Obituaries in the News..Col. Francis Gabreski

In your search for AF vets count me in. Got out of EC-130s after 9 years (USAF Security Service at the time...spooky stuff) went off active duty as an E-6 stayed in the reserves until I grew up to be an E-8. Loved the flying, wife hated it because I was never home.

Here's a towel for you, dearie. Want me to put a bow on it for you?

And the answer to your questions are: 'yes' i know the answer and 'no' the WSO does not control the cannon in an F-4. It would be hard to do so since there's no gun sight in the rear cockpit.

Bye now, I'm interested in other threads tonight.

For those who know such things, the Navy and USMC version of the F-4 never had an embedded cannon. Only the USAF F-4E had one.

The whole purpose of using an RIO or WSO was because the complexity of the weapnon system saturated the pilot to the point where his head was down in the cockpit instead of looking out. Pilots who can't see out are dead pilots. One of the major purposes of Red Flag and Top Gun was to polish the crew skills

AFVetGAL is right though ENOUGH ALREADY This thread is about GABBY not whether you can make an ACE of yourself.

Does the WSO control the cannon?

No, but anyone who thinks an F-4 was going to get in position to USE the gun against a Mig-21 because of the pilot's superior skill is nuts. It might happen by luck (my Dad shot down a 109 in WW2 - his official report says, "He flew in front of me so I pulled the trigger"), but you didn't enter a knife fight with a 21 on equal basis and win. I've tried it enough times against F-5s to know...

Gabby was a hero - a great pilot who had ability, determination, and more guts than most of us can imagine. I'm not knocking pilots - but anyone who thinks the F-4 was a single seat fighter is an idiot. When I went thru RTU in the 80s, a couple of pilots were upset about being in a 2-seater. The SQ/CC held a meeting - said we lived or died as a team - so any pilot you didn't like it would be transfered immediately. Since the BUFF's were calling, no one stepped forward.

BTW - Cunningham was a great pilot - and I'm told he ALSO credited his RIO as a crucial part of the team.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.