Gulf War 2. 0th: Desert Storm Was the First and Last War for the F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasel. According to the official history of the 1. Persian Gulf War, F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasels from the 3. Tactical Fighter Wing at George Air Force Base, Calif., and the 5. TFW at Spangdahlem, Germany, flew 3,9. Iraqi missile sites. Operation Desert Storm was the only combat appearance of the F- 4. G, developed from the famous Phantom II fighter and used to suppress enemy radar and surface- to- air missile (SAM) sites.“I had my 4. Baghdad with fireworks and everything.”“I had my 4. Baghdad with fireworks and everything,” said retired Lt. Robert “Muskrat” Mc. Neese, an F- 4. G pilot, who was a major at the time of that personal milestone on Jan. Mc. Neese and others in the 3. TFW had arrived at Shaikh Isa Air Base, Bahrain, on August 1. Flying with back- seat electronic warfare officer Capt. Robert “Peaches” Pietras, Mc. Neese missed the first Desert Storm mission mounted just after midnight on Jan. Capt. James “Augie” Kuxhaus, an electronic warfare officer with the 3. Tactical Fighter Wing, with his F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasel in 1. Dorr Collection photo“On most missions up to Baghdad, we used . One of our early targets was the airfield at al Taqaddum near Fallujah. That airfield had Mi. G- 2. 9s. It had SA- 2 and SA- 3 missiles. We were called missile killers but we could also attack their long- range search radars.”If coalition airpower was to wear down Saddam Hussein’s ability to fight, the first step was to neutralize Iraq’s air defenses, to enable strike aircraft to engage industrial and military targets. The F- 4. G was meant for exactly this mission.
Mc. Neese’s aircraft looked much like every other Phantom II, but its skin was covered with 5. Mc. Neese’s aircraft looked much like every other Phantom II, but its skin was covered with 5. The F- 4. G carried a centerline and two under- wing external fuel tanks. It carried an AN/APR- 4. RHAW (radar homing and warning) system in a chin pod beneath its nose instead of the usual M6. Vulcan 2. 0 mm rotary cannon, an AN/ALQ- 1. AIM- 7 Sparrow radar missiles in the rear wells. It carried chaff and flares and its principal warload was two AGM- 8. High- speed Anti- Radiation Missiles (HARMs) hanging from outboard weapons stations. The F- 4. G was powered by two 1. General Electric J7. GE- 1. 7 turbojet engines with afterburners. A typical F- 4. G went into battle weighing 5. In “clean” condition the aircraft was capable of flying twice the speed of sound, but combat missions were usually flown at high subsonic speed. Maj. Col.) Robert “Muskrat” Mc. Neese, a pilot with the 3. Tactical Fighter Wing, with his F- 4. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself: Gulf War and Persian Gulf War have been the most common terms for the conflict used within Western countries. These names have been used by. 09/03/96 - 02:33 PM ET - Click reload often for latest version 1991 Gulf War chronology. Day 1: Wednesday, Jan. Desert Storm begins at 7 p.m. 17 in Iraq) with massive air and missile attacks on. G Advanced Wild Weasel at Shaikh Isa Air Base, Bahrain, in 1. Photo courtesy of Robert Mc. Neese“We were fighting the Iraqis and the weather,” said Mc. Neese. There were missions when we took off zero- zero in fog, taxied out very slowly, got airplanes lined up on the runway in almost zero visibility.“From Bahrain to Baghdad was two air refuelings. That mission was probably four to five hours. Baghdad is pretty far inside Iraq. We would approach at tactical air speed using up a lot of fuel. Heading in, we were using up a lot of fuel and as soon as we got close to Saudi Arabia we were pretty thirsty. Fortunately for us, there was always a tanker crew within reach.”“We were taking down their air defense system so their SAM sites were on . Navy had the same mission . The F- 4. Gs were the last of the Air Force’s dedicated Wild Weasel aircraft. Department of Defense photo by Tech Sgt. Deffner. As the war progressed, F- 4. G Wild Weasel crews gained greater confidence and began to feel they were winning the day. James “Augie” Kuxhaus of the 3. TFW described the role of the back seater: “More than most aircraft, the F- 4. G was built around the fellow in the back seat, who often pushed the pickle button for the missiles,” said Kuxhaus. I was mostly head- down in the cockpit.”F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasels flew many hundreds of other combat missions without suffering losses . Just one F- 4. G Phantom was lost. The F- 4. G, said Kuxhaus, had “one of the busiest cockpits in the U. S. The F- 4 was a hog on fuel so some of the hairiest experiences involved getting to the tanker. On one mission, we had to make three tries on two tankers before we could get our receptacle to work and take on fuel.”F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasels flew many hundreds of other combat missions without suffering losses . Just one F- 4. G Phantom was lost. The puncture caused a loss of fuel pressure. Returning from the mission running on empty, the Wild Weasel sought aerial refueling, but a dense fog foiled a tanker crew and the F- 4. G was directed toward a friendly Saudi airstrip. Four landing attempts were unsuccessful. During the fifth, the aircraft ran out of fuel. Both crew members ejected safely. F- 4. G Advanced Wild Weasels crews performed brilliantly against Iraqi radar sites during Operation Desert Storm in 1. Despite the success, the F- 4. G was retired in 1. Air Force photo. Desert Storm was a curtain call for the F- 4. G. The final unit to operate the Advanced Wild Weasel, the 1. Fighter Squadron, Idaho Air National Guard, began retiring its F- 4. Gs in October 1. 99.
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