'111 Veteran

Recently, I realized that I haven’t been maintaining and nurturing this blog as much as I should be.  To help acclimate myself to the Christmas season, I decided to adorn this blog in festive colors of green and red.

During Veterans Day, I met a veteran FB-111  crew chief from the 509^th Bombardment Wing at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire.  Murph served with the 509th from 1982 until 1990 with a brief one year stint at Suwon Air Base, Korea during that time. I was amazed by some of the war stories Murph told me.

For example he told me that after the April 1986 raid on Libya, Operation El Dorado Canyon, aircrew of the 509^th were placed on cockpit-alert in support of Strategic Air Command's Single Integrated Operational Plan (S.I.O.P.) and Emergency War Orders.  I suppose this was only a contingency to preempt any threats to national security as a result of the Libya raid.

An FB-111A Aardvark in the alert shelter at Pease Air Force Base,  New Hampshire. Via FB-111A.net

The second interesting story was about an FB-111 that came back from a mission.  Apparently the aircraft had flown such a low TFR (terrain following RADAR) profile that it came in contact with the top of pine trees.   Pine needles were actually found on the bottom of the aircraft.

The TFR patch.  Via CodeOne Magazine.

Thanks Murph, I salute you!