because of that airfields
longer runways and overruns. An additional factor, if one was needed, was that
the heat wave experienced in the summer of 1957 buckled Sembach’s runway. Not
only the 30th TRS, but also the 302nd and 303rd were deployed elsewhere: the 303rd
to Landstuhl and the 302nd to Cazeaux in France. Written by: Doug Gordan Click
Here...
Initial
Deployment of E/RB-66 Aircraft and Aircrews to Southeast Asia in 1965-66:
Early 1965, the Soviet's began deploying SA-2 Surface to Air Missile
(SAM) systems into North Vietnam. The SAM sites became fully operational in August
1965. Click
Here...
A
Vietnam Story: On April 2, 1972, near the demilitarized
zone (DMZ) of Vietnam, a U.S. Air Force forward air controller (FAC) pilot, using
the call-sign "Bilk 34," broadcast an urgent radio plea over the emergency-only
"Guard" frequency that was routinely monitored by all pilots flying in the Southeast
Asian theater. The request was for assistance in rescuing any survivors of an
EB-66 radar surveillance aircraft that was just shot down. Click
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Home
of Heroes:
Lieutenant Colonel
Iceal "Gene" Hambleton (BAT 21) felt his body exploding away from the crippled
EB-66 aircraft. Moments earlier the unarmed, electronic warfare plane had taken
a direct hit from an enemy SAM (surface to air missile), and was going down. As
he looked back in horror at the pilot preparing to eject, the aircraft suddenly
exploded into thousands of pieces. Five fellow crew members were instantly killed,
leaving the 53 year old Air Force officer the only survivor. Click
Here...
The
EB-66 and the Early Struggle of Tactical Electronic Warfare.
This
study underscores the important use of electronic intelligence and jamming as
an electronic countermeasure. Three decades ago, the USAF faced a North Vietnamese
electronic air defense threat about which little was known. Through some extraordinary
efforts, the USAF ably countered that threat employing an obsolete aircraft, the
EB-66, only refitted and upgraded for mid 1960s missions. Since the aircraft was
at the end of its projected lifecycle, and a new jammer was on the drawing board,
the air staff would not fund additional EB-66 modifications and maintenance requirements.
Click
Here...
Remarks
by Scott Hegland Lt Col (Ret) USAF.
"Probably taken between
1957-1959, this particular photo and the next one showing the in-air refueling
between a B-66 and a KB-50 over Japan were taken by a (then) Captain Bob Stamm
who indicated that along with this likely being one of the actual aircraft that
my dad flew, he also mentioned that this particular aircraft (tail no. 55-388)
was 'the only B-66 that I know of that was shot down by a MIG 21 in the Vietnam
conflict.' He went on to say that 'perhaps if the guns had been left on that wouldn’t
have happened. But, long before that war, a chaff dispensing tailcone replaced
two 20mm guns on all 66s." Click
Here...
A 5th Grader Wants To Be An Air
Force Pilot “I want to be an Air Force pilot when
I grow up because it’s fun and easy to do. Pilots don’t need much school; they
just have to learn numbers so they can read instruments. I guess they should be
able to read maps so they can find their way if they are lost. Pilots should be
brave so they won’t be scared if it’s foggy and they can’t see or if a wing or
a motor falls off they should stay calm so they’ll know what to do. Pilots have
to have good eyes so they can see through clouds and they can’t be afraid of lightning
or thunder because they are closer to them than we are. The salary pilots make
is another thing I like. They make more money than they can spend. This is because
most people think airplane flying is dangerous, except pilots don’t, because they
know how easy it is. There isn’t much I don’t like, except girls like pilots and
all the stewardesses want to marry them so they always have to chase them away
so they won’t bother them. I hope I don’t get airsick because if I do I couldn’t
be a pilot and would have to go to work.”
A Fifth Grader |