NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Roy Qualls, callsign “Deacon,” saw the news on TV as he drank his morning coffee, and within minutes, he was in his flight suit, racing to Belle Chasse Naval Air Station.
Qualls joined three other fighter pilots, as they received their “rules of engagement” for what they were about to do.
The plan, to start, was to load their weapons on their F-15 fighter jets and escort Air Force One from Barksdale Air Force base, where the President had been taken for his safety, back to Washington, D.C.
Jambalaya for 20 million: 50 cities, 50,000 volunteers, on 9/11
Two other fighter jets, flying from Dallas, arrived at Barksdale minutes earlier, and provided the escort. But the local pilots still had a job to do…