 'I felt and heard a large explosion' Distinguished Flying Cross with "V" Her handle is “Killer Chick,” but the Distinguished Flying Cross that Air Force Maj. Kim Campbell was awarded involved the act of preservation, not destruction. On April 7, 2003, Campbell, an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot with the 75th Fighter Squadron, helped save the lives of American troops who were pinned down by Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard on the Tigris River, near the North Baghdad Bridge. Campbell also saved Iraqi lives because she refused to ditch her aircraft over the crowded capitol and eject, allowing the burning jet to crash into a city of 11 million people. And Campbell saved U.S. taxpayers the cost of replacing one “Warthog” — a 30,000 pound, multimillion-dollar twin-engine jet aircraft specifically designed for close air support, one of the most in-demand missions in Iraq and Afghanistan to this day. Early that gray and windy morning in Iraq, Campbell and her flight lead, squadron commander Lt. Col. Rick Turner, were waiting their turn in the “CAS stack,” the name Air Force fighter pilots give for the circles they fly while waiting to be called to perform close-air-support missions. Campbell and Turner had flown their two-ship formation to Baghdad from Al Jabr Air Base in Kuwait, stopping just long enough on the way for their Warthogs to sip a load of fuel from the refueling tankers playing the role of flying gas stations, she said. When the call came over the radio that U.S. troops at the bridge needed help, Turner, as flight lead, knifed the nose of his A-10 downward and dived through the dense clouds, calling for Campbell — a captain at the time — to follow. The pair immediately spotted the fighting at the bridge. They began to respond in a square dance of mayhem, taking turns letting loose with the Warthog’s 30 mm cannons and explosive rockets. When it was her turn to make her final pass, Campbell dropped in from south to north, left hand pushing the throttle all the way forward to give the aircraft maximum power. As she rolled in on her target, and adjusted her position using the joystick in her right hand, Campbell’s thumb slipped over the “pickle button” at the top of the stick. A split-second before the Warthog hit the target her thumb pushed the button, and the rocket spat from the plane with a bright flash of flight.... |
Go read the rest here. Wow! Thank you for your service, Major Campbell.
*Brat note: I first posted this on Tanker Bros back in April, 2008, but I think she is so awesome, wanted to share her story here. :)
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