Article

2008-02-14 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Retired general becomes Air Force's newest fighter ace

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Posted by tu3031 2008-02-14 17:13|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 HT to In From the Cold who adds...

And, theres an outside chance that General Cleveland will enter the history books as our last fighter ace. The days of titanic dogfights are largely past; the Vietnam War produced only five aces (three Air Force, two Navy). In recent years, only a handful of pilots have earned multiple kills, with most adversaries electing not to challenge our control of the skies. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Cesar Rodriguez, an F-15 pilot, shot down two Iraqi jets during Operation Desert Storm, and Serbian MiG during the allied air campaign against Serbia in 1999.

An F-16 pilot, Captain Robert Wright matched Rodriguezs total in a single day (28 February 1994), shooting down three Serb attack jets as they bombed a Muslim facility in Bosnia. Theres some belief that Wright might have downed all six aircraft in the Serb flight, had AWACS been quicker in authorizing him to fire, and if the F-16 pilot had not been required to read a warning to the enemy pilots before launching his missiles.

As air combat victories become increasingly rareand pilots from World War II and Korea pass onthe number of living aces continues to decline. With confirmation of his fifth kill, General Cleveland becomes a belated member of a very elite--but dwindling--fraternity.

Posted by tu3031 2008-02-14 17:22|| 2008-02-14 17:22|| Front Page Top

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