Legends of Vietnam: Shoulder to Shoulder
The Grumman A-6 was ugly, but it sure could cook.
- By Rafael Lima
- Air & Space magazine, May 2009
On the USS Constellation late in 1968, a catapult crewman gives the signal that an A-6 is ready to launch. A centerline D-704 refueling store augmented the four drop tanks beneath the wings. The D-704’s propeller, driven by wind in flight, powered a motor that extended and retracted its refueling hose.
Naval Historical Center
On a May afternoon in 1972 a flight of four Grumman A-6 Intruders, the lead elements in an air wing strike, flew a hundred feet above North Vietnamese rice paddies west of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 25 miles south of Hanoi. Loaded with Mk 20 Rockeye bomblet canisters, the jets were headed toward Bai Thuong, an enemy airfield. Navy pilot and air group commander Roger Sheets flew the lead Intruder. He and his bombardier/navigator Charlie Carr, a Marine Corps captain, used the aircraft's radar and visual cues to guide them to Bai Thuong. "The A-6 was the all-weather attack aircraft," says Carr. "Monsoon season never affected our operations." But that day was clear; Sheets and Carr were getting a good look at North Vietnam, and any other aircraft sharing that patch of sky could get a good look at them.
As the Intruders approached their target, they climbed to 200 feet. From the right seat, Carr spotted enemy MiGs above. They looked like little arrowheads circling watchfully about 1,500 feet up. He threw a switch and informed Sheets that the A-6's three-plus tons of ordnance were now armed.
"We came in underneath this wheel of MiGs," Carr recalls, "maybe 12, 15 of them. We were hoping to catch them on the ground and bomb the hell out of 'em. The airbase was alerted, however."
Sheets kept the A-6 straight and level as they approached the airfield. A few seconds later he thumbed the release on the stick, freed all 12 Mk 20s, and banked the Intruder hard to the left.
Carr remembers seeing one of the MiGs dive toward them. "OK, so now we had a problem," says Carr. "Now the MiG-17 was on our tail."
Compared to the MiG, the A-6 was no sprinter. Carr armed the aircraft's Sidewinder missiles, but there was little chance that Sheets could get into a position to take a shot. Instead, he began to jink, performing quick dodging maneuvers that made it tough for the MiG pilot to keep them in his sights. Sheets intended to drag the MiG toward the coast, hoping to run it out of gas. Carr remembers seeing puffs of smoke from the MiG's 37-mm cannon. That's when an F-4 Phantom appeared like a big brother late to a fight. The F-4 fired a missile, the MiG went down in flames, and Sheets and Carr made it back to the USS Coral Sea.
MiGs were among the reasons that A-6 crews preferred the cover of darkness or nasty weather. Using terrain-following radar, the crews flew low and fast no matter the hour. Because of the complexity of carrier operations, says Carr, only about a quarter of his flights from the Coral Sea were at night. "But missions from land," he says, "were almost all at night."
If darkness suited the A-6, perhaps one reason was that the airplane was no beauty queen. The twin intakes for the Pratt & Whitney J-52 P-8B turbojets swelled amidships, giving the craft a portly look. A bent refueling probe protruded from the top of a large, rounded snout. "The plane wasn't pretty," remembers Carr. "Only Grumman could make a plane that ugly."
The intruder's genesis predates Vietnam. During the Korean War the U.S. Navy lacked an all-weather, carrier-launched strike aircraft. So in March 1957 the service's Bureau of Aeronautics issued a request for proposals, detailing a requirement for a subsonic, two-seat attack bomber. Boeing, Douglas, Vought, Martin, Bell, Lockheed, Grumman, and North American submitted a total of 11 designs.
Interviews with flight crews led designers to focus on crew coordination. "The Navy wanted the side-by-side seating," says Joe Ruggiero, a Grumman engineer who worked on the A-6 from the prototype to the final A-6F, and was later a Northrop Grumman program director for the EA-6B Prowler, the Intruder's electronic warfare variant. "They thought, correctly, that it would enhance the workload in the cockpit. The design team knew it was going to be a bomber, and the radar system requirements did not lend themselves to a pointy nose. The engineers designed a plane that could carry lots of ordnance under the fuselage and wings. What eventually showed up on the drawing boards was the configuration of the A-6 Intruder."
Grumman won the design competition and signed the contract early in 1958. Two years later the prototype rolled out and the insults rolled in. "The pointy end was on the wrong end," says Carr. Some called it a "flying drumstick." "Well, it was a really ugly plane when you first looked at it," says retired Rear Admiral Rupe Owens, who has flown every version of the A-6. "But when it went to work flying in combat, the tadpole-looking plane became a thing of beauty." John Vosilla, a Northrop Grumman spokesman, bristles at the put-downs. "When we look at a project at Grumman, we're looking at engineering, not works of art," he says.
"To me and my team," says Ruggiero, "it was a beautiful airplane."
Both Charlie Carr and Rupe Owens liked the Intruder's side-by-side seating. So did the Marine Corps' Bruce Byrum (now a retired general), another Vietnam veteran who, like Carr and Owens, logged more than 3,000 hours as an A-6 pilot.
"There was a lot the bombardier/navigator could do to help," says Byrum. "He wasn't just a passenger along for the ride to operate the weapons system." A good bombardier/navigator, he says, monitored the radio, rate of descent, airspeed, power settings, and attitude, as well as the aircraft's place in the landing pattern as crews returned to the ship. "He had as much to do with the pilot's success as the pilot," Byrum adds.
Carol Reardon, a military historian at Pennsylvania State University and author of Launch the Intruders, an account of a Vietnam-era A-6 squadron called the Sunday Punchers, finds that the crew concept was critical to the Intruder's success in Vietnam, where it flew 35,000 combat sorties. "Pilots and B/Ns [bombardier/navigators] had to learn to trust each other's skills," she writes. "Repeatedly, instructors reminded them that the A-6 required two minds functioning in synch with each other. Both members of an A-6 crew got the same award for the same mission. Both suffered the consequences of an error. The A-6 community could afford no loners."
The crews say that the two-abreast arrangement enhanced interaction. "With two guys sitting side by side, you could communicate with hand gestures, if need be," says Owens. "You could simply look at the other guy and nod."
Good communication was important in dodging surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Intruder pilots relied on their own skills at low-altitude flying, the eyes of their bombardier/navigators, and the power of their Pratt & Whitney engines.
"You could outfly the SAMs with the A-6," says Owens. "What you did was make hard turns. At their intercept speed of about Mach 3, the SAMs couldn't turn with the A-6, especially at low level." Owens remembers approaching a target when points of light far ahead came at his airplane, streaming long, bright tails of flame, five in all. "We managed to out-turn them all, but I remember the sound of those five rocket motors from the SAMs as they went by. It got loud. Real loud."
SAMs harassed many A-6s, and took their toll—of the 69 Intruders lost to combat in Southeast Asia, 36 were claimed by anti-aircraft fire, 10 by SAMs, and only two by MiGs.
The intruder earned a reputation as a dependable attacker that could drop bombs in pitch darkness in any weather on both stationary and moving targets. Its reliability was due mainly to a new bomb release tool, the Digital Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment system, or DIANE. Coupled to an analog computer, the system could take into account any angle of climb or dive, speed, G force, and wind and calculate when to drop a payload accurately. DIANE's Vertical Display Indicator gave the pilot a representation of terrain, sky, and horizon, as well as heading, radar altitude, vertical speed, and angle of attack. The aircraft's terrain-hugging capability was key to low-altitude missions. When Intruders were striking some targets, A-7 Corsairs and F-4 Phantoms flew along in formation and released their ordnance when directed by the A-6 crews using DIANE.
The Intruder also carried an Airborne Moving Target Indicator, a unique doppler radar that gathered returns from moving ground objects. And ground-based acoustic and seismic sensors, air-dropped along supply trails, provided another method for A-6 crews, with the help of ground controllers, to find targets moving on such routes as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. "Sometimes at night," says Byrum, "enemy anti-aircraft fire used colored tracer rounds fired aimlessly into the night sky when aircraft were detected flying in the area, to warn all vehicles on the road that we were there." Intruders generally dropped Rockeye cluster bombs first, which pierced vehicles' gas tanks or weapons caches and set off secondary fires. These provided visual aim points for a second pass, in which crews would drop Mk 82s. In the absence of secondary fires, they would head off for preassigned secondary targets.
The Intruder absorbed lots of punches. On one daylight mission, North Vietnamese 23-mm anti-aircraft fire damaged an A-6 in Byrum's squadron. The crew diverted to Da Nang. Byrum flew close to look them over and escort them to the airfield.
"It was hard to believe that the aircraft was still flying," he says. The A-6 had taken a direct hit to the leading edge of the right wing near its root. The pilot, in the left side of the cockpit, couldn't see the damage. His bombardier/navigator could, though, and had apparently decided to say little about it, probably hoping to delay an ejection over enemy territory. "The hole in the wing was about the diameter of a 50-gallon drum," says Byrum. "You could see the landing gear up inside the now-visible wheel well." Miraculously, no fuel or hydraulic fluid sprayed out, so Byrum and his navigator refrained from reporting the damage to the pilot. No sense in unnerving him.
Byrum followed the stricken Intruder to touchdown. By the time he taxied up, the pilot of the damaged A-6 had shut down and climbed out. Coming around to the starboard side of his airplane, he was stunned by what he saw. "His first reaction was to knock the bombardier/navigator to the ground. Obviously, he wasn't happy," Byrum recalls. "We didn't bother to open our cockpit. Although we couldn't hear what he was yelling, he was just as upset with us. I don't know what he would have done differently. He surely did not want to eject."
"They didn't call it the 'Grumman Iron Works' for nothing," says Ruggiero. "Look at the Wildcat and the Hellcat. We built planes that would take the fight to the enemy and bring back safely the youngsters [who] flew them."
Back on the ship, 'round-the-clock, all-weather ops made one day meld into the next for A-6 crews. They often flew two missions per day—one attack and one as refuelers for the rest of a carrier's air wing. There was little free time. "If they weren't flying their combat mission," says Reardon, "they were planning it or debriefing it—and that took several hours in itself."
The crews did have moments of relaxation. "Movies were very popular," says Reardon, "if they were not very new—and not always G-rated." When the films began to grow old, the crew ran them backward for kicks, making up their own dialogue—"like kids used to do with old Japanese monster movies," she says. Carr recalls wearing out the 1971 shark documentary Blue Water, White Death. "We sat and watched it I don't know how many times. By the end of that cruise we'd seen every damned shark in the world."
For some squadrons, says Reardon, the transit from the States involved a little below-the-radar, late-night drinking to dull the anxiety of what lay ahead. Once active air ops began, though, they refrained. "They saved the craziness for their times between [periods when the carrier was on combat station], when they went ashore in the Philippines," Reardon says, "or some exotic location such as Singapore or Hong Kong." Carr doesn't recall any drinking on the transit. "Doesn't mean it didn't happen," he says. "I just didn't see it. We did operations planning. We had targets, and we had to plan 'em. And we flew." He does remember a stop in Hawaii. "We pulled into Pearl [Harbor] and raised holy hell for a couple days." And when they got orders to come off the line for the last time and head home, he remembers that, magically, beer and spirits appeared.
The navy retired the A-6 on February 28, 1997, after 693 had rolled off Grumman's assembly line. By then it had inspired a shoulder-to-shoulder camaraderie. The Intruder Association, which Owens chairs, carries that torch, gathering pilots and bombardier/navigators to share stories and rekindle friendships.
"The Navy and the Marine Corps finally got a plane that could unite the services," says Carr. "You'd never get those guys together, except for their common love of the A-6." He would receive 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses and a Silver Star, and flew in Operation Desert Storm. Carr retired a full colonel in August 1994.
The Intruder's precision strike role was briefly handled by the F-14 Tomcat. The other multi-crew tactical aircraft of today—the F-15E Strike Eagle and the F/A-18F Super Hornet—are, like the Tomcat, tandem seaters, with the weapons systems officer behind, not beside, the pilot. Their fundamental design rule is to be streamlined. These aircraft are expected to do it all: attack, dogfight, recon, electronic warfare. The F/A-18 is a tanker too. They sport broad wings for maneuverability, but they're packed with the tools for ground attack. They're designed to fight their way in, deliver their payloads, and fight their way out.
The A-6's shoulder-to-shoulder cockpit is now a quaint curiosity in the pantheon of aerospace engineering. Another shoulder-to-shoulder workhorse was the General Dynamics F-111, which was retired in 1996. Grumman's electronic warfare version, the EF-111A, was retired in 1998. That leaves the EA-6B Prowler. Though the Marine Corps may fly the Prowler into the next decade, the Navy plans to fully convert to the tandem-seat EA-18G Growler by 2012.
Ruggiero reflects warmly on his airplane. "We didn't have to be supersonic," he says. "Our plane was a good truck and didn't have to be pointy. We had to deliver weapons to the target in all kinds of weather."
Reardon remembers a bombardier/navigator who offered a suggestion for her book's cover that he thought would perfectly suit the airplane and its mission. "He said, 'You should make the cover pitch black, black as the darkest night, and make it sopping wet.' "
Rafael Lima is a writer and documentary video producer based in Coral Gables, Florida.
Comments (68)
Interesting article. I flew Intruders operationally in the early days of the program (VA-85), at PAX River and was the A6 Project pilot at Grumman for a number of years. For its day the A6 had superior level turning performance and a good turn of speed with weapons loads. It was actually superior to the MIG-17 in air combat maneuvering and was the only aircraft that beat the MIG-21 in tests conducted at Edwards. These performance advantages were discounted because the Intruder did not have AIM-9s at that time. Typically on Alfa Strike penetrations with the Intruders loaded with 5 MK 84s our fighters (F-4s) had to ask for a few percent to avoid riding in burner and depleting their fuel. On Kitty Hawk we played MIG - 17 to our F-4s in the air wing and typically won these engagements. The joke was that fighting a Phantom was like doing an extended rendezvous.
Posted by Frank Wagner on March 25,2009 | 06:08 PM
Enjoyed the article. I worked on the A-6 DIANE system as an enlisted electronics tech - including the VA-75 deployment on USS Kitty Hawk, 1967-68...I was an A-6 BN for about seven years, including tours in VA-34, VX-5, and VA-85...then I went to pilot training via what was then referred to as the "retread" program. Thereafter, I served in VA-65, VA-42 (XO), VA-36 (XO and CO), VA-42 (CO). I have many fond memories of the A-6 community. There was no other like it, nor likely ever will be.
Dan Franken (aka: Dr Death)
Pungo VA
Posted by Daniel Franken on March 27,2009 | 11:17 AM
Awesome article thank you and the brave men that fly into battle knowing they may never come back.
Posted by Calvin Lujan on March 27,2009 | 12:21 PM
The A6 was an ugly bird but but hell on wings.
Posted by Tom Brown LT USN surface line on March 29,2009 | 02:18 PM
Nice to read the comments from Frank Wagner I was a flight test engineer at Grumman when Frank was our A6 project pilot, also I served on Kitty Hawk 1967-1968 deployment as the Grumman Standard Arm Rep. VA-75 and VA-35 were the first to utilize the Standard Arm in combat with the A6B, keep up the good work John A Sullivan
Posted by John A Sullivan on March 31,2009 | 02:00 PM
This a great story about the big ugly. I was in all arenas with this bird and after sleepless nights over capacitive fuel quantity problems, changing CSDs after every flight,replacing electric emergency flap motors, It still brings a lump in my throat thinking about the 17cruises I made with her and the many warriors who not only flew her but the ground pounders that made her go. Tour in VA-65. VA-34,VA-42,VA-35,and the world famous thunderbolts of VA-176, made lasting relationships with the finest people this country ever allowed me to serve with.The intruder association now day is our only link to stay truely in touch. Stories like this make my chest bow up to think I was lucky enough to be part of the A-6 era and associated with people like Gunner Strong, Bill Willett, Tom Kennon ,Bruce Comfort, Harry Jacques, and more than I can mention. Hail to all of hanger 122. Posted by Lt. Denny Franklin, LDO USN March 31, 2009
Posted by LT. Denny Franklin on March 31,2009 | 09:47 PM
As a B/N with VA-165 from 1972 to 1975[Adm Jim Seely was my first CO] I never tire of the reflections shared by my fellow squadron mates. While there were good times and bad times, we do tend to remember with fondness the positives and I believe the unique bond that existed within the A6 community. You can't help but wonder if those that followed, feel the same. Thanks for a very nice article.
Posted by Jim Klein on March 31,2009 | 10:00 PM
I was there with Phil Bloomer, Lt martinsen and another pilot through out the work ups on the Coral sea.
I wish people would someday tell the truth and stop making things up to "look good"!It's over... nobody cares about how wonderful we were.
What I remember was not even close to what this article represents.
I flew with the skipper of this squdron who could not have been a worse pilot. I had to roll the aircraft in from the right seat several times because he could not see the targets.
He almost killed us when he pushed the nose over on a cat shot because he thought the AOA was working and went past 30!! I reached over and hit him in the chest yelling over the intercom to rotate. During the special ops briefs most of the crews took it seriously but not the leader. He did not want to brief the targets so I had to do it for him.
Non of the systems were ever fully up. no AMTI, no Track radar, limited computer nav.and we had to use manual range line bombing most of the night "all weather" flights.
These guys were worriors because they had to fly with degraded systems which made the "advanced" A-6 nothing more than an iron bomber with WW2 capability.
The "15 MIGS" is again suspect. In my 3 cruises to the big V I never saw a mig! I guess that's because most of my flights were at night with full up weapons systems so common in Navy Squadrons.Sorry, but I'm really tired of half truths.
sidewinders with MK -20's as a load? come on!
bring it on!
Posted by rick fellows on March 31,2009 | 10:49 PM
I have no war stories but have memories of the Intruder. I was an Aviation Electrician with VA-42 from early 1962-1965 and although I had no war experience I
still feel a sense of pride when I pass a military base and see an intruder at the gate or in a museum knowing that I was one of the original Navy electricians on the plane. I know that compared to the Pilots and BNs my contribution to the A6 program was very insignicant.I salute you all for your bravery and sacrifice.
Larry Zimmerman
Posted by larry zimmerman on March 31,2009 | 11:34 PM
As we used to say in my squadron (VA-115) "Skypigs for EVER!!!"
Posted by Steve Krupinski on March 31,2009 | 12:18 AM
Frank:
Nice to see a familiar name again. I well remember our '66-'67 cruise in VA85. There were lots of interesting adventures to some bad places. Do look for an article in Naval History magazine in the next couple of months about VA85 and the first raids on Kep Airfield.
Murph (VA85)
Posted by TOM MURPHY on March 31,2009 | 12:24 AM
Great Article. I was too young to experience the the Viet Nam era heroics but many of us who flew the aircraft through the 80s and 90s benefitted from the experience of out Viet Nam era department heads.
I had the bittersweet job of being the last A-6 CO. We actually dis-established VA-75 and the A-6 community on 31 March 1997 after having flown our last two aircraft to Davis-Monthan AFB for storage. Our formal ceremony took place 28 Feb 1997 to correspond with the west coast dis-establishment of VA-196. As luck would have we were CQing two weeks before that last flight. We operated a great aircraft hard right to the end. As a testament to the aircraft and the maintainers, our last two aircraft arrived at DM AFB up and up after a 5 stop cross country to the desert and the boneyard.
Posted by Jim Gigliotti on March 31,2009 | 12:35 AM
Great article. Nice seeing the A-6 Intruder still making the news! During my Marine Corps career, I worked on A-6 Intruders, AV-8 Harriers and V-22 Ospreys (Electric Shop & Avionics). My time in A-6's was the best. I was assigned to VMA-(AW)-224 and VMA-(AW)-533 during the greater part of the 1980's. With Colonel Carr as the CO of '533, we worked hard...but then we played hard too! We were a tight community and still are.
Posted by Bill Sanford on April 1,2009 | 08:13 AM
As a former B/n in the BUFs (VA-165, 1971-73, I don't recall that the A6 had a sidewinder capability at that time.
Posted by Jim Whitfield on April 1,2009 | 08:34 AM
I appreciate the article, as well as the several notes sent in by other readers. Hey-Death, stay in touch, already! Bike up to PA for a visit.
Posted by T Lad Webb on April 1,2009 | 08:43 AM
Great article! I flew A-6 on three Far East deployments and three combat cruises in Vietnam, and have great memories of its all-weather and tremendous maneuvering capabilities. We out-flew the SAM-2s on several occasions, and remained cloaked in darkness and weather on so many others. It was always fun to fly a "slick" A-6 against the airwing F-4s, too, because any of the fighter jocks who hadn't experienced the turn radius and vertical capabilities of the A-6 without bombs and racks hung, were shocked at how the bird could climb and turn, with its tremendous power and high-lift wing. I also flew chase on 27 Tomahawks when I was the project officer at Pacific Missile test center, and the A-6 proved equal to that task, as well.
Posted by Gary Forsberg on April 1,2009 | 08:54 AM
Great article! I flew A-6 on three Far East deployments and three combat cruises in Vietnam, and have great memories of its all-weather and tremendous maneuvering capabilities. We out-flew the SAM-2s on several occasions, and remained cloaked in darkness and weather on so many others. It was always fun to fly a "slick" A-6 against the airwing F-4s, too, because any of the fighter jocks who hadn't experienced the turn radius and vertical capabilities of the A-6 without bombs and racks hung, were shocked at how the bird could climb and turn, with its tremendous power and high-lift wing. I also flew chase on 27 Tomahawks when I was the project officer at Pacific Missile test center, and the A-6 proved equal to that task, as well.
Posted by Gary Forsberg on April 1,2009 | 08:54 AM
I was an AO instructor in VA42 FRAMP from Jan 74 to 30 June 76 with another AO Richard Strong and had the opportunity to work/teach/touch all 7 models of the A6 aircraft.Yes the A6 was not pretty but she shure could carry a wealth of ordnance and fuel to stay out on a mission. One of the missions that the A6 flew during Viet Nam was the Rolling Thunder attack that took out the highway and railroad bridges and we showed movies taken of it to the ordnancemen in the class rooms. Was really sorry to see the navy get rid of the KA6D Tanker, bad move.
Posted by George (Nick) Smichnick on 1 April 2009, 0910 AM.
Posted by George (Nick) Smichnick on April 1,2009 | 09:11 AM
Enough can't be said about how crews worked together. I flew with VA-85 in Bosnia and Somalia with the same pilot, Bruce Shuttleworth, for the entire workup and deployment. Fifteen years later we still talk at least weekly. We got each other safely through and are brothers now.
I am still in very close touch with the men I trained with in VA-42 and deployed with in VA-85 because our community believed in crew.
One last thing: The Intruder was NOT ugly.
Posted by Carlton Grooms on April 1,2009 | 09:31 AM
I was a flight instructor with Wayne Courtney in Beeville, TX in the early 70's. He was the pilot of the A6 with the hole in the wing. He had a picture of himself standing on a ladder in the hole with his legs below the wing and the rest of him above the wing. I later flew the A6 in VA-85 off the Forrestal. It was a great plane to fly.
Posted by Mark Oliver on April 1,2009 | 09:33 AM
As one of those right seaters, I thought the A6 was a thing of beauty. After 2000 plus hours, 790 carrier landings and countless sorties, I couldn't have asked for a better ride. The realtionship between Pilot and B/N was unique and developed into some wonderful relationships. Trust from each for each was the thing that made the aircraft such a threat. Loved the experience. Fred Block
Posted by Fred Block, CDR,USNRet on April 1,2009 | 10:50 AM
I flew the A-6 during the post Vietnam era out of Cherry Point, NC and had the privilege of flying with Charlie Carr who was the MAG-14 CO at the time. During his last year at the MAG, "Vulture" and I flew to Pensacola so that he could give a "Living Legends" brief to the student aviators, and I can verify this story's validity.
More importantly, Vulture is, to this day, a wealth of stories and information about the A-6. For me, he brought the A-6 to life and made me a believer that a two seat jet, with a team effort, is a formidable foe, and a valuable asset.
Those of us who flew with some of the most accomplished B/N's enjoyed the ability to fight the right "blind" side of the aircraft. We can thank Vulture for making the "guy in the back" an invaluable part of the fight!
Posted by Ken Waidelich, LtCol, USMCR, Ret on April 1,2009 | 12:15 PM
My experience the A6's began in VA-75 when we were the 1st squadron to deploy to Vietnam.We proved we could do the job and paved the way for the best all weater bomber in the world. Ialso had tours in VA-128;and115.It was in VA115 where we really proved the A6'S dudability.VA-115 was recommisioned at Whidbey and as a new squadron gotcast off A6's from other squadrons. We pulled together and won the bombing derby at Fallon then in 1 month in Nam on our 1st cruise we dropped 2million lbs on target in 71.
Thanks to great officers like Hoagy Carmichael;Bud Langston;R.Caig;gG.Fosberg and good enlisted personnel we won both the PUC AND NUC .We flew while others sat.
Iremembe you Fuzzy.
Posted by Dan"Whimpy" Kirkendall AO1 USN Ret on April 1,2009 | 12:29 PM
Good article. I too flew the mighty Intruder but much later. The story of the hole in the starboard wing reminded me of an a similar incident that happened to my shipboard roomy over Iraq during Desert Storm. Sneezy was just about to drop a load of MK 83's on an aifield in Western Iraq when he and his B/N were hit on the starboard side by some sort of AAA which resulted in an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia and approximately 150 holes of various sizes in the B/N's side of the aircraft. From then on, due to this and a previous incident, we pilots "praised" Sneezy for always keeping his B/N between him and the threat. While it sustained a great deal of damage, the plane would probably have been able to fly again. That is until the Marines who were manning the divert field, in their haste to clear the runway, so damaged the Buff that it was a Strike.
Posted by Eric "Vinny" Newstrom USN (RET) on April 1,2009 | 12:29 PM
Not enough can be said of the friendships forged on a combat cruise nor the lifetime memories of both the good and bad times. We hold the memories of squadronmates who made the ultimate sacrifice close to our hearts, where they live on in the stories and tales we tell when we gather together.
My first combat mission ended with the aircraft on fire and the main gear up - a nose wheel and tail hook landing into Da Nang. Later, dropped another Intruder into the Tchepone, Laos area after a wing went missing from AAF. Nevertheless, Frodo lives.
VA-196 and VA-115 provided excitement for a couple of lifetimes - thanks to all the pilots who survived my bombing and navigational skills!
Posted by Don Fraser, CAPT, USN (Ret.) on April 1,2009 | 01:41 PM
I went from flying the RA5C Vigilante to flying the A6. While sleak, fast and unarmed was great, the Intruder was a dream. We could accelerate to attack speed with 28 x 500 pound bombs under your wing while outrunning the rest of the strike group. I could see my BN and communicate without even talking. Having been crewed with some of the great BNs like Dan "Dr. Death" Franken and Peter "Scope" Harris, it was often a perfect friendship in and out of the cockpit. A great BN could use a set of binoculars and give the pilot better info on glideslope for a night carrier landing than you could get from the ship. And of course there is nothing like pulling off a target at night, looking over your shoulder and seeing a string of bombs exploding behind you. She was beautiful with all the curves in the right places. Tough, loud and mean. When the fighter boys were heading to the barn because the weather was bad, the "Medium Attack" boys were manning up and loving it. In VA 85 aboard Forrestal, we had one of our crew crash through the pack while trying to land on a pitching deck of 14+ feet with the deck doing a dutch roll. 7 aircraft in the pack were damaged, some with strike damage. The A6 with over 3 feet of right wing torn off, boltered, tanked and flew to a divert field. The pilot caught grief for blowing a tire on landing. If you never flew an A6, next time you are driving on a country road at night in the rain, turn off your headlights and try not to hit a tree. Same thing only more fun. "Chick the Stick"
Posted by Chris Cikanovich on April 1,2009 | 01:51 PM
As a JO B/N and throughout my career, I was most fortunate to have been crewed with the very best pilots, flying Intruders maintained by the best "bubbas". Starting with Dave "Snako" Kelly and Jim "Horse" Horsley in the VA-115 "Arabs" onboard USS Midway (CVA-41), my pilots all worked hard to keep us alive. I'd fly anywhere with them. Then the LSO's like Gary "Fuzz" Forsberg helped get us safely back aboard in one piece at night with a calm "roger ball". Maintainers like Denny Franklin taught me to never accept or believe a radar or computer system to be down without an "airborne" check. Nothing so satisfying as "resurrecting" a radar or computer once airbrne. Ya'll are the best. Thanks.
Posted by Bob "Toon" Ponton on April 1,2009 | 02:30 PM
"The A6 was an ugly bird but but hell on wings.
Posted by Tom Brown LT USN surface line on March 29,2009 | 11:18AM"
The Intruder was a beautiful aircraft that had "stone cold killer" written all over it. I really miss flying that wonderful aircraft, I took it into and out of harms way many times and it never once failed me. It came back with holes in it but never once complained.
Scott T. Murphy, 'truder driver
VA-95 Green Lizards
Posted by Scott Murphy on April 1,2009 | 04:54 PM
The A-6 Intruder was one of the great flying machines of all time. After an initial tour in Skyraiders (not a bad machine)and jet transition in Meridan, I joined the Intruder community in Oceana. Following A-6 training in VA-42, I had tours in VA-34, VA-42, VA-65, COMMATWINGONE staff, and VA-34 XO/CO. I later returned as the Commander Medium Attack Wing One. One of my great days was when Cool Breeze Coleman, then XO of one of the two A-6 squadrons on CV-67 JFK sent me a photo of all the Intruders (28 or 32) airborne in formation over JFK. Airlant had questioned the great availability numbers being reported, so the proof was in the photo. Great memories of a great community of hard working folks. Mac McDanel
Posted by Mac McDanel, Capt USN ret, 1 April 2009, 5:20 PM
Posted by B. K. Mac McDanel on April 1,2009 | 05:21 PM
I recall a similar hole in the wing of an A6 during Gulf War 1. Former BN with VMA AW 533, 332 and VA128. Wanted to give a quick plug for the intruderassociation.org. If your not a member, google the group and get ready for Wash DC area Summer 2010 reunion.Semper Fi JJ Long
Posted by JJ Long on April 1,2009 | 06:57 PM
Only those who flew and maintained the Intruder know the real truth about it. Beauty is as beauty does. Like all aircraft it was a compromise. It had a great first move if you saw the bogey first. I really do not appreciate folks who try to put false lipstick on our pig. Sidewinders....? Yes, it had the hard points but any Intruder pilot who stayed in a fight long enough to get a tone was probably a few seconds from death anyway. "Flight of the Intruder" still makes me cringe. Leave the Hollywood crap to the pretty-boy fighter pilots...we blew stuff up!
By the way, Dr. Death...I should have taken your advice!
Jake
Posted by Jake Johnson on April 1,2009 | 09:12 PM
Great to see the Intruder in the news...great plane...better crews/maintainers...was fortunate to have logged over 2,500 hours in the aircraft...too many great friends to name but GK Starnes, JD Dorrance, Steve Richmond, Roy Rogers, GPat Owen, Lou Lalli, Mac McCafferey, Beave Horton, Carlos Conti, Paul 'Beckman' Becker, Dome Kenny, Jabba and Radar Busch and many more are brothers for life...
For those who never returned - you will always be remembered by your Intruder buds...STINGERS FOR MY FRIENDS!
Skip
Posted by Skip Krause, CAPT, USNR ret on April 2,2009 | 01:59 PM
In Va-115 we never carried forward firing ordnance in 71/72/73. I figured if a Mig could stay with me in a 4-5g turn (w/ bombs) at under 500 feet at night and/or in the wx, he deserved a kill! (My BN John Koch was in on that decision.)
Posted by Lt. David Kelly, USNR on April 2,2009 | 05:35 PM
As a Grumman employee and the very last vehicle engineering manager for both the A-6 and EA-6B it was great to read the comments from the brave guys that used what we built. They were both very ugly ducks but I can assure you that the guys that designed and built them loved them anyway and gave them all the care and attention necessary to make them a "Sterling" and "Grumman Iron works" product. It's hard to believe that the same guys that gave you these ugly ducks also gave the USN the F-14, the best looking aircraft ever designed in my opinion.
I'm retired now but look back fondly at the people I worked with at Grumman. Without a doubt the best bunch of engineers the aerospace industry ever put together.
Posted by Hans Forsch on April 2,2009 | 10:38 PM
It’s been seventeen years since I retired and twenty-two the last time I loaded any weapons on an Intruder. But I can remember it today as though it was yesterday. From October 1968 to December 1980 with VA-42, VA-165, VA-128, and VA-85 and again with VX-5 1987/88 by far the best time of my career. The A-6 always had the capability to carry sidewinder but we never told anyone that. I do remember all the pylon wiring adapters we had and one of them was for the LAU-7, and a pain in the ass to install. The only time that I remember loading a sidewinder was with VA-85 sometime around 1977/78. Don’t remember why we did it but we only did it one time.
Most of our loads in VA-165 were 82 snakes from 16 to 22. I have loaded many A-6’s with 22, seldom with 28, although I do have pictures of VA-165 with 28 that did launch I think from the America in 70 or 71. When carrying 83’s it was usually 12 and a few times we did load 84’s. As for the MK-20 I remember loading four to five on station two and 82’s on 1, 4 and 5 mostly for night flights.
That A-6 display on the Midway has 30 82’s on it. It may look cool but it’s wrong. You all do know that the only squadrons to do that supposedly were the Marines, and to do so the forward landing gear door had to be removed and the hydraulic lines capped otherwise the door would jam on the forward inboard bomb.
Posted by Dan Dunn on April 3,2009 | 06:39 AM
Got my first taste of EA-6A's in Iwakuni, Japan as a Marine Corporal in the early seventies with VMCJ-1.
I was a jet mech. working on the J-52's in the eng. shop and also on the check crew re-installing the engines.
Worked on them at "The Garden", in Thailand and in the Phillippines.
The sky-pig was an awesome performer and I'll never forget the distinctive sound of it's engines.
I'm proud to have been a member of this unique group of Marines supporting this unique aircraft.
Posted by Ralph Goff on April 3,2009 | 09:47 AM
Great stories, great airplane, great people and many lessons learned. I'm an old B/N with tours in VA-42, 75, 85 and 34 (with a couple of "cruises" to Viet Nam). Never lose an opportunity to tell these tales in the public eye. Tell the story so that future generations will know what it was that we did. My career in education started after the A-6. Perfect match; old goat with stories to tell. I designed a "Cold War" course for HS seniors to expand the elective courses in history. Great chance to entertain with the Bill Westerman/Brian Weston story. Now, at 70, I'm known as a Veterans' Day speaker. I put Top Gun music on, add a dash of an A-6 audio of a VA-75 strike, a little A-6 model and have the perfect mix.
Thanks to our wives for your support, and "Sweet Pea," we love you! Fred Hewitt
Posted by Fred Hewitt on April 4,2009 | 09:45 AM
Did a tour in 145 on Ranger from 79 to 82. And two trips in 128, First one as an instructor 82-85 and then Airframes and Phase 89-92. I retired out of VAQ140 in 93.
I miss the guys I worked with keeping the old bird flying. When I was a Swordsman, we had one of the oldest airframes in the Fleet. It was a K, Buno 149941.
Our airframes chief was Jim Russell. What a man to work for as a young AMH2 LPO. The CO that I have lasting memories of is Dave Williams. He was also the CO in my first tour in 128. And then there was Mike "Crash" McCamish. The English language met it's match with that man.
To all, Rick Darling, Dennis DeKoening, R.D. Hill, Jim Farmstead, Dave Dozier, Al Lester. I still miss you guys.
Posted by Glenn Cassel AMH1(AW) USN RET on April 4,2009 | 10:18 AM
As a 17 year old Seaman Apprentice in 1975 on USS Coral Sea, I would watch Intruders and Phantoms fly off on missions and wonder what that would be like. 7 years later I was privileged to have earned my Wings of Gold and fulfill that dream of flying the mighty Intruder. I was also fortunate enough to work closely with Grumman while at VX-5. I got to know some of the people like Joe Ruggiero who gave us such a great machine to take into the night and return home. The honor of serving the US Navy and flying the A-6 Intruder will forever be a dream that came true for a young kid off a farm in Pennsylvania who stared off into the night in the middle of the Pacific on the Coral Sea and defined what his life's mission would be.
Posted by Mark Allen on April 5,2009 | 08:53 AM
I need to add a note about the overall flexibility and utility of the A-6. During the 1968 cruise on USS Constellation, VA-196 had 15 aircraft, including three or four A-6B’s. The A-3 tankers were DOWN for most of the cruise, so A-6’s with buddy stores did most of the tanking. The A-6B’s would launch with Standard ARM’s, drops and a buddy store; consolidate with the off-going tanker, patrol for SAM’s, tank the BARCAP, hawk the recovery, and top off the on-coming tanker. I couldn’t believe how often we had to tell the F-4’s how to find us (“check 2 o’clock, four miles”). Frequently, read “daily,” we would launch A-6A’s with drops, buddy stores and bombs and perform a similar routine. At night the load-out would include CBU’s and perhaps flares to illuminate a “found” target for the A-7’s. Our civilian counterparts can’t understand why we would consider combat ops fun, but these ops were really FUN!
Posted by Skip Suereth, CAPT, USN (Ret.) on April 6,2009 | 08:09 AM
Fun to read the article. You probably all have, but if not, I would recommmend the book "Launch the Intruders" mentioned in it. Aside from that, far better has been reading through all these comments that rekindle the good memmories of life, people and times in Navy squadrons - a unique, special and probably unmatchable experience in most people's lifetimes, that we were fortunate to have. And, especially for an NFO (B/N), the A-6 was THE plane to be in - with it's configuration, missions and crew-concept. As an average guy, it was great to see, hear and know so many talented players, and of course a fair number of real "characters" too. Tours in VA-35, a "shooter" on Midway, VA-42 and VA-35 (again) in years between '73 and '85,
Tad Dougherty, Camarillo, CA
Posted by Tad Dougherty, CDR USN (Ret.) on April 7,2009 | 03:17 PM
I had the opportunity to repair many of the A6 aircraft while serving time in VA65. Great aircraft and a great group of pilots and squadron personnel. Enjoy Life...
Posted by Tim James AMS1 on April 8,2009 | 02:45 PM
Wasn't Roger also known as "Blinkie"?
Posted by Randy Brooks on April 14,2009 | 04:18 PM
My first experiance with the A6 Intruder was VA 145 from April 1977 to June 1980. What a truly amazing aircraft a true workhorse of the Navy, I was a Aircraft Electrician working on the massive Electrical systems and could always relay on the reliable Intruder. My first Skipper was Dave Williams and then John Juan, great skippers. My next tour was VA 128 after a short break in civilian Life, I then transfered to the Prowler where I spent the next 16 yrs working on the best Radar jamming Platform there was. Im now retired and working at the flight simulator as a Electronics tech maintaining the next generation of radar jammers the Growler.
Posted by Steven Oldemeyer AEC(AW) USN (Ret) on April 16,2009 | 03:34 AM
A good friend sent me this article. Her father flew an A-6 in Vietnam. Thanks to all the brave men who fought to keep our country free. Thank you, God bless and help America.
CBONES
Posted by Charlie Bones on April 24,2009 | 09:36 AM
I can't say enough about the great people who helped make the Intruder such a huge success. I was fortunate to have flown both left and right seats in the A-6. I transitioned to pilot along with Dan Franken and other great guys like: Terry Toms,Roy Rogers,Lew Hawks and many others... Wonderful Warriors all.
I would do it all again in a heartbeat!!!
Posted by Cdr Dave "DB" Brennan USN(ret) on April 28,2009 | 09:10 AM
Skip Suereth, there's a name I remember. Hope all is well.
We flew many a test flight at NARF NORVA, most of them with fun low level runs thru the VA mountains or down the beaches of the outer banks. One day we even alerted the citizens of PA when we went low level along the interstates and turnpike looking for his wife's car returning to VA. Since NARF birds had no tail markings,they blamed some hooligans out of Willow Grove.
I miss that fun.
Murph
Posted by Tom Murphy on June 9,2009 | 08:28 PM
I spent several years helping maintain the A6A,A6B,A6C,KA6D, A8E'S, even one tour EA6B's. I was with A6's from late 60's till retiring mid 80's. Made cruises on CV-61, CVN-65, CV-60. A lot of the people mentioned in this I knew very well, Pilots,BNs and maintainers !!
I could always tell when an A6 flew over with out looking up, same for EA6Bs. Those AIRCREWS did one hell of a job with those AIRCRAFT. James T. Riggles (AFCM).
Posted by JAMES (JAY) RIGGLES on July 14,2009 | 12:40 AM
I was an AE Troubleshooter in VA-34 for three deployments, I pushed Mr PonTOON of the pointy end a few times, and Denny Franklin, my mentor in the world of nonskid, launches and recoveries and everything AE nails the essence of the Big Ugly. She was a truly righteous airplane, at least in the eyes of those that had to nurse her on the ground. I have been fortunate enough to have stayed on in Naval Aviation as as civilian(yes a sand crab)on the Superhornet Program for almost 15 years, guess what people while it has it's own virtues, it aint the flying drumstick now way, no how. And as Denny said, I had the great fortune of knowing some of the finest men I have ever met in my life in the "Truder Community. Bravo Zulu to each and all.
Posted by Bob Ascolillo on July 15,2009 | 02:12 PM
I was a maintenance controller for VMA-224 after they got back from the Coral Sea at Cherry Point. We had a bird in spintac (the hanger queen) and it had to fly on Saturday. Charlie Carr,our maintenance officer and I believe Capt Hanover came in on Saturday and everything went fine until landing at which time the left main would not come down even with blowdown. So gear up and foam and a safe landing and out of spintac. Those were the days!!!
Posted by Bill Warner on August 10,2009 | 07:28 PM
The A-6A, in its day, was the best all-weather attack bomber in the world - bar none. It could penetrate the toughest missile and AAA defenses that Hanoi could provide, take a few holes and return to the ship to fly again a day or two later. Occasionally, heavy monsoon rains during the landing approach prevented the pilot from seeing ANYTHING outside of the cockpit, but Kitty Hawk's wonderful Carrier Air Traffic Control Center team could bring you in "on glide slope, on center line" to touchdown on deck. What a great carrier airplane! If I was a millionaire, I would have bought me an A-6 and flown in combat for free.
Posted by Jerry Zacharias on August 11,2009 | 03:46 PM
Was a plane capt. in 224 aboard the Coral Sea. Tended to Charlie Carr many times. The A-6 did have sidewinder capabilities. Once an ordinance man forgot to pull the safety pin or we would have had the first A-6 to shoot down a mig. Needless to say the crew was very angry.
Enjoyed this site and reading everyone's comments.
Posted by Dennis Dickey on September 3,2009 | 02:27 PM
I served in va65 on the 'CONNIE.' Great folks.
Posted by R.MCGRATH on September 15,2009 | 10:36 PM
I was a mineman 2nd Class petty officer (POIC) on the Uss Coral sea CVA-43 from nov. 71 untill July of 72. 3 of us minemen were assigned to G Division (Bomb Assembly) when we had to put 36 mines together to drop in haiphong may 9th 1972. VMA-224 (A-6's) got to drop some of those mines into the harbor with other USN aircraft. Great Job!! Bob Gill Billerica,Mass.
Posted by Bob Gill on September 28,2009 | 02:28 PM
I had the privilege of completing a career flying the Intruder in the Navy and then spent seven years at Grumman in the Flight Test Department flying A-6E, A-6F, and EA-6B's. Some of the writers here were among the first to fly the airplane. I was on the other end - I flew the first flight of the last production airplane at Grumman. Many memories of great airplanes and great people! Someday I'd like to figure out how many of the A-6's on display I've flown - so far I know I've flown the A-6F on USS Intrepid and the A-6E on display at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Mike Shon Prescott, AZ.
Posted by Mike Shon on November 21,2009 | 11:58 AM
Yeah, it might have been ugly and not pointed, but I'll always stand behind the Skypig! My hat's off to Col. Carr (Vulture) and many others I worked with in VMA-332, VMA-533, VMAT-202 and VA-128. I still have my A-6 Intruder poster hanging in my office.
Posted by R.W. Radcliffe, MSGT (B/N Fixer) on December 11,2009 | 11:50 PM
The Greatest time of my life, was serving as a Plane Capt, Power Plants Mech, Line Chief, Maint Control Chief, Maint Chief. Served in VMA (aw) 121, VMA(aw)332, VMAT(aw) 202 and MAG 14 from 1974 through the Gulf War. Great Aircraft. I miss the entire A-6 community.
Posted by Herb Collins, MSGTMaint Chief(RET) on December 28,2009 | 03:49 PM
Great to see a lot of familiar names and stories. Enjoyed every minute of the Intruder years. Got a call from Glen (Bad Bay) Hatch a couple of days ago. He had gone to the club at Oceana and said you would be hard pressed to know that the A-6 had ever flown from there, so it's good to see the memories of an amazing aircraft and a great community kept alive.
Posted by Deen Poe on January 15,2010 | 06:34 PM
as a young lance corporal fresh out of adj. school i reported to cherry point and was assigned to vma(aw)225 and was told to report to maintainance control where i got to co-ordinate maintainance and schedule the a-6,s for training missions stateside and continued at danang with 225and transferred to chu-lai with vma(aw)533.looking back after forty plus years i have great memories of the a-6 and the challenges given to me as a ninteen year old,learning about the sophisticated systems and all that was necessary to keep the intruder operational was challenging to say the least butmost rewarding particularly when we were in a combat environment!may god bless my enlisted buddies and officers who made the supreme sacrifice. semper-fi tom coffey sgt.vma225,533,vmat-202
Posted by tom coffey on January 31,2010 | 07:12 AM
Hey, Murph, glad to see your response. Speaking of NARF Norfolk--My first night flight at NARF after returning from Vietnam (getting night time in a bird with only minor squalks to work off) I suddenly noticed the reflection of a row of yellow streetlights on the windscreen.It looked just like a stream of tracers close on the starboard side. I broke hard left, surprised the crap out of my B/N--was it you?
Posted by Skip Suereth on February 16,2010 | 06:23 PM
Good article. One sidenote. CAG Roger Sheets had spent his career to to that point as a fighter pilot, starting with combat flying in Korea. He had been the skipper of Fighter Squadron VF-161 flying F-4's from the Coral Sea in its 68/69 Westpac cruise (I was a JO in that squadron at the time). So some twenty years of flying later he knew just about everything there was to know about relative roll rates between the A-6 and the Mig 17/19/21, and how to best get through the kind of situation he found himself in in May 1972. He was absolutely fearless. And yes..... he was called Blinky. But not to his face.
Posted by Joe Harrison on February 28,2010 | 12:32 AM
Nice to see another story about such an awesome aircraft. I never flew or physically worked on them but was a member of the A6 SWIP and Bombing error assessment team at China Lake in the early 90's. Being involved with some critical testing that was used in Operation Desert Storm still makes me proud to see anything related to this great bird. They were definitely ugly on the ground but were awesome to watch drop in 100 ft from the deck and drop ordinance.
Posted by R. Smith on November 4,2010 | 04:36 PM
I had the privelege of serving with VMA AW 533 during its deployment to Iwakuni Japan in April of 1980. We were the 1980 Attack Squadron of the Year. Charlie Carr was loved by his squadron and we worked hard to be the best for him. He was just a Major back then and commanding a squadron. Everyone loved him. Many a story could be told about that deployment. It was a great time to be a Hawk. Looking back on my squadron experience now, I am so proud to be able to say I was a part of all that. I will always cherish the memories of this period of my life and the people I served with.
Posted by Joe Cruz on August 27,2011 | 03:01 PM
I just stumbled onto this great article. Of course it brought back fond memories of a great aircraft, but even more moving were the names in the article and in the comments. One couldn't find a better group of professionals, brothers, characters, buddies, henchmen, cronies, and true friends anywhere. I haven't seen any of you guys in close to 15 years, but I still feel I could sit down next to any one of you in a ready room chair and it would seem like we hadn't missed a day. What this country needs, second only to a functioning legislature, is an Intruder reunion.
Posted by James Karcher, CDR, USN (ret) on December 15,2011 | 09:05 AM
Great stories, but there's some truth to the statement that the older we get the better we were. As a former A-6 driver and veteran of the airwar in Vietnam, I can attest to the greatness of the aircraft and capabilities, although back then a full system bird was a rarity. And who ever commented about Sidewinders on an A-6 is fundamentally correct, but Sheets was the CAG and his aircraft was specially configured. RHIP. My best to Charlie and to all the guys who were in 224.
Posted by Chad Nelms on January 29,2012 | 09:31 AM
3000 of my favorite hours were spent in the right seat of the Intruder. I'd go back in a heart beat.
VA-42/VA-85/VX-5/VA-155
Mike "Snake" Novak
Posted by Mike Novak on April 7,2012 | 02:27 PM
Really enjoyed reading all the comments on Grumman A6s. I worked as an Avionics Tech helping to build A6s,EA6Bs,S2Fs and OV1Ds in 1962 -1965 at which time I got drafted into the U.S. Army Infantry and wound up in Vietnam in 1966-1967.
A6s,F4s and F100s gave us much support along with the Huey's gunships. Thanks to all of you who flew support for the ground pounders. Seeing any American Plane, Helo or whatever was always a welcome sight for the troops.
All the comments on A6s were great to read and again. Thanks to you all who flew them.
Posted by Paul Vollbehr on September 24,2012 | 03:34 PM
I was a Lt. and worked for Capt. Roger Sheets on the COMFAIRWESTPAC Staff at Cubi Pt. 1980-81 during the Iranian hostage crisis, he came by that nickname "blinky" honestly, because of his uncontrollable rapid blinking. I found out later about what a badass stick he was in the cockpit, all the stuff he had done as a fighter pilot and as a combat CAG in Vietnam, leading the mining of Haiphong etc. He didn't talk about it unless you asked him about it. I remember when I first reported that he was a dead ringer for Don Knots, but a hell of a leader. I witnessed him going toe to toe with future black shoe Admiral "Ace" Lyons, giving him hell, more than once. Not many had the balls to do that! Last I saw online, he was still alive and kicking, listed as a "Golden Eagle" by the ANA. He was a guy you wanted to have on your side in a fight!
Posted by Joe Beall on May 3,2013 | 09:31 PM