Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:57 | Fighter pilot Rick Hilton had already been flying missions out of Thailand when a former classmate was assigned to the same squadron. His first mission as Hilton's back seater was a memorable one. The plane was hit by a SAM and it looked like they were done for.
Keywords : Rick Hilton fighter pilot Vietnam Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand Mike McGinty back seat MiG China Hanoi surface-to-air missile (SAM) bail out McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom
Rick Hilton was based in Thailand during his first Vietnam tour with a fighter squadron that flew missions mainly over North Vietnam. Their gunners weren't always the best shots, but there were a lot of them. When he looked out his cockpit on a tough mission, the sky was full of red raindrops going in the wrong direction.
It was a memorable mission. Rick Hilton spotted two trucks, sitting ducks on the road. As he rolled in to strike, guns on either side of him opened up. It was a trap. The pilots had to fly a hundred missions to make up a tour, which led to one of them making a memorable comment during a lecture from the flight surgeon about smoking.
Rick Hilton did not let the cold shoulder from the public bother him when he came home from his first Vietnam tour. He had decided on an Air Force Career and was back for a second tour a few years later. For that one he commanded the only smart bomb squadron in the world. He describes some of the missions and also outlines how the enemy both lost and won the war with help from American politicians and media.
The smart bombs were a great new technology and Rick Hilton commanded the first fighter squadron to have them. After a series of missions to test the accuracy so collateral damage could be avoided, he went after an important power plant in the middle of a reservoir.
With hundreds of missions over two tours in Vietnam, fighter pilot Rick Hilton was awarded a nice collection of medals and commendations. It may have been even shinier except the new smart bomb technology he was deploying on his second tour caused some to think it was now too easy.
His missions were usually over North Vietnam but fighter pilot Rick Hilton was diverted to help a forward air controller on the ground in the South. He was not used to ground support tactics but the FAC was very good and he was on the money.
With two tours there under his belt, Rick Hilton watched the tragic fall of Saigon on television. His feeling is that this should never happen again, that the American military is sent into war with it's hands tied and not allowed to win it.
He was only four years old when Rick Hilton's uncle let him "fly" his airplane. The kid couldn't reach all the controls but he did get a deep desire to fly. He got his chance in college with the Air Force cadet program and was soon piloting jet fighters.
When an alert was sounded, the procedure for fighter pilot Rick Hilton was to get his aircraft fueled and wait at the end of the runway with a live nuclear weapon on board. Someone thought this was a little too much power for a fighter jock so the procedure was changed to include blocking the taxiway with a fuel truck. Then a real alert came in.
Fighter pilot Rick Hilton was scrambled and sent aloft from his base in New Mexico for possible strikes in Cuba during the missile crisis. He was amazed when he contacted the FAA for flight clearance. No low priority this time.
The second homecoming from Vietnam wasn't as bad as the first for Rick Hilton. The war was basically over and he settled into an Air Force career. Eventually retiring out of the Pentagon, he had another career waiting at Hughes Aircraft.
