Capts. Bernie Smith and John Plantikow form up after take-off on the wing of Captain Kenny's FB-111A. (Photo by W.Ford)

This article was published in Air Force Magazine in April 1981 and is reproduced with permission.. Copyright 1981, published by the Air Force Association.

Air Force Magazine Art Director William A.Ford flew a typical training mission in the FB-111A from Plattsburgh AFB, NY with the 380th BW. Piloted by Capt. Mike Kenny of the 528th Bomb Squadron, the sortie involved two FB-111A, an aerial refueling, a low-level penetration and practice bomb run, and flight maneuvers.

Getting Ready.

Preparation for this particular mission begins about six hours before scheduled takeoff. The crew chief arrives to inspect the aircraft, making sure that all panels are secure and that the tires and struts are properly pressurized. He ensures that the FB-111A is fueled, clears up all maintenance problems, services the hydraulics and emergency systems, inspect the engines, particularly for foreign object damage (FOD), makes sure that oil pressure is adequate, and generally readies the plane for takeoff. Captain Kenny arrives about ninety minutes before scheduled takeoff. In company with the crew chief, SrA. Kenneth R.Martin, additional checks and double-checks are performed: hydraulics, computers for flight control and navigation, radar, and others. The aircraft is ready for today's flight.

After takeoff, Captain Kenny explains the initial phase of today's two ships mission to Bill Ford: "As we proceed south at 20,000 feet, the crews are completing level-off checks, equipment checks, and air refueling checks. The critical time requirements and precise navigation necessary for the refueling and the bombing missions pose no real problems. The FB-111's inertial navigation system is backed up by two digital computers and an advanced attack radar scope." Less than an hour later after takeoff the bombers are over Vermont, where they rendezvous with a KC-135 tanker aircraft from the Air National Guard's 101st Air Refueling Group. After hookup with the tanker, the FB-111As each take on about 10,000 pounds of fuel in less than five minutes. The refueling completed, they then disengage to resume the mission.

The FB-111As are now approaching Maine, and turn southeast toward Bangor. On this twenty-minute leg of the mission the crews check weather conditions, coordinate operations with the ground people at the bombing range, and check their bombing equipment. Today the crews will be practicing at USAF's Ashland Bomb Plot, just south of Presque Isle, near the Canadian border. Their immediate destination is the entry point to a low-level training route called IR-800. This route extends from near Bangor northeast to Ashland Bomb Plot. Captain Kenny enters the route at 17,000 feet, piloting his aircraft under instrument conditions. The two-ship formation has now broken up, and Captain Kenny and Bill Ford proceed as a single ship.

Practice Bombing.

In low-altitude bombing missions, the FB-111A proceeds regardless of adverse weather or night conditions. At the designated point (about five miles into the route), the crew engages the automatic low-altitude terrain-following system that plunges the aircraft at a rate of 12,000 feet a minute down to 1,000 feet. The descent and level-off are closely monitored by the crews to ensure that all goes as planned. As they fly up the Maine coastline, Captain Kenny says, "We can fly as low as 200 feet over the contour of the earth. This gives us the invisibility we need to penetrate enemy territory." Captain Kenny informs the ground controllers of the estimated time, altitude and point of entry over the complex. The ground controllers, members of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group picked up the FB-111A on radar about forty miles from the first target. They are prepared to monitor electronically the bombing run, as Captain Kenny will not drop actual bombs. About ten seconds before the first target, he switches on a continuous tone radio that is interrupted only when the bombardier pushes the bomb-release button. The ground controllers plot the aircraft across the map of the range and determine by interruption of the continuous tone radio when a "bomb" has been dropped. In less that three minutes, Captain Kenny hits two targets by radar, and one target visually, before leaving the Ashland complex. As he nears the Canadian border, he pulls the aircraft up at about sixty-degree angle and, with both engines near maximum thrust, climbs to 30,000 feet.

During the twenty-minute ride back to Plattsburgh, bomb scores are figured using information, already compiled by the Ashland evaluators and ballistics data provided by the aircrews to Ashland. The final results tells the crew how close they would have come to target if they had made an actual drop. On the return high-altitude flight, the FB-111A aircrews practice stall recovery techniques and flight maneuvers at different degrees of wingsweep and airspeed. They complete their descent checklists, and recover at Plattsburgh after a total flight time of four hours. The training mission is followed by another hour of or more of maintenance and mission debriefings.

The aircrews of the 380th Bomb Wing receive twelve to eighteen hours of flight training each month. For one week out of every three, they stand twenty-four hour ground alert - ready to use, if necessary, the skills they have learned and perfected in practice missions such as the one just completed.