THINGS UNDER WINGS, PART 4--US NAVY IN VIETNAM
As promised last month we’re going to move the discussion of Skyraider attack bomber weaponry forward a decade or so downstream from Korea into its better known involvement in Vietnam.
Skyraiders supplied to the VNAF as well as some limited Navy assets in the form of land based detachments of EA-1Fs had been in Vietnam prior to August of 1964. However, with the advent that month of the Johnson administration’s deceitfully manufactured “Tonkin Gulf Incident” things were about to change dramatically.
Foisted upon a despicably pusillanimous Congress and, via echo chamber media, onto a gullible US population as a dastardly act of “Caw-moo-nist Ah-gresshin on th’ damn hah seez” Lady Bird’s old man spun a pathetic pin prick non-event into a monstrous fable as the rationalization he needed for his coveted “legacy” as a kingdom builder to rival that of FDR. To do so he needed a good, manageable war and since the Japanese seemed disinclined to oblige by repeating their performance at Pearl Harbor he was forced to do the best he could with what little he had to hand.*
Wasting no time capitalizing upon his predecessor’s inept dithering and his own hocus-pocus he ordered “retaliation” which included USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) launching Skyraiders of VA-52 as part of “Operation Pierce Arrow” on August 5 in the first (openly) American air combat strikes of the Vietnam War. For the US Navy “It was the beginning of what was to become almost four years of intense action for A-1 units over Southeast Asia.”* *
For the model builder seeking to replicate a miniature representative of this milieu there are several good resources at our disposal both in the form of information and industry support as opposed to the great stone face directed by both toward the Korean War.
For our purposes here I am going to rely primarily on one particular resource, namely Appendix “C”, pp 90-91 of US Navy A-1 Skyraider Units of the Vietnam War (Osprey) by Richard Burgess and Rosario Rausa titled “A-1 Ordinance and External Stores.” Since both authors were naval aviators, and Rausa is a veteran of two combat tours in the A-1 during the conflict I think we’re safe in regarding their excellent data here as, for all intents and purposes, a primary source. It’s close enough for me anyway.
Rather than quote the entire section, I will break it down from a modeling standpoint so we nerds can properly husband our miniature resources.
As a primary compass heading we need to remember as the authors say “…US Navy A-1’s rarely boasted the wide range of exotic ordinance that USAF Skyraiders employed in combat because of shipboard storage and handling restrictions.”
Moreover, loading point weight limits and aircraft takeoff weight were also serious considerations when launching off the boat. This is why the photo record regularly shows combat loaded A-1’s launching with empty bomb racks while their land based USAF counterparts generally went out fully loaded for bear.
What this means is the world is definitely NOT our oyster when it comes to what and how many goodies we hang on our miniature Brown Shoe Spads. We need to exercise a skosh of discretion.
So, if we want to adhere to technical accuracy, where do we look? Let’s go through the options from a modeler’s standpoint.
Cannon. All Vietnam Era attack A-1’s shipped four M-3 20 mikes; nothing strange about that. One notable aspect I believe I notice from the photo record, however, is the Navy was a lot more apt to employ flash hiders on the muzzles than any of the other services. Indeed, Rausa mentions this specifically as being fairly common. It’s a nice detail to add to a model and one readily available in scale from companies like Master Model (see Reviews Section).
Bombs: Here there are a lot of options. Research will be required in selecting correct stores however, the two primary factors are, 1) time period and 2) intended mission. My own philosophy is when in doubt relying on the photo record is never a bad idea; it’s hard to be told you’re wrong when you’ve got pictures of the real thing. (…though, there are pizza pirates who will tell you so anyway…)
- In the early part of the conflict WWII/Korean War munitions still had their place aboard carriers, and they were used to exhaustion of the inventory. Thus, any of the scale representations of box finned dumb bombs from 250-2000 pounds could be appropriate for a loadout of that time frame.
- Later on these were replaced by M-117 slick bombs.
- These would soon be supplemented/augmented with the “M-80” series bombs: M-80 (250lb) M-81 (500lb), M-82 (750lb), M-83 (1000lb) and M-84 (2000lb). Moreover the M-80’s and M-81’s were often fitted with folding “snakeye” fins for low altitude work, and fuse extenders were not at all uncommon.
Rockets: Very heavily used by the Navy in Vietnam on a variety of mission loadings
- 5” high velocity aerial rockets (HVAR) from WWII and Korean War were still not uncommon on Vietnam era Navy A-1’s in the early days of the conflict. Like the old box finned dumb bombs, they were used to completion and replaced by more updated weapons
- A Naval service holdout from the late Korean War which did become a staple through Vietnam for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army was the 2.75” folding fin aerial rocket (FFAR). Carried and launched from both 7 and the more common 19 shot pods (LAU-60A) these are almost ubiquitous in the photo record for Vietnam Navy Skyraiders.
- As common as the FFAR’s for shipboard A-1s is another pod launched weapon, the 5” Zuni rocket. While the two shot LAU-33/35 launcher was common on aircraft like the F-8, and OV-10, the photo record seems almost unanimous in sole utilization of the AERO-7B LAU-10 four shot pod on A-1’s. However never say “never” and I cannot assert what I’ve just said is always an absolute certainty; I have only the photo record for my surmise. However, documentation of that sort is definitely a good place to go if we are replicating something in historically accurate miniature.
Napalm: Definitely utilized by Navy Skyraiders, but seemingly not in as great a volume as USAF and VNAF units. Indeed, as Rausa observes, these weapons are used “less frequently” than any of the aforementioned pyrotechnics.
- Use was made however of Mk-77 fire bombs in “Mod 0” (750lb), Mod-1 (550lb) configurations along with the Mk-79 (1000lb) weapon.
- Again, from the photo record it appears normally no more than two of these weapons were shipped aboard any one airframe at a time. I do have one picture showing MK-79’s on each stub wing rack and a single -77 Mod-1 under each wing, but it doesn’t seem to be very common. (Either that or Navy photographers were a little nervous about getting that close to so much nape; knowing more than I wish I did about the stuff, I can’t say as I blame them…)
All of these weapons are readily available in all the major scales both in kit form and resin/plastic/3D printed aftermarket sets. Some are listed in the Reviews Section, others are waiting to be evaluated. A little shopping around will definitely yield whatever you need.
Mission type wise, there are a lot of different options. The only specific guidance I have found in Rausa and others is the SAR/RESCAP loadout of a pair of Zuni pods and two to as many as six 7 or 19 shot FFAR pods. Strike loads seem to be heavily weighted to Zunis, bombs and occasionally napalm. CAS seems almost to be a mixture of the two.
Again, given I am no maven on the subject from first hand experience when building, I tend to go with a specific photograph, replicate what I see and try to check my imagination or “kool” factor inclinations at the door.
As for the plethora of other available Skyraider goodies, I would be very careful in my choices. Though while “always and never” are minefields I am loathe to violate, I have yet to find photos of Vietnam Navy A-1’s loaded with MER/TER racks, phalanxes of CBU dispensers, Willie Pete in baker's dozens or any of the other “goodies” USAF Sandys and Zorros routinely carried. If you have a picture of such, then go for it says I; but lacking that level of documentation the above information will definitely keep the modeler seeking historical and technical accuracy out of trouble.
Next time we’ll look at USAF weaponology. Until then, build long, and prosper.
FOOTNOTES:
* Yes, I really, really dislike LBJ; is it that obvious? I was in junior high in 1964 and like everyone else believed the hype; I mean, would my country ever lie to me? This particular ideal lies buried with a host of others in the mud of Quang Nam Province.
**Rausa, US Navy A-1 Skyraider Units of the Vietnam War, p12 (See Book Review)
