European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 07, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse 1tiboi? 11 . Air Force f105 fighter bombers Are readied for next Mission Over Vietnam at Korat air base Thailand where Many War missions Are originated. Ring this Bell and win a ticket Home by Peter o Loughlin a staff writer in the dimly lit nightclub style officers club at Korat air base in thai land hangs a Bell which every Pilot Fly ing Over North Vietnam has an Ambi Tion to it clangs through the mess and the Pilot yells drinks All around i Means he has joined the exclusive 100 Mission can relax. No More briefings. No More flak. No More migs he has finished his tour. He s going pilots like it. Karl Richter try to ring the Bell fighter pilots say Richter had ice water for blood. He was shot Downin july on his 198th Mission. He had applied to Fly 100 More from Softli Viet Nam. There Are six other bases in thai land similar to Korat where the pilots have similar customs and face similar dangers. But the. Names of the bases adorn Ubol Nakorn phanom Are unlikely to become household word Sand be talked about for deeds in the Vietnam tight Security ban on news report ing from the bases has robbed the 40,000air Force men in Thailand of the Satis faction of seeing their part in the War recognized publicly. The United states has lost More than650 aircraft Over North Vietnam. More than half came from thai bases. More than 400 f105s have been shot Clown Over North and South Vietnam. Most of these too came from thai bases. A hit the exploits of the pilots apart from summaries Given out at daily briefings in Saigon Are barely notice Able in accounts of the grumbles the morale of the fighter and fighter bomber pilots is the atmosphere among them is Al ways time you go up even though your Mouth is dry and your stomach sin a knot you feel they re not going to get you today said one do you feel when you Fly through that antiaircraft fire would you believe terror stricken superstition plays a part in the lives of the pilots. Each Squadron has its own table inthe mess decked out with the Squadron s one table sits a toy Black eat. On another a wooden Model of the comic strip dog snoopy decked put in Hel met and goggles cursing the red the Korat mess Hall at All times is Roscoe the base Mascot dog of doubtful ancestry brought there thursday september 7, 1967 by a Young Pilot later shot other pilots of the Wing adopted Roscoe feed him scraps from their tableland believe that if he sits with his ears up it will be a bad men who Fly f105s from Korat and Rakhli the f4cs and Delta Dagger from Ubon and adorn and b52s from Tapao Don t confirm to the Hollywood image of the Young Gung to Pilot just omit of Squadron commanders Are usually lieutenant colonels or colonels in their late 30s or Early 40s. The younger pilots Are about 25. Themore missions they Fly the older they pilots Are a lot More mature than they were in world War ii or oven the korean War said one Veteran col have a lot More Talent than the last re better trained belter trained enough the pilots Hope to enable them to ring that 100-Missum Bell. Its. Fred a. Wilson left Karl Richter Tell of Mig victories they scored Over Vietnam at thai base. Richter was lost on 198th Mission. At adorn air base below f104s Are readied. The stars and stripes Page 11
