I received this special donation to the collection from Col. Tom Compler. Tom has flown a great career in the USAF as navigator ranging from the EB-66 to the F-111A/E/F . Tom was destined for the B-52 but managed to escape the Buff and started on the Douglas EB-66. After completing training initial training at Shaw AFB, he flew operational with the 19th Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron out of Kadena AB. I didn’t last long before he started flying combat operations on the EB-66 out of Takhli RTAFB, Thailand. He completed over 100 combat missions during the first tour and another 150 combat missions during a second tour. These are very rare to find, and will get a great display.
A little more background on the EB-66 and the extraordinary missions they flew.
The Douglas EB-66C was the electronic reconnaissance variant of the B-66 Destroyer bomber, which owed its origins to the US Navy’s A3D Skywarrior. Since the USAF needed a tactical reconnaissance aircraft more than a bomber, the first production variants were RB-66Bs. A total of 145 ‘RBs’ were delivered, nearly half of the 294 Destroyers built.
EB-66B/C/E aircraft flew numerous missions during the Vietnam War. They helped gather electronic intelligence about North Vietnamese defenses, and provided protection for bombing missions of the Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs by jamming North Vietnamese radar systems. Early on, B-66s flew oval “racetrack” patterns over North Vietnam, but after one B-66 was shot down by a MiG, the vulnerable flights were ordered to fly just outside North Vietnamese air space
Thirty-six RB-66Cs followed, the first taking to the air in October 1955. It was seen as an interim solution replacing Douglas RB-26 Invaders modified for tactical electronic reconnaissance in the Korean War – but only serving until the planned Republic RF-105 Thunderchief was delivered. Entering service at Shaw Air Force Base (AFB), South Carolina, in May 1956 as the RB-66C, the type was redesignated EB-66C in 1966.
The crew consisted of a pilot, a navigator, a gunner and, located in what had been the bomb bay, four EWOs. Their compartment – accessed via an external hatch or an internal crawlway from the cockpit when the aircraft was not pressurized – had two rows of two forward-facing ejection seats. Arrayed in front of each EWO were instruments for the aircraft’s radar receivers and jammers.
The only armament carried comprised two 20mm cannons in a tail turret, operated by the gunner – the only enlisted member of the crew.
The original mission was electronic reconnaissance. In this role RB-66Cs flew a prescribed orbit, usually in an oblong ‘racetrack’ parallel to the border. The front two EWO positions looked for low-frequency emitters such as Tall King, Spoon Rest and Flat Face EW radars as well as the SA-2’s missile guidance signal.
The back seaters mainly scanned for threat radars such as anti-aircraft fire control radars and the SA-2’s Fan Song. The fourth position was assigned to the ‘Lead Raven’ whose task was to direct the rest of the EWOs.
On receiving a hostile radar emission, the EWO responsible for its frequency band took a number of bearings to the radar site. In a pod underneath the EB-66 were four antennas spun by motors, and when these and the radar’s main beam coincided, the amplitude on the EWO’s display would go up, enabling the relative bearing to be determined. The EWO plotted multiple bearings at different points in the orbit to ‘fix’ the enemy radar’s location.
