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USAF Wild Weasels

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brunstar's picture
November 11, 2015 at 3:49pm
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I just wanted to share my favorite USAF patch.  The Wild Weasels were founded in 1965 during the Vietnam War.  Their mission was to fly directly at enemy Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) sites, get locked on by the SAM sites, and then launch a radiation seeking missile at the SAM site radars.  The unofficial motto YGBSM is on their patch, and it stands for "You Gotta Be Shittin' Me."  The F-16CJs currently still fly the Wild Weasel missions.

The unofficial motto of the Wild Weasel crews is YGBSM: "You Gotta Be Shittin' Me". This appears prominently on the logo patch of some squadrons. As the story goes, this was the response of Jack Donovan, a former B-52 EWO (Electronic Warfare Officer):

This was the natural response of an educated man, a veteran EWO on B-52s and the like, upon learning that he was to fly back seat to a self-absorbed fighter pilot while acting as flypaper for enemy SAMs

His exact words were: "You want me to fly in the back of a little tiny fighter aircraft with a crazy fighter pilot who thinks he's invincible, home in on a SAM site in North Vietnam, and shoot it before it shoots me, you gotta be shittin' me!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel
 

 

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