Comments on: Missiles fail, especially air-to-air ones https://www.isegoria.net/2017/09/missiles-fail-especially-air-to-air-ones/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:49:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Isegoria https://www.isegoria.net/2017/09/missiles-fail-especially-air-to-air-ones/comment-page-1/#comment-2583120 Isegoria Sat, 23 Sep 2017 11:42:23 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42399#comment-2583120 I recently listened to — and enjoyed — the audio version of Robin Olds’ memoir, Fighter Pilot. I was going to hunt down the passage where he discusses air-to-air missiles, but Coolbert did it for me, on his Military Analysis site:

By the beginning of June, we all hated the new AIM-4 Falcon missiles. I loathed the damned useless things. I wanted my Sidewinders back. In two missions I had fired seven or eight of the bloody things and not one guided. They were worse than I had anticipated. Sometimes they refused to launch; sometimes they just cruised off into the blue without guiding. In the thick of an engagement with my head twisting and turning, trying to keep track of friend and foe, I’d forget which of the four I had (already) selected and couldn’t tell which of the remaining was perking and which head was already expiring on its launch rail. Twice upon returning to base I had the tech rep go over the switchology and firing sequences. We never discovered I was doing anything wrong.

]]> By: Adar https://www.isegoria.net/2017/09/missiles-fail-especially-air-to-air-ones/comment-page-1/#comment-2582563 Adar Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:18:20 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42399#comment-2582563 That was the Aim-4 Falcon that barely worked in Nam. That missile was at the time too the main weapon of American interceptor air defense warplanes.

]]> By: Adar https://www.isegoria.net/2017/09/missiles-fail-especially-air-to-air-ones/comment-page-1/#comment-2582554 Adar Thu, 21 Sep 2017 16:59:50 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=42399#comment-2582554 This was a quite common event in Nam. Robin Olds in his book talks about it quite extensively. They always blamed the pilot, but NO!

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