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Viper Driver Flying Hours

  Col. Danny W. "Hipshot" Hamilton (Ret.)

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Viper Driver

 Name Col. Danny W. "Hipshot" Hamilton (Ret.)
Country
Unit 466th Fighter Squadron "Diamondbacks"
Flying F-16s from 1983 until 1994
Viper Hours 1059
Flew with the 466TFS Reserve F-16 at Hill AFB for 16 years.

Danny Hamilton earned the title of "Top Gun" for the Gunsmoke '87 competition.

Retired in 1998.

Graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1968. Flew over 300 fighter combat missions in Vietnam, F-100, and Korat, A-7D. Spent 3 years as Ranger ALO at Fort Lewis to get an F-16. In 1978, assigned to Hill writing the Air to Ground manual for the F-16...bummer… Joined Air Force Reserve in 1979 to get back in the cockpit, 300 hours in the F-105 and over 1000 in the F-16.
Worked for TRW in the early 1980s including 2 years in Landsburg Germany working F-4F avionics. Started a small business, MicroLAN Enterprises, in 1983 (with Chip Taylor!), winning contracts with the US Air Force.
Won Gunsmoke '87 and returned to active duty with the Reserve in 1988. Managed Reserve F-16 programs to upgrade aircraft creating high demand for Reserve forces, AIMGUNS (funnel), Radar Altimeter, Digital Terrain System (DTS), EW Integration, night lighting, Targeting Pod. ICAF in 1995 and back to Reserve duty in 1996 assigned to Edwards as MA to the Commander. Last AF flight…first glider…with Jimmy Doolittle the 3rd in the back seat. Retired in 1998.
Resumed business as Hamilton International providing consulting services to aviation programs from 1996 to 2002, primarily DTS and Digital Video Recording. Joined Lockheed Martin in 2002 to 2007 working the UAE F-16 Block 60 program. I restarted my business as The Hamilton Group, working on consulting, training, and vehicle management.
Married Jan after graduation, Patti during A-7D combat ops, Terry after Gunsmoke, and Karin at Lockheed. Bought an RV in 2014 and married Xiurong Huang in Las Vegas. Currently living the good life in Las Vegas.

Memorable F-16 Aircraft
F-16 # 78068 [Detailed history of this F-16]
Assigned to me from 1984 to 1994 with my name on the canopy. Great airplane, but flew with a little yaw to the left depending on speed.
Same crew chief, Jim Simpson, for the entire time, https://www.facebook.com/james.simpson.75457/ . He took care of her and is still a great friend.
Gunsmoke '85 - Our Team, led by "Waldo" King, took first place and 068 was 5tth or 6th overall.
Gunsmoke '87 - Team took 2nd place out of 100 different kinds of fighters and 068 managed to win Top Gun overall. Guess I had some skill, but the win really was due to the aircraft, the team, and spirit!!
So proud of all!!!!

F-16 Flying Hours

1,000 Hours # 1485 on the 1K list
Unit   466th Fighter Squadron "Diamondbacks" [Unit History]
Date 25 June 1993
Comment Didn't celebrate 1000 hours so date is a guess based on monthly flight hours. I'd bet it was in 068 and Jim Simpson acted as crew chief!!

Flying Hours on other aircraft

 F-100 Super Sabre
Hours 540
A-7 Corsair II
Hours 964
F-105 Thunderchief
Hours 375
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