Other support units remained at Misawa, attached to the Japan Air Defense Force[2]: 56  while the tactical components at Kunsan included the 474th Fighter-Bomber Group.

In January 1953 targeting shifted to communications, training complexes, and rebuilt North Korean assets, including: the Sinanju rail facilities, the Kyomipo industrial area, the Pyongyang Tank and Infantry School, the munitions processing plant near Sunchon, and enemy troop concentrations near Wonsan.

"On 22 July 1953, in one mission led by Lt. Col. Douglas Montgomery, who was then executive officer of the 474th FBG, 30 out of a total of 40 bombs were placed along the entire length of a runway at the airfield at Sunchon.

When hostilities stopped, the Armed Forces Assistance to Korea program was launched and the men of the 474th FBG volunteered their off-duty time to work with local villagers in constructing and replenishing a new school building.

In January 1968, the 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron Detachment 1 received the first 6 of 9 "Harvest Reaper" aircraft [66017, 66018, 66019, 66020, 66021, 66022]: F-111As with the unique camouflage paint job and upgraded avionics (including the ballistics computer unit and fittings for external noise jammers) in preparation for combat evaluation.

The Advance Team, under Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Ed Palmgren (under the predecessor unit 4481st TFS), had been sent to Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base (IATA code TKH) on 2 October 1967 to prepare for the deployment.

[16]: 38  The concept of operations was to employ the F-111A as an all-weather deep strike asset using low-level penetration tactics and without the need of the external support of aerial refueling tankers, defense suppression aircraft, and airborne electronic jammers.

F-111A combat operations began on 25 March using the aircraft's unique terrain following radar capability to conduct surprise night deep air interdiction strikes.

[9]: 29  By the end of the deployment, 55 night low-level missions had been flown against targets in Route Pac 1 and 2 in North Vietnam using high-drag bombs, but three aircraft had been lost.

Aircraft 66022, call sign Omaha 77 targeted against the Chan Hoa truck park in RP1, had been lost on 28 March with the loss of the crew, Major (MAJ) Hank MacCann and Captain (CPT) Dennis Graham.

On 30 March, the crew of MAJ Sandy Marquardt and CPT Joe Hodges in aircraft 66017, Hotrod 76 targeted against the Ngoc Lam truck park in RP1, successfully ejected and was recovered uninjured in Thailand.

On 22 April, Tailbone 78 targeted against the Mi Le highway ferry in RP1, aircraft 66024 crewed by Lieutenant Commander Spade Cooley and by LTC Ed Palmgren, was lost.

The wreckage of Omaha 77 was discovered in the Phu Phan Mountains in northern Thailand in 1989 and the crew's remains were recovered and returned to the U.S.[18]: 82  The loss of Hotrod 73 on 30 March was not due to enemy action.

These losses caused a storm of controversy in the United States, with Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire denouncing the F-111A as an unsafe and defective plane.

First Lieutenant (1LT) Howard Kotlicky, under the guidance and approval of the Wing Commander COL "Boots" Blesse, designed the 474th TFW "Roadrunner" mascot and "unofficial" patch.

These training practices would later prove to be inadequate in the high-threat environment and varied and sometimes extreme terrain and intense rain conditions of North Vietnam and Laos.

An additional 12 429th F-111As departed Nellis on 27 September arriving at Hickam Air Force Base (IATA code HIK) Hawaii the same day.

The Mk-84 load, however, was highly dangerous to the delivery aircraft in that the fragmentation envelope was 2500 feet which forced the F-111A well out of its TFR altitudes and well into the air defense threat environment.

The first loss occurred on the first night, Ranger 23, aircraft 67078, flown by MAJ Bill Coltman (a Combat Lancer veteran) and PWSO 1LT Lefty Brett of the 430th TFS.

Immediately following the loss, a Search and Rescue (SAR) effort was initiated covering approximately 8400 square miles of Laos and North Vietnam, to no avail.

Radar beacons were deployed under Operation Sentinel Lock at key mountain top locations and used as offset aiming points for medium altitude delivery of 24 MK-82 500 pound bombs or 16 CBU-52 or CBU-58.

This technique enabled the F-111A to strike targets developed by Raven FACs, Forward Air Guides, or ground commanders, regardless of day/night or weather conditions, occasionally within 200 meters of friendly forces.

The F-111A, WHISPERING DEATH as it is called, has changed all of that … your bombs, falling in inclement weather and at all hours of the night have had telling effect on the moral of the North Vietnamese 316th Division.

Jackel 33, aircraft 67068, flown by CPT Bob Sponeybarger and 1LT Bill Wilson of the 429th TFS, ejected successfully after being hit by ground fire near Hanoi.

The remaining two aircraft most likely crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin due to a limitation or failure of the Low Altitude Radar Altimeter (LARA) system [Burger 54 and Snug 40].

"[18]: 87 [32] More current evidence indicates that the loss of Majors Brown and Morrisey (Whaler 57) was, in fact, due to a possible shoot-down by enemy air defenses.

Forensic technology available in the late 1990s and early 2000s precluded an identification; however, recent laboratory analysis, primarily mtDNA testing, now allows for the remains to be attributed to Robert M. Brown to the exclusion of all other reasonable possibilities.

[39] The 430th returned to the 474th Wing at Nellis on 22 March 1973 (replaced by the 429th TFW on 18 March 1973) assuming a replacement training unit mission, while the 428th and 429th were assigned to the newly transferred 347th Tactical Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base (IATA code MUO), Idaho on 30 July 1973 (deployed to Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base).

[11] The 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-4D Phantoms had been rotated from Lakenheath Air Base (IATA code LKZ) in Europe in order for the F-111Fs, previously stationed at Mt.

With the transfer of the F-4D from Lakenheath to Nellis, Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III (Sully) was then assigned to the 428th TFS where he attained the rank of captain and served as a flight lead, training officer, and Operation Red Flag Blue Force Mission Commander.