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Scooters Forever (A-4 Skyhawk Tribute Thread)
- Thread starter ea6bflyr
- Start date
Pic taken out the back of an A.N.G. C-130H from the 181st Airlift Squadron, NAS Dallas, of an NAS Dallas OMD A-4M, late '80's-early '90's timeframe.
They look amazing slick like that.
Memories!
Pray tell, where did you see this event. Could you see any of the aircraft markings?
It's "old" all right, my logbook confirms that I flew my first A-4 flight 50 years ago this past 20 January!
It was a "brand-new" A4D-2 (A4B) BUNO 144877, 1.4 hrs, NFL - NFL. Hard to believe...
BzB
Pray tell, where did you see this event. Could you see any of the aircraft markings?
It's "old" all right, my logbook confirms that I flew my first A-4 flight 50 years ago this past 20 January!
It was a "brand-new" A4D-2 (A4B) BUNO 144877, 1.4 hrs, NFL - NFL. Hard to believe...BzB
Pray tell, where did you see this event. Could you see any of the aircraft markings?
It's "old" all right, my logbook confirms that I flew my first A-4 flight 50 years ago this past 20 January!
BzB
It was in Jax. I didn't see any kind of markings, but know they were playing red air. Wow, I knew they were old, but didn't realize how old they were. It actually looks like a really fun plane to fly.
Sqdn Mascot Cars
Have any of you AirWarriors ever had, seen or heard of "mascot cars"? Do they have them today? They were rife at NAS Lemoore in the '70s. I'll kick off this thread by describing mine & how it got started. I have a few funny stories concerning my "BugHawk", which I will post later if there is any interest.
From '72 to '74, I was the staff MaintO for LATWINGPAC Lemoore & as a former RAG IP, flew with VA-127 the A-4 RAG. I bought a '65 VW Bug for to/from work.
Early in my tour, I flew to Fallon for a couple of days to fly observer for 2 A-7 Squadron's COMPEX missions. While I was gone, unknown to me, my AMD Maint Chief & gang rolled my little VW (jimmied the lock I guess) into the hanger, painted it Skyhawk grey, installed 3 ft. of a scrapped A-4 fuel probe & 2 ft. of a scrapped A-4 tailhook (chromed). They then painted the modex 702, tail letters NJ & various warning labels plus a huge "stars & bars" decal on the roof. I had previously put on the CA blue/gold personalized license plates: A4 HAWK.
Upon return from Fallon, saw it in my parking spot & was shocked, but loved it right away, much to the relief of the Maint. Chief. We dubbed it "BugHawk"! The "O" Club at Lemoore graciously assigned about 15 primo parking spots for mascots, so parking was never a prob for happy hour or other events.
In the refueling pit photo, we hooked up for a sim. hot refuel (good thing the purple-shirt didn't open the valve!).
Tell us the stories of any you may have seen, I saw a photo once of a "Stoof with a Roof" Sqdn mascot with a mini-radome on top! Over?
BzB:icon_smil
Have any of you AirWarriors ever had, seen or heard of "mascot cars"? Do they have them today? They were rife at NAS Lemoore in the '70s. I'll kick off this thread by describing mine & how it got started. I have a few funny stories concerning my "BugHawk", which I will post later if there is any interest.
From '72 to '74, I was the staff MaintO for LATWINGPAC Lemoore & as a former RAG IP, flew with VA-127 the A-4 RAG. I bought a '65 VW Bug for to/from work.
Early in my tour, I flew to Fallon for a couple of days to fly observer for 2 A-7 Squadron's COMPEX missions. While I was gone, unknown to me, my AMD Maint Chief & gang rolled my little VW (jimmied the lock I guess) into the hanger, painted it Skyhawk grey, installed 3 ft. of a scrapped A-4 fuel probe & 2 ft. of a scrapped A-4 tailhook (chromed). They then painted the modex 702, tail letters NJ & various warning labels plus a huge "stars & bars" decal on the roof. I had previously put on the CA blue/gold personalized license plates: A4 HAWK.
Upon return from Fallon, saw it in my parking spot & was shocked, but loved it right away, much to the relief of the Maint. Chief. We dubbed it "BugHawk"! The "O" Club at Lemoore graciously assigned about 15 primo parking spots for mascots, so parking was never a prob for happy hour or other events.
In the refueling pit photo, we hooked up for a sim. hot refuel (good thing the purple-shirt didn't open the valve!).
Tell us the stories of any you may have seen, I saw a photo once of a "Stoof with a Roof" Sqdn mascot with a mini-radome on top! Over?
BzB:icon_smil
Attachments
It doesn't, (sigh) DIDN'T get any "funner". Probably the best all-around aircraft ever.
Have any of you AirWarriors ever had, seen or heard of "mascot cars"? Do they have them today? They were rife at NAS Lemoore in the '70s. I'll kick off this thread by describing mine & how it got started. I have a few funny stories concerning my "BugHawk", which I will post later if there is any interest.
From '72 to '74, I was the staff MaintO for LATWINGPAC Lemoore & as a former RAG IP, flew with VA-127 the A-4 RAG. I bought a '65 VW Bug for to/from work.
Early in my tour, I flew to Fallon for a couple of days to fly observer for 2 A-7 Squadron's COMPEX missions. While I was gone, unknown to me, my AMD Maint Chief & gang rolled my little VW (jimmied the lock I guess) into the hanger, painted it Skyhawk grey, installed 3 ft. of a scrapped A-4 fuel probe & 2 ft. of a scrapped A-4 tailhook (chromed). They then painted the modex 702, tail letters NJ & various warning labels plus a huge "stars & bars" decal on the roof. I had previously put on the CA blue/gold personalized license plates: A4 HAWK.
Upon return from Fallon, saw it in my parking spot & was shocked, but loved it right away, much to the relief of the Maint. Chief. We dubbed it "BugHawk"!
BzB:icon_smil
Yep, that's how it usually happened. Some unsuspecting guy would leave his squadron for a few days and come back to find his ride painted in squadron colors, complete with insignia. I always thought it pretty cool. It kinda showed how the members of the squadron felt about the the owner.
Steve
I only got one ride in a T, and it was a blast! I got punished 'big time', didn't blow my lunch until we landed though. My money was no good at the club that evening, the bartender said some young officer stopped by and said he'd settle my tab the next day.
You know Zip, that plane really was fun to maintain. I hated the starting probe (early models), that darned ladder, and the oil fill location. Oh yeah, I hated the aft 'hell hole' too!
Steve
It was an unbelievably fun to fly aircraft, especially the single-seaters! However it was the addition of badly needed spoilers on the later models that made it even more fun.... Or perhaps less scary in an x-wing landing.
Heinemann's Hotrod:It was and unbelievably fun to fly aircraft, especially the single-seaters! However it was the addition of badly needed spoilers on the later models that made it even more fun.... Or perhaps less scary in an x-wing landing.
.... it was like puttin' on a well tailored pair of pants that fit ... PERFECT !!! It became part of you ... you became part of it. It was the PERFECT marriage of man & machine in modern, jet age of Naval Aviation ... :icon_mi_6
Characteristics: responsive, reliable, forgiving, easy, simple, maintainable, and tough.
I hated the 'aerodynamic' aspect of the aerodynamic slats, however
... they came out -- sometimes -- when 'they' determined it was time .... and 'they' snapped the shit outta' my neck on one ACM foray when they 'popped' asymmetrically ... .... and when we had X-winds and a wetter-than-it-should-be runway .... we'd DROP THE HOOK. Just plan ahead if it's single runway & there's others airborne ...
image by A4sForever
It did literally fit like a glove. You didn't sit in an A-4, you actually wore it! You were a part of the aircraft and it became a part of you. [was there an echo in here?Heinemann's Hotrod:
.... it was like puttin' on a well tailored pair of pants that fit ... PERFECT !!! It became part of you ... you became part of it. It was the PERFECT marriage of man & machine in modern, jet age of Naval Aviation ... :icon_mi_6
Characteristics: responsive, reliable, forgiving, easy, simple, maintainable, and tough.
I hated the 'aerodynamic' aspect of the aerodynamic slats, however
.... and when we had X-winds and a wetter-than-it-should-be runway .... we'd DROP THE HOOK. Just plan ahead if it's single runway & there's others airborne ...
image by A4sForever
] And you didn't really "fly" it. The A4 and the pilot both flew together at some higher level ... pure and enjoyable, aeronautical man & machine utopia. It was magical. As a pilot, it was the only aircraft that 'thought' like I did, and we flew in enjoyable unison and great joy together as one, for over a thousand hours.
But I concur about the unpredictable slats. And without spoilers, the hook was used in x-winds and wet RWs; but I still had a thrill in a spoiler-less A-4C. [TINS Warning]
Landing at McGuire AFB with a strong and gusty headwind, fortunately right down the RW, went OK. But when exiting the RW and starting to turn 90 degrees to the wind for the taxiway, without spoilers, the wind picked up the left wing.
I continued slowly taxiing on only the nose and right main, with the left wing and left main gear, high in the air. I was so far on the ragged edge I figured that if I hit the brake, it would flip the A-4 over on its right side. Fortunately as I continued on my two-wheel arc – thankful for AFB's very wide taxiways - I eventually turned far enough downwind that the left wing and main came back to earth. As I stopped and regained my composure, an Air Force ground controller barely holding back his amusement asked, "Navy xyz, you having any problems out there?" Of course he had witnessed the whole episode. "Negative!!!" I said, and continued my taxi.
It was probably an ATAC bird. I have a pic somewhere on here from April-ish of one of them parked next to me on the line.