Thomas W. “Tom” Floyd Major U.S. Air Force Pilot, Vietnam The Wild Weasels Part 1.

In the early morning of December 20th 1972 Brigadier General Robert Titus, Commander of the 15th Tactical Air Wing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa was studying his morning report. The report of the 67th Wild Weasel détachment on Korat Air Base in Thailand immediately caught his interest. The report revealed that the pilots in his command were engaged by MIG fighters.

In a previous combat mission in Southeast Asia General Titus was able to shoot down two MIGS himself. He was delighted to learn that some of his pilots were been involved in a battle with MIGS. He immediately ordered transport from Korat Air Base.

The next day captain Tom Floyd found himself debriefing General Titus about the specifics about the mission of that night that comprised three MIG engagements as well as two SAM (surface to air missile] deaths. General Titus informed Floyd, “That was a awful mission” to Floyd, to which Floyd responded, “Yes sir, all of the excitement, but no excitement.” He responded, “We’ll see about that.” Floyd recalled, “The next time I saw General Titus in the morning, he was fastening on the Silver Star to my uniform.”

Thomas William “Tom” Floyd was born on May 23rd, 1942 at Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Andrew Floyd and Edith Floyd. The family relocated from Andalusia, Alabama, in 1950. There, Andrew was employed by the Chamber of Commerce. Andy Andrew, as Andrew was popularly known as, was instrumental in obtaining his company, the Gulf Naval Stores of Gulfport, Mississippi, to build an additional plant in Andalusia.

The brand new Gulf Naval Stores plant offered Andy an opportunity to distribute all their items that cost smaller than a freight vehicle load. Andy Floyd opened the new Floyd Pine Products in Andalusia.

Tom Floyd attended Andalusia schools and graduated from Andalusia High School in the year 1960. He enrolled in The University of the South in Sewanee Sewanee and graduated in 1964 with a an undergraduate degree in law. Tom was taking part into ROTC and was promoted to as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force upon his graduation.

After the graduation ceremony, Tom drove to the University of Alabama and entered law school. After a few years after graduation, he was commissioned to active duty in the Air Force and was accepted to fly training. Tom completed his flight training on Craig Air Force Base in Selma, Alabama, and earned the pilot’s license in the year 1966. The initial orders he received were for Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam but they were later altered in 1966 to Castle Air Force Base in California.

In Castle, Tom was assigned to an KC-135 [air tanker force] squadron in which he spent the following eighteen months trying to be assigned to the fighter squadron. He was eventually successful and was assigned for training at George Air Force Base in California to train in the F-4 Phantom fighter. At George, Tom met and got married Lois MacKintosh.

Tom graduated from F-4 training. Tom completed his F-4 training He was among four 1st Lieutenants that were certified as a front-seat pilot. Tom was assigned to the 16th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

The squadron was formed in April of 1969. changed its name to known as the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron and was transferred in the vicinity of Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam. Tom was part of the squadron who were piloting 20 brand F4E fighters. F4E fighters. Tom remembered, “Our missions at Da Nang were primarily close air support for the Army’s II Corps as well as interdiction and bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos…By February 1970 I was completing 100 combat missions , and was moved into Yokota Air Base in Japan.”

Tom Floyd still remembers one of those combat missions ” The very most effective combat missions happen those where you save someone’s life…Gerry Salvo as well as my Wingman and I were escorted by Da Nang Airbase and vectored 300 degrees, which was not the same than the normal 300 degrees. This was to help those in the U.S. Army’s Americal Division in the II Corps area.

“We had been transferred across the border to Laos via the Ho Chi Minh trail to stop the Viet Cong force that was in danger of overrunning the ‘Road Watch Team’ comprised of nine men… The rescue helicopters, as well as ground support aircraft A-1 were not yet in the area to assist.

We were guided from our forward air controller [callsign, Nail 51] who indicated the position of the Team by using rockets. We then dropped napalm on the positions of the enemy however we were told they were closing in…We instructed Nail 51 to request that the Team to take cover deep because we were planning drop ‘Danger Close.’

“We took the 500 pounds. bombs, getting closer and closer towards the Team until we’d exhausted the load. Then, we began walking 20 mm rounds towards and around the Team until we reached Winchester (out of ammunition). Nail 51 informed us that our rescue crew was five minutes away. We completed two low-altitude, full afterburner rounds to ensure that from the Viet Cong’s heads at bay. When we had completed our final run The A-1’s arrived and began to take over the rescue.

“We came back home to Da Nang and were told that the rescue mission was successful…The following day, we received confirmation that my flight was recommended to be awarded an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross [DFC].

A few days later we received a call that the awards were denied for violating our Laos Rules of Engagement for F-4’s. These rules allowed engagements only to 7,500 feet above targets. We believed that those rules only applied to F-4’s located in Thailand but not Vietnam…So we were snared by a person in Saigon who was looking to grant us the DFC and another person in Saigon requested that we be court martialed because we had violated the Rules of Engagement…That appeared to be the way that war was conducted. We, for our part, felt pretty happy because we felt that the Team was saved.”

Then, at Yokota, Tom was temporarily transferred in the Osan Air Base in South Korea as a member in the Nuclear Alert Team for best portion of a year. When he was at Yokota, Tom learned that the base could accept volunteers to participate in Wild Weasel training. Tom recalled “I was informed I could be considered in the course of Wild Weasel training because I had completed a combat service and had over 1,000 hours of flying time. When I was approved I was taken for training at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to receive training.”

The Wild Weasels program originated in 1965 as an anti-SAM to air missile] attempt to destroy radar sites prior to locking on U.S. bombers. The plan was to fly aircrafts that could jam the SAM radar, and then fire an air-to-ground anti-radiation missile to take out the missile’s sight. Pilots were all volunteers The first plane to be used included the F100’s. After the loss of five of the six initial aircraft The F-100 was replaced with the F-105 followed by the F-4C that Tom Floyd would fly.

After the completion of Wild Weasel training, Tom was returned for further training at Yokota Air Base. In the Pacific Air Force had organized all Wild Weasels into the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron which Tom was a part of. After his arrival everyone in the unit was sent into Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and was designated to be the 67th TFS.

The spring of the year 1972 The U.S. had begun “Linebacker I,”” an escalation of the massive bombings of North Vietnam. Following 1968’s “Rolling Thunder” bombings of 1968 North Vietnam had developed an extremely sophisticated earlier warning radar and added over 200 SA-2 [SAM launchers. The first deployment of Wild Weasel aircraft was now more urgently required.

On September 22, 1972 Tom joined nine teams, as well as the six F-4C Wild Weasels sent to Korate Air Base in Thailand to supplement existing F-105 Wild Weasels already there. This would be the first time that combat tests were conducted for the F4CWW. [End Part 1[End Part 1]

John Vick

The article Thomas W. “Tom” Floyd Major U.S. Air Force Pilot, Vietnam The Wild Weasels Part 1. appeared at The Andalusia Star-News.