planeflyer21 Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Thought it would be cool to post a few videos of the aircraft Dad was assigned to fly. Kicking it off with the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash, he flew in West Germany though: Followed by the McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo: He said this was one of his favorite, which I found odd...because his next assigned flight duty was the McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II: While he flew the RF-4C in the early mid-60s, the RF-4 is still in front line use with Germany now. His most hated flying assignment was the Lockheed C-141A Starlifter...endless roundtrips to Vietnam with materials, soldiers going in and coming back: Not long afterwards, he received orders to report to Lovelace for astronaut screening, for his final assignment of Lockheed U-2 Dragonladys. He was one of the few pilots to be assigned checked out on both the early U-2A/B/C/E/G models and the later U-2R/S/TR-1 ("A whole new aircraft," he said): This guy that did the aircraft carrier trials is a legend among the U-2 community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unforgiven Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 God bless you'r dad brother Jon.Hell of a flyer.Glad he made it back home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgecrusher Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Awesome! Thanks Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepp Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Very cool!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisco Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Very cool! When my Dad worked at McDonnell in St. Louis from 1946 to 1953 he was on the design team for the F101 and was involved in preparatory work on the F4 phantom prototypes. Kinda neat that your Dad flew what my Dad helped design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 (edited) Very Cool! Wonder if our fathers ever met? My dad was a photo interpreter with the USAF in the early 60's. He followed U-2's around the world to look at the pictures, he was in Vietnam, Philippines, and an air base in San Antonio with them, that I know of. Wasn't like there was a ton of U-2's around so they very well could have ate chow together. In the end of his tour he was looking at satellite stuff while stationed at Offutt Air base, real hush hush about the stuff to this day, just grumbles about the truth never being told. Their generation did some amazing things that have not been recognized, yet................. Edited July 5, 2014 by jtallen83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planeflyer21 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Very Cool! Wonder if our fathers ever met? My dad was a photo interpreter with the USAF in the early 60's. He followed U-2's around the world to look at the pictures, he was in Vietnam, Philippines, and an air base in San Antonio with them, that I know of. Wasn't like there was a ton of U-2's around so they very well could have ate chow together. In the end of his tour he was looking at satellite stuff while stationed at Offutt Air base, real hush hush about the stuff to this day, just grumbles about the truth never being told. Their generation did some amazing things that have not been recognized, yet................. Only after his death did I become convinced that what he did in Vietnam secured his slot into the U-2 program. He was USAF liason to USArmy artillery...for several deployments over three years. Pretty sure a lot of that time was working with coordinated intelligence...and photo interpretation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtallen83 Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Only after his death did I become convinced that what he did in Vietnam secured his slot into the U-2 program. He was USAF liason to USArmy artillery...for several deployments over three years. Pretty sure a lot of that time was working with coordinated intelligence...and photo interpretation. What years was he there? Sounds like the same time-frame as my dad, 1963-64. Most everything you read says the U-2 was a CIA deal til late 1964, pisses dad off, he was strictly USAF. Wish he would write down what he knows............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microgunner Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Pretty impressive resume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planeflyer21 Posted July 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 What years was he there? Sounds like the same time-frame as my dad, 1963-64. Most everything you read says the U-2 was a CIA deal til late 1964, pisses dad off, he was strictly USAF. Wish he would write down what he knows............. Pffftt...good luck with that! Even stuff where I had information on declassified missions, Dad wouldn't talk about it...said he didn't know what was and wasn't declassified. Dad first went '65. At that time they were doing the 180-day deployments, to avoid paying "overseas pay" or some such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTXshooter Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Great information. I know your really proud. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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