Upcoming models - Page 525

**thepaperguy** · #**5241** 04-05-2017, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Boose

I have been trying to find out which F-100 squadron(s) of the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing from Bien Hoa supported us on Easter Sunday (26 March) 1967 at LZ ALPHA, Tam Binh, Vietnam. It had to have been the 90th, 416th, 510th, or 531st or some combination. They were the only ones at Bien Hoa on that date. They were F-100Ds or Fs and camouflaged, not NMF.

If I ever find out, I will want to build a model in those markings.

Still searching.

Don

Read the book Bury Us Upside Down. its a neat biography on the F-100 2 seats used as Fast FAC's in Nam on the Ho Chi Trail and such.

**murphyaa** · #**5242** 04-05-2017, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendellb36

How close to the park with the F100 do you live?Irepainted that airplane when I was stationed at Luke .I sealed it up too it was full of pigeons.My repaint was better than it is now ,I did this in 1993

It's about 5 miles away. I haven't seen it recently. I used to pass it daily during a previous job.

**Don Boose** · #**5243** 04-06-2017, 07:26 AM

Many thanks for the book recommendation, thepaperguy. I think anyone interested in F-100 operations in Vietnam, or who just likes great stories will enjoy Bury Us Upside Down (https://www.amazon.com/Bury-Us-Upside-Down-Pilots/dp/0345465385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491484366&sr=1-1&keywords=bury+me+upside+down). Another good book on the MISTY operations against the Ho Chi Minh Trail is Misty: First Person Stories of the F-100 Fast FACs in the Vietnam War, by Major General Don Sheppard (https://www.amazon.com/Misty-First-Person-Stories-Vietnam/dp/0759652546)

The exploits of the F-100F pilots and their back seat guys who flew the MISTY missions should certainly be remembered. http://vnafmamn.com/misty_mission.html Perhaps Aaron will eventually design a MISTY F-100F.

As for the F-100s that supported us on Easter Sunday, they weren’t MISTY aircraft. The 3rd TFW did fly F-100F aircraft, and it is possible that one or more F-100Fs were operating over LZ ALPHA on 26 March 1967, but according to the MISTY website, the Fast FAC pilots did not begin operating in Vietnam until June 1967 (http://mistyvietnam.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MISTY-TIMELINES-WORD-2-PDF1-SH.jpg), they operated out of Phu Cat (we were supported by aircraft out of Bien Hoa and, occasionally, Ton San Nhut), and they customarily operated over Cambodia, Laos, and the western border of Vietnam, a long way from the coastal Mekong Delta, where the Vietnamese infantry battalion that I advised (1/14, 9th ARVN Division) operated.

To the best of my knowledge, the F-100s that were beating up the tree line at LZ ALPHA on 26 March 1967 were from one or more of the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing squadrons out of Bien Hoa (90th, 416th, 510th, 531st) and they were almost certainly F-100Ds.

Incidentally, Major Don Schmenk’s aircraft that Murph is working on (SM / 580) is of a 308th TFS, 31st TFW bird out of Tuy Hoa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuy_Hoa_Air_Base). And in the course of exploring this rabbit hole, I discovered (Murph might have mentioned it earlier) that Major Schmenk is himself a model builder: http://www.portasouthjetty.com/news/...l_retiree.html

I don’t want to divert the discussion further, but will continue to follow Aaron’s adventures in Hunland.

Don

**Texman** · #**5244** 04-06-2017, 07:58 AM

Don, over at dgapapermodels, there is a free
F-100F. It listed as a Wild Weasel.

**Don Boose** · #**5245** 04-06-2017, 08:54 AM

Thanks, Ray.

I have that model, though I have not yet built it (https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.ph...mbly-tips.html). It is possible that that aircraft was involved in the operation. It is an F-100F (HE 908) of the 416th TFS, which served with the 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa until April 1967, when it moved to Phu Cat and was assigned to the 37th TFW. That puts it in the frame for the 26 March operation. It's a good model, and, although I will keep looking, I think it's close enough to fill in the F-100 spot in my Vietnam 50 collection, although I will keep looking for a 3rd TFW F-100D.

It raises a question, though. So far as I know, no Wild Weasels ever operated near us. Down in our part of the Delta, the most sophisticated piece of electronic gear the VC had was a radio, and their air defense consisted of firing 7.62 and .30 into the sky (though they did occasionally hit our aircraft), so there was no role for WWs.

Incidentally, in my 50-year-old memory, I only saw F-100s in action twice. Once was the Easter Sunday operation (Operation LONG PHI 999G), when they provided close air support to us. The other was when one of our Forward Air Controller pilots, RAAF Squadron Leader Rex Ramsey (ASCOT 6), asked me if I'd like to ride along while he put in a couple of air strikes along the coast at Long Tuan. Loving airplanes, and having been a aerial observer in the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea in 1963, so familiar with the back seat of an L-19 (O-1), I jumped at the chance. Rex directed airstrikes for a flight of B-57s from the 3rd Bomb Wing and then brought in some F-100s (absolutely must have been F-100Ds from the 3rd TFW, but I don't know for sure). Rex is the guy in the middle of Image 3, below.

Otherwise, we were usually provided close air support by Vietnamese Air Force A-1Hs of the 23rd Tactical Wing operating out of Bien Hoa and UH-1D gunships of the 175th Assault Helicopter Company operating out of Vinh Long. I have built Aaron's 23rd TW A-1H for my Vietnam 50 project, and Macsongli recolored Nobi's UH-1H slick (transport helo) to replicate OUTLAW 6, the lead ship of the transport helicopter section that carried us in to LZ ALPHA, but I haven't built it yet.

Aaron - My apologies for having diverted the thread, but at least we are talking about F-100s. To make it up to you, I promise to buy one of each F-100 you put out, regardless of unit or markings.

Don

**Robert Blaschke** · #**5246** 04-06-2017, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murphyaa

I just recently got commissioned to design this plane:

Attachment 311002
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I just would like to say, that colors and especially sand color of the SEA camouflage of F-100's in Vietnam was not looking the way it looks on Phantoms or later National Guards F-100's. It was a bit more "yellowish". I think it was because F-100's came to Vietnam war in silver paint over NMF and were re-painted later in the field.