U S Air Force Thunderbirds

F-4E Phantom

Michael Jacobssen with his 1973 (# 6 F-4E) pilot, Capt Doug Roach. Doug became the # 3 T38 pilot in 1974. This picture was taken Feb 8, 1974, after their very last flight together in their F-4E (66-0289) right before the Team surrendered it and transitioned to the T-38As. As fate would have it, on Feb 10, 1996, this [same] pilot and crew chief were reunited with their [same] old red, white and blue F-4E, to strike the [same] photo pose they had done 22yrs earlier. 66-0289 had been retrieved from the Boneyard just months earlier and restored to colors and dedicated to Castle Air Museum, CA, by ret (MSgt) Shayne Meder and her volunteer crew.

I had applied for the Team in 1970 when I was at Phu Cat AB, Vietnam, thanks to Rick Thompson, Hal England and Charlie Gerringer. I left Nam in Dec 1970 and was next stationed at Williams AFB, AZ. It was there during 1971 that I was called into the Wing Commander's office one hot summer day and questioned by the General himself why I had two set of orders,....one set to go back to Thailand and the other for the USAF Thunderbirds. Before I could respond back to the General's question about what is it going to be, he ripped up one set of  orders in front of me. His comment right then was " Son, you're going to the best of the best....make me proud." I never saw that General again nor did I know who he was at the time. I later found out that it was our former F-100 Cmdr/Ldrfrom 1965 -1967, (then Lt Col) Ralph Maglione. To this day I regret I never saw him again or thanked him for giving me the best 4yrs of my life. I joined the Team in Jan 1972 as a crew chief. That first year I worked night shift. In 1973, I was selected to crew 66-0289 as # 6. In 1974, when we surrendered the F-4Es and transitioned to the T-38A, I again crewed # 6. In 1975, I crewed # 2. I left the team in Dec 1975 and got out of the Active Duty Air Force with 7.5 yrs. In Jan 76, I went to Saudi Arabia and worked for Northrop on the Royal Saudi Air Force F-5B/E/F - Peace Hawk program and then again years later with McDonnell Douglas on the F-15C/D/S - Peace Sun programs. I worked a total of 9yrs in Saudi Arabia. I enjoyed my time over there at both Dhahran and at Khamis Mushayt. I am now back with Lockheed Martin and in my 19th year working the F-16 retrofit programs here in Fort Worth, Texas. I am also still in the AF 
Reserves here at nearby NAS JRB Fort Worth (old Carswell AFB). I am a SMSgt with 10AF Hdqtrs where I am an F-16 Program Mgr with that unit. I enjoy both my Lockheed and my AF Reserve jobs.