Additionally, some intelligence officers and life support technicians may also attend. He majority of trainees at the USAF SERE School are Air Force aircrew members – pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters, boom operators, gunners, and other crew positions. Five courses are held at Fairchild, and the other two are taught in Pensacola, Florida at the Naval Air Station and at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. About 6,500 students go through the seven SERE courses each year.
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#Long war air combat how to
Air Force Survival School at Fairchild Air Force base in Washington internalize the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) motto of “Return with Honor.” They spend weeks learning how to survive outdoors under any circumstances and to come home honorably. Robin Olds: Combat Leader and Fighter AceĬlick here to return to the North Vietnam: Rolling Thunder Overview.USAF Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE)Ĭombat Survival Training is established to provide aircrews and other designated personnel procedures and techniques in the use of equipment and employment of survival principles. Tracking the MiGs: EC-121 Airborne Early Warningīrig. At the end of the Southeast Asia War in 1973, the VPAF had lost nearly 150 MiGs in combat to USAF fighter crews, while the USAF lost about 70 aircraft (of all types) to MiGs.Ĭlick on the following links to learn more about air-to-air combat over North Vietnam. MiG pilots did little better in December 1972 - by the end of OPERATION LINEBACKER II, USAF B-52s and tactical aircraft hit targets at will, forcing the North Vietnamese to sign a peace treaty. In fact, the VPAF fighter force sometimes retreated to China and stood down from combat operations due to heavy losses suffered at the hands of American fighter crews. Lastly, USAF pilots had to combat MiGs, SAMs and AAA over hostile North Vietnam, and if shot down, they were not always rescued.Įven so, enemy MiGs failed in their primary mission to stop US air attacks over North Vietnam during OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER. Although some F-4s carried external gun pods, it was not until the F-4E arrived in late 1968 that USAF Phantoms finally had an internal gun. USAF F-4s flown during ROLLING THUNDER did not have an internal gun to use when missiles failed. The USAF rules of engagement dictated visual identification of an enemy aircraft before firing, which negated using the Sparrow missile at long range. Over one-half of the missiles fired by the USAF during the SEA War malfunctioned, and only about 1 in 11 fired scored a victory. One serious issue was missile reliability and performance. USAF fighter pilots had better training and superior aircraft, but they endured several disadvantages. Since they were always over friendly territory, MiG pilots could be back in action quickly if they survived being shot down. The small, hard-to-see MiGs typically made one-pass attacks at high speed, then escaped to a sanctuary (either their airfields, which were not bombed until mid-1967, or to nearby communist China). Guided by ground controllers using early warning radar, MiG pilots only attacked under ideal circumstances, such as when USAF aircraft were bomb-laden, low on fuel, or damaged. Though outnumbered, VPAF MiGs had some significant advantages. The USAF's primary counter to the MiG was the F-4 Phantom II fighter. The entry of missile-armed, supersonic MiG-21s in early 1966, however, dramatically increased the VPAF threat.
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In 1965, the small North Vietnamese Air Force (also known as the Vietnam People's Air Force or VPAF) was equipped with somewhat outdated, gun-armed MiG-17s. The MiG pilots' primary goal was to force strike aircrews to jettison their bombs early, thereby disrupting the bombing mission. Air Force fighter escorts (or MiGCAPs) over North Vietnam was to prevent enemy MiG fighters from interfering with American strike aircraft.