European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 23, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 3in the Gulf flying tigers lived up to namesake a. Irum 1 a. By John Millar Middle East Bureau Southern Iraq a army it. Col. Roger me Saulcy says the one sided Battle reminded him of old world War ii movies. In just five minutes on the night of feb. 26, a team of Pac a helicopters from the flying tigers of the 4th in 229th attack helicopter regt took out nine iraqi vehicles. A it was the kind of thing you see in John Wayne movies a said Mccauley the battalion commander. His comparison Isnit far off. The pilots normally based in Hillesheim Germany Trace their unit to the legendary world War ii flying tigers of the american Volunteer group. Eor today a tigers looking at the groups exploits Over China 50 years ago is a Little like looking in a Mirror. A a a a the original flying tigers flew into combat in 1941 a her shipping their p-40 War Hawk air planes by sea. The Hillesheim tigers also put their Birds on boats when they headed for Battle in saudi Arabia 50 years later. Both also had to modify their usual tactics to contend with new circumstances. Capt. Brendan Dirouhy a member of the modern Day tigers said the world War ii pilots faced a difficult Challenge while trying to keep japanese zeros from attacking China. He said the Zero was faster and More Maneu Merable than the War Hawk. T. The p-40 was slow but had a great diving Speed a Mccauley said. A it could just dive like a son of a gun and the zeros  keep up with them. So they would basically get above the japanese formations and dive Down through come Back up and dive Down  Dirouhy said the High Speed dives allowed War Hawk pilots to outrun pursuing zeros while a Wingman in another p-40 would blast enemy planes off their partners tails a a. A a a they a took an approach that maximized what was Good about the air plane and tactics to suit the Mission a Mccauley said. _ the Apache unit commander had to change his tactics As Well but for a different reason. A. Europe we re hovering behind Trees or Edge lines and we can pop up shoot and go Down where you re masked by that Ridge line a he said. A you done to have that in a Flat open  so Mccauley and his staff developed new tactics and borrowed one from the original flying tigers. The first tactic devised was the a Apache  its a triangular formation used when the three companies including scout helicopters and 18 apaches flew to their Battle area. The Crews in the Lead unit watched for changing enemy concentrations and passed information to the two units on its rear flanks which would Man Euver in either direction if necessary. _ once at Battle positions the Apache Crews broke into teams of two using a Wingman concept much like that of the War Hawk pilots. Chief warrant officer 3 Jonathan Hawkins said the concept worked Well especially when weapons systems failed. A your 30 millimetre did no to work on the night of the 26th, Hawkins said about the automatic Cannon on the nose of his Apache. A but i had rockets and missiles. My sister ship had All three weapons systems. If i needed the 30 millimetre it would take no More than calling him. And he can Hose the area  same applied when gunships ran out of Cannon rounds or missiles. A if he runs out of a certain Type of ordnance he Hawkins Calls me and i can put it on target a Hawkins said. A a it a a give and take situation if you run in a team. If you run individually and you done to have i tryout rout of  the flying tigers literally flew circles around the iraqis by using another new tactic said maj. Sam Hubbard the operations officer for the battalion. Keeping in two helicopter teams the apaches flew race track patterns Over the iraqi positions he said. The helicopters would Fly Down a Straightaway firing All the Way before banking into a turn. A they would then Fly Down another Straightaway turn and attack again. Flying in the Oval patterns reduced the dust Clouds pilots assigned to the 4th in 229th attack helicopter regt flying tigers relax inside their tent. A amps John Millar ah-64a Apache. 1 Crew. Two maximum Takeoff weight 21,000 lbs Wing Span 17 feet height 15 feet Max cruise Speed. 184 Mph armament. 30mm Chain gun. Up to 16 hellfire antitank missiles or up to 76 folding Fin Aerial rockets Max Load for Chain gun 1,200 ads l a a a a a a a a a a a. A a a a 1 i said. A but the conditions were excellent for us because the enemy  see us. A from where we were firing we were invisible and too far off to be  Mccauley said the apaches encountered about 100 iraqi soldiers walking Down a Road. A they stopped As though they heard something i saw them in the sight about 2,300 meters about 1.5 Miles away. And As we got closer they just flattened on the ground in  the Low flying helicopters make in the desert Hubbard said. Dust and Sand blown into the air by the Rotor Blades interferes with the apaches laser targeting systems he said. Flying the pattern a also reduces your ability to be detected because you re always  warrant officer Pete Lacrosse an Apache Pilot and gunner said running the race frack pattern allowed teams to shoot move from their position and come Back to fire again. A the amazing thing was the enemy did no to have much of an idea where we were coming from. They were out in the Middle of the desert. The wind was blowing and they could hear some sort of a Roar and you could see them running in All  coupling the new tactics with the sophisticated night vision systems allowed the Hillesheim to Lacrosse Gers to attack with pinpoint accuracy. Hubbard said smoke from kuwaiti Oil Well fires limited vision somewhat but conditions remained favourable. A the Moon was out but it was overcast a Hubbard capt. Ben Williams the commander of the battalions cob said the iraqis tried to fire at the apaches but  figure out where the tank killers were. A apparently they were just shooting at noise in the  a a. A. A a a a a.  a a a in some instances pilots were less than two Miles from their targets when they fired. But in other cases pilots in oil58 Kiowa scout helicopters were Able to increase the distance to More than four Miles. In one engagement an oh-58d Pilot kept a laser target designator on an iraqi vehicle while hovering about 2 Miles away. A the Kiowa gave an Apache gunner More than 4vi Miles away coordinates that would enable him to fire a hellfire missile. Hubbard said the Apache Pilot was so far away he did no to see the missile hit the target. But the Apache Pilot knew he d hit the Murk when the voice of the1 Kiowa Pilot came Over the radio. A Boom a he said. The original flying tigers knocked about 280 japanese zeros out of the sky while suffering just eight p-40 pilots killed in combat according to american heroes of the War in the air. Mccauley said the new flying tigers had superlative results As Well. We killed about 92 tanks and trucks and came Home squared away a he said. The 18 apaches in the battalion flew into Battle with the original Walt Disney created Emblem of a flying Tiger painted on the aircraft. Each of the three companies also bore emblems of the three original War Hawk squadrons. The Only thing missing was. The Large Tiger Teeth that the world War ii flyers painted Ori their Mccauley told his pilots that Only those who killed 20 enemy tanks would get to paint Teeth on their air Craft. Some got As Many As five but no closer. Mccauley also had set a battalion goal of 200 tanks. A it the War had gone on longer i think that would have been easy goal to accomplish. But we never quite made it that far a he said