OUR HISTORY

Former 318th FIS "Green Dragon" Pilot Lt Col. Randy Neville's account of the 1982 volcanic eruption of Mt. St Helens. 

Lt. Col. Randy Neville (Ret), former F-106 Instructor Pilot with the McChord's 318th FIS "Green Dragons", relays his account of what was in his words was a “once-in-a lifetime experience” when he and his fellow Squadron mate witnessed the eruption Mt. Saint Helens from a T-33A T-Bird flying thousands of feet in the air over Washington State. In the picture below a 318th FIS Pilot is seen from the back seat of a T-33.

I Had once-in-a-lifetime experience of flying over Mt. St. Helens on Sunday morning, at 08:32 AM, May 18, 1980.   I was in a T-33 with Capt Bob Crow, getting ferried to our detachment at Kingsley Field, Oregon, to pick up an F-106 that needed to return to McChord for maintenance work.  We had taken off from McChord around 8:00 that morning and proceeded south. About 30 minutes later, we were abeam Mt. St. Helens.  

As we looked at the mountain, we commented how picturesque it appeared.  Although the mountain had periodically been spitting smoke or steam from its top for several months, that morning, it was very peaceful.  Not a whiff of smoke anywhere.  As we watched, the top of the mountain began lifting off right in front of us. 

Initially, the smoke seemed to have its own heavy mass, rolling down the sides of the mountain.  Then the smoke and ash began developing vertically, forming the mushroom shaped clouds associated with a nuclear blast.  Lightning was occurring from one part of the cloud to the other.  We notified Seattle Center of what we seeing, and the controller responded that he was starting to see it on his scope - the ash was thick enough that he was getting radar returns over several square miles.  We were on the western side of the mountain, opposite from most of the blast, and far enough away that we were not in danger.  We orbited for a few minutes, taking a few pictures, then preceded south.  We knew Seattle Center would be busy establishing a restricted area around the mountain, diverting traffic, and notifying rescue, geological survey, and news agencies.  

On my return flight later that afternoon in an F-106, while still far south of the mountain and using the F-106 radar, I was able to get a radar return on the plume as high as 55,000'.  

The Mt St Helens eruption was obviously a tremendous event for the entire Northwest, and certainly had a major impact on any flying unit in the vicinity.  From the initial hints that Mt St Helens was entering an active phase, the 318th FIS had maintained contingency plans.  The plans called for the immediate recall of pilots and evacuation of all flyable aircraft to Colorado.  We knew the fallout from an eruption could damage the aircraft and close the airfield for an extended period of time.  Fortunately, on the day of the big eruption, the winds kept the plume and subsequent fallout away from McChord.  The eruption and the remaining volcanic crater became signature images for those flying, working, and living in the northwest around that time.  

Please visit former 318 Fighter- Interceptor Squadron's Instructor Pilot Col. Ron Dufresne's website "Ron's Bases"  for the actual pictures shot during Capt Neville and Capt Crows flight during the Mt. St. Helens eruption. During his time with the 318th Col Dufresne was one of the Squadrons more accomplished pilots, serving as an Instructor pilot, Weapons Officer and Chief of Standardization & Evaluation for the Green Dragons. In 1982 Dufresne, Neville were members of the 318th FIS's last team to compete at the bi-annual William Tell Weapons Meet in the F-106 Delta Dart. Between 1983 and 1985 the then Captain Dufresne assumed command of the 318th FIS's F-15 alert detachment at Castle AFB, CA.

56-0459's LAST ASSIGNED PILOT - CURRENT F/A-22 TEST PILOT

The then Captain Randy Neville , (left) former F-106 Instructor Pilot with the McChord's 318th FIS, is pictured above with fellow 318th Pilot Capt. Mark Debolt after a William Tell practice flight at McChord AFB in October 1982. 

Col. Randy Neville (USAF Ret) began this 20-year Air Force career in June of 1976 after Graduation from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Electrical Engineering. After attending pilot training at Williams AFB, Neville then joined the Air Defense Weapons Center’s 95th Fighter-Interceptor Training Squadron, and later with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Keflavik NAS, Iceland.

In March 1980 the then Captain joined McChord’s 318th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron,  which at that time flew the Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star proficiency trainer and the F-106A/B Delta Dart Interceptor.  During his three years with the “Green Dragons”  Neville proved to be one of the Squadrons best Pilots,   performing as one of the Squadrons, Instructor and Evaluation pilot and Flight  Commander. In 1982 the then Captain was selected for the team of "Top Gun's" to represent won the right to represent in the Squadron at the premier Worldwide Air Defense Weapons Competition, the 1982 William Tell Air-to-Air Weapons Meet, and the last for the Squadron in the F-106. 

After the 318th conversion to from the F-106 into the F-15 Eagle, Neville joined his first overseas unit, the F-16 equipped 401st Tactical Fighter Wing’s 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron Torrejon, Spain, later he would be back in the states with the 3246 Test Squadron, Eglin AFB, FL, and his final assignment as an Instructor and Director of Flight Operations for the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. After a 20 year career Randy Neville from the USAF in 1996.

Shortly after the end of his Air Force career, Randy continued his tie with high performance aircraft with his employment as a Test Pilot with Boeing’s F-22 Fight Test Organization during the fighters early development. During his time in Seattle, Neville would also work with Boeing's Commercial Flight Test organization, testing many of the company’s newest Commercial Airplane derivatives.  

As the F-22 program moved into the active flight test (airframe and avionics testing), Randy relocated to Edwards AFB, CA, and began flying the F-22, as well as the F-16, which is routinely use as a chase aircraft.  Randy has been one of a handful of pilots flying the F-22 over the last several years, and has participated in many of the Raptors historic milestones. 

A painting titled "Convair F-106 over Mount Saint Helens" by Aviation artist Rick Broome of the Museum's F-106A 56-0459 from the McChord's 318th FIS flying over Mt. St. Helens. Restoration Crews are currently raising funds to complete the restoration of F-106 -0459. This Rick Broome painting is one of the many fundraising items that can be found on the F-106 Restoration page, FIX - A - SIX.