Page 9 - Aerotech News and Review, April 2, 2021

Plane Crazy Saturday history:

Dick Rutan on the F-100, Vietnam, and chasing your dreams

by Cathy Hansen while flying at speeds of only 70 and volunteers.
special to Aerotech News 80-knots navigating around thunder- The Air Force decided to use the
storms, near hostile countries threaten- F-100 (sometimes referred to as “the
Dick Rutan kept a crowd of aviation ing to shoot you down, worrying about Hun,” a shortened version of one hun-
enthusiasts riveted to every word during whether or not you have enough fuel for dred) as FAST-FACs (Fast Forward Air
the December 2010 Plane Crazy Sat- the trip. Controllers). They called them “Super
urday event, sponsored by the Mojave Four days following the historic flight FACs,” because the aircraft were Super
Transportation Museum. of the Voyager, President Ronald Rea- Sabres.
Rutan is a former U.S. Air Force gan awarded Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan and Day’s F-100 was shot down on Aug.
fighter pilot and Command Pilot of the Jeana Yeager the Presidential Citizen’s 27, 1967, on his 26th MISTY FAC mis-
record-setting Voyager flight, with Jeana Medal of Honor at a special ceremony. sion; Day was shot down by ground fire
Yeager, which flew around the world The medal has been presented only 16 over North Vietnam. During the ejection,
non-stop and unrefueled. times in the history of the United States. Day’s right arm was broken in three plac-
As a Tactical Air Command fighter es, along with other injuries. His crew-
pilot during most of his two decades in Vietnam – Flying with the MISTYs man was quickly picked up by a rescue
the Air Force, Rutan flew 325 combat back over the ocean, so he didn’t have to Rutan recounted his days serving with helicopter, but Day was captured by local
missions in Vietnam, 105 of them as a worry about the thought of running into Maj. Bud Day, first commander of the militia, beaten and tortured. Somehow he
member of the Super Sabre FAC (For- any mountains! MISTYs. Day was chosen for this mis- survived the horrendous and agonizing
ward Air Controller), a high risk opera- The mountain was Mount Cameroon sion because he had an extensive fighter treatment. Day was released on March Air Force photograph
tion commonly known as the MISTYs. and is one of Africa’s largest volcanoes, pilot background — and because he vol- 14, 1973, having supplied only false in- Col. Bud Day, who was a major when
While on his last strike reconnaissance rising 13,255 feet above the coast of unteered. When he volunteered for duty formation to his interrogators. He was he was shot down over Vietnam.
mission over North Vietnam in 1968, he west central Africa. “We came within in Vietnam and was assigned to a fighter promoted to colonel during his captivity,
was hit by enemy ground fire, forced to one mile of dead, halfway up the eastern wing in April 1967, Day had flown more and on March 4, 1976, President Gerald
eject from a flaming F-100 and was later slope,” Dick told the audience. than 4,500 hours in fighters. R. Ford presented him with the Medal F-4 Martin Baker seat. It was nearly
rescued by the Air Force’s Jolly Green Each day on that historical flight pre- This group of extraordinary coura- of Honor at a ceremony in which Adm. two minutes before the rear seat fired,
Giant helicopter team. Before retiring sented new, life-threatening dangers. geous men were called MISTYs, but not James Stockdale was also awarded the because the general had ordered him to
as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel in The absolute world distance records set because it was an acronym. Bud Day medal. wait.
1978, Rutan had been awarded the Silver during that flight remain unchallenged selected the unit call sign, “MISTY,” MISTY 40 — Dick Rutan described As Rutan and Harland watched the
Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, today. because it was his favorite song. an eerie and bone chilling story, the fiery
16 Air Medals, and the Purple Heart. The cramped cockpit environment Day said when you add the descrip- loss of Strobe 01. Rutan said that he and textbook ejection, they expected to see
the front seat fire, but instead when they
Rutan said that he wanted to be a fight- was most uncomfortable and sleep de- tive words “difficult and dangerous” to Capt. Donald E. Harland had just backed
er pilot and fly F-100 Super Sabres ever privation was the enemy. Imagine being any mission, the fighter pilots will come off a tanker, when they heard a MAY- looked back they couldn’t believe the
since his mother took him to an air show locked in a phone booth for nine days flocking. He said he was besieged with DAY call. The distress call was from horror that was before them. The front
and he got up-close looks at some pilots Strobe 01, an RF-4C reconnaissance or cockpit was totally engulfed in fire.
and an F-100. recce aircraft coming out of North Viet- It was at that point that Rutan started
“I looked up at the pilot, as a little kid nam, just above the DMZ (Demilitarized yelling, “Strobe 01! BAIL OUT! BAIL
and I thought, ‘Man, I would really like Zone, dividing North from South Viet- OUT!” He was so engrossed in watch-
to be that, but there would be no fine nam). ing and yelling for Strobe 01 to bail out
way I could ever do that. Fighter pilots, After determining that they were on that he didn’t seem to realize that he was
they’re a different species.’” a head-on course to Strobe 01, Rutan following the F-4 down.
Rutan always gave his mother credit and Harland requested vectors to join Harland screamed at Rutan to pull
for giving him the motivation to become up with the Phantom. When they ren- up and he wrote that if it had not been
a fighter pilot. “She admonished me dezvoused with Strobe 01, they were for Harland’s stern direction, he would
when I said that there wasn’t any way I checking for holes, streaming fluids, or have crashed right beside Strobe 01. It
could become a fighter pilot,” said Rutan. fire. There was a small hole in the belly was only later that he realized Gen. Bob
“She taught my brother Burt, my sister near the aft part of the camera bay and Worley was already dead after the back-
Nell and I that if you can dream it, you a small flame was flickering in the hole. seater ejected.
can do it and the only way to fail is if There was something highly unusual After telling these gripping and emo-
you quit.” about this flight, however. There was a tional stories over the years, Rutan has
As Dick Rutan stood in Voyager Res- general officer in the front seat and the put them all into a book entitled “The
taurant looking out at the F-100 parked person that they had been communicat- Next Five Minutes.” Copies of this
just outside the windows, he recounted ing with was a major in the back seat. limited edition, numbered book can be
numerous stories of flying the two-place Generals were prohibited from flying ordered online at dickrutan.com.
F-model while serving in the U.S. Air into North Vietnam. Many thanks to Bob Green, F-100
Force at Phu Cat Air Base in Vietnam Strobe acknowledged the fire and owner and John Ligon of Flight Test
during 1968 and 1969, before and after stated that they would bail out. The Associates, for the use of the Super Sa-
the Tet Offensive. Courtesy photograph F-100 crew was anxious to witness a bre as the Aircraft of the Month for our
The Voyager aircraft, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, during its 1986 by-the-book ejection sequence with the Plane Crazy Saturday event.
Voyager — Around the world, round-the-world flight.
non-stop and unrefueled
Because this date in 2010 marked the
24th anniversary of the historic flight of
Voyager, Rutan took his audience back
to Dec. 18, 1986, when he and Jeana
Yeager were flying in the Voyager air-
craft on the fifth day of their nine-day
journey around the world.
Sleep deprivation, violent storms and
mountains looming kept them stretched
mentally beyond all limits of normal.
Dick just wanted to get past the land and

Dick Rutan stands in Voyager
Restaurant looking out at the F-100
parked just outside the windows, and
recounts numerous stories of flying
the two-place F-model while serving in
the U.S. Air Force at Phu Cat Air Base
in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969, Courtesy photograph
before and after the Tet Offensive.
Courtesy photograph Dick Rutan
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