A7 CORSAIR documentary in HD (greek subs)

μαχητικα αεροσκαφη που εχουν υπηρετιση στην ελληνικη πολεμικη αεροπορια

[davidpatterson]

I flew this from the USS Midway (Viet Nam) is 1971. What a great aircraft: excellent bomber, carried a huge bomb load and was fun to fly!

[johnpatterson]

I was a USAF radio maintenance tech on these in the early 70's. Finally, we had an aircraft that was a maintenance man's dream. No longer did we have to be acrobats to get to our equipment. We just dropped a panel on the side of the fuselage and there is was. The high point for me was when they reactivated the 23rd TFW in Alexandria, La. The ceremony was attended by Gen. Chenault's widow and featured the fly in of a brand new A-7D painted with the shark teeth markings of Chenault's China fighter group from WWII.

[leonardc]

My father was a test pilot for the A7 program certifying the aircraft prior to delivery to the Navy. Great plane great company.

[munozcampos]

Another great episode of Wings. Back in the early 90's. 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, when we had real educational programs to watch about aviation and history. And talk about it with other students at school. And do research and learn. Now it's a joke. The middle schoolers and high school kids don't know their left from their right. If their phone or tablet told them otherwise. Miss my times.

[matthewgrissop]

I miss these days of awesome television when you actually could learn something

[chadvarnell]

Tulsa, Ok ANG had A-7's in the 80's. I used to see them up close all the time when I was in CAP. One time, one was in the hangar surrounded by caution tape in quarantine. The story was that a pilot lost control of it in training maneuvers and it flat spun, and tumbled violently. He wanted to eject, but couldn't get to the ejection handles. Somehow the plane settled enough to allow him to regain control. After an emergency landing, they said it had registered +/- 13 g! They couldn't believe it didn't break apart. They tore it down, and x-rays of a lot of the parts revealed tons of stress cracks throughout the airframe. It was decommissioned, and scrapped. It was amazing that it brought him home, and that he managed to survive the forces himself. This was all second hand, so I can't say the account, and figures were accurate. They were damn tough planes though, especially for their already advanced age at the time!

[jamessveinsson]

Man those bus a been some Memorable times Work in the flight deck during The Vietnam war.
Thank you everyone for your service.
You guys Bust have sub great stories.

[justachipnc]

I used to love watching the A7 shoot its gun at a target are ship towed on are Med cruses. They also dropped these blue practice bombs with a smoke charge in the middle. The A6, Tomcats and Phantoms did same.  CVA-62 75-79

[LanceWinslow]

This was a pretty impressive attack aircraft for its day, it could carry a whopping payload and it was fast, good range and tough - carrier tough. My dad ran an A-7 Squadron (Commanding Officer) after Vietnam War ended.

[jamesharper]

Worked A7D's as a crew chief 1978-81 23rd TFW AGS 76AMU Bflt. The USAF D models used the Allison TF41 engine. The last mods were referred to as "bullfin" engines. My unit was the last active duty unit to operate the A7 in the air force. 74-1747 was the last bird transfered to the guard.

[lastmanstanding]

I was a jet engine mechanic assigned to the 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing, 23rd Component Repair Squadron (in-shop), at England AFB, Alexandria, Louisiana, from 1976 to 1980. I still have (and use) a pair of safety wire pliers the shop gave me when I left.

[donnukem]

I worked on A7 A, B, and E from 1971 to 1975 while in Navy. The turbofan engine had a major flaw in hot section that was believed to have caused catastrophic engine failure, way to often. In 1974 nearly every A7 was grounded and the engines pulled and hot sections replaced. This did not solve underlying problem because in less than 12hrs of flight time the flaw returned. I think this might have been the cause of an Air Force A7 crash in Indianapolis that hit a hotel. There were at least two crashes in the Jacksonville area caused by engine failure, that I can recall clearly, while I stationed there.

[CaesarInVa]

I hated working on the flight deck at night when those things were around.  Under darkened ship conditions (i.e., night flight ops), you can't see very well and the A-7 had an intake vortex that would suck you up if you got to within about 20 feet of it while it was taxing.  The exhaust was just as bad.  When that thing taxied past you, you got well outside of the exhaust cone (it could knock you down at 75 feet away or more).  The A-7 was a very unforgiving plane to work around.

[lorenzomaximo]

I worked on the A7 B during the Vietnam war VA 155 as a plane captain Ordnance Handler and finally a jet mechanic

[chuckless]

My dad worked on the F8 and loved it. He has some interesting stories about it.

[andirucci]

I remember 1982-1983 an Air Wing of A7s from Jax, Fl had 3 total turban failures in about 3 weeks they grounded the aircraft, don't know how it was repaired but the squadrons went on cruise. The 3rd crash the engine started failing at 36, 000ft. Pilot didn't eject until about 3, 600ft while in the parachute he saw the turban freeze up made an abrupt turn. Crashed full of fuel on a cross country burned for 3 days. I liked the A7 it was 1st to have a Heads Up Display!!

[ibindare]

This was a pretty decent plane to work on. It could carry nearly anything that could be attached to an aircraft, including (but don't remember it being mentioned here) tactical nukes. 4 of the 6 wing pylons could carry either weapons or drop tanks, exchange one of the 4 tanks with a refuelling pod and the aircraft became a tanker. Multi-mode radar with terrain following/terrain avoidance modes allowed it to fly all-weather, day/night missions, such as nap of the earth close ground support. The laser ring gyros in its inertial nav system was incredibly accurate, and its tactical computer system integrated data from the nav system, radar, doppler radar, air speed and angle of attack sensors and even magnetic compass and infrared imaging system to allow the pilot to drop his weapons on target. The weapons computer was programmed with the flight characteristics of every weapon the aircraft could carry, which was another input to the tactical computer. The pilot was actually instructed to push and hold the "pickle" button a little early; the tactical computer actually provided the final release.
VA-46 CVA-66 82-85

[michaelashcraft]

An A-7 Driver surprised me at sea 1973. I was the Corpsman aboard USS Claude V ricketts DDG 5 in the Med. Sittin' under the aft gun turrets reading my Zane Gray novel, nice, quiet day when this jet came by on port site at deck level, and, scaired me out of ten years life, I jumped so high I hit my head on an overhang! Still love my fellow Sailors though. even dang "jet jockeys"! Doc Mike USN

[Job]

Worked on A-7E and TA-7C at VA-122 NAS Lemoore 1978 - 1980.  AD in Powerplants shop.

[adamcrookedsmile]

you gotta love how the narrator, when he talks about the F7U Cutlass, merely states that it suffered "high attrition and engine failures" and glosses over that over 20 pilots were killed in accidents involving the type.