Scooters Forever (A-4 Skyhawk Tribute Thread)

[rondebmar]

So which one did you prefer, the A-1 or the A-4? Hint, hint...how about a been there, done that over Vietnam? I think younger generation might want explanation of Dixie and Yankee Stations if you have the inclination. Cheers, HJ

Here we go again...note to heyjoe...mods inform me threads have been locked for MY protection! Might take a week or two, but my veracity WILL be publicly verified!

Ans...the A4, of course!! So much easier to fly...and escape from if need be!! Although I passed that opportunity up once...go here:

http://www.skyhawk.org/2d/tins/tins.htm

And read "Gliding Home"

A4 (372 hours) had not much more than a "Go Fast, Go Slow" lever.

Spad (1079 hours) had prop control, manifold air pressure, and mixture control levers, blower shift lever, cowl flap switch, fuel primer button, etc.

Dixie down south off the coast...all our CAS missions (69) (South Vietnam)
launched from Dixie...ordnance almost always expended under control of USAF FAC...

Yankee up north off the coast...all our Road Recce, Rolling Thunder stuff, search & destroy missions (36) launched from THERE! Anyone who cares can "Google" all that stuff up, BTW!!

"Hint, Hint"...So that makes 105 "Green Ink" entries...how you doin'? Can you stop picking on me now? And I'll be doing some "Been There, Done That" after the mods & I clear this crap up! 'Til then' I'll simply browse...not worth it any more.

Regards, Banty!

 

[HeyJoe]

Cease Fire! Cease Fire!

Wasn't meant to be a challenge. It's your preference as to what aircraft suited you best. In WWII, some Mustang pilots who had flown Thunderbolts preferred that beast. I was genuinely curious and was hoping you'd educate the later generations on how Dixie was used to acclimate the air wing before heading North to Yankee and missions into much higher threat integrated AAA/SAM/MiG threat over the North.

 

[Junkball]

One of my favorite books

Just received my copy from Amazon about a week ago... wrapping up Clashes and then this one's next... thanks for the follow up tip

 

[zipmartin]

This is for you A4s

Going through my files and pictures, came across this program from the NAS Dallas OMD Disestablishment Ceremony, 15 April 1994

 

[A4sForever]

Going through my files and pictures, came across this program from the NAS Dallas OMD Disestablishment Ceremony, 15 April 1994

WOW ... nice!!! THANKS, ZIP !!

Only problem is; they gapped '77-'87, which overlapped my tenure there and could have told the history & development of an in-house, dedicated ADVERSARY Program for the Reserves ... a real first at the time ... so I guess it figures 'they' omitted it.

'They' also did not mention the struggle we went through ... a literal verbal & paper-drill dogfight within the Naval Air hierarchy to acquire the birds and get our guys TAD to TopGun Adversary school in the first place -- COMNAVAIRRES being one of our biggest stumbling blocks, if you can believe it.

Believe it.

"Old men in old airplanes can be dangerous" was first heard (at least by me) when one of the VF-202 drivers (Dash-2 in the flight/fight; callsign 'OLIE') said it in the debrief after I hammered the 2 of 'em in a fight out over the Brownwood MOA on a very big CB-buildup, in-an'-out, over the top, A-4 friendly, Texas CB-kinda' day -- and this particular F-4 driver was a CAL pilot and a very, very good stick. The other driver (flight LEAD) was the CO, a SWA pilot, had a HUGE ego 'problem', and could NOT figure out how a lowly, former ATTACK PUKE could humble two of 'em in a broken down ol' A-4 w/ a broken down ol' body . He kept looking for excuses ... any excuse ... other than the obvious ... until "OLIE" piped up.

The notice didn't have my callsign in there -- bah, humbug -- and that's NOT my callsign -- I guess it was just the later fellows and a couple of TARS that I served in tangent with ... some TARS i.e.:

Hooter -- (Got his name the obvious way prior to the fast food chain = he liked strippers w/ big breasts, never could get hired by the airlines - least not while I was there, underwhelming guy, very decent stick ... might have dropped out & followed the Grateful Dead; never confirmed)
Stallion -- (I almost 'wrote him up' for abusing the E-men - seriously , a very good A-4 stick, shunned by his original A-7 community for some 'mysterious' reason, he quit TAR, got hired by the airlines, I gave him a checkride - nearly failed him - he later got fired during his probation for unspecified crimes against humanity ... and then disappeared into the mists to follow the Grateful Dead ... rumor has it he's now drivin' a taxi in Key West ... )
Turkey -- (former F-14 driver if it's the same guy -- had some transition problems going to the F-4 [as did many of the former Fleet F-14 drivers - he wasn't the only one], DAL pilot, nice guy, didn't like to fly 'close to the ground', average stick)
Snake -- (if it's the same guy -- excellent stick, real asshole - as were many of the -202 guys [the Marines were GREAT to work with], he went to work for TWA just when they crashed & burned ... he lost his airline job ... he then disappeared and/or followed the Grateful Dead into the mists ... 'least that's what I heard )

Oh, well ... great stuff, anyway -- many thanks for the going to the effort to put it in here, Bruddah.

+a bunch of love ...

ALWAYS "CHECK SIX"

 

[zipmartin]

"Old men in old airplanes can be dangerous" was first heard (at least by me) when one of the VF-202 drivers (Dash-2; callsign 'OLIE') said it in the debrief after I hammered the 2 of 'em in a fight out over the Brownwood MOA on a very big buildup, in-an'-out, over the top, A-4 friendly, Texas CB-kinda' day -- this particular F-4 driver was a CAL pilot and a very, very good stick. The other driver (flight LEAD) was the CO, a SWA pilot, had a HUGE ego 'problem', and could NOT figure out how a lowly, former ATTACK puke could humble two of 'em in a broken down ol' A-4. He kept looking for excuses ... other than the obvious ... until "OLIE" piped up.

Don't know who did the write-up for the program....I do know all of the callsigns listed. They were most of the drivers during the last 5-6 years of OMD's existence.

'OLIE' was the guest speaker at the retirement. He was a RADM then and was definitely the biggest supporter of OMD from AIRESFOR at that time. He flew one of our A-4M's to the boneyard, along with "Bullet" (Dallas CO), "Dusty" and myself. If the "struggle" you mentioned happened during the reign of "Little Tommy R.", I completely understand. No further explanation is needed.

 

[A4sForever]

.... If the "struggle" you mentioned happened during the reign of "Little Tommy R.", I completely understand. No further explanation is needed.

I even had the pleasure of doing more than one rug-dance for him @ New Orleans ... he hated my guts; I took that as a compliment.

 

[Fog]

A4s/ZM: The "Olie" of whom you speak was a Continental pilot, USNA '68 & 1st cruise VF-92 F-4 driver? I was RIO for "Olie" between '78 & '81 in the Dallas F-4 SRU, but didn't realize he ever made ADM. Maybe there were 2 "Olies" at NAS Dallas.

 

[A4sForever]

A4s/ZM: The "Olie" of whom you speak was a Continental pilot, USNA '68 & 1st cruise VF-92 F-4 driver?...

Kinda' skinny, blond hair, @ 6', a very good guy, a real pleasure to work with ... ???

That would be 'my' OLIE ...

 

[Catmando]

A4s/ZM: The "Olie" of whom you speak was a Continental pilot, USNA '68 & 1st cruise VF-92 F-4 driver? I was RIO for "Olie" between '78 & '81 in the Dallas F-4 SRU, but didn't realize he ever made ADM. Maybe there were 2 "Olies" at NAS Dallas.

I knew that Olie. Went through the RAG with him.

 

[A4sForever]

I knew that Olie. Went through the RAG with him.

Small world, Bruddahs. Good times, good days ...

 

[Fog]

Cat/A4s: Thanks, that's Olie. A wild 'n crazy guy & great aviator to fly with. He later went to work for FedEx, flew 727's for them for 20 yrs & retired a few years ago. I've lost track but those were the good ol' days at Navy Dallas - at least for lots of us.

 

[zipmartin]

Olie that I'm thinking of was former CO of NAS Dallas from late '80's to early '90's timeframe, and a TAR, so I guess we are talking about different people. My Olie was also a great guy. Thinking back, he didn't fly an A-4M to the boneyard; it was "Cowboy", his Chief of Staff (if I remember right, and I don't know what I remember anymore) and former CO at VC-12 when I checked in there in '84.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I love these threads...

 

[PropAddict]

I love these threads...

Agreed. Almost makes me wish I was old, so I could play along.

Almost.:icon_wink