Buz was a couple of classes behind us in pre-flight....thought you would remember him and be interested. Regards, Charlie (Brown) –
From Charlie Brown (9-46) re: Buz Warfield:
Buz was a couple of classes behind us in pre-flight....thought you would remember him and be interested. Regards, Charlie (Brown) –
F8 pilot RADM Lemuel O. "Buz" Warfield, USNR retired, died 15 November following a fall from the roof of his Maryland home, five days short of his 81st birthday.
Buz was commanding officer of reserve F8 squadron VF-661 when it was recalled to active duty following the capture in early 1968 of the USS Pueblo by North Korea during the Vietnam War. VF-661 was subsequently deployed from Andrews AFB (NAS Washington) to NAS Cecil Field, where it received a full complement of recently remodeled F8H aircraft to replace squadron F-8A's owned at the time by a Marine reserve squadron also based at Andrews.
During the call-up, VF-661 was scheduled to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea aboard USS Shangri La in October 1968. Prior to the deployment, Buz was promoted to the rank of Captain, USNR. When squadron officers arrived at NAAS Mayport to receive stateroom assignments aboard the Shang, it was discovered that CAPT Warfield was senior to every officer on the ship save the ship's CO, including of course the ship's XO and the Air Wing CAG. This created a conundrum about who would get the second best stateroom on the ship. VF-661 also had a large contingency of officers at the rank of LCDR or above, further complicating stateroom assignments because other squadrons in the Air Wing had a much more junior rank structure.
In the event, VF-661's schedule deployment aboard Shangri La never occurred. In the summer of 1968, protest against the war had become a burning political issue. President Lyndon Johnson had already in effect been driven from office by his conduct of the war, and the approaching presidential and congressional elections placed every sitting politician on an uncomfortable "hot seat." The press began to publicize the fact that the U.S. Government was giving early releases to military personal who had not completed their obligated service while keeping recalled reservists on active duty. This implicit contradiction became a political "hot potato," and before long the reserve call-up was cancelled and VF661 personnel--along with personnel from five other recalled Navy reserve squadrons--returned to their home bases and reserve duty status.
Certain aspects of the VF-661 call-up stick in my memory. The squadron F-8H paint job was "hot" but non-standard, as we discovered after the fact. This did not, however, prevent CAG-a career active duty officer of course--from requesting to fly our planes on a cross-countries. Our F-8H's had the acronym "FUBIJAR" painted in white on the red vertical front center bulkhead of the F8's variable incident wing. The letters were visible only when the wing was raised, and then only forward of the airplane. What does the FUBIJAR mean? "F*** you buddy, I'm just a reservist." I will never forget the evening after the cancellation of the call-up. A contingency of VF-661 pilots and ground officers marched covered into the Cecil Field Officer's Club, where each mother's son gladly bought a round for everyone present. I also remember flying the hangar queen from Cecil back to Andrews without a generator--saved the RAT until it was time to land to preclude the possibility of a landing with no electrical power at all. Finally, I recall the F-8H's 147 KT approach speed at max trap weight. FMLPs felt a little like dive bombing runs. I really wasn't looking forward to night flying the "H" off Shang. At the time, I was the only squadron pilot except Buzz Jewell who had ever landed an F8 aboard ship, but I had never operated off an Essex class carrier. Some of you will recall Buzz Jewell. He was combat-limited and had come to us from a recalled west coast A4 squadron scheduled to deploy to Nam. Not long after the call-up ended, Buzz was killed in a reserve Skyhawk from NAS Alameda while performing dirty aileron rolls after liftoff from touch-and-goes at an outlying field. He completed the first four successfully while a friend stood alongside the runway shooting pictures. On the fifth, he dragged a wingtip, crashed, and burned. Difficulties experienced during the Navy reserve call-up of 1968--including the question of reserve aircraft ownership—ultimately led to a reorganization of U.S. Naval Reserve Air Forces to integrate them more completely with their career active duty counterparts.
Buz Warfield was much loved and respected by every member of VF-661. He was a superb pilot who, in addition to logging many hours in the F8, flew a large number of Navy airplanes including the F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, and F9F Cougar fighters. May God bless his journey into the unknown.