LCDR John McCain’s A-4E Skyhawk

[Chemteacher]

Great job on the scooter.

[plasticjunkie]

PlasticJunkie, that’s a great job on your scooter. Nice markings.

Even though I’m currently suffering from “jet fatigue”, I always love the look of the early jets, the A-4 included.

Thanks Aggie. Yea me too so I’m switching to armor for now.

[plasticjunkie]

ikar01

I saw some of the film of the accident. His aircraft was on the port side and there was a accident on the other side that sent 3 or 5" rockets screaming across to his side. He had to climb out on the refueling probe and drop off to avoid the fire.

Carriers would have accidents like this every so often. Two people from my high school were on the Enterprise when their accident happened. One stayed with the ship and the other one transferred into subs.

While I was on land at my base, my future brother in law was on the Constellation on Yankee Station. They had to do a double tour because their releif cdarrier caught fire.

Ive only heard of three carrier fires related to the Vietnam War: in chronological order they are USS Oriskany, USS Forrestal, and USS Enterprise, with Forrestal having the worst one. Enterprise had hers after the Forrestal Fire, during work ups off of Hawaii prior to entering the war zone, and it was also caused by a Zuni rocket misfire. Forrestal and Oriskany were already on the line in the Tonkin Gulf when their fires occurred.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/3-aircraft-carrier-fires-1960.html

Very nice Skyhawk build, BTW.

Thanks stik. Can’t go wrong with the old Monograms.

[plasticjunkie]

Hey thanks Chad and teacher. Glad you like how the Scooter came out.

[rangerj]

I’m a big fan of the Douglas AD-4 (sic) and that kit was and still is a great kit. You did a super job on the build. Before Monogram released that kit in the 1970s the only other “decent” kit was the old Lindberg kit of the A-4 prototype. One of the rockets went through the fuel tank on the left wing of the aircraft next to McCain’s A-4 and set the fuel on fire. McCain got out of his aircraft and helped the pilot get out of the burning aircraft. I was lucky enough to meet John McCain and got his autograph on a picture of him AND on a picture of the A-4 he was shot down in. The aircraft was assigned to another pilot and in the picture it was turning in with another A-4 on a bombing run over North Viet Nam. McCain was not flying it at that time. He did not know this picture exsisted and asked for a copy of it. He signed it. We had a great conversation and I later got a wonderful letter from him. Your A-4 is a nice tribute to John McCain, Well Done.

[plasticjunkie]

Thanks ranger. That is a really cool story and you are lucky you got to talk to him. I have respect for the man and what he endured while at the “Hilton”.

[Tanker-Builder]

Hi:

Hey I started my 1/72 version one. I have always said if you’ve seen one Scooter you have seen them all. WRONG. Nice job man!

[plasticjunkie]

Thanks TB, glad you like how the Scooter came out.

[lawdog114]

"They’ve gone to plaid!'. I’ve never seen plaid striping before, very cool!. Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.

[stikpusher]

"They’ve gone to plaid!'. I’ve never seen plaid striping before, very cool!. Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, VA-46 continued the tartan stripes onto their A-7s…

and once they went to low vis schemes they kept it on their flight helmets

[plasticjunkie]

"They’ve gone to plaid!'. I’ve never seen plaid striping before, very cool!. Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks LD. Yea me too, this is the first time I have seen plaid used as such but it looks rather cool.

[plasticjunkie]

Thanks for the added info stik, good to know. [Y]

[Bish]

Thats a greta looking build PJ. I do like the look of the A-4, nice looking aircraft.

[plasticjunkie]

Thanks Bish.

[Hoss_WA]

Nice! Sharp build. Congrats.

BTW, I have a buddy who served on the Forrestal (nickname Forestfire). What a story.

[plasticjunkie]

Thanks Hoss.