In August 1990, Commander Robert E. Noziglia, Jr., was in a flight simulator at Naval Air Station (NAS) Cecil Field, Florida, preparing for his next assignment, which would take him to Kuwait to assist in the introduction of the F/A-18 Hornet into that nation’s air force. Climbing out of the simulator after his session, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and the officer told him, “Your country doesn’t exist anymore.” As we know, this news triggered a change in plans for thousands of military personnel who found themselves deployed to the sands of Saudi Arabia and on board ships steaming in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. It also triggered a new assignment for Noziglia, who recently visited the museum with his wife to donate some of his Gulf War artifacts. In September found himself in Washington D.C. being interviews by Ambassador Edward W. Genhm, Jr., the U.S. designate to Kuwait. When his orders came directing him to report overseas, it was not to help introduce a new aircraft, but instead reconstruct an entire air force!
The speed with which Iraqi forces rolled into Kuwait permitted only a small portion of that nation’s air force to escape to Saudi Arabia, the planes including eighteen single-seat
A-4KU Skyhawks and a pair of two-seat TA-4KU Skyhawks. Since the Navy had a long association with the Skyhawk, over eighty contract personnel, most all of them retired from the Navy and Marine Corps and possessing some experience with the A-4, joined Noziglia in the desert.
Forward-deployed to Dhahran Air Base, the Kuwait Air Force began training as an element of the Royal Saudi Air Force, with Noziglia concentrating on tactics. He found his pilots to be a proud group, symbolized by their decision to emblazon “Free Kuwait” on the fuselages of their airplanes. When the air war commenced after Iraq ignored a United Nations resolution calling for its forces to leave Kuwait, it was important that the Kuwait Air Force be in the air to support the liberation of their nation despite the fact that it was small when compared to the overall Coalition air effort. It had a symbolic mission no other group of pilots for the Kuwaitis manning Skyhawk cockpits were the only airmen flying to free their own homeland. To this end, Noziglia and his team spared no effort in insuring that ordnance, fuel, and other necessary equipment were available to support their missions.
The Kuwaiti pilots averaged between 18 and 24 sorties per day, with efforts concentrated on targets in Kuwait. Ironically, one pilot put a 500-lb. bomb through the window of his old office, a Kuwait Air Force headquarters building that had been occupied by members of the Iraqi military. The Kuwaitis lost one of their own to enemy antiaircraft fire when Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mubarak ejected on the opening day of the air war and was captured. He was later repatriated after being held with other Allied prisoners of war in Baghdad.
Noziglia, who is now a captain for Federal Express and is the son of a retired Air Force pilot who flew missions during the Berlin Airlift, ended up completing the task he originally set out to accomplish. Remaining in the Middle East after Operation Desert Storm, he assisted in the integration of the F/A-18 Hornet into the Kuwait Air Force. He calls his service during those interesting days nearly two decades ago one of the most rewarding tours of his career. “Running my own air force was a kick.”