Wild Weasel mission 1 October 1967

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Audio recording and transcript of a Vietnam War F-105 Wild Weasel combat mission.

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This is an audio recording and transcript of an F-105 Thunderchief Wild Weasel combat mission flown over Hanoi during the Vietnam War. The audio, running 18 minutes, is courtesy of Plumalley, who was an Electronic Warfare Officer (Bear) who flew such missions from the 2nd seat of Wild Weasel aircraft. The first-person account of the mission is courtesy of Lt Colonel USAF (Ret) Bill Sparks who was flying Barracuda Lead.

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Each flight of four aircraft was randomly assigned a common name, such Harpoon or Buick. Sometimes flight leaders whose voices are easily recognized would be called by their nicknames.

The recording documents interphone coordination between the pilot and Bear (Electronic Warfare Officer), as well as transmissions from the pilot to the strike force (as advisories, since he is not the mission commander), transmissions on mission primary frequency, transmissions on the international distress frequency GUARD, electronic threat signal intercepts detected by the multiple aircraft systems, and a constant calibration whistle used for later laboratory analysis of these signals. All these signals are simultaneous and combined. Note that time correllation is lost through in-process editing.

35104Audio recording and transcript of a Vietnam War F-105 Wild Weasel combat mission.

Audio transcript

00:46 SAM at one o'clock now going to 2 rings

00:49 He is in high PRF.

00:59 Marlin stroke the AB.

01:06 Line me up

01:13 Still hanging in there

01:21 Mongol 4 inbound

01:28 UGG UGG Heavy breathing

01:43 xxxx I'm right over Hoa Loc

01:48 Great bombing there Kaiser

01:52 Shrike's away

01:59 Strong guns, mach mach SAMs ahead

02:08 Radar Van on top of this mountain

02:24 At 6 O'clock

02:31 OK #3 next time around pick out one and zap him

02:51 Harpoon, I've got two bogies at 3 o'clock

02:55 Way out, probably the Iron Hand

03:59 Ok we've got MiG-17s

04:16 I got him off of you boss.

05:03 What the xxxx was that?

05:25 Harpoon flight roll out, temporarily.

05:36 We've got some 37s

05:53 Rolling in Harpoon 4

05:53 Barracuda, Harpoon, where are you?

07:17 Disreguard the Launch Light!

08:23 Lets get that xxxxxx

08:39 Bandits, Bandits SW 50 Red Crown Out.

08:44 Buick, SAMs 3 o'clock, no threat.

08:48 Donner 1 turning base leg

09:10 Barracuda, I think we are "Bingo"

09:17 ???? we've got two of them

09:29 Right back in the target area

09:44 Up north, Sharky, on the right side of the road

10:12 Shark flight, lets punch off the 650s

10:37 They're F-4s

10:52 Barracuda #1 go manual

11:29 I've sent the rest of my force out, I'm by myself

12:09 Tally Ho

12:43 Marlin rolling in

13:07 You see those trucks?

14:12 Take it down, Sharks, its a Valid Launch

14:45 Looks like missile carriers

15:01 Shark is across the river

16:07 Beauiful xxxx work

16:34 Shark #1 nine low

16:45 Did you see that SAM?