Salute!
TNX, F16Guy. And Weemonkey has another great point.
First to wee, I fail to see the over riding requirement to drop an inert bomb with a multi-thousand dollar seeker system. This was not a special mission for the development and testing of some new system. Your view agrees with mine.
@ F16Guy...... The explanation of the handoff of the tgt/POI was illuminating to this old fart, and I feel your procedure is super. We have come a long way from when the FAC asked "What color is the smoke?"
For many here to know, most from the Motherland, the Colonists have had many off-range releases in peacetime, and more than one "off-target" incidents in combat situations besides the Buff incident referenced. A famous one was when a Double Ugly bombed the TACAN at DaNang, maybe in 1972 when we started using LORAN versus the old "Skyspot" system that used SAC radar scoring gear in reverse. The crew failed to note that the offset from the nav station was zero! So one calm night a ripple of MK-82's went across the TACAN! Gotta love it.
The most famous USAF incident documentation has escaped my search, but apparently was in late 70's and at Nellis. Someone here who is older than 60 might recall. It was called the "Corn Creek Massacre". Although the name could be slightly off. A flight to the range did not have their act together, and the range officer was complicent, equally guilty. NIGHT MISSION. They had live MK-82's. The RO cleared them to drop without a positive ID. A nearby Forest Ranger abode had outdoor lights that resembled those at the tgt. Booomb! After action report has good comments from the forest ranger. And then, to make it worse, the RO said he didn't see impacts and cleared the flight for a second pass. The ranger described the hits and thanked God when the guilty parties went home.
Gums sends....
Last edited by gums; 18th Apr 2020 at 14:59.