Wild Weasel 1: Super Sabre vs SA-2 Guideline In Vietnam 

Many thanks for describing the first years of the brave Wild Weasels. As a co-op engineering student I worked two quarters in 1967-68 at the clone of the S-band SA-2 radar at Eglin AFB that you mentioned. It was in a dome on the USAF portion of Santa Rosa Island across from Fort Walton Beach. I seem to recall it was made by GE partly informed by the SA-2 system captured by the Israelis in the Six Days War. Attached to the rotating antenna was a dish broadcasting fake control messages to the missile to trigger missile-in-flight alarms. -As one of the radar operators I could see how well the jamming worked. During my 1967 quarter there, we could always track through the jamming. During my 1968 time, tracking through jamming was becoming increasingly difficult. I cheated, memorizing rough angles and ranges during the first and dry run that I'd use during the jammed ones. I figured any trick I could use the North Vietnamese could use. They would know the routes. And by the way, the Wild Weasel pilots at the end of their approach loved to buzz our dome. Unlike the actual SA-2 sites, it was visible for miles around. -For a time we also had a GE-built clone of the VHF search radar parked next to us. During a Blackbird flyby, I ran the PPI scope attached to it. Despite getting position reports incoming and outgoing, I never saw it. It was so blasted fast, I got two sweeps to see it inbound and two outbound before it was out of range. -Aviation museums should do more to display the ECM planes and equipment that is a major factor in modern air wars.

This is without a doubt one of the two best aviation channels on youtube.

When I was a kid one day an F-105G Wild Weasle was the only 1:72 model I could afford at the shop. Started me down the rabbit hole about this dangerous trade.

The guys that flew the F-100's on these missions were beyond courageous! Not to take anything away from the later F-105 and F-4 Wild Weasel crews but doing this in the MUCH slower F-100 really took nerves of steel!

Good job on this one. Not many aviation channels will touch the Vietnam War for some reason. I'd love for you to continue this as a series, tracking the evolution of Wild Weasel to the F-105 and the F-4, and even to the Navy versions (EA-6 and EA-18).

For those wanting to know more there is an excellent book called Iron Hand Smashing the Enemy's Air Defences which covers from early SEAD to nearly current SEAD/DEAD... it is well written and an excellent read as well as very informative. Great video as usual.

YGBSM! My Uncle was one of the first F-105G Wild Weasel Wizzos. He went on to the F-4G, survived the war and is still around.

Thank you for explaining that the original Wild Weasel crews weren't told what the job would be until AFTER they had volunteered. I think this explains the origin of the motto "YGBSM" that is still seen on Wild Weasel patches to this day. I imagine this was the most common response when their new assignment was revealed to them!

Ahem.. Sir, I must protest. Weasels and Ferret's are not rodents, they are Mustelids, of which the Wolverine is also a family member. But you probably knew that, and were fishing for Ferret owners, like I.

Yeah Boyi! Love this channel, if you were a South African we'd call you: "Not a Rand for air to grand"! Thanks for the content buddy.

The courage of Weasel crews is amazing.

Wild weasels are one of my favorite topics in aviation. Thank you for the video I enjoyed it very much.

You are such an under appreciated channel.

Smithsonian Air and Space magazine had an awesome article on this back in the early 2010's. They even had the stories on their opponents: the North Vietnamese SA2 operators.

Love the channel, and this instalment really hooked me , as I've always had an interest in SEAD aircraft, including a 1/32 F-100F Weasel . YGTOSH - as Weasel crews are reputed to have said when being briefed on the missions

This is such a good historical lesson. How much ingenuity and invention is behind the purely military application!

The beginning of the USAFs thinking the answer to paper is more technologically advanced rocks

Always love learning about weasels!

BlueBells ring, are you listenin'? The SA-2's, they're a-bristlin' They're comin' for you, In ones and in twos, You're flying through a Missile Wonderland.

Great video as always. I look forward to every video coming from you

Great video. When I worked for Texas Instruments, an engineer related his experiences working on the F-100 Wild Weasels. Ergonomics proved to be important as it was difficult to manipulate the buttons and switches when performing high G maneuvers. Another lesson learned was to ditch the white helmets since the AAA gunners would key on them when tracking the attacking jets. Until the Air Force decided on a new color, they issued camouflage tape to cover the helmets.

One thing I learned from this video is to give more weight and consideration to the idea of "rough & ready". The concept, illustrated at 15:43 , seems much broader and deeper than I'd thought after a lifetime of hearing the cliche'. Thank You!

aside from the decoy sites, Johnson/McNamara actually released the pre-strike info to the press. well done . Dane

17:13 in fact, famously one of the volunteers was supposed to have exclaimed in the middle of the briefing "You gotta be shitting me!" Which became a motto of sorts for the Wild Weasel community.

I love how the aircraft type improved over time for the USAF, from F-100, a mid 50s fighter, then to the Thud G variant and eventually the faster F-4C

This era of aviation warfare fascinates me. It was the true leading edge of electronic warfare. I've probably read a dozen plus books on it

Comprehensive. Thank you.

ive stood next to an sa2 launcher once. it is a huge system. the rocket wasnt as fast as the sa3 and definitely not ass manuverable . some pilots describe getting chased by it as getting a phone pole chasing you. but it did take down a lot of fighters in its day..

Thanks for the video. Looking forward to the next episode.

Finally, I get a presentation that is new to me. Thank you, please do more like this.

I believe the first SAM hunters were Navy Shrike-armed A-4 "Iron Hand" flights.

Thx again for a great video!

Great little touch at 10’50” ‘The project needed a codename for secrecy and for cool points’ 😃👍

Measurement of the effectiveness of the SA2 should take into account the aircraft that had to jettison their bombs, when attacked by a SA2, and were then forced to a low levels where they were within range of more AA guns.

1:11 Probably one of the most interesting parts of this story. A guy that flew in two two very different wars, in two very different places, and surviving time as a POW in both.

Fascinating stuff! I'm very impressed by your channel and I think that you're exceeding Rex in many ways.

Thanks for posting

Another tremendous presentation! Thanks for the time you put into making a quality and informative video! I'm hoping/wondering if you'll continue this with the F-105G sometime...?

In American vernacular, a “weasel” is a person who is simultaneously dangerous, untrustworthy, and cowardly. But of course, Americans know the real weasel, the animal, to be cunning and fierce. So “wild weasel” has a bit of irony to it. It’s kind of cool and witty. I know, the British can’t wrap their heads around Americans being cool and witty, but… there it is! In your face Limeys! 😀 BTW what an awesome channel. More BTW, where’s that Su-15 video?

Also Dan Hampton's The Hunter Killers is an excellent read.

Although named Not a pound for Air to Ground, I would appreciate if you can do videos on helicopters or you can make new channel for it.

Looking forward to additional videos

This missed the most important statistics of the Wild Weasel I, After 45 days of operations against North Vietnamese targets, the 354th had one airplane left (Of seven Wild Weasel Is built) and of the 16 volunteer aircrew members, four had been killed, three wounded, two captured, and another two quit.

Excellent!! Thank you!

Thats amazing that you mention that its NOT the same Applied Technology. I work in the printed electronics industry and thats immediately where my mind went!

It feels like at least one pound was spared for Air to Ground on this one... Not that I mind.

What did Sam do to piss off the Air Force so much that they decided to hunt him?

I agree with @yes-head - It would be interesting to see how the Wild Weasel developed through the Thuds, the Phantoms and the Intruders.

Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton is a great autobiography of his time as a Wild Weasel in the F-16.

Actually, in the US the weasel is considered a lowly varmint or rodent. Definitely, not a fearsome animal, lol.

"Gifting" and then "Re-gifting." Crikey! That's damned clever!

Volunteers: "what kind of mission is it?" Command: "Basically a suicide mission." The fact the air crews weren't deterred, speaks volumes about their appreciation for command being honest with them for once.

Brave men flying AT those hunting them in an aircraft already being pushed to the limits inside an arena it was not designed to fight in. Look forward to the complete story of the Wild Weasels.😮👍🏻

A forced three day layover in Hawaii sounds horrible

I always thought the F100 was quite a neat looking plane ... Never gets the love ...but it did it's job without much fuss and glamour

Great alongside of reading First In, Last Out which has a chapter by a former ATI engineer and company exec Dr John L Grigsby, discussing the development of each WW generation, testing, in-country support etc. Also numerous hair raising stories from the nose gunners and bears.

According to ROE, sites under construction could not be attacked. At times, they were off-limits until they actually engaged US aircraft. Pilots reported flying over sites that were, to all appearances, fully functional; but like MiGs on the ramp, they could not be attacked because they were 'not a threat'. These rules were imposed and lifted capriciously, according to the political whims of the White House.

You should do a video about the F-4G arguably the best of the Weasley until the Growler

Good show as always.

What is this air-to-ground stuff I’m seeing? 🤨 Jk love your content bruv

I have been interested in Wild Weasels since i got a nice little F-105G model ten years ago. Good topic. The only book i ever got ahold of until now was pretty mediocre and full of a lot of sensational or incorrect stuff, if i remember correctly.

Dad flew with 433rd out of Uban. He said that they looked like flying telephone poles. If you could spot them you could avoid them. It's one they you don't see that gets you.

One of the darkest secrets of the Wild Weasel missions is that no evidence exists that the missiles they used were effective. So many SAM guidance radar units were missed, insufficiently damaged to disable hem, or shut-down too early when the enemy realized they were under attack that Wild Weasel strike packages, that SOP for these missions was to time-on-target a huge load of cluster bombs on the guidance radar. Because the cluster munitions shredded everything, it was impossible to verify any damage caused by anti-radiation missiles. This isn't something you have to dig-through endless heaps of recently-declassified documents to learn; it was in an episode of Discovery Wings in the 1990s.

There is actually a free Guideline simulator one can download on the internet. Its the very same one Sa2 Sam operators used to train on ! I tried it one time. It's the real deal.

Weasel. A mustelid, not a rodent, but I suspect that was known, and just spoken to get a rise.

Small note - SA2 was use in China prior to shoot down high flying recon planes.

Sir, the channel name is "not a pound for air to ground"; I do believe surface to air missiles are located on the ground. Otherwise, a most informative digest. Regards

Wild Weasel, clearing land mines under fire. Insanity.

Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) is a persistent predicate to tactical attack.

Yesss new video! 😊

Great video. The unpreparedness of the USAF to tackle a Soviet Union-provided ADGE almost defies belief. Quite a contrast when you consider how good the allies were at the game in 1945. Things are much better today, but I wonder if the IDF is now the master of the art.

Robert McNamara sure did everything he could to cause us to lose the Vietnam war...

Massive. Balls.

When one was shot down, did they say "Pop goes the weasel!"?

How did the American military manage to fight at all with their hands tied behind their backs whilst wearing blindfolds?

There’s some mock SA-2 sights they built for Project Iron Hand at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. Some idiots have now came up with conspiracy theories about them.

11:14 Weasels are really much cuter than that!

Very good.

You are an excellent narrator, you could consider doing narration work for others, for a cost of course.

I like Wild Weasel :-) 👍

Hmmmm, this seems like Air to Ground

YGBSM is a classic.

7:19 good photo

Five minutes, nice.

The F-100 always looks to me like the air intake is far too small. Obviously it does get enough air.

7000 pounds for air-to-ground

How'd did that turn out for the USAF?

F 105 F. G best of the WWs.

I LOVE THIS FN CHANNEL

The F-100s had to have the ejection seats and cockpits widened to accommodate the crewman’s balls.

Oh no, now he's started doing some pounds of air-to-ground 😰 /j

Not a pound.. not even one?

16:52 bad weather forces pilots to have a 3 day layover in Hawaii. News at 11

4:54 concerns about offending your enemy in a war. some things never change, huh

The main base for the missiles was called Phuc Yu Yang Kee Goh Howm 🤣

Regifting the missles? That's rude!

Love SEAD! ❤❤❤❤

ferrets and weasels aren't rodents! they eat rodents! 😀

"Told it was a s**ide mission." Volunteers anyway. Good men.