Illusions Spatial Disorientation and Loss of Control

摘要

Back in August 1962, my F-100D Super Sabre squadron was tasked with conducting a "Spoofing Mission" against the Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Japanese militaries in a single flight. It was during a time of high Cold War tension and bluffing games were played by all to test the alertness and response times to a threatened incursion by enemy aircraft. My flight leader and I had a small part in this operation that was fairly simple. Our mission was to take off in the dark from Itazuke Air Base on the Island of Kyushu, Japan, rendezvous at first light with a KB 50 tanker near the northern end of the island of Honshu, and after taking on a full load of JP4, head northwest at 33,000 feet generally toward Vladivostok with transponders off to a border area near Russia, China and North Korea.