USS Oriskany air ops, 1970

  • A3D-1Q (EA-3A): Five A3D-1s converted for the electronic reconnaissance (ELINT) role, with ECM equipment and four operators in weapons bay. (Wikipedia)
I was with VQ-2 at Rota, Spain in (IIRC) 1960 when the first of these was delivered to the squadron ...I clearly remember the A3D-1Q designation painted on the side in small print. Until then we had two A3s, three man crew. Was interesting to see the bomb bay equipped with four seats, and all the necessary electronics required for SIGNET. I was maintaining and operating the APS 30B/E radar in the WV-2Q at the time ...really admired the jets, though ...pretty sexy!! BTW ...all our A3s had a large red placard on the instrument panel in the cockpit specifically forbidding carrier ops with the aircraft. How times change!!

Left the squadron shortly thereafter, for flight training.

PNS certainly beat Rota as a liberty port! :D
 
Kingairer said:
If I recall, didn't Viper serve on the Oriskany?
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Viper: I flew with your old man. VF-51, the Oriskany. You're a lot like he was. Only better... and worse. He was a natural heroic son of a b that one.

Maverick: So he did do it right.

Viper: Yeah, he did it right... Is that why you fly the way you do? Trying to prove something? Yeah, your old man did it right. What I'm about to tell you is classified. It could end my career. We were in the worst dogfight I ever dreamed of. There were bogeys like fireflies all over the sky. His F-4 was hit, and he was wounded, but he could've made it back. He stayed in it, saved three planes before he bought it.

Maverick: How come I never heard that before?

Viper: Well, that's not something the State Department tells dependents when the battle occurred over the wrong line on some map.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Well, at least they got that right. The Oriskany was tasked primarily with targets in Laos.
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With the exception that the 27C's never operated F-4s.....so how Viper "flew with his old man" in VF-51 on the Oriskany; he would've either had to be in F-8s, or if it was F-4s, it was another carrier after VF-51 transitioned.

:D
 
MikeD said:
With the exception that the 27C's never operated F-4s.....so how Viper "flew with his old man" in VF-51 on the Oriskany; he would've either had to be in F-8s, or if it was F-4s, it was another carrier after VF-51 transitioned.

:D
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Damn, you got me. It should have stuck in my head (from my own post) that the Oriskany deployed with gunslingers, A-7's and F-8's.
 
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Pilot Fighter said:
Damn, you got me. It should have stuck in my head that the Oriskany deployed with gunslingers, A-7's and F-8's.
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I didn't get you....I got the movie writers and technical advisor. :)

What you wrote was correct regarding the targeting and such.
 
MikeD said:
With the exception that the 27C's never operated F-4s.....so how Viper "flew with his old man" in VF-51 on the Oriskany; he would've either had to be in F-8s, or if it was F-4s, it was another carrier after VF-51 transitioned.

:D
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Are you sure? I have 8mm videos that my dad took on the Ranger or Hancock that included F-4's. Not sure if they were part of the wing.

Edit: Ranger wasn't a 27C
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Are you sure? I have 8mm videos that my dad took on the Ranger or Hancock that included F-4's. Not sure if they were part of the wing.
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Unless Im mistaken (I may be), the 27Cs couldn't operate F-4s due to size...so they had F-8s in their VF's; in the same way the Midway/Coral Sea/FDR couldn't operate F-14s, and had to have F-4 in their VF squadrons
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Not all 27 Charlies were created equal, Intrepid, Ticonderoga, and Hancock were Super-Charlies.
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Wonder if those did the F-4 thing then? Of the three, I would think it could only have been Hancock, as the other two were retired fairly early. I can still vaguely remember Hancock sitting at San Pedro or somewhere out there, in the mid 1970s as a kid.
 
I think that the 27Cs didn't ever operate A-6s or EA-6s for the same reason.

Or S-3s for that matter, but I think the S-3s came out just as or just after their retirement.
 
MikeD said:
I think that the 27Cs didn't ever operate A-6s or EA-6s for the same reason.

Or S-3s for that matter, but I think the S-3s came out just as or just after their retirement.
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I'm guessing that trapping on a 27C was a worst-case bingo option for F-4's.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
I'm guessing that trapping on a 27C was a worst-case bingo option for F-4's.
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Agree. Im sure they could launch and trap from one, but just didn't operate regularly from them. Probably same with the F-14 and the Midway class.

And my correction to myself on them not operating S-3s; while thats true, being a CVA back then, they wouldn't have had a VS squadron onboard anyway, as those would've been on the CVS boats with their S-2s.
 
MikeD said:
Agree. Im sure they could launch and trap from one, but just didn't operate regularly from them. Probably same with the F-14 and the Midway class.

And my correction to myself on them not operating S-3s; while thats true, being a CVA back then, they wouldn't have had a VS squadron onboard anyway, as those would've been on the CVS boats with their S-2s.
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I have to give up Red Bull before my heart explodes. I just confirmed (no small effort) that the Hancock never sailed with Phantoms. Although I found a couple of F-4 pics operating off the Hancock, I'm pretty sure the 8mm movies must have been taken on the Ranger.

It is interesting that Whales did operate off 27 Charlies. Did you catch @rondebmar 's post above mentioning EA-3's wearing placards prohibiting carrier ops?
 
Pilot Fighter said:
I have to give up Red Bull before my heart explodes. I just confirmed (no small effort) that the Hancock never sailed with Phantoms. Although I found a couple of F-4 pics operating off the Hancock, I'm pretty sure the 8mm movies must have been taken on the Ranger.

It is interesting that Whales did operate off 27 Charlies. Did you catch @rondebmar 's post above mentioning EA-3's wearing placards prohibiting carrier ops?
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Yeah, that's pretty interesting on the placards. And yes, the A-3 operating off the 27Cs, but not the F-4s. The only reason I can think of, would be that the A-3's in their VAH det or VQ det would maybe be only 1-4 aircraft? Vice a VF unit having 12 F-4s....and there having to be two VF squadrons onboard?

Then again, Im certain that RVAH squadron RA-5s never operated off 27Cs or the Midway class, as those probably operated VFP RF-8 dets, I assume.
 
MikeD said:
Yeah, that's pretty interesting on the placards. And yes, the A-3 operating off the 27Cs, but not the F-4s. The only reason I can think of, would be that the A-3's in their VAH det or VQ det would maybe be only 1-4 aircraft? Vice a VF unit having 12 F-4s....and there having to be two VF squadrons onboard?

Then again, Im certain that RVAH squadron RA-5s never operated off 27Cs or the Midway class, as those probably operated VFP RF-8 dets, I assume.
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As a result of the manner in which VAW (EA-1F) dets were deployed, my father spent time aboard just about every carrier that served in the Vietnam theater. When they transitioned from EA-1F's to EKA-3B's, they established distinct VAQ squadrons. VAW-13 became VAQ-130 and VAQ-131 thru 135 were established.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
As a result of the manner in which VAW (EA-1F) dets were deployed, my father spent time aboard just about every carrier that served in the Vietnam theater. When they transitioned from EA-1F's to EKA-3B's, they established distinct VAQ squadrons. VAW-13 became VAQ-130 and VAQ-131 thru 135 were established.
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Were the VAK squadrons only in the Reserves?
 
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