Keyword:
Category:
Tag:
Sort By:
Petie 3rd
Pictured: U.S. Air Force B-52G Stratofortress tail number 58-0177, known as the “Petie 3rd.” This aircraft flew Operation Secret Squirrel, Jan. 16-17, 1991, with the following crew: aircraft commander, Capt. Michael G. Wilson; pilot, 1st Lt. Kent R. Beck; pilot augmentee, Lt. Col. John H. Beard; radar navigator, Capt. George W. Murray III; navigator, 1st Lt. Mark W. VanDoren; navigator augmentee, Capt. Lee S. Richie Jr.; electronic warfare officer, Capt. Richard P. Holt; gunner, Sgt. Dale R. Jackson.
In the early morning of Jan. 16, 1991, seven B-52G Stratofortresses took off from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on a secret mission codenamed “Secret Squirrel.” These B-52s flew more than 14,000 miles in 35 hours – at the time the longest nonstop bombing mission in history, a record which would be held for nearly a decade. The aircraft took off with a load of the Air Force’s newest secret weapon, the AGM-86C Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile. These new long range weapons were launched from each B-52 at predetermined locations outside Iraqi airspace, striking the first blows of Operation Desert Storm. The missile’s pinpoint accuracy and high explosive power proved it to be a particularly effective weapon against the forces and infrastructure of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The ‘Petie 3rd’ was sent to the scrapyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., on Sept. 5, 1991.
(Courtesy photo by H.D. "Buck" Rigg)