F-111A Combat Lancer

On 15 March 1968 the six F-111As (66-0017, -0018, -0019, -0020, -0021 and -0022) of Det 1, 428th TFS, formed from the 4481st TFS on 20 January 1968 when the 4480th TFW became the 474th TFW ‘Roadrunners’, took off on the 7000-mile, 20-hour transit to Takhli, stopping only once at Andersen AFB, Guam, for an 18-hour break. Several crews had to be assisted out of their jets at Guam after 13.5 hours strapped in the cockpit. ‘Ike’ Dethman put F-111A 66-0018’s big wheels onto Takhli’s runway on 17 March, and minutes later he was garlanded by a Thai beauty as he got out of his aircraft. The detachment was then welcomed by numerous dignitaries, including Gen Jack Ryan, commanding the Pacific Air Forces, and Lt Gen Joseph H Moore, the USAF’s Inspector General.

Like most wartime newcomers, the detachment’s first mission was flown in the relatively low threat area of Route Pack 1. Col Dethman and Capt Rick Matteis flew a Commando Nail mission in 66-0018, dropping 12 M117 bombs on an arms dump on Tiger Island (Hon Co) on 25 March. Three more single-aircraft sorties were flown that night, including one by Lt Col Palmgren’s crew, flying through heavy overcast at low altitude. He commented, ‘I think the only time they knew we were there was when the bombs went off ’. The North Vietnamese and Laotian nickname for the F-111, ‘Whispering Death’, was born.