A-4 Skyhawk
Posted on 11/17/2008 8:22:06 AM PST by winoneforthegipper
"We were preparing to leave when the sirens sounded again," he said. "Two American F-4 Phantoms flew in. We had two missiles out of six left. The Vietnamese fired first. Their rocket missed, it fell into the jungle. One plane went round the hill, the other came over the bridge. We fired at this one."
Where did F-15 come from? I don’t think that plane was even around when McCain was shot down.
A-4 Skyhawk
F-4 Phantom
A-4, F-4, when you’re young and full of vodka they all look alike....
I just read this account of that day’s action.
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/McCain-Skyhawk.htm
Either that, or over the years his brain has been "Yeltsin'ed".
The one pilot, one engine, 2 gallons of vodka part.
I met a guy in Kazakhstan who bragged about being in Vietnam. It was at a birthday party, and he was pretty drunk. When his wife heard what he was saying, she ran up and dragged him away...
>As an aside, the Israelis flew the Skyhawk, too.<
And Argentina during the Falklands War. From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-4_Skyhawk
“Argentine Air Force Skyhawks sank HMS Coventry (D118) and HMS Antelope (F170) as well as producing heavy damage to several others: RFA Sir Galahad (1966) (which was subsequently scuttled as a war grave), HMS Glasgow (D88), HMS Argonaut (F56), HMS Broadsword (F88) and RFA Sir Tristram. Argentine Navy A-4Qs, flying from Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego naval airbase, also played a role in the bombing attacks against British ships, destroying HMS Ardent (F184).[18]”
And, from what I recall from reading about the Falklands War, had the Argentines known how to properly arm the bombs, the carnage would have been a lot worse...
I noticed. There must have been four posts by the time I wrote mine!
The F-15 first flew in 1972.
Bump!
"..John McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[33][34.."
Soviet officer who 'shot down McCain over Vietnam' speaks out
".."We were preparing to leave when the sirens sounded again," he said. "Two American F-4 Phantoms flew in. We had two missiles out of six left. The Vietnamese fired first. Their rocket missed, it fell into the jungle. One plane went round the hill, the other came over the bridge. We fired at this one.".."
We shot him down once before and we just did it again.
So the pilots were having a fight with their ordnance guys about setting the fuses shorter than the books allowed. The Argentine Skyhawk pilots were flying like maniacs and delivering bombs on target that were duds.
Not sure what their access to electric fuses or high drag kits were. Hitting a target as big as a ship from that altitude is more a matter of not getting shot rather than hitting the target.
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