Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: hornet!tobin@acsu.buffalo.edu (Mike Tobin) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Friendly Fire Message-ID: <1990Jun27.021003.1289@cbnews.att.com> Date: 27 Jun 90 02:10:03 GMT References: <1990Jun20.043450.18337@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jun22.043534.28788@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Calspan Corporation ATC Buffalo, NY Lines: 20 Approved: military@att.att.com From: hornet!tobin@acsu.buffalo.edu (Mike Tobin) There's really quite a lot of this is all theaters. My favorite is from the late '70's/early'80's when I was with the USAF in Germany. Two lucky F-4 crews got to go back to the States and be the first operational crews to live-fire the then-new AIM-9L. The USAFE Director of Ops was anxious to hear how they did. This is the news he received: Good News "Sir, the AIM -9L works just fine." Bad News "Viz ID (visual identification) doesn't. Crew A had shot down Crew B (no one hurt :-)). This despite elaborate breifings, highly restrictive rules of engagement, a saftey monitor in a third F-4 and constant radio contact among all participants. Not only that, the target was a QF-102 (a radio controlled F-102): about as dissimilar in appearance from an F-4 as another fighter can get. They were simply to anxious to get their first "kill".