combat aircraft

in. In the event, that wasn’t the case and

the Ravens landed without incident.

Once in theater, the unit began

getting up to speed in its new operating

environment. Lt Col Dennis Hardziej, who

 ew 23 missions in ‘Desert Storm’, recalls,

‘Our practice missions were to  y to our

tanker near the Iraqi border, then return

to the local area and  y one of several

low-level routes we had developed. Then

mission planning for the upcoming war

began in earnest, with co-ordination

with all aircraft and services. We began

to  y simulated attacks against targets

defended by Kuwaiti pilots  ying the

same aircraft with the same weapons

system as the Iraqis.

‘During our practice missions with the

Kuwaitis, even  ying fast with our terrain-

following radar [TFR] at night, they

always found us. Therefore, our chances

of surviving the  rst missions were put at

about 40 per cent for the entire EF-111A

force. I tried to get Riyadh [headquarters]

to provide escort for us since we were a

very high-value asset aircraft. We were

to provide penetration escort, coming

within seven to 10 miles of the target

for almost all the  rst missions, and we

carried no on-board weapons. Since were

up against one of the most advanced

defensive systems in the world, I  rmly

believed we would take heavy casualties

on that  rst night of the war and thus be

limited in our usefulness to the coalition

forces in the days to come. We were

turned down many times on this request.’

A determined enemy

Even though Iraq had been involved

in a lengthy and costly war with Iran, it

still had the  nancial means to stock up

with sophisticated defensive weapons

and communications from the French

and Russians. LCDR Fred Drummond,

one of the US Navy’s experienced

electronic warfare o cers (EWOs), was

assigned to the 390th ECS in August

We couldn’t light our ’burners

for fear it would give away our

exact position and they would be able

to get off a clear shot

390th Electronic Combat Squadron (ECS)

met with the intelligence sta to begin

planning the order of battle.

There were two USAF units  ying the

EF-111A Raven at this time — the 42nd

ECS based at RAF Upper Heyford in the UK

and the 390th ECS stationed at Mountain

Home AFB in Idaho.

Ten Ravens from the latter unit were  rst

to deploy to the Gulf in August 1990. They

initially transited to Seymour Johnson

AFB, North Carolina, where they picked

up tanker support and  ew for 14 hours

to their deployment base at Taif, in the

mountainous region of western Saudi

Arabia. Operation ‘Desert Shield’ — the

provision of protective international cover

in the Arabian Gulf — had begun.

The 390th ECS worked primarily with

the large force of 48th Tactical Fighter

Wing F-111Fs that followed them to Taif

from RAF Lakenheath, UK. They would be

responsible for missions to central and

southern Iraq, and all of Kuwait, with the

390th being placed under the control of

the 48th TFW.

Meanwhile, the 42nd ECS deployed

to Incirlik, Turkey, which enabled the

squadron to work over northern Iraq with

the 20th TFW’s F-111Es from RAF Upper

Heyford, UK, and various F-16s.

Ready to fight

A major concern to world leaders was that

Saddam Hussein’s forces would move on

to Saudi Arabia after overrunning Kuwait.

Accordingly, all the EF-111s were primed

for combat when they entered the Gulf

region, in case they had to  ght their way

Above: A pair

of Ravens fl ies

near Taif. The

EF-111s worked

with US Navy

EA-6B Prowlers

to evaluate Iraqi

radar capability

in the pre-war

phases.

Warren E.

Thompson

collection

Below: The 390th

ECS co-operated

closely with the

F-111Fs from RAF

Lakenheath, both

operating from

Taif. USAF

68 July 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

GLORY DAYS // EF-111 IN DESERT STORM

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