80th Fighter Squadron

Between the Wars (BTW)

Memoirs

Here are excerpts from Dick Seely’s recollections of his four-year tour of duty (October 1957 to October 1961) with the 80th TFS and the 8th TFW.  This is his story & pictures:

“The years have probably fogged my memory somewhat, but the story is fairly accurate.  As I scanned my old slides and watched the images appear on my computer screen, old, long forgotten memories came flooding back.  This is a recollection of those memories, now over forty years old.  They are somewhat fuzzy passing through the lens of time, but some may find them interesting.  If by chance someone from those days long ago happens to stumble upon this page, please drop me a line.

By October of 1957 the 8th Wing had completed conversion to the F-100D Super Sabre.  The Wing was composed of three squadrons, the 35th FBS, 36th FBS and the 80th FBS (formerly the 7th FBS).  I believe each squadron had 24 aircraft assigned.  Aircraft maintenance had also experienced a conversion, of sorts, to consolidated maintenance.  This took maintenance away from the squadron and centralized the control under wing staff supervision.  As a result of all this turbulence, a pilot that flew 10 hours in a month was considered fortunate.  Like all new aircraft the F-100 had its problems.  The biggest one I recall was the CSD (constant speed drive), which provided the electrical power for the aircraft.  The CSD would fail, causing the loss of all engine oil resulting in engine seizure.  A bad way to end a flight.  The F-100 was a poor glider. 

  Squadron Co: Lt Col William F. Tanner

 By October of 1957 the cold war was ratcheting up, and the Russians had launched Sputnik.  The mission of the wing was changing, and there was a great deal of pressure to get the aircrews combat ready.  During my four-year, peacetime, cold war tour, we lost 30 aircraft and 15 pilots.

 
                                                                                                  
                                                                                              Hungry fighter pilot Norm White in Itazuke Ops-1957


I used to be able to recount each accident and the name of the pilot involved, but most are now lost with time.  However, I do remember the first.  It occurred around November of 1957 at Kunsan AB Korea.  Captain Jim Sharp was testing an aircraft, following maintenance, and crashed on the Air Base runway.  The second or third accident involved a dear friend, Leslie (Ed) McDonald.  We both attended advanced flight training at Luke AFB, Arizona from March to July 1957 and went on to Nellis AFB, Nevada to upgrade in the F-100.  Ed loved flying, but he didn't like flying over water, vowing never to eject until he reached dry land.  His engine seized during a practice bombing run on a water range.  He tried to stretch the glide to land, ejecting too low.  Ed hit the shore still strapped in his ejection seat.

The 8th Wing maintained a detachment of aircraft at Kunsan AB.  Our mission at Kunsan was primarily to maintain a presence and to 'show the flag.'  Each squadron rotated crews to Kunsan on a scheduled basis, and my first TDY to Korea was in February 1958.  Conditions were somewhat austere.  We were assigned quarters in a house that looked like it belonged on a Ma & Pa Kettle movie set.  There were about 4 crews to a house with one bath.  As I recall our bathroom had a hole in the floor with a clear view of the ground below. 

The Officers Club at Kunsan would have made a great set for a 'MASH' episode.  There was a nightly poker game in the bar area which would be interrupted by the occasional sighting of a rat. Everyone joined in the chase and the unfortunate animal would almost always meet an untimely end.

Flight operations consisted primarily of flying training missions; occasionally we would fly an operational mission along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  DMZ missions were for the benefit of the North Koreans.  We would climb to altitude, to make sure they could see us on radar, and fly supersonic dashes parallel to the DMZ.  I don't know who was impressed the most, us or them.

On one of my missions, during this first TDY, both nose gear tires blew during a formation takeoff.  My first declared emergency in the F-100 ended without incident. 

Sometime in 1958 the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing designation was changed to 8th Tactical Fighter Wing.  Fighter pilots were not happy with the word bomber in the unit designation, and this was cause for celebration. 

I believe Colonel Montgomery was replace by Colonel Chesley G. Peterson sometime in 1958. Colonel Peterson had a distinguished career as a fighter pilot during World War II, and we were fortunate to have him assigned as the commander of the 8th Wing.  Later in the year we moved our detachment operations to Osan AB, Korea and we took on a more serious mission. 

        KB-50 Probe & Drogue Refueling

The 8th Wing began detachment operations at Osan during the summer of 1958.  Our mission was maintaining a dawn to dusk armed alert status.  I do not have any photographs of the facilities -- cameras were not allowed.  In 1958 being stationed at Osan was like living on the frontier. The streets were not paved, and most of the buildings were temporary Quonset hut construction. The aircrews lived in an open bay Quonset hut with two oil-burning stoves at either end.  Air conditioning?  Open the windows.  The latrine facility was in a separate building, accessible only by walking a muddy path.  Electricity was provided by the Korean government who turned it off in the evening for an hour or two to save money.  Detachment operations was located in a Korean War fighter squadron building down on the flight line, where we also inherited Rocky, a large yellow dog of unknown pedigree.  As the story goes, someone took Rocky up in an F-86, and he became the world's first supersonic dog.  The building lacked plumbing so we had a good old fashioned 'outhouse' set up outside.  In August of 1958 the Chinese Communists began shelling the off shore islands of Quemoy and Matsu.  Tensions ran high for a while, and our alert status was increased.  By the fall of 1958 the situation quieted down, and we returned to normal status. We continued the alert operations through 1958 and the first part of 1959.  During the spring of 1959 new facilities at Osan were under construction, and we moved the detachment to Kadena AB at Okinawa.

Sometime in late 1958 or early 1959 the squadron moved from the north end of the base into new facilities on the flight line, between the 35th and 36th squadrons. Also during this period the 8th TFW alert operation was moved from Osan AB, Korea to Kadena AB, Okinawa. New facilities were being constructed at Osan and we would be returning by the end of the year or early 1960. To maintain our bombing skills we had to practice dropping bombs on a regular basis. We used a system called LABS (Low Altitude Bombing System) and it required a substantial amount of real estate for a bombing range. Real estate in Japan was then and still is at a premium. Consequently we relied almost entirely on water ranges. Scoring was done by each pilot from the air. The scoring wasn't very accurate, but we did receive valuable training in the process.

The LABS maneuver was accomplished from low altitude, around 100 feet above the ground (water) at 500 knots indicated airspeed. As you passed over the target you initiated a 4g pull up and lit the burner. The 4g's had to be maintained until the system released the bomb. We had an instrument on the panel to help keep the wings level and indicate whether you were pulling more or less than 4g's. At the top of the maneuver you would be upside down and a roll to the upright position was completed. Pilots know this is as an Immelmann maneuver. We spent hours practicing it. It was difficult to perform this maneuver well and get a good release. Many factors affected the results. For instance, the way you entered the maneuver could have a large effect on where the bomb would hit. You could pull too slow, or too fast, or overshoot 4g's or undershoot 4g's and on and on. It wasn't until I did an auto LABS that I got a good picture of how to do it.

I believe J.D. Brown was the wing weapons officer and I think he went around to the squadrons and briefed on using the autopilot to do a LABS maneuver. The autopilot in the F-100 was notoriously unreliable. Engaging it at 100 feet doing 500 knots was somewhat on the hairy side. I was young and indestructible, so I tried it. It worked and worked well. I got the picture, but I seldom did auto LABS after that.

Recovery from a LABS maneuver sometimes occurred in the clouds. It could get a little interesting and we totally relied on the attitude indicator for instrument recoveries. Weather conditions, (cloud base and visibility) on the water ranges were quite low and we bombed in some fairly realistic conditions. As I recall we lost one aircraft on the Tori Shima range due to weather and attitude indicator failure. Al Nishihara had to depart when he found himself pointed straight down as he broke out of the clouds at around 5000 feet. He survived the ejection and was picked up by Japanese fishermen. The 8th Wing continued to add to string of aircraft losses.

Base housing for bachelors was the pits.  Eventually over the next few years, several groups of officers got together to rent off base housing so they could live in more home like surroundings. Besides, O'club food got very monotonous.  When I left Itazuke in 1961, there were three large off base bachelor houses.  They were the Suenaga House, the Zash House and the Kaiajima House (spelling not guaranteed). 

A loose knit, informal association was formed in '58 called the KBA (Kyushu Bachelors Association) which began as a weekend meeting for a few beers and grew into two annual parties; The Fall Fest and the Spring Fest.  As embellished stories of the parties spread, people began attending from all over the Far East.  We really did have some great parties. 

However, the business of the 8th Wing continued.  Sometime during the year Col Peterson was transferred to 5th Air Force Headquarters at Fuchu Air Station.  Col William Daniel assumed command of the Wing.  In the spring of 1959 we were maintaining our alert facility at Kadena AB on Okinawa.  Although the alert facilities were not much better than those at Osan, the BOQ's were a great improvement.  Each room had individual baths.  No more walking in the mud to take a shower.  Off base activities were better, and there were several golf courses to occupy the off duty leisure hours.  Aircraft were rotated back to Itazuke on a scheduled basis, and it was on one of these flights I got a very bad scare.  Don DeBolt and I were flying two replacement birds into Kadena when we happened upon two Duces (F-102’s).  We were in excellent position to make a pass, and Don being the flight lead just couldn't resist.  The Duces picked us up and turned into us.  That big delta wing gives them a decided advantage for turning, but it kills airspeed in a heartbeat.  They burned off all their airspeed on the first pass and headed for the deck. We followed.  We were several thousand feet behind them at about 500' altitude and 580 to 600 knots indicated airspeed when Don called for AB [afterburner].  The F-100 was just beginning to develop problems with the after burner nozzles not opening and the AB firing off.  Not good.  The engine would compressor stall and blow your feet off the rudder pedals, not to mention increasing the heart rate a beat or two.  Sure enough my nozzles did not open, and at 600 knots airspeed all hell broke loose.  Lucky for me the aircraft pitched up first.  My head went down from the G-force, and my helmet smashed the trim button on the stick making a neat round hole in the helmet.  The next pitch was down.  My left hand flew off of the throttle, and all I could see was ocean.  I knew I wouldn't survive an ejection so I just hung on.  After 6 to 8 oscillations the aircraft finally came under control.  I tried to call Don on the radio but I couldn't speak intelligibly. All I could get out was gibberish.  I finally got cleared for a straight in approach to Kadena, and once on the ground, we found the G meter pegged both ways.  The meter limits were -6 and +10 G's.  That was one wild ride.  Not too many weeks later I did have to eject, but that's another story.”

 [Ed note—more details and photos can be seen on Dick Seely’s web site.  Our thanks to Dick for letting us post his story and photos on our web site.]

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