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Recent Posts
- Checkride! June 27, 2022
- On Being a Fighter Jock April 27, 2022
- Fighters and Targets March 25, 2022
- Two types of flyers… March 8, 2022
- More Random thoughts from The Pit – Phantom II February 6, 2022
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Copyright notice- An American Family, 2013- 2022
© John Norvell
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Category Archives: American History
Checkride!
As flyers one thing we always had to deal with was a checkride. My first checks were in Nav School on the T-29. If all went well, it was straightforward. That was the operative phrase—all went well. Sadly, for me … Continue reading
On Being a Fighter Jock
In his excellent biography, Robin Olds ponders what it means to have the Right Stuff. He looks back at his time in World War II and the men he flew with. Olds understands that flying a fighter is more than … Continue reading
Posted in American History
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Fighters and Targets
In the fall of 1972, I arrived at Luke AFB outside Phoenix, Arizona. I joined several others from my nav class, assigned to the 310th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, to transition to the back seat of the F-4. The F-4 … Continue reading
Two types of flyers…
There was an old saying in the F-4 world: “There are two types of flyers, those who have been sick and those who will be.” As our training continued, we moved into a lot of turning and violent maneuvering in … Continue reading
Posted in 13 TFS, 43 TFS, Air Force, Air Force lingo, American History, F-4 Phantom II, F4 emergency, F4 Phantom II, F4 PhantomII, Luke AFB, Thailand, U Dorn RTAFB, Udorn RTAFB, Veterans, Vietnam War
Tagged air sick, Fighter Gator
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More Random thoughts from The Pit – Phantom II
Some sayings from the past: First to the runway is leadF-4, the greatest distributor of MiG parts!First in – Last OutBrief on GuardGo cold mikeMartin-Baker backbreakerBalls to the wallAll I want to hear from you “2” is bingo (fuel expended … Continue reading
The Real Air Force
Way back in 1968, I was a very green second lieutenant with no real job assigned to a base in Washington, D.C. One day a crusty old chief warrant officer. who had served in WWII, said to me: “This is … Continue reading
Posted in 13 TFS, Air Force, American History, F-4 Phantom II, Fighter Aircraft, Luke AFB, Mather AFB, Thailand, Veterans, Vietnam War
Tagged The Real Air Force
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Thoughts from the Pit Part Deux
More Thoughts from the Pit Flight Surgeons: The Docs were great, never met one that didn’t look out for the best interest of the jocks. Two things to remember though: you never told a Doc that you passed out. That … Continue reading
Posted in 13 TFS, Air Force, Air Force lingo, Alaska, Alaskan Air Command, American History, Anchorage, Anchorage Alaska, Arizona, Combat, F-4 Phantom II, Fighter Aircraft, Fighter pilot lingo, Fighter pilot slang, Navigator, Navigator Training, Thailand, U Dorn RTAFB, Udorn RTAFB, Veterans, Vietnam War
Tagged Fighter Pilot, GIB
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What the…
[The following blog post is rated M for mature audiences, it contains some language that may offend, but then again What the …] As June 1973 began, I attended my first fighter jock party in a combat zone. I wrote … Continue reading
Hail to the Chiefs — Crew that is
Some thoughts on a most important member of the Phantom II Team: The ground crews. When I was a non-rated officer, that is non-flying, I knew nothing about crew chiefs. Even when I was in navigator training, they did not … Continue reading
Fighter ‘Gator Book Now Available
This year marks 50 years since I arrived at Mather Air Force Base for undergraduate navigator training. To be honest, I had no idea what a navigator did. The dictionary definition wasn’t much help: Navigator — Definition — a person … Continue reading
Posted in American History
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