"Wiz" Dwelle

[Leo]

Came across this picture by accident. Recognize the name?

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/378442/M/

Wayne tells me he was no longer the pilot at the time. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/378442/M/

[Randy Haskin]

Re: "Wiz" Dwelle

Originally posted by Leo

Wayne tells me he was no longer the pilot at the time.

Fact...Wiz wasn't even in that squadron anymore.

This incident, and the confusion that the Yugos and the international press caused because of their assumptions about the name on the canopy, resulted in the current policy -- no names on jets in combat.

The reality is that today pilots don't have their "own" airplane. Our names are on a jet to give us some ownership in them, but that is not the jet we are assigned to fly.

In Wiz's case, he'd already PCAd to the training squadron, yet the squadron hadn't yet taken his name off and put some other poor schmuck's name on as a replacement.

I only flew the jet with my name and nose art on it during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM twice out of over 30 combat missions.

[Unregistered]

Mr. H
Would love to see the nose art on your "Assigned" Bird.
If you get a chance email me
blackheartart@earthlink.net

Pat Cherry
blackheartart.com

[Unregistered]

"In Wiz's case, he'd already PCAd to the training squadron, yet the squadron hadn't yet taken his name off and put some other poor schmuck's name on as a replacement"

Well Randy you are close......
At Holloman, at the time, all of the training squadron jets were combat coded, and all of the training squadron IP's were MR. When the flag went up, which it did every year around there, the ops squadrons (8th and 9th) would take their choice of jets which usually included a few jets from the training squadron (7th FS) and some of the IP's from the 7th would augment the ops squadron for the deployment. When the 8th deployed to Aviano, they took some 7th jets including the one that was assigned to me, and thus had my name on it- it was a 7th FS jet with the screaming demon on it- some 8th FS Black Sheep type got shacked in the thing before they had the time to get my name off the side. I'm sorry (and disappointed) to hear that the Air Force is still overreacting about the names on the jets. That sucks. I was not allowed to go because I was within a month of separation. Come by the pit if you get to Reno and I will buy you a beer or 3, stinky Mud hen Driver or not!

-Ken "Wiz" Dwelle

[Mayo]

Stinky Mud Hen Driver?

[AAFO_WSagar]

Originally posted by Mayo
Stinky Mud Hen Driver?

Mayo,

I'll jump in here with an "explanation" In the Air Force, just like in the airlines, whatever you don't fly is bad

"Mud Hen" would be Ken's description of the F-15E "Strike Eagle" or, as I've heard it called "Mud Eagle"... hence, "Mud Hen"...

In the airlines, the guys who fly the B-747 refer to the B-737 as either a "guppy" or, what I really like... "Speed Bump"...

Believe it or not, truckers and even fork lift operators are of the same disposition when referring to anyone else who does not use the hardware they use... I could refer to a message once seen scrawlled on a.. ahem.. "personal safety device" machine in a truck stop lavetory about shower caps for a certain firm... but I will not...

Gotta love livin in the US of A!!!

Wayne

[Unregistered]

It's not that it's BAD Wayne, it's just that that "Mud Hen" is what it's called in the rest of the tactical Air Force, or "Dark Grey" (the F-15C's are painted light grey, and the E's are painted dark grey) if you are feeling polite. I'm sure the beagle dudes (bomber eagle) don't call it mud hen, but everyone else does, not much disrespect is intended. We called the 117 the "Black Jet" within the community, but everone else called it the "Stink Bug", or the "Cockroach" because it is black, ugly, and only comes out at night. Again, not much disrespect intended,that's just how Fighter Pilot's are. The F-16 is known internally as the "Viper", but many guys outside the commuity call it the "Lawn Dart", because it is pointy, and often drills a hole in the ground just like a lawn dart. Did I miss anything Randy?

-Wiz

[Randy Haskin]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Did I miss anything Randy?

Negative...a full-up explanation. Nice to see ya on the board Wiz!

We in the 15E call it our own host of pet names....Strike Pig, Mud Eagle, Mud Hen, etc. We also call the C-models "Rodan" as well as many other names that we can't use here on a family message board! I think the preferred 117 name is "Stinkbug" around our parts, although if we're feeling saucy we just like to call 'em "WSOs with landing currency"! heh heh Actually I was deployed to the same spot as the 8th EFS during this last show and the guys were all really good dudes and they obviously did some great work, so hats off to 'em.

I didn't know that it was an FTU bird that went down (STS) in ALLIED FORCE, so sorry about the inaccurate explanation there. In OIF we had a bunch of FTU pilots and WSOs augmenting the ops squadrons that were deployed, but the FTU jets stayed home.

So, that brings us to my jet, 88-1671. According to policy, they scrubbed the names off the jets, but my crew chief and I still knew who "owned" it (him, really...I just borrow it sometimes). I convinced him to let me put the following noseart on the jet. I think he had some ideas about what he wanted, but eventually he trusted me to not make his jet look like crap. So, over the span of two nights that I wasn't flying and the jet was in between missions, here's what I painted:

[Randy Haskin]

Here's a better shot of the airplane without my ugly mug in it.

[Randy Haskin]

Finally, here's a shot of the little explanation I ended up writing on the jet because so many people were asking me what the art meant!! To those of us in the warbird community, the noseart is instantly recognizable, and I was really honored to be able to pay tribute to a hero of my squadron!

As a side note, I flew "Shangri-La II" on a combat mission on April 8, 2003 -- 59 years to the day after Don Gentile flew the original
Shangri-La" over Gernamy and scored 3 Luftwaffe kills. This mission earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.

[Peashooter]

Randy, If it's allowed, please explain the mission symbols, as in what was dropped? Peas

[Randy Haskin]

There is no set standard for how bomb/mission symbols are put on jets.

In my squadron, each bomb represents a mission where ordnance was employed. The big bombs are GBU-10s (2,000-pound laser guided), small LGBs are GBU-12s (500-pound laser guided), and slicks are Mk-82s (500-pound dumb bomb).

On other jets that will start floating around the internet, you'll see markings for all sorts of stuff, including GBU-28s, AGM-130s, GBU-24s, etc.

Other F-15E squadrons bomb markings represent how many individual pieces of ordnance were dropped. Other airplanes and squadrons also have markings showing what they hit (radar site, gun, vehicle, etc) instead of what was dropped.