That's a pretty ballsy move, one I wouldn't want to have to execute. I can't imagine watching that go down, and then seeing it fly the next day. A testament to the design of the airplane.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Scooters Forever (A-4 Skyhawk Tribute Thread)
- Thread starter ea6bflyr
- Start date
That's a pretty ballsy move, one I wouldn't want to have to execute. I can't imagine watching that go down, and then seeing it fly the next day. A testament to the design of the airplane.
Stubby little thing (single seater) only carried 5400 LBS, bag and wings, those drop tanks carried another 4000 LBS. CONUS we rarely took them off the plane.
And yeah… what Zip said.
Steve
I just got off the phone with BzB he’s asked me to post this for him. Great story!
Just to let you all know it doesn’t look as though BzB will make it to “Hook” this year as he’d planned. He just got out of the hospital (again) and is on the mend.
Steve
Story:
"THE CROSS-COUNTRY"
It was Friday morning 20 November, 1964 when I launched out of NAS Lemoore on a one‑plane weekend cross‑country. The A/C was A4C Buno 145115. Destination was Westover AFB, in Chicopee Falls, MA with a refueling stop at Offutt AFB in Omaha, NE.
Good WX all the way, the plan was to stop at Offutt, refuel and have lunch with my old squadron-mate LCDR Dick Stratton who was based at Offutt. I would then proceed on to Westover with a scheduled arrival about 8pm where my parents would pick me up then drive to my home in Fairfield, CT to spend the weekend.
The first leg was uneventful as was the lunch. At approximately 1630 hrs, I copied my clearance, switched to departure control and started the takeoff roll. At liftoff, raised the gear/flaps and accelerated to climb speed. A good indication of three gear and flaps up was displayed in the cockpit.
At 500' I received a call on guard frequency from
Offutt tower advising me to discontinue the climb and to contact them on tower frequency. I did so and was advised that the tower operator had observed something fall from the aircraft, that I should slow down, return to the field and make a fly‑by the tower with gear and flaps down for a visual. I did that (with a good indication of gear\flaps down in the cockpit).
As I flew by the tower, they advised that my port main wheel
and strut was missing!!! There was nothing but a stub of a strut barrel on the port side. They then advised that the runway crew had picked up the wheel and strut from the active runway.
Naturally, the next query from the tower was "what are your
intentions, sir?" NATOPS (the A4 standardization manual) dictates that with one main gear gone, you must land into short‑field arresting gear on a foamed runway or eject, if that setup is not available. I knew that Offutt did not have the arresting gear, so I requested that they let me proceed east as filed and I would figure out where to go. I also knew that Westover was out, most AFBs did not have short‑field arresting gear.
I climbed to my cruising flight level, popped in the autopilot and scurried into my enroute supplement to determine where I could land safely. Aha, NAS Floyd Bennett (Brooklyn, NY) had short field gear and I was also aware that they had reserve A4 squadrons there (so I could get parts & maintenance once this thing was on the ground), and had foam available.
I called St. Louis Center and asked to change my destination to Floyd Bennett and asked them to relay my situation to them with a request for a foamed runway at the short‑field arresting gear. Also asked them to advise Westover and for their operations to advise my parents to jump in their car and drive to Floyd Bennett to pick me up (about a 120 mile drive).
The FAA air controllers were great all along the route. Over
western PA, the sun set and it got dark fast. After a 2 1/2 hour flight, I was advised to start my descent, that Floyd Bennett was ready with the foam layed. I was also advised that NY Center had closed Kennedy airport for 30 min. and had all their arriving aircraft in a holding pattern so that I could be descended
immediately for the emergency landing.
As I made the final approach, I could clearly see the foamed area and the short‑field arresting gear. The Coast Guard group at the base had placed a helo in hover at each end of the arresting gear with a huge light from each illuminating the landing area.
The landing was a piece of cake because so many good people including all the FAA controllers, the Floyd Bennett crash crew, the tower, and the Coast Guard had done their jobs perfectly. It amounted to a normal carrier approach, tailhook down. If I missed the arresting gear, it would probably be a cartwheel and disaster. I touched down in the foam about 50' short of the gear. The A/C was starting to swerve left as the hook caught the arresting gear and I slid to a gentle stop still on the port side of the runway.
To make a long story shorter, the only damage was a slightly scraped port drop tank although the whole port landing gear assembly had to be replaced as the stub was ground down quite a bit.
Thank the Lord, my parents did not arrive until about an hour after the landing by which time all the crash equipment had been secured and the A/C was in the hangar. They had no idea of what had occurred, only that Westover Operations had advised them that I had been rerouted to Floyd Bennett and that I had requested them to proceed there to pick me up (that probably saved a couple of potential heart attacks!).
One of the most amazing things about this incident is that the Reserve A-4 squadron had the A/C fully repaired in time for a Sunday
noon departure (luckily, reserves work mostly on weekends). They replaced the port landing gear and drop tank and did all the required drop checks, etc. by Saturday night. I returned on time to Lemoore on Sunday evening with an interesting tale to tell!
Written by: CDR F. Hugh Magee USN (Ret.)
That was a great story. Thank you both for sharing.
Jim, yeah I got to chase a few (A-4 re-fam) hops in VA-127 with CAPT Dick "Beak" Stratton, after his return from the Hanoi Hilton, in mid-'73 as I recall. He is quite a guy!
BzB
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Good to see you again BusyBee... Hope you're recovering nicely!
Malo83
Keep the Faith
Nice Videos,
http://fightingclassics.com/ta-4-n518ta
http://fightingclassics.com/ta-4-n518ta
Hey guys I am an ex RNZAF guy we had A4's for the longest time we even spent millions upgraqding them with hotas and huds. Then our idiot left wing government disbanded our military and left the airframes to rot outside for over 10 years till they were worthless. If you Americans can learn what can happen if leftists are put in charge for any time just look at New Zealand.
That's some dissimilar form there. And both very clean airplanes. What's the story?
I clicked on the video which took me to the Youtube page. This was the description listed under the video: “The Albatross coming in to the break with the TA-4 after flying over the Midway for a dinner event.” Musta been some sort of special event. But what event? Video was just uploaded, 9-5 this year. This is the whole page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xj47zSJis&feature=player_embedded (So we can read the comments and descriptions).
Got to admit though, a very unusual sight; two clean birds from different eras flying together.
Steve
Brought to mind an incident which occured on 05MAY66 on a combat mission in NVN. I was leading a 3-plane recce east of Hon Gai/Hanoi (as far north as you can get in the Gulf). After going "feet wet" heading back to the ship, spotted a number of WBLCs (Water-Borne Logistics Craft) & proceeded to make one 20mm strafing run each on the boats. After I & my wingie called clear, preparing for rendezvous, my #3 calls "Mayday, I'm on fire...ejecting"! I was FLABBERGASTED as no enemy fire had been seen. We CAP'd him until our Spads arrived, then headed back to the ship.
Turns out, he evidently got "target fixation" and flew into the water at 400+-kts (10 deg. glide)! Fortunately, the impact ripped his drop tanks off by the roots; which pitched his nose up into a climb, and trailing fire until he punched out. He was so far north he was out of Helo range, so Danang launched an HU-16 Albatross (C/S "Dumbo") to pick him up, which was successful, although about an 8-hr round-trip, as I recall. We had no idea that he hadn't been shot down until he phoned the ship from Danang!
That's how the "Albatross" and "Skyhawk" (driver) got together that fateful day so looong ago!The USAF earned their keep that day...& my beloved #3 man got to have a successful 30-year career with a major A/L retiring as a B-747 Captain. I just love happy endings, ain't Naval Aviation amazing?
BzB