Wild Weasel

You never know what you will find on the back roads. I was traveling through farm country in Wyoming when something caught my eye – a mobile SAM (surface to air missile) launcher! Next to it was a radar and I found a sign saying it was a U.S. Air Force installation. But something about the missile launcher didn’t look right. I got a closer look and realized it was not real. It was a mock-up of a Russian SA-6 missile launcher. Then I realized what I was looking at – a training setup for “Wild Weasel” pilots. “Wild Weasel” is the name for aircraft that are designed to destroy enemy anti-aircraft missiles and guns. Anyway it was a geeky thrill for me, and another reason why I always try to take the back roads instead of the interstates on my journeys.

The mock-up missile launcher.

The radar is on the left, the missile launcher on the right, and it looks like a farmer’s tractor is parked in the middle.