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The Great, Constantly Changing Picture Gallery
- Thread starter HeyJoe
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NAS Oceana?
Just spitballin' here -- but it looks like Apollo Soucek Field, which would make the gaggle 'look a whole lot like' VC/VFC-12 ...
Anyone know the background on this gaggle of A-4s?
... soooooooooo .... based on the a/c mix, the paint schemes, and the number of 'em ... I'm gonna' take a WAG that it's 'late' in the A4's time in the squadron. FYI: VC-12 started life in 1943 @ NAS Sand Point, Seattle as the main battery of USS CARD (CVE-11) and flew the Grumman F4F Wildcat and the TBM Avenger ...
VC-12 also flew the A4 at the pre-BRAC NAF Detroit, a.k.a. Selfridge AFB, a.k.a. Selfridge ANGB ... as such, they represented the first NAVAIRRES Composite (VC) Squadron ... there's been something like 3-4 iterations of VC-12 and it's progeny ...
*edit* I see the guy in the post above hit it first --Soucek (Oceana) ...
^ Speakin' of USS CARD ... she had quite a history.
One of the first CVE's, she was built in Tacoma @ Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding (read: Todd Dry-Dock & Construction/Kaiser Shipbuilding), hit it hard right out of the opening gate w/ a sortie to North Africa and then returned stateside to work up her airwing, which subsequently resulted in many a 'bad day' for many, many U-Boats and garnered a Presidential Unit Citation for the entire task group. She continued to hold the line throughout the War in the Atlantic.
She participated in 'Magic Carpet' operations in both the Atlantic and the Pacific at the end of the War and later joined the Vietnam War as an aircraft transport (AKV-40). She was mined in Saigon and sank in the river, patched up in Subic, repaired in Yoko, and returned to the fray.
She was scrapped in Oregon in 1971 after serving her country for 30 years -- this, for a little, slow, funky hybrid aircraft carrier that started life as a cargo trash hauler. I guess that shows it's the 'man', not the machine, like someone keeps sayin' ... :icon_wink
Too bad they didn't 'museum' her -- she would have been a great candidate. At any rate, the taxpayers definitely got their money's worth from USS CARD.
One of the first CVE's, she was built in Tacoma @ Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding (read: Todd Dry-Dock & Construction/Kaiser Shipbuilding), hit it hard right out of the opening gate w/ a sortie to North Africa and then returned stateside to work up her airwing, which subsequently resulted in many a 'bad day' for many, many U-Boats and garnered a Presidential Unit Citation for the entire task group. She continued to hold the line throughout the War in the Atlantic.
She participated in 'Magic Carpet' operations in both the Atlantic and the Pacific at the end of the War and later joined the Vietnam War as an aircraft transport (AKV-40). She was mined in Saigon and sank in the river, patched up in Subic, repaired in Yoko, and returned to the fray.
She was scrapped in Oregon in 1971 after serving her country for 30 years -- this, for a little, slow, funky hybrid aircraft carrier that started life as a cargo trash hauler. I guess that shows it's the 'man', not the machine, like someone keeps sayin' ... :icon_wink
Too bad they didn't 'museum' her -- she would have been a great candidate. At any rate, the taxpayers definitely got their money's worth from USS CARD.
markkyle66
Active Member
... VC-5 Checkertails ... homeported in ATSUGI w/ semi-permanent dets to NAHA and CUBI ... as such they had ample opportunities to 'escort' Ivan across the Sea of Japan, the Taiwan Straits, and the S. China Sea.
Just another awesome A-4. I was kind of suprised by how much intercept work they did... always thought of it as an F-4 thing!
But in any case, when you're out of fighters (it happened) the Attack Bubbas -- A4, A6, and A7 -- were expected to step up, strap on 'Winders, and go flyin' ...
They did indeed step up, 'cause 'Winders were/are wonderful, regardless of platform... and also the A4 and A7 did have a gun, which Navy F4s incredibly did not... VC-5 Checkertails ... homeported in ATSUGI w/ semi-permanent dets to NAHA and CUBI ... as such they had ample opportunities to 'escort' Ivan across the Sea of Japan, the Taiwan Straits, and the S. China Sea.
But in any case, when you're out of fighters (it happened) the Attack Bubbas -- A4, A6, and A7 -- were expected to step up, strap on 'Winders, and go flyin' ...
^ You wouldn't happen to have a hi-resolution copy of that picture that I could get from you would you?
Over Lake Mead:
Thanks for the nice shot, Crowbar...never saw the lake from that high an altitude.
I heard that way "back in the day", A7 IP's chased a lot of FRP's on "sandblowers" out that way...had to get'em Special Weapons Delivery qualified before sending them off to Viet Nam, doncha' know. They had a "sandblower" route which meandered westbound down the "Canyon", then turned northward over the lake...occassionally the IP would take the lead, allow the FRP to free cruise, take a break, and do a little sightseeing tooling down the Colorado River...then take the lead back, establish a loose "Parade" with #2 stepped UP...turn north, accelerate to damn near max...bust across the little ridge line there (with the large campground on the far side) just south of the lake...drop back down to lake level +10 feet...and disappear northward...before getting back down to business...crazy bastards all, I guess!!
Memories of my final flight in the East Coast A-7 Rag: Planned high-low-high special weapons delivery to Pinecastle Target in Florida.
Take the runway, chase pilot/IP to my right. INS goes tango uniform. Inform IP ("Foot") who replies "If the bubble just went up, what would you do?" OK, here goes. Brake release, start the clock. Take off, high level out over Atlantic north towards Georgia. Drop down off the coast to go feet dry at 200' for the first checkpoint, a river inlet south of Savanna. That was the LAST checkpoint I actually saw. The rest of the low level was flown time/distance/heading. Most of the checkpoints were road intersections nestled in the pine trees and swamp of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, kind of tough to see at 200' and 360 kts unless you hit them perfectly (which I didn't). The route actually went feet wet again over the Gulf of Mexico before coasting in along the west coast of Florida. Got to where the IP should have been time-wise (another intersection) but only crossed one road, not an intersection. At this point I figured I was destined to receive a down and be scheduled for a re-fly. Oh what the hell, here goes. I accelerated to 420 kts and dropped down to tree-top level looking for the pole-mounted radar reflectors that I knew would be sticking up above the tree tops at the bullseye of the nuke target. We've now been airborne approaching 2 hours and the clock is ticking closer to my target time. I double-check the proper station selected on the armament panel and the proper manual mil setting on the HUD. I'm really sweating now when off to my left 9:30 I spot the reflectors barely poking above the tree tops. I start what would equate to a break turn to the left, selecting master arm and going to MRT to counter the break turn. I'm pulling for all I'm worth. The trees clear away and there is the bull. I roll wings level, the pipper is on the target, and I pickle off the Mk106. I'm almost 180 degrees off of the planned delivery course. I figure I'm screwed. I start my climb out towards Cecil Field and "Foot" joins up in parade, mask off with a huge grin on his face. He must be laughing his ass off at that performance, I think. Nothing is said the rest of the flight. We land and I go to the debrief expecting the worst. "Foot" walks in grinning and says my hit was 5 meters and within 10 seconds of my planned time. He proceeds to tell me that was exactly what would have needed to be done if it were real.
Yep, I'd rather be lucky than good any day.
This showed up at work recently, just dropped in for a visit.
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