Thud Pilots

Fighter pilot UHF radio transmissions

Ready to defend the free world

It was called the world's most

powerful one man airplane

Setting a world record of

1,216 miles per hour in 1959,

The THUD was the largest

single seat, single engine

combat aircraft in history

It could exceed the speed of

sound at sea level

and reach twice that

speed at high altitude

weighing in at approximately

25 tons.

Entering the service in 1958,

the F-105 represented America's

advances in applied science and

engineering.

Named Thunderchief, this

technological marvel could

deliver a greater bomb load

than American heavy bombers

used in WWII

My name is Hank Goetz and I flew

the F-105 at Bitburg, Germany,

in the 53rd Tactical

Fighter Squadron

where our primary mission

was one way nuclear alert

My first introduction to the

Thud was in 1961. Just loved it

from the moment I saw it,

of course everybody wanted to

get their hands on it and fly it

It's unique design was tailor

made for nuclear delivery

Carrying a single nuclear

weapon internally, the

high speed low altitude penetration

guaranteed its delivery deep

into the threat NEWS REPORTER VOICE

The Thundercheif is capable.

Yet everyone hopes

it never has to perform the

mission for it was designed

The growing geopolitical

tensions between the U.S. and

the Communist Bloc countries

were viewed as a clear

and present danger

The F-105 was the deterrence to

that threat and

neither the Soviets nor China

had anything comparable.

The missions we sat were

one way nuclear missions.

Headquarters decided that since

we were so close the the East

German border, that, if we were

lucky enough to get off in the

15 minutes that they said we all

had to get off, chances are the

bases wouldn't be there much

longer. So there was no reason

to plan return fuel because

the bases probably weren't

going to be there.

So everything was one-way

missions. Enough fuel to get

to your target, deliver the weapon

and then get out to what they

called a safe zone, where we

told there would be people

there that might help us.

I always figured the safe zone

it was someone else's target

and it probably was.

We had these little kits that

they gave us when we went on

alert pad. We used to

go on for 24 hours.

But these little kits they had

everything from maps, to gold

coins, and a bunch of other

stuff, of course your target

material, and everything else

but it was probably going to be

useless I didn't think my safe

zone was gonna be very safe when

I got there if I got there

In 1962, the Cuban missile

crisis sprung up

JFK fade in - go unchecked and

unchallenged, ultimately leads

to war.

This nation is opposed to war.

Hank - And the brass over in

Europe decided that due to that

blockade, that the Russians

would probably start harassing

our airplanes going in and out

of the Berlin corridor.

And so, in anticipation of them,

the Russians, harassing

airplanes or

causing some trouble, they took

my particular squadron

and we downloaded the nuclear

weapons and uploaded

sidewinders. And instead of

Victor alert, which was 15

nuclear, we set Zulu alert, off

the end of the runway, sitting

in the cockpit with

guns and sidewinders.

Just in case something happened,

we were never told what we were

allowed to do if

we could ever get airborne.

After a few days of that,

everything kind of cooled off

and we went back to normal.

The situation had resolved itself.

Thud pilots would soon realize

their primary mission was about

to change,

and the F-105 would be forever

etched in history.

A red storm was rising on the

horizon.

Far off, in the once

French colony of Indochina.

First, the United States only

provided limited air operations

in South Vietnam

to support the South Vietnamese

army forces against Viet Cong

insurgency.

I flew I-19s on the Mekong

Delta in 1962. I probably got 50

missions, but you

couldn't call it combat because

we weren't in battle

so I forget what you called

it, but we would fly

low enough that were were

looking in the doors

of the huts. And then I remember

a guy came running out and he's

pointing a rifle at me and he's

tracking and the gun, and

I can see it jump... oooh,

and it didn't hit.

He missed. So we would go back

and get a ranger company of

about 100 irregular,

some of them were Chinese, some

of them were Vietnamese, and go

back up and kill them all

I remember one night

they set off grenade next to

this two story hotel

I was in, in Can Tho, and so I

ran down. We all carried guns.

And uh...

There was a toddler,

lying on the ground,

just a baby. I picked him up.

And he didn't move but

his mouth kept opening and closing.

I ran out into the

street, and there was a taxi,

I said, "We're going to the

hospital" and he said, he's not

gonna get involved.

I had a gun. So he got involved.

We went to the hospital and I

delivered the little kid

but that was it. So

I was there for flying the L-19.

And then we went

back in '64 and '65 for TDY bombing

and then I went back in '67,

'68 for the 100 missions.

Soon, the U.S. resolve to

contain Communist expansionism

would be tested by relying upon

gallant Thud pilots.

Given their unchallenged ability

and capacity to carry

a 14 thousand pound

weapons load, the Thud was sent

to be the primary

aircraft to deliver the heavy

bomb loads to the targets in

North Vietnam.

On March 2nd, 1965, the

United States launched

Operation Rolling Thunder.