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Recent Posts
- May 1973 First F-4 Combat Mission over Cambodia May 17, 2023
- Jungle Survival – A Piece of Cake May 2, 2023
- Leaving Luke For Southeast Asia 1973 March 28, 2023
- The POWs come Home and we welcome one January 24, 2023
- Greeting the Future in Times Square December 29, 2022
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© John Norvell
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Category Archives: SEA
Some thoughts on combat
From the end of May to 15 August 1973, I flew combat missions over Cambodia. That was the focus of every day – combat: brief, refuel, bomb, and RTB. Now it was over. The air war had ended by direction … Continue reading
At Fairchild 1972
After my graduation from navigator training in July 1972, I went almost immediately to basic survival training. When I got the F-4 aircraft assignment, I knew that this virtually ensured that I would find myself in combat soon. To … Continue reading
Posted in Air Force, American History, Combat, F-4 Phantom II, F4 emergency, F4 PhantomII, Family History, Fighter Aircraft, Fighter pilot lingo, Fighter pilot slang, Luke AFB, Mather AFB, Navigator, Navigator Training, POW training, SEA, Vietnam War
Tagged Fairchild AFB, Pow camp exoeriences, Survival training, Trek
13 Comments
The View from the Pit
Unlike Undergraduate Navigator Training –UNT, the F-4 backseat AKA “The Pit” was a very different world. At nav school, I sat at a table in a classroom, “flew” our practice mission, and did my computations. In the F-4 Sim, I … Continue reading
Posted in 13 TFS, Air Force, Alaska, American History, Arizona, F-4 Phantom II, F4 Phantom II, F4 PhantomII, Family History, Luke AFB, Navigator, SEA, Vietnam War
Tagged F-training, The Pit
5 Comments
Freedom Bird
45 years ago, this week in April, I boarded a “Freedom Bird” heading home from Thailand after a year-long remote combat tour. It was a year filled with many things: honing my flying skills as a backseater in the F4, … Continue reading
Little Orphan Annie and the end of the Air War in SEA August 1973
Lest we forget: F-4 Phantom II—445 total lost in the SEA Air War, 382 in combat more than any other fixed wing aircraft First combat loss F-4C 64-0685 (45th TFS, 15th TFW) shot down Ta Chan, NW NVN on 20 June 1965. Final … Continue reading
Posted in 13 TFS, Air Force, American History, Cambodia bombing 1973, Combat, F-4 Phantom II, F4 emergency, F4 Phantom II, F4 PhantomII, Family History, Fighter Aircraft, Military history, Norvell Family History, SEA, U Dorn RTAFB, Udorn RTAFB, Veterans, Vietnam War
Tagged Air War SEA, air war vietnam, Cambodia, Cambodia Bombing, Letters home SEA, Recollections of combat, Vietnam memories
2 Comments
The Day Time Stopped – We drop the Hook
During my years flying the F4 there was only one time, while flying combat, we had to use the tailhook to stop on the runway. It happened while I was stationed in the 13 TFS at Udorn RTAFB, Thailand. We … Continue reading
Not all the Targets were In North Vietnam- A tale of the Panther Pack
As the war in SEA wound down, plans were put into place for an aggressive training schedule. Now schedulers were faced with actually having to plan training, not just assume it would happen in the course of daily events. It … Continue reading
Posted in Air Force, American History, F-4 Phantom II, F4 emergency, F4 Phantom II, Fighter Aircraft, SEA, Thailand, Vietnam War
Tagged Elephant walk, Udorn RTAFB
5 Comments
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