As Jim arrived at Nellis to begin his combat training, his
confidence level was soaring owing to the
fact that he had graduated from
single-engine pilot school near the top of
his class. But he knew that flying at
Nellis was going to be a unique
experience. From all the stories Jim had
heard about Nellis back at Webb, he hoped
he would score high enough while staying
alive at the same time. There was even an
adage being passed around the various
single-engine pilot schools that basically
said, “If you can survive Nellis, then
Korea should be no problem.” This saying became clear for one of Jim's former 52-F
classmates who had been assigned to Nellis.
When this pilot had first arrived and was checking into his room at
the Bachelor Officers Quarters, he saw
something going on in the room next door,
a scene that he soon learned occurred
frequently at Nellis. He noticed that
someone was gathering the personal effects
of the occupant in the room, and was told
that four guys had been killed the week
before because of target fixation, midair
collisions, and other mishaps.
The flying that took place while these guys were cadets had been
mild compared to Nellis. Accidents had
occurred at some of the different training
bases, including a few fatal ones, such as
what happened to Charles Barfield at Webb.
But Nellis was the big time and it didn't
take long before they found this out
directly.
During their initial briefing in the base auditorium, the new
pilots arriving at Nellis were welcomed by
Col. Clay Tice, Jr., the commanding
officer of the 3595th Flying Training
Group. He had been a former P-38 fighter
pilot who led the 49th Fighter Group
during the latter part of World War II.
Colonel Tice was well known for his
straightforward approach and overly
aggressive leadership style that
personified the training program at Nellis.
At the briefing, Colonel Tice gave his classic speech. He said,
"Welcome
to Nellis Air Force Base men, the finest
fighter weapons school in the world. We're
going to do one of three things to you
here—wash you out, kill you, or make you
one of the best fighter pilots in the
world. The choice is yours."
These
guys quickly learned that training at
Nellis was going to be hard-hitting,
relentless, and with no room for errors.
To prove this point, the motto of the
3595th Flying Training Group was "Every
man a tiger," and Colonel Tice
even had his personal F-86 adorned with
this animal, and the motto written
underneath. The gun panel on the left side
of the fuselage had multiple rows of
painted red stars with the words “Over
500 MiGs destroyed by Nellis-trained
pilots” emblazoned diagonally across the
rows.
The idea was to form an aggressive attitude among the
new pilots, not letting them get slack in
performing the proper maneuvers and
tactics. After all, this wasn't
single-engine pilot school anymore; it was
combat training. Every battle condition
was presented on the desert ranges to give
these guys a realistic scenario of what
they might experience when they got to
Korea. Many times, the new pilots would
even engage in "rat races" where they
tried to outmaneuver each other as in a
dogfight. There were many occasions,
especially while flying F-80s out to the
bombing range, when "aggressor" pilots
flying F-86 Sabres would swoop down from
above creating a swirl of activity. A lot
of times when this happened, too much fuel
was burned up while getting away, and the
pilots in the F-80s had to return to base
without releasing a single practice bomb
on the range.
But
again, this was Nellis. The instructors
were some of the best in the Air Force.
Most of them had combat experience in
Korea, with a few having fought also
during World War II. Their message to the
students was simple. They said, “Anytime
you are in the air at Nellis, you are fair
game for anyone.” And they backed this
up with liberal "bounces" anywhere and
anytime. Even while on a bombing or
strafing mission, a pilot had to be
constantly looking over his shoulder. The
instructors who flew these aggressor
aircraft kept their gun cameras on at all
times, and if any one of them came back
with a pilot’s tail number on his gun
camera film, then he was in big trouble.
Some
of the instructors were aces, having been
assigned to Nellis to sharpen the skills
of these untrained fighter pilots. A
couple notable ones were Maj. Frederick C.
"Boots" Blesse with 10 MiGs to his
credit, and Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr.
with five. Blesse arrived at Nellis in
December, two months after Jim began his
training. He started out as an instructor,
but later moved up to be one of the
squadron commanders. Captain Kinchloe
arrived in early 1953, during the second
phase of training when the guys were
flying F-86s in multiple training
exercises. These young pilots looked up to
all these combat veterans with total
admiration, absorbing every word that was
spoken, and trying to emulate their talent
out on the range.