The crews of the two-ship F-15E formation that took on the leading edge of Iran’s April 2024 missile and drone attack on Israel received the Mackay Trophy last week, cementing their place in Air Force history.
Lt. Col. Curtis “Voodoo” Culver, Lt. Col. Timothy “Diesel” Causey, Maj. Benjamin “Irish” Coffey, and Capt. Lacie “Sonic” Hester of the 494th Fighter Squadron—flying under the callsign DUDE 61 on the night of April 13—were honored Nov. 6 at the National Aeronautic Association’s annual Fall Awards ceremony.
Officially the Clarence H. Mackay Trophy, the award was established in 1912 and annually recognizes the Air Force aircrew responsible for the “most meritorious flight of the year.” Culver and Coffey accepted the trophy, Causey and Hester were unable to attend the ceremony.
The trophy is normally presented by senior Air Force leaders, but due to the Government shutdown, none were authorized to appear, so retired Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, presented the award on behalf of the Air Force.
Culver, Causey, Coffey, and Hester were flying patrols the night of April 13, knowing that Iran was contemplating an attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s April 1 attack on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria. That’s when the Strike Eagles’ radars started to light up.
“We get a radar hit, and another, and another, and another,” Coffey told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this year. What the radar blips were was unclear at first. To confirm they were picking up airborne missiles rather than cars on the ground, Hester cued the jet’s air-to-ground targeting pod for visual confirmation.
“She recognizes there’s no roads in that area. It’s just open desert,” Coffey said. “So all these radar hits that we get, 20 to 30 of them at that initial [sweep], were real, and they were headed west.”
A frenetic scramble followed as aircrew worked to take out as many of the 300-plus one-way attack drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles as possible.
When all they had exhausted their missiles, Coffey and Hester tried to use their jet’s 20 mm gun, while Culver and Causey tried taking out a drone with laser-guided bombs; both had limited effect. Then both crews returned to base, then launched again to try to take out more drones and missiles.
All told, USAF fighters took down 80 Iranian drones and missiles that night, one of the largest displays of combat airpower in decades and a critical demonstration of ingenuity at work against a large-scale drone and missile swarm.
Coffey and Hester were subsequently decorated with Silver Star medals, while Culver and Causey received Distinguished Flying Crosses with V devices. Now, their names etched alongside legendary Mackay Trophy recipients including Gen. “Hap” Arnold, Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, and Vietnam aces Col. Charles B. DeBellevue, Lt. Col. Jeffrey S. Feinstein, and Brig. Gen. R. Stephen Ritchie.
In presenting the trophy, Deptula praised Culver, Causey, Coffey, and Hester’s professionalism and extraordinary performance.
The Air Force, like a successful football team, requires “preparation, training, and many people behind the scenes for success,” Deptula said. “Every good aviator, like every good player, works to be better on every sortie. The great leaders among them seek to make every team member better as well.” On the night of April 13, 2024, the Airmen and all the crew operating behind the scenes in support were also part of this “Super Bowl-level winning” team, he said.
For a full account of the mission, read Air & Space Forces Magazine’s series on the 494th Fighter Squadron’s actions on April 13, 2024:
