Would the air force have any better off in Vietnam if they'd used the F-104 for air to air instead of the F-4?

Being **very** careful who was in the pit; while flying route
formation I would ask the GIB if he wanted to fly. One bud was a CFII
and had competed at IAC (International Aerobatic Club) events.

Route formation was no challenge for him (nor was refueling), but
whiet mashing down the Master Caution reset I'd turn the roll Aug
off...no sweat. After a short interval (still holding the reset
button) I'd turn off the Pitch Aug...yeehaa, ride 'em cowboy.

He'd get flustered, I'd calmly turn the Pitch Aug back on as I
announced, "I got the jet" and stirred the stick. Back in position I
asked him if he wanted to try again.

Rinse-lather-repeat...rinse-lather-repeat.

By the third time I couldn't keep from laughing and fessed up. And to
think I got paid to do that. Life is good!

Juvat


Picked up an overhauled F-4D at the IRAN repairl facility at Tainan, Taiwan and
was planning to ferry it back to Kunsan. Had tailwinds all the way so we
decided to fly direct overwater from their to Korea instad of taking the more
prudent route of two hopping to Kadena, Okinawa then to the Kun. It flight
planned out close but with a legal reserve. Also passed within 50 miles of the
Chinese mainland.

just about at the point of no return, the plane had a generator failure. No
biggy as the bus tie and remaing generator piocked up the load as it was
designed.

Then the stability augmentation system quit. The plane was hard enough to
handle with roll and pitch aug off but losing yaw as well made it a real trick.
Sort of like standing on a 2 x 12 board balenced on a bowling ball. Took two
of us to fly the the remaining 1.3 hours back to the Kun and we both were
exhausted, soaked in sweat, and still shaking an hour after we got home. Don't
know whether it was the work involved or being in range of MiGs 50 miles away
over a very cold ocean with a very sick jet!

Shortly thereafter, the management forbade anyone to take a freshly overhauled
plane on that route, period. Most of the time, those "overhauled" planes took
months to sort out after they got back to home station anyway..