Mansuetti, Leo

“One great thing about being a fighter pilot is you have more interesting stories to tell than all the other old farts in your neighborhood.”

The Story …

During World War II, l was really into building model airplanes and l kept track of all the Fighter Pilot “Aces”. After the war, my Dad took me out to our local grass airport and arranged for a pilot to take us for several rides in a Lacombe. I loved it and knew that someday I wanted to be a pilot. The Air Force offered me the opportunity to satisfy my dream. l went to UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) at Laughlin in Del Rio, Texas, and then got my first choice of assignments, F-100 training at Luke AFB in Arizona.

After gunnery school, my new wife and I headed off to Hahn Germany. Flying the Hun around Europe and North Africa was my job, but a “perk” of the assignment allowed Carolyn and I to ski almost every major resort in the Alps. Then in Feb. 1968 with a brand-new son I was assigned to PHU CAT AB, South Vietnam, where I flew 238 combat missions in the F-100.

My most memorable story starts out as a scramble from the alert pad leading a flight of two. The target was a Viet Cong unit that was attacking US Army Infantry near the Cambodian border. The Army unit had wounded soldiers and Medivac helicopters could not get in for the rescue. They were pinned down by anti-aircraft fire plus considerable enemy ground units with small arms.

My Flight arrived in the area late in the afternoon, there was a thick undercast of clouds and I could not find a hole to get down under them. l told the ground FAC (Forward Air Control) that I was going to have to return to base because I couldn’t get down. He said, “You’ve got to do something”, and I could tell from his voice that our troops on the ground were in real trouble. After telling my wingman to hold high, I rolled over, put my nose in the clouds, and broke out in a valley between the surrounding hills. Once I was in the clear and got oriented using a prominent bend in a river, I started up the valley and asked the FAC to pop smoke if he heard or saw me. l saw green smoke about the same time that I was passing a cleared off area on a ridge top on the right.

With smoke coming from guns on my right, I broke up and away. I confirmed the green smoke was the friendly ground troops and the FAC confirmed the bad guys were shooting at me. I came back up the valley this time about 100 feet above the ridgeline with my 500 lb. Snake Eyes1 “armed up”. I saw the clearing and pickled singles2. The ground F AC called with a great deal of excitement and told me that the bombs had hit the artillery dugouts and there were pieces and parts flying everywhere. He then relayed that there were Viet Cong in the tree line just under the first target.

I flew up the valley with my napalm armed and the airplane really humming so I could spread the fire along the hillside. I told the FAC to keep their heads down because it was going to get warm3. Between the two ridgelines was some tall grass and the FAC said he thought there were some Viet Cong sneaking around in there. I told him I had some 20mm that I could spray in the valley if he was sure his guys were away from the grass valley floor. He confirmed that they were dug in, so I made one pass through the grass firing all four cannons. I pulled up, rocked my wings, and disappeared into the clouds. The ground FAC called and said, “that is the closest I will ever see to an angel from heaven,” a very impressive compliment. Back on top, I joined up with my wingman, we found a place to jettison his ordnance and headed back to Phu Cat. I learned later that Med Evac choppers were able to pick them up.

My wife Carolyn and son Mike lived in California during the year I was in Vietnam. When I returned, we went to Cannon AFB in Clovis, NM, where our daughter Julie was born and the family now complete. In 1971, we were off to Kansas where I was a full­time student for a year earning a Math degree. I then became the Air Force advisor to the Oklahoma Air Guard and was there for the Wing transition from C-97’s to F-100’s. This was a great assignment and we met many civilian friends. One of them was a Confederate Air Force Colonel that had several airplanes that he allowed me to fly, including my exclusive mount, a Mark 5 Sabre (Canadian F-86). It had my name painted below the canopy and I was the only one that flew it. It was really a thrill to fly the P-51 and P-38 of my WW II heroes. During my time in Tulsa, I built the Pitts Special S-1 that I flew for 29 years and I still have it. My last Air Force assignment was at Shaw AFB where I was wing DOT and flew the OV-10.

The Man …

I am a 1st generation American, and like my father, who came to this country from Italy, I love being an American. My Grandfather fought on the side of the Allies in WW I. When the war was over, he ended up in France, was offered US citizenship, and boarded a ship to New York. After a year he earned enough money working in a coal mine to bring his wife and two sons to the U.S.

My father was 11, with a 3rd-grade education, and his first job was with a brick mason. He worked with the mason until he was old enough to get a job in the local steel mill. For him, learning about America and speaking English was a primary goal. He went to night school to learn a trade and, after marrying my mother during the early years of the depression, he started a little business on the side making store counters and kitchen cabinets. He worked at his “side job” until he could quit the steel mill and go full time on his own. A brave move at that time and he became very successful.

My parents believed that their children should get the best education possible. We started in a private Catholic school and I graduated from a Catholic college with a degree in Math. Several years later I earned a Masters in Math from the University of South Carolina where I taught Math after retiring from the Air Force.

Our parish priest asked me to take over as Principal of St. Anne Catholic school and I decided it was time to “pay it back” and took over the position at the school for a year. That year led to one more and then one more and l was there l0 years until we found another retired Catholic pilot to take my place.

During this time, I volunteered to serve on the board of the Sumter Historical Society and helped plan the 200th anniversary of its founding. This is where General Thomas Sumter4 and his family are buried. I then was appointed to a volunteer position on the airport commission. I was elected chairman of the commission about two months prior to Hurricane HUGO which destroyed a good part of the facility. Working with national and state politicians we rebuilt the terminal and hangars. It helped that my next-door neighbor was a Senator and ex-fighter pilot. I served as President of the Sumter Board of Realtors for two terms and Chairman of the Multi-List service responsible for the transfer to a computer-driven MLS.

Lt. Col. Leo Mansuetti is currently Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Super Sabre Society.

1. 500 lb “Snake Eyes”: the standard Mk-82 General Purpose bomb fitted with a special high-drag tail fin unit. In this configuration, it is referred to as the Snake Eye
2. “pickled singles” using the control button that drops ordnance, in this case dropping them one by one.
3. ‘get warm” bombs and bullets dropping on a particular area nearby
4. General Thomas Sumter: also known as “The Gamecock” for his fierce fighting style during the War of Independence, a friend of the Cherokee, a congressman, and a senator