“Misty” was the radio callsign used by the F-100F Fast Forward Air Controllers (Fast FACs) during the Vietnam War. There were 157 pilots officially assigned to fly missions over North Vietnam from 15 June 1967 – 19 May 1970. 21 other attached pilots flew occasional missions. There were also Intelligence Officers, Flight Surgeons, and Maintenance Officers assigned. It was a small, tight-knit group of special people given a difficult task in a terrible war.
Of the 157 Mistys, 34 were shot down (22%). Eight others were shot down when not flying with Misty (total 28%). Two Mistys were shot down twice. There were seven KIA, four POWs, and [as of Jan ’10] 42 are now deceased. There was also one Medal of Honor winner, two Air Force Chiefs of Staff, six general officers, a winner of the Collier Trophy, the Louis Bleriot Medal, the Presidential Citizen’s Medal of Honor, and the first man to fly non-stop, un-refueled around the world. By any measure this was an unusual group of men.
At the height of the war almost 550,000 American and 800,000 South Vietnamese battled the North Vietnamese and Vietcong in pitched battles on the ground and in the air.
Over 300,000 American troops were wounded. A total of 651 POWs returned from the war. Four were Mistys:
58,229 names of those who gave their lives for their country are engraved on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C. Eight of those names were Mistys:
The Mistys are legend.