In support of an official event 

The Museum will be closed Sunday, May 25
In addition, the Fourth Hangar will be closed Saturday, May 24

Access to the Presidential Gallery will be limited from May 15 to June 5
 

Fact Sheet Alphabetical List

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  • Nose Gunners and Bears

    To survive and complete their missions, pilots (nicknamed "nose gunners") and EWOs (nicknamed "bears") had to work together as one. So, a special relationship existed between individual Wild Weasel crews. Paired up early in their training, they usually deployed and flew combat tours together.The

  • "Take It Down": SAM Breaks

    1. When the SA-2 launch warning light and buzzer alerted, the flight commander called out "take it down." Both looked at the ground for the tell-tale smoke and dust from the SA-2 launch to see where the missile was coming from. At the same time, the pilot rolled the aircraft over, accelerated the

  • Wild Weasel Missions: Strike Support and Search and Destroy

    Strike Support: First In, Last OutOn strike support missions deep into North Vietnam, Wild Weasels ranged ahead of strike forces to suppress SAM sites and gun laying radars in the target area. Ideally, the Wild Weasels would destroy them, but intimidating the radars to shut down and keeping them

  • F-105F Thud Wild Weasels and Rolling Thunder

    The two-seat Wild Weasel III F-105F Thunderchief or "Thud" formed the backbone of USAF SAM suppression during Operation Rolling Thunder. The F-105 Wild Weasels continued to develop tactics, flying two types of missions -- strike support, by far the more common of the two, and "hunter-killer" search

  • ALQ-71 Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) Pod

    Carried by fighter aircraft, ECM pods jammed enemy radars by emitting high powered radio signals. Though effective when carried in large, close formations in level flight, an ECM pod was of little value in the small, constantly maneuvering formations used by Wild Weasels. Furthermore, ECM pod

  • Radar Homing and Warning: The Key to the Wild Weasels

    On Aug. 3, 1965, a group of military and industry officials headed by USAF Brig. Gen. Kenneth Dempster met in secret to examine how to counter the SA-2. One recommendation was to equip a small number of fighter aircraft with radar homing and warning (RHAW) equipment to detect and attack SAM

  • "Weasel Sighted SAM--Killed Same": The First Kill

    Capts. Allen Lamb (pilot) and Jack Donovan (EWO) achieved the first Wild Weasel SAM kill on Dec. 22, 1965, while covering a strike force northwest of Hanoi, North Vietnam. Capt. Donovan began picking up radar signals and called out the coordinates. Capt. Lamb guided their F-100F to the site and

  • The First Loss

    Captains John Pritchford and Robert TrierThe first Wild Weasel loss occurred on Dec. 20, 1965. While on an Iron Hand mission over North Vietnam, anti-aircraft fire hit the F-100F crewed by Capts. John Pitchford and Robert Trier. Both ejected, but Capt. Trier was killed while exchanging fire with

  • The Pioneers: Wild Weasel and the F-100F

    The Air Force placed great hope on the success of the Wild Weasel concept. Project Wild Weasel used modified two-seat F-100Fs, with the pilot flying and firing weapons from the front seat, while an electronic warfare officer (EWO) tracked enemy radar systems in the back seat. These trailblazers