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VA-82 Marauders January 1972- December 1972 (Updated July 26th, 2020) |
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We took a break for the holidays after the fly in on December 15th.
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| Heather
(8), Laura (6) |
It was wonderful to spend some time with our families. I especially enjoyed seeing my 5 month old daughter Stacy
for the first time and having our entire family together.
I think we made a Christmas trip to New Jersey and Duxbury and then returned to Jacksonville in early January.
January, 1972
I flew 14 flights in January (25.7 total jet hours) (18.8 A7E hours)
Ten of these were A7 flights with VA-82, mostly instrument flights including some night time.
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Four of the flights were instrument flights in the TA-4 flights with VA-45
(6.9 TA-4 hours) |
We had a lot of pilot changes at the end of the Med cruise after we got back.
VA-82 Officers March, 1972 We added three new pilots in March; Lt Dan Rather, the CAG 8 LSO would fly regularly, LT Bob Corey, and Ltjg Steve Musselman joined us from the RAG. We now had our complement of 18 squadron pilots and one pilot who would fly with us regularly from at Air Wing
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| Top Row (left to Right): WO1 John Young,
LT Phil Morris, Ltjg Tom Weiland, LTjg Steve
Musselman, LT Bob Corey, LT Craig "Crash" Landon, LT
Ray Thomas, LTjg Marv Baldwin, LTjg Jim Kuzmick, LT Ron Brooks, Ltjg Jim Brister, LT Dan Ryder (CAG 8 LSO), Ens Nick Nickens and CWO2 Hal Garrett Front Row: LT Jim "Rock" Yeager, LT Gary Tabbert, LCDR Bruce Page, , me, CDR Don Sumner (CO), CDR Tom Scott (XO), LCDR Leighton "Snuffy" Smith, LCDR Al Miller, and LT Charlie Sapp |
We had 18 pilots assigned to the squadron and Lt Dan Rather who was the CAG 8 LSO and flew regularly with us.
We had a"brand new" Air Intelligence Officer, Ens Strain who I almost never saw because he was basically assigned to the CAG Eight.
We had no dedicated Flight Surgeon as by then he flight surgeons were attached to the airwing.
My key Maintenance Officers were:
Lt Phil Morris (Maintenance Control), Ens Nick Nickens (Mintenance/Material Officer), and AVCM Jim Moorehead (Maintenance Control Chief)*
*Master Chief Moorehead was the finest Maintenance Control Chief I served with during my Navy career!
We had two Warrant Officers in Maintenance supervisory positions; CWO2 Hal Garrett and WO1 John Young
February, 1972
I flew only 8 flights in January (12.1 A7E hours)
Most of the flights seem to be instrument or basic formation flights; all day flights. There are no indications that any of these were weapons flights.
I can only guess that we were at the bottom of the "totem pole" for fuel money and were saving fuel dollars for March to get ready for type training on the America in April.
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We had some challenges ahead of
us to get ready for type training. Of course both the CO and XO were experienced carrier jet pilots. I don't know whether Don Sumner had any Vietnam combat experience but CDR Scott did flying A4 Skyhawks with VA-195 "Dambusters" on the "Bonnie Dick" AKA, the Bonne Home Richard CV-31 in 1965 and with the VA-113 "Stingers" on USS Kitty Hawk in 1966. Snuffy and I were the only qualified combat strike leaders in the second tour group. The other two LCDRs, Bruce Page and Al Miller were experienced pilots but without any combat experience. LT Charlie Sapp had just completed jet transition training but had a combat tour with Light Attack Squadron Four VAL-4 flying OV-10s in the Mekong Delta. Charlie had over 200 close air support missions in VAL-4. Three of our second tour JOs from the Med cruise; Ray Thomas, Rock Yeager and Gary Tabbert were strong. A new pilot, Crash Landon had flown F8 Crusaders in a VC squadron so was an relatively experienced pilot but without much carrier operational experience. |
President Nixon's Visit to China from February 21st through the 28th,1972
President Nixon's visit
to China changed the balance of power in Asia. China was
less interested in helping out their neighbor to the south
and more interested in not jeopardizing their improving
relationship with the USA. President Nixon left the visit
confident that China would not intervene if the US decided
to increase the bombing of North Vietnam. The tide had
turned completely from a President and Secretary of
Defense who were afraid to apply too much military
pressure on North Vietnam for fear of China entering the
war (Johnson and MacNamara) to a President and his
National Security Advisor who were not afraid to turn up
the pressure on North Vietnam (Nixon and Kissinger).
March,
1972 President
and Mrs. Nixon are met by Chinese Premier Zhou
Enlai upon their arrival in Beijing.
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I flew 16 flights in March (27.0 A7E hours)
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From
the beginning of March through March 21st we continued
with flights around Cecil field; still no indications
in my log book of any weapons work. On March 23rd, we began night FCLPs at Whitehouse. I logged 35 night FCLPs on four flights at the end of March. |
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The Nguyen Hue Offensive- March 30th,1972
At
noon on 30
March, 1972
30,000 North
Vietnamese
Army (NVA)
troops,
supported by
regiments of
tanks and
artillery,
rolled
southward
across the
Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ)
that separated
North and South
Vietnam. This
three division
force caught the
Army
of the
Republic of
Vietnam (ARVN)
and their
American
allies unprepared.
The NVA
force struck the positions of
the ARVN 3rd
Division and
threw it into
disarray. The
South
Vietnamese
forces fell
back, and a
race began between
both sides to
the bridges at
Dong Ha and
Cam Lo in I
Corps.
President Nixon's first response was to consider a three day attack by B-52 bombers on Hanoi and Haiphong. However Henry Kissinger convinced him to reconsider, in order not to jeopardize the formulation of the SALTY I Treaty with the Soviets that was due to be signed in May.
We were
scheduled for
another Med
cruise. But,
things were
going to
change for us in a
big way. First, just
before we were
about to go
out to the boat
(America), we were
directed to
transfer 12 A7Es. They were
replaced
with 12 A7Cs.President Nixon's first response was to consider a three day attack by B-52 bombers on Hanoi and Haiphong. However Henry Kissinger convinced him to reconsider, in order not to jeopardize the formulation of the SALTY I Treaty with the Soviets that was due to be signed in May.
The basic difference between the A7E and the A7C was the engine.
The A7E had the Allison TF-41 engine (14,250 lbs thrust). The A7C had the Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-408 engine (14,560 lbs thrust)
April, 1972
I flew 22 flights in April (35.1 hours)
2 A7E flights (3.7 hours), 19 A7C flights (29.8 flight hours) , and 1 TA4 flight (1.6 hours)
I logged 16 America traps (10 day, 6 night) for a cumulative total of America traps of 134.
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We
had very little time to FCLP in the A7C before flying
out to the America for type training. I had one FCLP
flight to check out the difference in the TF30-P-408
throttle response while making glide path adjustments
on the ball. I flew out to America and made two day traps and then turned around for my night quals and made 2 night traps. I ended up flying 18 type training flights from America in April. Two of these flight involved landings at Cecil. So, I logged 16 traps (10 day, 6 night) in April for a total of 134 America traps. We continued what would turn out to be one continuous two month type training period in May. My logbook doesn't indicate the types of flights. But, we certainly were very proficient in the CAG 8/America standard operating procedures day and night by the end of May. |
May, 1972
I flew 16 A7CF flights in May (28.8 hours)
I logged 14 America traps (11 day, 3 night) for a cumulative total of America traps of 148.
June, 1972
Another big surprise!
On June
2nd, Admiral
Elmo R.
Zumwalt, the
Chief of Naval
Operations,
visited the
America and
explained why
the ship's
orders had
been changed
from a cruise
to the
Mediterranean
to a combat
deployment to
Vietnam.
President
Nixon had
decided to
increase the
pressure on
the North
Vietnamese by
extending air
combat
missions from
the
limitations of
President
Johnson's 's
bombing
halt.
This
presidential
initiative
called
Operation
Linebacker I
required four
aircraft
carriers on
Yankee Station
simultaneously.
As a result,
USS Midway CVA
41, USS
America CVA
66, and USS
Saratoga
CVA-60 would
be ordered to
join USS Kitty
Hawk CVA 63
and USS
Constellation
CVA 64 in the
Tonkin Gulf so
that four
carriers could
be on station
at one time.
This change in mission required that I had a lot to do as Maintenance Officer in the short time we had before deployment. The Maintenance Control Officer, Phil Morris and the Maintenance Control Chief, Master Chief Jim Moorehead had done a great job in getting the required technical manuals and parts bulletins (IPBs) necessary to accomplish the maintenance of our A7Cs. We had had two months to adjust to the TF30-P-408 engine. There were still some jet engine mechanics around who had been with the squadron's 1970 deployment to WESTPAC flying the A7Bs with the same engine. The avionics systems were basically the same in both aircraft. But, we had two major challenges. First, to make sure that our electronic warfare (EW) personnel were up to snuff in the maintenance and use of the EW test equipment which would be critical for a Tonkin Gulf combat cruise.
(This
next section was
paraphrased from
a Wikipedia
discussion of
Linebacker One)
This change in mission required that I had a lot to do as Maintenance Officer in the short time we had before deployment. The Maintenance Control Officer, Phil Morris and the Maintenance Control Chief, Master Chief Jim Moorehead had done a great job in getting the required technical manuals and parts bulletins (IPBs) necessary to accomplish the maintenance of our A7Cs. We had had two months to adjust to the TF30-P-408 engine. There were still some jet engine mechanics around who had been with the squadron's 1970 deployment to WESTPAC flying the A7Bs with the same engine. The avionics systems were basically the same in both aircraft. But, we had two major challenges. First, to make sure that our electronic warfare (EW) personnel were up to snuff in the maintenance and use of the EW test equipment which would be critical for a Tonkin Gulf combat cruise.
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Second, our biggest problem was that we didn't have nearly enough aviation ordnancemen assigned to the squadron. We had about 14. But, we would need almost twice that number for Linebacker One operations on Yankee Station. I decided to go talk to the Maintenance Officer at VA-174 to see if we could work something out. I knew that Navy ordnancemen would jump at the chance to join us if they had the opportunity. It wasn't so much for the combat pay. It was more about actually doing what they were trained to do. It turned out, I was right. We had ten more ordnancemen within the week. We deployed with about 24 ordnancemen. |
June, 1972
I flew only 4 in June (7.0 hours)
I logged 3 America traps (2 day, 1 night) for a cumulative total of America traps of 151.
I flew an A7C from Cecil t NAS Norfolk for the aircraft load aboard.
America got underway on June 5th, 1972 for our WESTPAC Vietnam Deployment
I flew three flight from America; June 8th, 15th, and 18th as the ship was transiting the Atlantic Ocean.
The Transit Route
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| America's transit route
would take us southeast toward Capetown, South
Africa via the Cape of Good Hope then
northeast through the southern Indian Ocean through the Maldives and the Straits of Malacca then north north east to Subic bay Philippines for a short stop then out to the South China Sea to Yankee Station. |
COD Landing Incident Cape Town, South Africa
As the America was rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the ship's COD flew in to Cape Town to pick up some mail and critical parts.
Upon landing, the COD drifted from port to starboard with it's right wing crossing the foul line impacting the tails of several A7s parked there.
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I was in our ready room relaxing and happened to glance at the CCTV as the COD's wing impacted four or five A7 tails.
As Maintenance Officer of the squadron, I was shocked as I watched one rudder after another shatter.
Then I noticed that all of the rudders had red diamonds on them, all VA-86 aircraft. I felt bad for them but I must admit, I was glad they were not ours.
I think our metal smiths (AMS) helped the VA-86 guys. In most cases, the repairs were limited to replacing the rudders.
Crossing the Equator
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Our transit route meant that we would cross the Equator twice during our transit; first in the Atlantic going southeast in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coat of North Africa and next in the Indian Ocean enroute to the Straits of Malacca. The Atlantic crossing provided the best opportunity to celebrate the crossing of the Equator as us Shellbacks would indoctrinate the lowly Pollywogs to the World of King Neptune. |
America's transit took about 33 days from Norfolk on June 5th until she arrived
At NAS Cubi Point on about July 7th
There was a lot to do besides holding crossing of the Line festivities!
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I used some of the time to continue with my ship training with an eye to someday getting my own ship. The ship scheduled time for those of us so interested to observe along side replenishment events from the bridge wing. I also spent more time in the boiler and engine rooms refreshing my ship engineering knowledge. |
I also made a suggestion to the CO, XO, and Snuffy that we consider removing the inboard weapons stations (3 and 6) from our A7Cs.
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Our A7C's had a weight restriction of 500 lbs (one MK 82 bomb) on weapons stations (3 and 6) due to center of gravity factors with the TF30-P-408 engine. I felt that we should remove stations 3 and 6 from our aircraft because the reduced drag would increase our top end airspeed which would be more important in Linebacker One Operations over North Vietnam than losing two MK 82s from our bomb load. |
The CO, XO, and Snuffy agreed. So our maintenance guys set to work to reconfigure the aircraft
and have them all checked out prior to arriving at Cubi Point in the Philippines.
Our next and most important task was to conduct ground training for our pilots
in squadron standard operating procedures in the North Vietnam tactical combat environment.
A Brief Overview of Linebacker One
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The purpose of Linebacker One was to slow the transportation of supplies and materials for the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive that had been launched on March 30th. This offensive consisted of three North Vietnamese operations that were launched that spring. On March 30th , 300,000 North Vietnamese troops (NVN) supported by regiments of tanks and artillery rolled south across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). On April 5th, a force of 20,000 NVN troops crossed the border from their sanctuaries in Cambodia in a combined arms force to attack Binh Long Province north of Saigon. The third attack came from Laos on April 12th, seizing a series of border outposts in the Central Highlands. |
(This next section is paraphrased from a Wikipedia discussion of Linebacker One)
On April 4th, 1972, President Nixon authorized the bombing of all of North Vietnam North Vietnam which had been limited to reprisal raids just above the DMZ up to the 18th parallel.
Linebacker One was the first continuous bombing effort conducted against North Vietnam since the end of Rolling Thunder in November 1968.
The U.S. began a rapid build up of air power.
The USAF Tactical Air Command deployed 176 F4D Phantoms and an additional squadron of F-05 Thunderchiefs from Korea to Thailand.
The USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) deployed 124 B-52s from the states to Guam bringing the total B-52 strength to 209.
The Navy augmented the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation which were already in WESTPAC by ordering USS Midway from the west coast, and USS America and USS Saratoga from the east coast to deploy to WESTPAC. This added three more carrier air wings to the force and increased the number of ships from 84 to 138.
Linebacker One would have four objectives:
To isolate
North Vietnam
from its
outside
sources of
supply by
destroying
railroad
bridges and
rolling stock
in and around
Hanoi and
northeast to
the Chinese
border; To
target primary
storage areas
and marshaling
yards; To
destroy
storage and
trans-shipment
points;
and to eliminate (or at least damage) the North Vietnamese air defense system.
Air Force and Navy commanders and pilots were relieved that President Nixon, unlike President Johnson, left the operational planning to local commanders and loosened targeting restrictions that had hampered Operation Rolling Thunder in 1966 through 1968.
However, there were still target restrictions. Bombing of the North Vietnam's dike system was still off limits, bombing of third country ships in Haiphong Harbor was still off limits unless specifically approved, and bombing of non military targets downtown Hanoi and Haiphong was off limits.
But, targets that were now open to attack at the local commander level were;
mining of Haiphong harbor and nearby harbors and military targets in Hanoi and Haiphong.
and to eliminate (or at least damage) the North Vietnamese air defense system.
Air Force and Navy commanders and pilots were relieved that President Nixon, unlike President Johnson, left the operational planning to local commanders and loosened targeting restrictions that had hampered Operation Rolling Thunder in 1966 through 1968.
However, there were still target restrictions. Bombing of the North Vietnam's dike system was still off limits, bombing of third country ships in Haiphong Harbor was still off limits unless specifically approved, and bombing of non military targets downtown Hanoi and Haiphong was off limits.
But, targets that were now open to attack at the local commander level were;
mining of Haiphong harbor and nearby harbors and military targets in Hanoi and Haiphong.
There were some changes to the North Vietnamese air defense system that would affect our tactics.
For the fighter pilots: The were many more MIG 21s and MIG 19s around and fewer MIG 17s!
For the Attack Pilots: The North Vietnamese had added many more 37/57/85 mm AAA guns and trained gun crews including the Soviet ZSU 23-4 to its air defense system! The Soviets had provided training for the SAM batteries in new techniques which included multiple site engagements,
track-on-jam, optical tracking, and high-low engagements which improved their effectiveness.
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The North
Vietnamese
still had
small arms,
manual barrage
fire 37mm and
57 mm AAA,
radar
controlled
57/85/100mm
AAA (firecan,
flapwheel
etc), and the
SA-2
SAMs.
The SAMs were
no longer deployed
in established
sites
but were
better dispersed and
camouflaged. A big change was the deployment of many ZSU quad mounted, radar controlled, mobile 23mm Soviet systems pictured here. This weapon was a game changer! Iron Hand (anti SAM) aircraft could no longer orbit a SAM site at 12,000 feet waiting for the site to launch and then shoot a Shrike "down the throat". The ZSU 23 would pick you off at those altitudes. Its tracers were a rope of 23mm death. Iron Hand aircraft would have to launch their Shrikes into a "basket" from some distance from the target. Strike aircraft would avoid the ZSU 23 by keeping the ingress altitudes above the ZSU 23 effective range. Strike aircraft would only be vulnerable to MIGs, SAMs, and radar controlled 85/100mm at 18,000 or so. |
The Chain of Command for the Carrier Division Ten/USS America/Carrier Air Wing Ten Team
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Commander Carrier Division Seven Rear Admiral John S. Christiansen
Combat Pilot During WW2 and Korea Navy Cross Distinguished Flying Cross |
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Commanding Officer USS America CVA 66
Captain Burton H. Shepherd Fighter Pilot During Korea
CAG 16 USS Oriskany 1967 Vietnam Navy Cross Two Silver Stars Six Distinguished Flying Crosses Eight Air Medals CO VA-81 (A4 Skyhawks)
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The Admiral and the Captain
were experienced combat veterans who understood what we would be facing in executing Linebacker One |
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Carrier Air Wing Eight
VF 74 Be-Devilers (F4J Phantoms)
VFMA 333 Shamrocks (F4J Phantoms) VA-82 Marauders (A7C Corsairs) VA-86 Sidewinders (A7C Corsairs) VA-35 Black Panthers (A6A Intruders) RVAH 6 Fleurs (RA5C Vigilantes) VAQ 132 Scorpions (EA6B Prowlers) VAW 124 Bullseye Hummers (E2C Hawkeyes) HC 2 Det 66 (SH3G Rescue Helicopters) |
 VF 74 Be-Devilers
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 F4J Phantoms |
| VF-74 was
primarily interested in only the air tt air mission.
But they did fly some Flak suppression missions. |
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 VFMA 333 Shamrocks
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 F4J Phantoms |
| The Shamrocks
were trained for and were enthusiastic about
participating in ground attack missions such as flak
suppression and air to ground bombing especially Close
Air Support |
As a result,
the Shamrocks were more valuable to the air wing
because they were interested in and were capable of
being assigned bombing missions and strike support
flak suppression. |
 VA-82 Marauders
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 A7C Corsairs |
 VA-86 Sidewinders
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 A7C Corsairs |
 VA-35 Black Panthers
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 A6A Intruders |
 RVAH 6 Fleurs
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 RA5C Vigilantes |
 VAQ 132 Scorpions
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 EA6B Prowlers |
 VAW 124 Bullseye Hummers
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 E2C Hawkeyes |
 HC 2 Det 66
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 SH3G Rescue Helicopters |
 COD- Miss America
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I flew off America to NAS Cubi Point on July 6th (Part of CAG 8 Fly Off)
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| The BOQ and Officer's Club were on the
hill just above the left third of the runway. |