Joe Crecca was born in 1940 in East Orange, New Jersey. He entered Air Force Officer Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas, on July 2, 1964, and was commissioned a 2Lt in September 1964. Crecca next went through Undergraduate Pilot Training, graduating in October 1965. He completed F-4C Weapons Systems Officer training in June 1966 and reported to the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing "Gunfighters", at Danang AB in the Republic of Vietnam, in August 1966. While flying his 87th combat mission, Lt Crecca's F-4 was hit and he was forced to eject over North Vietnam. He was immediately taken as a Prisoner of War and spent the next 2,280 days in captivity before being released during Operation Homecoming on February 18, 1973. After repatriation, Crecca went back on flying status and served with the 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing, at Eglin AFB, Florida, flying F-4E's from February 1974 until November 1976. He next served with the 3246th Test Wing, also at Eglin AFB, from November 1976 until he left the Air Force in July 1978. He served as Chief of Stan/Eval in both the 33rd TFW and 3246th TW. After leaving the Air Force, Major Crecca flew Douglas DC-8's and Boeing 747's with Flying Tigers, and then MD-11's and DC-10's with Federal Express after the two airlines merged. He retired from Fedex in September 2005. Major Crecca wears Command Pilot Wings and accumulated over 1,800 flying hours in the T-37 Tweet, T-38 Talon, F-4C, D, E, and RF-4C Phantoms, and the T-33. In addition, he has flown over 15,000 hours as an airline pilot and in civilian flying in the Beech King Air, EMB-120, Boeing 727, 747, 757, 767, DC-8, DC-10, and MD-11 aircraft. Joe is married to the former Joan Rice of Liverpool, England, and they have one son, Elliott, who is a U.S. Army Captain in the JAG Corps and has recently spent a tour in Iraq.
His Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads:
First Lieutenant Joseph Crecca Jr., distinguished himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as a Pilot of a tactical jet fighter near Thuy Ba, North Vietnam on 7 November 1966. On that date, Lieutenant Crecca's flight of three tactical fighters was diverted from their pre-planned target to a highly important hostile storage and supply point. In the ensuing flight, Lieutenant Crecca accurately navigated the flight to the new target through severe weather conditions, located the target visually and controlled the flight during the critical attack phase. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Lieutenant Crecca reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
Aircraft/Missile Information
From Wikipedia: The F-4 Phantom was designed as a fleet defense fighter for the U.S. Navy, and first entered service in 1960. By 1963, it had been adopted by the U.S. Air Force for the fighter-bomber role. When production ended in 1981, 5,195 Phantom IIs had been built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft.[7] Until the advent of the F-15 Eagle, the F-4 also held a record for the longest continuous production with a run of 24 years. Innovations in the F-4 included an advanced pulse-doppler radar and extensive use of titanium in its airframe.[8] Despite the imposing dimensions and a maximum takeoff weight of over 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg),[9] the F-4 had a top speed of Mach 2.23 and an initial climb of over 41,000 ft per minute (210 m/s).[10] Shortly after its introduction, the Phantom set 15 world records,[11] including an absolute speed record of 1,606.342 mph (2,585.086 km/h), and an absolute altitude record of 98,557 ft (30,040 m).[12] Although set in 1959?1962, five of the speed records were not broken until 1975 when the F-15 Eagle came into service.[11] The F-4 could carry up to 18,650 pounds (8,480 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and unguided, guided, and nuclear bombs.[13] Since the F-8 Crusader was to be used for close combat, the F-4 was designed, like other interceptors of the day, without an internal cannon;[14] In a dogfight, the RIO or WSO (commonly called "backseater" or "pitter") assisted in spotting opposing fighters, visually as well as on radar. It became the primary fighter-bomber of both the Navy and Air Force by the end of the Vietnam War. Due to its distinctive appearance and widespread service with United States military and its allies, the F-4 is one of the best-known icons of the Cold War. It served in the Vietnam War and Arab?Israeli conflicts, with American F-4 crews achieving 277 aerial victories in South East Asia and completing countless ground attack sorties.[15] The F-4 Phantom has the distinction of being the last United States fighter to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the USAF had one pilot and two WSOs,[16] and the USN one pilot and one RIO,[17] become aces in air-to-air combat. It was also a capable tactical reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (suppression of enemy air defenses) platform, seeing action as late as 1991, during Operation Desert Storm.[4][5] The F-4 Phantom II was also the only aircraft used by both of the USA's flight demonstration teams.[18] The USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the USN Blue Angels (F-4J) both switched to the Phantom for the 1969 season; the Thunderbirds flew it for five seasons,[19] the Blue Angels for six.[20] The baseline performance of a Mach 2-class fighter with long range and a bomber-sized payload would be the template for the next generation of large and light/middle-weight fighters optimized for daylight air combat. The Phantom would be replaced by the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force. In the U.S. Navy, it would be replaced by the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet which revived the concept of a dual-role attack fighter.[21]
