Can someone help me identify this A-7?

[das]

Hello, I came across a photograph that someone else found in Peterborough, UK, of unknown origin:


(Click for full size view)

I'm trying to discover more information, and to confirm whether this was piloted by someone I knew, the late CAPT John "Swede" Peterson. More information that may be of use in correlation is in this thread. (It says "CDR John Peterson", and I'm assuming this has a good chance of being him, but I'm just looking for a little more info!)

Can anyone assist? Thanks!

 

[HeyJoe]

Hello, I came across a photograph that someone else found in Peterborough, UK, of unknown origin:

View attachment 11234
(Click for full size view)

I'm trying to discover more information, and to confirm whether this was piloted by someone I knew, the late CAPT John "Swede" Peterson. More information that may be of use in correlation is in this thread. (It says "CDR John Peterson", and I'm assuming this has a good chance of being him, but I'm just looking for a little more info!)

Can anyone assist? Thanks!

I can tell you it is a VA-46 A-7E when they were part of CVW-1 aboard USS America. We did several port calls in Portsmouth, England from 1982 to 1985 and markings seem analogous to that timefame. Here's a link to the cruisebook page with his photo.

 

[das]

Thanks, heyjoe! That's very helpful!

 

[HeyJoe]

Thanks, heyjoe! That's very helpful!

My pleasure. It was an easy do. Their Ready Room and that of VA-72 was adjacent to ours (VF-102) and we were close to both squadrons (they gave us gas!) and we worked with them quite a bit.

 

[Schnugg]

I like the LAU-7 rail on the fuselage. Shoot a winder on boresight and snuff your motor.

 

[HeyJoe]

I like the LAU-7 rail on the fuselage. Shoot a winder on boresight and snuff your motor.

Or leave out an item on your landing checklist and it might keep going as everything else stops abruptly. This happened with our America A-7s as well due to switchology not being in right configuration for landing.

 

[Schnugg]

The infamous CIA PSU failure.

 

[zipmartin]

Swede was an instructor in VA-174 when I went through as a student in '77-'78. He was a great guy, well-liked and respected by students and other instructors alike. He was one of the two instructors that took my class on its weps det to Yuma in January '78. Swede is the second from the left in this pic.