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34th Tactical Fighter Squadron - Thud Era

Korat RTAFB, Thailand - May 1966 to May 1969
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Reunion 2002

Hill AFB, UT, 28 and 29 June 2002.

Homer Terry was there and these are his observations:

I attended the 34TFS reunion last week. Have you ever thrown a party and no one came? Thats almost what happened. I was the only Korat pilot, including F-4s, that showed up. We also had W. Howard Plunkett, who was a maintenance officer at Korat and Patrick Meara who was a maintainer. Howard is also the F-105 Historian and has a published book on the F-105. The 34 TFS did a self help project on their briefing room and snack bar. Both were well done and dedicated to all former "Men in Black" They have pictures and memorabilia throughout both rooms and would like to have more. In particular, the squadron commander would love to get the F-105 100-mission scarf and place it in a display case in the squadron. They had a well planned program that was well attended by present pilots, maintainers and their families. The 388th TFW Commander, his family, and members of his staff attended most of the functions. The planned Saturday night banquet was canceled because of the dearth of former squadron members, but we had a great party in the squadron, with plenty to eat & drink. The present F-16 34th pilots, including three females, are carrying on the tradition of singing old fighter pilot songs, with no amendments to lyrics. My ears burned a little. On Friday afternoon, an F-16 demo pilot put on a great flight program, ala Thunderbird solo. At the completion of his demo, Frank Borman, flying a P-51, joined up with the F-16 and made several flybys. They were then both interviewed by local Ogden TV and because I was the only old Thud pilot there, I also had my TV moments of glory. I was very impressed by the squadron & wing leadership. They want to imbue in their pilots a sense of heritage and I think they were somewhat disappointed that more old heads weren't present to talk about "our" war. There was a great amount of genuine interest in how we operated over North Viet Nam and I seemed to be almost constantly talking to some young jock about the art of dodging SAMs and minimum success in dropping unguided bombs on bridges and pinpoint targets. The squadron & wing commanders would like to have another try at a reunion in a couple of years.

Keep Checking 6 -- Homer Terry

Thanks to Howard Plunkett we have these pictures.
Click any picture for a larger image.

  •  34 FS Briefing Room F-105 POW Display

    34 FS Briefing Room F-105 POW Display

  •  34 FS Briefing Room - Lt Col Don Bolling - Dedication.

    34 FS Briefing Room - Lt Col Don Bolling - Dedication.

  •  Homer Terry explains how it was back then.

    Homer Terry explains how it was back then.

  •  Homer checks out the simulator.

    Homer checks out the simulator.

In Remembrance Of Those Who Served!

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