"Back at the Gap" Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) Jet fighter on way to Gap crashed into river 46th in a series There are many interesting displays for a visitor to enjoy at Fort Indiantown Gap. The term “Fort” implies a fenced-in, closed-off installation, however, that is not the case. Although there are a few restricted areas, the Fort is an ”open post” and public highways traverse from one entrance to the others. The many places of interest that a tourist might enjoy are a part of the Gap’s history and deserve recognition. One of the more prominent displays is the F-102 Delta Dagger jet fighter on static display in the center of the post, in front of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs headquarters building on Fisher Avenue. This aircraft is an important part of the history of the Air Force and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It is one of the 18 F-102’s flown by pilots of the 112th Fighter Interceptor Group whose mission was to provide the air defense for the northern part of the United States for 14 years during the Cold War days. From 1961 to 1975, these Air Guard pilots stood runway alert for 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport always ready to scramble within minutes regardless of the weather conditions to intercept any unidentified aircraft approaching southward from the Canadian border or toward the United States from the Atlantic Coast. These supersonic jets were ready for combat and were fully armed with two heat seeking missiles and four radar beam missiles as well as 2.75 inch rockets. The jet at the Gap was one of 375 such fighters built in the mid-1950’s by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. In 1975, the 112th was converted to another newer fighter aircraft, the A-7D, and the obsolete 18 F-102’s were designated to be transferred to the “bone yards ” to be mothballed and stored at the Air Force’s desert storage area at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. With the Air Force’s permission, we were authorized to transfer one of these F-102’s to the Gap to be placed on permanent static display at the Pennsylvania Air Guard headquarters to commemorate the 112th Group’s contribution to our nation’s air defense. But, the story doesn’t end there. An F-102 was selected and flown to the Harrisburg International Airport where maintenance personnel of the Air Guard’s 193rd Special Operations Group demilitarized the aircraft. This involved removing all the expensive flight instruments and the large 10,000 horsepower J-57 jet engine with its after-burner, thus making it safe for the aircraft to be mounted as the static display. Arrangements were made with a Skycrane helicopter unit from the Virginia Army National Guard to transport this F-102 to the Gap. As a safety precaution, a flight route was established over non-populated areas, in the unlikely event the F-102 would be accidentally dropped, and the Skycrane was directed to fly north over the Susquehanna River, then fly east along the ridge of Blue Mountain to the Gap. On a summer day in 1976, at HIA, with four cables were bolted into the F-102’s fuselage at the proper positions in accordance with the Air Force tech orders, the airlift commenced. The media’s television cameras were rolling as the Skycrane lifted off. The helicopter was climbing through 600 feet when the F-102 hanging underneath started violent oscillation, the bolts started to tear loose and the F-102 broke away, nosedived and crashed into the river. Meanwhile, members of the media and the maintenance personnel from the Pittsburgh Air Guard unit were assembled on the lawn outside the Gap’s National Guard headquarters building waiting arrival of the F-102 aircraft so they could mount it on the special stand that had been installed. Unfortunately, the wait was in vain. My staff had on occasions played practical jokes on me, but when Colonel Ralph Boeshore, my executive officer, rushed into my office and exclaimed “The 102 broke away and crashed into the river”, his serious face told me that this was not a joke. Later, the crew of the Skycrane told us that such accidents had happened previously, that we should have used a cable net around the aircraft to hold it in a safer position. Unfortunately, they had never mentioned this to us during the mission briefing. To make matter worse, the helicopter crew told us that these cable nets were available at the New Cumberland Army Depot just across the river from the Harrisburg Airport. Although we had followed the tech orders for installing the cables, we were not aware that with the large jet engine removed, the aircraft no longer possessed the rigidity and strength to withstand the pressure. I was very much embarrassed by this incident, and as might be imagined, I was subjected to quite a lot of kidding about my F-102 being “parked” in the river rather than the runway. Early the next morning, without any fanfare, and to avoid further publicity, (and there was a lot of it), we had a crew retrieve the wreckage and it was scrapped. Fortunately, except for my pride, no one was injured. We still wanted to have an F-102 for display at the Gap. I called the 112th Group and learned that fortunately there was still one more left. I proceeded to get authorization from the Air Force to have that aircraft transferred to the Gap. However, this time that jet was disassembled at Pittsburgh and brought to the Gap on one of the 201st Red Horse Flight’s flatbeds. We had a big snowstorm the day it was to be brought to the Gap but the F-102 arrived safely and was stored at the Army Guard Aviation Support Center for the rest of the winter. In April 1967 when we had better weather, it was towed to its present location and mounted on its special stand. This story has never been told before, so it’s time to publish this part of history and explain the background of how this substitute F-102 arrived at its final resting place. So when you visit Fort Indiantown Gap see this aircraft with PA AIR GUARD painted on its side, you’ll know that this F-102 is a substitute with its own unique history. On the lawn beside this static aircraft, another example of the Cold War air defense story is portrayed with a retired Nike Ajax missile and a larger Nike Hercules on display. Pennsylvania Army National Guard Nike missile sites were activated in Pittsburgh (1959) and Philadelphia (1960) during the Cold War as it was believed that Soviet bombers could and would target major cities and industrial areas. Other missile sites were strategically placed throughout the United States. It was the mission of the Air Defense Missile units to operate continuously and effectively provide air defense of designated critical areas against hostile attack. These missile sites were each manned around the clock with an average of 90 full-time technical specialists on alert duty. As the threat of Soviet bomber attacks diminished, the missile sites were eventually closed around 1970. At that time, these two missiles were dismantled and transported to Fort Indiantown Gap by members of the 154th Transportation Battalion as an annual training project. One came from the Westview site southeast of Pittsburgh and the other came from Coraopolis. Published in the Wednesday, August 10, 2005 edition of the Lebanon Daily News © 2005 Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author. Go "Back at the Gap" Index