Presentation Date: April 27, 2000
Joe Shriber
USAF. A member of the Air Forces whose mission was to attack (SAM) air defense radars. Joe tells about his becoming an F4 'Wild Weasel' pilot and developing tactics to locate SAM sites and destroy them before they had a chance to destroy our fighters & bombers in Vietnam. Very dangerous work, low flying & great stories! USAF. A member of the Air Forces whose mission was to attack (SAM) air defense radars. Joe tells about his becoming an F4 'Wild Weasel' pilot and developing tactics to locate SAM sites and destroy them before they had a chance to destroy our fighters & bombers in Vietnam. Very dangerous work, low flying & great stories!
As an encore to his earlier appearance in March, 1993, fellow Golden Wing Member Joe Shriber again served as our dinner speaker April 27, 2000.
The Wild Weasels’ motto, "First-in, Last-out", immediately unleashes the mental image of danger and extraordinary hazard in combat! In fact, their mission was to penetrate the target area ahead of the main strike force – really, to draw enemy fire and Surface to Air Missile (SAM) radar – and "clear the way" by destroying the enemy SAM threats before being destroyed themselves!
Between April, 1968 and September 1973, Joe flew 313 missions, 193 of them over North Vietnam. Spanning two combat tours plus Linebacker II, and flying the F-105 "Thud" for 112 missions, he transitioned to the F-4 "Phantom II" fighter jet for the remaining 201 missions.
Joe used various slides and foils to describe the origins of the Wild Weasels. Starting in WWII, to help detect enemy early warning radar, the Allies created the "Ferrets" (precursor to the Wild Weasels) by using special antennae on B-17 "Flying Fortresses" (ETO), B-24 "Liberators" and B-29 "Superfortresses" (PTO); then B-26B "Invaders" (Korea) later. Incidentally, the B-24 and B-29 Ferrets were called "Ravens" due to the extensive distances involved in the Pacific. Along with the graphics to illustrate these early operations to detect and destroy enemy threats, Joe showed pictures of the various aircraft used in the evolution of this key operational capability. Joe also showed a special Wild Weasel video that provided a thorough background and insight to their history and evolution.
Technically, the term SEAD did not come about until the weasels retired and were replaced by F-16s in that role. The weasels primary mission was SAM suppression, which evolved into the SEAD mission. The Wild Weasel Program – for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) – technically began March 1965. Later, when the first F-4 Phantom II was shot down over North Vietnam by a Russian-made SAM, it triggered a virtual "panic" by our military and governmental leaders. The US was caught unprepared, despite the warnings and heeding of our pilots who had detected the SAMs but were restricted, by political directives, from destroying these rapidly-developing enemy air defenses while still non-operational!
Through virtually "miraculous" accomplishments by a team from the USAF, Pentagon and private industry (notably the ATI team in Palo Alto, CA, led by Dr. John Grigsby, PhD in EE), new breakthrough technology and equipment was created in 90 days! In fact, to cut through bureaucratic "red tape" and delays, the contract with ATI was a Polaroid photo of the agreement written and signed on the ATI blackboard!
Next, highly skilled combat pilots and "back seaters" (EWO: Electronic Warfare Officers) were paired-up as 2-man fighter crews and thrust immediately into highly intense training for this "life and death" mission. (Incidentally, this process of mating pilot and EWO was very unique and colorful, yet extremely effective! A separate book could be written chronicling this ritual.) Also, Jack Donovan (the Wild Weasel, who coined the YGBSM, mentioned later…) articulated another reality: "Without a highly experienced pilot you won’t survive or kill anything, and without a highly trained EWO you won’t find anything to kill!"
Finally, by Thanksgiving 1965 the first Wild Weasels, flying modified F-100 "Super Sabres", launched against the North Vietnam targets. Sadly, due to our political leaders having foolishly and fatally allowed the enemy to activate their SAM sites months and months earlier – and using new electronic hardware and tactics untested in actual combat – five of the first seven F-100s were destroyed, with 3 crew members killed and 7 taken POW. The first successful mission came December 22, 1965 when an F-100 Weasel destroyed the first SAM site. Terrible restrictions in the skies over North Vietnam were imposed on our pilots. One Weasel, Bill Sparks, described the missions as "a 3-dimensional chess game where cheating is legal!" Another, Jack Donovan, exclaimed, "You Gotta Be S_ _ _ _ ing Me!" when told of the tactics and mission details. "YGBSM" is a favorite of the Wild Weasels! Nevertheless, with incredible dedication, talent and sacrifice by the military-civilian-aircrew team, constant improvements came. The deadly "game" saw each side gain, then lose advantage over the other like a "yo-yo". Eventually, though, the USAF Weasels gained substantial superiority over the enemy air defenses and – through the terrible POW-suffering and supreme sacrifice paid by many valuable pilots and EWOs – many more of our strike force fighter and bomber crews successfully completed their attack missions of destruction against the enemy in Vietnam. By 1969 the Wild Weasels had killed/destroyed 97 SAM sites, along with significantly lower losses to themselves.
Among other highlights, the Wild Weasel Program started in March 1965 with F-100 "Super Sabres", then moved to F-105 "Thuds" and finally flew its last missions, in March 1996 in F-4G "Phantom IIs". Their invaluable capability, thereby, spanned over thirty years of service from Vietnam through the Gulf War and beyon Later, after 1996 as the US became embroiled in more and more "regional" military conflicts such as Bosnia, Kosovo… the USAF tried to accomplish the vital Wild Weasel mission with the F-16 "Falcons". Mainly due to the single-seat configuration of the F-16, this attempt at effective SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) proved a failure. Veteran Weasel aircrews – and others truly knowledgeable about this vital capability – yearn for a reinvigorated commitment and funding for restoring the Wild Weasel capability and American leadership again as the world’s best SEAD.
After graduating from Utah State University and ROTC in June 1966, Joe joined the Air Force and entered flight training. He ended up in jet fighters and the Wild Weasel Program. After all the training and combat flying for 9 years with assignments in Korat, Thailand; Kadena, Okinawa; Stuttgart, Germany; Mather AFB; Nellis AFB; Davis Monthan AFB; etc. – Joe remained on active duty for another 3 years. He then resigned his commission as a Captain and began his career as a Project Manager with Lockheed (Martin) Space Systems in Sunnyvale, CA, where he continues working full-time.
That same year, 1979, he joined the Air Force Reserve through the Intelligence Service at Travis AFB until 1983 when a reserve unit was established at Sunnyvale Air Force Station (later renamed Onizuka AFB). There he served as Operations Officer (1984-87) and Commander (1988-91). He then served on active duty assignments with the DIA (Pentagon) and active duty support of Operation Eldorado Canyon (April 1986; this attack on Col. M. Khadafy largely was Joe’s detailed plan); and the Falkland Island crisis.
Upon promotion to Colonel, Joe’s active duty assignment switched to HQ Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) in Hawaii. Finally, he was recalled to active duty in August 1990 for Operation Desert Shield and again in February 1991 for Operation Desert Storm.
Among the many questions asked of Joe afterward was one about his most harrowing mission. He answered by telling the experience of pulling up from a diving attack over downtown Hanoi (!) and suffering a flameout in the left engine on the big F-4 Phantom II. Fortunately his airspeed momentum and the one remaining engine carried him back to altitude, where he achieved an air start of the left engine compressor and escaped.
Again, with 313 missions in the F-105 and F-4, Joe experienced more than his share of "adventures" and close calls. All that, plus years of service as an intelligence officer, make Joe Shriber a fascinating veteran and warrior!
Thanks to Joe for his numerous contributions to our Nation’s defense and for sharing some of those experiences with our Golden Gate Wing!