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"It was 1988; the USAF Thunderbirds were tasked by Gen Robert Russ,
who was Tactical Air Commander (TAC) at the time,
to put one of our Thunderbird aircraft into combat configuration in the allotted (mandated) 72 hour period,
a task never done before on the team.
To make a long story short,
the maintenance boys and girls worked their backsides off and had the aircraft ready in less than 72 hours with the only exception being
that the jet wasn't painted (in the combat scheme).
The aircraft tail number selected for this event was Thunderbird Number 10 which was 81-0679.
https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-o ... 1621225937
Major BJ Java (our Logistic Officer, Vietnam Vet pilot), who was #7 at the time, flew the jet, shot bullets and dropped bombs.
The jet looked awesome being red, white and blue with a gun, bombs, missiles, and ECM pod fully functional.
https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-o ... 1621225937
......en per dinsdag 11 juli is de laagvliegerij-afdelingThunderbird Msgt Charlie Saunders remembers being on the ramp when the jet returned from its sortie and BJ had that "big 'ol grin on his face".
The jet was a mess with all the gun gases (soot) that had stuck to that beautiful paint job, we (the team collectively) made Thunderbird history that day.
I hope you enjoy the photos...
te
http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php? ... start=1050
ook weer ge'updated.
