Commander Fred Ferrazzano - Pilot |
Fighter Squadron VF-111, VF-142, XO/CO VX-4, VF-121 |
A Distinguished Veteran |
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| Cdr. Ferrazzano began his Naval aviation career in 1952 flying the F6F Hellcat, and graduated as an aviator and officer in 1954. He was assigned to the VF-111 Sundowners aboard the USS Lexington (CVA-16) flying the F-9F6 Cougar. He also flew the F-J3 Fury, the F-86, the F-8 Crusader, the A-4 Skyhawk, F-4 Phantom II, and the F-14 Tomcat, with over 4, 850 total flight hours. During the Vietnam War, he first served two combat tours with the VF-142 Ghostriders aboard the USS Constellation (CV-64) and USS Ranger (CV-61) from 1964 to 1966. He served again in Vietnam aboard the USS Hancock (CV-19) from 1972 to 1973, and was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the famous mining of Haiphong Harbor, which sealed the harbor from maritime traffic for seven months. He ended his Vietnam combat duty with 350 plus combat missions and over 600 combat hours. He was also the Executive and Commanding Officer of VX-4, a test and evaluation squadron at Naval Air Station, Pt. Mugu. He had over 500 carrier landings, with his last carrier landing occurring while flying an A-4 aboard the USS Hancock. During his 25-year career with the Navy, he was awarded the Bronze Star, nine Air medals, eight Conspicuous Service Crosses, two Conspicuous Service Stars, seven Navy Commendation medals, six with Combat Valor, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. As the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet Director of Survival Training, he was presented with an honorary Green Beret in appreciation for his work with special forces personnel. His call sign is “Fearless”. He retired and began a successful career in real estate and property development, and is CEO/President and Chairman of the Board of three California corporations as well as a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of a $250 million Nasdaq corporation. The following stories are from an interview with Mr. Ferrazzano on January 2, 2003. |
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| Fred Ferrazzano signing "The Animal" |
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| Tree Trimmer |
| “I was flying with Cdr. Seldon Norris May in a T-33 from Barbers Point, Hawaii, to Barking Sands on Kauai Island, on a test mission for the Regulus missile. The Regulus missile was a precursor to the Polaris. The missile was remotely controlled by Sel in the front seat, while I flew its wing from the back seat. Our missile testing was relocated from California to a remote location after one of the Regulus missiles landed in a stable full of thoroughbred horses, and another wiped out nearly a complete line of Marine Corps jet fighters as it careened off the runway at MCAS Mojave during a recovery procedure. On this interesting day, our high altitude work went fine and we accomplished the major portion of our test work without a problem; however, while on final landing approach to the dog-leg runway, Sel was controlling the missile (which comes in at about 240 kts) and we drifted slightly to the right. Our T-33 clipped a pine tree, with part of the tree stuck in the right wing root and the top 6 feet flapping in the wind. I told Cdr. May to look out the window, and if he was going to fly back to Barber’s Point he better fly slow, as I didn’t want the wing to come off and have to punch out of the T-33 as it would get your kneecaps or your toes. When we got back to Barber’s Point, the ground crew asked us, ‘How the hell did that happen?’ I responded, ‘You guys have a little tree pruning work to do around the approach end of the runway at Bonham’. I had previously lost my best friend, Lt. Al Rice and his back seater, in a similar accident landing the missile at San Nicholas Island, as they caught a wing tip and cartwheeled alongside the Regulus on touchdown. I was on their right wing at the time in a Cougar 6D, having just completed the high altitude RAM pass for a simulated nuclear delivery.” |
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| Mig Hunting |
| “My first encounter with MiGs came in 1956, when the USS Lexington was on its way to Sydney, Australia, for the Olympics. The Chicoms shot down a P-4M off of Taiwan, so the USS Lexington was ordered to do a 180 and return. I was with VF-111, flying the F-9F6D Cougar on a combat air patrol mission, when four MiG-15s approached. The two of us chased them into China, when we got a call from the ship to get our butts out of there. Following the doctrine of hot pursuit, we chased them a bit too far but couldn’t catch them. My second MiG encounter occurred ten years later in 1966 off the Karst Ridge near Hai Phong. The mission was a BarCap and started out as routine and we anchored at a lazy 300 kts doing figure eights. I had a young nugget flying as my wingman; it was probably his second combat sortie. We got a somewhat excited vector by Red Crown, Perfume’s (the Admiral’s) cruiser to intercept the MiG. I maintained the lead, and, as pre-briefed, my wingman dropped in trail about one mile. I went to full combat rated thrust (afterburner), unloaded the aircraft, and planned to shoot two sparrow missiles at him. With the poor single shot kill probability of the Aim-7 at that time, the sparrow was not a very reliable weapon, but at least it would get the MiG’s attention, get him to turn, and I could then re-attack with the AIM-9 sidewinder missile. I was cleared to engage. I called ‘Judy’, which indicated that I had control of the intercept and, again as pre-briefed, it cleared the wingman to activate his master arm, the missiles were hot, the ASE (allowing steering error) circle was expanding, and I was salivating. Just inside max range and about to squeeze off the first shot, I heard ‘break left’, complied, and saw a black burst at five o’clock. At first I thought it was another MiG firing at me, or a SAM missile, but it turned out to be a Sidewinder from my wingman, which was tracking on my burners. I was thankful that it was an AIM-9B and not a Delta, which I could not have outmaneuvered. When I made the call ‘Judy’, my wingman switched his master arm switch on, and the sidewinder was inadvertently fired; (I believe he had a firm, excited grip on the stick or wanted to make room at the top). The MiG pilot survived that day, and so did I. Someone was watching out for one or all of us. I gave the nugget the lead and stayed behind him for the RTB.” |
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| Close Calls |
| “I was flying the F-4 with VF-142 from the USS Ranger, and C.C. Smith was flying photo recon missions in the RA-5C. Few really liked to fly photo recon missions; they were fast, low, and straight and level. I told C.C. that flying much above mach 1 that low was hard on the Phantom, as the intakes could swallow the supersonic shock wave and play hell with the compressors. On one mission, I had to shut down the port engine due to fluctuating oil pressure. I didn’t bother C.C.; it wasn’t a big deal. I had been flying single engine planes all my life! In order to keep up with him, I would cut the inside of the turns, and fly with full single burner. On another photo recon mission, we were to fly a recce before the main strike on the Thanh Hoa Bridge; the Vietnamese called it the Ham Rong (Dragon’s Jaw) Bridge. As usual, we were 500 feet above the deck at close to supersonic. When we neared the bridge there was a blinding white flash. A 57mm shell had hit my plane, and the nose on Dakota 207 was gone. |
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| The radar bits and pieces were ingested by both J-79 engines. It was like hitting a wall. The “Christmas tree” (warning light panel) was fully lit and flashing with every conceivable failure indicated, including fire warning. I called my “Mayday” and pulled up and left to feet wet. C.C. asked for my position and I told him “Come port.” He radioed back and said, ‘All I see is a Spad at the 9o’clock position’. I responded, ‘That Spad is me’. He joined up with me and we headed back to the ship. I told him to get me on the glide slope at 128 knots for the approach to the carrier (all pitot static instrument sensors were on the nose cone which I had just eaten, so I had no altimeter, airspeed indicator, or angle of attack), and I was able to recover aboard Ranger. Dakota 207 was cannibalized for parts, and the shell offloaded in the P.I. at Subic Bay. The main spar had been twisted with the shock of the hit. On another day, we flew another pre-strike photo recon mission over Hanoi with a three carrier Alpha Strike close behind us, when at our 500 feet run in altitude and at mach 1.1+ over the city, there was a flash, and the cockpit got warm for about three seconds. Next thing I knew, I was inverted, but the flight controls were still fully responsive. We continued west and got the pre-strike photos. After landing on the ship, I did my post flight walk around and discovered that the Phantom would require a new paint job, as the paint from the rear cockpit aft was burned off. Also, the stabilator rub plates around the vertical fin were bent back 120 degrees on both port and starboard sides. It was apparent that a SAM missile had exploded close by, with the blast causing me to roll inverted and providing extra warmth.” |
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| Vandy 9 |
| “From NAS Pt. Mugu, I went down to North Island to pick up ‘Vandy 9 ’ from the rework facility with the new black paint scheme. The paint had a special pigmentation that we tested to see how it refracted radar signals. At the 1969 Space Fair at Pt. Mugu, Vandy 9 and I, with my Radar Intercept Officer, Jimmy McIlrath, opened the show preceding the Blue Angels super routine. We roared by the viewing stands in full afterburner at 20 feet with two F-8J Crusaders joining on either side, flown by “Tooter” Teague and Bob Heisner, pulling up into a pretty fair fleur-de-lis and finishing in an immelmann maneuver. Two of us ended our act by again burning by the grandstand in section formation and each firing sidewinder missiles at flares that were dropped out over the ocean. The missiles hit the high intensity flares and, I’m told, there was all sorts of cheering from the crowd (crowds seem to enjoy noise, smoke, speed, and ordnance demonstrations). We each shot a total of six missiles during the demonstrations with 100% success rate. That speaks volumes of our great maintenance teams.” |
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| Highlights |
| “High altitude work in a pressure suit can be cumbersome and a bit awkward, but the visual rewards are well worth the discomfort. The Phantom II has exceptional ability to explore the upper atmosphere as I have experienced on a few flights. Supersonic climb schedule starts at Mach 1.7, with acceleration above Mach 2. The climb into the black (no airborne particles to reflect/refract the light) above 60,000 feet and upward is quite thrilling, and as John Gillespie Magee, Jr. penned, ‘I’ve trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand and touched the face of God.’” |
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| Fred Ferrazzano is one of our Rogue's Gallery members. |
| (Thanks are due Fred for providing photos and stories) |
