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or EWO. If the EWO detected a SAM launch with the plane’s radar, the aircraft would unleash air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, rockets, and other munitions to neutralize the threat. The EWO could also jam the SAM’s electronic signals to make the missile miss the plane. The Wild Weasels were often sitting ducks as they cleared a path for other aircraft, including the F-105, to complete their bombing mis- sions. Sparks was a Wild Weasel. He graduated “Wild Weasel School” at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and on March 15, 1967, arrived at Takhli Royal Air Force Base in Thailand to begin his first tour in Vietnam. Sparks had flown 82 missions as a Wild Weasel. His service earned Sparks seven Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Silver Stars. When his EWO, Carlo Lombardo, was reassigned, Sparks took a new assignment. He was no longer a Wild Weasel, but a Strike Pilot, a captain piloting an F-105 in the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It was Sparks’ second tour of duty in Vietnam.

When November 5, 1967, dawned, Sparks had flown only four missions on his second tour. The November 5 sortie over Thud Ridge would be his fifth, and last.

Wild Weasels

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