AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022 - 64

On April 16, 1961, six Super Sabres deployed from Clark Air
Base in the Philippines to Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base
in Thailand, the first F-100s to enter combat in Southeast Asia.
In 1965, the United States began expanding the number of F-100
squadrons in the conflict area. Most of those F-100s were painted
a green-brown color scheme known as T.O.114 camouflage, the
T.O. for a technical order. Developed as an air-to-air fighter
with great capability-including a redesign of the tail after the
crash that killed Welch-the F-100 was affectionately called
the Hun.
Don Shepperd said he dreamed of being an F-100 pilot after
seeing the aircraft as a U.S. Air Force Academy cadet. He flew the
Hun in Vietnam and was a member of the Mistys, an elite group of
F-100 pilots who flew some of the most dangerous missions during
the conflict. Top secret, the missions involved low-level flying
to seek out targets in flights lasting four to six hours with in-flight
tanker refueling three times.
The Hun was the first U.S. Air Force fighter used for electronic
warfare in the " Wild Weasel I " program, which used the F-100F
in missions to seek and destroy surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites.
One of the most dangerous missions was the Misty operations; the
two-seat F-100F flew low along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. " Misty "
was the radio callsign used by the F-100F Fast Forward Air
Controllers (Fast FACs). There were 157 pilots officially assigned
to fly missions over North Vietnam from June 15, 1967, to May 19,
1970, according to Shepperd.
" We were shot at all the time. We lost an airplane every fourth
mission, and then we'd try to find them [the pilot]. said Shepperd.
The last F-100 left Vietnam in 1971, after nearly eight
years of combat. The F-100s were the longest serving U.S. jet
64
AOPA PILOT / January 2022
fighter-bomber in the Vietnam War. Shepperd became a writer
and CNN correspondent, and co-wrote Bury Us Upside Down, a
book about his time in Vietnam. " It was a dumb-ass war; we went
in for the right reasons, but war is not that simple, " he said. He
writes, he says, to " remember the people we lost, the things we
did, the things we were required to do. "
Farm boys
Win Reither flew 292 combat missions in the F-100 in Vietnam.
On May 3, 1968, he was flying to Bien Hoa near Saigon behind
U.S. Air Force academy graduate Jim Martin who was moving
fast in his F-100. Reither tried to keep up. He soon realized
Martin's aircraft was hard hit, having sustained damage from
an engagement with a hostile North Vietnamese Army unit with
semi-automatic and small arms fire.
" Somewhere in the mission Jim got hit pretty bad and started
streaming fuel and we headed to the nearest base, " Reither
remembered. " Afterward, I learned that Jim was losing fuel fast
and, as he understood the complexity of the F-100, he turned off
the AC generator so the fuel transfer would slow, and he wouldn't
run out of fuel. His airplane had a lot of holes in it and he was
lucky to get on the ground. I finally caught up with him and was
happy to see him land successfully. I was the awards and decorations
officer for the squadron; I decided to put the flight in for
a Distinguished Flying Cross. "
In hindsight more than 50 years later, Reither says he wishes
he'd put Martin up for five DFC medals and had better thanked
his operations officer. " We wrote mission reports like it was
just another day, and we got up and flew another mission the
next day. "
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022
