File: aacwr_18.txt
Page: 18
Total Pages: 49

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combat operations from there and two forward operating locations: King Khalid Military City and Ali Jouf Airfield, Saudi Arabia. The A-lOAs attacked enemy armor, hunted Scuds during daylight, suppressed enemy air defenses, and destroyed early warning radars. Squadron pilots also used AGM-65Ds to destroy SA-1 and SA-6 missile sites. In mid-February 1991, the A-lOAs shifted to close air support and prepared for the coalition ground offensive. Captain Todd X. Sheehy, an A-1OA pilot assigned to the 511th Tactical Fighter Squadron, shot down an MI-8 Hip helicopter with his 30mm cannon on 15 February.

The 42d Electronic Combat Squadron, RAF Upper Heford, United Kingdom, deployed EF-lllAs and support personnel to Taif in December. During Desert Storm, the squadron, in cooperation with F-4G wild Weasels, "negated Iraq's ability to track, acquire, and target attacking aircraft." By the fourth day of the war, according to an Air Force White Paper, "all allied aircraft operated with impunity in mid to high altitude environment" throughout the combat theater. The squadron lost one assigned aircraft, flown at the time by a TAC crew, on 13 February to non-combat causes.

The 50th Tactical Fighter wing, alerted to a possible deployment to the Gulf in October 1990, received deployment orders less than a week prior to a late December departure of the 10th Tactical Fighter Squadron's F-16Cs and support personnel to A1 Dhafra, United Arab Emirates. The squadron was one of three F-16 squadrons sent to the base and assigned to the 363d Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional). During Desert Storm, the 10th delivered 4,293 bobs of various types. One squadron pilot, Captain William F. Andrews, received the Air Force Cross for "extraordinary heroism while participating in military operations against an opposing armed force" on 27 February. Shot down, Andrews used his survival radio to redirect his flight and an OA-10 from the heavily defended area. Even though he broke his right leg upon landing a was fired-on by enemy troops, he continued to use his radio to warn his comrades. In addition to the Air Force Cross, Captain Andrews received the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals. The U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent later awarded him the 1991 Jabara Award for Airmanship.

The 81st Tactical Fighter Wing deployed one squadron, the 91st Tactical Fighter Squadron, to the Gulf after the cease- fire. A-1OA aircraft left RAF Woodbridge, United Kingdom, in June 1991 and completed their journey to King Abdul Aziz AB, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, after an overnight stay at NAS Sigonella. The squadron assumed combat search and rescue and

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