Rededication

Cobra Ball II - 664 Monument

The Marker now stands in front of the 45RS, Offutt AFB, NE. It was transported from Shemya AFB, AK to Offutt and rededicated on 15 March 1996.

The Big Safari program delivered A/C 61-2664 (Cobra Ball II) in March of 1972 at Eielson AFB, AK, in service with the 6th SRW, 24th SRS. The aircraft served faithfully as the second in a fleet of two covering the mission areas when one of the aircraft was down for phase or out during a Programmed Depot maintenance or as a pilot trainer when not deployed to Shemya Air Station.

On 15 March 1981, the aircraft and the crew, after spending the previous night on alert in Amber Hall (Eielson AFB, AK) waiting for the weather to clear at Shemya, departed on a trainer flight en route to Shemya. A tanker preceded the "Ball" by three hours and landed in good weather. By the time 664 started its descent, the weather was going bad quickly. The aircraft crashed with 24 souls on board -- six fatalities. Shortly thereafter, this monument was placed on Shemya as a memorial... and a reminder.

The 31 year "Cold War" history (1963-1994) of Cobra Ball operations from "the rock" has now come to an end. The 6th SRW is history along with the 24th SRS -- and, that fine legacy has been added to that of the 55th SRW. A phrase used by numerous crew commanders to get the attention of "young turk" officers during training sums it up nicely: "If you think landing at Shemya is SAFE -- you're just not ____ paying attention!" If they ever make a movie of the week out of this military mission, reality will always be more unbelievable than any fiction Tom Clancy can think up.

The dedication and true team work required from both ground and aircrews to get this aircraft into the air to do its mission had to be seen to be believed -- to be experienced, an honor, and to be a survivor, very lucky!

V/r
Cobra Crew Dog
BC

By BruceC1950@aol.com, Tue, 2 Apr 1996 15:29:59 -0500