Colonel Bud Day

The prelude to the "response" below, from Colonel Bud Day, Medal of Honor recipient - prisoner of war survivor - reads "I didn't expect to be reminded of my treatment some 36 years ago on this holiday weekend but our politicians find it worthy to ignore what some have tried to recount to them, who have actually been there."

I got shot down over N Vietnam in 1967...a sq commander.

After I returned in 1973... I published 2 books that dealt a lot with "real torture" in Hanoi . Our make believe president is branding our country as a bunch of torturers when he has no idea what torture is.

As for me. Put thru a mock execution because I would not respond...pistol whipped on the head...same event... Couple of days later...hung by my feet all day. I escaped and got recaptured a couple of weeks later... I got shot and recaptured. Shot was OK...what happened after was not.

They marched me to Vinh... put me in the rope trick, trick. Almost pulled my arms out of the sockets. Beat me on the head with a little wooden rod until my eyes were swelled shut, and my unshot, unbroken hand a pulp.

Next day hung me by the arms...rebroke my right wrist...wiped out the nerves in my arms that control the hands. Rolled my fingers up into a ball. Only left the slightest movement of my L forefinger. So I started answering with some incredible lies.

Sent me to Hanoi strapped to a barrel of gas in the back of a truck.

Hanoi ...on my knees. Rope trick again. Beaten by a big fool.

Into leg irons on a bed in Heartbreak Hotel.

Much kneeling--hands up at Zoo

Really bad beating for refusing to condemn Lyndon Johnson.

Several more kneeling events. I could see my knee bone thru kneeling holes.

There was an escape from the annex to the Zoo I was the Senior Officer of a large building because of escape. They started a mass torture of all commanders.

I think it was July 7, 1969...they started beating me with a car fan belt. In first 2 days I took over 300 strokes. Then stopped counting because I never thought I would live thru it.

They continued day-nite torture to get me to confess to a non-existent part in the escape. This went on for at least 3 days On my knees. Fan belting... cut open my scrotum with fan belt stroke. Opened up both knee holes again. My fanny looked like hamburger. I could not lie on my back.

They tortured me into admitting that I was in on the escape and that my 2 room-mates knew about it.

The next day I denied the lie.

They commenced torturing me again with 3- 6- or 9 strokes of the fan belt every day from about July 11 or 12rh...to 14 October 1969. I continued to refuse to lie about my roommates again.

Now, the point of this is that our make-believe president has declared to the world that we ( U.S. ) are a bunch of torturers... Thus it will be OK to torture us next time when they catch us....because that is what the U.S. does.

Our make-believe president is a know nothing fool who thinks that pouring a little water on some one's face, or hanging a pair of womens pants over an Arabs head is TORTURE. He is a meathead.

I just talked to MOH holder Leo Thorsness who was also in my sq in jail.... as was John McCain ... and we agree that McCain does not speak for the POW group when he claims that Al Gharib was torture... or that "water boarding" is torture..

Our president and those fools around him who keep bad mouthing our great country are a disgrace to the United States . Please pass this info on to Sean Hannity. He is free to use it to point out the stupidity of the claims that water boarding ...which has no after effect... is torture. If it got the Arab to cough up the story about how he planned the attack on the twin towers in NYC ... hurrah for the guy who poured the water.

BUD DAY, MOH

George Everett "Bud" Day (born February 24, 1925) is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and Command Pilot who served during the Vietnam War. He is often cited as being the most decorated U.S. service member since General Douglas MacArthur, having received some seventy decorations, a majority for actions in combat.. Day is a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Air France HOAX!

Emails are circulating with pictures supposedly taken during the crash of Air France flight 447. They are a complete hoax. They are stills from the pilot of the television series "Lost". See the proof here.

The investigation of the loss of Flight 447 continues but hopes in finding the cockpit and flight recorders are dwindling.
The search will continue until July 10th, using submersible ROV's.

Teenager Survives Yemini Crash

Fourteen year old Bahia Bakari was the sole survivor of a Yemini Airbus 310-300 crash which killed 152 passengers and crew. The Airbus was on approach to Moroni when it crashed into the Indian Ocean. The child is a non-swimmer and spent 13 hours clinging to debris. Her injuries consisted of ONLY a mild hypothermia and a broken collar bone. She was rescued by a passing boat.

No reason was given for the cause of the crash.

Marine Fighter Pilot Dies at 86

Colonel Ed McMahon (USMC, retired) died today.

McMahon passed away peacefully shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center, his publicist, Howard Bragman, said today. He was hospitalized in February with pneumonia and other medical problems.

When World War Two broke out Ed wanted to be a pilot. He enlisted in 1943 and earned his pilot's license while being evaluated for the Navy's cadet evaluation program at Boston College. After being checked out in the Piper Cub he was assigned to the Marine Corps.

McMahon earned his wings and was commissioned early in 1945.

He flew the F4U Corsair and was immediately assigned to instructor duty at Lee Field in Florida. On 6 August he was given orders to join the Marine carrier program in California. With the dropping of the atomic bomb, his orders were canceled and he was discharged.

In 1952 he was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. He flew artillery spotting missions in the O-1E Bird Dog. Completing 85 missions, he was awarded six Air Medals. After the war he retired from the Marine Reserves as a Colonel and was promoted to Brigadier General of the California Air National Guard.

The Cornfield Bomber

On 2 February, 1970 three F-106's of the 71st Fighter Intercept Squadron were on a routine training mission out of Malstrom AFB, Montana. 1st Lieutenant Gary Faust was flying Lead of a flight of three. The other pilots in the flight were Captain Tom Curtis and Major James Lowe. Curtis and Lowe were Instructor Pilots.

Originally, the mission that February day nearly four decades ago was to be a two vs. two air combat training flight. One aircraft subsequently aborted from the mission when its drag chute deployed on the ramp. So the day’s training activity became a "two vs. one" fight.

The "one" on this eventful day was Tom Curtis. The "two" were 1st Lt. Gary Foust and Maj. Jim Lowe.

Curtis witnessed the mishap:

We took off as a flight of three. Gary Foust was leading with Jim Lowe in the chase position. We then split up I went to one end of the training air space and they proceeded to the other end of the air space. We had about a twenty mile separation. The controllers turned us into each other so we passed head on with a thousand feet separation. The ROE (rules of engagement) were we had to pass head on with no tactical advantage to either flight. After passing the fight was on. The object was to gain a tactical advantage on the opponent and maneuver in to valid firing position. After landing we would review the film and try to reconstruct the engagement. Of course, this was a big ego thing. who was the winner etc.

I figured I could handle Gary pretty easy but I did not trust Jimmy. I figured he would probably break off and come after me. With this thought in mind, I came at them in full afterburner I was doing 1.90 mach when we passed. I took them straight up at about 38,000 ft. We got into a vertical rolling scissors. I gave him a high G rudder reversal. He tried to stay with me, that's when he lost it. He got into a post stall gyration. This happens just prior to a stall. The aircraft violently rolls left and right and sometimes swaps ends, a very violent maneuver. His recovery attempt was unsuccessful and the aircraft stalled and went into a flat spin which is usually unrecoverable.

The aircraft looked like the pitot tube was stationary with the aircraft rotating around it. Very flat and rotating quite slowly. Well,. Gary rode it down to about 15,000 feet. All this time Jimmy Lowe was giving the spin recovery procedures. Part of the spin recovery procedures is to actuate the take off trim button. This trims all the control surfaces to a take off setting, which is a bout the same as for landing. So when Gary ejected the aircraft was trimmed wings level for about 175 knots a very nice glide setting.

When he ejected the aircraft straightened out and glided toward a perfect landing. I couldn't believe it ! Jimmy says "Get back in there."

After the ejection, the aircraft recovered from the spin on its own, and established a wings level low rate descent under reduced power to the ground. Ground effect broke its rate of descent, and it settled into a near-perfect gentle belly landing in a farmer's snow-covered cornfield.
Lowe parachuted safely to the ground and was picked up by some Indians on snow mobiles. A local Sheriff was first on the scene and found 58-0787 on it's belly with the engine still running. He saw the name "Major Wolfold" painted on the side of the jet and called Wolford at Malstrom AFB asking for instructions on how to shut the motor off.

When he climbed onto the jet and looked into the cockpit he found that the radar was still sweeping. It was then that the jet began to inch forward. The sheriff jumped off and decided to let the engine run out of gas. For an hour and 45 minutes, "787" scooted across the corn field for about 400 feet before the engine quit, ending up near a road.
A depot team from McClellan AFB recovered the aircraft and it was eventually returned to service.58-0787 is in its 49th FIS markings now on display at the USAF Museum.
Ex 71st FIS pilots are ragged unmercifully about the "Emergency" so dire that the aircraft was forced to land itself.

Airline Safety Announcement

Creech AFB Gets a F-15

Creech AFB added a F-15 to its inventory on Wednesday. It will be used to train Fire Fighters on Emergency Egress Procedures. When a pilot cannot get out of the aircraft on their own, this training makes sure that the Fire Department can get them out quickly and safely.
The heavy lift was performed by the 1/189th Aviation Battalion of the Nevada Army National Guard, Reno Nevada.