Your job … get through to the Target. The Enemy’s job … to stop you and your jet.
This is the story of the high-speed run, the Target Run … against a gauntlet of AAA, SAMs and hostile MIGs from an enemy that wants to blow you out of the sky. The bomb run can be called one of the most task saturated environments in aviation: Switchology. Flying the jet. Head in and head out. Confusion on the radio. Dodging the enemy’s fire.
In war, pilots must react to each situation as it comes. There are no milk runs. Each second is different. One sometimes wonders how it was that any jet got in and back out in one piece. Truly a fog bank of confusion, smoke, debris, and hostile fire, … the pilot, flying low across the deck must find the friendlies and get his eyes on the target, drop his bombs and get out in a matter of seconds. More SAMs and AAA. Will it ever stop? … Head’n home. Only, to go back tomorrow. On of the most thrilling episodes in The Challenge of Flight.