As my friend Ed Roo and I were walking around the Air Force Museum, we ran into this gentleman that flew the F-101 Voodoo. We asked him to share some stories about the plane and it was a real pleasure to get to meet this man!!
My father flew the F 101 in the 1963 William tell competition in Tyndall AFB Florida his team took 2nd place . He shot down a unmanned drown . He loved the F 101 he had voodoo in his blood. He also flew this in Vietnam. As well as newfoundland Canada. His name was Major Lowell Bilyeu he wsd only a leutinat until he came back from Vietnam. I saw a post on here thar spoke of Sheppard AFB Texas. I had Mr tonsils removed while we were stationed there. Also lived in Enid ok for the year he was gone to Vietnam.
Hw was also on standby on October 31st 1962 in the plane waiting out the Cuban crisis and my mom needed him to go to the hospital with her to give birth to me at Kingsley AFB Oregon.
I really love this design! That particular example is from the 123rd FIS, OANG that flew from PDX. I watched those fly daily as a kid, and it's responsible for my decision to join the AFROTC program at the Univ. of Portland. I was lucky enough to be selected for USAF UPT, and became a Herk pilot in the active duty USAF for 10 years. I've been flying for a major airline for the past 22 years. As such, the F-101B is perhaps one of my favorite all time designs.
What a great aircraft! It was my favorite jet as a kid growing up. I was a rookie USAF jet engine mechanic in 1980, stationed at Langley AFB. I was fortunate to see Canadian F-101's come in there a few times, and...especially fortunate enough to watch a pair during take-off. The boom of the single stage AB lighting off was impressive!
St. Louis has one on static display. Fascinating to see one in person. I get a kick out of the spot light on the side....cool stories associated with that.
Love the design of the F-101 Voodoo, worked on them when I was in the USAF, Tech School @ Sheppard AFB, 1983. It was a static display so we could learn how to conduct maintenance on Aircraft,she looked so majestic, shiny,with a badass design. Thanks for your service FlyBoy, wingnut, haha. Oh, the memories, from so long ago!
I controlled my first mission as a weapons director while assigned to the 24th Norad region, Malmstrom AFB, Montana and the fighter unit was the 409th AWFS, Comox Bc. Really good pilots and a great experience.
My uncle LTC Neil Gagen was a back seat WSO/Navigator in F 101s. It was his last fast jet assignment. He really loved being in fighter squadrons because he said the comradery was great.
In 1964 on My Ninth Birthday 🎂 I got to take a ride in the Navigator’s seat of an F-101 Voodoo Fighter Jet 🛩 at Niagara Falls Air Force Base we flew over Niagara Falls it’s self and he did a barrel roll and I passed out & he was ordered to return to base for me to have my blood pressure checked The Best Birthday Present 💝 I ever Had. Thanks to Dad, that Pilot & ground crew and the Base Commander and of course My Uncle 2nd Lt. John Roslick of the 31st Inf Reg listed MIA Bataan Philippines 🇵🇭
yup I Spaced - of course the Pilot is in the front ☺️. My dad LTC F.Bender was a navigator on F-101 Voodoos. He wanted to be a pilot but he told me that at the time he joined they had a lot of Pilots and needed navigators. (He didn’t want to wait as his step father was awful)
We had them in the Texas ANG at Ellington AFB in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Aside from us, only a New York ANG group and one in Quebec were still flying them. You could hear the twin explosions of them taking off on afterburners a long way off.
Yes true, I was in the 107th TFG ANG at Niagara Falls as a CIV SER TECH and got them them when we got rid of our F-100s after returning from SEA. Then I transferred to the 147th at Ellington AFB and worked on them there Civ Ser wise. They also had F-102As and TF-102s. The Voodoo was not a maintenance nightmare like the HUN
Trivia. First fighter plane flown by Gabreski was the P-26; the last was an F-101. I also think it had positive-pressure breathing. Air was forced into your lungs and you had to forcefully exhale. Made your voice comms sound wonky.
I could only wish the Pilot of the F-101 that gave me a ride in his Fighter Jet 🛩 at Niagara Falls Air Force Base in 1964 is still alive. He not only knew My Dad who worked civil service in shipping and receiving at that base, My Dad also had to go to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 1970 to learn how to pack and ship off that base all the Nuclear War Heads from the Air Force closing the Nike Base’s in Niagara & Erie Counties in 1970
I was also working in Osha Dormitory January 1980 at Niagara University when an F-101 Voodoo Fighter Jet crashed behind Tam Ceramics on Hyde Park Blvd where both Pilot & Navigator both stayed with the Jet 🛩 so it wouldn’t crash 💥 in a populated area (lots of Home’s and Factories and one jet engine tumbled into the Tennis Court at Niagara University but the Kids were away for Christmas 🎄 Vacation. While I was in the Dormitory I heard two big explosions and shook the building so much some of the mortar fell out and you could see daylight between the cement blocks. Then in 1985 I was riding in a friends ford pickup truck on Military Road in Niagara Falls as I watched two Blue Angel’s crash 💥 mid air one pilot died when the vertical tail Decapitated him in his seat and his jet he never got out
Yeah, Canada got used aircraft from the USAF. Ever Canadian or CF-101. We also used them hard. Amazing the US could still find a use for some of them when the were returned or bought back.
Yes, but they did carry genies, they would sent the missile above a large group of enemies and then time it just right, then turn the plane and face the underside of the wings towards the explosion. The impact would blow the enemies wings with air pressure pushing down on the wings, which were made to withstand pressure from below, destroying the wings and having all the planes drop out of the sky. This exact plane tail number 80325 plane 13 is my grandpa's plane. He was the mechanic for the radar and auto pilot light. 142nd air national guard at Portland Oregon
@@f-15qacoffee59 The AIR2-A Genie was never used in all of the Voodoo's service life. Only one live warhead was ever tested, during Operation Plumbbob, (John shot), 19 July, 1957, fired from an F-89J over Yucca flats.
@@tazman572according to Wikipedia, their CF-101 webpage, a Canadian CF-101 did a test firing of a AIM2 Genie. I'm very much doubting it had a nuclear warhead. Particularly, as the United States Forces would have kept any under "lock-and-key" if ever on Canadian soil. Given that Canada's Bomarc nuclear tipped aerial ground defense missiles were equipped with sandbags as warheads, I find the video of a RCAF pilot mentioning nuclear weapons in the weapon bay of any CF-101s extremely odd.
If I understand correctly, we're looking at a somewhat pilot proof aircraft that won't allow you to stall it. The gentleman, apparently, also had someone in the rear seat that liked falling off of things. (Hide your ladders.) Now imagine the stories for Veteran's Tales you could get if he and Tad Foran met up over a couple of beers.
Not stall proof, no aircraft is. The Voodoo had the MB-5 limiter sys in it which incorporated a shaker. In ref to my first statement, at Niagara ANG one of our pilots got into a "pitch up" did the pop on the drag chute, release, fall like flying arrow, snap roll recovery and then went into another pitch up. I heard the WSO said I'm outta here at around 10000 or 14000 ft and cleared at 8000. The pilot a technician civil service ejected too late. The WSO didn't believe the ejection procedure to leave your feet on the canted floor panel and folded his lower legs as close to the seat as possible prior to egressing. There were NO stirrups on the seat for feet like other escape systems. The sudden firing of the catapult broke both of Yogi's legs above the knee. Luckey he landed in Lake Ontario.
These planes had an engineering issue during early dev stages,it had a pitch up problem that would result in a nose up flat spin at low and high G's,at a certain AoA..it would go rodeo. The engineers went back to work and mostly solved those but it was a plane that had to be flown by the book. You really couldnt take it out of its envelope or you'd likely pay for it. Beautiful bird.
Great former RCAF pilot! For REAL the RCAF kept the AIM2 Genies in the internal weapons bay. Was that just to spoof the Russians? Wonder if they believed it!
Mixed emotions for the 101VooDoo. It certainly was an impressive jet but didn't compare to what the RCAF was expecting. They were supposed to be equipped with the all Canadian CF1O5 ARROW. I'm still heartbroken.
That moment in time, when you realize that despite claims, Russians did not invent IRST or were first to put on a fighter/interceptor aircraft. F-101 is 1950's-1960's.
Hey they ought to put a rubber ball on that planes pointer or whatever it's called, it's right at eyes level.cant the museum people figure that simple issue out,⁉️ or are they just too lazy to even really care❓WTF ❗
