Joseph B. `Joe' Williams Major , USAF, Ret. `Combat Fighter Pilot'

Most of us remember Joe B. Williams as the gracious volunteer Chairman of 18FWA’s second reunion, held at the Gold Coast Hotel, Las Vegas, NV in October 1996.  Few people know the long and interesting chain of events which led up to that festive reunion gathering. 

‘Filling in several interesting  gaps recently, Joe told us about some of his youthful aspirations and false starts before reaching his childhood goal as a combat fighter pilot.

He was born the 8th of 10 children in North Carolina’ Smoky Mountains in 1929, schooled in Bryson City until 1945, when at the age of 15 he convinced the local draft board that he was “18, but small for his age”, and eligible to be drafted.  With the tail end of WW-II still going strong, he went into the Army, spent 17 weeks of Infantry Basic training, married his present wife ‘Mary’ before his true age was discovered, and was then sent home with a minority discharge.  Five months later (still 4 months before his 17th birthday), Joe joined the Navy and after boot training at Camp Perry, VA was sent to a shore station on Guam, celebrated his 17th and 18th birthdays, and completed high school.

In 1949 the Air Force had relaxed their flight training requirements, accepting married applicants, and reducing educational criteria to those  who could pass the two year college equivalent exam.  Passing the exam, and  after several months of waiting, he was finally assigned to  Pilot class 51-E, with Basic training at Randolph AFB, TX in T-6s, Advanced in F-51s at Craig, AL, and a well-earned 2nd Lieutenant’s commission in May 1951.

With the Korean War in full swing, Joe’s entire class went to Luke AFB, AZ for gunnery training, then immediately on to Korea.  Williams went to Chinhae, (K-10) to join the 18th Fighter       Wing’s 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron, commanded by Maj. Julian F. Crow.  He flew his first combat mission on Thursday, 20 December 1951, and completed his 100th Korean combat mission on Tuesday 15 July 1952 ... at the young age of just  23.

Joe Williams had been awarded a “spot promotion” to 1st Lieutenant while leading combat flights and was reluctant to revert to the ‘brown bar’ status of 2nd Lieut. by leaving the combat theater, so he worked in 18th Group Operations until his transfer orders to the 108th Fighter. Wing at Goodman AFB at Ft. Knox, KY came through in September ’52.  He flew P-47s with the 108th until it was deactivated  in early ‘53 and was moved to the 405th FBW where he flew F-84F ‘Thunderjets’ with the 510th Sq. until Aug. ’55, and was transferred back to the Far East where he joined the 9th Sq., 49th FBW at Komaki, flying the F-84Gs in the 8th and 9th squadrons.

The 49th and two other Wings were disbanded in December 1957 scattering a great surplus of fighter pilots into a myriad collection of malassigned non-flying jobs, landing Joe in an ammunition supply assignment at Hill AFB, UT, from where it took him four long months of anguish to finally be corrected and he was sent  to Stewart AFB, NY flying F-86Ls with the 330th Fighter-Interceptor Sq, moving from there to Syracuse, NY and the 26th Air Division in 1960.

Williams took advantage of “Operation Boot Strap” to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science while at Syracuse, and Mary increased their family size with birth of sons No. 2 and 3, before taking off again in 1964, this time to spend a year in the Netherlands prior to a year and a half at Ramstein AFB, Germany.  This delightful tour was curtailed in Dec.’66, by the sudden need for additional fighter pilots in Southeast Asia, so Joe went through F-105 transition at Nellis AFB, NV then, while his family remained in Las Vegas, Joe took off for Korat AB, Thailand, where he flew another series of F-105 combat missions with the 44th Tac Fighter Sqdn.

In the Fall of 1967 the 44th converted to the Wild Weasel (electronic countermeasures) mission and later, Williams was transferred to Saigon just in time for the ‘Tet’ debacle of ’68. 

“That was enough”, Joe thought ... with twenty long years of active  service, aerial combat in two vicious wars, Joe Williams retired from active Air Force duty in April,1968.

But he was not ready to give up the joys of flying ... instead, he changed uniforms to civilian attire and for the next seventeen years flew Lear jets and Gulfstream  corporate aircraft all around the country... where he could appreciate the fact that no one was shooting at him.

Joe B. Williams, was one of the earliest candidates to join as a Charter member of the fledgling 18th Fighter Wing Association, being awarded membership number  95-067-67 commemorating his service with the 67th Fighter Squadron.

Looking back on his thirty-five years of active flying, Joe Williams remembers especially fondly, two other 18FWA members, Colonel, (Ret) Julian F. Crow (“Old Crow”), who he says “taught him to be a fighter pilot ... and to survive”, and Major General (Ret) Walter H. “Buz” Baxter, a flying school classmate who became a lifelong friend.

Williams attended the first 18th reunion at Colorado Springs in 1994 – prior to 18FWA’s formal incorporation as a veterans organization, promptly volunteered to be Chairman of the second Meet, at Las Vegas in 1996.  He met with his friends again at Ft. Walton Beach, FL following the hurricane of 1998, and while  at San Antonio, TX in April 2000, he volunteered his talents as a member of the 18FWA Board of Directors.