Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire F100 the real deal in SEA.

Several of us old farts were privy to occupy the same Vietnam CAS timeline with the Hun..My deployment at Phucat was a transition from our worn out F100's to the newly acquired F4's. The Phantom still receives the accolades just like the Huey most associate with the Vietnam War however as these quotes from the vid reveal nothing came close to Hun's operational numbers..." F100's flew a total of 360,283 sorties more than all the P-51's flew in WW2 and more than all the fighter planes combined during the Vietnam War." This is good vid and certainly a tribute to all who strapped on this grand old fighting machine...

Awesome. I've got two neighbors who were both F-100 pilots. Not many left that flew that awesome plane.

Very cool...


IIRC, one of my cousins flew the F-100 circa 1965-66...

Good stuff

Outstanding video, Woody. Thanks for posting. Great unsung airframe and one of my favorites!

Indeed. It was also a really scary airplane! Who can forget those graphic demonstrations of what "behind the power curve" looked like (well, right up to the explosion). The men who flew the Century series fighters really were acting as operational test pilots and literally finding the edges of the envelope and writing the pilots manual as they went. A tough and smart set of aviators that survived and then to take it out to get shot at too truly took balls.

There are many areas in life where "just one more time" is a moment to be treasured.

I have had the pleasure of "working" a couple of the last sorties of the Hun in '71. As in the film, these were close air support missions for troops in contact. In this case, the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of LZ English in II Corps - the Bong Son valley. By then, the Hun drivers were beyond good at dropping bombs.

How close you could ask for placement varied with the type of ordnance, but it also varied with the plane and crews delivering it. Every FAC knew this, because if the fighter screwed up and caused friendly casualties, it was the FAC's fault. I could be confident placing bombs right at the edge of their killzone from our guys, knowing that the Hun driver would not miss. I was never nearly as sanguine with the F-4 crews.

I have a book by a F-100 guy who, early in his transition to the plane, made that aileron mistake during a formation takeoff. The adverse yaw snap-rolled him right into the ground and he was horrible burned, but survived. One of damn few.

These guys had brass balls,, from our standoff positions I've witnessed them delivering Napalm so low couldn't help think they scorched their tail feathers or fragged themselves with low level Mk-82's. We always knew they were inbound as they trailed smoke for miles !

I had a "one more time" ride in a restored O-2 a few years back. Fortunately, it was a lot less than five grand! Unfortunately, it was indeed just a ride - I was never given the controls. Still, the sights and sounds were there, and I am not ashamed to admit that in the flood of memories, I cried. Powerful stuff, memories.

I could never track down that O-2 I saw on the trailer in Mesquite NV a couple of years ago. I had a couple of mechanics at Cessna who were all willing to go in with me to restore it. I'd have given you the controls Rocky!

Try walking through the graveyard and Davis-Montham and remembering Bureau Numbers...yes, memories are powerful and my career was nothing compared to what you did, Rock.

I would never say that, jorge. Anybody who strapped on a military machine put his balls on the line with every brake release.

I'm sure your logbook(s) have a couple of ink bottles of green ink. As for me, only drops...

Damn.

As did I when I visited the AC-47 several years ago with my grandson's. Couldn't help think how lucky I was to be granted this opportunity when so many of my brothers were not.."Powerful stuff,memories" ..indeed !

Received Hun support several times back in those days. They did their job well.

Thanks for posting this Woody. Of all the different type of planes that came through transient I was most qualified on the Huns. The Iowa ANG had C models with no flaps and they landed "in a hurry"! The opening of the video showed crew chiefs doing a "saddle back check" of the accumulators. When the different ANG units found out we knew how to turn F-100s we got a lost of them. Their drag chutes required a bit of finesse to install since the chute went into the belly and the jaws were under the rudder. Their drop tanks didn't vent when you refueled on the ground and we had to pop the over the wing caps. Dang near busted the drop tanks on one. I don't think I ever ran as fast before or since to pop those caps! As an E-3 I trained a few E-6s and one E-7 how to install the drag chute.

Outstanding book here about the Misty pilots with their F100's at Phu Cat, great read for any Vietnam vet: https://www.amazon.com/Bury-Us-Upsi...;sr=1-1&keywords=bury+us+upside+down

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing it with us.