Super Saber F100-F Two Weekends in a Row
Aug 3, 2022 11:37:20 #
Aug 3, 2022 12:52:01 #
Aug 3, 2022 13:00:01 #
Aug 3, 2022 14:20:05 #
Aug 3, 2022 16:04:48 #
Aug 3, 2022 16:29:32 #
Aug 3, 2022 19:33:36 #
Aug 4, 2022 15:28:45 #
[quote=kmpankopf]Over the summer, I was able to see the F100-F in two shows.
Nice shots.
Two stories about the F-100:
1. Lambert Field St Louis, early 1960s and the local Missouri Air National Guard Squadron had F-100s. The factory that built the F-4 Phantoms was also at the field and used the runways for test flights etc. On the days the Guard was flying they played "Fighter Plane Drag Racing" with the McDonald test pilots. To avoid taking up the runways too much the Guard and planes being tested took off in pairs on the side by side main runways. They would race down the runways side by side and the F-100s being lighter would usually get to the end and lift off first but the F-4s would kick in the afterburners just after they lifted off and go almost straight up and to win the part of the race to altitude. The highway around the end of Lambert Field would be bumper to bumper parked cars on both sides as people showed up to watch the races. Just at or after sundown those afterburners were spectacular and you knew why Lambert didn't allow them before lift off except in an emergency.
2. Vietnam just after the start of TET. A VC "tax collection" unit had raided villages in the valley on the other side of the mountain from our base camp. ARVN and US reaction forces had cut them off from their shortest escape route so they were forced to cross the entire valley on the dikes between rice paddies to get to cover in the jungle. They were scattered and moving too fast for effective artillery fire on them and all the helicopter gunships were on missions elsewhere. But a flight of F-100s was headed back to the airbase from a ground support mission. All they had left was 20mm so they were making strafing runs and as they were diving down they were opening fire high enough we could just see them over the top of one of the lower ridges of the mountain. The recoil of that 20mm rotary canon slowed the planes so abruptly that you got the optical illusion the plane paused in mid-air and you saw this cloud of "glitter" under the plane from the empty brass in the sunlight. Watching that you easily understood why one of the F-100's nick names with the ground troops was the "Lead Sled". I worked in the area's Tactical Operations Center and we talked to and/or monitored the radio chatter of all combat missions in the area. So we knew what was coming and went outside to watch the F-100s start their runs.
Nice shots.
Two stories about the F-100:
1. Lambert Field St Louis, early 1960s and the local Missouri Air National Guard Squadron had F-100s. The factory that built the F-4 Phantoms was also at the field and used the runways for test flights etc. On the days the Guard was flying they played "Fighter Plane Drag Racing" with the McDonald test pilots. To avoid taking up the runways too much the Guard and planes being tested took off in pairs on the side by side main runways. They would race down the runways side by side and the F-100s being lighter would usually get to the end and lift off first but the F-4s would kick in the afterburners just after they lifted off and go almost straight up and to win the part of the race to altitude. The highway around the end of Lambert Field would be bumper to bumper parked cars on both sides as people showed up to watch the races. Just at or after sundown those afterburners were spectacular and you knew why Lambert didn't allow them before lift off except in an emergency.
2. Vietnam just after the start of TET. A VC "tax collection" unit had raided villages in the valley on the other side of the mountain from our base camp. ARVN and US reaction forces had cut them off from their shortest escape route so they were forced to cross the entire valley on the dikes between rice paddies to get to cover in the jungle. They were scattered and moving too fast for effective artillery fire on them and all the helicopter gunships were on missions elsewhere. But a flight of F-100s was headed back to the airbase from a ground support mission. All they had left was 20mm so they were making strafing runs and as they were diving down they were opening fire high enough we could just see them over the top of one of the lower ridges of the mountain. The recoil of that 20mm rotary canon slowed the planes so abruptly that you got the optical illusion the plane paused in mid-air and you saw this cloud of "glitter" under the plane from the empty brass in the sunlight. Watching that you easily understood why one of the F-100's nick names with the ground troops was the "Lead Sled". I worked in the area's Tactical Operations Center and we talked to and/or monitored the radio chatter of all combat missions in the area. So we knew what was coming and went outside to watch the F-100s start their runs.
Aug 4, 2022 17:00:41 #
Love the pics. Like several others commenting here, I have memories of "working" F100s from my days in the service. I was in Korea in '68 (Army) and while the USAF had moved on to F4s the Korean Air Force was still flying these and joined us on some joint training exercises.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.