Harris Wendell Kirk, the stunning life of a USAF pilot

Lt.Col ret. Harris Wendell Kirk was a former USAF F-104 Starfighter pilot (among other aircraft ratings). He passed away, 70 years old, on October, 6th, 2006. He became combat ready on the the F-104C from George AFB in 1961 and served 436 TFS at Da Nang in 1965 during the Vietnam war. Later he became Pilot Instructor at Luke AFB till 1972.

Recently we received some nice information, pictures from his daughter Tiffany including a letter her father wrote to a friend of him, on April 2nd, 2004. This letter gives a wonderful view on the life of a USAF pilot back in the 50s-70s and his daughter gave permission to share this letter beneath on our website for the F-104 community.

Written to a friend.

My Air Force career spanned 25 years. Between the time I earned my commission and Wings at Bryan, Texas until I retired here at Eglin AFB (an extremely short span of time) I flew mostly jet fighters (eight types), held a staff job of two, had the privilege of commanding a squadron, instructed in the F-104G Fighter Weapons School, and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. Once entrenched here in Shalimar, I opted to retire as a Lt. Colonel rather than move the family again, and so soon after just buying our house.

After we finished boot camp at Lackland, I was assigned here in Eglin to await a slot in Flying school. I worked in the base photo lab during that time, hitchhiked home on the weekends, and made two stripes before leaving for Preflight training at Lackland. From there I went to Malden MO, where I learned to fly in the T-34 and T-28. Six months later I went to Bryan, Texas, to finish up in T-33's. I was fortunate to get a fighter training slot at Luke AFB where I flew the F-84F for six months before moving overseas to Toul-Rosierres AB, France. That began a terrific four year of duty, two years in France and two years in Germany. If you recall, DeGaulle kicked all Tactical Fighters out of France in 1958.
I first flew the F-86H in France, then in early 1958 we transitioned to the F-100 Super Sabre. I suppose the highlight of my Flying the F-86H, other than the fact that it was a terrific airplane, was having to eject one night over Germany. Instrument failure made it difficult to control the aircraft at night in bad weather, so I jettisoned the aircraft before becoming a statistic*.
After finally getting the cast off my leg, (impact with the ground in a strong wind) I only flew the F-86 a few more times before the F-100 arrived. Long story short - toured all over Europe in my off time, and had a ball. Hated to return to the States.

* International F-104 Society: Harris Wendell Kirk  refers here to his accident with F-86H 53-1427 which crashed that day near the German town of Ulm. 

I was reassigned to George AFB in Victorville, California in 1961 where I checked out on the F-104C. The certification papers were barely dry before I was back in Germany TDY as a result of the Berlin crisis. In the total of four years I was assigned at George, I probably spent only two years there. The rest of the time was TDY to one crisis or another, including the Cuban Crisis, and the Vietnam war beginning in 1965. Shortly after arriving at George, I was selected as a finalist for the Thunderbirds and traveled with them for a couple of weeks. I did not fly any real airshows, but I did try out in the F-100 Flying a practice mission. That was a shoot. Came out in the top three but just never made the top.

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It was at George that Jerrie and I were married (1962) right after returning from Germany. We met in Europe, and after that it gets complicated, so will just say that we have been together for 42 years, have three girls, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild on the way.

After returning from Da Nang, South Vietnam in 1966, I was assigned to Luke AFB where I instructed German and American students in how to fly the F-104G. That tour lasted about six years total, interrupted by a remote tour in Korea during the Pueblo capture and ensuing posturing. It was here that I flew the F-105 briefly.

In 1972, my tour at Luke came to an end and I transitioned to the F-4 and went back to Vietnam, Flying out of Ubon, Thailand. There I was Operations Officer of the Night Owl Squadron and Commander for a short while. We ended the war in 1973 and I returned to the States assigned to Nellis AFB. While there I flew the T-38 chasing test missions as a safety observer, and attended college (via the bootstrap program) to finish my degree. When that was complete, I moved to Eglin AFB and the 33rd Fighter Wing again flying the F-4. I was the Assistant to the Director of Operations until I retired. We transitioned to the F-15 in 1978, however, I retired before becoming combat ready in the F-15. And so ended a fun career in which I was fortunate to be able to fly most of the time and in most of the front line fighters in the that era. It was fun, intense (especially the war), rewarding, and did I mention FUN.

After I retired, I sold real estate in the local area and Destin for about a year. Made a good amount of money, but that was not my cup of tea. I finished my masters in Public Administration here and taught a management course at the local college for about two years. I accepted a civilian job with the Air Force conducting operational testing of new flying equipment, where I stayed for 16 years before completely retiring. That was six years ago, and I've played a lot of golf since. My health doesn't allow me to fly anymore. Smoked too much and now I'm paying the price. Unfortunately I am somewhat restricted in what I can do because of COPD. Translated, that means I am very short winded.

So there it is - almost 50 years in a nutshell. I enjoyed 99 percent of it, and am amazed at how fast it went. I completed my Air Force tour with 4500 flying hours. I was combat ready in the F-84F, F-86H, F-100D, F-104C,G and F-4C,D,E. I also flew the F-105, F-15 and A-7 along with a few other non-fighter types. I enjoyed them all, but have a special place in my heart for the F-86 and F-104.
They were super machines at that time. Airplanes today are close to the same, air-frame wise, but the drastic difference is in the cockpit electronics and the engines. Those two things make today's fighters light years ahead of earlier airplanes in terms of capability. Its a video game up there now..

Wendell.

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