March 9, 1955
Air Force pilot Lt. Col. Robert R. Scott, of the 510th Fighter Squadron, establishes a new transcontinental speed record (coast-to-coast) by flying 2,245 miles from Los Angeles to Mitchel Field New York in 3 hours, 44 minutes and 53 seconds in a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak jet fighter bomber.

Constantinople to Kosovo
By Col. John X. Loughran III, USAF (Ret.)
Written for the Reserve Officers Association

No language can describe adequately the condition of the large portion of the Balkan Peninsula Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and other provinces. Political intrigues, constant rivalries, a total absence of all public spirit-hatred of all races,, animosities of rival religions and absence of any controlling power-nothing short of an army of 50,000 of the best troops would produce anything like order in these parts."

By Lt. Col. Dave Nichols
As told to Master Sgt. Tim Barela, USAFR
Photos by Master Sgt. Keith Reed

As Lt. Col. Dave Nichols climbed aboard his F-16 fighter, only a few miles away his two children slept soundly in bed. His wife, Jan, did not. She knew something her kids didn’t, and it scared her to death. Tonight, Daddy wasn’t just going to work; he was going to war.

I stepped into the cockpit of my F-16 at Aviano Air Base, Italy, like I had done a thousand times before. Only, this time, butterflies seemed to be dancing in my stomach, and all my senses were on full throttle, as if I’d chugged an entire pot of coffee. I was keyed up. But then again, everyone was. This wasn’t just training anymore. It was the first night of bombing runs against Serbian targets (March 24), and we didn’t know what to expect. I was going in on the first mission.

FIRST TANK KILL
8 May 99

Another jolt for Buzzard history as we bomb the heck out of Melosevich and his Serbian aggressors who seem to think they have a license to kill Albanians, performing what they call "ethnic cleansing". What they didn’t realize is that a nation 10 times greater than them, with the power of a thousand armies, were standing by, ready to utterly afflict mass destruction on anyone who participates in such anti-humanistic, sadistic acts of violence against innocent people. And as the Boss said in his interview with World News Tonight, "We have the ability to find and destroy targets…we look for them, we find them, we hit them…message wise ‘Don’t mess with us’"!!

Apr 10, 1999

Throughout the days of the war, as I sit at my desk ‘pushing paper’, I get numerous phone calls: CNN wants to do interview with troops and the commander, and shoot footage of the 510 FS in action; Newsweek wants to do interview with the commander and an additional pilot, and get footage of pilots briefing and stepping to their aircraft. Who would be the lucky troops chosen for the CNN interview? TSgt Rosie Muniz, SrA "Sully" Sullivan, and SrA Perry McCiver. All three are cool, calm, and ready for their interviews, which goes very well.

The adventures of Pigpen & the Wing King
23 Apr 99

The Wing King and I are tasked into the Kosovo Engagement Zone. Primary targets are tanks, APCs, and other military vehicles but we are also assigned to several fixed dump targets. I’m carrying 4xGBU-12 500lb laser guided bombs and the Wing King has 2xGBU-10 2000lb laser guided bombs. This gives us the flexibility to attack many small targets as well as one or two larger hard targets. We takeoff around midnight and head to the tanker. The tanker rejoin is uneventful except for a frequency thrash in the end game.

4 April 1999

29 March: We were part of a 30 or so aircraft strike into Kosovo. Our target was the Pristina Army Barracks. We briefed our 6 ship and you could feel the anxiety in the room and hear it in folks voices. The squadron hadn't flown that many sorties across the fence and we didn't know what to expect. While anxious all were very focused during the brief, paying particular attention to their assigned responsibilities and targets. Ground operations went smoothly with the exception of one jet’s self protect equipment having a minor malfunction.

THE TIME HAS COME
FOR ME TO MOVE ON
WOULD LOVE TO HANG AROUND
AND SEE YOU THROUGH THIS STORM
BUT A NEW ADVENTURE LIES AHEAD
I’LL LEAVE YOU GUYS TO KEEP POUNDING MELOSEVIC
UNTIL HE SURRENDERS, OR ENDS UP DEAD!!
OOH…WAS THAT TOO HARSH?…THE "END UP DEAD" PART?
WELL, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN YOU COME UP AGAINST
"BUZZARD STANDARD"

29 MAY 99
A VIEW FROM THE COCKPIT: Prozac’s Story

In the movies, they talk about "waiting for the balloon to go up," the signal that we need to get airplanes in the air against aggressive forces. Well, I did not see any balloons released on the base, there was no fanfare, there were no sirens or bells. It was a very sedate evening when we received word that the next day we were to begin the air strike campaign against Serbia. As a pilot for the 510th Fighter Squadron, the Buzzards, flying the block 40 (LANTIRN-equipped) F-16s, I found myself experiencing a cornucopia of emotions. There was anticipation that we were FINALLY going to try to contribute to the resolution of the conflict in Kosovo; relief that we knew exactly what was happening instead of months of rhetoric, threats, and chest-beating; anxiety because my very young squadron (young in experience) was going to be put to the test and asked to perform a dangerous task; confidence, for our entire existence has been training for this precise moment and we know we have had the best training in the world; no kidding fright, for our intelligence briefings (as well as the media) were touting the Serbian air defense as quite formidable.

Washington Post
Yugoslav Missiles Targeting NATO Planes
By William Drozdiak
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 28, 1999; Page A32

BRUSSELS, May 27 –– As NATO warplanes step up the pace and number of their airstrikes on Yugoslavia, Belgrade's air defense forces are responding for the first time with ferocious volleys of antiaircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles, alliance officials said today.