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‘Slayer’ Of B-52 Bombers, How US F-4G Fighters Evaded Barrage Of Russian-Origin Missiles & Defended The BUFFs

During Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, the F-4G Wild Weasel was the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) dedicated fighter for suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) operations, with updated radar and avionics converted from the F-4E. Notably, Operation Desert Storm was the first and last conflict for the F-4G.

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According to the official history of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, F-4Gs from the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing at George Air Force Base (AFB), California, and the 52nd TFW at Spangdahlem, Germany, flew 3,942 combat sorties, fired 1,000 air-to-surface missiles, and destroyed 200 Iraqi missile sites.

These F-4Gs were deployed to Sheikh Isa AB, Bahrain, for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. They would carry AGM-88A/B/C High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) and work in tandem with other F-4Gs or as a hunter aircraft directing fighter-bombers like F-16 against surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites.

The F-4G crew would comprise a pilot and an Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO), who navigated, assisted with communications, and coordinated attacks on the SAM sites.

Among the several sorties flown by F-4G Wild Weasels during Operation Desert Storm, the one flown on January 19, 1991, was truly incredible, as it dodged six surface-to-air missiles in a matter of seconds!

F-4Gs over Bahrain during Operation Desert Shield (Wikimedia Commons)

A detailed account of this sortie is provided in the book, ‘Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm, by Brick Eisel, a former US Air Force (USAF) officer, and Jim Schreiner, a former F-4G pilot from the 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base (AFB), who was a part of this sortie.

Schreiner and his backseater, Dan Sharp, were flying a four-ship F-4G sortie which included an aircraft piloted by Major Steve ‘Teach’ Jenni and Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO), Captain Mark ‘Gucci’ Buccigrossi, with the two aircraft using the call signs, Longhorn 31 and Longhorn 32, respectively.

The mission for the flight was to provide direct support for a cell of B-52 bombers dropping some fifty-four bombs weighing 750 lb (340.194 kilograms) each on one of the dug-in positions of the Republican Guard armored divisions.

The B-52 Stratofortress was nicknamed the BUFF since the days of the Vietnam War. Nearly a dozen B-52s were shot down or damaged by Soviet-made S-75 Dvina (NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) high-altitude air defense systems fielded by North Vietnam.

Therefore, the USAF planners for Desert Storm wanted to ensure that the bombers were well protected this time.

So, the Longhorn flight was supposed to go ahead of the BUFFs and destroy the ‘lethal’ SA-2s and any other SAMs that had the range and reach to hit the bombers.

“It was a high priority, do or die mission for the Weasels,” Eisel explains in the book.

Schreiner and Sharp had experienced a failure of the digital ARN-101 navigation system of their F-4G during the previous sortie, so they had to switch two spare jets, which delayed their as well as Jenni and Buccigrossi’s take-off.

Schreiner recalls, “3 & 4 were long gone, and lead, tired of waiting for us, decided to take off without us. I could tell he was pissed because as he taxied by, he twirled his hand above his helmet, telling us to hurry up. At the time, he didn’t realize we were on our third jet.”

Nevertheless, Schreiner completed the pre-fight procedures rapidly and got the jet running.

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