Ranger, any idea where there may be more photos of this contraption? I had two photos in the past, but I’m beginning to think that they were in a book which is now long gone. One was the same photo as the images above, the other was more from the front and showed the other side of the… ‘weapon’.
Ever since that last thread my interest in this thing has kinda rekindled and I’ve been looking for those pics like mad, but they’re nowhere to be found in the house. And when the Wolf can’t find it on the net, he’s either turned real stupid or it ain’t there! [;)]
Anyhoo, here’s the man himself:
As a matter of interest, this fella was lead in a flight of four which was bounced by two MiG-17’s on June 20th, 1965. In the resulting combat one MiG was downed. The other VA-25 pilots involved were Jim Lynne #2, Clint Johnson #3 and Charlie Hartman #4.
The cruise book has two pictures that are very similar to the ones posted above. I’ll check with my friend and see if he has any, or knows someone who does. The way he tells the story, the brass was not real happy with the “unusual ordinance”.
They let it go because of the boost it gave to the crews morale, but some officers got their buts chewed real good. The pictures were “supressed”, but evidently not all of them. I am sure that there were probably hundreds of pictures taken of that aircraft on that day, but there are only a couple I have ever seen published, so the supression story is most likely true.
I’ll see what I can find out through my friend. Keep in mind that was almost 40 years ago! Lets see, that makes me----, never mind. rangerj
That’s just too funny! Hehehe… Must be one of the few times that biological weapons were employed from an Aircraft Carrier… [:)] It adds a new twist to “Bombs Away”. I wonder if he was reading a magazine when he droped it??? [:p]
Whatever you can find out would be groovy. I know what that memory thing is all about, only it works both ways sometimes, as you most likely know. I can recall stuff from ten years ago no prob, but ask me about yesterday… [%-)]
Great photo! Looks like he’s about to “head” off with a “bog” standard weapon load there. He needs to be careful not to "loo"se it en route though. Wonder if u’d call that sending the Viet Cong a “Dear John”?? [:D] [(-D] [banghead]
