Thomas W. “Tom” Floyd Major U.S. Air Force Pilot, Vietnam The Wild Weasels Part 2.

“Continuation of the The Major Thomas Floyd from Part 1 WW is the term used to identify Wild Weasel].

On the 25th of September of 1972 Lieutenant Tom Floyd and his Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) Lieutenant Al Palmer, flew the first combat mission for a F4CWW, over Vien, N. Vietnam. They flew wings on an F-105WW. In the following six months the six aircrafts as well as nine crews from the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron [TFSwas involved in greater than 470 fight missions in N. Vietnam. The time was not the case that none of the aircrafts would receive a single blow from Sam missiles, anti-aircraft gunfire, as well as MIG fighters. Floyd as well as the 67th TFS proved the capability to fight of the F4CWW.

Linebacker 1 was stopped for peace talks in the month of October 1972. Following the peace talks’ s stalling, Linebacker 2 began on December 18. During the ceasefire time the morale of crews fighting was low. Many believed that war could end soon, and they weren’t looking forward to being one of the final to suffer.

Floyd remembered, “My Operations Officer met me on the 17th of December and told me “I don’t know what’s about to unfold, But you, along with Al have to draw maps of the city of Hanoi. The following day, we learned the following day that Linebacker 2 would begin that night…Flight restrictions to engage the enemy were lifted by the president Nixon.”

The Wild Weasels were faced with the challenge of covering the 27 known SAM sights using 35 aircraft. Floyd recalls,


“We were able to launch a single-ship attack instead of our usual two-ship formation…The conditions were cloudy, with the highest point of the clouds reaching 8000 feet, and clear to the top with an unhindered moon and unlimited visibility…The F-105’s could work from the cloud-tops until 15,000 feet, while the F4’s would operate between 15,000-25,000 feet to prevent conflicts.

“There were the additional issue of having 130 B-52s flying in a straight line that took around 90 mins to complete the desired area…It was determined that formations of four ships were to depart 20 minutes apart, and would be responsible for suffocating 16-18 SAM sights…We came up with the “Code of the West which was a system where the leader of the flight selected the most powerful five or four SAM sights to eliminate with two AGM-45 radar-homing missiles…The remaining crew members were assigned to four or five SAM sights within the same location, which gave around eight AGM-45 missiles that could take over 16-18 Sam sites for around 20 minutes. This is it was a daunting task however, generally speaking we succeeded.

“After we arrived on the ground, the Weasels delivered an eight-page electronic message [TWIX”, which was sent for SAC headquarters, recommending they renounce WWII tactics. The first night, we seen six B-52s slain from the sky by SAMs.”

Floyd was the pilot of a four-ship fleet of Weasels later that night. He told the story,


“We left around 10:30pm and landed at the time of pre-strike KC-135 tanker. The journey was preceded by four-ship mission comprising F-105WWs…I received a call that one 105s was forced to cancel and that a chase plane was been left behind to follow him to the airport in case he had to abandon the flight. I immediately modified the order of refueling to allow we could first refuel and then follow up behind the F-105s. After we had refueled, we called Red Crown [the Navy cruiser which provided radar coverage to the Hanoi region] and informed they the reason we had arrived inbound…Red Crown informed me of an F4D “chaff” flight [which flew into the first part of the mission to drop tiny pieces of aluminum foil to confuse SAMswere being attacked from two MIG-21s. The F4Es meant protecting the chaff plane were not arrived…I verified that there were no aircraft that were friendly in the area . I then started an AIM7E (air-to-air missile). The invading MIG stopped his attack and sank into the clouds…His Wingman who was behind him suddenly charged me…He was fully afterburned dives down from the top of. I immediately switched off my external lighting and was able to pass over him, without making use of my afterburner…I changed my position to the upside to ensure the dark camouflage was blending against the night skies… The silhouette of him was visible down below, his afterburner clearly visible against the bright moonlit clouds.

“There I stood from canopy to canopy at a distance of 2,000 feet over him, and void of bullets…I had thought of firing an AGM-45 missile (air to ground] on him in order to disorient him. He suddenly paused the missile, turned around and plunged in the cloud.

“I verified by talking to Red Crown that we were free from MIGs before we moved to our designated area above Hanoi…We were in the northern part of the B-52 train facing Hanoi and were able intercept powerful radar signals coming from SAM sites…We were successful in obtaining two confirmed kills with our AGM 45s. Then, Red Crown informed us that the MIG-19 was instigating an attack against us from the north…I ran straight into the MIG-19 and Al was able to get a complete radar system lock, which led him to stop his attack.”

At this point, Floyd was out of ammunition and was running was low on fuel. He remembered,


“We dispersed from the scene and joined the tanker for refueling. It took us 40 minutes between tanker and tanker…We could have probably saved four F4Ds as well as eight people’s lives, stopped the threat of three MIG attacks, and killed two SAM sites, and witnessed five B-52s being hit. After that night’s efforts, Al and I were each given the Silver Star .”

Then, B-52s redesigned their plans for attack in the region of N. Vietnam. The new plan of attack hit many targets from various directions and at different altitudes. The new, shorter time over goal reduced B-52 losses substantially. Even with the updated plans for attack 15 B-52 bombers destroyed during Linebacker 2.. The captain Tom Floyd and his EWO Al Palmer, Captain Al Palmer, flew another 16 WW missions in N. Vietnam before being transferred to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in February 1973.

It was the Wild Weasel concept had proven its value in Linebacker1and Linebacker 2.in 1972. The aircraft flew into some of the most dense air defenses and it was reported that the U.S. lost 49 aircraft but none of them was Wild Weasels. N. Vietnam launched more than 4,000 SA-2s in the entire year . This gave an average of 80 missiles needed to take down a aircraft.

After Vietnam after Vietnam, The U.S. kept improving the Wild Weasel program. F4GWWs proved extremely successful in the first Gulf War. The F-16WWs of the new generation were very effective during Second Gulf War.

Then, in June of 1973 Floyd had been transferred into Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The base was home to the project Manager of Air-to-Air Missiles for the next five years. Then Floyd was transferred the Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea for a year as The Wing’s Flying Safety Official. Floyd was promoted to Major in 1976.

Major Floyd was assigned to Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas serving as Wing Flying Safety officer for two consecutive years, before being transferred into Williams Air Force Base, Arizona as the highest-ranking instructor pilot of F-5 trainer. F-5 trainer. The pilots Major Floyd taught at Williams included the King of Thailand as well as a Squadron Commander from the Mexican Air Force. He also taught his Wing Commander from the Egyptian Air Force which was moving between Russian MIG-21s and was transferring to U.S. F-16 fighters.

Major Tom Floyd retired from the Air Force in 1985. His honors include his Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with five Oak Leaf Clusters as well as the Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal with 19 Oak Leaf Clusters the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Combat Readiness Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters as well as the Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon with four Oak Leaf Clusters the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor with four Oak Leaf Clusters the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon with four Oak Leaf Clusters.

He was employed by his General Electric simulator division for five years as an F-5 instructor to foreign pilots. Since 26 countries had purchased their own F-5 from Northrop the simulator was in high demand till General Electric closed down their simulator operations.

His wife, Lois, worked for the Barnett, Dulaney Eye Clinic in Phoenix. Tom began working at the clinic, taking patients throughout Arizona. In 2001, he retired and his family relocated from Prescott, Arizona. Prescott, Arizona, where they live today. Tom as well as Lois have two children, Bonnie Goodwin [Jim] and Jennifer Johnson [Quinn]. They have seven children.

John Vick

The author was acquainted with Tom Floyd during their time at Andalusia High School. It’s been an absolute delight to tell the story of his time with the U.S. Air Force and to discuss his work as a pioneer in The Wild Weasels during the war in Vietnam.

[Sources: Wikipedia; “First In, Last Out – the Wild Weasels Story”, YouTube; sofrep.com; warhistoryonline.com]

The article Thomas W. “Tom” Floyd Major, U.S. Air Force Pilot, Vietnam The Wild Weasels Part 2 appeared at The Andalusia Star-News.