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F16guy wrote:

Guys, Guys, come on. I shouldn't have to say this.
Anytime anyone makes a big deal about fighter pilots you have to remember O'Grady was a fighter pilot.

There are pilots who fly fighters, and there are fighter pilots. I'll let you work out the difference.

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TC wrote:

I will give O'Grady this much: You know how many different tails we fly? Basically, a different one every mission. I don't even have my friggin name on a plane! What would be the use? How often would I fly it?

Not sure about the airlift community, but the fighter guys I know love to have their names on a jet. When I talk to old, crusty fighter pilots, they can still recall which tail numbers they were assigned, and one of the most common questions I get from retired Eagle drivers is, 'Hey, do you know what happened to tail number xx-xxx? That was my jet'.

Quote:

One would think that if you got shot down in a particular jet, yeah, you might remember that tail number. Then again, you're on the ground for a few days, trying to evade. I'd be more worried about not getting my @$$ shot off, or not getting rolled up by the bad guys.

The guy wrote a book about his shoot down and subsequent rescue. I can't quite believe that in the process it didn't once make him wonder which jet he was flying when it all went so wrong. I think it's more likely that he was being deliberately difficult.

Elite Joined: Jan 14, 2004 Posts: 2454 Status: Offline

Oh yeah Steve, he could've researched it. Again, he MIGHT have remembered. Or, he could've just been a complete Horse's @$$. Make of that what you will.

Two reasons why AMC does not put names on their planes, is 1) Security, and 2) Squadrons, and sometimes Wings (if there's AD and AFRC on the same base) share tails. That'd be a helluva lot of names to stencil into a jet! That d@mn plane would look like it had NASCAR sponsorship! Laughing

Scott O'Grady was in the 466th FS/ 419Th FW while I was there. My experiences with him were always positive. I have launched/recovered him many times, just another one of the boys.

Veteran Joined: Nov 10, 2004 Posts: 262 Status: Offline

Well I could tell you which two jets he WASN'T flying in for the kills...89-2137 was flown by "Wilbur" Wright and 89-2009 was flown by "Yogi" Allen..I was never told what other two jets were in that package, the only ones that got any kind of publicity were 137 and 009...

But what I was told once was 89-2032 was one of the best jets mechanically in the Nickel before O'Grady got it blown out from under him

Elite Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1175 Status: Offline

I really get upset over this. We made him a hero because he had his ride shot out from under him when it was his fault. Can anyone dispute this?
The one good thing about this was the rescue......when he said "JUVAT JUVAT".....that made me proud.
Purple

Just out of curiosity what is your understanding of how he was shot down and how was it his fault? I was told he knew the missles were inbound but was hit while in the clouds so he couldnt actually see them.

It's such a shame to know that he was in the Nickel...*sigh*...

Elite Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1175 Status: Offline

Mark, from everything I read it appears he didn't have his RWR set up correctly. It wasn't in the "OFF" mode but it might as well have been. I have heard all kinds of conflicting stories on this. I believe the in-house ones as being true and have read a few reports to give it credibility. Maybe the USAF turned this into a hero story as it was very good PR at the time, and who wanted to make him out to be a bad guy? Bottom line he's not a bad guy and has lived to tell about it...............But is he a hero?

I would love to hear other positions on this.

Purple

I haven't read much into the story, but according to the program I saw the Serbs turned on the SA-6 radar at first to get position, speed, altitude etc. then turned it off. It was only on maybe for 5 or 6 seconds I'm guessing. Then when the Serbs figured that the two vipers should be flying over head they fired off a missile and then turned the radar on 2-3 seconds before impact giving him no time to react. Now, whether there is any truth in that I'm not one to say I'm just going off what this show claims happened. I don't believe everything I see or hear, but thats cause I work on the flightline Thumb

Elite Joined: Jan 14, 2004 Posts: 2454 Status: Offline

That would've required the Serbs to have taken a lucky ballistic shot. Not impossible, but difficult. Then again, they did shoot down a -117 about 4 years later...

TC wrote:

Scott O'Grady had the SERE syllabus changed, basically because he did everything wrong, and they'll tell you that at Fairchild. One of the retired contractor SERE instructors said he sat in on O'Grady's debrief, and he said he wanted to just blurt out, "Are you f*cking kidding me? Did you not remember ANYTHING you were taught at Fairchild?" Laughing

Yea one of my instructors when i was at Sheppard who was in the "Nickel" said his radio would have worked had a foil blanket not been over top of it.

Elite Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1175 Status: Offline

TC you are correct......maybe it was a lucky shot. It was the 23rd flying topcap that night. We made sure the 117 driver was covered.........

Elite Joined: Jan 14, 2004 Posts: 2454 Status: Offline

Awesome! Glad he made it out safely. I see where just within the past few months, his name, relating to that incident, has been declassified.

My question is, why is he classified as a "hero" in the first place? My perception of a hero is a person who risks their life to save someone else or to get something accomplished. From what I hear and read he didn't do either of those. If anyone should be called a hero in this it should be the rescue crews who went in and got him. I mean if if you're going to be called a hero, you had better do something helpful, not give the thankful taxpayers of america a little more to worry about at the end of the month.

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Tail number of Capt. O'Grady's Viper