By STAN KASPRZYK

FlightLog Archive

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Aircraft Flown

Other Fighters - 1975-1985

Although I've had the great opportunity to fly almost all of my nearly 2000 fighter hours in the F-15, I've also been lucky enough to fly a number of other fighters. In the late 70's and early 80's, I was able to fly six classic jet fighters, logging some great flights in the F-4, F-5, F-16, F-104, F-106 and F-111.

F-106

F-106B 59-0159 Minot AFB, ND
11 Mar 1985 - 1.9 hours
Intercepts with Bruce Fritzsche, attempted some Basic Fighter Maneuvers, but wing tanks wouldn't feed, practiced a number of flameout approaches.

F-106B 59-0159 Minot AFB, ND
19 Dec 1984 - 1.7 hours
Attempted intercepts with John Janazzo, bad radar, flew Basic Fighter Maneuvers vs. another F-106 piloted by Ken Brown.

F-106B 57-2545 Minot AFB, ND
6 Dec 1984 - 1.8 hours
With Charlie Ross, intercepts with another F-106, radar work, formation landing.

59-0159 was shot down on 5 Aug 1993 while on drone status from Tyndall AFB, FL, using an AIM-9M.

57-2545 also served on drone status at Tyndall, but was decommissioned from drone status due to a cracked intake duct on 3 Jan 1997. 57-2545 was purchased in Apr 2000 and moved initially to El Paso TX. 57-2545 currently resides at Bissell Frame and Auto Body in St Louis, MO.

F-111

F-111A 67-090 Mountain Home AFB, ID
23 Jun 1982 - 1.3 hours

Low level mission with Capt. Greg Haier, 390 TFS, auto terrain following radar down to 200 feet, impressive speed and stability down low. 67-090 was assigned originally to 430th TFS, later the 390th TFS of the 366th TFW at Mountain Home. This F-111A was later stored at AMARC near Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ and probably destroyed in 2001.

F-5

CF-5D 116845 Cold Lake AB, Canada
23 Apr 1982 - 1.1 hours

Led a flight of four F-5s in a low altitude (<100 feet) ingress over the Cold Lake ranges with Capt. 'Carlos' Turner, 433 Squadron, the only one of the four F-5s to hit the target. This F-5 was later modified as a civilian aircraft, re-registered on 25 March 2009 as N845PS to Tactical Air Support, Reno, NV.

F-16

F-16B FB-11 Soesterberg AB, NL Belgian Air Force
15 Oct 1981 - 1.3 hours

Flown with Capt. Crickle, 350 Squadron, Belgian Air Force. 3 vs 2 Dissimilar Air Combat vs Soesterberg F-15Cs. High altitude run-in at FL450, excellent gun attack vs one F-15, 9G gun shot, flew a touch and go from the backseat. This F-16B, FB-11, later crashed on 23 Jun 1993 while attached to the Belgian Flight Test Centre. It crashed during delivery from Gosselies, at Marche-en-Famenne in the Belgian Ardennes, after getting the Falcon 2000 update. Both crew from the BAF Flight Test Centre, Major Frank Dewinne and Lieutenant Colonel Marc D'Espallier, ejected without injuries. Frank Dewinne was at the controls, and later became a Belgian astronaut.

F-104

CF-104D 104658 Soesterberg AB, NL Canadian Air Force
19 Aug 1980 - 1.4 hours

Flown with Maj. John David. Low level flight with two other Canadian F-104s, flew against ground targets at the Pampa Range near Beauvechain, Belgium. Heavy aileron forces, flew a straight-in from the backseat to Soesterberg. This F-104 was later sold to the Turkish Air Force in 1986, with a new tail number of 64-658.

F-4

F-4D 66-7693 Eglin AFB, FL Armament Development Test Center
18 Jun 1975 - 1.3 hours

During the Air Force Academy's 3rd Lieutenant program, I was lucky to be stationed at Eglin AFB for three great weeks of flying, getting flights in a T-38, UH-1N, T-39 and my first fighter, an F-4D attached to the Eglin Test Wing. I basically had the F-4 for 1.3 hours to enjoy. I first flew a speed run to Mach 1.4, then flew some basic fighter maneuvers and aerobatics, followed by a low altitude return over the Gulf, and then a number of back seat overhead patterns and low approaches. Not bad for a 21 year old!