Fun in Viet Nam - "Operation Sani-Flush"

"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=...:42 9,r:2,s:0

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=...:42 9,r:4,s:0

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...:42 9,r:0,s:0

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

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