USAFA Class Heritage Class of 1963

Lee (Larry) Adams seemed born to fly. He already was a pilot before he left his hometown of Willits, CA for a couple of years and an Associate's Degree in Aeronautics at Santa Rosa Junior College. He also was captain of the football team there. Activities at the Academy included football, Honor Rep, flying at the Aero Club, Summer Squadron Commander, and 6 semesters on the Commandant's List. After pilot training at Reese AFB, TX, and Combat Crew Training at Nellis AFB, NV, Lee was an F-105 Thunderchief pilot assigned to Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC, in June 1965 - and shortly thereafter at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand. Lee flew possibly his most interesting mission on 31 October 1965 - the first SAM Hunter-Killer Mission, by presidential directive. The XO (Executive Officer) of the USS Oriskany flew into Takhli in an A-4 Skyhawk loaded with bombs and a primitive, magic box that supposedly would point a needle at an active search radar for Surface to Air Missiles. The Navy commander would lead. Eight F-105s would follow. Lee would fly one of the Thuds. The story referenced below is a first-hand account well-told by Gary Barnhill, one of the 8 Air Force pilots. Great narrative: flying on the deck at 550 knots loaded with 750 pound bombs; a "Dooms Day Mission" when not everyone was likely to come back from the Hanoi area, but the type all the pilots fought to get on; the A-4 disintegrating over the target with the pilot probably surviving but never returning from North Vietnam. That was part of what Lee experienced. I suspect 31 October 1965 was the day Lee earned his Distinguished Flying Cross. Barnhill's article includes this paragraph. Picture Lee in the middle of the action. "A DFC awarded that day could have described any of the pilots on the mission: Thunderchiefs...Hunter-Killer mission...against Surface to Air Missiles...deep within hostile territory...low level high speed run...encounter withering ground fire...pressed the attack...dropped bombs in heart of target complex... remarkable mission...overwhelming odds... skill... aggressiveness..." Lee survived that extraordinary mission but not a more routine, daytime mission along the northern edge of Tally Ho, a few miles north of the DMZ on 19 April 1966. Lee was "one of the finest people I've met in my life. A very intelligent, thoughtful man."                              Fred Wood, former USAF Flight Surgeon, Lee's roommate at Takhli. "Lee was in my squadron all four years at the Academy and was the rock all of us looked to when things got tough."                                                                                           Jack McTasney, Class of 1963 "The most remarkable characters in my life were the heroes I was honored to fly with in 1965. They didn't all come home. Nam was not a very glamorous or patriotic war, but every fighter pilot I knew put his life on the line as if it were."                                                                            Gary Barnhill, F-105 Pilot at Takhli For an extremely well-told story about 31 October 1965, see SAM Hunter-Killer Mission by Gary Barnhill at http:;//www.burrusspta.org/barnhill.pdf.
35th Reunion (1998): Lee Adams achieved immortality his first day at the Academy in 1959: he’s the 63”, 240-pound, Mackinaw Jacket-clad Basic Cadet in the 1960 and 1963 Yearbooks with his chin “run-in” back to his spine while a ‘60 Grad tells him, “He’ll never make it.” Lee grew up in Willits in Northern California and told everyone he truly loved and had been flying almost from the day he was born. He had worked as a logger, so that Mackinaw was well worn by 1959. He had an Associate Degree in Aeronautics from Santa Rosa Junior College before he came to the Academy. Like a lot of big men, he was truly a gentle giant. With his size, strength, and quick mind, he was a stalwart of our squadron’s intramural teams and graduated with strong military and academic averages. During UPT at Reese AFB, TX, Lee Adams and Gary Rigsbee (also Deceased) were neck-and-neck for top graduate honors even though the IPs were amazed Lee could fold that big frame into the T-37 and T-38 cockpits. Once he was in, however, he flew like an eagle, and the aircraft was like an appendage of his body. He made everyone in his formations look good as either lead or on your wing. He checked out an Aero Club T- 34 and flew me to Denver when I married JoAnn in July during the T-38 phase. One of the bridesmaids still had a gleam in her eye two years later asking about Lee. Our ““65-B Dash One” entry quotes one of Lee’s radio calls, “Raindance 11, This is Nitecap. We fly T-38’s.” (Raindance 11 was the T-37 Squadron Commander). Lee got an F-105 ““Thud” assignment out of UPT—no two-seat, two- engine aircraft for him. He was going to fly single engine, solo, so he only had to spend half as much time checking the gauges. I seem to remember he was flying out of Takhli RTAFB, Thailand and had just returned from sick leave when he went out on his final mission on the 19 April 1966 to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and North Vietnam. Hit by ground fire while attacking trucks on the Trail, he went down without any radio call or chute. His status was changed to KIA on 26 April 1966. Lee was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clive L. Adams.