Airdrop

Flight Journal, Aug 2005

"WE HAD TO DROP THEM on the road AT THE OF the mountain AT MU GIA PASS, at the fjord AT TCHEPONE AND DOWN IN RATFINK VALLEY-really 'nice' places WITH really good gunners."

Part-time smoker

In the article "Do I Feel Lucky" in your June '05 issue, the caption on page 21 says, "The Phantom's two J-79 engines were smoky, voracious gas-guzzlers, especially when afterburners were used."

That is only partially correct. I speak from my experience of more than 1,000 hours in F-4s-mostly F-4Es. The J-79 engines were indeed smoky in the military (non-afterburner) range, and during combat in Vietnam, we were acutely aware of these fingers pointing at us. When you went into afterburner, however, the smoke ceased. This had tactical uses.

When I was flying F-4Ds and F-4Es from Da Nang in 1969 to '7O, one of our less-loved missions was the delivery of mines onto the roads of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. They were 500-pound bombs with high-drag fins (snake-eye configuration) and a mine fuse-something magnetic, I think. This fuse supposedly sensed the approach of metal (trucks) and detonated upon the departure of this metal. Thus, it would detect approaching trucks and then blow up when the trucks had passed it and were starting to move away.

We had to drop them on the road at the base of the mountain at Mu Gia Pass, at the fjord at Tchepone and down in Ratfink Valley-really "nice" places with really good enemy gunners. At Mu Gia and Ratfink, the gunners shot down at us because these mines had to be dropped from 500 feet or less; these were some of the best gunners in Laos.

We normally carried 18 Mk. 34s on the F-4E. They had a book maximum-delivery speed of 450 knots. But on the days when the gunners were really good, the pilot just might exceed that speed a little and add a little jinking during delivery.

When we ingressed at 15,000 to 20,000 feet, we had to let down to the 500-foot AGL drop altitude. We especially did not want the J-79's smoke trail pointing its finger at us during this descent to a rather unhealthy altitude. I always (and required my wingmen to do it, too) made this descent in the "minimum afterburner" range power setting, with the speed brakes out if necessary. This sounds dumb-AB while going downhill-however, that eliminated the telltale smoke trail. If you pulled enough G while spiraling downward, that kept the airspeed under control. Eighteen mines that weighed 9,000 pounds hanging underneath your wings offered a lot of drag.

I felt it was worth the little extra fuel consumed at those times so we would not show those very good gunners where we were flying while coming down to release-altitude so we could drop those stupid mines.

And that's the way it was, way back when.

RETIRED FIGHTER PILOT

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Mars news

I just finished reading "Mars Attacks" in your June OS issue. It helped answer a standing question at the museum where I work. Who would name an airplane after our librarian, Carolyn Marr? Well, close enough anyway. Someone found this photo while cataloging our collection and thought Carolyn would get a kick out of it. The photo is one of four or five taken by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer in May 1949. We think it was taken at Sand Point NAS on Lake Washington but don't have any more information than the date in our records. Maybe one of your readers can identify the crew in the photo? Thanks for the great article.

MARK GLEASON

SEATTLE, WA

The June 2005 issue was a real treat. I have one small correction in reference to the Martin Mars boats: the U.S. Navy actually took delivery of six. The Hawaii Mars was lost in an accident in the Chesapeake Bay on August 5, 1945, and it was replaced by one of Timber West's aircraft. The Marshall Mars sank off Diamond Head, Oahu, in 1950, after an in-flight fire and the resulting forced landing and explosion. NOAA and other underwater researchers discovered that aircraft last December. Identification was aided by the painted name "Marshall" still visible on the nose. Thanks for all the enjoyment you have brought us through the years.

WARD DUFFIELD

PINE PLAlNS, NY

'Twas an N2S-1

I just received the June 2005 issue and thoroughly enjoyed it; as usual, another outstanding issue. I would like to bring one thing to your attention concerning the caption for the two-page color centerfold photo of the Vought O3U. The yellow Navy biplane trainer parked just to the left of the O3U was incorrectly identified as a Navy N3N. The U.S. Navy BuAer No. 3220 on the vertical stabilizer identifies this airplane as a Boeing/Stearman N2S-1, Boeing serial number 75-997. This N2S-1 would have been among the 250 Stearmans purchased by the Navy through sales order no. 3040, with delivery scheduled from September 1940 to February 1941.

I have owned and flown a 1942 Stearman N2S-3 for the past 35 years, and I also served as the president of the Stearman Restorers Association for more than 20 years. I have also flown the N3N on several occasions, so I'm familiar with both types of airplane.

TOM LOWE