Biography

I did my pilot training at Barto and then went on to Greenville, MS. From there I went to Willie and flew F-100 C’s and onto Nellis for advanced gunnery, still flying the “C” model. Nellis lost a lot of F-100 C pilots back then, though my group didn’t lose any.  From Nellis, I went to Itazuki with the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron from March of 1960 until April of 1963. At the end of my time there, the USAF was transitioning to F-105’s but I was about to marry my childhood sweetheart, so I didn’t extend to fly the 105. Instead, I went back to South Carolina.
Itazuki was a terrible place for F-100’s. People flew into the ground, and they also had the Wiggins Disconnect and the flight controls would lock up. One of the guys was on a low approach, he was on the wing and he locked up and hit the ground at Osan. I might be wrong about this, but I think that one day they were trying to find out what was wrong and discovered the hydraulic pressure on the Wiggins Disconnect was wrong and making it equal on both ends, and it would freeze up. They lost 11 F-100’s in one year at Osan. In fact, two years in a row they lost the same number. People used to say, “One a day, the Nellis way!”.
The Wing Commander out at Nellis was up at TAC Headquarters trying to explain why they lost so many F-100’s and he was telling them that they thought they had it under control. The telephone rang while he was briefing and told him they had just lost another one at Nellis.
I flew the F-100 for 3 years, the F-105 for 3 years, then the F-4, 102’s and the F-16. If I had to say which is my favorite airplane to fly, I’d likely say the F-16, but really it’s the Thud (F-105). You could go to sleep 100 ft off the ground or less and the thing was like a rock (stable). I’ll tell you one thing though, I wouldn’t want to go fight MIG’s with the F-105.

Units Assigned

8 Tactical Fighter Wing 80 Tactical Fighter Squadron

Awards & Decorations

Flight Info

F-100 C/D F-102 F-105 F-4 F-16

Military Education

1/1964 – 4/1964 F-105D Operational Training Course, Nellis AFB, NM

Civilian Education