Thanks for your service… I do remember those Corsairs returning with the canopy all scratched to hell with big parallel gashes on them. I also worked on those D704 buddy stores which• could be annoying as hell to work on.
I remember one of the pilots complaining bitterly as he stood there in his flight suit with his armpits and crotch blackened with sweat under the red lights, and his hair plastered to his head. He was saying something to the effect of “SOMEBODY hit that drogue before I got to it, and there was no way I was getting anything… That cage was going back and forth…”
He was holding his helmet in one hand, and tracing the figure 8 about 2 feet across with his other hand as he said this.
Yes, once the basket got out of shape & lost its aero properties, Katie bar the door. A-6 w/ centerline store pretty stable to tank...just loud as he** from the engines. Best was the old KA-3 Skywarrior; smooth, stable, easy...like taking milk from Momma.