KITS 08/2023

F-104C-10-LO, 57-0923, Lt. Col. Robert A. Preciado, 435th TFS,

479th TFW, Udorn RTAFB, Thailand, July 1967

F-104 serial number 57-0923 arrived in Udorn

on September 19, 1966. It was assigned to the

flight commander Lt. Col. Robert Preciado who

let both sides of his aircraft nose painted with

the nickname of his wife Dolly Hellooo Dolly,

long Hellooo coming from the famous musical

Hello Dolly starring Barbra Streisand. After the

operations in Udorn were completed, the aircraft

was flown back to the USA where, in July 1967,

it arrived in Muniz AFB in Puerto Rico. Starting

in August 1968 it was assigned to the 198th TFS.

Robert Preciado was a veteran of three wars.

During WWII he flew in the Pacific with the Air

Transport Command and continued his aviation

career in Korea and Vietnam.

F-104C-5-LO, 56-0886, 476th TFS, 479th TFW, Da Nang AB,

South Vietnam, April 1965

In 1965 Starfighter serial number 56-0886 flew

out of Da Nang airbase in the South Vietnam.

Its nose was decorated with the red inscription

Fannie and it was one of few 479th TFW planes

that had their nicknames painted on the fuselage.

In April 1965, the 479th TFW dispatched 28 F-104C

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INFO Eduard

to Da Nang airbase. They flew the combat patrols

over the bay of Tonkin to protect EC-121 Warning

Star nicknamed College Eye or Disco. The effect

of the F-104 deployment on the North Vietnamese

and Chinese MiG operations was immediate. The

Vietnam Peoples Republic‘s pilots learned very

soon to avoid any contact with EC-121 airplanes

which were escorted by F-104. During the whole

479th TFW deployment in 1965 only two brief

encounters between F-104C and MiGs took place.

August 2023