PACAF earns ‘Top’ honors at William Tell

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tonya Keebaugh
  • William Tell Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  The very last flight of the 2004 William Tell air-to-air weapons meet was flown by the Pacific Air Forces team from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, on Nov. 18, and it was that mission that put them on top.

“We never expected a team to walk away with it, and nobody did walk away with it,” said Lt. Col. Ed Nagler, of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group here and William Tell director. “It was incredibly close from the beginning to the end.”

With 50,000 points possible, the PACAF team earned 39,834.5, more than 2,000 points above the second place Air National Guard team from Portland, Ore., which finished at 37,790.5. The PACAF Airmen also earned the Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. Fighter Interceptor Team award for being the Top Team during the meet.

“The folks who take home the top trophy earn bragging rights for the next two or three years as being the best in the Air Force,” Colonel Nagler said. “And considering the company they’re in, that’s a big accomplishment.”

Award winners are:

-- Top Gun: Capt. Pete Fesler, of the PACAF team. The award honors the individual F-15 Eagle pilot with the highest scores during the competition. Captain Fesler earned 5,793.5 points.

-- Top Scope: Capt. Daniel Wrazien, an Air Combat Command weapons director, received 7,675 points. The award is given to the weapons director with the highest score.

-- Top Aircrew Team: ACC with 15,304.

-- Top Element: PACAF 1 team, comprising Captain Fesler and Captain Travis Hazeltine. The team scored 9,418 points.

-- Top Weapons Director Team: ACC, comprising Captain Wrazien and Senior Airman Randy Stinnett. The team scored 11,200 points.

-- Top Load Team: PACAF with 3,593.5 points.

-- Top Maintenance Team: ANG with 11,390 points.

There were five different scenarios flown during William Tell. Profile I was a two vs. four lane defense; Profile II was a two vs. one live-fire mission; Profile III was a four vs. an unknown number of aggressors in a lane defense; Profile IV was the combat banner gun mission; and Profile V was the Operation Noble Eagle night-scramble scenario.

Profile winners were:

-- Profile I: PACAF.

-- Profile II: ANG.

-- Profile III: ACC.

-- Profile IV: ANG.

-- Profile V: Air Education and Training Command.

This was the first William Tell in eight years, but officials said they plan to continue the competition on a regular basis. The next William Tell is planned for 2007, officials said.

“This is a competition that people will be happy they came to,” said Colonel Nagler. “It looks like we’re back in the William Tell business.”