Lake Sawyer Hawks

Radio Control Flyers

Club

AMA 4204

January 9, 2015 Show and Tell

Bill Wilson - An Air Force Pilot/Weapons System Operator flew the F-111 in Operation Linebacker II in the closing months of the Vietnam war. Bill gave a slide presentation describing his aircraft, missions, capture, imprisonment and finally his return from North Vietnam. More details are in the first photo, but his talk reveals far more about his combat duty and military service.

Bill, thank you for your service.

William W. Wilson

Bill Wilson was born and raised in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He attended Iowa State University and was one of the first in the nation to receive a full AFROTC scholarship. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1970 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and was commissioned as a 2Lt. in the US Air Force.

He was assigned to Laredo AFB for Undergraduate Pilot Training, graduating number 5 in a graduating class of 100. He was able to select a slot as a Pilot/Weapons System Operator (not a Navigator) in the F-111. He was originally assigned to Mountain Home AFB, but his orders were changed enroute to Nellis AFB flying F-111A's with the 428th TFS. When the F-111's received their orders to deploy to Thailand, he was assigned to the 429th TFS and was in the first contingent of F-111A's that arrived in Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand on 1 Octover 1972 for combat operations in North Vietnam.

He made 33 missions over NVN and Laos before being shot down while bombing the Red River docks in downtown Hanoi on 22 December 1972. Bill evaded capture for a week, was nearly rescued by a Super Jolly Green, and then was captured by the North Vietnamese on 29 December 1972. He spent a month in the "Heartbreak" section of the "Hanoi Hilton" before being moved to the "Zoo". He returned to U.S. control on the last C-141A out of Hanloi on 29 March 1973, during Operation Homecoming.

After his requalification Freedom Flights at Randolph AFB, he was assigned as an Instructor Pilot in the T-38 at Moody AFB. He joined Iowa ANG in November 1975 flying F-100s. He was retired from the Inactive Reserves in 1987.

He worked as an engineer for Boeing in Seattle for 27 years and is now retired. He has been a flight deck design engineer on many of the current flying Boeing commmercial aircraft and was the lead engineer for cockpit design for Boeing's Joint Strike Fighter Concept Demonstrator, the X-32. His last job at Boeing was a manager in F-22 Pilot Training Systems.

He is married and has two grown children, a daughter and a son, and five grandchildren.

Major Awards:

Silver Star
Bronze Star with V device
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters
Purple Heart
POW Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Pilot: Bill Wilson
Plane: F-111A

Pilot: Dennis Sivak
Plane: Motion R/C F-86 with a very realistic sounding EDF power system. This 47 inch wingspan jet is made of foam and has pneumatic retracts. The 12 blade fan sounds like a real turbine and is powered by a 6 cell 4-5000 mAh battery. This plane sells for about $300.

Pilot: Dennis Sivak
Plane: F-86

Pilot: Gerry Drake
Plane: Gerry bought this Skyartec Cessna 182 ARF Trainer from Hobby King in Lakewood. Hobby King is closing the Lakewood pickup location and moving to a new location in Oregon.

Pilot: Gerry Drake
Plane: Skyartec Cessna 182

Pilot: Tom Richards
Plane: Dassault Rafale ( French) with a hand launcher that was abandoned for finger holes in the bottom of fuselage. Tom showed his method of building spinners . . . and he intends to build a model of an airplane car?

Pilot: Tom Richards
Plane: Dassault Rafale

Pilot: Tom Richards
Plane: