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Today in History – January 31, 1968 – F-100 pilots Maj Joe Bulger and 1Lt “Fearless” Fred Abrams are given the worst kind of mission

31 January 1968 – On the first full day of the Tet Offensive, Major Joe Bulger (Flight Lead) and 1Lt “Fearless” Fred Abrams were asked to bomb their own base. In the early hours of the day, Vietcong forces had launched an attack on Bien Hoa AB. “The whole east end was hot,” Abrams said.

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Benjamin, Clyde A.

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Clyde A. Benjamin

Nickname/Call Sign: Gandhi
Date of Birth: May 1, 1933
Highest Military Grade: 0-3 – Captain
Hometown: Butte, MT
Biography
Pilot Information
Album

I flew the F-100A at Nellis.  I reported into Willy (Williams AFB, AZ) after completing basic flying school at Webb AFB in Big Springs, Texas.  After 3 days at Willy, I was transferred to Nellis as an experimental student to determine if pilots could go directly from T-33 to F-100, bypassing the F-86.

They did the same thing for Luke pilots that were flying the F-84.  All told, I think there were about 6 people that went through this program.  The F-100F had just entered the inventory, so that was the airplane that we used for transition.  After checkout in the F-100F, we flew the F-100A and completed the gunnery program at Nellis.

My next assignment was back to Willy to fly the F-86 and continue the gunnery and transition into that airplane.  At the conclusion of that training, we went to operational units and flew the F-100D & F at George.  I guess that the experiment worked as future classes went directly from pilot training, T-33, to F-100 at Luke.  I think that was the death knell for Willy, as all fighter pilots were vectored to Luke, and Willy closed.

Units Assigned

  • Pilot Training, Webb AFB, TX/Williams AFB, AZ (T-33)
  • Pilot Training/Gunnery, Nellis AFB, NV (F-100 A/F)
  • Gunnery Training, Williams AFB, TX (F-86)
  • 1957-1959 474th Fighter Day Squadron/413th Fighter-Day Wing, George AB, CA (F-100 D/F)
  • 1959-1960 309th Fighter Day Squadron/31st Tactical Fighter Wing, George AFB, CA (F-100 D/F)

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

T-33
F-86
F-100 A/D/F

Military & Civilian Education

Civilian Education

  • 1951-1956 BSIE, Montana State University Bozeman

Benjamin, Clyde
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