Luke Air Park displays Thunderbird history

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jasmine Reif
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  There is a name printed on a plaque in front of every plane in the Luke Air Force Base air park and behind every one of those names is a story. This is the story of retired Col. Robert McCutchen.

Colonel McCutchen was a freshman at West Point Academy in 1947 when the Air Force became its own service, and he entered active duty as an F-80 pilot in June 1950. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, in 1951, during the Korean War and flew 100 missions in North Korea.

His next assignment was at Pinecastle Air Force Base, Fla., which is now the Orlando International Airport where he began flying the Straight Wing F-84G.

Colonel McCutchen received a call in 1953 and was invited to join the second Thunderbirds team and he gladly accepted. At the time, the Thunderbirds flew the F-84G but switched to several other aircraft over the years before finally receiving the first red, white and blue F-16 Fighting Falcon on June 22, 1982.

The Thunderbirds mission was the same then as it is today. The primary mission is to exhibit the capabilities of modern war-fighting aircraft and to demonstrate the high-level of skill maintained by Air Force Airmen in a variety of career fields. Pilots chosen today hold the rank of captain or higher, but during the development of the program they were lieutenants.

"I arrived at Luke in September 1953 as a first lieutenant," Colonel McCutchen said. "The Thunderbirds were a fairly new organization, and I already knew some of the first team members."

Colonel McCutchen and a few other pilots tried out and he was selected to fly in the right wing position. He flew the solo position for a while until a space opened up in the formation.

The team performed at air shows mostly in the United States, the biggest being at Reserve Officers' Training Corps encampments and Washington, D.C.

For most pilots the average length of the assignment was 18 to 24 months, but after flying for about seven months Colonel McCutchen was chosen for a special assignment with the Army to teach at West Point.

"I tried to deny the assignment three times," he said. "I wish I had been given more time to fly with the team. I was single and enjoyed traveling and met many interesting people along the way."

During his assignment at West Point he met his wife, Valerie, who was a civilian pilot, and they had four children, one of which chose to follow in his father's footsteps.

Many years later Colonel McCutchen became an instructor at the Air Force Academy and was in charge of all the flying programs.

Today, his son Col. Robert McCutchen Jr., previously the 944th Fighter Wing vice commander, is now a Reserve Individual Mobilization Augmentee serving as the 56th FW special assistant to the wing commander. He recently reached 5,000 flying hours in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. He also played a pivotal role in his dad's name being placed on the plaque in the Luke air park.

"During the planning of the air park the wing was searching for names of people who had flown the specific aircraft selected to be displayed," retired Colonel McCutchen said. "My son mentioned that I had flown the 84G with the Thunderbirds at Luke. At the time I lived in Virginia, and I flew to Luke for the dedication ceremony."

The senior Colonel McCutchen knows many of the pilots whose names are engraved on plaques throughout the park.

"It's important to remember the contributions Airmen have made to our country and it's great that most bases are named after famous pilots, especially local people, like Frank Luke, who was from Phoenix," he said.