Chuck and all,
Yes the WIFF as a said I flew the WIFF with Yuke Smaby. Don’t remember the specifics of the maneuver other then the purpose of the demo was to show you that if the two aircraft and pilots were in sinc with each other and they both understood the aerodynamic interaction between the jets, that “any” attitude could be achieved successfully in contact. It was a confidence and teamwork maneuver. I remember that we did get just a bit past the 90 degree bank on one of the series of maneuvers. The WIFF was a dynamic process, not just one big turn. It was a series of lazy-chandelle type maneuvers (without the 180 degree turn reversal) that started out small and increased with each reversal until the target attitude was achieved or sometimes exceededhence the name WIFF. This concept was re-enforced on the subsequent CFIC MITO sortie where we had to do a 12 second MITO with the tanker and achieve a contact shortly after flaps up – below 2000 feet – on the departure, then fly contact through the climbing turn on the CID. Also I remember Yuke abusing me hard on the night sorties when we re-fueled and had to maintain contact thorough many turns, climbs and descents over and over again. I remember never being so tired and wrung out post flight. I also remember some harsh thoughts I had for my instructors every time the tanker turned and started climbing or descending. At the time I didn’t understand the purpose of the pain only that it was painful. As on my last BoB this level of training and the detail involved was to prepare us for any mission and any situation in the future.
Mine came just three months after returning from CFIC. We ended up in IRAQ short on gas and carrying a load of new weapons on converted cruise missile pylons… yes a WESP. The drag was more then expected, hence that’s why we where short on the gas big time .enough so we needed an extra refueling to make it to the post strike base. We asked the AWACS and we got a snap vector to a group of tankers holding south of the border. Well snap vector was not part of the SAC lexicon and neither was the anchor refueling that we where headed for. I don’t think any one in SAC could spell anchor let alone fly it with the jets in the configuration we had. Oh bye the way did I mention it was at night and the tankers were orbiting right in the only cloud deck in this part of the world. Well Andy and Bob worked their magic and got us close enough behind the tanker to make visual contact. I can’t remember how many times we had to chase the tanker around the orbit with radar before we got close enough to see them. I do remember that every time we made an orbit, chasing the tanker, the fuel gages got lower and lower. We were already well below what we needed to get to the post strike. When we finally got contact the vis in the clouds was to the point we could not afford a disconnect and pre-contact position. We would not have been able to get back. I remember a feeling of relief when the gas started pouring in to the tanks until the crazy turns started as we went around and around. It took every bit of concentration I had to stay connected. Then out of the soup, an F-4 showed up on our wing in full afterburner yelling on guard to “GET THE BUFF OFF THE BOOM NOW!”
I guess he snap vectored to the biggest return he had on his radar which was the two of us with only fumes left. We had enough gas to afford a little break but not enough to get were we needed to go.. so I backed off the boom. No way could I afford to loose sight of the tanker and go through the blind man’s bluff rendezvous again so I opted to slide to the right on the tanker wing then back off to the F-4’s wing position to wait our turn, again. A few more turns in this formation and the F-4 took a disconnect, rolled inverted off the end of the boom, and disappeared into the night soup with not even a thank you. We slid back into contact and started suckling again. By this time I was exhausted. We had already been airborne long enough to see the sun rise and set and it was already near sunrise again. We discussed our low fuel state with the whole formation of tankers (we were a three ship with Russ Bennet and Gary Konnert on our wing) they agreed to drag us towards the post strike base while we were refueling. I remember being filled with gratitude for the gesture and told them we owed our first borne or what ever they wanted.
The whole point of the story is that we were prepared for this by the blood and sweat at CFIC. The confidence and skills that it took to do what none of us had ever done before, under the most adverse scenario you can think of, was forged by the tough curriculum at CFIC. This curriculum – including the WIFF – was the creation of men who had their turn in the meat grinder and understood the need for blood sweat and tears during training to forge aircrew who had the confidence and skills to do anything.
Cheers
Ponch
Americas Allies Need An Appropriate Defense
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008Russia has violated Georgia. A Russian invasion force–thousands of soldiers and hundreds of tanks–scattered the ill-prepared Georgian military. The Russian air force bombed Georgian cities and then occupied some of them. They stole the small boats of its navy. Pillaged and destroyed army bases. Pushed civilian police cars aside with tanks. Robbed banks. Put citizens in work details. And then scoffed at the international response.
America, its military stretched thin between two theaters of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)–Iraq and Afghanistan–reacted with diplomatic sternness. The American stance might have been respected by the Russians if NATO had offered a solid front. However, they only offered the threat of diplomatic reprisals due to some of its members being energy dependent on the Russian Bear.
Then in a diplomatic surprise, the new leader of the European Union–French President Nicolas Sarkozy–echoed the American position. Suddenly there was a ceasefire deal. American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saw to it that Georgias President Mikhail Saakshvili and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev both signed the treaty this weekend.
Once the agreement was signed, the Russian invasion force was supposed to begin leaving. But surprise — they didnt. Who’d a guess it? Who wouldn’t have?
The Russians said they would leave Monday, but they didnt. They continued to position themselves to control Georgia–taking over villages and a power plant.
They continued to assert moral ascendancy on the people of the small country. The Russians even said they were leaving as some rumors spread that more forces were moving into the region. Hard to trust those Russians, ain’t it?
This is troubling, as most of the civilized community is trying to find a solution to an evil force that is bent on destroying the world as we know it.
Terrorist organizations are waging war against the civilized nations of the world. Suicide terrorists do what their label implies. Attacks are launched, just about everywhere. The Chinese are not immune. Terrorists blow up civilian aircraft, even in Russia.
The terrorists see little difference between the Russians, the Americans, the Chinese, or the Jews. But instead of cooperating and putting as quick as possible of an end to the GWOT, we have to revisit old wounds. What causes that? If we ever get it under control we just might have peace in our time.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to established a hedge against Iranian missile threats–especially with the imminent development of nuclear warheads–America has agreed to build a missile defense system in Poland.
While this might be part of a master plan to avoid having to depopulate Iran in order to stop their weapons development program, Russia has stated that it is just an attempt to weaken Russia. They rattle their saber and spout not-so-veiled threats of attack on Poland and others. So were going to put Patriot missiles in Poland to protect them from Russian missiles. Well, that’s a start.
This is getting complicated. Russia is a threat to its neighbors that are American allies, or are considering to become so. Its a good thing to protect them from missile attack, but thats not enough.
If our allies are to be safe from Russia, they need a tank defense system.
America has had success in stopping Soviet-technology tanks in the past couple of wars. Its probably safe to say, Nobody does it better. We should share our techniques and some of our hardware with our allies.
Did somebody just whisper, “It might be good for the economy.”
There are a vast array of stop-the-tank weapons out there. The Army says the best anti-tank weapon is a tank. Maybe so, but airplanes do a pretty good job of stopping tanks too–ask any Hog-driver.
Of course, all of that needs air superiority to happen. Come to think of it–America does that quite well too. If we feel up to the job, we might want to reconsider the number of F-22s we’ll need. I know that’s not a popular stance in the wake of the UAV craze. But can UAVs shoot down the Su-35 and MiG-29?
Some folks will say that these suggestions are needlessly extravagant. They will say things like: It will cause a war! It will never work! It will cost too much!
Georgia is being snuffed as we speak–and not because they were too strong. They were without the resources to stop 10,000 soldiers and 350 tanks who enjoyed air superiority. If they had, let’s say 20,000 combat soldiers and 400 tanks and air defenses to stop Russian airpower technology–or at least slow them, would it have been different? Could they have defended themselves long enough for the US or NATO to have moved an air superiority shield over their territory? Maybe.
In addition, the Russians would have had to muster a force of about 3 to 1 to be confident of success. Forces in that number dont assemble quietly or cheaply–maybe that in and of itself would have been enough to have prevented the invasion of Georgia. Who knows?
What we do know for certain is that what was done wasnt enough. We have to do something different. If we keep doing the same thing, well eventually see all the border states around Russia forced to surrender to the Bear. Do we really want an imperialistic Russian Empire expanding its sphere of control with hot lead and cold steel? When they eventually clash with Chinas ambitions, will the EU and US be influential enough to get them to sign a ceasefire treaty? Or will we see the Dragon and the Bear wear each other out with massive bombardments of nuclear weapons? Which one of them would you like to win? Would that be a better world than we have today?
No way. We have to do something else.
It just makes sense.
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