K 38072 "Firebird" an A-1 H/J taken 1 Apr 70. The last American A-1 Squadron to fly the Skyraider in combat in November of 1972 as the 1st Special Operations Squadron at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. It also operated out of Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GljEu-aWoAE9IiL.jpg
Jim Copeland and Mike Worthington of the HA(L)-3 Seawolves showing off their expended brass
Oh boy do these bring back many memories!
Pleiku was the furthest SW we got. If DaNang or Phu Bai was "occupied", our CAS(Close Air Support) came out of Pleiku!
Hawkeye(Iowa)One Zero-Actual 1967-1969
K 38072 "Firebird" an A-1 H/J taken 1 Apr 70. The last American A-1 Squadron to fly the Skyraider in combat in November of 1972 as the 1st Special Operations Squadron at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. It also operated out of Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GljEu-aWoAE9IiL.jpg
Jim Copeland and Mike Worthington of the HA(L)-3 Seawolves showing off their expended brass
One rarely hears the word "chain gun". It sure is displayed here!
Dan
My flight review instructor was a Sandy pilot in Spads. Definitely, the guy you would want in that job. Steely MFer. Spad carried more oil than a Cessna carries fuel and he'd lost most of it several times when jugs were shot off. He said the best thing about the able dog was the fuselage crew compartment - they'd hop nurses from da nang to remote base parties.
BIll, would that be in the CO Big Blue Wilderness? '83, I and group of dear friends from Jesuit Retreat House in Parma, OH climbed the 14k'er Mt. Uncompahgre, a 10yd section of which was such that if you slipped on the (then) shale surface and the 60* slope, your next stop was a long way below.
We had a tanker ride scheduled this morning but the tanker dropped out, maybe another day................this is one of Boydo's captures from the last trip.............
The math on that shoot was $42,500/hr. for each F35 and roughly $27,000/hr for the tanker. Considering what DOGE has discovered, probably a good use of gov't funds.........................
That's really the shot I'm hoping for in a few months Jim, boy that would be nice.
Unless you're in one all the time it's hard to get that to happen when you want it to.
Good Luck Bill! We were supposed yo have six 35's but one dropped out, software problems. Jeremy has so much experience with the KC135 that he just put on a headset and told them where to be. The 457th really likes our work so they are all in on getting us what we ask for.
Jan-Arie wrote:
A Cold War relic, Polish Air Force Su22 Fitter departing RAF Fairford in 2023.
This type is getting phased out in the coming months.
There is something about these older aircraft that just speaks to me a whole lot more in terms of the history they represent that I don't see in the latest stealth aircraft. This goes up to the F-15. Having watched Starfighters and Phantoms do low level supersonic runs out of Rammstein back in the 70s as a kid visiting relatives and thinking there was nothing cooler, there is a whole different level of fascination.
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