Roadrunners

Roadrunners. The Phoenix Roadrunner Squadron is firmly established at its new Scottsdale ready room, first used for the 2001 Christmas party. Since then, member Pete Peterson has begun collecting a biographical sketch of each member for later compilation and distribution. The March event brought back RADM Dennis Wisely, USN (Ret.), who made such a favorable impression on his first "cruise" with the Roadrunners. As before, he kept the audience riveted with vignettes from his extraordinary career as a combat fighter pilot, test pilot, Blue Angels CO, and carrier skipper. Most intriguing were passages from his combat diary, detailing the 350 missions he flew in Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1972. Wisely, a VF-114 pilot, led the Navy for several years with two shootdowns: an An-2 in December 1966 and a MiG- 17 inApril 1967.

But it wasn't always one-sided. On a subsequent mission his Phantom was tagged by AAA and he made a low-level ejection at 400 knots. Then-LT Wisely landed atop a 200-foot tree hard on the Laotian border ("I logged an OK-Tree" he grinned) and waited to see whether a SAR helo would fetch him before the Vietnamese arrived. His admiration for combat SAR crews is enormous, especially the Navy crew that flew clear across North Vietnam to help him and only turned back when the helo was damaged and the copilot wounded. A USAF "Jolly Green" finally arrived 30 minutes later for the rescue.

Subsequent duty included 6th Fleet Chief of Staff where Wisely glimpsed the inner workings of the Bush-Gorbachev summit at Malta. After conning USS John F Kennedy (CV-67), Wisely was selected for rear admiral. He retired in 1996. He closed his remarks by reading the inspirational message of CAPT Harve Henderson to JFK's crew when beginning operations against Afghanistan a few days before the ANA meeting. (Barrett Tillman)

More from the Roadrunners. For the sixth year, Arizona ANA members recognized the Marines at Yuma. Phoenix Roadrunner CO Dick Ferron recognized the MAG- 13 Harrier Pilot of the Year, MAJ Edward Montgomery; CO Ed Davis of the Tucson Desert Hawks recognized the MAWTS-1 Instructor of the Year, MAJ Preston Jones. Together the two ANA organizations also honored the VMFT-401 Adversary Instructor of the Year, LCOL Robert Underwood, USMCR. During the luncheon held in their honor at the MCAS Yuma Club on March 15th, the three officers each received an ANA plaque, a leather day-runner, a personal letter from Senator John McCain and an American flag flown over the Capitol in their names.

Guest speaker MGEN C.F. Bolden, Commandng General 3rd Aircraft Wing, gave a dynamic talk on the ongoing USMC actions in the fight against terrorism.

A highlight during the ceremony came when MAJ Montgomery, upon receiving his award, introduced the Marines from his detachment, who kept the aircdraft ready for flight with such great success.

In the first photo are the USMC awardees and their commanding officers with MGEN Bolden, 4th from the right. In the second picture, with MGEN Bolden, is Foster Lewis. ANA's Southwest Vice President. (Foster Lewis)

Copyright Association of Naval Aviation Summer 2002
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