The 4th Decade: |
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THE 313th TFS BACK HOME |
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The 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron was selected to be the U.S. Air Forces in Europe's first "Wild Weasel" unit and on June 12, 1971, it moved to a new neighborhood, relocating to Zwelbrucken AB, West Germany. The 81st TFS was detached from the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing and attached to the 86th TFW. From April through August 1970 (until August 1st), the Hahn runway was closed for repairs and upgrading. During that period, the three tactical squadrons of the 50th TFW were deployed to dispersed operating locations. Also, during the month of June 1970, Hahn became host to C Battery, 7th Battalion, Chaparral (SP)/Vulcan (T), 61st Artillery, 32nd Army Air Defense Command, which arrivred to provide air defense for the base and the wing against low-level enemy attack aircraft. Everything remained relatively quiet at Hahn and the 50th TFW. In 1975, a laser guided bomb capability was introduced to the 10th TFS, and seven F-106 Delta Darts, assigned to the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron from Minot AFB, N.D., deployed to Hahn. The deployment marked the first Air Defense Command unit to deploy to USAFE and participate in Exercise Cold Fire. The wing also gained an additional unit when the 6911th Security Squadron (mobile) began operations in July. In 1976 and 1977, an aircraft realignment throughout USAFE marked an end for F-4D aircraft at Hahn. The replacement aircraft, the F4E Phantom, added an extra sting to the wing's inventory in the shape of a nose mounted Valcan gun. Included in the realignment was a replacement for the 81st TFS. Reactivated on November 15, 1976, the 313th Tactical Fighter Squadron was assigned to the 50th TFW. The 313th TFS was a member of the 50th Fighter Group during World War II. The faces and names had changed, but two units of the 50th FG were reunited after 31 years. The 10th and 313th had gone their separate ways on November 7, 1945, but were now back together. On January 10, 1977, the wing tested USAFE's version of the Production Oriented Maintenance Organization called the Tactical Air Force Aircraft Maintenance System. Plans for a new base exchange and an 18 lane bowling center were started, plus additions to the base junior high school began. The year ended with the completion of runway work at Hahn and USAFE choosing the 50th TFW to be the test site for the first contingency launch and recovery base. During 1978, the TAMS test continued and the results hinged on a Headquarters, US Air Force initiated "high sortie rate" exercise named Salty Rooster. Held in April 1978, the exercise was designed to determine the new maintenance structure's ability to produce sorties at a wartime level. The wing flew for 13 consecutive days, generating and flying 2,771 sorties with all planned objectives surpassed. As a result of Salty Rooster, the Commander in Chief, US Air Forces in Europe, adopted the POMO structure for the command and ended the test in June, 1978. Also in 1978, the decision was made to have the wing test the new F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. Preparations for the testing period were accomplished throughout the remainder of the year. On April 19, 1979, four F-16 Fighting Falcon landed at Hahn to begin testing their multi role, all weather capabilities. The 50th TFW evaluated the new F-16 test aircraft from April 20 to May 10. Prompted by the F-16 program, new construction began; pilots trained under the new Graduated Combat Capability program; maintenance diligently worked under the POMO concept; and construction of 300 housing units, in three towns near Hahn Air Base, began under the build and lease project. |
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Tom Newton, SiteBuilder at: 50thFighterGroup@p-47.com |
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Squadrons...Pilots...& Planes |
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The Salty Rooster exercise was designed to determine the new maintenance structure's ability to produce sorties at a war time level. The wing flew for 13 consecutive days, generating and flying 2,771 sorties with all planned objectives surpassed.   |
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Confession Of A |
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Hahn, which had been a dreary place in 1975 - when even family housing was painted a dull forest green - had been spruced up, with varied earth tones: tan, brown, beige...and the famous Hahn green. The place was rather isolated, perched upon a 2,000 ft. ridgeline, surrounded by forests and no village even approaching the size of a town. It often had a low overcast; mostly, we saw the sun twice a day: at sunrise, before it passed behind the clouds, and late in the evening, when it dropped below them again. The area was very enjoyable, though; Bernkastel, Krov, and Breidel (names well-known to those with a taste for white Mosel wines) were 10 minutes away. There was very little doubt what the Wing's primary mission was; the Wing insignia even showed a winged demon screaming away from a mushroom cloud. However, just like Bitburg, Hahn also had jets on Zulu (Air Defense) alert - but at Hahn, each of the three squadron's aircraft specialized in one of the three mission areas: A/A, A/G, and Strike. Hahn's Radar Cal Docks had a small, much younger crew of folks than Bitburg - but it had been drawn together from people who had shown true expertise with the APM-307, AWM-20, and "industrial strength" troubleshooting skills. It became, without doubt, the leading Cal Docks in the world - bar none. The key to it's success was the support given us by our Chief, and by the Deputy Commander for Maintenance. In return for priority equal to that of other scheduled maintenance (i.e. - acft. delivered on time, and a high repair priority assigned to our parts), we promised to turn out the jets in half the time allotted for "90 day" missile-system checks and "180 day" full-scale calibrations of all systems. We got to be VERY good at it, doing the FULL system checks/alignments on every jet regardless of its 90/180-day status, and consistently turned them out in UNDER 12 hours! (In some places, jets were tied up for THREE DAYS or more in radar cal). Eventually, we were performing full cals on every jet in the wing, about once a month - with only a two-slot dock and less than 12 people covering around-the-clock maintenance. The QUALITY showed: a NATO TAC EVAL of capabilities rated us "Oustanding" in all three areas: Air-to-air (missiles, the hardest to obtain), Air-to-Ground (which we maintained to old "Korat" high standards), and Strike, about which Rdr Cal had very little involvement. No other Wing, before nor since, has ever equalled this feat. Near Christmas 1979, playing with a TV-video game IC chip, I saw that it's output was very similar to that provided by video weapons. Our ASM-184 checker - a $100,000 machine - was used to test the AGM-65 Maverick system, but it called for three people, took about half an hour, and left a lot of interpretation up to the operators. I built a prototype video generator/signal scaling board on my kitchen table - tranmitting the video to a TV set in the living room - and wrote a program so the APM-307 could use it. It worked great - and scored two "hits" on the first two jets it checked. It took about sixty seconds to test each missile pylon, and I spent $57 for its component parts. The device was submitted to the AF Suggestion Program. Two awards later, it was patented. (US Patent #4,584,524 - look it up)! Our operation became the model for all Cal Docks in USAFE; our techniques, records/forms, and methods were written into USAFE regulations. Once promoted to TSgt, I was reassigned to Wing Quality Control, and had to give up my work in Radar Cal. It was left in excellent hands! One of the saddest times in my AF career was leaving Hahn; after five years in Germany, it had become... my home. I would have extended my tour even longer - but once again, the F-4s were leaving. This time, however, there wouldn't be a capable aircraft (like the F-15) taking over the tradition of excellence; instead, they were downgrading to the F-16. At Hahn, like no other airbase overseas, GIs and their families were part of the local community. It will always be a high point in my life. Tom Newton, SiteBuilder at: 50thFighterGroup@p-47.com |
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