Upcoming Events

The next meeting is:
Date: July 3, 2025
Place: Fort Walton Yacht Club (map)
Time: 1130-1300. Meal served at 1200 is
$16.00
Please make reservations by: June 28, 2025
Click the RED button to make reservations.

July Lunch Agenda

An Unusual Career

Col Dick Solt

An Unusual Career

Colonel Richard Solt graduated in 1960 from Penn State ROTC as 2LT.  During Cuban Missile Crisis, he was assigned to Incirlik, Turkey. He was then assigned to HQ Tactical Air Command with rapid deployments worldwide and chemical biological school at Dugway, Utah. Then on to Vietnam in 1968 during both TET Offenses, followed by  a directed assignment to HQ PACAF to follow up on Vietnam projects. Following that he was assigned to Kelly AFB, to start career in Foreign Military Sales, working with Northrop Aircraft to put over 1500  F-5 fighter aircraft into worldwide foreign air forces. He then went to CINCPAC HQ in Hawaii to assist with preparation for Senate and Congressional Hearings in Washington.  He then was assigned to the Pentagon in the Secretary of Defense Office followed by Division Chief on the Air Staff in International Programs, supporting countries in the Americas involved with the Contra War. His final assignment was Commander of Foreign Military Training. In retirement he went to Saudi Arabia working in the Royal Saudi Air Force HQ during Desert Storm , and then hired by Boeing HQ office as Director for delivery and support of 72 F15S aircraft.

His military decorations and awards include Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service medal with two oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation  Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and Vietnam Gallantry Cross.

Col Solt will talk about the four events he was involved with – Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Contra Affair and Desert Storm. 

Save the Date

Women Veterans’ Day

June 12, 2025

1250 Miracle Strip Parkway SE

Fort Walton Beach, FL

(Click HERE for a map)

Officers call

Doc's Oyster Bar & Grill

 

 

Our next Officers Call will be on July 31, 2025 starting at 1700,
Location: Doc’s Oyster Bar & Grill
in Valparaiso, FL

                    (Click HERE or on the logo for a map to Doc’s Oyster Bar & Grill)

November Lunch Agenda

Flying Against the Odds

Col John Wambough

NWFMOA member John Wambough, Colonel, USAF (RET) says courage and love of country was the glue and inspiration that kept the F-105 fighter jet pilots climbing high in the sky at record speeds over North Vietnam. Retired Colonel John H. Wambough, remembers the heroic past of his pilot friends who daily went into battle facing being shot down, perhaps rescued, killed or falling into the hands of the North Vietnamese. John says he never thought of himself as a hero, though his F-105 took on enemy fire. He says, “The real heroes were those who fought bravely and didn’t make it back safely. Many were unmercifully tortured for years in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” and many never returned.”

John grew up in Glen Cove, Long Island, N.Y. He attended New York University (NYU) and joined the Cadet Corps, became Captain of the Pershing Rifle Trick Drill Team, and Cadet Corps Commander his senior year. Graduating NYU in 1962, he attended Flight School at Vance Air Force Base during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He flew the B52G Bomber during the Cold War against the Soviet Union. He volunteered to fly F-105 Fighters in 1967. During the Vietnam War, John volunteered to fly the F-105 Thunderchief (THUD) and trained at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV.

John flew missions as a part of Operation Rolling Thunder. The F-105 accounted for approximately 75% of the sustained bombing campaign against N. Vietnam during Rolling Thunder. John’s combat tour included strikes into North Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, with only a single mission into South Vietnam in support of our troops in contact with enemy forces (Viet Cong).

John loved flying the F-105. He describes it as “fantastic.” The F-105 was the biggest and fastest fighter-bomber ever produced. It could go up to 1,000 mph off the deck. MIGs (fighter aircraft supplied by Russia to the North Vietnamese) couldn’t match its speed.

In September of 1968, John began a tour of duty in the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) at KORAT, Thailand expecting to fly 100 combat missions in 6 months. But due to the high losses of F-105 aircraft during the Vietnam War, in 1969, the F-105s were withdrawn from combat in the 34th TFS and replaced with F-4 fighter aircraft. John went on to an assignment as an Air Operations Officer at 7th Air Force, Saigon, followed by assignment to the 12th TFS at Kadena AB, Okinawa. He retired in 1990 at Hurlburt Field after 27½ years in the Air Force.

Taken in part from FWB Life, April 12, 2025

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