F 102 Bailouts
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- Опубликовано: 15 апр 2022
- There were five F-102's lost in Alaska while I was flying there from 1961-1964. This is the story of three of those bailouts. One F-102 crashed and the pilot survived, and the other had too long a story to put into this video. I include the survival stories after the bailouts, where applicable.
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Glad to see you back sir, as always, nice to hear your stories
Thank you as always for taking the time to share this with the world. Great stuff!
I grew up at Loring AFB and was only aware of local B52 crashes, not our f102/6s. I went to a nearby b52 crash site where they gradually mowed down trees, probably gliding because some crew couldn't use their downward ejection seat that low. I was invited by a friend to a f102/6 squadron picnic where they appeared to raffle off a taxi ride in a dual seat f102/6 trainer - made me so jealous!
Such awesome stories. From a US Navy Veteran, thank you sir for your service
Great channel Sir, glad to see you are still passing on your invaluable fighter tactics and survival knowledge. Thank you Sir.
sweet! you're back :))
Great stories! It's always good to have some historical perspective. Growing up in the 1960's I remember hearing about plane crashes, and also some losses of Navy ships at the time. Today's critics forget or never learned about these.
Chuck Myers, was a friend of mine, a test pilot and associate of John Boyd and the Fighter Mafia. He set an unofficial world's Speed record in the six. The Six was a fabulous bird.
Lovely video! Quality commentary on RUclips about the 102 and 106 is sadly a bit lacking compared to other types. Big thanks as you're easily the best source on the platform.
Very pleased to hear another aviation story from Bruce Gordon. Hope you are doing well. Convair made some magnificent aircraft back in the day.
I'm sure they still would make excellent planes, if they were around today
@@Tigershark_3082 Sadly the original F-16 then the XL was their last harah,,
I'm happy to see you back Bruce. I finished your excellent book. The pictures are awsome. I remember my dad's sqadron lost 2 F-101B's in a few years time. Unfortunately the pilots and weapons systems officers in both cases lost their lives. I'm hoping to see a few more videos from you soon.
So many good comments -- I'll work on another video. Videos take me longer than they take you young guys!
@@spiritofattack None of your material is stock either -- and I doubt you even own a selfie-stick for quick filler. Folks like Drachinifel, for example, seem to have success with simple formats. Hopefully, you'll find yours and this will become "easy". From a viewer's perspective, you seem to have a good "shell" going. I hope slide-scanners, image editors, and other tech isn't holding you back.
@@gth042 What's holding me back is that I didn't take enough photos when I was flying -- we were discouraged from taking photos, as so much was SECRET. I tell my own stories -- not histories written by others - and I'm having to stretch my memory for what happened in these incidents. I love the stories of Drachinifel -- but those aren't things that happened to him, so he can do historical research. Most of what I do is not in the historical records. Taking my memories and putting them into videos -- in a way that an audience would be interested and follow them -- takes a while. Yes, I have already scanned my slides, and edited them with simple arrows or cropping -- but I don't work with others who could give me ideas or tips. It takes a long time...
@@spiritofattack Drachinefel is huckstering a software program to make videos. He likes it and uses it on all his vids. I don't understand these things.
Thank you for sharing, God bless you.
Please keep the stories coming, we love you Bruce.
When I was a Lt in the early 90s the RCAF, a small Air Force, was losing a dozen aircraft a year. Imagine this today,...
Great to see you again Bruce!
Thank you Bruce.
Bruce thanks for sharing your experiences.
my god thankyou for your time.
Great story Mr. Gordon. Hope you keep em coming. Nice work!
Bruce! I'm so glad you are back! I hope you have a wonderful Easter! Quick question, if you the same age today as when you were flying the F106, which modern fighter would you want to fly?
I'd want to fly the F-35. I consider it an advanced version of the F-106 that I loved so much, with lots of computer enhancements and a much advanced radar. The F-35 is my dream fighter!
@@spiritofattack there is a great video on the F-106 on the RUclips channel megaprojects. Although you obviously know everything there is to know about the plane, it still is an interesting watch.
@@spiritofattack I still have to admit I like the beautiful contours of the F106.
@@jebediahgentry7029 I watched it -- and the guy has several things wrong. The F-106 was a hell of a lot better than this guy implies.
@@freedomvigilant1234 The F-106 is a stunner for sure, and still manages to look pretty modern compared to most fighters of its time.
Been wondering about you. Glad your back.
Always nice to see a new video from you Bruce. Happy Easter and best wishes to you and yours.
you are a great storyteller thank you👍
So great to have you back
Nice to see a new video!
Good day Mr Gordon. Hope you're well. I started watching this show called Steve Canyon and the main aircraft used was the F-102. Found your video while searching for any information on the plane and this was suggested. Thanks for such an awesome briefing on the F-102, very informative and entertaining. Take care.
Oh, yes, I remember Steve Canyon! Look around my Facebook / Spirit of Attack / Bruce Gordon page and you'll find a number of videos about the F-102. I enjoyed flying it -- it was a big, frightening plane at first, but when I got used to flying it, it became like putting on a suit of work clothes. It was my body, I was its brain. I loved the F-102 and then upgraded to the F-106, which we called "the sports model" with so much more thrust than the F-102. However, the F-102 had a lighter wing loading and could out-turn the F-106 -- one of the few planes that could out-turn the F-106!
Another great video! Thanks Mr. Gordon.
love ya buddy!
AMAZING stories, Sir…
I expect you to live and be functional for at least a decade 🙂 Share more with us 👍🏻 ☺️
the F102 reminds me of the Eurofighter
And, surpisingly, lighter!
ejecting into the mountains in alaska ---- horrifying!!
I can't imagine...........
Must have been a depressing moment when as he watched the helicopter flying away knowing he would now have to spend another dangerously cold night on the mountain.
When it comes to reliability and loss rates, it is interesting to point out the differences between what was acceptable back then vs. what is acceptable today. Not only accident rates, but the combat losses in Vietnam were frighteningly high compared to what we've seen since the 91 Gulf War. Unless it's a full scale war for national survival, I don't think the Pentagon could tolerate losing that many aircraft and crews these days.
Consider the immense escalation in aircraft cost. These new ones are over 100 million dollars. I think I read a P 40 was like $40,000.
The carrier guys get splattered all over the place in accidents. Not much talked about.
Great video-glad to see you back! Love the F-102 and F-106 stories. Did any of your friends ever fly the B-58? I’ve heard that Hustler pilots used the Deuce for training…
I chased a B-58 with both an F-102 and an F-106. The F-102 simply was outclassed and didn't have a chance.
The F-106 was as fast as the B-58, and we were both on an administrative restriction against flying supersonic over that part of the USA. So, we both pushed it up to .98 Mach and I couldn't catch him. Then the B-58 showed me some electronic warfare that I'd heard of but had never seen before. When I locked my radar onto him, he spit my range gate out in range rapidly. When I used my hand control to manually hold my range gate on him, he would spit out false targets in range about every two seconds. I had a stream of false targets coming off of him! It was a "range gate stealer" ECM at work. If I had been able to catch him, I could have gone to my infrared missiles instead of radar and got him in IR. Of course he had flares to counter that... If we were allowed to go supersonic, I think the F-106 could have caught him.
If he were a Russian supersonic bomber, like the Blinder, he would probably have been very critical on fuel and going Mach 2 to stay away from me would have run him out of fuel before he got to his target. I would have been low on fuel, too, but there were many places in the USA where I could land an F-106 where the natives were friendly. He wouldn't have that option... A Blinder didn't have the range-gate-stealer (that we knew of).
The B-58 Hustler's ECM Range-Gate Stealer was the only ECM that I saw that could defeat the F-106's ECCM features. It was impressive. I heard that the range gate stealer had a very low mean-time-between-failure MTBF, of about five minutes of use. It would burn itself out and repairing it cost $50,000 in those 1960's dollars...
@@spiritofattack what great stories! Only can get these from you!! All of these are classic airplanes!
@@spiritofattack The top speed of the 106 was much higher than a 58 like at least 400 mph higher. There is a decrepit B 58 named Snoopy in the desert at Edwards. It was used to test more advanced systems for later planes and has a much longer nose. Its in sad shape. Also some junked B 52s there. Ever talked to anyone who had bailed out of a B 58?
Needed a "Remove Before Flight", ooph. I take it there were no crew chiefs, or other overwatch/assist, back then.
Thank you for the perspective! :)
Oh, yes, there was a crewchief, doing his normal duties. He had checked the intake on preflight, and didn't notice the NADAR can that came after his preflight inspection....
@@spiritofattack I'm glad they were able to tell the tale and spread the word :)
Thank you again, and Happy Easter. Enjoy the spring!
Bruce what did the cadre think about John Boyd overall? he gave up a star or two because he thankfully supported the LWF concept and design.. thanks :)
I didn't hear of John Boyd until after I returned from Vietnam. We heard that the idea of Energy Maneuverability came from the US Air Force Academy. We used the Energy Maneuverability "Egg" in our F-106 fighter training, without a word from John Boyd. I think the ideas were circulating among many different people, and John Boyd made them famous. I think his famous maneuver in the F-100 to get someone off his tail and get on their tail in 50 seconds was a variety of the Rudder Reversal that we used in the F-106. I later flew the F-100, and successfully used it in a practice dogfight against another F-100 (a year before I heard of Boyd) and it worked, but nearly got my F-100 out of control. See my Spirit of Attack - Rudder Reversal video. Boyd was correct - but he was soon outdated by stealth, which is far more important than maneuvering. His time came and passed very quickly.
Amazing stuff man! Welcome back. I was afraid you had decided to stop making videos (which I would understand).
It takes me longer now, but I'm working on another story already...
@@spiritofattack Glad to hear it! I understand that it takes time. Just hours ago went to the USAF Museum in Dayton, and saw a 106 in person! Very cool looking plane.
@@kinneticsand5787 George W. Bush flew one when he was'nt drunk. Or when he was.
@@spiritofattack Oh by the way you might want to watch Chris at Military Aviation History. I think his most relevant vid is on an F 4 but he has done modern European planes too. He has a sim vid put on by Saab for their plane. Viggen? Another delta.
Good story Sir, most people have know Idea how far we have come concerning aircraft safety. Did you ever get into a race or turn and burn against a F-105?
Many of my F-106 pilot friends were sent to F-105s in Vietnam because it was single-seat and even used the same engine as the F-106. The F-105 was heavy and had a high wing-loading, so it could not turn well in a dogfight -- but it was the fastest plane there at low altitude. Its job was to get in and out to the target, fast. It did that very well. The F-106 had a light wing-loading and was king of the sky above 40,000 feet. Different missions, but both were great planes.
@@spiritofattack My understanding was so many 105s were lost they had to have fighter escort. It was a favorite of mine as a kid but it was obsolesced fast. What ever happened to Republic?
Mr Gordon, i was flying in the Tex Air Guard in 70 when I heard of an incideny in Alaska where the F-102 on alert (unmanned) on the ramp extended it's rails and launched it's entire weapons bay of missles because of a static electrical mishap. I never could confirm this incident. Do yo recall any record of the mishap? No dates on the incident but it must have been in the mid-late 60's. We TDY'd to Elmendorf once. Single engine over the Aleutian always made me a bit spooked.
No, I don't think that happened -- I would have heard about it. I heard of an F-86D that launched its rockets on the ground. Some maintenance men wanted to lower the rocket pod on an F-86D that was on Alert. One said he knew the answer -- they pushed up the "landing gear UP" indicator in the nose wheel well, while another man went to the cockpit, turned on the battery, selected "ROCKETS - SALVO" on the rocket selector, and pulled the trigger on the stick. The pod extended, and all the 24 rockets fired. Nobody was killed. It was probably a way that they lowered the rocket pod on unarmed airplanes to put a pilot's overnight bag, which would fit above the rocket pod for cross-country flights, but this plane was on Alert and was fully armed.
An F-102 shot down a T-33 by accident in the early 1960's. We had WSEMS (Weapon System Evaluation Missiles) which we used often. WSEMS looked like real missiles, but were blue (instead of red) and had recorders to tell if the missiles got all the launch signals correctly. The pilot would go through all the normal missile selection, lock-on to a target, and pull the trigger. The missile bay doors would open and the launchers would extend. When the WSEM got the proper launch signals, it would give a "MISSILES GONE" signal and the launchers would retract and the missile bays would close.
A Colonel (Colonels seemed to do more dumb things than Lieutenants) was briefed on a routine WSEM evaluation mission, told to fire his WSEMS at a T-33 that was the target. When the Colonel got to his plane, it was out of commission, so he was given an alternate plane for the mission. The alternate plane was fully loaded with real missiles, as was normal during the Cold War.
The Colonel did his preflight and opened the missile bay doors to examine the weapon. WSEMS are BLUE, his weapons were RED, but he didn't notice the difference. He signed off on the 781 form which stated: "MISSILES HOT" and ignored the placard near the cockpit saying weapons were HOT.
He took off normally and intercepted the T-33 target aircraft. He selected MISSILES ALL, locked onto the target, and squeezed the trigger at the right moment. The system worked perfectly, and all six missiles fired! The Colonel was surprised, and quickly broke his radar lock, so the three radar missiles lost lock and missed the T-33. The infrared missiles hit the target, destroying the T-33. The T-33 pilot ejected and survived. His accident report stated: "Saw interceptor. Saw missiles. Took evasive action - unsuccessful".
We might say that this was an excellent use of the FALCON infrared missiles against a maneuvering fighter target under field conditions (not a test).
I had no idea how frequent mechanical problems prompted an ejection back then. Did the early ejection seats in the 102 and 106 cause a lot of spinal injuries?
There was a transition from a fired cartridge blasting the seat out, to using a rocket. The rocket had fewer spinal injuries. The F-106 had a bad ejection seat (that I flew with) that was designed for supersonic ejection. It was far too complex, and failed frequently, often causing the death of the pilot. Designed for supersonic ejection was wrong -- most ejections are slow and close to the ground, often under uncontrolled situations. Now the emphasis is on "zero-zero" ejections -- zero altitude at zero airspeed -- even ejecting while on the ground. It's a more important design to survive a low altitude, descending, out-of-control situation than a controlled supersonic ejection, which is rare.
Hi Bruce. I would like a sign book from you direct. you still do that correct??? how much to send USPS money order and what address??? Please keep the stories coming.
You can send cash, check, or PayPal to: Bruce Gordon, 105 Broadbill Ct., Georgetown KY. 40324. I usually endorse each book with your name and my motto: "Leon -- Always be Spring-Loaded in the GO position!".
@@spiritofattack Nice
I will try to PayPal that to you as i finish typing this. I believe i got PTSD from my year tour back at Kunsan AB South Korea ( The Wolf Pack ). I was just a Jet mec Grease Monkey flight line and back shop on F-15s F-16s and KC-135Rs then all of a sudden i was put in a Office in a computer job and i never really used a computer back then. All the computers there were old and they wanted me to have all these newer programs to work with them. I was mentally damaged so these computers are cool but it can cause me Flash backs. No joke.
I always wanted to be a pilot. I was enlisted but was going to use the on base flying clubs to get my private pilots license to see if i was good at it, then i would of try to get my bachelors degree, OTS commissioning and pilot candidate hopefully. It did not work out that way. Love your era of flying, the century jets. Its all computers now. Love your stories and insights. Leon
@@spiritofattack How much $$$ to PayPal you for your signed book to area code 00803 U.S. Virgin Islands ???
@@leonswan6733 The computers in the F-106 got me interested in computers. The F-106 systems got me really interested in radar, ECM, and computing. The computer make it more interesting and challenging! I'd love to fly the F-35 BECAUSE OF the computers and their picture of the air battle!
@@spiritofattack Nice F-35 Yes,
I would not mind flying that but the F-22 even though its computers are 30+ years old now it still is " King of The Hill " in BFM and can still go head to head in BVR if they keep up its computers / software upgrades to F-35 standards. I would love to fly that. Or just give me a F-15 or F-14 ride. Goggle earth still shows 2 F-14s at the " Boneyard " Davis Monthan AFB that they did not destroy like the rest of them. STUPID of them..
How much to PayPal you for my signed copy for your Book?? area code 00803. for S&H calculations ??. USPS
Bruce.. I was just thinking about you a few weeks back.. was wondering if you still with us...
So many good comments on this new F-102 Bailouts video -- guess I'll have to work on another video...
@@spiritofattack Please do! It's nice to hear these stories from the actual pilots. Glad you're back, sir!
@@spiritofattack Would love to hear more B 58 stories. Also like 106 embarrasing F4s. The Phantom seems to have an undeserved fan boy reputation. Probably the wing and tail dihedral. The Bonanza had a big reputation for a while, now discredited.
@@rogersmith7396 You said "more B-58 stories". I'm not sure which you've seen. The B-58 was awesome - it could go as fast as the F-106. I chased one once, and found that it also had a radar range-gate stealer ECM that made it impossible for me to hold lock on the target. I could see his radar return just fine, but when I tried to lock on it would spit out false targets which would break my lock. Later, I heard that the range gate stealer had an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of only five minutes, and was a very expensive radar tube. Maintenance was the problem with the B-58 -- it cost too much to maintain.
My last experience with the B-58 was after the 1964 Alaska earthquake. Alaska was completely cut off from communications with the "Southern 48" States, so the Air Force sent some B-58s with reconnaissance pods over for low-level photography. We were still in survival mode after the earthquake, didn't have water, phone, or electricity in our base housing, when suddenly two B-58s appeared at low altitude and HIGH SPEED. They were doing a combat photo run at just under the speed of sound, and the roar of those planes zipping across our housing made us wonder if our damaged homes would further collapse from the roar of their engines! The B-58s then flew back to the USA, and I understand that the President had the photos on his desk even before the Governor of Alaska knew the extent of the earthquake damage!
@@spiritofattack There is a B 58 vid, maybe by Convair showing one going from I think Texas to CA on the deck at high speed throwing booms all over the place. I know the B 1 was designed to do that but its impressive and scary. I think they even went through some canyons. I was curious if you knew of anyone using their escape pod.
are you on any social media like Twitter or Facebook?
Yes, I'm on Facebook. I also post my videos on Facebook under Spirit of Attack. Over twenty videos, both on RUclips and Facebook.
@spiritofattack >>> 👍👍