On Sep 20, 8:23*am, Lil Abner wrote:
On 9/20/2010 10:55 AM, a425couple wrote:



"HeyBub" wrote in message ...
(from an e-mail)
Subject: Fw: Do you remember Viet Nam?

What the Hell was on 572's right wing ?

THE 'SPIRIT' OF THE AVIATOR !
Here's a great one for all history buffs and aviation fans!
What the hell was on 572's right wing?'
The result of MacNamara's ordnance shortage in 'Nam..... .we 'gave
them everything we had..... EVERYTHING!'

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ilor.com/midwa....

A true story from VA-25. Just as this AD was being shot off, we got a
1MC message from the bridge, 'What the hell was on 572's right wing?'

For those too young to remember, during the Vietnam conflict, carriers
were so woefully short of ordinance that missions were often launched
with only a half load just to keep the sortie rate up so that the
REMF'S in DC would not send out blistering messages about failure to
support the war effort, etc.

Given that the loss rate approached, and sometime exceeded, one
aircraft a day, all will understand that there was a degree of
reticence to launch with less than a full load -- if I must dance with
the elephant at least let's make it worth while. Nevertheless, the
indomitable spirit of the carrier aviators, and their squadron-mates,
prevailed in some rather perverse way.

I have every hope that today's successors to the mantel left at the
Cubi 'O' Club bar persevere as well. Kick the tires, light the fires,
bolt for the blue and brief on guard -- last one up is lead. Back in
'Nam', if you weren't on USS MIDWAY in Oct 1965, I thought you'd get a
kick out of one squadron's ingenuity. Yes, this really happened. Once
again history is stranger then fiction, and a lot funnier:

In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA-25
'Fist of the Fleet', flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 'Paper Tiger II'
from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to
the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of
ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of the type... it was a
toilet!

The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson,
Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1
Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20,
1965. Clint Johnson was also a classmate and Company-mate of mine at
the Naval Academy.

572 was flown by CDR C. W. 'Bill' Stoddard. His wingman in 577 was
LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the
only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).

The flight was a Dixie Station strike (off South Vietnam) going to the
Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was
reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with 'and one code name
Sani-flush'.

The FAC couldn't believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in
a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop.
When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his
airplane.
It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all
the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be
thrown overboard.

One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a
rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. The squadron flight deck checkers
maintained a position to block the view of the Captain and Air Boss
while the aircraft was taxiing onto the catapult. Just as it was being
shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge,

'What the hell was on 572's right wing?'

More pics:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ehicles.com/im....

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...7.webshots.com....

Video "Operation Sani-Flush"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwfWhYFt1zM

So, what was the answer that was given to the bridge?

Somewhere in Nam that device is still doing duty as a planter or maybe
it was put to use and the only one in the countryside. Their toilets,
holes, in the ground or cement, or the beach were the state of the art.-

That squadron must of had some crazy pilots. One of them shot the
first Mig down of the war.

The History Channel had a good recreation the air battle between an
old prop aircraft and a Mig-19.