25 May 1953 – In January 1951, North American Aviation delivered an unsolicited proposal for a supersonic day fighter to the United States Air Force....
Read MoreThomas S. Treuhaft
Preferred Name: Tom
Nickname/Call Sign: Tom
Date of Birth: June 13, 1946
Highest Military Grade Held:
Hometown:
Biography
Tom Treuhaft – Caterpillar Club
On 23 January 1976, while deployed to Nellis AFB with the 112th TFS/180th TFG of the OH ANG for Red Flag Exercises, I was number three in a four-ship on a low-level, armed recce mission with Mk-76 practice bombs.
Soon after starting to recce the road, Lead spotted an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) on the road and called for my element to hit it. My wingman and I popped up for a low-angle dive bomb delivery. At the top of the maneuver, I rolled and pulled the nose down toward the target. I was steep and added back pressure on the stick to bring the nose up to the target and establish the proper bomb delivery parameters. Nothing happened. I pulled harder, nothing happened. I pulled even harder, NOTHING HAPPENED.
OH SHIT!!!! I’m getting out of this thing—NOW!!!!
Handgrips raise. Triggers squeeze.
I had a blurred vision of red and yellow flames, and smoke as the rocket seat fired. The wind blast BROKE the chin strap and my helmet was blown off. The next thing I knew, I was lying in the desert and could move only enough to slowly release my parachute. Lucky for me there was no wind and that I did not bounce my head off a nice soft rock. I knew when I got out that I was pushing the envelope for a safe ejection, but it was eject or go in with the bird. I found out later that I got out at approximately 200 feet BELOW the safe ejection envelope.
I broke almost every bone in my torso including my back, punctured my left lung and had lots of internal bleeding. Lucky again for me, a Jolly Green was also on a training mission and was in the process of aerial refuelling. Lead called “King’s X … pilot down,” but it still took about 30 minutes for the rescue chopper to get to me. By that time, I was very close to checking out. After days in the ICU, months in hospitals and months in rehab, I got back on flight status in September 1976. I flew the Hun until our unit replaced them at the end of 1979. There were many theories to what caused old #073 to act the way she did, but she was in too many small, charred pieces [slab components, actuators, etc., were not complete enough to be analyzed] to come up with a conclusive cause.
~Tom Treuhaft
Units Assigned
112th Tactical Fighter Squadron/180th Tactical Fighter Group, OHANG
Awards & Decorations
Flight Info
F-100
Military Education
Civilian Education
- Biography
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Biography
- Caterpillar Club
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Tom Treuhaft – Caterpillar Club
On 23 January 1976, while deployed to Nellis AFB with the 112th TFS/180th TFG of the OH ANG for Red Flag Exercises, I was number three in a four-ship on a low-level, armed recce mission with Mk-76 practice bombs.
Soon after starting to recce the road, Lead spotted an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) on the road and called for my element to hit it. My wingman and I popped up for a low-angle dive bomb delivery. At the top of the maneuver, I rolled and pulled the nose down toward the target. I was steep and added back pressure on the stick to bring the nose up to the target and establish the proper bomb delivery parameters. Nothing happened. I pulled harder, nothing happened. I pulled even harder, NOTHING HAPPENED.
OH SHIT!!!! I’m getting out of this thing—NOW!!!!
Handgrips raise. Triggers squeeze.
I had a blurred vision of red and yellow flames, and smoke as the rocket seat fired. The wind blast BROKE the chin strap and my helmet was blown off. The next thing I knew, I was lying in the desert and could move only enough to slowly release my parachute. Lucky for me there was no wind and that I did not bounce my head off a nice soft rock. I knew when I got out that I was pushing the envelope for a safe ejection, but it was eject or go in with the bird. I found out later that I got out at approximately 200 feet BELOW the safe ejection envelope.
I broke almost every bone in my torso including my back, punctured my left lung and had lots of internal bleeding. Lucky again for me, a Jolly Green was also on a training mission and was in the process of aerial refuelling. Lead called “King’s X … pilot down,” but it still took about 30 minutes for the rescue chopper to get to me. By that time, I was very close to checking out. After days in the ICU, months in hospitals and months in rehab, I got back on flight status in September 1976. I flew the Hun until our unit replaced them at the end of 1979. There were many theories to what caused old #073 to act the way she did, but she was in too many small, charred pieces [slab components, actuators, etc., were not complete enough to be analyzed] to come up with a conclusive cause.
~Tom Treuhaft - Units - Education - Awards - Flight Info
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Units Assigned
112th Tactical Fighter Squadron/180th Tactical Fighter Group, OHANG
Awards & Decorations
Flight Info
F-100
Military Education
Civilian Education