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.
I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1944. I remember attending air shows at Barksdale AFB and always wanted to fly. I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University where I was a member of the ROTC Unit and obtained my private pilot license through the Cadet Flight Indoctrination Program.
In 1968 I entered Undergraduate Pilot Training at Reese AFB, TX. After UPT, I followed the standard Pipeline route to SEA. I completed F-100 gunnery at Luke AFB and then off for my year at Bien Hoa. As the war wound down, I rotated back to CONUS with the Tuy Hoa Wing to reform the unit at England AFB, LA.
After a year, the senior pilots were pulled out to fly Gen Momyers Edsel the F-111. I spent five years at Mtn Home AFB with a TDY in 72 to Takhli RTAFB during Linebacker II. In 75, I was selected to do an exchange tour with the RAAF and enjoyed two years drinking Australian beer. In 78 I was required to pay back for the Oz assignment with a tour at Hq TAC.
After three years in purgatory, I went to the AFSC at Norfolk followed by a year and a half at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. With great stealth technique, I escaped MPC assignments and returned to Australia as the Asst Air Attach for the remainder of my 20-year military career flying the C-12 around the South Pacific.
I retired from the USAF in 1988.
After serving with the USAF, Bill Baker worked as a Project Engineer at General Dynamics in Ft. Worth, TX from 1988-1989. He then became a pilot for Northwest Airlines where he flew the B-727, DC-9, DC-10 and B-747 until his retirement in 2004.
