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Replacing the A-4 Skyhawk
Conceived to replace the A-4 Skyhawk, the A-7A Corsair II first took to the air in September 1965, and exactly a year later the first operational squadrons began receiving the type for the training of pilots that would take the airplane into frontline service. By that time, naval aviation was heavily engaged in the air war over Vietnam, meaning that the first tactical squadron equipped with the Corsair II, Attack Squadron (VA) 147, made its first cruise under combat conditions, flying their first missions over North Vietnam in December 1967. By that time, its successor, the A-7B was already in production, its first flight occurring in February 1968. All told, seven production versions of the aircraft operated with the Navy, including the two-seat TA-7C and the EA-7L for electronic countermeasures work. Another version, the A-7D, flew operationally with the US Air Force.
The final version of the Corsair II was the A-7E, which first flew in November 1968, and featured a 14,250 lb. static thrust Allison TF41-A-2 engine, improved avionics and hydraulic systems, and a multi-barrel M61 cannon. The Vulcan featured a highly reliable six-barrel arrangement similar to the Gatling gun of the 19th century and replaced the original two troublesome 20 mm Colt Mk 12 cannon. The cannon’s ammunition count was also increased from just over 650 rounds total to 1000 rounds.
However as explained by Norman Birzer and Peter Mersky in their book U.S. Navy A-7 Corsair II Units of the Vietnam War, to many Navy Corsair II drivers, the Vulcan gun was a neat toy, but as it turned out, they did not use it a lot in combat mainly because there were not enough appropriate targets.
The pilot who loved to shoot the A-7 Corsair’s Gun
Even FACs were somewhat reluctant to let eager A-7 aviators make strafing runs if the situation did not warrant it. By contrast USAF Capt. Ralph Wetterhahn (who as a first lieutenant shot down a MiG-21 during Operation Bolo and who later became a successful author) that served an exchange tour with VA-146 “Blue Diamonds” in 1970 loved to shoot the A-7E’s cannon, which did not endear him to his groundcrew.
During an off-duty foray into a bar in the fabled serviceman’s delight known as Olongapo City, in the Philippines, Wetterhahn was accosted by a plane captain (the enlisted man in charge of a specific aircraft in the squadron). “We all got merrily inebriated, and one white hat laid into me, calling me ‘Captain Messerschmitt.’ I thought it had to do with my German name. ‘Not exactly,’ he corrected, maintaining that it was actually my nickname among the ‘mechs’ because whenever I flew, I brought the aeroplane back filthy from shooting the gun. I usually did fire the M61, particularly at night. On one occasion, maintenance wanted the ammo can emptied for some reason, and boy did I accommodate. All 1000 rounds… “zzziiip!’ The cordite would stick to the belly, and being corrosive, it had to be cleaned off before salt spray got to it.
‘Captain Messerschmitt’
“I had figured out a way to drop bombs, then open up with the Gatling gun during pullout – a tactic designed to keep AAA heads low while I cleared the area. Truth be known, I just loved to shoot the gun. ‘The AAA gunners can see your muzzle blast at night an hose you’, another aviator told me. ‘Heck, they see the whole aeroplane the whole time during the day and miss,’ I retorted, “so because they see a two-second burst at night, they’ll suddenly get more accurate?’
“But that wasn’t the plane captain’s point. He and his fellow PCs had to clean the cordite off the A-7. ‘It’s a real pain, Captain Messerschmitt!’ ‘Fine,’ I told him. ‘Next time I fly, I’ll clean the damn thing myself!’
“Two weeks later, back on the line, I caught a night mission with six Mk 83s and a full load of 20 ‘mike-mike.’ Needless to say, the aeroplane came back with a black belly. After the A-7 was chained down, I noticed the PC looking underneath, a look of disgust on his face. ‘Don’t touch it,’ I said. ‘Get what you need to clean it at dawn and wait for me.’
“I went to debrief and hit the sack for about two hours, then groggily stumbled up to the flight deck. There must have been 200 sailors gathered around that A-7 when I showed up. I grabbed the gunk can and a pile of rags, slid under the fuselage and started applying the cleaning solvent. Cameras flashed like a 57 mm gun battery in the heat.
US Navy A-7 Corsair II pilots did not fire the gun
“I was halfway to the tail, and fully appreciative of the work involved, when the plane captain slid next to me and took the rag. ‘Never thought I’d ever see an officer do this. I’ll take over – and another thing. Shoot the gun any time.”
Commenting on this episode, Wetterhahn concluded observing that his Navy compatriots did not use the gun as much as he did.
“Mostly, when we had mission in South Vietnam, we used it. In Laos, generally the bombs did the work, so strafing was required. Also, you had to get pretty close to be effective, putting yourself in the heart of the AAA envelope. I strafed high, the rounds hitting the ground in front of the area where I was pulling out.”
U.S. Navy A-7 Corsair II Units of the Vietnam War is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo credit: skyhawkpc (flickr) via hiveminer.com, screenshot from YouTube video and Lt. Graves / U.S. Navy
