I was flying supply missions into Ilopango Airfield, San Salvador, during the Sandanista and Salvadorian rebel conflicts. Ilopango is the Salvadorian Air Force base and they were running bombing missions against rebel positions on an old volcano about 50 miles away. While most of the Salvadorian pilots flew French small fighters, the Air Force commander preferred his old Corsair, and there it was, blue paint, hung with 100 lb bombs, machine gun barrels protruding from the wings, parked in front of AF HQ. We got to see the general climb up and strap in, start up, blue smoke belching, big radial engine popping and take off for a combat bomb run. The young Salvadorian hotshots could fly the jets, but he was going to fly his 40 year old Corsair. A hell of an airplane.
I was privileged over my career to fly with old WWII pilots during the Vietnam years who did everything they could to stay in the cockpit and fly and fight. I had F-106, 104's, F-4's, F-105's, seen the F-111's do their trick dumping fuel and exploding it with afterburner to light up the night sky, friends became astronauts, I lived next to Capt Chuck Yeager, flew aircraft that had minimal computer systems and a pilot had to feel the aircraft and listen to it. In the last years, in Iraq and thereafter, I got to see the stealth fighters, F-16s, F-15's . I regret that I am not still in the cockpit to fly with the new generation aircraft, the F-22's and the new F-35. What a thrill for the young cream of the crop who are privileged to wear wings today.
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05-31-2010, 06:58 PM
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