The
Magic Carpet Flight Arrived NAS Cecil
from Cubi Point about October 22nd,
1966
There was quite a crowd
of wives, children, girlfriends, and
various friends that celebrated our magic
carpet flight back home. There are
pictures around somewhere. I hope
they turn up. Most of the VALions walked
off the airplane. A few were
carried. The flight attendants had
kept the champagne and other drinks coming
all the way home. We all went on basket
leave various places for a few weeks. Many
of us had to be back in Mayport to meet
the ship in late November to fly our
aircraft back to Cecil.
Mary,
Heather, Laura and I spent some time in
Ridgewood with my family and in Duxbury
with Mary's family. Heather was
almost three, Laura almost two. It
was the first time since I started flight training
fours years earlier that I was able to spend any
time at home. We had a lot of
catching up to do.
Intrepid
arrived in Mayport about November 19th or
20th. I think the ship craned our
aircraft off. My log book
shows that I flew A4B 145001 from Mayport
to Cecil on November 21st. We took a
brief break for Thanksgiving and then got
back to business.
I flew
four TF9 Cougar instrument flights with
VA-45 (November 29th and 30th, and
December 1st and 2nd) to renew my
instrument card.
The
December Flight Schedule
I
flew 14 A4 flights in December.
The squadron began flying
A4Bs in instrument round robins and
weapons training flights.
Instrument round robins were flights that
we flew solo or in section where we
followed a flight plan to another
airfield, flew a TACAN approach and a GCA
and then refilled back to Cecil when we
completed the approach. This
procedure had a fatal flaw. If you had a
radio failure and were flying solo, you
were required to land at the
airfield. Normally, the squadron
didn't actually file a flight plan so the
destination airport didn't know we were
coming. This produced a very
humorous but almost dangerous
situation on one flight.
Possum's famous
instrument round robin flight and my
flight to rescue him!
On
December 5th, 1966 Possum flew a solo
round robin flight to Turner Air Force
Base, a B-52 Strategic Air Command
(SAC) Base in Albany, Georgia. He had
a radio failure enroute so was forced
to land. The squadron had not
forwarded his flight plan so the Air
Force folks were unaware he was
planning to land. As a SAC base,
security was especially strict.
Possum had not brought his wallet with
him (wallets get sweaty in flight suit
pockets).
|
But Possum had his
name tag on his flight suit
saying he was LCDR Jerry
Terrell and he happen to be
flying aircraft 305 with his
name on it (he was Rocket #5,
the 5th senior pilot in the
squadron)
The folks at Turner AFB were
not impressed! They let him
call the squadron.
Possum claims they kept him
"spread eagled" and under
guard near his airplane.
But, I think it was more
likely, they kept him
in base ops once the squadron
verified his story.
|
I was called to the ready room and was
directed to get an aircraft and file a
flight plan (the flight was not on the
published flight schedule) to go
rescue my flight leader. Just to
be safe, I found Possum's wallet in
his locker and brought his and my ID
cards along with me. I took off about
noon. The weather was clear but a bit
cool. It took me an hour to get to the
base. The first question they
asked me was whether it was my name on
my aircraft. I guess Possum
almost convinced the Air Force guys
that navy pilots only flew aircraft
with their name on it. They were
hesitant to let Possum take off with
an inoperative radio. But Possum had a
special instrument card which allows
navy pilots to authorize their own
flight plans.
We manned and started our
aircraft. We used a start cart
which provides electrical power and
compressed air to start the
aircraft. In the changeover from
the electrical power of the start cart
to my aircraft's own power, there was
a power interrupt which caused my ADI
(Attitude Direction Indicator) to
fail. As a result, my only
attitude indication was the yaw/slip
needle. But the weather was still
clear so I decided to take off. My
radio was fine.
But, when we approached Cecil, the air
temperature had decreased to the dew
point which resulted in a low cloud
layer over the base. I decided
to shoot a TACAN approach which would
allow me to descend through the clouds
partial panel. Partial panel
approaches are challenging but we
practiced them in simulator and I felt
comfortable descending below the
clouds and limiting any turns by
flying a straight path toward the
base. The situation became more
complicated when we were south of
Cecil at about 10,000 feet when Dave
Parsons showed up with a radio
failure. I probably should have
declared an emergency at this
point. But, I decided to make
the approach with Possum on one wing
and Dave on the other. I didn't
inform either of them with hand
signals that I had an ADI failure.
What could they do about it
anyway? We made it safely
through the clouds and leveled off at
500 feet above the ground about 15
miles south of the field. When
we we had the field in sight, I gave
them each the 'Kiss Off" signal and
they landed, one on runway 36 Left,
the other on 36 Right. I made a
low altitude VFR turn to the downwind
directly over the Navy Exchange; 500
feet is only 100 feet lower than the
standard carrier downwind altitude.
I landed safely and taxied back to the
squadron ramp. It was about 1700
(5:00 pm) so we decided to debrief the
flight at the Rocket 17 bar at the BOQ
(Bachelors Officers Quarters).
Once we had or beers (or more probably
martinis), I told Possum and Dave the
facts. This wasn't the last time
that I waited to tell "the rest of the
story" to Possum at a more appropriate
time after a flight. More about
that later.
Christmas/New Year's Holiday
party at the NAS Jacksonville
Officer's Club
We
had a Christmas/New Year's Holiday
party at the NAS Jacksonville
Officer's Club on a Saturday night
sometime between Christmas and New
Year's Eve. It was a perfect
opportunity to celebrate our
squadron's very successful 1966
deployment and to reorient ourselves
for the challenges ahead in
1967. Unfortunately, I don't
have any pictures taken at this
party.
It was a chance to say farewell to
the squadron officers who were
leaving:
LCDR Bill Butler- Bolter went on to
other things but stayed in contact
with the squadron attending squadron
reunions regularly.
Lt Dave North (our JO mentor)- I
don't know if Dave had another Navy
tour before he got out of the Navy.
But, when he left the Navy, he began
to write for the magazine "Aviation
Week and Space Technology" which was
the best magazine of its kind in the
world. Everyone read it; including
the Russians and Chinese. Dave
became an editor and the finally the
Editor in Chief; a major major (this
is not a typo) accomplishment!
Dave also continued to be an active
participant in squadron reunions
until his death in 2021.
John Hawthorne- I have no idea where
John went after VA-15.
I don't recall a change of command,
but in there somewhere after the
deployment, CDR Gracy left the
squadron. The Executive Officer
(XO) Cdr Ike Jones "fleeted
up" to be the new Commanding
Officer. I don't know where
Cdr Gracey went after leaving the
squadron. Our new Executive
Officer, was Cdr Jim Snyder.
AOM (All Officers Meeting)
Sunday morning after the Holiday
Party
All VALion officers
received a call early Sunday
morning to report as soon as
possible to the ready room in
the hangar at Cecil. No details
were given. Once we were all
there, we were informed that CDR
Jones had committed suicide at
his home after the party.
No reasons were given.
None have since been made
publicly. I have no actual
knowledge but heard that he was
depressed because he had cancer
and would miss his CO tour.
Cdr Snyder would remain as XO
and we would get a new CO, Cdr
Kelly Carr. I think Cdr Carr
reported sometime in January.
January
1967- Big Changes
From
the Intrepid
1967 Cruise Book
|
Transition
from A4Bs to A4Cs
Illustration by Scott Brown of
Bullseye Model Aviation
|
In the new CAG 10
squadron mix, we
were scheduled to
have 200 series
aircraft numbers.
The 200 series
tail color is
usually
yellow. We
decided that our
version of yellow
would be gold and
we would paint our
aircraft rudders
gold with some
black.
We were now to be
known in the air
wing as the
"Gold Tails" !
|
|
Instead
of the traditional
Valion decal, we
designed a
Disneyish Lion in
black with a gold
background. |
Toward
the end of December, we
began transferring our
A4Bs and began receiving
A4Cs. In December, I
flew 5 A4C flights and 9
A4B flights. In January,
I flew 8 A4C flights and
my last 3 flights in the
A4B. The A4Cs were a
significant
upgrade. Instead
on the one black on
black ADI (Attitude
Direction Indicator) in
the A4B, our A4Cs had a
larger white over black
ADI and a smaller
backup ADI which was
black over black. This
made night and actual
instrument flying much
safer.
Our new A4Cs also had
the Electronic Counter
Measures (ECM) equipment
(APR 25/APR 27, ALQ 51)
that we would need to
accomplish our mission
on our next Vietnam
deployment. We
were scheduled to be the
primary air wing Iron
Hand (anti SAM)
squadron. To do that
mission, we would need
the ECM equipment
to receive and identify
acquisition, search,
fire control AAA conical
scan radar signals and
Fansong SAM radars. We
also had the capability
to deploy Chaff. Note:
Chaff consisted of
strips of aluminum foil
cut to different lengths
to reflect enemy radar
signals. Chaf had
been arnd a long time
but it had the potential
to be effective against
the threats we woud face
in 1967 over North
Vietnam.
I will go into the
anti-sam (Iron
Hand) tactics we
would use on Yankee
Station later on.
All my
flights in January
were MK 76 practice
bomb delivery flights.
Light Attack Wing Bombing
Derby
It
has become traditional to have a
Light Attack Wing One annual
bombing derby in January. I don't
know if Light Attack Wing One
(LATWING One) was
established yet at Cecil.
But, in January 1967, all the A4
squadrons at Cecil participated in
a bombing derby. There were two
pilots at Cecil that were neck and
neck to receive the "Best Bomber"
trophy; both in VA-15. LCDR
Possum Terrell (Rocket 5) and Ltjg
Gene Atkinson (Rocket 18, our
junior JO pilot). Possum
provided at difficult challenge
with a CEP (closest error possible
or median miss distance) of an
incredible 25ft or so. (The fleet
average was about 100 ft).
Ltjg Atkinson's CEP was zero,
zilch- six out of six Bulls Eyes.
The LATWING One Bombing Derby
Best Bomber in January 1967 was
Ltjg "Wimpy" Atkinson of VA-15
(Note: Possum and I would both
win this competition in A7
Corsairs in later years; when
Possum was CO of VA-174.
I would win it in 1978 when I
was CO of VA-15)
Job Changes
It
is traditional that in a
typical two year tour in a
squadron, a pilot would have
two collateral duty
assignments; one for a
year; another for the second
year. January was the best
time to make these
changes. I left my
Aircraft Division job working
for Jerry Tuttle and moved
upstairs (literally from an
office on the bottom deck of
the hangar where all the
maintenance shops were to the
Operations Department on the
second deck of the hangar
where the ready room and the
administrative and operations
offices were located. My new
boss was Pete Schoeffel, the
Operations Officer. My new job
was the Weapons Training
Officer (WTO). The WTO was
responsible for pilot nuclear
weapons and loading training
and typically to monitor the
balance of weapons training to
other types of training
in the squadron training plan
(flight schedule). Pete
had written a detailed
training plan during the
transit from the Tonkin
Gulf back to Mayport (he was
assigned as the senior CAG 10
representative). So, that part
of my new job was pretty much
a done deal. We did the
required number of nuclear
weapons loading exercises and
flew some profile flights. But
that was about it for nuclear
weapons part of my job.
My biggest responsibility was
to design the electronic
warfare and anti AAA/SAM
tactics we would use on cruise
and create a training plan to
ensure that we would be
prepared to execute that
mission when we arrived on
Yankee Station in June.
I would also work with Jerry
Tuttle, Bob Chaney and our new
Avionics Officer, CWO
Pilkington in the Maintenance
Department to make sure that
our new ECM equipment would be
as reliable as possible.
It was critical that the
pilots flying the bombing and
Iron Hand (Anit SAM) missions
have absolute confidence that
the ECM equipment would be
effective.
Another important job change
was Miller Detrick moving from
the Line Division to
Operations as the Flight
Officer. The Flight
Officer writes the daily
flight schedule which is
approved by the Ops Officer
and signed by the Commanding
Officer. The Flight Officer
can be a very political
position as every pilot wants
at least equal if not more
than equal flight time and
carrier landings.
New Officers in 1967
Commanding
Officer
|
Executive
Officer
|
New Heavies
LCDR
Paul McCarthy
|
LCDR
Ron Gibson
|
New Junior Officers
Lt
Steve Smith
|
Lt
Tony Isger
|
Ltjg
Keith Strickland
|
Ltjg
Ron Gerard
|
New Ground Officer
|
Chief
Warrant Officer
Pilkington- Avionics |
All
the photo is from the USS Intrepid's
1967 Cruise Book
February 1967
I
flew only 12 flights in February.
Most of them were bombing flights
both day and night with a couple
of live 6 Mk 81 250# (two TERS)
flights to Pinecastle Target.
I flew one cross country at night
from Cecil to Andrews AFB on
February 15th returning in the
evening the next day, February
16th. I think I spent the day
(February 16th) looking at my
records at the Bureau of Naval
Personnel. I really don't know why
I did that but I expect that
someone advised me that it was a
good idea to check your records on
occasion.
This was the first of only two
days in my entire 28 year navy
career that I spent in
Washington. I consider that
to be a highlight in my career
although it might have not been a
benefit when my record was
reviewed for flag rank.
Tuttle versus
Gerard (actually visa versa)
I'm
not sure whether this
occurred in March, but it is
very likely it did.
Ron Gerard was flying as
Jerry Tuttle's wingman on a
flight that required some
formation flying (as most
flights did). Ron
Gerard was executing a
rendezvous (a join up for
you air force types).
To rendezvous on another
aircraft, you get inside the
turn of the lead aircraft
and while keeping the lead
visually on the horizon and
with some closure speed, the
geometry of the situation
will allow you to close the
distance in a controlled
fashion. As you get close to
the other aircraft, you fly
your aircraft a little below
the lead's altitude and as
you slide underneath, you
control your excess airspeed
to decrease so you slide in
to the echelon wing
position.
In this case, that did not
occur. Ron's Skyhawk
collided with Jerry Tuttle's
aircraft badly damaging both
planes. Ron's aircraft
was uncontrollable so he
ejected shortly after the
collision. Jerry Tuttle
attempted to get his plane
under control but it was a
futile effort as most of
Jerry' Tuttle's left wing wing
was missing. He lost
several thousand feet of
altitude during his attempt to
regain control and ended up
ejecting well below Ron.
As they were both descending
in their parachutes toward
Earth, Ron was closing on
Jerry Tuttle for the second
time. Ron weighed about
200 lbs while Jerry Tuttle was
about 150 soaking wet. They
nearly collided again as Ron
passed Jerry on the way
down. Ron looked over
and noticed Jerry Tuttle
checking his watch. I guess
Jerry Tuttle was gathering
data for the accident
board. Luckily,
both were uninjured and were
back flying the next day.
It
was time to have another squadron
party and it was a great one!
All
of our new officers had
checked in and our underway
training was only weeks away
so it was time to have a
party. I don't remember
who came up with the idea of
an auto rally type scavenger
hunt designed to end up at a
barn type dance hall, but it
was a great one! We met
somewhere, perhaps the
Cecil BOQ Rocket 17 bar
to pick up the first clue and
get underway with an assigned
navigator, someone other than
your wife. The idea was
to drive to the first check
point, pick up the 2nd clue
and drive to the 2nd check
point etc. After a few
check points, you would arrive
at the final destination which
was the square
dancing barn.
I think we started at the BOQ
about 1930 (7:30 pm). The
instructions read that if you
had not arrived at the final
destination (description not
given) by 2100 (9:00 pm), you
should call a phone
number. There were
numerous couples who got
lost??
The new
CO, Cdr Kelly Carr
and his wife Pat on
the right
|
The new
XO, Cdr Jim Snyder
and his wife Joanne
|
LCDR
Possum Trrell and
his wife Sarah
|
LCDR
Moon Moreau talking
to Miller Detrick's
wife Connie
|
Bob
Hamel and his wife
Lynn
|
John
Newman and his first
wife
|
New
guy Ltjg Ron Gerard on the
left
|
New
guy Ltjg Keith Strickland
and his wife Marce
|
New
guy Lt Steve Smith
|
March 1967
The
first part of March was devoted
primarily to getting ready for our
first underway type training
period on board Intrepid in the
middle of the month. We flew
some weapons flights but most
flights involved doing day and
night field carrier landing
practice (FCLP) at nearby NAAF
(Navy Auxiliary Air Field)
Whitehouse.
In those days, some air wings were
located at Cecil. That was
the case with Airwing Ten.
The CAG 10 LSO, LCDR Fred
Hoerner who still flew mostly with
VA-15 was present for most of the
FCLP sessions at Whitehouse.
The CAG 10 squadrons based
on the east coast were VAW 121s
E1B Trackers based at NAS Nofolk,
VAQ 33 Det 11s AD5Qs at NAS
Jacksonville, and VA-15 and our
"sister" A4C squadron VA-34 at
Cecil. I don't know how CAG
10 handled the FCLPs for the west
coast squadrons (VSF-3 A4Bs and VA-145
Spads based at NAS Alameda and
VF-111 Det 11s F8s and VFP-63 Det
11's RF-8s based at NAS
Miramar). COMVAVAIRPAC
(Commander Naval Air Pacific)
probably assisted with those
squadrons. The primary
emphasis for us and VA-34 was to
make sure the new guys were
ready. The rest of us only
had about one day FCLP session at
Cecil and three night FCLP
sessions at Whitehouse Field.
I actually had one very close call
during one of my night FCLP
flights to Whitehouse. The
outside air temperature was close
to the dew point so there was a
good chance that fog would form.
The normal procedure was that
Cecil would keep the LSOs at
Whithouse up to speed with the dew
point spread so that if it got
close, they would send the
aircraft back to Cecil before the
field became "socked in" (weather
too bad to land). I happened
to be on deck at Whitehouse
getting some fuel when the
decision to return to Cecil was
made. In my rush to get airborne,
I didn't do my check list
thoroughly and I made my take off
roll with my flaps up. When
I got to rotation speed for take
off, nothing happened. Luckily, I
determined that my flaps were up
(by the feel of the aircraft not
the flap guage), and lowered my
flaps (to 1/2) in time to get
airborne before the end of the
runway. Close call. I've
never told this story before!.
Our First
Underway Training Period
Our first underway training period
only lasted 10 days from March
15th through March 25th. I flew
only 7 flights during our first
underway period. Most of those
flights concentrated on precticing
the CAG 10 and Intrepid daytime
VFR operating procedures. I
logged only .3 night hours with
two "pinky" night landings during
the first underway period.
"Pinky" landings are twilight
landings which are
technically after sunset but with
still a visible horizon
available. The west coast
squadrons stayed on the west coast
for the first underway period
because their deployment actually
started once they moved to the
east coast.
April 1967
My
AGM-45 Shrike ARM
(Anti-Radiation Missile) and
Practice Firing at NAF China
Lake and NAS Point Magu,
California Trip
|
|
On
April 9th I flew A4C #147670
to China Lake with a fuel stop
at Shepherd Air Force Base in
Wichita Falls, Texas. For the
next two days (April 10th and
11th), I received training in
basic electronic warfare from
personnel (especially the EW
"guru" Jud Smith) at the Naval
Air Weapons Station at China
Lake.
I learned how to use our A4C
electronic warfare equipment
to identify acquisition radars
(low PRF low scan rate), AAA
acquisition and tracking high
PRF (Pulse Repetition
Frequency), S Band conical
scan radars such as
Firecan/Flapwheel systems, and
the Fansong E Band SAM control
radar radar with its
distinctive raster scan.
I was provided with a set of
tapes to use for training our
VA-15 Iron Hand pilots to be
able to identify these types
of radars in the North Vietnam
defense system. On April 12th,
I flew to NAS Point Magu,
California to be briefed on
the AGM-45 Shrike missile at
the Naval Missile Development
Center there. We also
went over the procedures we
would use for my scheduled
test firing of a Shrike the
next day at the China Lake
Electronic Warfare range.
|
AGM-45
Shrike missile
|
On
the morning of April 13th, I
took off from NAS Pt. Magu and
flew back to China Lake.
After landing, a Shrike
missile was loaded on my
aircraft and I took off and
made eight simulated firing
runs against a conical scan
fire control radar similar to
the Russian built
Firecan/Flapwheel AAA radars
that were used in the North
Vietnamese Air Defense system.
After I landed from that
flight, we conducted a
briefing for my Shrike firing
test on the range.
My AGM 45 Shrike scored a
direct hit on the target.
Naval
Air Weapons Station
China Lake
|
S Band
Conical Scan Target
|
The
next day (April 14th), I flew
A4C #147670 back from China
Lake to Cecil with one fuel
stop (This flight is not in my
log book for some
reason). This trip to
China Lake and Pt. Magu for
electronic warfare training
and the Shrike firing test was
essential for me to be able
conduct the training for our
squadron pilots in the
electronic warfare skills
required of a navy Iron Hand
pilot.
During our transit to the
Tonkin Gulf, I conducted the
EW training of the squadron
pilots that we would need as
Iron Hand and as bomber pilots
to recognize the EW
environment we would be flying
in. Each pilot would spend
hours studying the tapes I got
at China Lake. We would
also develop the Iron Hand
tactics we tactics we
would successfully use as the
air wing Iron Hand
"experts"during our
deployment. I will describe
these tactics in detail later
on in this chapter.
|
On pages 227 and 228 of his
book "Bloody Sixteen, Peter
Fey expounds on the
expertise of Lt Dave "Rock"
Hodges of VA-164 as the CAG
Sixteen Iron Hand expert.
His description of Rock
Hodges' talents accurately
describes the knowledge and
tactics hopefully used by
anyone who had had the China
Lake Shrike and EW training
at China Lake.
I would hope that the Navy
routinely sent any pilot who
would be in charge of Iron
Hand mission planning to
this training.
|
Our
Second
Underway Training Period
Our second underway training was
from April 17th through April
25th. I think the west coast
squadrons may have come east for
that one to get some flying with
the rest of the air wing before we
deployed on May 10th.
I flew 12 flights during that
period. I recorded my 200th
landing (trap) on the Intrepid on
April 17th. One of my
flights was a AGM 45 Shrike
training mission. We had
"captive" Shrikes on board for
these training missions.
An Interesting
Night Flight
I
was flying a night flight with
the XO, CDR Snyder. It was
about 0100 (1:00am) when we
were about to return to the
area of the ship called
Marshal to set up a holding
pattern at individual
altitudes to initiate our
instrument approach to the
ship. It was on his
wing, when he appeared to
accelerate ahead of me.
It was too early for us to
split up so I added power to
catch up. Even at full
throttle (power), I couldn't
catch up with him so I gave up
and turned toward Marshall on
my own.
I was heading toward the ship
observing how spectacular the
stars were. To add to the
magic, St. Elmo's Fire you can
Goggle it) was flickering
around my canopy when I heard
a voice in my head:
"
Isn't this a beautiful universe I
created"
My
communication with God was a one sided
conversation
Starry
Night
|
St. Elmo's
Fire
|
After the LSO debriefed our
passes in the ready room, I
asked CDR Snyder why he
accelerated ahead of me. He
replied, "I didn't accelerate,
all of a sudden you just
accelerated ahead of me" so I
went to Marshall. After we
discussed it a bit more, we
decided that I had experienced
autokinesis. Autokinesis
occurs at night if you stare
at a single point of light ((a
star or planet) for long
enough, it will appear to
move. It turns out that I
tried to fly wing on a star.
We flew off
from the boat (naval aviators refer to the
carrier as the boat rather than the
ship) on April 25th.
We would have only 13 days before
we would fly to Norfolk to load
our aircraft on board Intrepid for
deployment; not enough time for a
quick trip to the Bahamas this
time around. We used the
time to get our stuff together
with our families for the seven
month deployment.
Mary, Heather, and Laura would
spend some of that time with
Mary's family in Duxbury!
|
Our
Second Deployment
|
Photo
from Intrepid's 1967 Cruise
Book
|
Instead of flying our
aircraft on board
Intrepid after they got
underway, we flew our
aircraft from Cecil
Field to NAS Norfolk on
May 9th to be loaded
aboard the3 ship.
After all the air wing
aircraft were loaded on
board, the ship got
underway for our 38
day12,000 mile transit
to Cubi Point in the
Philippines.
Intrepid
left Norfolk May 11th,
1967
|
Photo from
Intrepid's 1967 Cruise
Book
|
Shortly
after getting onboard,
we learned that the
Intrepid had been
awarded the CONAVAIRLANT
Battle Efficiency Award
for our 1966 deployment.
VA-15 had been awarded a
Meritorious Unit
Citation for our
participation in our
first Vietnam
deployment.
|
The new CAG 10 / USS
Intrepid squadrons for the second
deployment
CAG
Burrows "Eatrthquake" and
his staff brought their
experience from the first
cruise with them for the
second deployment
|
CAG's
plane with the gold tail
cap, rainbow rudder, our
VA-15 "Gold Tails" logo
and fancy fuel tanks
|
|
LCDR Fred Hoerner CAG 10 LSO
flew regularly with VA-15 as
he did last cruise.
His name was
temporarily added to
aircraft 205 (Possum's
aircraft) shown here.
The
CAG 10
Operations
Officer flew
with "Brand X",
VA-34
|
As
we were scheduled to fly most of
our missions from Yankee Station
on this deployment, there was a
significant change in our air wing
squadrons.
This time we had three A4
squadrons instead of two and only
one Spad squadron. The Spad
squadron would primarily fly
RESCAP missions. To provide
some fighter capability, we would
have a detachment of four F8C
Crusader aircraft for the TARCAP
mission. We would also have
a detachment of three RF8
Crusaders to provide a photo
reconnaissance capability.
In addition, we would have a
detachment of AD5Q Spad electronic
warfare support aircraft (Queer
Spads) and a detachment of E1B
airborne early warning aircraft to
provide coordination with the
Yankee Station Air Defense ship
(PIRAZ), and BARCAP aircraft in
support to our TARCAP F8s.
The ship would have a SAR helo
detachment and a Carrier Onboard
Delivery (COD) aircraft.
The Fighter
Mission
The Sundowners of VF-111
Det 11 had four F8C
Crusader aircraft for the
TARCAP mission.
Lcdr
Foster "Tooter" Teague was part
of he VF-111 Sundowners of CAG
16 on the Oriskany on their
summer 1966 deployment.
Having returned to the states
after the Oriskany fire in
October, "Tooter had a quick
turnaround as our fighter
detachment officer in charge on
Intrepid.
|
On pages 144 and
145 his book "Bloody
Sixteen, Peter Fey describes
an exciting flight "Tooter"
had flying escort for a RF8
mission over Haiphong.
The Sundowners flew a lot of
TARCAP during 1966 as as the
Coral Sea had F4 Phantoms so
drew most, if not all, of the
BARCAP MISSIONS.
The Sundowners were the TARCAP
for Intrepid's strike on the
Phy Ly Railroad bridge on
October 9th at the end of our
last line period of our first
Vietnam deployment. There is a
good chance that "Tooter" flew
on that mission.
Fey also mentioned that
"Tooter" was well known among
pilots in CAG 16 for his
antics on liberty.
|
A
significant addition to our
capability for this deployment
were the Sundowners of VF-111 Det
11 of four F8C Crusader aircraft
for the TARCAP mission. They
were home based at NAS
Miramar, California. They
had three infamous pilots; the
Detachment Officer in Charge, LCDR
"Tooter" Teague, Lt Tony Nargi,
and Lt Joe Satrapa and one not so
infamous pilot, Ltjg Rick Wenzel.
Four
pilots, four aircraft; so they
each had their name on an F8.
These guys were the best the
fighter community could have given
us with the best aircraft for the
TARCAP mission. They stayed
with the strike group and were not
drawn away by PIRAZ (Air Defence
Coordination Ship) or by the
temptation to leave us in a search
for a MIG kill.
One of them (I don't remember who)
was shot down on August 12th by
AAA or a SAM during our second
line period but was rescued.
The Attack
Mission
We
had three light attack A4C
Skyhawk squadrons
The
VSF -3 (Aintisubmarine Fighter
Squadron) Chessmen were home
based at NAS Alameda, California
and flew the A4C Skyhawk.
VSF squadrons were created to fly
the fighter mission on ASW
(Antisubmarine Aircraft Carriers
(CVS).
They were added to our air wing to
primarily fly as bomber aircraft
in major strikes and to conduct
road reconnaissance flights and
section and division level strikes
on targets close to the coast.
They flew
A4C aircraft
configured like ours
with updated
electronic
countermeasures
equipment. Project
Shoehorn
installed the
APR- 25
and the ALQ51
by removing
the left 20mm
gun and most
of the
ammunition to
make room to
install the
ECM gear. The
disadvantage
of this was
that only 75 rounds of
20mm for the
right gun was
left to use
only in
emergency like
in a downed
pilot RESCAP
mission or in
self defense
if attacked by
a MIG.
VSF 3s A4Cs had side numbers of
the 100 series so had the red
color as the color on their tail
cap.
VA-15 had
the 200 series numbers
so we had the yellow
tail color. We
chose to change that
to gold so we had our
rudder painted gold
and black and replaced
the VALion decal with
a gold and black lion
logo. We were known in
the air wing as the
"Gold Tails"
The aircraft in this
picture is configured
for our Anti SAM Iron
Hand mission with the
AGM 45 Shrike loaded
on both wings with a
center line fuel tank.
If we had a shortage
of Shrike missiles, we
flew with one AGM-45
Shrike on one wing and
a LAU 10 5" Zuni
rocket pod on the
other wing.
|
|
The
third
Skyhawk squadron in the air
wing was our sister squadron
stationed at Cecil Field, the
VA-34 Blue Blasters.
They flew A4C
aircraft configured like ours
with updated electronic
countermeasures equipment.
In
addition to participating in
bombing missions, their
assigned specialty was as flak
suppressors, the anti AAA
mission. They would
attack known AAA sites in the
target area just before the
bombers initiated their
attacks with the hope that it
would offer some protection
for the bombers while in their
bomb runs which was the most
vulnerable part of their
mission. They
were usually configured with
two LAU 10 Zuni rocket pods on
TERs on each wing for
total of 16 rockets to attack
the AAA sites.
The
RESCAP Mission
We
had one A1 Skyraider
(Spad) squadron, VA 145
based at NAS Alameda
|
This is a
model of a VA 145
Spad. Ours had
had 400 numbers.
|
VA
145 was based at NAS Alameda,
California. The Spad was
capable of carrying an
impressive load of bombs,
rockets and guns. Our Spad
squadron during on our 1966
Dixie Station line
periods were the aircraft of
choice due to their weapons
load and ability to stay on
station for much longer than
jet powered aircraft. However
they were too vulnerable to
SAM and AAA in the north due
to their slow speed and were
limited during our 1967
deployment to the RESCAP
mission where they carried
forward firing weapons such as
rockets and guns. They
assisted in 14 navy and air
force pilot rescues during our
deployment.
Two VA
145 Spads
returning to the
ship with a VAW--121
E1B. It looks
like the ship is
getting ready to
launch a regular
cycle with the COD
on CAT 1 with A4s on
the port angle, the
relief E1B on the
port aft corner,
three VA-145 RESCAP
aircraft on
the starboard
side of the
landing area,
and a VAQ-33 AD5Q EW
Spad and a
fourth VA-145 Spad
aft of the island.
|
The Photo
Reconnaissance Mission
VFP
63 Det 11 RF8 Crusaders
|
The VFP 63 Det 11
Roadrunners based at NAS
Miramar, California
provided a photo
reconnaissance
capability with their
three RF8 Crusaders.
They were normally
escorted by a section of
our VF 111 Sundowner
F8Cs on their missions.
|
A VFP-63
Det 11 RF8 (402)
|
The Airborne
Electronic Warfare Mission
|
The VAQ 33 Nighthawks
based at NAS
Jacksonville, Florida
provided an airborne
electronic warfare
capability with their
AD5Q Spad aircraft.
|
The Airborne
Early Warning and Command and Control
Mission
|
The VAW 121
Bluetails based at NAS
Norfolk, Virginia
provided an airborne
early warning and
command and control
capability with their
E1B aircraft.
|
"The
Angel" HC-2 Rescue
Helo Detachment
The Intrepid's COD (Carrier Onboard
Delivery) Aircraft
Our transit of
the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea enroute to the Suez Canal
Replenishment at
Sea
|
We
didn't make any port
visits during our 38 day
12,000 mile transit from
Norfolk to Cubi
Point. Intrepid
and all the ships in our
group got all our fuel
and supplies by
replenishing at sea like
shown in the photo
here. The ship made a
few COD flights enroute
to get our mail.
We didn't have to get
any weapons during the
transit. But once
online at Yankee
Station, we were along
side an AO every few
days resupplying bombs,
rockets, missiles, and
gun ammo.
|
We spent lots of
time in the Ready Room during the
transit
We had many AOMs (All
Officer's Meetings) and a lot
of briefings in the ready room
during the transit.
Take
note that during
this AOM, the only
officers paying
attention were new
guys Ron Gibson in
the front row and
Dave Moyer in the
back row. Shep was
reading a magazine,
Bob Cheyne was
asleep and Bob Hamel
was being Bob Hamel.
|
We could smoke our
cigars in the ready
room in those days!
|
We spent lots of time
in our staterooms getting ready for our Iron
Hand missions by studying the
tapes of acquisition radars such as low
frequency and low scan rate Spoonrest and
Barlock, higher frequency "S Band" AAA
radars in search and lock on modes such as
Firecan and Flapwheel, and the "E Band"
Fansong SAM radar with it's characteristic
"raster scan" pattern.
Some of us
who were interested had the opportunity to stand bridge
watches during the transit.
The transit also
provided lots of opportunity to spend time
on the flight deck exercising or just
relaxing.
Miller Detrick on the
flight deck with his
deployment mustache
wearing one of the
variations of flight
suits we used; a green
medium cotton shirt
and pants with a belt.
|
The
transit provided
plenty of
opportunities for JO
meetings on the flight
deck before the
evening movie.
|
We did some flying during the
Mediterranean Sea part of the transit
I
flew seven flights from May
20th through May 29th; 5 day
flights and 2 flights with
night landings. We were in
range of a bingo field,
probably NAS Sigonella on the
southern coast of Sicily
during these flights.
When we were approaching the
Suez Canal, it was June, 1967
and Israel and Egypt were
about to get involved in the
Seven Day War. So, I'm sure
there was a lot of political
concern about our transiting
the Suez at that time.
But for whatever reason, the
decision was made at the
highest levels and possibly
with consultation with both
Israel and Egypt for us to
make the transit. As all
of the jet aircraft were moved
to the hangar deck and the
hangar bay doors were closed.
There was some concern that a
weirdo Egyptian extremist
might take a few shots at the
ship as it passed by. The prop
aircraft were left exposed on
the flight deck (I guess they
were more expendable).
We were told to not go on up
on the flight deck or exposed
catwalks as there due to the
same concern that it was
possible that we might take
some fire from the Egyptian
side. I don't think that
we did.
|
This is a
modern map of the Suez
Canal.
In June of 1967, the
Sinai Peninsula was
part of Israel.
So, as we sailed south
from Port Said, we had
Israel on the left and
Egypt on the right.
We did encounter
protests on the
Egyptian side of the
canal where the
protesters took off
their sandals and held
the soles of their
shoes toward us; a
mark of disrespect.
We were lead through
the northern part of
the canal toward Great
Bitter Lake by an
Egyptian (Russian
Made) Komar PT boat
with it's two Styx
surface to surface
missiles clearly
visible.
They didn't train the
missiles toward
Intrepid. They
couldn't as the Styx
missile tubes are
permanently mounted
facing forward on the
boat. I doubt
if they had any fire
control radars active.
|
Picture
from the Intrepid 1967
Cruise Book
|
This
is a Komar Boat.
Notice that the
Styx missile tubes
are facing
forward!
|
As we were headed
south from Great Bitter Lake toward
the Indian Ocean, charts of Egypt were
pulled out in CVIC to look at
potential targets in Egypt if were
called into action.
But, after a brief pause in the gulf
of Suez, we continued our transit through
the Indian Ocean, through the Straits of
Malacca, and then northeast to Cubi Point in the Philippines.
Intrepid arrived
in Cubi Point
June 15th, 1967
(The transit from Norfolk to Cubi took
31 days
to complete)
Back at Cubi Point only seven months
after we left after the end of our first
WESTPAC deployment.
We wouldn't have much time here though;
just a couple of nights at the BOQ and a
few visits to the Cubi Point O'Club bar
for some Cubi Specials!
Cubi Point BOQ
|
Cubi Point O'Club
|
A group of
combat bound VALions in various
type of flight suits relaxing
outside officer's housing at Cubi.
|
Left to right:
Gene Atkinson, Moon Moreau, Miller
Detrick, the head of Ron Gerard over
Miller's left shoulder, XO, Cdr Jim
Snyder, Dave Parsons, CO, CDR Kelly
Carr, and me, Bo Smith over Cdr
Carr's left shoulder
(I'm sure
Moon didn't wear that orange
flight suit on combat missions!)
|
Or possibly,
a chance to have dinner at the Marmont
Hotel in Olongapo!
|
|
Maybe
just enough time for a quick
trip outside the gate in
Olongapo to have dinner at
the Marmont Hotel.
|
The
Marmont Hotel was
convenient, just outside the
gate, and had excellent
food.
|
|
The
new guys might have had a
quickie course in Jungle
Escape and Survival Training
(JEST)!
|
USS Intrepid left Cubi Point on June 19th
after only four days in port.
We flew on the ship that day!
Yankee Station
We arrived on Yankee
Station during Operation Rolling
Thunder 57.
The summer
of 1967 consisted of the heaviest
bombing of North Vietnam during
Operation Rolling Thunder. In
addition to the Kep and Hoa Lac
airfields and significant industrial
targets added during Rolling Thunder
55, the Hanoi thermal power plant
and a concentration on the supply
lines connecting Hanoi and Haiphong
to China during Rolling Thunder 56,
sixteen new Alpha list targets all
in Route Package 6 were added in
Rolling Thunder 57.
Rules of
engagement, approved major
targets, sorties, and even some
tactics were decided at President
Johnson's Tuesday lunch with
Secretary of Defense Robert
MacNamara and various non-military
staff members. No military
representatives were allowed to be
present during these meeting, not
even the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. (Paraphrased
from Peter
Fey's book "Bloody Sixteen)
|
The
three aircraft carriers on Yankee
Station flew different
schedules. One carrier flew a
twelve hour daylight schedule from
just prior to sunrise to just prior
to sunset. Another carrier flew
approximately the same schedule from
0700 to 1900 (one pinky recovery).
The third carrier flew a night
schedule from 1900 (pinky launch) to
0700 (pinky to day recovery).
That meant that there were two
carriers always available to fly
strikes in the daytime and one
carrier to keep the North Vietnamese
up at night. On major "Alpha
Strike" days, all three carriers
flew the day schedule to be able to
bring maximum concentration of our
air power for these strikes against
Alpha List targets. We were
normally assigned to the
day carrier to
our lack of two full fighter
squadrons and no A6 squadron,
Our Pilots were
Ready to Go into Combat over
North Vietnam
|
Front Row: Paul
"Black Mac" MacCarthy, Dixie
Culler, Gene "Sid" Atkinson,
Jerry "Possum" Terrell, Bob
Hamel, Keith Strickland,
Dave "Thorny" Thornhill,
Steve Smith, Miller Detrick
Back Row: Bob "Cozy" Cole,
Dick "Nolts" Nolte, Jerry
Tuttle, Ron Gibson, Me, Cdr
Kelly Carr (CO), Jim Snyder
(XO),
Tony Isger, Pete Schoeffel,
Ron "Moon" Moreau, Dave
"Pars" Parsons, and Ron
Gerard
|
Missing: Lee Cole, shot down (KIA) June
30th; Phil "P.C." Craig, shot down July
4th (KIA)
This picture was taken
after July 4th but before October 4th when Pete Schoeffel was sot
down (POW from October 4th until March,
1968) when he was released
VA-15
Second Vietnam
Deployment
Plaque
We set out
with the guys on this plaque
except LCDR Paul McCarthy who
joined us later on cruise.
|
Our
Aircraft Were
Ready to Go
Into Combat
over North
Vietnam
|
We had 14 A4Cs
fully equipped with ECM
equipment to conduct our
mission as the air wing 10
Iron Hand squadron as well
as for bombing missions.
|
I
was Ready to
Go Into Combat
over North
Vietnam
|
I had over 100
missions from my first
Vietnam deployment from
Intrepid in 1966.
I had received excellent
training in electronic
warfare and the Shrike
missile.
|
Three Bad Ass
Valions ready
to "kick ass"
over North
Vietnam
|
Bo Smith, Moon
Moreau, and Possum Terrell
|
Rolling
Thunder during
the summer and
fall of 1967
USAF Operations over
North Vietnam
The
Air Force flew their F-105
Thunderchief (Thud) strike aircraft
and their F4 Phantom fighter support
aircraft
from bases in Thailand. The
Air Force strike packages would
normally inflight refuel over Laos
and the enter Route Package Five
northwest of Hanoi for their
strikes. The hills northwest
of Hanoi are known as "Thud Ridge"
because of the number of F-105s
lost there to SAMs and MIGs.
Yankee
Station was actually quite
a bit further north in
June 1967.
|
Yankee Station was
actually about 75 miles
east offshore of Thanh Hoa
(Route Package 4) when we
were on station.
The Navy flew missions
from Yankee Station in
Route Packages 2, 3, 4,
and 6B and most of the
strikes against Haiphong.
The Navy flew some
missions in Hanoi
coordinated with USAF
F-105 missions.
The Air Force flew
missions in Route Pages 1,
5, and 6A and the majority
of the strikes against
Hanoi.
|
Our First Line Period lasted
from June 21st to July 13th (22 days)
In
the beginning of our Yankee Station line
period, we flew most of our missions in
Route Package 2 from the area from Ha
Tinh and Duc Tho south of Vinh up
through Route Package Three (avoiding
Thanh Hoa) and Nam Dinh. Most of
these missions were "warm up" type
missions in lower threat areas
conducting road reconnaissance looking
for trucks on the roads or small bridges
on Route 1 on the coast or Route
15. The standard bomb load for
these missions was a centerline fuel
tank with 6 Mk 82 500# bombs three on
each wing loaded on a TER (Tripple
Ejection Rack).
Replenishment
at Sea
We received some critical aircraft parts
via the ships COD. But, most of our
supplies were loaded aboard while
underway from supply ships.
Replenishing Weapons at Sea
We were
expending bombs, rockets, and missiles
at a high rate while on the line. We had
to rearm at sea about every three nights
when we were not flying.
|
Captain Fair, CO of USS Intrepid
sending a note to the North
Vietnamese.
The bomb he is signing is an old
non thermally coated 1000# bomb
from the Korean War or even
possibly the World War II era.
With three aircraft carriers
flying major strikes at an
accelerated pace into North
Vietnam, the production of the new
thermally coated Mark 80 series
bombs fell behind our usage rate
and we had to use some of the old
non thermally coated bombs until
the production rate caught up.
|
What is it like to be
shot at with AAA?
Barrage
Fire- Barrage fire is a mass of
usually light gray (37mm) or darker
gray (57mm) puffs usually at one
altitude generated when the shell
explodes. This is indicative of
non radar controlled fire. The
shooters hope that they have guessed
right at the altitude selected for the
shells to self destruct if they don't
get a direct hit. They select
the altitude based on information from
acquisition radars or on occasion from
observing the incoming aircraft
relative to targeting balloons.
Aimed fire- Aimed fire is indicated
when the puffs (dark gray for 57mm) or
(black for 85mm or greater) are linear
in nature. If the radar isn't
locked on, the fire normally isn't
very accurate. But solid tone in
your headset indicates that the
Firecan/Flapwheel is locked on and you
can expect accurate fire. Then
its time to hope your ECM gear will
cause the radar to lose lock.
But, the wise thing to do is to deploy
chaff and change your heading and/or
altitude. This is called
"jinking". You shouldn't jink if
its barrage fire because the best way
to avoid being hit in barrage fire is
to get out of the immediate area
quickly by maintaining your
heading. Sometimes, that can be
difficult to do.
If you are looking at the ground at
the source of the AAA, you can see
flashes on the ground and if they are
using tracer rounds, you can see the
rounds coming at you. If the
rounds pass close to you, you can feel
the sonic boom of the rounds as they
pass by. Are we having fun yet!
What is it like to be shot at
by a SAM?
Normally,
your first indication is a missile
launch alert "warble" from your ECM
gear. However, on big strikes, a single
alert is usually accompanied by many
alerts as several SAMs are usually in
the air. Then, it's time to have
your "head on a swivel" looking out for
a trail of smoke heading your way.
Usually, if you can see the SAM coming
toward you, you can lower your nose to
keep your speed and G available and out
maneuver the SAM. Once, it has
passed by, you turn back toward the
target and try to gain back some
altitude, check your tail and the 6
o'clock position of the other members of
your flight for the second or third
SAM. If the whole division is the
target, the entire flight may do a split
"S" type maneuver as a flight and then
recover as a flight. Most often though,
the division will loose division
integrity. However, it is critical
to at least maintain section (two
aircraft) integrity. It is the
wingman's responsibility to do so.
Due
to our 18,000' enroute altitude, we did
not experience any losses due to medium
altitude barrage 37/57mm fire. We
stayed above it! We managed to evade
most of the 85mm radar controlled AAA
and SAM missiles to and from the
target using our EW equipment and proper
jinking tactics. Most of our
aircraft losses were at the roll in
point, during the bomb run or while
pulling off the target due to a mixture
of aimed radar controlled AAA and dense
37mm/57mm non radar controlled AAA when
the bombing aircraft were between 4,000
and 12,000 feet.
USS Intrepid Change of Command (June,
1967)
Underway on Yankee Station
We will miss Captain
Fair !!
We JOs weren't so sure during
the 66 cruise when we got to see
him up close and personal on the
bridge.
"The pilot of 306 report to the
bridge" Oh no, another tongue
lashing from the Captain about a
one wire or blown tire. He
whipped us into shape and had a
lot to do with establishing the
professionalism of our air wing
which would prove invaluable on
the second Vietnam deployment.
|
Now it's Captain
McVey's turn!
He's been pretty quiet so far.
But, perhaps that is because
Captain Fair has handed him a
well oiled professional ship and
air wing. No one that I
know of had been summoned to the
bridge so far.
But would change for me pretty
soon!
|
Flight Operations during the
First Line Period (June 21st to July 17th)
Cyclic Operations, probably
road recces. We might have been short on
MK 82s because I only carried 3 MK 82s
or MK 81 (250 lb) bombs.
June 21st- 1.7 hours, 3 Mk 82's, 1 Mk 81
June 21st- 1.7 hours, 3 Mk 82s, 1 Mk 81
June 22nd,1.9 flight hours, 3 Mk 82s, 1
Mk 81
June 23rd (my 26th birthday, 3 Mk82s, 1
Mk 81
June 24th, 1.8 hours, 6 MK 81s
June 25th and 26th- I did not fly; SDO
or possibly a stand down of some sort
June 27th- 1.1, 6 MK 81s- maybe a small
strike of some sort
June 127th- 1.3, no weapons load logged,
must have been a short cycle strike of
some kind ?
June 28th- 1.2, no weapons load
recorded, Iron Hand in support of a
strike at Nam Dinh
June 29th- 1.9, 3 Mk82s, 1 Mk 81 small
strike on Camera ?
June 29th- 1.4, Iron Hand mission in
support of a strike on Haiphong. I was
awarded my 2nd NCM with Combat V for
this mission.
June 30th- 1.6, 1 LAU 10, Vinh, 50 rnds of
20mm at Vinh, might have been a RESCAP
support mission, Lee Cole was shot down in
the vicinity of Vinh
We (VA-15) lost our
first pilot 9 days into the First Line
Period
Lee Cole was shot down on
June 30th, 1967 near Vinh
|
Lee Cole was listed as
Missing in Action (MIA).
His remains were returned by the
North Vietnamese On November
3rd, 1988 and identified on
March 29th, 1989 at which time
he was listed as Killed in
Action (KIA).
He wife, Billie Jo Cole was very
active in the POW Wives Organization both locally in
Jacksonville and nationally.
|
Lee was buried in Arlington
National Cemetery on May 5th,
1989
|
Billy Jo is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery
alongside Lee.
|
We learned later,
the hard way, that Vinh had a very
good SAM and AAA defense
system. Vinh became known as
a location where you didn't get
much warning before a SAM launch
or very accurate AAA. It
seems that they used acquisition
radars for most of the tracking
only using fire control radars to
take a shot.
|
D.D. Smith in his
book "Above Average:
Naval Aviation the
Hard Way"
describes how most
pilots reacted to
the combat loss of a
fellow aviator.
|
"There
was no outward show of
sorrow,
no reminiscences
or eulogies, no
Hollywood
heart-searchings or
phony philosophy- It was
not callousness
or indifference
or lack of feeling for
a comrade who had been
so vibrantly alive
and now was to be a
name on a war
memorial; it was
just that there was
nothing to be said. It was part
of war; men died, more
would die, that
was past, and
what mattered
now was the
business at
hand; those
who lived
would get on with
it. Whatever
sorrow was
felt, there
was no point
in talking or
brooding about
it, much less
in making, for
forms sake, a parade
of it. Better
and healthier
to forget it,
and look for
tomorrow."
This
combat
chart is from the collection of
the Intrepid Air and Space
Museum and is a gift from
the family of VALion Keith
Strickland
who passed away from cancer
after a long carrier with his
wife Marce in Saudi Arabia
flying ARMCO VIPs around. Marce
has remained active in VALion
events and attends VALion
reunions regularly with her
second husband Bob Kryter.
|
After about a week of warm
up missions, we started flying strike missions
to targets from Vinh to Haiphong
including Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, and Than
Hoa. Yes, the Thanh Hoa Bridge was still
standing.
This picture of the Thanh Hoa bridge was taken
on May 19th, before we came on Yankee Station.
Image courtesy of the
Lawson Collection, Emil
Buehler Library, National
Naval Aviation Museum, NAS
Pensacola, Florida
As the
line period progressed, we began
participating in strikes deeper into the Red
River Valley toward Hanoi including Phu Ly
and to Haiphong and Hai Duong,
almost halfway to Hanoi. We flew Iron Hand
Anti-SAM missions in support of these strike missions as
they were conducted into major
concentrations of radar controlled AAA and
Surface to Air missiles.
We
flew numerous missions on the Thanh Hoa Bridge.
Despite great hits with our MK 82s, the
bridge although unusable remained
standing.
The North Vietnamese
simply used floating bridges
which they used at night to
transport their supplies.
Iron Hand and Flak Suppressor Tactics
This
aircraft is actually carrying
a big Bullpup missile not a
Shrike!
|
Some
airwings choose
to have the Iron Hand (Anti
SAM) and flak suppressor (AAA) aircraft
accompany just in front of the strike
group and react to threats
as they came up. Our tactic was to
have the Iron Hand aircraft well out
in front and on the flanks of the
strike group and have
the flak supressors
accompany the strike but be
slightly ahead so that they could
attack
the known flak sites just prior
to the bomber aircraft rolling
in.
Our
Iron Hand mission aircraft
flew in sections of two
aircraft. We never broke
section integrity
on combat missions.
Some squadrons that
had squadrons of F8 Crusaders,
advocated
having our
Iron Hand
sections
consist of one
A4 Shrike/Zuni
escorted by an F8
TARCAP for MIG
protection.
"Early on we
{VA-192 Golden
Dgragons}
teamed up
one Shrike
pilot {A4E}
with one of
the fighter jocks
{F8 Crusader)
from Vf-191 or
VF-194 and
those two flew
together all
the
time" "Alpha
Strike
Vietnam", Part
Three (1966),
Chapter 18,
The Golden
Dragons,
page146
|
"Alpha
Strike
Vietnam"
The Navy's
Air War 1964
to 1973
Jeffrey L.
Levinson
|
This seems
at first
glance this
tactic seems
attractive; one Iron
Hand pilot who
was well
trained in
attacking SAMs
with Shrikes
and rockets
and a second fighter
aircraft that
could escort
the Iron Hand
pilot if he
were attacked
by MIGs. I
like the idea
that they
teamed two
guys to fly
together all
the time if
on an Iron
Hand mission.
But, to me,
the problem
with this
tactic is what
happens
if the section is attacked by
MIGs. The Iron Hand
aircraft doesn't have the
performance to stay with the
F8. Does the F8 concentrate on
the MIG and leave the Iron
Hand pilot to press on alone.
I prefer the tactic that two
Iron Hand aircraft fly with
sections integrity. If
there is a credible MIG
threat, then assign an F8
TARCAP/MIGCAP section or two
to protect the Iron Hand
aircraft from the MIGs.
We agree with VA-192 tactic that the
Iron Hand mission better if we engaged
the SAM sites before they were able to
fire missiles at the strike
group. Our assumption
was that the North Vietnamese Defense
Commander would not want to commit to
firing his missiles at us. Rather, he
would want to conserve his SAMs for
the strike group. We thought we
could negatively affect his capability
by forcing him to not use his Fansong
radar if we positioned ourselves to
attack the launching site with our AGM
45 Shrikes. I suspect that they
had seen the same video as I had of a
Shrike missile exploding just above a
SA 2 Guideline Fansong van sending
thousands of aluminum cubes at high
speed into the radar antennae and the
van destroying the equipment and
killing any operators in the van. Some
other airwings also used this tactic.
We would normally coast in at 15,000
feet of altitude. Approaching the
coastline,
we would be listening for aquisition
(Spoonrest or Barlock) radar
signals.
The North
Vietnamese
standard procedure was to determine the altitude of
incoming aircraft by a intitially
detecting the aircraft by using aqusition
radar and then refine the the
information by switching to the
sector scan mode. A
well trained pilot could recognize
this change. Next, the enemy would get
altitude information by
using a conical
scan radar (Firecan/Flapwheel).
This
information was then passed to
various AAA sites on
the strike's route of flight
so that they could set the
altitude
that their barrage fire would
detonate. It was also a
sign to the Iron Hand
section leaders and the
Strike leader of the
bomber group to increase
altitude to be above
the barrage fire.
At that
altuude, the pilot would only be
vulnerable to radar controlled AAA
of 85mm or greater, SAMs, and MIGs.
Our APR 25 was capable of
indentifying the 85mm and greater AAA
fire control S band radars and our our
ALQ-51 EW
equipment was capable of
breaking the lock on the
Firecan/Flapwheel conical scan
radars. If we knew we were detected and locked on
by AAA
rdars, we would execute a change
in course every 4 seconds and
expend chaff as
we intitiated the turn.
This tactic was usually effective so the
only real threats remaining at above
15,000 were from
SAMs and from MIGs. We had
BARCAP fighters and PIRAZ to protect
us from the
MIGs. Also,
the same rationale applied in
my mind that the defense commander
would not want to commit his MIGs to
the six or eight Iron Hand aircraft
when he had 30 to 40 aircraft in the
strike group behind them.
The iron
hand sections would fly
directly to the SAM sites protecting
the target area and on the flanks of
the strike group course that our
intelligence team had told us were
occupied with missiles. The
North Vietnamese had both fixed and
mobile sites. We went to the
fixed sites first and reacted to the
mobile sites as they became
active. Each Iron Hand aircraft
had a centerline tank, two AGM 45
Shrikes or one AGM-45 Shrike and one
LAU 10 5" Zuni rocket pod. . We
usually had two or three sections of
two aircraft each. Each section
was briefed on a specific fixed site
to start with. We descended to
about 15,000 feet (to stay above
the 37/57mm barrage fire and observed the
site looking to see if they had
missiles on the rails. If so, we
reported that to the strike leader
with calls such as: "Site number xx
occupied, Iron Hand One (or Three or
Five) Out. That told the strike leader
that not only was a prebriefed site
occupied but also that we were
overhead the site ready to engage it.
The SAM site commander had to bring
the E Band Fansong radar online in order to
control and detonate the
missile. As soon as he did, the
Iron Hand leader would commence a dive
attack for a "down the throat" Shrike
launch. If the missile commander
kept the Fansong radar online, his
radar van and the people in it were
"Toast". The SAM would then self
destruct harmlessly. If he shut
down his Fansong radar, he cold not
control the SAM.
E Band
Fansong radar
|
Fixed SAM
Site
|
SA 2
Guidline Missiles
|
If we had
only one Shrike (due to a shortage of
missiles), we could use a 5" Zuni
rocket from our LAU 10 pod to simulate
a Shrike "down the throat Shrike
shot".
Or, we could use Zuni rockets to
attack after our Shrike shot if we
fetermined that there remaining
missiles and vans in a fixed site. Our
Zuni rockets were also available if
there was need for our services as a
RESCAP aircraft. As we had the
centerline tank, we usually had more
fuel than the strike aircraft and
could stay on scene longer. We
could return unused Shrikes and unused
or partially used LAU 10 Zuni pod to
the ship and land with no problem
making them available for another
mission.
Note: This
tactic had to be modified Linebacker I
in 1972 as the Russians had
provided the North Vietnamese a
large number mobile
quad mounted ZSU
23mm guns. This high rate of
fire weapon (the red rope)
was very effective in
excess of 10,000'.
So, Iron
Hand aircraft couldn't
afford to orbit a SAM
site waiting for it to
fire a SAM. Iron Hand
aircraft were forced to
fire their Shrikes
from a safe distance
from
the SAM site.
The first
two weeks in July were very
difficult
We knew we were in for a challenging
time because we were going to be
flying missions in Route 6B, the
most heavily defended route package
in North Vietnam except for Hanoi
itself. But we were
ready. We had a core group of
flight leaders and junior officer
pilots each with over 100 combat
missions. Our new CO, Kelly
Carr, although an experienced pilot
was not combat experienced.
But Kelly's best asset was his great
sense of humor and his willingness
to let the combat experienced
division leaders (Jerry Tuttle,
Possum Terrell, Moon Moreau, Pete
Schoeffel) take the lead in flying
most of the strike leads in the
major strike missions until he
gained more combat experience. Our
new XO, CDR Jim Snyder was an
experienced carrier A4 pilot who was
a quick learner in the combat
environment. LCDR "Black Mac"
McCarthy was surprised that he had
to fly wing as Number 4 on
experienced JOs from the first
deployment as his section leader
until he got some combat experience.
But that was the rule in VS-15;
there was no rank in the air. The
experienced JO section leaders were
the section leaders at first during
our second deployment. Black
Mac and Ron Gibson became section
leaders and division leaders with
time. Our
junior officers with over 100
missions were the "core" of the
squadron. VSF-3 and VA-34 did not
have the flight leaders or
experienced JOs like we had and the
air wing Commander knew it.
Therefore, we were given the most
challenging missions during the
Second Line Period.
|
July
1st- I flew an Iron Hand mission in
support of a strike at Ninh Binh
(Route Package 4)
July 2nd- I flew an Iron Hand
mission in support of a strike at
Hai Duong. I fired one AGM 45
Shrike missile. I was nominated
for a DFC for this mission which
was downgraded to my 1st
individual Air Medal with Combat
V.
Ltjg
Kasch of VSF-3 was shot down on
this Hai Duong strike and was not
rescued- KIA
July 3rd- I did not fly (SDO ?)
July 4th- I flew an Iron Hand
mission but did not fire a
Shrike. I did fire 50 rounds
of 20mm indicated that I was
involved in a RESCAP.
July
4th, 1967- LT P.C. Craig did not
return from a major strike against
the railroad yard at Hai Duong. He
was last seen in his dive bomb
delivery at the target. His flight
leader, LCDR Moon Moreau did not
see him resume his normal combat
cruise position after rendezvous
off the target.
|
LT
P.C. Craig was shot down at
Hai Duong on July 4th, 1967
His remains were returned by
the North Vietnamese in 1985
He is burried in his
hometwon of Oneida, NY
P.C. Craig was unmaried
|
P.C.'s
loss
was a real "kick in the gut" for
those of us who were with him from
the beginning of the new
VA-15. It was even worse for
Dave Parsons who was his roomate
and fraternity brother at the
University of Michigan. They
went through flight training
together. Dave, P.C. and I
used to spend a lot of time
together on the flight deck after
JO chow. P.C. was a member of the
"JO Mafia"!
He was an experienced and
skilled combat pilot.
PC's loss was
personal and it demonstrated to
us that if P.C. could be shot
down, any of us could.
Do
you remember these great smiles
on last cruise.
PC's loss changed this! We were
in a fight for our lives now. We
all knew it but we would never
talk about it.
|
Do
you remember this photo of the
100 trap celebration from last
cruise?
(PC on the left and Lee Cole on
the right)
Two of the
eight pilots who were shot down
the first two weeks of this line
period!
|
We had
lost that feeling of invincibility that
commonly allows young men to perform in
risky situations.
We had to replace that feeling with an
aggressive warrior professional
mentality to survive the next four
months!
July 5th, 1967
I flew as a
bomber section leader against the
Don Son Petroleum Storage Area at
Haiphong (4 Mk 82s, 2 MK 81s).
This
combat
chart is from the collection
of the Intrepid Air and Space
Museum and is a
gift from the family of LCDR
Keith Strickland
|
I remember pulling out of my
dive through the billowing black
smoke from the hits of previous
aircraft.
|
We put a lot of
bombs on target on that
mission!
|
I was
awarded my 3rd NCM with Combat V for
this mission.
I also recorded my 200th
trap on Intrepid after that mission
|
Cutting the ceremonial cake
with Captain McVey after my
200th Intrepid landing |
July 6th-
I flew as a bomber against the Hai Duong
RR/Highway bridge (4 MK 82s, 2 MK 81s)
July 7th- I flew as a bomber at Phu LY
southeast of Hanoi (4 MK82s, 2 MK 81s)
July 8th- I flew again as abomber at Hai
Duong (4 MK 82s, 2MK 81s)
July 9th- I did not fly that day (SDO)
LCDR
Ed
Martin, VA-34 was shot down by a SAM .
He was captured and spent he rest of
the war as a POW.
He was released in February 1973 and
went on to become Commander of the
Sixth Fleet and retired from
the Navy as a Vice
Admiral.
July 10th-
I flew a bomber mission south of t the
DMZ in South Vietnam, 4 Mk 82s
July 11th- I flew a bomber mission and
expended 4 MK 82s
July 12th- I flew two missions that day
The first was an Iron Hand
mission in support of a strike at Hai
Duong. I expended 8 Zuni rocktets from
two LAU 10 pods
The second was a bomber
mission. I expended 4 Mk 82s and 2 Mk
81s
July 13th- I flew as a
bomber section leader on a strike to
Hai Duong and expended 4 Mk 117s. Mk
117s were old non thermally coated fat
bombs. (my 130th mission)
I was recommended for an individual air
medal for this flight but after a
lengthly administrative delay, it was
downgraded to what became my 6th NCM
Keeping
Spirits
Positive in the Ready Room
It seems as if Bob
Hamel is always the SDO in
these pictures. Here he is
passing out some information
to the next flight: left to
right- Dixie Culler, Ron
Gerard, Ron Gibson, and Moon
Moreau.
|
Fortunately, we had
a professional group of pilots
and strong support from the
ground officers, Chief Petty
officers and sailors.
The atmosphere in the ready
room was always positive.
We used humor as a way to keep
up our spirits even though we
had lost two of our pilots
during the second line period.
The junior officers had two
objects of our practical
jokes, both people who took
themselves much too seriously:
Frog Wigent, the CO of VA-34
and
Frenchy LeBlanc, the XO of
VSF-3
|
CDR "Frog" Wigent, CO
of VA-34- Frog was
humorless and took himself way too
seriously. We tried to help
him be more cheerful by paying him
special attention. We had one of
those farm sounds play toys that
existed in 1967 in the ready
room. It had a frog selection
that made a frog sound. At
appropriate times, our SDO would
select the VA-34 ready room on the
"bitch box" and pull the string and
out would come the frog sound.
We also purchased frog toys at the
Navy Exchanges and our wives sent a
variety of them. When we got
wind (we had an intelligence
network) of which airplane "The
Frog" would be flying on a mission,
we managed to sneak a toy frog
on the seat of his ejection seat
ejection seat to greet him when he
climbed in. I guess we sort of got
under his skin because he
expressed displeasure on occasion.
There are two more Frog stories to
tell but they will come later.
CDR "Frenchy" Leblanc, XO of VSF-3-
Frenchy was
humorless and took himself way too
seriously. We tried to help
him be more cheerful by paying him
special attention. We decided
to paint the door of his XO
stateroom gold rather that the
existing color of VSF-3, red. For
some reason, this made him
mad. He expressed his
displeasure to our CO, Cdr Kelly
Carr. Kelly enjoyed telling us
how upset he was. Frency had
his door repainted and posted a
guard (paid a Marine) to watch his
door at night. Someone bribed the
Marine to leave his station and
Frenchy's door was painted gold
again. Our slogan "Make Frency's
Door Gold Again" (not really, sort
of a Trump reference). Frenchy was
livid. But, what could he do, tell
our CO or CAG that he had paid a
Marine to guard his door and those
VS-15 JO's painted it gold
anyway. CAG would have laughed
him out of his office.
Biweekly Cartoon
Newsletter- Somehow a
weekly or biweekly cartoon
newsletter was distributed to the
ready rooms and CAG office. Who were
the subjects of the cartoons?
You guessed right; Frog and Frenchy.
I don't actually know who was
responsible for publishing the
cartoon newsletter but my money is
on John "Smedly" Newman.
Note: These morale enhancers
continued throughout the cruise and
beyond in Frog's case.
The
Blue
Shoes Award
|
We continued the tradition
of the awarding The Blue
Shoes Award to the officer
who "had stepped on it the
most" during the
"End of the Line" parities
or on stand down
days. (about once a
line period)
The
winner usually received it
for some incident "on the
beach" (on liberty during
in port periods) or
something related to the
traditional competition
for the award between the
Senior Officers
("Heavies") and the "JO
Mafia".
No JOs ever got the
award. But, it was
very close on one occasion
when Black Mac nominated
John Newman. The "heavies"
made a concerted effort to
flip some of the JO
vote. But
Smeds turned the
tables on Black Mac with a
brilliant rebuttal speech
which resulted in some of
the "heavies" voting for
Black Mac. I'll give you
the "Rest of the Story" a
bit later! |
We had only one USO show this
Deployment
that I can remember.
But it was a good one- Miss America
and her troup came visiting at the
end of the line period
They arrived by
COD.
Captain McVey welcomed them
aboard.
|
They performed on
the mess decks and visited
the sailors in their work
spaces
|
Relaxing on the flight deck after
flight operations were over for the
day
Because we had a minimal
night capability, we were scheduled
as the day carrier (0700 to 1900).
The other two carriers n Yankee
Station rotated the noon to midnight
and the midnight to noon schedules.
With three carriers on station,
there were always two carrier
airwings available for daytime
operations and one for night
missions.
We
usually had time after flight
operations for jogging or just
getting together on the flight
deck.
Shep
Shepherd considers his
maintenance
plan for the evening
while Miller Detrick and
Dave Moyer discuss their
exercise plans.
|
Left
to right: Miller
Detrick, Dave Parsons,
Dixie Culler, and Dave
Parsons
|
Left
to right: Miller
Detrick, Tony Isger, and
Dave Parsons
|
|
Our maintenance guys would
take advantage of even a
short opportunity to
remove their shirts and
take a break and relax on
the flight deck.
|
July 17th to July 25th-
Intrepid's First Port Visit
(Yokosuka, Japan)
Intrepid
left "the line" about July 14th
and after passing Hainan
Island, steamed north for a port
visit In Yokosuka Japan.
July 17th- I flew A4C 148440 from
the ship to NAS Atsugi Japan. (1.1
hours)
July 25th- I flew A4C 149619 from
NAS Atsugi to the Intrepid. (1.3
hours)
The
Nippon Aircraft Company was
located on Atsugi
Base. All we had lots
of corrosion control work
done on our aircraft there
during our deployment.
|
NAS Atsugi
|
Several
other squadron and airwing aircraft
also flew in to Atsugi during the
Yokosuka in port period. I
don't know how many VA-15 aircraft
flew in to Atsugi during Yokosuka
port visit. Gene
Atkinson remembers flying Jerry
Tuttle's wing to Atsugi because he
remembers flying around Mt. Fuji.
NAS Atsugi is a
little northwest of
Yokohama.
Yokosuka Base is a little
southeast of Yokohama.
|
Mt. Fuji is the
triangle located west
northwest of Yokohama on
the map on the left.
|
On this trip, we took a sample of an
aircraft part (flap indicator hinge)
that we were having problems
with. These hinges were made
out of aluminum and were failing at
a high rate. The flap
indicator hinge enabled the pilot to
see the position of the flaps on a
small guage in the cockpit. In
peacetime, this would have resulted
in a down aircraft. But, as it
was a combat situation, we flew
without it. We left the flaps
up during taxi on the flight
deck and then lowered them to
the 1/2 flap position for the cat
shot. We knew that the flaps
were proper for the cat shot because
the final checker used hand signals
to confirm we had 1/2 flaps for the
launch. We used full flaps for
landing. We knew that we had
good flaps for landing by the feel
of the aircraft and the pilot and
LSO could tell by the
airspeed/attitude of the plane on
final approach.
While we were in Atsugi, the
Japanese Company copied the hinges
and replaced them with steel.
We had about 50 of these hinges
manufactured which solved the
problem.
I don't know how this arrangement
was set up but I expect that this
work and the corrosion
control/repainting work on our
aircraft was coordinated through
COMFAIRWESTPAC (Commader Fleet Air
Western Pacific) which was located
at Atsugi.
Atsugi was a nice change from life
on the ship. We stayed at the
BOQ and enjoyed beers and steak at
the Officer's Club. Most of us
got haircuts at the BOQ. We
also enjoyed getting a "hotsi bath"
or two at the BOQ. It included
a steam room, bath by an attendant
and a complete massage.
My attendant's name was Nancy.
She was attractive in her late
20s. I would meet Nancy again
22 years later during my last tour
in the Navy when I was assigned duty
at COMFAIRWESTPAC. As a senior
Captain, I lived in 06 Quarters on
the base with my family. My wife and
two daughters and I routinely
had family "hotsi baths". Our
attendant was 50 year old
Nancy.
After a day or so at the BOQ, I
decided to go to Tokyo for a few
days.
I took the
Yokosuka/Sobu Line (in
dark blue)
|
I stayed at the Old Sanno
Military Hotel in downtown
Tokyo not far from the
Imperial Palace.
The Sanno was run by the
military as a Field Grade
Officer billeting facility.
I was able to get a room as
a Navy Lt. because I was a
combat pilot between line
periods.
The Sanno was a western
style hotel with a great bar
and restaurant with
affordable rates and prices.
Western style hotels in
Tokyo were expensive even in
those days.
I decided to call the
American Embassy. I learned
from the junior pilots in
VF-143 on my 1st Class
Midshipman cruise on the
Constellation that if you
wanted english speaking
female companionship, the
thing to do was to call an
embassy or consulate of an
english speaking country
(US, British, or Australian)
in a foreign port. All you
had to do was tell whoever
answered the phone (if they
were female) that there were
some Navy carrier pilots in
town who were looking for a
fun time. The response was
usually "how many of you are
there and where do you want
to meet".
I called the American
Embassy in Tokyo and talked
to a young female and she
set someone up and a time to
meet at the Sanno Hotel Bar.
|
I arrived a bit early and noticed a
young woman at a table near the bar
and decided it was the person I was
looking for. But, I was
wrong. She was a reporter for
an American newspaper. The
reporter was quite willing to keep
me company but I excused myself when
I noticed whom I thought looked like
the right person entering the
bar. I left the reporter and
said hello to Stephanie. She told me
that she was a civilian secretary
working for the Air Force at Yokota
AFB near Tokyo. She even
showed me her blue civilian employee
DOD ID card.
After a tough couple of weeks on
Yankee Station, I needed some TLC.
The loss of PC Craig was game
changer for me. I felt that the odds
were good that I might also be shot
down. I needed something to relieve
this stress. She provided it.
We visited some temples and shrines
and experienced some Tokyo
nightlife. We had a great
couple of days (and nights). I
got her official work phone number
and returned to Atsugi.
You might wonder why I think it
necessary to relate some of the
details of this relationship.
Well, I think that I would not be
honest to not do so. To be
sure, I am not relating all the
details; just enough to tell my
story. I plan to go into this
aspect of my life in future chapters
because it affected both my
professional and personal life
significantly.
Also, this is my story and
does not imply that anyone else in
the squadron did likewise. I
think most of the guys in the
squadron went on normal liberty
associated with the Gulf of Tonkin
experience.
We
flew our aircraft from Atsugi
back onboard Intrepid on July
25th
Intrepid
must have been about 300 miles
or so south of Atsugi because
the flight lasted only 1.3
hours. The ship returned to
Yankee Station on June 29th and
began
combat operations on July 30th.
The
USS
Forrestal (CV 59) Fire on
July 29th, 1967
The Forrestal fire
occurred sometime on July
29th. I think it was about
noon or so. We were
only a few miles from
Forrestal when the accident
happened. Captain McVey
maneuvered Intrepid about a
mile or so from the
Forrestal to assist in any
way possible.
|
|
This is what happened based
on what I saw, watching the
Navy flight deck video, and
discussions with Dave
Dollarhide who ejected from
one of the A4s directly
involved in the fire.
As the aircraft on the
flight deck were conducting
their prelaunch cycle, an
F4B Phantom fighter on the
starboard side aft of the
island had a Zuni rocket
fire across the deck; due to
a radiation from one of the
ship's radars or being
overheated by a starting
unit next to the
aircraft. The Zuni
rocket hit Dave Dollarhide's
A4 aircraft which was on the
port side of the ship and
was fully fueled and loaded
with bombs. Some of the
aircraft had old non
thermally coated bombs due
to the shortage of MK 80
thermally coated bombs
discussed previously. Dave
had no choice but to eject
from his aircraft before it
was fully consumed by fuel
fed fire and bomb
explosions. Several of the
other A4 pilots on the port
side had to do the same
thing. Johh McCain's
aircraft was nearby in the
fire zone. But John decided
to climb up and to the right
of the cockpit and grab the
inflight refueling probe and
swing down to the deck and
run away from the fire
narrowly escaping serious
injury. Initially the
fires consisted of fuel fed
fires. But, as flight
deck fire fighters and
supervisors approached the
burning aircraft in an
effort to put out the fires,
the bombs began exploding
killing and injuring many of
them; 134 people were
killed and 164 were injured.
|
A
destroyer from the
Forrestal Battle
group and a helo
helping to fight the
fire.
The Forrestal limped
into port at Subic
Bay after the fire.
She returned to the
states for repairs
and made a
Mediterranean
deployment in 1968.
VA-15 was one of the
squadrons in the air
wing for that
deployment.
|
Pilots from the Forrestal
airwing were given the
option to return to the
states with the ship or
cross deck to one of the
other aircraft carriers on
Yankee Station. John
McCain decided to cross deck
to the USS Oriskany and was
shot down after a few
missions and demonstrated
exceptional courage as a
POW.
LCDR Ron
Boyle chose to crossdeck
to the Intrepid and fly
with us in VA-15.
Our
Second Line Period (July
30th - August 25th) (27
days)
There were
three carriers on Yankee
Station during our
second line period.
USS Intrepid (CV-11),
the USS Constellation
(CV-64), and USS
Oriskany (CV-34)
The Intrepid was
the day carrier due to the
lack of having a BARCAP
capability. Oriskany and Oriskany
alternated as the day and
night carriers.
On a few occasions, all
three carriers flew the
day schedule for major
"Alpha" strikes to targets
in Hanoi.
The Intrepid and
Constellation airwings had
similar tactics for
approaching major strike
targets. We believed
in the effectiveness of
our ECM equipent and chose
to fly at 18,000 feet or
so enroute to the target
avoiding the 37mm and 57mm
AAA non radar controlled
barrage fire.
|
Air Wing 16, the
U
SS Oriskany air
wing either did
not believe in the
effectiveness of
their ECM
equipment or were
not comfortable
with the
reliability of the
equipment.
As a result, they
chose to fly at an
enroute altitude
of 10,000 to
12,000 thousand
feet to be able to
get to low
altitude as soon
as possible to
avoid the SAMs.
This made them
vulnerable to the
37mm/57mm AAA non
radar controlled
barrage fire.
The Oriskany lost
one third of their
pilots and half of
their aircraft
during their
summer of 1967
deployment from as
combination of
combat and
operational
losses.
|
USS
Oriskany (CV 34)
|
The Intrepid and
Constellation
airwings lost
about 25 aircraft
each during their
Yankee Station
deployments using
the higher
altitide tactics.
The Oriskany
airwing lost 40-50
aircraft during
their deployment
using the medium
altitude enroute
tactics.
We did not lose
any Iron Hand
aircraft using our
Iron Hand tactics.
|
Second Line
Period Flights (July
30th - August 25th)
July 30th- I flew
a regular cycle bombing
mission and expended 4
MK 82s
July 31st- I flew
a regular cycle road
recce mission and
expended 4 LAU 3 pods of
2.75 rockets
August 1st-
I flew a regular cycle
mission and expended one
pod of LAU 3 2.75
rockets
August 2nd- I flew
a short cycle mission to
Cam Pha and expended two
pods of LAU 3 2.75
rockets
August 3rd-
I flew two missions on
August 3rd:
In my first
mission, I flew a
regular cycle mission
but did not expend any
ordnance. I logged over
an hour of actual
instrument
time.
I
suspect that this
mission was a weather
reconnaissance flight.
When we had bad weather,
CTF 77 (Commander Task
Force 77-the Yankee
Station Commander
would order a section of
aitcraft check out the
enroute weather to the
North Vietnam coastline
and radio back a weather
report.
See
A Weather Recce Sea
Story below
My second misison was a
regular cycle mission. I
expended 4 Mk 82s
A Weather Recce Sea
Story
This
as good a time
as ever to tell
a sea story
about such a
weather recce
that I remember
flying.
The weather was
terrible and
there was no
chance that
we were going to
fly any missions
over the
beach. I
think the North
Vietnamese knew
that also.
I think my
wingman on this
particular
flight was Bob
Hamel but Dick
Nolte claims he
was my wingman
on the flight.
All I know is,
whoever it was,
he was the
typical VALion
outstanding
wingman.
I worked us
below the
overcast, only
about 500 feet
above the water
and got
sight of land at
the mouth of the
Red River. I
didn't hear any
Barlock
acquisition radar
as we coasted
inland. I figured
that the AAA
and SAM
sites would stand
down in the
bad weather. I
made a gradual
left turn over
some rice paddies
to the southwest
at about 450
kts about a
mile inland.
I saw some
workers in the
paddies and I
thought they
actually waved at
us (I doubt it but
perhaps they were
shooting at us!).
Next, I made a
turn back to the
south feet wet off
shore east of Than
Hoa and then flew
just off the
shoreline at Tinh
Gia and just to
the west of the
Hon Me
Island.
Then I saw that
there was a high
point of land a
very short
distance from us extending
into the clouds
(Cape
Falaise). I
had no choice but
to initiate a hard
left rate of turn
to about 60
degrees angle of bank
and about 3Gs or
so. Bob (or
Dick) was on my
left wing so
the turn was into
him. He
tucked in to a
perfect cruise
wing
position. I
could see his eyes
trained on me as
his wing tip was
about 100 ft above
the water. I
remember thinking
that only in a
squadron that
had this
much experience
could I have no
doubt that he
could safely fly
such a perfect
wing position under these
circumstances.
Combat
Tanker Missions
The
purpose of
Combat Tanker
Missions was
to put a
tanker just
off the coast
(out of SAM
range) but
close enough
to get fuel
for aircraft
low on fuel
when passing
feet wet and
needed fuel to
get safely
back to the
ship.
Sometimes
these aircraft
had been hit
and were
leaking fuel
and had to be
escorted all
they back to
the ship to
get back
aboard. These
missions often
proved to be
vital to
saving an
aircraft and
possibly the
pilot. It
could be a
boring mission
when the fuel
wasn't needed.
Or. it could
be
exceptionally
exciting when
it wasn't
boring.
Reporters
Occasionally, the Navy
would allow reporters
onboard to interview
pilots. It was not one
of our favorite things
to do. It usually
would occur on a stand
down day when we would
prefer to be relaxing,
not subjected to the
questions of
reporters. Most of
them were well meaning
and their stories were
intended for local
newspapers featuring
pilots from a
particular local area.
They often contained
factual errors but
basically accomplished
the Navy's "pubic
affairs" mission.
The two articles I
have included below
are examples.
However, there were
other reporters;
usually from big
newspapers or national
magazines, whose
mission was to get a
"hot story" which
involved political
issues. They refused
to understand that the
great majority of the
pilots flying missions
over North Vietnam
were simply "doing our
jobs" flying the
flight schedule. These
types of reporters
were not interested in
that. They
wanted a "big story"
with their
byline. They
worked very hard
incessantly asking
questions to try to
get us to express an
anti-war narrative. I
was not interested in
talking to this type
of reporter.
Some of us took a more
aggressive attitude. I
remember Moon Moreau
threatening to throw a
particularly offensive
French female magazine
reporter over the side
if she didn't leave
the 2nd deck officers
mess.
Two
Newspaper
Articles
|
This
reporter did OK
until he
reported that I
would roll in at
40,000 feet and
pulled out at
500 feet. Our
normal roll in
altitude in 1967
was between
15,000 to 18,000
feet. We
normally pulled
out by 4,000
feet if at all
possible.
|
02
|
It was
frustrating
bombing little
bridge targets
which the North
Vietnamese
simply built
temporary
floating bridges
they kept
alongside the
bank in the day
and then floated
across the canal
or small river
at night. They
didn't need
strong bridges
as most of their
supplies were
carried by
individual or in
ox carts.
|
A Story about how
the warm humid
summer weather on
Yankee Station
affected life on the
Intrepid
This reminds me about
another interesting
aspect about flying on
Yankee Station in the
summer. It was
hot. It was humid.
The water in the Tonkin
Gulf was very warm,
about 87 degrees or
so. The Intrepid
did not have air
conditioning. So, the
coolest you could get
the ship was about 87
degrees. The Captain did
his best to drive the
ship into any rain
squalls that were around
the ship as planes were
being respotted between
cycles so that the rain
and a little bit of wind
might cool the ship down
a bit. He got very good
at having the ship break
out of the weather just
in time for the launch
and
recovery of
aircraft.
Still, we had to learn
how to sleep under these
conditions. We
were tired but our
staterooms were hot and
humid. So, we learned to
get into a
shower briefly (so to
speak) in our skivvies
(whitey tightees and a T
shirt) to get wet and
then get into our bunk
with a small fan
evaporating the
water. The
evaporation of water
cools the surface of the
skin. It worked.
But, some very strange
organisms decided to
grow in areas of our
bodies we preferred they
not grow. Possum had
written Sarah about our
problem. One day, a case
of House of Fuller foot
spray (about 90%
alcohol) arrived in the
mail. Imagine this
scene. The person with
unacceptable growth of
organisms in body
creases would get naked
and lean over holding
himself steady against a
bunk with one hand and
grabbing his private
parts with the
other. His
shipmate would spray the
affected area. I
think you could hear the
screams from a few decks
away. But, it
worked!
|
A great source
of information
about the life
of a A4 Skyhawk
pilot onboard
Intrepid during
the 1967
deployment from
the prospective
of a junior
officer is this
book:
"Tripple Sticks"
by Bernard Fipp
Bernie was a
pilot in VA-34
in our sister A4
squadron, VA-34.
His tale
recounts such
details as life
in a junior
officer bunkroom
and attempts to
cool their
living space in
the warm and
muggy conditions
of the summer in
the Gulf of
Tonkin among
other subjects.
|
August
1967
We
had two VA-15
aircraft shot
down during
the second
line period in
August.
Dave Thornhill
(Thorny) was
Shot Down and
Rescued on
August 1st
This
combat chart
is from the
collection of
the Intrepid
Air and Space
Museum and is
a gift from
the family of
LCDR Keith
Strickland
|
This
combat chart shows
the area which would
normally be used for
a strike on Hai
Duong or on the west
side of
Haiphong. The
strike group would
coast in about where
the 03 is on the
cost and proceed to
the northwest toward
the town of Ninh
Giang and then head
north northwest to
Hai Duong or north
north east to
targets on the west
side of
Haiphong. This
route would keep the
fixed SAM sites on
the right or
straight ahead.
I don't
know which was the
target area or the
date of Thorny's
shoot down. I'm
hoping he will give
me this information
so I can update this
entry. I don't know
whether he was
flying CAG Burrow's
wing on the strike
which he normally
did or whether he
might have been
flying with Jerry
Tuttle. I do know
that he credits
Jerrry Tuttle with
saving his life on
this strike so Tut
probably was
instrumental in
keeping Thorny safe
during the
RESCAP.
After his
rescue, Thorny's
next stop was the
northern SAR
destroyer, USS Fox
DLG-33, a Belknap
Class guided missile
destroyer. He was
transferred from the
Fox back to the
Intrepid after a shwoer and his
flight suit was
cleaned.
Thorny
is super happy
to be back
aboard
Intrepid !
Left to right:
Bob Cole,
Thorny, me,
Keith
Strickland.
Pete Schoeffel
is over my
left shoulder.
Photo
is copied from
Intrepid's
1967 Cruise
Book
|
Ron
Gerard's Shoot
Down
Ron
Gerard was shot down
and rescued in
August. I'm not sure
about the date but
here is his story:
This
combat chart
is from the
collection of
the Intrepid
Air and Space
Museum
and is a gift
from the
family of
LCDR
Keith
Strickland
|
This
combat chart shows
the area east of
Ninh Binh in
northern Route
Package 3 and
southern Route
Package 4. Ninh
Binh is well
defended by a SAM
Site at the town
and a few AAA
sites (like #73)
between NInh Binh
and the coast.
I'm not
sure if this is
the area where Ron
Gerard's aircraft
was hit but it
will do as an
example for now. Ron's
aircraft was hit
by 37mm or 57mm
while conducting
road
reconnaissance to
the southeast of
Ninh Binh. The AAA
hit the aircraft
in the nose
blowing it off the
aircraft. The
radio which was
located in the
nose was blown
away. The only
thing between Ron
and the wind was a
piece of armor
plating which
saved his life.
The aircraft also
suffered a
hydraulic failure
resulting in
reduced hydraulic
pressure to
operate the
landing gear and
flight controls.
Ron's section
leader advised the
ship that Ron had
no radio and that
his aircraft was
damaged and that
he would be making
a straight in
approach to the
ship. The
flight lead did
not know that Ron
had limited
hydraulics. Ron
used a back up
compressed air
system to blow the
landing gear down.
For some reason
the LSO did not
know that Ron's
aircraft was
damaged. Ron's
aircraft was
trailing light
brown smoke which
wasn't typical of
an A4C. It was
typical of the
A4Es on the
Constellation.
The LSO thought
that Ron''s
aircraft was an
A4E from the
Connie making a
pass on the wrong
ship so waved him
off. Ron did
not have enough
manual flight
control to execute
a turn to the down
wind leg so he
ejected as he went
past the LSO
platform. (Wave me
off will ya. I'll
show you!) Ron
landed in the
water abeam the
ship and was
picked up by the
Plane Guard
Destroyer and
returned to the
ship by helo (The
Angel).
|
Ron
Gerard wet but
back on deck.
Bob Cheyne in
his red flight
deck shirt is
over Ron's
right
shoulder. |
From My August Flight
Log Book
August 4th- More
bad weather. I flew
a night
flight under Mk 24
parachute flares and
expended 2 Mk 82s and 1
Mk 81
August 5th-
Another night flight. I
did not expend any
ordnance and flew
an actual instrument
night approach and trap
August 6th- I
didn't fly that day (I
was probably SDO again)
August 7th- I
flew a regular
cycle mission and
expended 4 MK 82s
and 50 rounds of 20mm.
It must have been a
RESCAP situation.(My
140th mission)
August 8th- I flew
two regular cycle combat
missions. No mission
details.
August 9th- I flew
a bomber mission and
expended 6 Mk 82s
August 10th- It was an
interesting day.
There were several major
strikes to Hai Duong
from all three carriers
that day. I flew two
missions that day.
I was a bomber on a
major strike to Hai
Duong on my first
mission early in the
day.
On my second mission, I
expended 8 Zuni rockets
(2 LAU 10 pods worth)
and 50 rounds of 20mm
flying an Iron Hand
mission with Possum.
It must have started as
an Iron Hand mission but
turned into a RESCAP
mission because of the
50 rounds of 20mm. What
wasn't debriefed in
CVIC at the end of the
flight was that only 7
of those rockets were
fired at the
target.
I fired the 8th towards
Possum early in the
flight. I was
flying in combat cruise
switching sides during
some extreme maneuvering
when I
inadvertently
fired a single
Zuni. It went
harmlessly below and
behind Possum and he
never saw it.
There was plenty of
action going on at the
time. I didn't
tell him about it until
several nights later
when we were sharing
some Johhy Walker Black
in his stateroom.
Also, on August the
10th, one of the VF-111
Sundowner F8C Crusader
pilots was shot
down. I don't know
which of the pilots or
whether he was on a
TARCAP mission or
escourting a VFP-63 RF8
on a photo recon
mission. I suspect
that it was probably
Ltjg Rick Wenzel.
Because if it were
"Tooter" Teague, Tony
Nargi, or Joe Satrapa, I
think I would have
remembered.
Perhaps one of
the VALions who reads
this will tell me more!
August 11th- I
didn't fly that day.
August
12th- I flew two
missions on August 12th.
The
first was an Iron Hand
mission in support of a
major strike to Phy Ly.
I expended four 5" Zni
rockets ion support of
that strike.
This combat chart shows
the strike groups' area
of ingress over the Red
River over SAM site #35
at Nam Dinh and on to
the northwest to Phu Ly
where SAM site #88 is
located. There were two
important targets at Phu
Ly; a railroad yard and
the railroad bridge over
the tributary of the Red
River which flows to the
northeast. Phu Ly
is well defended by SAMs
located at Nam DInh
enroute (Site #35) as
well as a radar
controlled 85mm AAA site
(# 174) north west of
Nam Dinh and a SAM Site
at the target (Site
#88). Phu Ly is
also within the normal
range of the MIG threat.
Hanoi is located a short
distance to the north
north west from Phy
Ly. So,
significant Iron Hand,
BARCAP, and TARCAP
support were required
for strikes at Phu Ly.
This
combat chart
is from the
collection of
the Intrepid
Air and Space
Museum
and is a
gift from the
family of LCDR
Keith
Strickland
(I have
highlighted
key areas)
|
My second mission on
August 12th was an
Iron Hand mission in
support of a major
strike to Haiphong.
This
combat chart
is from the
collection of
the Intrepid
Air and Space
Museum
and is a gift
from the
family of
LCDR
Keith
Strickland
|
I
expect that we
had three Iron
Hand sections
assigned to that
strike; one to
the west of
Haiphong at site
#99.
My section's
assignment was
to eliminate the
SAM threat from
sites #137 and
#228 to the
southeast of
Haiphong.
I expended one
AGN 45 Shrike on
that
mission.
It was on that
strike that I
observed an SA 2
launch from one
of the sites but
it was command
detonated over
the site when I
fired my Shrike
"down the
throat".
It was
exhilerating to
watch that
Guideline
missile explode
raining debris
over the missile
site below.
The third
section was
probably
assigned to the
south of
Haiphong at site
#389.
|
USAF
Strike on the Paul
Doumer Bridge in
Hanoi on August
12th, 1967
The
Johnson
administration
began approving
additional Alpha
Strikes against
some major
targets in the
Hanoi and
Haiphong areas.
On August 12th the
Air Force flew a
major strike against
the Paul Doumer
Bridge in Hanoi.
F-105 Wild Weasel
iron hand aircraft
attacked SAM sites
and about twenty
F-105 strike
aircraft attacked
the bridge.
Five Air
Force Crosses were
awarded for this
strike. One for
the Wild Weasel
flight leader and
four for strike
division leaders.
One of the Ar
Force Crosses was
awarded to Col.
Harry Schurr who
would be my
Commander of the
4519th Combat Crew
Training Squadron
on the 23rd
Tactical Fighter
Wing when I was on
my Air Force
Exchange tour with
McConnell Air
Force Base in
1968.
August 13th- I flew
one regular cycle
mission on August
13th and expended 4
MK 82s
August
14th- I did not fly
on August 14th
August 15th- I
flew two missions on
August 15th:
The
first mission was a
regular cycle
mission. I
fired a MK 4 gun pod
on that flight. (It
was my 150th
mission)
The
second mission was a
short cycle mission
on which I expended
4 Mk 82 bombs
August 16th- I
flew a regular cycle
mission and expended
4 Mk 82 bombs
August 17th- I
flew a regular cycle
mission and expended
4 MK 82s and 2 Mk
81s.
Bomb
Damage
Assessment (BDA)
The strike
leader or flight
leader gives a
debriefs in CVIC
immediately after
landing which
includes what damage
he thinks we did on
the target; reports
like 100% bombs on
target". But
how do we know for
sure that the target
has been destroyed
and we don't have to
go back and hit it
again. There were
various photographic
collectors outside
the ship that
provided such
information but
usually too long
after the fact to be
useful in the short
term. If the
target is important
enough and near real
time feedback is
desired, an airwing
RF8 will fly a BDA
flight immediately
after the
strike. The
film is developed
and then evaluated
by the photo
interpreters in
CVIC. In this case,
the center span of
the bridge is
confirmed to be
broken and the
bridge is out of
service for
now.
VFP-63
RF8
|
A
photo
interpreter at
work
|
|
Barracks
Before
the Strike
|
Barracks
After
the Strike
|
My
brief R&R
(Rest and
Recreation) at
Chu Lai on
August 18th,
1967:
My mission on August
18th was an
interesting one.
After flying my
mission, I returned
to the ship and
entered the break
for a normal
recovery. But as I
initiated my turn
from the 180
position opposite
the LSO platform on
the port aft end of
the flight deck, I
noticed that my
elevator trim would not
increase with my
decrease in air
speed. I had to hold
a lot of back
pressure to keep the
nose at the correct
attitude. I notified
the Air
Boss in the tower
(Pri Fly) about my
problem and after
consultation with
our ready room, they
decided to bingo me
to the Marine Corps
base at
Chu Lai. It turned
out that if I should
bolter on my pass
that I would not be
able to rotate the
aircraft and would
have to eject
resulting in the
loss of the
aircraft. I
needed fuel for the
bingo so I found the
duty tanker and got
some fuel before
leaving the area of
the ship.
|
Chu
Lai was
located in I
Corps in South
Vietmam just
south of Da
Nang and Hue.
The Marines
flew A4
Skyhawks there
so they ha the
maintenance
capability to
resolve the
problem.
|
I flew to
Chu Lai and landed
without
incident. I
talked to the
maintenance guys
there and it turned
out that they had
only A4Es and did
not have the part
for an A4C. I
asked them if they
could use the A4E
part to set the trim
to just below
landing trim (about
6 degrees nose up)
and then disconnect
the trim. That way I
could fly the plane
dirty (gear and
flaps down) to the
boat at 150 kts or
so and then land.
The aircraft trim of
6 degrees of nose up
would allow me to
comfortable fly the
aircraft to the ship
at 150 kts.
This would be a
little under trimmed
for landing which
would allow me to
ease the nose down
in close if I needed
to. They
agreed to my plan
but said they
wouldn't have my
plane ready until
the morning. So, I
checked into the BOQ
and then went to the
Officers Club to get
something to
eat. I
discovered that I
had arrived on steak
night. So, I
had steak and a
fresh salad with
some beer. That was
my brief R&R.
I did have a
pleasant surprise
though. Remember
that Marine who
drove with me after
we got our wings in
February, 1965 from
Kingsville, Texas to
Memphis for
Maintenance Officers
training? (see
Chapter Three) Well,
he was there at the
Officer's Club in
Chu Lai. He
was there for his
Vietnam tour.
He spent the first
party of his tour
flying Skyhawks in
support of ground
operations. He
was now in the
second portion of
his tour, being a
ground FAC (Forward
Air Controller) with
Marines in the
field. He was
taking a break
enjoying steak night
also. What a
coincidence!
I got up early
(August 19th) and
flew with the
landing gear and
flaps down (dirty)
to the ship and
landed with no
problem at the end
of the second cycle
time. Our
maintenance guys
replaced the A4E
part with an A4C one
and the plane was as
good as new.
August 19th- I
flew a second
mission and expended
6 Mk 81s (This
mission qualified me
for my 14th Strike
Flight Air Medal)
August
20th- I
did not fly on
August 20th
August
21st- I flew a
regular cycle flight
to a place called
Port Wallut near Cam
Pha northeast of
Haiphong.
|
Port Wallut is
well northeast
of Haiphong on
the east side
of the Cam Pha
peninsula.
I expended a
pod of Zuni
rockets on the
regular cycle
flight (1.5
hours).
I suppose the
target might
have been a
boat or two in
the Port
Wallut harbor
area. |
USS
Oriskany Strike
on the Hanoi
Thermal Power
Plant on August
21st, 1967
A
major strike
was flown by
CAG 16 from
the
Oriskany.
It was a six
plane strike
strike by
VA-163 against
the Hanoi
Thermal Power
Plant on
August 21st,
1967. "In
order to knock
out the power
plant, we
needed to put
four Walleyes
on target".
Figuring to
loose a couple
of people in
the process
they took six
pilots {A4
Skyhawks)". The
VA-163
Commanding
Officer, Bryan
Compton "lead
the strike
with future
four star
Admiral Jim
Bussy, Cramer,
LCDR Jerry
Breast, Vance
Schufeldt, and
Ltjg Fritz
Schroeder.
Each of us had
a different
location on
the main
generator
remembers
Bussy. Two of
us were hit on
the way in to
the target
area. ....
Five Walleyes
were fired and
five
bulls-eyes
resulted,
three striking
the generator
Hall and two
the boiler
house....
Official
accounts of
the strike
report Bussy's
aircraft {had}
more than 125
holes.... and
was on fire.
Cramer, who
never made it
to the
target
made it back
to the ship on
fire and with
an assortment
of aircraft
damage.
("Alpha Strike
Vietnam"
,pages 207,
208). "Bryan
received a
Navy Cross and
Bussy was put
in for a
Silver Star,
later upgraded
to a Navy
Cross. Jerry
Breast got a
Silver Star".
("Alpha Strike
Vietnam" page
210)
CDR Jerry
Breast was my
XO of the
VA-82
Marauders
(A7Cs) for
Operation
Linebacker 1
in during the
summer and
fall of 1972.
August
22nd- I flew a
mission to the Nam
Dinh area and
expended one LAU 3
pod of 27 2.75
rockets. It was
probably a road
recce flight.
August 23rd- I
did not fly on
August 23rd
August 24th- I went
back to Port Wallut.
This time though the
ordnance was 2 MK 83
1000 # bombs.
|
Apparently,
one of the
photo
interpreters
must have
discovered a
hard target (a
high priorty
target
qualifying for
MK 83 1000#
bombs)
It was my last
mission of the
Second Line
Period and my
160th mission.
I don't
remember what
the target was
that justified
the Mk 83
1000# bombs.
|
"Rig
the
Barricade" -
"This is Not a
Drill"
|
Every
once in awhile
after the last
aircraft has
landed in a
recovery, the
Air Boss
will call out
to the flight
deck crew to
"Rig the
barricade".
The crew
responds in a
clockwork like
performance to
see if they
can rig it
properly in a
faster time
than during
the last
drill.
After the
barricade is
rigged, the
Air Boss will
make a call
like "Great
job, bravo
zulu 1 minute
and 57
seconds".
Or perhaps,
"Airman Jones,
what were you
thinking of
when you
....."
|
However,
occasionally, it
is not a drill.
Like one day when
VSF-3 aircraft 110
could not not
lower any of his
landing
gear.
Perhaps he had a
complete hydraulic
failure and the
back up system
didn't work. If he
had been able to
get only one main
landing gear down,
the Air Boss would
have directed him
to eject alongside
of the ship
because it was too
dangerous to try
to make a trap or
to use the
barricade.
But, in this case,
with no gear at
all, it was safe
to use the
barricade. When
using the
barricade, the
pilot made a
normal carrier
approach only
instead of getting
a wire, the
aircraft is
brought to a stop
with the
barricade. The
only difference is
that you cannot
wave off in close
because being
snagged by the top
of the barricade
could be
disastrous.
VSF-3 aircraft
110 making a
gear up
approach to a
barricade
landing.
|
A
barricade
landing
normally
causes
relatively
little
aircraft
damage.
In this case,
the centerline
drop tank and
both TERs have
impacted the
deck.
The airframe
damage to the
leading edge
of the tail
and wings is
usually
repairable in
a couple of
days.
|
Jerry
Tuttle Makes a
Statement about
VA-15's
Maintenance
Prowess and
Combat Readiness
Again, I'm
not sure on what
date this event
took place.
But, it is most
likely that it
occurred a few
days prior to our
Cubi/Hong Kong
port visit at the
end of our Second
Line Period. The
scene; the airwing
was scheduled for
a major strike
sometime after
noon. Every
weapons
capable/"up"
aircraft that
wasn't blocked in
the hangar bay
would participate
in the mission.
VA-15 was
scheduled to fly
12 of the 14
aircraft
aboard.
The first thing
Jerry Tuttle did
was to make sure
that none of our
aircraft were
blocked in the
hangar bay. Next,
he made sure that
we had our 13th
aircraft was ready
to be launched as
a mission spare in
case either
VA-34 or VSF-3 had
an aircraft that
went "down on
deck" (developed a
maintenance
problem that
precluded it from
going on the
strike) and didn't
have a spare on
deck to take it's
place. Then in a
show of confidence
in our maintenance
folks, he arranged
for our 14th
aircraft to be
launched to Cubi
for "corrosion
control" earlier
in the day before
the big strike.
Sure enough,
during the pre
launch sequence,
either VA-34 or
VSF-3 had an
airfcraft go down
prior to launch
and they
didn't have a go
spare available.
So, our spare was
a go bird and was
launched along
with all our 12
scheduled aircraft
on the
strike. That
meant we had all
14 of our aircraft
off the ship at
the same
time. As
soon as the last
strike aircraft
was launched and
the flight deck
was clear, our
Maintenance
Control Officer,
Lt Morris E.
Shepard, brought a
folding
"beach type" chair
out on the flight
deck along with a
newspaper.
The crowd went
wild! Every
member of the
VA-15 Maintenance
Department
"beamed" with
pride. Jerry
Tuttle had made a
statement about
our high level of
maintenance
prowess and combat
readiness.
I remembered this
and when I was CO
of VA-15 in 1978
on an ORE
(Operational
Readiness
Evaluation), I
followed Jerry
Tuttle's lead and
had all our A7Es
launched on the
final big strike
mission. The
Commanding Officer
of the USS America
(CV-66) got
on the mike from
the ship's bridge
and using the the
shipwide
communication
system (1MC)
announced that
VA-15 had just
launched every one
of it's aircraft
on the final
strike of the
ORE. The
morale of our
maintenance troops
rose accordingly
with pride in
their
accomplishment.
August 28th to
September 14th-
Intrepid's
Second Port
Visit (Cubi
Point/Hong Kong)
August 27th- I flew off
the ship from the Tonkin Gulf
in A4C 148446 to NAS Cubi
Point (2.2 hours). The other
airwaing aircraft may have
flown off to Cubi also.
Intrepid arrived at Cubi Point
on August 28th or 29th for a
day or so and then went to
Hong Kong for about a
week. Intrepid
returned to Cubi Point for a
day or so before leaving Cubi
about September 13th before
returning to the Tonkin Gulf
about September 15th. It
was typical for an aircraft
carrier to go to Hong Kong
from Cubi and then return to
Cubi before returning to the
Tonkin Gulf (some political
thing).
This
schedule gave Jerry
Tuttle the opportunity
to play a practical joke
on Frog Wigent, the CO
of VA-34
Because
the ship was required to
come into port at Cubi
before and after going to
Hong Kong, it provided the
Maintenance Department the
opportunity to leave a
corrosion control
detachment at Cubi Point
while the Intrepid was in
Hong Kong. So,
Jerrry Tuttle not only
decided to repaint one of
our aircraft, but also to
execute another more
nefarious plan. I don't
know who he left behind to
coordinate this "nefarious
plan, but I suspect it
might have been Shep.
VA-34 only left a
"skeleton crew" behind to
provide
security for their
aircraft. As it
turned out, their skeleton
crew" was insufficient to
provide adequate security.
Perhaps their people were
more focused on liberty in
Olongapo than standing the
required line security
watches.
When the VA-34 security
people "had their backs
turned", our people drove
an aircraft tractor up to
one of their aircraft and
towed it into our
corrosion control hangar.
They stripped the existing
paint with the VA-34
markings, did whatever
corrosion control was
required, and repainted
the aircraft with the
VA-15 paint scheme with
side number 313 (the
numbers X08 and X13 were
not traditionally used for
some reason). When the
work was complete, they
towed the aircraft to the
VA-15 line. When it was
time to fly to the
aircraft back to Intrepid
for the Third Line Period,
VA-15 flew 15 aircraft
back to the ship.
VA-34 sent 14 pilots to
fly back to the ship but
they were one aircraft
short. The 14th pilot had
to fly out to the ship on
the COD.
Frog Wigent was more than
upset. He was livid.
He went to CAG Burrows and
demanded that Jerry Tuttle
be court martialed.
CAG through Frog out of
his office saying that if
Frog had better control of
his aircraft, it would
never have happened!!
I did not
participate in the
Hong Kong Port
visit. Instead, I
lead a section of
squadron aircraft
from Cubi Point to
Atsugi via Kedena
AFB in Okinawa. My
wingman was Bob
Hamel. His
wife Lynn was able
to fly to Tokyo meet
Bob.
|
August 28th-
Bob Hamel and I flew from
Cubi Point to Kadena AFB,
Naha, Okinawa (2.3 hours)
|
Kadena AFB,
Naha, Okinawa
|
August 28th- I made a
phone call from Kadena AFB
to Yokota AFB to arrange a
meetup with Stephanie in
Tokyo.
Then, Bob and I flew
from Kadena to NAS Atsugi,
Japan (2.7 hours)
Upon
landing at Atsugi, we
turned the two aircraft in
to Nippon Aircraft Company
for repainting. I
think I was selected for
this responsibility
because I was a qualified
section leader and because
Jerry Tuttle had
confidence in me due to my
experience as the Aircraft
Division officer last
cruise.
Bob and I
checked in to the
BOQ. I probably
sure we went to the
O'Club for a few beers
and a steak and, most
likely, got a haircut
and a "hotsi
bath"at the BOQ; possibly
with Nancy again. Bob
took the train to Tokyo to
meet Lynn.
Atsugi BOQ
|
Hotsi Bath
The water was very
hot!
|
Hotsi Baths
always included a
message
and a manicure if
you wanted one.
|
After the short stop
at Atsugi, I took train to
Tokyo to meet up with
Stephanie.
This time I
stayed at her
apartment
|
|
On some days, she had to
work. So, I slept in and then took
the subway to some shrine or other
touristy location on my own and
then met her at a restaurant. We
enjoyed both Japanese and western
style restaurants and food.
On a couple of occasions we met up
with Bob and Lynn Hamel. On one
night, the four of us visited
various clubs around Tokyo. We had
a great time. Lynn recently told
me how we would never have been
able to do that without Stephanie
as our guide. On another day,
Stephanie took us on a guided tour
of Tokyo including the American
embassy.
Of course, Bob and Lynn knew I was
married; Stephanie did not!
Being with
Stephanie was an opportunity to
have a great time while
relieving relieve the stress
involved in combat flight
operations.
One night, toward the end of this
Tokyo visit, someone broke in to
Stephanie's apartment and stole
all my cash; I had (about $200).
We discovered the break-in when
she was getting up for work. After
she left for work, I decided
to report the break in to the
building manager who spoke pretty
good English. Stephanie was upset
that I reported the theft but
wouldn't say why. I'll reveal that
a bit later. She loaned me
about $100 to get by on during my
trip back to Atsugi and the ship.
I
returned to Atsugi to meet up with
Bob to pick up the newly repainted
aircraft .
September 11th- We flew from
Atsugi to Kadena (2.3 hours) and
then from Kadena to Cubi Point
(2.2 hours).
The ship left Cubi Point and
returned to Yankee Station to
begin our third line Period.
Our
Third
Line Period (September 16th
- October 12th) (26 days)
|
I don't know whether we
ever had four carriers
on Yankee Station during
this line period but it
does represent the all
out effort the Navy and
Air Force made during
this time frame. We did
have three airwings from
three carriers
participate in Alpha
Strikes to Hanoi, Phu
Ly, Hai Duong, Haiphong,
and the Thanh Hoa
Bridge.
The North Vietnamese
countered with expending
their SAMs freely and
sending their MIGs
almost to the coast on
occasion.
There were several
engagements with MIGs
including one which
involved many MIGs
and twelve A4s during
one strike to the Hai
Duong Railroad and
Highway Bridge between
Hanoi and Haiphong.
|
The
Third Line Period was Action Packed!
I flew 22
combat missions and 3 non combat
missions during the third line
period.
September
16th-
Regular cycle, bombing mission, 4
MK 82s
September 17th - Regular cycle,
bombing mision, 6 MK 81s
September 17th- Regular
cycle, bombing mission
September 18th- Short cycle,
Iron Hand mission, Haiphong, 2
AGM-45 Shrikes, 50 rnds 20mm
September 18th- Short cycle,
Iron Hand mission, Haiphong, 1
AGM-45 Shrike, 4 Zuni
rockets (LAU 10)
September 19th- I did not
fly (SDO?)
Daring
Rescue
Attempt
Somewhere during our time on
Yankee Station, a small special
forces team arrived onboard
Intrepid by helo one evening after
our last recovery. The team
consisted of a combination of
American special forces and
Montagnar tribesmen. They caused
quite a stir on the mess decks
when they had a meal before their
operation. The team departed
by helo during the dark and were
inserted somewhere in the vicinity
of Thanh Hoa. Their mission; to
find and extract an Air Force F4
crew who had been shot down on a
Thanh Hoa bridge strike. The team
encounterd numerous North
Vietnamese army personnel
during their mission. There were
many enemy
soldiers KIA without
any friendly
casualties. Unfortunately,
the were unable to find and rescue
the F4 pilots. The team was
extracted by helo and returned to
the ship before sunrise.
|
The Montagnar (AKA Degar,
AKA People of the Mountain
in French) are an
indigenous people of the
Central Highlands of
Vietnam.
The Montagnar were well
versed in the jungle
environment (like the
Negredo in the
Phillipines). The
Montagnar were trained by
American special forces
early in the war and were
invaluable in our
efforts against the Viet
Cong and North Vietnam
regulars. The
Montagnar were especially
helpful in the defeat of
the North Vietnamese
during the Tet Offensive
in 1968.
|
Back
to
"Routine" Flight Operations
September 20th- Regular cycle,
bombing mission, 4 MK82s (my 15th
Strike Flight Air Medal)
September 21st- Short Cycle, Iron
Hand mission, Haiphong, 1 AGM-45,
4 Zuni rockets (LAU 10).
I was awarded my second Navy
Achievement Medal with Combat V
for this mission. (Administrative
delays reversed the order
of my NAMs)
September 22nd through
September 25th-- I did not fly
(stand down?)
September
26th- Short Cycle, Iron Hand
Mission, Haiphong, 1 AGM-45
Shrike. I was awarded my
1st Distinguished Flying Cross
with Combat V for this
mission.
I
believe this DFC may have
been in recognition of
several Iron Hand missions
flown between September 18th
and September 26th where I
expended 5 AGM-45 Shrikes
and numerous Zuni rockets
from LAU 10 pods against
North Vietnamese SAM sites
in the highly defended Route
Pack 6B area.
I consider it as a
recognition that our SAM
tactics were effective!
We had a few days
where we flew close air
support missions for US Marines at
Con Tien and other US
military bases just south of
the DMZ.
September
26th- a 2.0 combat mission (50
rnds 20mm) with landing at Da Nang
Air Base, "I Corps" South
Vietnam
September 26th (my third flight
that day), a non combat flight
from Da Nang back to Intrepid
September 27th- I didn't fly that
day
September 28th- a 1.3 combat
mission from Intrepid landing at
Da Nang (my 170th combat mission)
September 28th- a non combat
mission from Da Nang landing at Da
Nang
September 28th (my third flight
that day)- a non combat flight
from Da Nang landing back on the
Intrepid
Now, back to North Vietnam
missions:
A Not so Routine
Mission for Dave Thornhill
(Thorny) (again)
|
I am not sure of
the date of this
mission. But I
remember the important
details. Thorny was
flying CAG Burrow's wing
again on a major strike
in Route Pak 6B.
The weather was very
marginal. But CAG
decided to descend below
the overcast and
continue to the target.
Of course flying just
below the overcast gave
the gunners below a good
idea of the fight's
altitude (they had
weather guessers
too). So they
could set the 37mm/57mm
destruct altitude
accurately which
provided dense barrage
fire at the strike
aircraft altitude.
Luckily, the strike
group managed to get to
the target OK.
But, Thorny's aircraft
took a direct hit to the
cockpit on pull
off. The shell
went through the cockpit
from the left side
blowing the top of
Thorny's ejection seat
off and through the
right side of the
cockpit. The upper
ejection seat actuator
was gone so the seat
could fire at any
time. Thorny
managed to get to the
coast OK but could not
hear anything but the
roar of the wind through
the cockpit. He
successfully returned to
the ship and landed
safely without the
ejection seat firing on
landing. About as
close as you can
get! CAG Burrows
apologized to Thorny
after the flight for
putting him in danger! |
We saw lots of
action during the two week
period from September 29th
through October 12th
Most of our missions were
in Route Package 6B in the
Haiphong to Hai Duong area
|
This is one
of my combat charts
|
September 29th- a 1.3 combat
mission
September 30th- a 1.8 regular
cycle, probably a RESCAP mission
or Close Air Support Mission to I
Corps", 2 LAU 10 rocket pods, 2
LAU 3 2.75" rocket pods , 50 rnd
20mm
October 1st- I did not fly
October 1st
October 2nd- a 1.8 mission
carrying 2 Mk Gun pods, probably a
close air support mission for the
Marines south of the DMZ
October 3rd- a short cycle (1.3)
Iron Hand mission to the port of
Hon Gai (well to the
northeast of Haiphong). The
Port of Hon Gai consisted of
numerous kearst type
islands.
I would fly numerous mining
missions to Hon Gai in the summer
of 1972.
October 3rd (my second mission)-
a short cycle (1.3) Iron Hand
mission to the Haiphong area, 1
AGM-45 Shrike, 4 Zuni rockets
(LAU 10).
I was awarded my 4th NCM with
Combat V for this mission.
A VSF-3 pilot was
hit on a mission to the Haiphong
area. He ejected as soon as he
was safely off the coast as as
his cockpit was on fire and was
rescued.
October 4th- A short cycle (1.3)
Iron Hand mission which turned
in to a RESCAP mission for Pete
Schoeffel
October 4th- A short cycle
(1.2) Haiphong, RESCAP , 4
Zuni rockets, continuing RESCAP
for Pete Schoeffel
I was awarded my 1st NAM with
Combat V for this mission.
(Administrative delays reversed
the order of my NAMs)
October 4th,1967
Our Operations Officer, LCDR
Pete Schoeffel was shot down
while conducting flak
suppression in support of a
strike on a ferry crossing
just west of Hai Phong.
He was hit during his rocket
delivery. His aircraft was
observed to be on fire in a
steep angle toward the ground.
We were pessimistic about
whether he got out of the
aircraft befote it hit the
ground.
But, the next day, a picture
of his military ID Card was on
the front page of the Hanoi
newspaper. It was
confirmed sometime later that
he was a POW.
|
|
Pete
was fortunate that North
Vietnamese army soldiers
got to him before the
local people had achance
to hurt him severely.
|
The
North Vietnamese
transported Pete to the
main prision in Hanoi
for processing; The
Heart Break, T Bird. |
Pictures
taken by the North Vietnamese
Pete
was moved to the "Zoo"
annex of the Hanoi
Hilton where he was
incarcerated from
October 1967 through
Februsry 1968. He
was moved around to
various prosons in the
six years and five
months as a POW before
being released on March
14th, 1974. As
I work my way through
the memoir, I'll mention
where Pete wsas being
held while I was
nejoying my navy career
flying F-1065
Thunderchiefs on Air
Force Exchange and then
fying the A7E with VA-82
in the Med in 1971 and
in 1972 flying the A7C
during the summer and
fall of 1972.
This is a
picure of Pete
enjoying his freedom
on the flight back
from Hanoi to Hawaii
on March 14th, 1973.
Shortly after
his release, Pete visited
Mary and me in our
quarters in Bracknell,
England while I was
attending the Royal Air
Force Staff College.
|
LCDR
Pete Schoeffel,
Operations Officer
Attack Squadron Fifteen
VALions
Shot down October
4th,1967
POW October 1967- March,
1973
Commanding Officer of
VA-82 (A7E Corsairs)
1974-1975
Retrired as a Captain US
Navy on September 1st,
1982
|
Pete
and I have grown to be very good
friends. He and his wife
Jane live nearby in
Jacksonville, Florida.
Pete and I ride together to two
Navy functions a month; the
monthly meeting of RETCAPTS
(Retired Captains) on the sccond
Wednesday of the month and the
Bald Eagle Squadron of the
Association of Naval Aviation
which is held on the third
Tuesday or Thursday of the
month. We share an interest in
reading especially in Naval
History. He is an excptionally
fine gentlemen.
October 5th, 1967 MK 36
Destructor Mining Mission,
Hai Duong Railroad and
Highway Bridge
An Exciting Day for Me!
This mission was a
major airwing strike flown
to the Hai Duong Railroad
and Highway bridge.
Hai Duong was located west
of Haiphong on the main
road/railroad access to
Hanoi. The target had
been struck many times and
the bridge was destroyed and
the bridge parts, road
rubble, and railroad tracks
were on the banks and in the
river. This bridge was
exceptionally important to
the Vietnamese. So, the
objecive of the misson was
to mine what was left so
that the North Vietnamese
could not repair it. We used
a new technology weapon
called Destructor Mines. There were two
sizes of Destructor MInes; a
modified Mk82; called a MK
36 and a modified MK 83
called a MK 40. We only had
the MK 82 version.
Destructor Mines had a
special infuence fuse whiich
could detect metal objects
(tools, even nails in work
boots) and detonate the mine
at the closest point of
approach (CPA) of the metal
object.
Destructor
Mines had Snakeye
fins which increased
the amount of steel
fragments over
conical fins.
|
The
snakeye fins would
open up increasing
the angle of the
bomb at impact.
|
We had about 18
aircraft (8 from VSF-3,
8 from VA-34, and 6 from
VA-15) each loaded with
4 MK 36s for a total of
72 mines. One of the
other carriers provided
4 BARCAP aircraft (2
sections) between
Hai Duong and
Hanoi. Our VF-111
Det 11 Sundowners flying
all four of their F8C
Crusaders flew two
sections of TARCAP.
VA-34 provided a
division of Flak
Suppressors (4 aircraft)
and VA-15 provided three
sections (6 aircraft) of
Iron Hand anti sam
aircraft. In total, the
strike group consisted
of 4 BARCAP, 4 TARCAP, 4
Flak Supessors, 6 Iron
Hand, and 18 bombers,
a total of about
36 aircraft. VA-15
flew 12 of its 14
aircraft on this one
strike.
A
Message from God?
|
On my way to
the catapult for
launch, I heard this
message in my headset;
"You shouldn't
go on this mission
today"!
Was this a message
from God? Does
he know something that
I should be afraid
of? Should I
down my aircraft and
abort the mission?
I've never considered
aborting a mission
before.
I decided to go on the
mission. If
Jerry Tuttle found out
that I downed a
perfectly good
aircraft, I'd be in
big trouble.
|
The Bottom LIne: I was more
afraid of Jerry Tuttle than
God!
|
The 18 mining
aircraft with the 4 Flak
Suppressor aircraft just
ahead of the mining group
flew on the ingress route at
the mouth of the Red
River indicated on the
chart above. The two
sections of F4 Phantom
BARCAP were stationed to the
west and southwest of Hai
Duong toward Hanoi under
control of PIRAZ (the Yankee
Station Air Defense ship, a
cruiser). VF-111 Det
11's two sections of F8C
TARCAP were on our left
between the main body and
the MIG threat. The
sections of Iron Hand were
orbiting their assigned SAM
sites ready to fire down the
throat Shrikes should a SAM
lift off. LCDR Jerry
Tuttle was the leader of the
main body with his 4
aircraft. The VSF-3 and
VA-34 miners followed Jerry
Tuttle. I was the
section leader of the last
section planned to deliver
mines on target (Tail End
Charlie). Because we
were the last to roll in, I
briefed my wingman, Steve
Smith, one of the new guys
who I hadn't flown with
before, that I was going to
pull off opposite to
whatever direction most of
the sections of aircraft
used for their pull off.
The flight went well with no
SAMs launched along
our route. We had some
Firecan/Flapwheel AAA search
indications but no lock ons.
This was an indication that
MIGs might be coming. The
North Vietnamese didn't tend
to fire when their own
aircraft were in the
area. The PIRAZ ship
announced the code word for
MIGs airborne when we were
about a third of the way
from the shoreline to
the. Our Sundowner
TARCAP did not get
distracted and stayed with
the strike group.
When we were sohtwest of the
abandoned Ken An airfield,
Jerry Tuttle thought he saw
a Beagle (airborne command
and control aircrfaft)
toward our northwest, so he
called out a boggy in that
direction. The TARCAP
went to
investigate. The
TARCAP found nothing and by
the time they turned back,
we were almost to the
target. As it turned
out, none of the F8s saw any
MIGs!
Then it got
interesting. The
division of Flak Suppressors
lead by LCDR Eddie Gilreath
(CAG OPS Officer) were
engaged by 4 MIG
aircraft. The MIGs
overshot (like they did with
our Spads the last cruise)
and the Flak Suppressors
fired their Zuni rockets at
them; no hits. The MIGs
bugged out. Two other MIGs
engaged a section of the
main body sometime in the
fray; no hits by either
side. The rest of us
descended in to our roll in
points and delivered our
mines. Destructor Mines do
not supply any spectacular
BDA, they just hit and stick
in the mud. They explode
later when the repair
workers arive with their
tools.
There
was
a lot of non radar
controlled 37mm and 57mm
at the roll in altitude
and in the bomb runs!
Most of the bombers pulled
off to the left away from Hi
Duong. I pulled off to
the right hoping to confuse
the optical AAA gunners. But
as I pulling off anmd to the
right (about 4,000 ft), I
felt tand impact and knew
that I was hit I
didn't know it at the time,
but it hit just aft of the
tail the hook attach point,
went through the bottom of
the engine shroud (tail
pipe), behind the engine
turbine (thank goodness) and
continued through the top of
the engine tail pipe and out
the tail in fragments.
Some of the hot engine
exhaust was routed where it
wasn't supposed to go (out
the tail) burning the
aluminum skin of the
aircraft and turning on the
yellow flshimg Master
Caution Light and the red
Fire Warning Light (the fire
warning light sensors are
attached to the tail pipe).
I continued my high G turn
to the southeast and glanced
at my engine instruments;
all normal- EGT (exhaust gas
temperature) and RPMs (near
100% and steady). I
transmitted that I was hit
and had a fire warning
light. Steve Smith
said "You're on fire". He
saw black smoke from the
tail. A4Cs don't normally
leave a smoke trail; A4Es
do. I didn't think I
was on fire because my
engine instruments were
normal. I reduced power a
little to see how it would
react and to let Steve catch
up. He was a mile or
two back. After a
while, my fire warning light
went out; appparently the
sensor burned up. I
transmitted that my fire
waning light was out. Steve
transmitted, "you're still
on fire". I was flying
at 4,000 feet because I
wanted to stay as fast as I
could to get "feet wet"
(over the water) as soon as
I could. I was doing about
550 kts. I didn't want to
gain altitude at the cost of
slowing down.
When I was passing a couple
of miles to the east of the
abandoned Ken An airfield ,
I saw two MIG 17 aircraft
flying in the oppostite
direction below my altitude.
I think they were about
3,000 feet. They were really
no threat to me (we had a
closure rate of about 1,000
kts or so) and I didn't
think they would want to
engage in a fight that would
take them close to the
coast. I did call out
"Pouncer 2, MIGs at 3
0'clock low". I had
adopted the personal call
sign "Pouncer" as that was
the Iron Hand mission call
sign.
This MIG
17 Fresco is on
display at the
"Mighty 8th Air
Force" Museum just
off Interstate 95
near Savannah.
|
There were
two MIG 17s.
One was painted in a
cammoflage paint
scheme like this one
from the 8th Air
Force Meseum.
The other one was in
the original non
painted aluminum
scheme; probably a
Russian aircraft and
pilot or at least a
newly arrived MIG.
After my debrief
with the Air
Intelligence
Officers in CVIC,
they concluded that
they were MIG 17
Frescos.
I don't remember
which MIG aircraft
had the lead.
|
I
thought thought that the
MIGS would not engage us
until I saw both aircraft
start a turn up towards. I
knew that I wasn't the
target because of our
closure rate. But, it
occurred to me that Steve
was the target because he
was a mile or so behind me.
Steve still thinks today
that I was crazy to engage a
section of MIGs when my
aircraft was on fire. He
didn't, an still doesn't buy
my rationale that he was the
target and that by attacking
them, they would have to
ignore him and counter my
attack. Of course, the MIGs
didn't know that I had only
75 rounds of 20 mm and
wasn't much of a threat to
them. The momentum of
the engagement was to the
southeast toward the
water. After a couple of
turns, the MIGs bugged out
to the northwest.
As soon as we got about 10
miles or so "feet wet", I
started a climb to higher
altitude and slowed down so
that Steve cold rendezvous
with me and check me out. He
inspected the jagged holes
in the tail of my aircraft;
AAA holes were usually bent
in from a shell going from
outside the aircraft in, not
inside out. I was trailing
some smoke but no
fire. On return to the
ship, I had to wait until
last to land because there
was some concern that the
area where the tailhook was
attached might have been
damaged by the AAA. No
one ever mentioned that they
were considering having me
eject by the side of the
ship rather than take a
chance that my aircraft
might come apart on landing.
Just
"Another Day at the
Office"
This
was probably my
finest hour as a
combat pilot.
|
I was
awarded my second
DFC with Combat V
for this flight.
I actually
received the award
on my next tour of
duty as an Air
Force Exchange
F-105 Thunderchief
instructor pilot.
The Thud pilots
were amazed that
it wasn't a Silver
Star as it would
have been in the
Air Force.
Air Force awards
were about one
level higher than
in the Navy.
|
My Short
Meeting with Captain
McVey on the Bridge
|
I was called to
the bridge to
report to Captain
McVey.
The call came to
the ready room.
So, I went up to
the bridge to see
what he wanted to
talk to me
about.
Maybe, he was
going to
congratulate me on
getting my damaged
aircraft back on
deck safely.
Nope! He
wanted to tell me
that he had
received a message
from an
"Intelligence
Agency" wanting to
know if there was
a pilot
named Lt Bo
Smith on the
Intrepid. It
seems that he (me)
was spending some
time with one of
their female
analysts in
Tokyo. They
just wanted to
validate my
identity. So much
for Stephanie
being a secretary
with the Air Force
at Yokota
AFB. That
was just a cover
for her real job.
She was an analyst
for "The Agency"! |
Back
to
the Combat Missions
October 6th- I
flew a short cycle (0.9
hours) on a bombing mission
to Nam Dinh, 4 MK82s, 2 MK
81s.
I was awarded my 5th NCM
with Combat V for this
mission.
October 6th- I
flew a short cycle (1.4
hours). I don''t have the
bomb load or target. But it
required 2 trips to th e
tanker. Interesting! (my
180th mission)
October
7th- I flew an Iron Hand
mission to the Haiphong
area, 4 Zuni rockets (LAU
10)
October 8th-October 11th- I
have no flights indicated in
my log book
October 12th- I flew an Iron
Hand mision to Haiphong, 16
Zuni rockets (4 LAU 10)
probably an Iron Hand
mission with no SAM action
so the
rockets
were probably expended
against know SAM or AAA
sites. This was my last
mission of our Third Line
Period
With
the Third Line Period Over
it was time for a Big End
of the Line Party
|
Some
Congressman had
arranged for fancy
juice coolers in the
back of each ready
room; probably for
all the Yankee
Station
carriers.
During line
operations, they had
orange or lemon
juice.
But for the End of
the Line Party, we
added rum to orange
and pineapple juice
and vodka; sort of
like a 'Cubi
Special'
As this was a pretty
stressful line
period, it required
an appropriate level
of stress relieving!
|
I
estimate that we left
Yankee Station on the
13th of Octopber. I
think we probably had an
extended End of the Line
Party during our transit
to Sasebo that included
one of our most
spectacular Blue Shoes
events of all time.
LCDR
"Black Mac"
McCarthy
|
The
Blue Shoes
Award
|
As
soon as the
Third Line
Period was over,
Black Mac began
a campaign to
garner enough
votes to give
the Blue Shoes
Award to Ltjg
"Smedly Gluck"
John Newman (AKA
"Smeds"). I
forget what
grievous event
Black Mac was
using to try to
pin the award on
Smeds but he was
making headway
in getting the
votes.
The night of the
nomination
(there was just
one), it was
conceivable that
it might happen.
Black Mac
presented his
case with a long
winded speech
laden with
"fake" but
believable
data. All
through the
nomination,
Smeds sat
silently in his
ready room chair
with a writing
pad apparently
making notes.
When Black Mac
was finished,
Smeds got out of
his chair and
ambled up to the
front of the
ready room note
pad in hand.
But, instead of
notes, the note
pad contained a
complete one act
play with the
evil wolf, Black
Mac, being an
"evil doer" at
the expence of
innocent little
red "Smedly
Gluck". It was
absolute genius
which was met
with a standing
ovation followed
by an almost
unanimous vote
for the "evil"
Black Mac.
|
Ltjg John
Newman "Smeds"
Dartmouth '64
|
I'm not sure Black Mac
ever got over his failed
attempt to give Smeds
the Blue Shoes Award.
Even after, he got
command of his A7
squadron or command of
his air wing or command
of his aircraft
carrier. I'm sure
he got tired of being
reminded of his defeat
by Smeds at VALion circa
'67 reunions even after
making Flag Officer and
being a Carrier Group
Commander and eventually
Commander of the Seventh
Fleet and his retirement
as a Vice Admiral.
October
17th to October
25th- Intrepid's
Third Port Visit
(Sasebo, Japan)
Intrepid spent over a
week in Sasebo.
The U.S. Navy had
excellent port
facilities in Sasebo
including a dry dock.
Intrepid
took advantage of the
dry dock in order to
get repairs done one
of her four massive
screws during the
inport period.
Unfortunately, I
didn't get to observe
the Intrepid in dry
dock because I wasn't
there.
On October 16th I flew
A4C 148529 from
Intrepid to NAS
Atsugi, Japan (1.3
flight hours) before she
arrived in Sasebo.-
I was accompanied by one
other aircraft.
Again,
I don't
remember who
came with me.
But, we
checked in to
the BOQ
I'm sure we
went to the
O'Club for a
few beers and
a steak.
We
most likely
got a haircut
and a "hotsi
bath" or two at
the BOQ; possibly
with Nancy again.
I think that my
wingman remained
in Atsugi on this
trip while I went
up to Tokyo again.
The situation
with Stephanie in
Tokyo had changed
since "The
Intelligence Agency"
was aware of our
relationship. It
turned out that now
that "The Agency"
had confirmed my
identity, Stephanie
was able to tell me
a little bit about
her job an an
intelligence
analyst. Also,
I was able to meet
with some of her
friends at "The
Agency" in a social
atmosphere.
Visit to a western
style resort
"The
Agency" gave
permission for
Stephanie to
get a few days
off before I
returned for
my last line
period.
They arranged
for us to
spend some
time at a
resort outside
of Tokyo.
|
|
The
resort was a
combination of
western and
Japanese.
|
Playing
golf at the
resort with a
Japaneses
caddy.
|
Another milestone in
our relationship
occurred during this
visit with
her. I
admitted to her that
I was married. It
was a very emotional
event; not a
pleasant
experience.
Although she was
dating other people
while I was flying
from the Intrepid on
Yankee Station, we
had established a
close relationship.
I
returned to Atsugi and
on October 26th, I flew
A4C 149493 from Atsugi
to Intrepid (1.3 flight
hours). Intrepid was
probably located south
of Sasebo after getting
underway.
Intrepid
arrived back on Yankee
Station about October 30th
or so to be on station to
begin our final line
period.
Our Fourth
and Final Line Period
(November 1st -
November 21st) (20
days)
My Log Book
Entries:
November 1st- I flew a
regular cycle (1.7
hours) mission and
expended 8 Zuni rockets
(2 LAU 10) (my 16th
Strike Flight Air Medal)
November 2nd- I flew a
regular cycle (1,7
hours) misssion and
expended 4 MK 82s
It looks like we
must have experienced a three day
period of bad weather
which precluded flying
missions over land. My
missions during this
period were probably
weather trecce missions.
November 2nd- I flew a
regular cycle (1.5
hours) which included
one wet plug and 0.2
hours of night time and
a"pinky" landing
November 3rd- I flew a
regular cycle (1.6
hours) mission
November 4th- I flew a
regular cycle extended
mission (2.2) which
included 0.2 actual
instrument time,
probably a weather recce
misssion
November 7th- I flew a
regular cycle (1.4 hours
with 1.2 hours of actual
instrument time,
probably anther weather
recce
November 8th- I flew a
short cycle (1.2 hours)
and expended 4 MK 82s
November 9th- I flew a
1.4 hour mission and
expended 4 Mk 82s (This
was my 180 combat
mission)
November 9th- I flew
a 1.4 hour mission
and expended 2 LAU 3
pods (2 X 27 2.75
rockets)
November 10th- I flew a
non combat flight;
possibly an aircraft
post maintenance test
flight.
November 11th- I flew a
1.4 hour Iron Hand
mission and expended 1
AGM-45 Shrike and 4 Zuni
rockets (1 LAU 10)
We may have more bad
weather for three or 4
days:
November 11th- I flew a
1.7 hour combat mission
with no ordnance
expended
November 12th- I
did not fly
November 12th
November 13th- I flew a
1.8 hour mission
with no ordnance
expended and 5 plugs
(inflight refueling (my
17th Strike Flight Air
Medal)
November 14th- I did not
fly November 14th
November 15th- I flew a
1.6 hour mission and
expended 4 Zuni rockets
1 LAU 10) and had 1.0
actual instrument and
0.5 night time
November 16th- I flew a
1.6 hour mission and
dispensed chaff
November 17th- I flew a
1.5 hour mission to
Haiphong
November
17th- I flew 1.6 hour
Iron Hand mission to
Hanoi, 1 AGM-45 Shrike
and 4 Zuni rockets
(LAU 10), observed a
SAM missile explode
over the SAM site. I
was awarded my 2nd
individual Air Medal
with Combat V for this
mission.
November 18th- I flew a
1.5 hour Iron Hand
mission to
Haiphong, *2
AGM-45 Shrike missiles*
expended
November 19th- I flew a
1.3 hour Iron Hand
mission to HaiPhong,
expended 4 Zuni rockets-
This was my
200th mission (not
November 21st as
indicated on the
certificate below)
We also
qualified for
acceptance as "River
Rats"
November 19th- I flew a
1.3 bombing mission to
Ninh Binh, 7 MK 82s
More bad weather
November 20th- I did not
fly on November 20th
November 21st- I flew a
1.4 hour mission, no
ordnance expended, 1 wet
plug
November 21st- I flew a
1.7 hour weather recce
mission to Hai Phong,
expended 4 Zuni rockets
(LAU 10) my final combat
mission of the second
cruise
November
25th- I flew a 2.7
hour fly off
flight to Cubi Point
With
our second
Vietnam
deployment
complete, it
was time for
the Intrepid
to head east
toward Subic
Bay to get
ready for her
transit back
to the states.
Notice the
plane guard
destroyer
still in
position.
|
Navy
Unit
Commendation
Air
Wing Ten flew off to
Cubi Point- November
25th, 1967
The
Intrepid stopped
inport Cubi before
returning to the
states
|
Eleven
VA-15 aircraft
enroute to NAS
Cubi Point. |
|
Closeup
of the eleven
VA-15 aircraft
enroute to
Cubi Point
clearly
showing the
"gold tails" ! |
|
The Intrepid
could have
left Yankee
Station and
transited back
to the states
without coming
into port at
Subic Bay/Cubi
Point. The
ship could
have refueled
and taken on
supplies at
sea and then
headed back.
But that
wasn't policy
at the
time.
The air wing
flew off from
the Tonkin
Gulf to Cubi
Point and the
ship followed
coming in port
a couple of
days later.
|
|
The aircraft
were then
craned aboard
for the
transit back
to the
states.
The ship
probably
refueled and
loaded needed
supplies on
board before
departing for
the trip back.
This
picture was
rom the 1966
deployment;
note the 303
number!
|
The
Intrepid arrived
inport Cubi about
November 27th ,
loaded the airwing
aircraft onboard and
after a two days of
left for her transit
back to the states
on November 29th.
Our Second "Magic
Carpet Flight"
The new post
1966 Oriskany Magic
Carpet Flight rules
were in
affect. We had
to hang around in
the western Pacific
until the Intrepid
got out of the
Seventh Fleet
operating area
before we could
catch our "magic
carpet flight" back
to the states.
But that didn't mean
that we had to stay
in Cubi Point.
Two weeks was a long
time to stay at
Cubi. The Seventh
Fleet allowed pilots
to go on leave in
either Hong Kong or
Tokyo. It was easy
to catch a ride from
Cubi or the Air
Force Base at Clark
in the Philippines
to either Hong Kong
or Yakota Air Base
near Tokyo. In
addition, they
routed the "magic
carpet flight" from
Cubi through Hong
Kong and Yokota Air
Base so that those
pilots who were on
leave could catch a
ride home.
Many guys picked
Hong Kong. I
decided to go back
to Tokyo.
Our "magic carpet
flight" got us back
to the states about
mid December.
We had about two
weeks at home with
our families before
we had to meet the
Intrpid in Norfolk
and get our
aircraft.
December 31st- I
flew A4C 148528 from
NAS Norfolk back to
Cecil Field
Medals
and Ribbons
When Mary,
Heather, and I
were completing
advanced jet
training in
Kingsville,
Texas in January
1965, Vietnam
was in it's
infant stage.
While there were
some west coast
squadrons
deploying in
1965, we were
too busy in
flight training
to take notice.
Many of our
instructor
pilots had flown
F9 Cougars in
the Navy or
Marine Corps
during the
Korean War. They
had lots of
ribbons on their
dress
uniforms.
Mary made the
comment one day
that it was too
bad that I would
not get the
chance to earn
any of those
medals or
campaign
ribbons.
That was about
to change!
VA-15 US Navy
Vietnam Ribbons
|
Left:
the Navy Unit
Commendation
Ribbon
Center: The
Navy
Meritorious
Unit
Commendation
Right: the
Vietnam
Service Medal
(one star for
each
deployment) |
Navy
Unit
Commendation
|
VA-15
was awarded
the very
prestigious
Navy Unit
Commendation (NUC)
(left) for the
1966 Vietnam
cruise.
The NUC is
equivalent to
the Silver
Star Medal for
combat
operations and
the Legion of
Merit for non
combat
operations |
Meritorious
Unit
Commendation
|
VA-15
was awarded
the
Meritorious
Unit
Commendation
for our
performance on
Yankee Station
on the 1967
deployment.
The
MUC is
equivalent to
the Bronze
Star Medal.
|
VA-15
Republic of
Vietnam Ribbons
The
Republic of
Vietnam also
awarded their
version of a
campaign ribbon
and medals.
We were authorized
to wear two of
these.
Vietnam Cross
of Gallantry
|
The
Vietnam Cross
of Gallantry
was awarded to
specific
mostly army
units.
It can be worn
with a palm,
gold star,
silver star or
bracket.
My DD 214 says
that I am
authorized to
wear it with a
silver star.
Vietnam also
awarded a Air
Cross of
Gallantry and
a Navy Cross
of
Gallantry.
For some
reason, we
were awarded a
version
intended for
army units. Go
figure!
|
Vietnam
Cross of
Gallantry
Unit Citation
|
The Vietnam
Cross of
Gallantry Unit
Citation is
supposed to be
an army
award.
It does not
appear on my
DD 214.
But, I know
that we were
authorized to
wear it after
our second
deployment. |
Republic of
Vietnam
Service Ribbon
|
The Republic
of Vietnam
Service Ribbon
was awarded by
the Republic
of Vietnam to
units which
operated in
the Vietnam
operating area
from 1960
through 1973.
The new
version of the
ribbon has an
end date of
73.
|
|
This is
a copy of one
of the two
Vietnam Cross
of Gallantry
certificates I
have in my
records.
|
Individual
Medals
We didn't
think much about
getting
medals. The
squadrons had
awards boards.
Usually the
squadron Executive
Officer and/or the
Administrative
Officer made up
the board.
When a mission
presented an
opportunity to
write up a pilot
for an award, the
squadron awards
board would write
it up and submit
it up the chain of
command through
the airwing.
The pilot was not
involved in the
process.
Navy
Cross
|
The
Navy Cross was
the highest
award that was
possible.
It is awarded
for combat
related
missions. It
is not worn
with a combat
"V"
I do not know
any carrier
pilots who
received the
Navy Cross
with the
exception of
Cdr Byron
Compton who
received one
for the
Walleye raid
on the Hanoi
thermal power
plant.
Some thought
that the
Midway bore
the brunt of
the toughest
missions to
the Hanoi
area. They
certainly lost
the most
aircraft. In
my opinion,
they lost the
most aircraft
due to poor
tactics.
I think most
of the Navy
Cross awards
went to SEALS
and the River
Boat guys who
fought face to
face with the
Vietcong in
the Mekong
Delta.
|
|
|
Silver
Star
|
The
Silver Star is
awarded for
only combat
related
missions. It
is not worn
with a "V".
It was the
highest award
given to
anyone I know
for a mission
over North
Vietnam.
To the best of
my knowledge,
no one in
VA-15 was
awarded a
Silver Star.
Silver Stars
were sometimes
awarded to
strike leaders
who lead
successful air
wing strike
packages to
very high
threat areas
such as Hanoi.
The VA-176
pilot who had
the confirmed
MIG kill in
1966 might
have received
one.
I know of at
least one helo
pilot who
received one
for flyiing
his helo in to
North Vietnam
to rescue a
down
pilot.
His helo was
severely
damaged but
they made it
back to a
destroyer.
|
|
The
Silver Star
was commonly
awarded to Air
Force pilots
who
experienced
"exciting
Flights" while
flying their
F-05 strike
aircraft,
F-105 Iron
Hand (Wild
Weasels), or
F4 Phantoms
into the Hanoi
target area.
The Air Force
awarded Silver
Stars to
pilots who
flew missions
similar to
Navy pilots
who received
the
Distinguished
Flying Cross.
|
The
Distinguished
Flying Cross
(DFC)
|
The DFC
can be awarded
for peacetime
or combat
related
situations. If
it awarded for
a combat
mission, it is
worn with a
"V".
We had three
DFCs awarded
during the
first
cruise.
Jerry Tuttle
and Pete
Schoeffel as
bomber
division
leaders and
Posssum
Terrrell for
leading the
flak
suppressors
during the
very
successful
strike on the
Phu Ly
Railroad yard
on October
9th, 1966.
However the
second cruise
provided lots
of
"opportunities
to excel". As
a result, most
but not all of
our pilots
received at
least one DFC
fo the
Operation
Rolling
Thunder North
Vietnam
nisions in
1967.
|
|
Most of
the JOs
received DFCs
on the final
cruise. There
were
opportunities
that required
the wingmen to
"take the
lead" on a
major strike
or as section
leaders on
very
successful the
Iron Hand
mission.
There were a
few JOs that
didn't get a
DFC, mostly
due DFC aard
d.nominations
that were
downgraded by
someone up the
chain of
command.
|
The Air Medal
|
The
individual Air
Medal can be
awarded for
exceptional
performance
during a
single flight
or for
meritorious
achievement in
aerial
flight.
If it awarded
for a combat
mission or
missions, it
is worn with a
"V".
During the
Vietnam era,
in addition to
single flight
awards,
"Strike Flight
Air Medals"
were awarded
based on
points
accumulated
during combat
related
missions.
Aircrew
received one
point for a
combat support
mission and
two points for
a combat
mission "over
the
beach".
A Strike
Flight Air
Medal was
awarded for
each twenty
points
achieved.
|
|
During
the first
cruise, I flew
109 combat
missions and
was awarded 10
strike flight
air medals.
After the
second cruise
I, I had
accumulated
enough points
for 17 strike
flight air
medals and had
15 points to
carry over to
my third
Vietnam
deployment in
1972.
In addition. I
received two
individual air
medals for
missions
during the
second cruise.
One was for a
mission that
was submitted
as a DFC but
was downgraded
somewhere in
the chain of
command.
(I guess they
knew what
happened on
the mission
better than we
did!)
|
The
Navy
Commendation
Medal (NCM)
|
The
Navy
Commendation
medal is a
mid-level
decoration
which is
presented for
sustained acts
of bravery or
meritorious
service. If it
awarded for a
combat
mission,
it is worn
with a "V".
Additional
NCMs are
indicated by
adding gold or
silver stars
to the ribbon.
Each gold star
indicates one
additional
NCM. A silver
star indicate
five
additional
NCMs.
A mid-level
medal medal
means that it
is intended
for combat
missions
primarily for
wingmen and
possibly
section
leaders.
While the
division
leaders
(LCDRs) are
usually put in
for DFCs or
individual air
medals for
particularly
exciting
missions, the
best the
wingman could
normally
expect was an
NCM.
I received one
NCM at the end
of our last
line period on
the first
cruise.
The mission
lasted less
than an hour
and I expended
a full bomb
load in one
pass probably
as part of a
major strike
package,
probably
flying on
Possum's wing.
This was
probably about
the norm for
us JOs the
first cruise.
|
|
Things
were very
different the
second cruise.
Most of the
missions that
deployment
were flown
over North
Vietnam and
wingmen the
first cruise
became section
leaders the
second cruise.
I received
four more NCMs
the second
cruise and was
written up for
several DFCs
and individual
air medals.
|
The
Navy Achievement
Medal (NAM)
|
The Navy
Achievement
Medal was
intended to
recognize the
contributions
of junior
officers and
enlisted
personnel who
were not
eligible to
receive higher
awards. If it
was awarded
for a combat
mission, it is
worn with a
"V".
Additional
NAMs are
indicated by
gold or silver
stars to the
ribbon. One
gold star for
each
additional
NAM. A silver
star indicates
five NAMs.
|
|
I received no
NAMs the first
cruise and two
NAMs the
second
cruise.
I think that
that was about
normal for a
Lt on our
second
cruise.
The JOs junior
to me flying
wing instead
of as a
section leader
probably
received more
NAMs.
|
I want to
stress that
receiving awards
wasn't a
motivator when
flying our
missions. It was
the subject of
conversation
occasionally in
the ready room.
Campaign
ribbons reveal
what the wearer
has been doing
during his
career, whether
he has had any
combat
experience, and
whether he has
received any
personal awards.
This is what my
ribbons looked
like at the end of
the second
deployment.
I think it is
typical of most of
us who completed
both the 1966 and
1967 cruises.
|
Top
Row- two
Distinguished
Flying Crosses
with Combat "V",
two Individual
Air Medals and
17 Strike Flight
Air Medals with
Combat "V", and
six Navy
Commendation
Medals with
Combat "V"
2nd Row- two
Navy Achievement
Medals with
Combat
"V", a
Navy Unit
Commendation,
and a
Meritorious Unit
Commendation
3rd Row- a
Defense Service
Medal, the
Vietnam Service
Medal with two
bronze stars,
and the Republic
of Vietnam Cross
of Gallantry
with Silver Star
Bottom Row- The
Republic of
Vietnam Cross of
Gallantry Unit
Citation, The
Republic of
Vietnam Service
Medal, the
Pistol
Qualification
Expert ribbon
|
Medals and ribbons
are worn according
to an official
precedence list.
The highest award
is on the top and
left to right as
you go down the
rows of ribbons. I would
have put an
awards
precedence
chart in here
but none of
the ones I
found were in
the correct
format.You
can google
"Awards
Precedence"
and get all
the
information
you want.
200 Missions
over North
Vietnam Plaque
|
Thirteen VALion
pilots who
successfully
completed both the
1966 and 1967
Vietnam deployments
received this
beautiful plaque. It
is not quite
accurate as this
group flew more than
200 missions over
North and South
Vietnam during those
two
deployments.
They were LCDR Jerry
Tuttle, LCDR
"Possum" Terrell,
LCDR "Moon" Moreau,
Bob Cole, Dave
Parsons, Dave
Thornhill, Miller
Detrick, Bo Smith
(me), Dave "Dixie"
Culler, John
"Smeds" Newman, Dick
Nolte, Bob Hamel,
and Gene Atkinson.
The plaques were
actually presented
at the 1969 Tailhook
Reunion in Las
Vegas. I think
most of us were
there to receive our
plaques as a group.
I remember that I
flew a F105
Thunderchief from
McConnell AFB in
Kansas where I
was an
F-105
Thunderchief
instructor pilot
with the Air Force.
VA-15
lost
two pilots
(KIA) and one
POW on our
Second
Deployment
First
Line Period
Lee
Cole (KIA)-
June 20th,
1967
P.C. Craig
(KIA)- July
4th, 1967
Third
Line Period
Pete
Schoeffel (POW)-
October4th,
1967
|
Hero's
Walk, NAS Cecil
Field
In the
1970s, the POW
Wives Club
held a funding
drive to
create a
Hero's Walk at
NAS Cecil
Field.
There
was
a monument and
a tree
|
dedicated
to
each pilot who
was KIA or a
POW.
|
I
used to visit
Hero's Walk
quite often
after I
retired from
the Navy and
was teaching
high school in
Jacksonville.
Even though
NAS Cecil
Field was
closed and
reverted to an
Industrial
Park, Hero's
Walk was
maintained by
Navy veteran
volunteers who
happen to work
at
Cecil.
However, I
discovered
that there was
no memorial
monument or
tree
dedicated to
P.C. Craig. I
learned that
was because
the POW wives
were not as
aware of the
bachelor
KIAs.
When I
discovered
this, I made
the
VALions Circa
"66 and
'67 aware of
the situation
and asked for
donations to
have a
monument with
a bronze
plaque exactly
like the
others
constructed
and placed at
Hero's Walk
near the
monuments for
Pete Schoeffel
and Lee Cole.
It was
impractical to
add a tree.
The money
rolled in and
I had more
that enough to
complete the
project.
The overage
was donated to
the USO in
Jacksonville.
Pete
Schoeffel
|
Lee
Cole
|
P.C.
Craig's
new plaque
|
Hero's
Walk
from the back
side with the
Vietnam
casualties on
the left
and the Desert
Shield/Desert
Storm
casualties on
the right
The monument
in the
foreground
holds the POW
Memorial
Plaque below
|
POW
Memorial
Plaque
|
This
is a curent
photo of
Hero's Walk
(January,
2019)
|
Happy
New Year-
Welcome 1968
January,
1968
Flight
Schedule
I flew
only six
flights in
January; three
A4C flights
and three TA4
instrument
refresher
flights for a
total of 8.4
flight
hours.
VA-45 had
transitioned
from the TF9s
to the TA4s
while we were
gone on
deployment. I
expect my
flight record
was similar to
the rest of
the squadron
pilots. I
suppose some
of the
officers and
pilots began
to move on to
their next
assignments in
January.
I'll discuss
that in a bit.
VA-34 Change
of Command
(COC)
Sometime
after we
returned from
deployment,
CDR "The Frog"
Wigent was
relieved by
the Executive
Officer, CDR
Mark Perrault.
I feel
confident that
the VA-34
junior
officers who
were scheduled
to make the
next cruise
were happy to
trade "The
Frog" for an
ex-Blue
Angel.
The COC was
held in either
Hangar 13 or
14, I can't
remember.
They were
essentially
mirror images
of one
another.
The stage with
its podium and
VIP seating
was on the
runway side of
the hangar
facing our
side of the
hangar.
Traditionally
after the two
principals
exchange
salutes, the
outgoing CO
makes his
speech
followed by
brief remarks
of the
incoming
CO.
When
"The Frog" was
making his
remarks, a
large green
frog began to
descend from
the ceiling of
the hangar
attached to
end of a wire.
At the other
end, Miller
Detrick was
stationed
on the 2nd
deck opposite
the podium
gradually
releasing a
little bit of
wire.
So, as Frog's
speech went
on, the
descending
large green
frog got
closer and
closer until
it ceased it's
downward
movement a
foot or two
above the
outgoing
CO. Of
course, the
audience began
to snicker and
then laugh
increasingly
as the green
frog made its
descent toward
"The
Frog". I
think "The
Frog" turned
green when he
realized what
was happening.
February, 1968
Flight
Schedule
My log book
reveals that I
did very
little flying
in February
(12.9 hours).
I flew four
local flights
for a total of
9.2 hours. The
average flight
duration for
these flights
was 2.3 hours
indicating
that they were
some sort of
navigation
flights.
Stephanie
contacts Mary
and they
discuss our
affair in Tokyo
!!!
No
kidding!
Sometime in
January or
February,
1968,
Stephanie
contacted Mary
and told her
about our
relationship.
She told Mary
that she was
in love with
me and that
she wanted us
to be
together.
I had no clue
that this
communication
took place
until I cane
back from the
squadron one
day and Mary
told me abut
their
conversation.
Mary told me
that when we
got married,
she also had
another
boyfriend in
New Haven
(Yale) and she
was conflicted
about what to
do after she
got
pregnant.
She told me
that she had
decided that I
would make the
better long
term husband
so agreed to
marry
me. No
wonder she was
such a wreck
the weekend we
got married in
Ridgewood. It
also explained
the
"miscarriage"
that
followed.
Mary told me
that
considering
this
information, I
was free to
go.
Learning this
information
did not make
me
angry.
In fact, I
felt respect
for Mary that
she had gone
through that
process to
enable us to
move on. Of
course, in
retrospect, we
should have
had a
paternity test
performed
before we got
married to
dteremine if I
were the
fther, or not.
But thatwas
not done.
We had had a
great time my
last semester
at Cornell
when we were
married and
living in
College Town.
We had a great
time during
flight
training and
Mary was very
supportive
despite moving
five times
before getting
to Cecil Field
in 1966.
We had two
wonderful
daughters at
the time (a
third would
arrive in
1971).
Mary was
apparently
willing to
move on
despite my
affair.
Did she
understand
what was
involved in
the affair?
Probably not;
most people
who have not
been in combat
don't
understand. I
think that I
was very
stressed after
the
exceptionally
dangerous
flying we were
doing during
Operation
Rolling
Thunder over
North Vietnam.
It was tough
losing two
pilots and
numerous other
instances of
pilots getting
shot down, and
planes
routinely
returning with
damage.
I was very
lucky meeting
Stephanie in
Tokyo. She was
a lot of fun
and a terrific
person. I
think that our
relationship
in Tokyo was
most unfair to
her. I
wish the
situation had
been
different.
But,
it wasn't the
last time I
saw Stephanie!
It was time
the VALions who reported
to the
squadron in
1965 or early in
1966
to move
on to their
next tour of
duty
The
Heavies:
CDR
Kelly
Carr- I
don't know
where is next
tour was but
he retired as
a Captain. He
was a regular
attendee to
our VALion
Circa 66/67
reunions until
his
death in the
mid 2000s. He
attended his
last reunion
in Naples
Florida in a
wheel chair
from Seattle
Washington
accompanied by
his son.
CDR Jim
Snyder-
Jim was CO for
the next VA-15
deployment on
Forrestal
CV-59. I think
he made CAG
(I'm not
sure). But, I
know he was CO
of an
amphibious
ship an LPD
(Landing
Platform
Dock). He
retired after
that as a
Captain.
He attended
reunions up to
the Naples
reunion in the
mid 2000s. He
lives in North
Carolina with
his wife Jean
but suffers
from
Parkinson's
Disease and
can no longer
travel.
LCDR Pete
Schoeffel-
Pete was
released as a
POW by the
North
Vietnamese in
March,
1973.
Later that
year he
visited me and
Mary in
England as I
was attending
the Royal Air
Force Staff
College in
Bracknell. He
was later
assigned to
the Light
Attack Wing
Staff at Cecil
and after
completing RAG
training in
the A7Corsair
was CO of
VA-82 in
1974-1975. He
had various
assignments in
Washington, DC
until his
retirement
from the Navy
as a Captain
in September,
1982.
After that, he
worked for a
logistics
firm,
Information
Spectrum
Analysis until
his final
retirement in
1990. He lives
with his wife
Jane in
Jacksonville,
Florida. Pete
sand I attend
two Navy
related
lunches; The
local
Association of
Naval Aviation
(ANA) squadron
lunches and a
group called
the RETCAPTS
(retired
officers who
achieved the
rank of
Captain;
aviators,
surface
warfare
officers, and
submariners.
Pete and I
normally
ride together.
We have become
great friends.
LCDR
Jerry Tuttle-
Jerry Tutltle
went on to be
CO of VA-81,
an A7 squadron
and CAG 3 on
the USS
Saratoga
CV-60. After a
tour on a deep
draft, he was
CO of the US
John F.
Kennedy
CV-67.
After being
selected for
Flag, he was
Commander
Carrier Group
Eight and
Commander of
Task Force 60
in the
Mediterranean
where he was
in charge of
air strikes
into
Lebanon.
He served in a
variety of
Flag jobs in
Washington
culminating
being the
Commander of
Naval
Communications
(COMNAVTELCOM)
where he
developed the
Joint
Operations
Tactical
System (JOTS-
Jerry Tuttle
Operations
System).
After retiring
from the Navy
as a Vice
Admiral he
founded and
was President
and CEO of a
consulting
firm in
Washington. He
died on
October 30th,
2018.
He was the
first VALion
to be selected
as a member of
the Golden
Eagles.
LCDR
Jerry "Possum"
Terrell-
Possum was
XO/CO of
VA-105 (an A7
Corsair
squadron)
onboard
Saratoga
CV-60. But
while online
at Yankee
station he was
cross decked
to the
USS
Midway CV-41
as CO of VA 93
where he
flew his
third
combat
deployment the
summer of
1972. He
flew Iron Hand
support
missions for
B-52s in their
famous
missions over
Hanoi in
December 1972
during
Operation
Linebacker Two
which
convinced the
North
Vietnamese
to end
the war. He
turned down an
opportunity to
be a CAG due
to a family
medical issue
and was CO of
VA-174 instead
from
1974-1976. He
was CO of NAS
Cecil Field
from 1980
through
1982. He
retired as a
Navy Captain.
After his Navy
retirement, he
taught
Aviation
courses at
Jacksonville
University. He
and his wife
Sarah attend
all VALion
reunions. They
live in
Jacksonville,
Florida.
Possum is the
second member
of the
squadron to be
selected as a
member of the
Golden
Eagles.
Possum also
attends our
monthly
RETCAPTS and
ANA lunches
and
occasionally
rides with
Pete and me.
LCDR Paul
McCarthy-
Black Mac went
on to be CO of
an A7
squadron, CAG,
CO of an
aircraft
carrier, made
Flag, was a
Commander of a
Carrier Air
Group, made
two stars, had
various
Washington
Flag level
jobs, made
three stars,
and was
Commander
Seventh Fleet
in the Pacific
before
retiring from
the Navy as a
Vice
Admiral.
Black Mac is
no loner with
us. Black Mac
was the third
member of the
squadron to be
selected as a
member of the
Golden
Eagles.
LCDR
"Moon" Moreau-
Moon went on
to be a CO of
VA-105 an A7E
squadron
onboard USS
Saratoga
and CAG
Eight.
After two
subsequent
Washington
tours, Moon
retired from
the Navy as a
Captain.
He and his
wife Marcie
regularly
attend VALion
reunions. Mon
died in 2021.
Moon
was the
selected as
the fourth member
of the
squadron to be
selected as a
member of the
Golden
Eagles.
LCDR Ron
Gibson-
I do not know
what jobs Ron
completed
before leaving
the Navy.
Hopefully,
someone will
fill me in.
Unfortunately,
Ron has passed
away.
That's it
for the
Heavies; Now
the Junior
Officers:
Lee Cole-
Shot down June
30th, 1967,
remains
returned by
the North
Vietnamese
1988 and
identified
1989, buried
in Arlington
National
Cemetery 1989
P.C.
Craig-
Shot down
July, 4th,
1967, remains
returned in
1985, buried
in his home
town of
Oneida, NY.
Jerry Tuttle
did the eulogy
Bob Cole-
Cozy
went to
VF-126, the
instrument
squadron at
NAS Miramar in
San Diego.
After he got
out of the
Navy after his
required
commitment,,
he sold
Hallmark cards
or something
surprising
like that! He
soon realized
the error of
his ways and
somehow
convinced the
Navy to let
him return to
the Navy
flying carrier
jet aircraft
again. But,
this time he
went the
fighter route
instead of
flying attack
aircraft.
He did so very
successfully
eventually
being a CO of
an F4 Phantom
squadron. I
think he must
have been a
CAG. But, Im
sure he was CO
of USS
Forrestal
CV-59, before
making Flag
officer. He
retired from
the Navy as a
Rear Admiral
USN.
Cozy is a
regular
participant in
VALion
reunions with
his wife
Paula.
Unfortunately,
Cozy died due
to cancer.
Dave
"Dixie" Culler-
I don't know
where Dixie
went for his
shore tour
after leaving
VA-15, but he
returned to
Cecil Field to
fly A7
Corsairs in
VA-81 when
Jerry Tuttle
was CO. (I bet
Tuttle pulled
some strings
to get Dixie
in his
squadron).
Tragically,
Dixie was
killed on a
Sunday night
when returning
from a cross
country on
final approach
at Cecil's
Runway
09.
Jerry Tuttle
watched after
Sandy, Dixie's
wife, and
their son
David
Jr. When
David Jr
earned his
Wings of Gold,
Captain Jerry
Tuttle pined
them on.
When David Jr
became CO of
an F/A 18
squadron, Rear
Admiral Jerry
Tuttle spoke
at his Change
of
Command.
David Jr and
Sandy are
regular
participants
in VALion
reunions.
Bo Smith
(me)- I know,
this is my
memoir and if
you read it,
you will know
all this. But,
you may choose
not to
so I'll bore
you with my
post VA-15
adventures for
continuity
purposes if
you
will.
Most pilots
want to get a
flying tour
for their
first shore
tour.
Most, if they
are lucky go
to a Fleet
Replacement
Squadron (RAG)
as an
instructor
pilot. I
landed a dream
job for my
first shore
duty tour as
an Air Force
Exchange
instructor
pilot flying
F-105
Thunderchief.
My next sea
tour was
flying A7
Corsairs as
the
Maintenance
Department
Head in VA-82.
While there, I
made a
Mediterranean
deployment, a
short
deployment to
Rio de
Janeiro, and a
WETSPAC
deployment to
Yankee Station
back in the
Tonkin Gulf in
the summer of
1972; all on
USS America
CV-66. I was
in Vietnam for
my third
combat
deployment at
the same time
as Possum was
CO of VA-93 on
the Midway.
After VA-82,
my next shore
tour was to
the Royal Air
Force Staff
College in
Bracknell
England
followed by a
two year shore
tour in
Norfolk, VA at
Commander
Naval Air
Force Atlantic
(COMNAVARLANT)
where I was
the A7 Class
Desk Officer
for a year and
the Aide and
Flag
Lieutenant for
VADM Howard
Greer fro the
second year.
After that, I
was XO and
then CO of the
Va Lions of
VA-15 back on
the USS
America CV-66.
After that, my
next shore
tour was at
COMTHIRDFLT
(Commander
Third Fleet)
on Ford
Island, Pearl
Harbor,
Hawaii. I
returned to
Cecil Field
after that as
the CO of
VA-174 while
Possum was CO
of Cecil
Field. After
that I was
Executive
Officer of the
USS Saratoga
CV-60 and then
Commanding
Officer of USS
Austin LPD-4,
an amphibious
ship.
Following
Austin, I was
Chief of Staff
Commander
Cruiser
Destroyer
Group Twelve
in Mayport
Florida except
when we were
deployed to
the
Mediterranean
onboard USS
Dwight D.
Eisenhower
CVN-69. My
final tour was
back in Japan
at
COMFAIRWESTPAC
at Atsugi. I
retired from
the Navy as a
Captain on
July 31st,
1990. My
second career
was an
educator as
high school
science
teacher and
University of
North Florida
lab
instructor. I
live in
Jacksonville,
Florida with
my wife Diana.
I am the 5th
VALion to be
selected as a
member of the
Golden
Eagles!
Dave Parsons-
After VA-15,
Pars went to
the Naval
Weapons
Facility at
China Lake
California
with his wife
Becky. Oh,
that reminds
me of a story
I haven't told
you yet!
Dave was a
bachelor the
first
cruise.
But, he had
met a cute
school teacher
named Becky
from North
Carolina who
was teaching
elementary
school in
Jacksonville.
After we
returned from
cruise, Dave
figured he
would continue
where he left
off.
But, Becky had
another
idea.
She decided to
go to Las
Vegas with
another female
teacher friend
and teach at
the Nellis AFB
base
elementary
school in Las
Vegas. After a
month or so,
Dave realized
he missed
Becky. He took
a cross
country to
Nellis and
asked Becky to
come back to
Jacksonville
and get
married.
She agreed.
When Dave
asked her if
he could help
her move her
stuff back to
Jacksonville,
she said it
was not
necessary
because she
had left all
her stuff
except a few
suitcases in a
storage locker
back in
Jax so
that when Dave
came to his
senses, she
could move
back quickly.
I flew out to
China Lake in
an F-105 from
Wichita to see
Dave and
Becky. We had
a great time.
I remember we
had a salad
with delicious
fresh shrimp.
It seems that
occasionally
in the spring
after a rain,
shrimp which
had gone
dormant in the
salt flats
would come
alive in great
numbers. Fresh
shrimp in the
desert;
amazing.
Dave left the
Navy after his
tour in China
lake and
signed on with
Eastern
Airlines
flying the
Washington/New
York shuttle.
He and Becky
bought a very
nice house on
an acre or so
of land
including a
pond near the
beltway in
Oakton
northwest of
DC for about
$150,000. Dave
still lives in
that house
today. Its now
worth way over
$1,000,000.
Tragically,
Becky passed
away from
cancer several
years ago.
Fortunately,
Dave has
children and
grandchildren
in the DC
area.
Dave is passed
away from
Parkinsons
Disease in
2020.
Several
other JOs left
the Navy after
they finished
their
obligation and
signed on with
the
airlines.
Some joined
the active
naval reserve
and retired as
Captains USNR.
Miller
Detrick- I
think Miller
got orders to
VA-125, the
west coast A4
Fleet
Replacement
Squadron (RAG)
in Lemoore,
California.
When he left
the Navy, he
joined the
active
reserves.
When he left
Lemoore, he
flew with
Northwest
Airlines in
Indianapolis/St.
Paul Minnesota
along with a
group of
VALions.
Eventually, he
ended up
running a
business in
Tampa, Florida
where he and
his wife
Connie remain
today.
Miller flew
A4s and A7
Corsairs
retiring as a
Captain
USNR.
Miller is
active as a
reunion
planner and he
and Connie can
be relied upon
to not only
attend
reunions but
coordinate
them.
Dave
Thornhill-
I
think Thorny
also got
orders to
VA-125, the
west coast A4
RAG in
Lemoore,
California. I
think when he
left the Navy,
he joined the
active
reserves. When
he left
Lemoore, he
flew with
Northwest
Airlines in
Indianapolis/St.
Paul Minnesota
along with a
group of
VALions.
Eventually, he
ended up
flying out of
Miami.
He and his
wife Jane have
two homes, one
in Colorado,
the other a
beach condo in
South Ponte
Vedra, not far
from
Jacksonville.
He also flew
A4s and A7
Corsairs
retiring as a
Captain
USNR.
Thorny and
Jane have
attended every
VALion
reunion.
Thorny attends
ANA lunches in
Jacksonville
when he and
Jane are at
their condo in
Ponte Vedra
Beach.
Dick
Nolte-
Nolts
got orders to
VA-122, the
west coast A7
RAG in
Lemoore,
California. When
he got out of
the Navy and
left Lemoore,
he flew with
Northwest
Airlines in
Indianapolis/St.
Paul Minnesota
along with a
the other
VALions.
When he was
through with
flying with
Northwest, he
left the
airlines and
went into
business in
Montana with
his father
buying land,
improving it,
and selling it
as trailer
lots with
trailer pads
. Next,
I think he
created a
similar
business in
Texas.
Tiring of
that, he
bought a large
quantify of
land in
northeast New
Mexico, built
a ranch house
and went in to
the cattle
business.
Dick's
children
became cowboys
and cow
girls.
Dick met and
married his
wife Diana in
New
Mexico.
They decided
to move to
Idaho where
they now have
a horse ranch
in Indian
Springs,
Idaho. Dick
and Diana
attend every
VALion reunion
even though
they have to
travel a great
distance to
get there.
John
Newman-
I
don't know
where Smeds
went after the
'67
cruise.
When
he got out of
the Navy and
Lemoore, he
flew with
Northwest
Airlines in
Indianapolis/St.
Paul Minnesota
along with the
other
VALions.
Smeds remained
in
Indianapolis/St.
Paul and
became a
representative
for the pilots
union not only
negotiating
with the
airline and I
think even
testifying
before
Congress on
airline
related
issues.
Eventually, he
and his wife
Bella Jean
moved to
Naples ,
Florida where
the hosted a
VALion reunion
in about
2013.
Tragically,
his wife
passed away in
2018.
Bob
Hamel-
I
think Bob
might VA-122,
the west coast
A74 RAG in
Lemoore,
California.
But
unlike the
others, I dont
think he went
to fly with
the
airlines.
Instead, he
went in to
some kind of
business in
California.
He and his
wife Lynn
remained in
California
until this
day.
They travelled
to most of the
VALion
reunions.
Departing
Ground
Officers:
Morris
E.
Sheppard- Shep
held
maintenance
related jobs
until he
retired from
the
Navy. He
remained in
Florida after
his retirement
and attended
several VALion
reunions.
Shep passed
away about ten
years ago.
Bob
Cheyney-
Like
Shep, Bob held
maintenance
related jobs
until he
retired from
the
Navy. He
and his wife
Pat retired to
Orange Park,
near
Jacksonville,
and both
attended
several VALion
reunions.
Bob passed
away about
eight years
ago. But
Pat continues
to attend
VALion
reunions if
they are held
in
Jacksonville.
Dave
MacMillan-
Doc
MacMillan left
the Navy and
became a
Neurosurgeon.
He maintained
his practice
in Juniper.
Florida for
many
years.
He and his
wife Janet now
live in
Selwood,
Florida which
is a bit north
of
Orlando.
They raise
miniature
donkeys and
have some cute
French
Buldogs.
They attend
most VALion
reunions.
Pilots
who
remained in
VA-15 and made
the next
deployment
onboard the
repaired USS
Forrestal
CV-59 to the
Mediterranean
Sea:
Tony Isger- Tony
left the Navy
sometime after
the completion
of the
Forrestal
cruise and
joined the
active
reserves.
He flew A7s in
the reserve
squadron
located at
Cecil Flield
and evntually
bacame its
Commanding
Officer.
He and his
wife Kathy
lived in
Orange Park,
Florida for
many years
until recently
when they
moved to south
Florida.
Tony and Kathy
have actively
participated
in VALion
reunions.
Keith
Strickland-
Keith
left the Navy
sometime after
the completion
of the
Forrestal
cruise and
went to work
for ARAMCO in
Saudi
Arabia.
He and his
wife Marci
lived in the
ARAMCO's
western
enclave in
Dehran for
several
years.
Keith flew the
ARAMCO VIPs
around in
their company
Gulfsteam
jets.
Marci was a
volunteer for
the Civil
Defense
organization.
During
Operation
Desert Shield
in 1990, Marci
was driving
around the
compound
warning
residents of
incoming SCUD
missiles.
Marci and
Keith moved to
a nice house
on a lake
Tennessee
after leaving
Saudi Arabia.
They were both
active in
VALion
reunions until
Keith passed
away from
cancer.
Marci met a
nuclear
physicist,
Robert
Kyter.
Marci and Bob
have attended
two VALion
reunions since
they got
married.
Steve
Smith-
I
really do not
know
what
Steve did
after the
completion of
the Forrestal
cruise.
He and
Gretchen now
live in Tampa
and aslso have
a place in
Blowing Rock,
North
Carolina.
Steve was an
avid
runner.
They have
attended
several VALion
reunions.
Ron
Gerard-
Tragically,
Ron was killed
in an aircraft
accident
during the
Forrestal
cruise. RIP
Ron
USS
Intrepid's
Final Home
The
Intrepid made
one more trip
to the Tonkin
Gulf. After
three
deployments to
Vietnam from
1966 through
1969, Intrepid
returned to
the
anti-submarine
role.
She was
decommissioned
on March 15th,
1974 at
Quonset Point,
Rhode Island.
But the
Intrepid was
destined to
continue to
play an
important role
in naval
history!
|
The
Intrepid was
moved to New
York City
where she has
a permanent
home at a pier
on the Hudson
River.
|
Representatives
from the
Intrepid Air
and Space
Museum
traveled to
Jacksonville
on two
occasions to
interview
VALions about
our
experiences
onboard
Intrepid
during our two
cruises. On
the first
trip, they
conducted
video taped
interviews
with Possum,
Pete
Schoeffel, and
me. On
their second
trip, they
attended
our
VALion 50th
Reunion which
was held at
the Casa
Marina Hotel
in
Jacksonville
Beach in 2017.
They conducted
three
additional
interviews on
this occasion;
Gene Atkinson,
Moon Moreau,
and Dave
MacMillan
(Quack).