“SPADS foreVer” - U.S. Navy

One other Skyraider version, the EA-1E airborne early
warning aircraft equipped with a large search radar,
supported operations from antisubmarine carriers until it
was finally replaced by E-1B Tracers in 1965.
As the war progressed through 1966 and 1967, the Navy’s
Skyraider pilots took on naval gunfire spotting as another
role, and they also became the scourge of water-borne
logistics craft (WBLCs, or “wiblicks”). As with their Air
Force brethren, however, RESCAP absorbed more of their
attention and gave them a gratifying role as they covered
downed aircrews and protected the helicopters and HU-
16 Albatross amphibians that plucked the air crews from
harm’s way. As the surviving Spad squadrons — VA-25,
VA-52, VA-115, VA-145, VA-152, VA-165, VA-176, and
VA-215 — rotated through their periods on the line, they
became experts in RESCAP and seemed fearless in their
willingness to brave the surface-to-air missiles and flak to
pull their fellow air crews to safety.
In almost four years of operations, 10 attack squadrons
equipped with A-1H/Js made a total of 25 combat
deployments on 10 aircraft carriers to the Vietnam War. A
total of 65 Navy attack Spads were lost, 48 of them in to
enemy action. Also, one EA-1E and three EA-1Fs were
lost in mishaps, while one EA-1F was shot down. A total
of 28 pilots, one observer, and two enlisted operators were
lost to enemy action, while nine pilots were lost in mishaps.
Three Spad pilots became prisoners of war; one, Lt. j.g.
Dieter Dengler of VA-145, escaped captivity in Laos and
was rescued. His celebrated escape is told in several books
(see p. 34), a documentary film, and a major motion picture.
In 1966, USS Intrepid (CVS 11) was loaded with an
“all-attack” air wing, CVW-10, with four VA squadrons
assigned—including, for the only time in the Vietnam War,
two full squadrons of Skyraiders on one carrier, VA-165 and
VA-176. This deployment was distinguished by a dogfight
on 9 October 1966 between four VA-176 Spads and four
MiG-17s during a rescue mission. Lt. j.g. Tom Patton shot
down one of the MiGs and Lt. Peter Russell and Lt. j.g.
Jim Wiley damaged two others and were credited with
probable kills.
VA-115, flying from Hancock in 1967, suffered the loss of
four A-1s on 17 March, the Navy’s highest single-day loss
of A-1s in the war. Two were shot down as they attacked a
barge on the Sou Giang River, but both pilots were rescued.
Later that night two more Spads collided in mid-air, with
one pilot killed.
The VA-25 Fists, deployed on USS Coral Sea (CVA 43),
was the last attack squadron to take the A-1H/J Skyraider
into combat. The Fists suffered the last combat loss of
a Navy Spad when Lt. j.g. Joseph Dunn, on a ferry flight
to Coral Sea, was intercepted near Hainan by two Chinese
MiG-17s and shot down. The squadron’s last missions were
flown in close air support for U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh in
South Vietnam. Lt. j.g. Ted Hill flew the last mission on
20 February 1968. Hill also flew VA-25’s last Spad to the
Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola following a 10 April
1968 retirement ceremony at NAS Lemoore, Calif. It fell
to VA-176 to be the Navy’s last Skyraider attack squadron.
The Thunderbolts flew away their last two A-1s following a
ceremony at NAS Jacksonville on 25 April 1968. Most of
the Navy’s attack Skyraiders were refurbished and sent to
U.S. Air Force and VNAF units in Southeast Asia.
Lt. j.g. Tom Patton (left) and Lt. Pete Russell of VA-176 recount their MiGkilling
mission of 9 October 1966 over North Vietnam. A year before,
Spads were among the first aircraft to shoot down a MiG in the war.
The retirement of the attack Spads was not the end of the war
for Navy Skyraiders. The last EA-1Fs of VAW-13 finished
a war deployment aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63) and
VAQ-33 made two more war deployments to the Tonkin
Gulf—aboard Ticonderoga and Intrepid—the last returning
home in February 1969. VAQ-33’s Electric Spads made one
last deployment to the Mediterranean, aboard USS John F.
Kennedy (CVA 67), returning home on 20 December 1969.
A handful of Skyraiders survived in test roles until the last
was retired on 7 July 1971.
Lt. Cmdr. Rick Burgess is the managing editor of Seapower
magazine and is a former editor of Naval Aviation News. He is the
co-author of U.S. Navy A-1 Skyraider Units of the Vietnam War
with another former Naval Aviation News editor, retired Capt.
Rosario Rausa, a former Skyraider pilot.
Summer 2011
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