By Ron Craft
We were invited to speak at the Theater in the Woods at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 about a special mission on September 5, 1983, when our KC-135A was heading to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in England after departing Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Our mission was to refuel F-4E Phantoms across the Atlantic Ocean heading to Ramstein, Germany, from Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina as part of Reforger 83.
Halfway across the Atlantic after completing four of the necessary eight refuels needed to cross the pond, one of the F-4s developed significant engine trouble. Realizing he needed to find some dirt to land on as soon as possible, the pilot of the F-4 immediately turned for Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.
Shortly after the F-4 diverted, I heard them say on my headset, “Go get ’em.” My first reaction, since it was my very first mission as a young airman, was what are we going to do? The real issue, other than helping the F-4, became the 22 passengers aboard all of whom were off-duty military personnel, some with their spouses catching a “normal” military hop to Europe probably on their honeymoons as this was the only way military personnel could afford to travel to Europe.
A decision was immediately made and our aircraft, a KC-135A nicknamed North Star, redirected toward the ailing F-4.
Our pilot, Capt. Robert Goodman, took our tanker full throttle to catch the F-4, which was already 100 miles away. The F-4 continued to lose altitude as more mechanical issues were occurring.
After locating the F-4 in the now declining weather conditions, the tanker needed to throttle back to idle and quickly descend to meet the F-4 at around 9,000 feet off the Atlantic where the water temperature was nearly 30 degrees Fahrenheit. These water conditions were not conducive to sustaining life for very long at all.
Towing an aircraft with a refueling boom is not in the design features for the tanker nor is it in the training handbook for our crew, but we did what we had to do to help secure the fighter and crew. Again, we had 22 passengers and their lives were also in danger.
After some amazing coordination between the boom operator on our aircraft and our pilot, we were finally able to maneuver into position to make a hookup.
As we started to climb, the F-4 was not offering much thrust on its own to match our rotation and climb. After reclaiming a little altitude, a brute force disconnect occurred and the F-4 once again was heading toward the deep water. Again, we entered into another descent needed to catch him.
This time the fighter was in an even worse attitude. With an unbelievable maneuver by Doug Simmons, the boom operator, we made another connection and again reversed direction.
At this point, we were much closer to the water. It almost seemed that we could reach out and touch it.
Working like a well-oiled machine the crew attempted another, slower climb trying to keep the fighter on our boom. After climbing higher than the last try, unfortunately, the fighter broke off the boom again.
This entire time, our 22 passengers are enduring the repeated ascending and descending in this tanker that is shaking like an Apollo rocket on takeoff due to our extreme slow speed, turbulence, and assisting the F-4. This was not an enjoyable ride.
I am currently writing a book Hell Over High Water and it is extremely important that we find these 22 passengers. The authenticity of the story must have their thoughts.
We are reaching out to everyone to help us find them. Hopefully, you can help. This is a highly decorated story and it displays the bravery and honor of our crew and that of the F-4’s crew. I’m sure those 22 passengers would want to be on the record with their testimony.
If you or someone you know was on that flight as a passenger, contact me at HOHW83@gmail.com or Mark Roemmich at mroemmich@nhepictures.com.
The story will demonstrate one example of what the training, discipline, and professionalism our country’s military produces.
The story can be found on Hell Over High Water on Facebook. Please feel free to like and share the page for updates on the book and movie to follow. This will also help us locate these passengers!
Thank you all, and to my fellow veteran brothers and sisters, thank you for your service.