Tabor, Dale C.

I attended pilot training at Webb AFB and was in the first T-38 class (63A). Initially we were allotted 3 fighter slots. Since I was 6th in the class, there was little hope of getting a fighter. I initially selected to stay there as an IP. A few days later, six more fighter slots appeared and I selected an F-100. It turned out that because we were the first T-38-trained guys, the powers that be wanted a bigger sample. Second Lieutenant Tabor was getting an F-100.

At Luke, F-100 training seemed easy and as the top guy, I selected Lakenheath England for the start of my operational F-100 career.  Flying in Europe was the best training ground any pilot could have: weather, tough ranges, air refueling, training at Wheelus, Libya, and sitting Victor Alert were all part of learning the trade. I have been wanting to “stake my claim” as the only F-100 pilot to not only knock off the tanker’s air refueling basket but to bring it back to home base. In Issue 37 of the Intake magazine, I notice that Bill Kriz staked that claim. During my four years in Europe, I flew over 1,000 hours in the hun.

I attended F-100 Fighter Weapons School on my way to Phan Rang AB, Vietnam, where I was the wing weapons officer. I flew 223 combat missions in South Vietnam and had only one incident of battle damage: a 50 cal. hole in my horizontal stabilizer.

To sum up my F-100 days, I flew over 1800 hours in the Hun on four continents without so much as a major emergency. I love that airplane.