FRONT ROW Part 3

☆So it was when two Black Knight F-14s, crewed by four JOs, went to execute this photo mission, using over-water navigation points on their high-altitude profile, in a lead-trail formation.  I wasn’t there, but it appears they drifted closer to that international border than planned...and, perhaps, maybe just a wee bit inside (only from the photos could the true story be gleaned--and I never personally saw them).  Regardless of which side of the border the Tomcats were on, none of this activity had been coordinated with the locals.  This was probably not good, as the Pakistanis had fought a couple of wars with India over the past couple of decades, and the Pakistani Air Force had shot down several Afghan aircraft straying into Pakistani airspace as late as November 1988.  Pakistan was clearly vigilant in guarding its airspace, and nervous about intruders.  So the Pakistanis sent up a couple of US-made F-16 fighters to investigate these unknown, high altitude air contacts, off of any known air route, approaching (or in) their airspace.  

Pakistani export versions of the F-16A/B Falcon.

As the F-16s came within visual range, the trail F-14 got tally and called a pair of unknowns at his right four o’clock, swinging the wingline.  A fighter aircraft positioned in your rear quarter has an offensive advantage; from early tactics fighter pilots are taught to deny this advantage to any opponent.  Our intrepid Black Knight called his tally to the lead, and instinctively turned into the F-16s.  An F-14A at high altitude is not a nimble fighter--and at max endurance airspeed with a heavy photo recon pod, it wallows like a pig.  But the sight of an F-14 planform turning back into them must have surprised the Pakistani pilots.  The lead F-14 heard the call from the wing, and immediately turned back into the trail, and picked up the tally-two.  

The Pakistanis must have not expected this either, and perhaps didn’t realize there were two fighters initially.  As they passed the first F-14, now continuing his piggish turn in a 360º to get into an offensive position from their perspective, the F-16s realized they had another fighter in front of them, bearing down.  The F-16s would be ‘sandwiched’ between the two unknown, possibly hostile fighters, presenting their tailpipes to one of them.  They may have even identified the aircraft as F-14s; but they weren’t necessarily American, as the Iranians also flew F-14s, and relations between those two countries were not the best.  Iranians were thought to be crazy, unstable--there was no telling what they might do at that time.

Being the meat in the sandwich made the Pakistanis nervous.  The F-16s jettisoned their drop tanks, which fighters will do in a dogfight to reduce drag and improve maneuverability when they feel threatened.  Jet aircraft drop tanks aren’t trivial pieces of equipment; a set may cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the aircraft type.  But clearly the Pakistanis felt threatened by this set of maneuvering fighters, and felt compelled to make themselves more competitive.  The F-16s made the second merge happen with the lead fighter, then decided they’d seen enough; they turned tail and hauled ass back toward land as fast they could, toward Pakistan.

F-15 jettisons a drop tank during test.

The F-14s returned to CONSTELLATION; the scene after they recovered was ridiculously similar to the scene from TOPGUN, with the crews high-fiving each other on the  flight deck as if they had just shot down invading enemy MiGs.  From their perspective they had been intercepted, but had quickly turned the tables, forcing the F-16s to flee.  The exuberance was that of young fighter pilots and RIOs, and was completely forgivable.  The fact that what had happened could be described as ‘an international incident’ was not in their minds, at least not yet.  

But it was instantly in Admiral Carlson’s mind.  I cannot say with certainty how long it took for word to arrive from higher headquarters to the ship that the Pakistanis were angry about a US violation of their sovereign airspace by two fighters off the CONSTELLATION.  But it came fast, and got there about the same time the crews were debriefing after the long return leg home.  When the Admiral heard (likely a one way conversation with higher authority), he was livid, and his anti-fighter bias helped him immediately jump to the conclusion that the Black Knight crews had intentionally provoked the incident.  He stormed off to find CAG; CAG was not in his office, he was in the forward wardroom at the evening meal, with dozens of other aircrew and officers from the airwing and ship.  There’s an old adage that says, ‘praise in public, punish in private,’ but the Admiral could not contain himself.  He shouted at CAG in that public forum, causing a highly embarrassing scene, and accusing the fighters of being undisciplined, uncontrollable rogue pilots who were deliberately trying to provoke an incident so they could generate a MiG kill, like off of Libya.  The Admiral told him to get the crews and get his and their asses to his office in five minutes, then turned and stormed out of the now-completely silent and paralyzed wardroom.  Not everyday you get to see an Admiral chewing CAG’s ass in public.

CAG was completely shocked.  He had not heard anything yet about the flight, had no idea what the Admiral was talking about.  But he hurried down to the debrief rooms to talk to the crews.  There he got the story, and quickly pieced together what had happened, and most importantly, that whatever happened was not an intentional provocation--heck, we were pulling into port there in a few days.  Angrily he stormed back to confront the Admiral with the story; what ensued was a tense shouting match in which the Admiral accused CAG of lying to protect the aircrew, and the CAG telling the Admiral if that’s what he truly thought, then he needed to find another CAG.

The news of what had happened in the air was quickly overcome by the fireworks of what was happening on the ship--pickled F-16 drop tanks were now secondary.  The aviators in the airwing quickly rallied around CAG--any leader who was willing to risk his career to tell the truth about what had happened and not be intimidated by his boss’s  unreasonable rage, had guts and nerve.  His actions in the aftermath earned CAG near universal loyalty of his airwing. 

CVW-14 Insignia, our CAG during the 88-89 deployment.

In the hours that followed, the Admiral cooled down, and his staff had time to fill him on what had actually happened in the air.  The crews simply maneuvered, legally, in international airspace (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it), and if the Pakistanis misinterpreted their intent, got spooked and pickled their drops, that was their problem (I heard later an unconfirmed story that the US government paid for the cost of the tanks in a gesture of good faith, though).  There would be no repercussions to anyone involved.  There was some sort of fence-mending meeting between the Admiral and CAG later that night.  

But it wasn’t over.  Throughout the airwing and ship, the damage to the Admiral’s reputation was done--CAG was the hero for standing up for his crews, and all the barely-concealed dislike for the Admiral turned into openly expressed hostility, as the word of his accusatory rant in the wardroom spread throughout the ship.  That our Battle Group leader would express such a notion of disdain and think his aviators were so undisciplined and unprofessional--yelling so much at CAG in the wardroom--meant he didn’t understand us or respect us.  His stock dropped universally overnight throughout the airwing.  It was bad.

It didn’t take long for the Admiral’s staff to understand they had a real public relations nightmare on their hands.  As we approached the Karachi inport, the plan was hatched by the staff for the Admiral to go to each Ready Room and explain that his words were taken out of context; that he didn’t really think all the things he had said.  It was sold as an opportunity for the Admiral to repair the long-standing rift with the aviators in the airwing; that he would invite open dialogue, and entertain questions from each Ready Room, as he visited each one.  Well, this was a change--it seemed hopeful.  The Admiral would start this campaign in the Black Knight Ready Room....

Karachi Sheraton, location of the Black Knight Admin in-port.