Forum: General

Midland pilot earns top Air Force award

By Angela E. Lackey
Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 10:06 AM EDT

It wasn't a mission for the claustrophobic or faint of heart.

On Aug. 12, 2007, Lt. Col. Stephen "Torch" Williams took off from Balad Air Force Base for eastern Afghanistan. The 11-hour mission required a circuitous route over the darkening desert land to avoid flying over Iran. They had a two-minute window to drop 16 bombs.

They then turned around and headed back for Iraq. It was each man alone in the cockpit of his F-16.

"It's very difficult," Williams, 41, said. "That's part of the challenge."

Williams is the 2008 MacKay Trophy recipient. The award was established in 1912 for the "most meritorious flight of the year." Past MacKay Trophy recipients include Lt. Col. James "Jimmy" Doolittle and Chuck Yeager. Each recipient's name is inscribed on the trophy, which is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

"The fact that we took fighter aircraft in a long-range bombing mission was a great accomplishment in the execution of air power," he said. Williams could not give details about the mission.

Williams said all missions are accomplished through teamwork -- the work of maintenance people, air refuelers, mission planners and more.

"This was not just me and three other people," he said. "I want people to understand this was a team effort."

Williams grew up in Midland and graduated from Midland High School in 1985. He was once asked as a seventh grader what he wanted to do, and he immediately said, "Go to the Air Force Academy and fly fighter jets."

The boy was entranced by the thought of flying planes and snow skiing at the same place. The young man worked hard at the Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and graduated with a bachelor's in engineering mechanics.

"I grew up tremendously there. ...I realized whatever I wanted to do, I could do it," Williams said. He later earned a master's in aerospace management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Williams said the academy was a place that stressed moral character and created a lot of soul searching. He also first flew at the academy, gliding in a T-41. This basically involves being attached to a plane, and then the glider is released into the air.

"It's like sailing," he said. "You hear the wind. ...I was hooked."

Williams did his pilot training at Williams AFB in Phoenix, Ariz. He first piloted a T-37.

"It was awesome," he said, adding he knew then he made the right choice.

Williams said he's the type to read an atlas for fun, and that trait has come in handy during his 19 years in the Air Force. He learned to fly a F-16 at McDill AFB in Florida. Next was years of movement to Korea, Utah, New Mexico and Japan. He trained in fighter weapons at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas -- of "Top Gun" fame -- and returned there in 1998 as a weapons instructor.

He married in 1993, and he and his wife, Holly, have two daughters, Amanda, 13, and Ashley, 11. The family's next destination is Hickam AFB in Hawaii.

He also has been deployed to the Middle East three times. His latest deployment to Iraq was May 2007 through October 2007. He was squadron commander of the 13th Fighter Squadron out of Misawa Air Base, Japan.

Williams said they had less than 24 hours to prepare for the August mission. The mission rules for Iraq and Afghanistan were very different, and he compared it to driving in an unknown city without a map.

"We had to work real-time," he said. "There was a lot of on-the-fly decision making."

Source: http://www.ourmidland.com/articles/2008 ... 130220.txt