(Pechs1) wrote:

Ed- Although I've got more combat hours in the F-4 than the F-105, I've
got more time engaged with MiGs in the 105 than the F-4. BRBR

can't let that pass...anything you can tell us about Mig engagements in the
Thud??
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

My "best" or possibly "worst" is described in When Thunder Rolled in
the chapter titled, "Of MiGs and Moustaches." You've got to buy the
book! There's also the description of my near rejoin one day on a
flight of three MiG-21s.

Seriously, anyone who went intentionally MiG hunting in a 105 was
judgementally flawed. Few folks had much in the way of air-to-air
training and the concepts that we take for granted today such as fluid
attack/loose deuce, energy manueverability, Ps management, etc. were
not understood very well and definitely not practiced. What A/A
experience we had was usually illegally boot-legged in unbriefed
hassles flown in the farthest reaches of the training area.

In the 105 we always had the gun, of course, but only seldom did we
carry AIM-9s and even then it was the AIM-9B which had a 2.5G firing
limit.

The good news was that if you flew your airplane properly, you
wouldn't always win, but you would never lose. That meant keeping your
airspeed up above your corner--for the 105 that was above about 480
KIAS. If you stayed that fast you had good turning capability. Anyone
in a MiG-17 couldn't keep up and in a -21 had a bigger turn radius.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038