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As may be assumed, this was the fellow that Loring AFB was named after. The base is as far North East as is possible in the USA, it literally within a few miles of the border of Maine and Canada. Interesting but not part of the story. Ok, this gentleman was a very interesting and brave Medal of Honor recipient. He was shot down in two wars. Born and raised in Portland Maine, he joined the Army Air Corps and was sent to Europe to fly P-47s.
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His actual aircraft is the one in the bottom left corner of this picture |
Upon the end of the war, he was released returned to the US were he was working administrative details. Upon the outbreak of the Korean War, he was transferred to a squadron near and dear to my heart. At the time it was the 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. Also known as "The Juvats".
Yes, Beans when I am discussing the actual Squadron, I use a capital "J". This was the actual Squadron name.
So, Major Charles Loring was a fighter pilot in two wars and a Juvat in the second one.
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This was the weapons delivery vehicle of the Juvats at the time. On November 22 1952, Major Loring was leading a flight of F-80s to attack an artillery site that was shelling US troops. He rolled in to drop his bombs but was hit by AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery if you don't know). His aircraft was barely flyable. Realizing he would be unable to RTB (return to Base), he continued the attack, flying his aircraft directly into the artillery site destroying the site, his aircraft and himself.
"Audentes fortuna Juvat!" *
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Citation for the posthumous Award of the Medal of Honor to Major Charles Loring Jr:
Maj. Loring distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While leading a flight of 4 F-80 type aircraft on a close support mission, Maj. Loring was briefed by a controller to dive-bomb enemy gun positions which were harassing friendly ground troops. After verifying the location of the target, Maj. Loring rolled into his dive bomb run. Throughout the run, extremely accurate ground fire was directed on his aircraft. Disregarding the accuracy and intensity of the ground fire, Maj. Loring aggressively continued to press the attack until his aircraft was hit. At approximately 4,000 feet, he deliberately altered his course and aimed his diving aircraft at active gun emplacements concentrated on a ridge northwest of the briefed target, turned his aircraft 45 degrees to the left, pulled up in a deliberate, controlled maneuver, and elected to sacrifice his life by diving his aircraft directly into the midst of the enemy emplacements. His selfless and heroic action completely destroyed the enemy gun emplacement and eliminated a dangerous threat to United Nations ground forces. Maj. Loring's noble spirit, superlative courage, and conspicuous self-sacrifice in inflicting maximum damage on the enemy exemplified valor of the highest degree and his actions were in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Air Force.
* The 80TFS "Juvat's" official motto is "Audentes fortuna juvat" translated "Fortune favors the Bold!"
Pretty sure I've flown that particular F-4
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Loring_Jr.
Greater love hath no man than this.....can't find any more words juvat.......
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteI knew of Major Loring's story, how could I not, him being a fellow New Englander, but hearing it again keeps his memory alive.
ReplyDeleteThat last photo, I know I worked on that bird. If it was a D model assigned to the Wolf Pack, I worked on it, I worked on all of the 8th's birds at Kunsan.
Sarge,
DeleteAnd I know I flew it. Several times. Don''t know why it was in Las Vegas, I can't imagine PACAF would have them come halfway around the world to fly in a Red Flag when Cope Thunder was the PACAF version. Could've been part of the conversion of the Juvats to the F-16s though. Who knows.
juvat
Brave guy, worthy of a bade named after him.
ReplyDeleteConfessing my ignorance, I was curious about how you AF dudes can recognize specific planes. I understand the tail number with the year of purchase and last 3 digits of the serial number. I kinda thought that the big letters were for the home base of the squadron, hence the big WP would be Wright Patterson in Ohio. Seeking to discretely clarify that, I googled USAF tail flash, and ended up at Wikipedia's "Tail Code" entry. Yeah, Wiki is notoriously unreliable as a source, but good enough for me on this topic. It turns out that there is a convoluted list of rules and exceptions for what to use on the tail code. Specifically to my ignorance, WP is for Wolf Pack the 8th Fighter Wing, totally unrelated to that place in Ohio. Some by place, some by squadron, with Air Guard kinda doing state abbreviations with exceptions if multiple outfits in the same state. So, it's more a memorize the list than consistent logical sequence.
Then, the Navy gets to do their own tail code thing based on the Air Wing the unit is currently assigned to, except the reserve air wing stays the same, but the resever helo air wing was disestablished and the remaining reserve helo squadrons use the code for the wing which does not exist. The, Lord help us, Uncle Sam's Misguided Children have their own system. My head hurts and my curiosity was sated before I got that far, so I will just admire the ability of the AF guys to do what they do.
As for my tribe, we just paint a big honking number on the pointy end of our boats and everyone understands that. Well, we do use different series of number for different classes of ships, so you could end up with a destroyer, submarine and support ship all having the same number. So, we add a couple of cryptic letters to go with the number.
Sorta like us and our British cousins, divided by a common language.
JB
JB,
DeleteYes, WP is for Wolf Pack and specifically they yellow flash is for the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron (the Juvats) of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. Was and still is the Wing and Squadron at Kunsan AB Republic of Korea. That was my first operational assignment after Pilot Training and F-4 training. About 80 miles south of the border. There were two 2nd Lt's in the squadron, myself being one. Virtually every other Pilot and Weapons Systems Officer (the guy in back) were Vietnam vets, so they'd been there, done that. Man! did I learn an awful lot about being a fighter pilot from them. Best first operational fighter assignment I could have had.
As to the Initials, you pretty quickly learn them all, at least on the fighters. The heavy's move around so much, the fin flash is pretty irrelevant. Others might disagree.
BTW, "My" F-15 was a D model (2 seater) and was 78-564. Last time I flew her (or any other jet) was in 1990, so there is a "relationship" that is established and remembered.
juvat
Thanks as always Juvat! I see I have some catching up to di.
ReplyDeleteSigh. "To do". I blame a week on the trail...
DeleteTHBB,
DeleteYou're welcome THBB, Don't we all have catching up to do always?
juvat
A week on the trail and a lot of catching up? Other than Laundry, I can't think of much you would have to catch up on.
Deletejuvat