SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 1, posted (6 years 7 months 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 16399 times:
From my own branch:
The old DogBird. Loved flying it. I would give anything to get to fire some 2.75" SSFFARs off those wings again! I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
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From the Air Force:
The AC-47. Spooky. Take my word for it, there is one up there at the top of those tracer trails. It was, as we said at the time, "a pee-bringer" The sound was wonderful!
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From the Navy:
In case you just fell off the turnip truck, that is an F-8 Crusader, not a SLUF.
Now I have to confess, I never saw an F-8 in combat. I just love the airplane. The only Navy aircraft I ever got to see were the Huey "Seawolf" gunships based at Dong Tam. Hey, one Huey is pretty much like another but the Crusader was like nothing before or since.
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From the United States Marine Corps:
That, gentlemen, is an OV-10 Bronco. There are some weapon systems that just look the part: The Thompson submachinegun, the BAR and the OV-10 to name but three.
Honorable mention to (Army) Hueys, Air Force Skyraiders (all bailed from the Navy ) and Navy F-4s.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
AirSpare From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 589 posts, RR: 5 Reply 3, posted (6 years 7 months 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 16368 times:
I can't sy I have a favorite aircraft, but the two missions-
The Wild Weasels and the Recces (RF-4c).
Going through tech school and watching film from BDA missions from the Recces, damn, those guys had some guts. I don't think the the Wild Weasel pilots could not have even been human to take that job.
Gotta love the Thud! There was a thread a while back where many thought the Lightning II should have been named the Thunderchief II.
EBJ1248650 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1932 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (6 years 7 months 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 16343 times:
Quoting PJFlysFast (Thread starter): In light of the recent topic "Favorite WW2 Aircraft" I wanted to know what your favorite Veitnam War aircraft was?
For me it's the F-105 Thunderchief. A close second is the early F-4 Phantom II's. I'm not real wild about the long nose F-4E, though the RF-4 looks pretty decent to me.
I also like the A-1 Skyraider and the A-4 Skyhawk.
Confuscius From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 3634 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (6 years 7 months 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 16331 times:
PJFlysFast From United States of America, joined May 2006, 463 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (6 years 7 months 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 16304 times:
SlamClick were you in Vietnam? If so what did you do?
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 10, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 16252 times:
I debated listing that one but I really don't think of it as a combat aircraft. I never saw one there - only around Pensacola. Speaking of which: One day in instrument training I was headed down that way "under the hood" when my IP yanked the hood off, yelling "Jeeeezus! Look at this!" An A-5, Viggie went over our head about a hundred feet - UPSIDE DOWN. The pilot was looking at us and casually waving a gloved hand. Damn that was cool. Nothing I'll ever do will be half so cool. The Viggie is just about perfect, so beautiful.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 16243 times:
The Vietnam era had so many cool planes and helos, and our carriers had such a diverse air group on them then (now going almost all F-18, yuck). While all the Century series fighters are cool the F-4 Phantom has always been a favorite of mine. Just a mean looking bad ass machine. I love the aerodynamic beauty of the F-104 and Vigilante and the Delta Dart and Dagger.. F-106/F-102 have always held a special place as we didn't do a lot of deltas in operation (XB-70 and the XF2Y, XV-15 i.e.).
So fixed wing the F-4, for helos the ubiquitious Huey which my father flew in the war and has always been my favorite helo period.
2H4 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 8950 posts, RR: 62 Reply 12, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 16253 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW HEAD DATABASE EDITOR
My pick.....the Helio U-5 Twin Courier:
I'd give anything to see it's performance numbers and read it's operating manual....surely the numbers are impressive, but my favorite thing about it is the secrecy and intrigue surrounding it. Apparently, only two were built, and they eventually went to India. From there, nobody seems to know what happened to them.
Based on what I've read about Air America, and their...ahem..."less than official" aircraft manufacturing practices, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they had something to do with the Twin Couriers.
Ghostbase From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2004, 354 posts, RR: 3 Reply 13, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 16193 times:
Right from the start of the conflict my USAF choice would be the recon RF-101C Voodoo flown by the 'Cotton Pickers' and the 'Polka Dots'. A very large fast aircraft with stubby wings, acknowledged as difficult to handle, often flying on their own over enemy territory.
For the USN it would be the A-3 Skywarrior, specifically the RA-3B which was flown by VAP-61 as well as the EA-3B which provided SAM threat warning as well as ELINT duties. The Skywarrior's role in the conflict seems largely ignored which is sad as many ended up at the bottom of the Gulf of Tonkin and in fact at least one was shot down by a MiG.
For the USMC it would be the ancient 'DRUT' - the EF-10B Skynight - which accompanied the first 'Iron Hand' anti-SAM attacks in 1965. The Skynight had achieved fame as the first jet to shoot down another jet at night during the Korean War 13 years earlier!
For the Army it would have to be the OH-6A 'Loach', it really must have taken guts to have skittered around the sky in that tiny little tadpole shaped helo.
AirSpare From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 589 posts, RR: 5 Reply 15, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 16174 times:
I am surprised that I didn't mention the "other" Recce, the SR-71 flew one hell of a lot of missions out of the Det at Kadena.
But if your not getting muddy, or a few kills, there's not much glory.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 16, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 16177 times:
And for civil aircraft, the Vietnam war was interesting too. Air America had Helio Couriers, Pilatus turbo-Porters, twin Beeches, Volpar twin Beeches and even DC-3 and Caribou. They also had Bell 204s, the B-model Huey. Air Vietnam (known affectionately as Air Nuoc Ma'am) had DC-3s, C-46, someone even had a Boeing 307 parked at Tan Son Nhut.
JakeOrion From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1247 posts, RR: 2 Reply 18, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 16146 times:
I loved all the fixed wing aircraft of Vietnam, but overall, I have to say the Bell AH-1 takes the cake for my most favorite Vietnam era aircraft.
Mandala499 From Indonesia, joined Aug 2001, 6180 posts, RR: 74 Reply 19, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 16146 times:
Fav Vietnam Aircraft????
USAF: A-1 Skyraiders... the last effective Radial Piston Mud-Burner! Low-Slow-Death
US Army: Hueys... No doubt... Grunt Mover... "Aunt Agony"... you name it...
USMC: OV10s... Undisputable! Looks the part, does its magic!
USN: A-4 Scooters (ehem... Skyhawks)... Surprised no one mentioned it. COIN, Fast Observer, Mud Moving, Anti-Armour, you name it... Dump the load and see the Mig pilots sweat trying to get a bullet on one of these! If this one's disqualified, I'd go for the A5s
South Vietnam: F-5As...
NorthVietnam??? Well, the Mig19s... Silly plane that flew well
Btw, who operated the AH-1 Cobras then? US Army or USMC?
Other specialty notes: A-5 Vigilantees = first combat aircraft with active Flight Control System ?
Mandala499
When losing situational awareness, pray Cumulus Granitus isn't nearby !
Dlednicer From United States of America, joined May 2005, 506 posts, RR: 6 Reply 20, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 16134 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
Quoting SlamClick (Reply 16): Air America had a number of Dornier DO-28 like this:
I was a little surprised when researching the comments for this aircraft that it had a service history with Air America:
To quote the remark: A Dornier 28A, owned by American Pacific Air, flying out of Maui. Soon after this picture was taken it was sold to someone on the mainland. This aircraft, in its younger days, was owned by Air America and used in South Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
On a related note, I'll be in Vietnam again in December. This time, I am going to hit the Air Force museum in Hanoi when its open. Last year it was a Monday, plus it was closed for renovations - it reopened in March. Last year, I also saw the B-52 Victory Museum and the Air Defence Museum, plus B-52 Lake. Any other recommendations in Hanoi or elsewhere?
JakeOrion From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1247 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 16127 times:
Quoting Mandala499 (Reply 19): Btw, who operated the AH-1 Cobras then? US Army or USMC?
It started for the US Army, but the USMC found the aircraft so useful for their operations they adopted the a/c and (obviously) continues to fly for them today.
JakeOrion From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1247 posts, RR: 2 Reply 23, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 16120 times:
Quoting Mandala499 (Reply 22): Oops... I didn't know that BOTH the Army and Marines operated the AH1 in Vietnam...
Yes, but the USMC didn't get their models until the 70s, when the war was starting to come to a close. So you could say that the Army used them for the majority of the war.
But your welcome.
*EDIT*
Oh, there was this one story I heard while watching the Military channel.
A Mcdonnell Douglas MD 500 helicopter would be partnered with a AH-1 Cobra. The purpose of the 500 was to go into a supposedly infested Vietcong area, drop some bombs, gernades, or whatever else to flush out the Vietcong into attacking the 500. The 500 would zoom outta there and hand over the fight to the Cobra.
One Cobra pilot said, "Its unfair. Its basically they (MD 500 crew) walks up to the devil, kicks him in the balls, take off running, and we have to fight him!"
I was ROFL on that one.
[Edited 2006-10-25 19:07:36]
Every problem has a simple solution; finding the simple solution is the difficult problem.
Hemispheres From United States of America, joined May 2004, 85 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (6 years 7 months 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 16086 times:
For me it's the F-100. The Hun is just beautiful. Especially in the Southeast Asia camo.
"I have to put in my two cents, but I only get a penny for my thoughts. - Someone is making money"
25 SlamClick: Well, there is one for sale at my nearest airport. Fully flyable and no doubt comes with a checkout by none other than Skip Holm. It won't be cheap b
27 Exarmywarrant: A little off the subject, but we had a similar situation when we would go in to extract Special Forces recon teams. Just before we picked them up, th
28 KC135TopBoom: All of those, and others were great Vietnam War aircraft, along with the Mig-19s and (early) -21s. But the best airplane in the Vietnam War is: USAF/
29 RAPCON: Favorite Vietnam War A/C: AC-47 SPOOKY!!!
30 PJFlysFast: I sure wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of spooky!
31 SlamClick: I have seen tracers going back UP at them! Not for very long, mind you, but I have seen VC shoot back at them. I was reminded of a garter snake that
32 2H4: Wow, I've never seen such aggression from a garter snake. I would have enjoyed witnessing your evasive maneuvers... 2H4
33 PJFlysFast: Thanks SlamClick for serveing our country! I appreciate it. Were you a FO?
34 SlamClick: FO? Not sure, that has meant several things during my working life. First Officer? Not in Vietnam. "pilot" or "aircraft commander" F*** Off? Absolute
35 Drewfly: SlamClick, what was your primary aircraft over there? I didn't know that O-1s did ELINT.
36 Keesje: The sixties produced an enormous numbert of great aircraft in all categories. Not to forget we are talking war here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airc
37 KC135TopBoom: Yeah, it was something like 6500.
38 Dougloid: And that, my friends, is why you should look verrrrrrrry verrrrrrrrrrry carefully at spare helicopter parts where you do not personally know the prev
39 MCIGuy: That'd be a tossup between the Thud and Double Ugly (F-4), particularly the E model. I'll always have a special place for the BUFF, but it's not just
40 SlamClick: More personal info than I normally will post in open forum. I generally don't specify the outfits I've worked for as this leaves me feeling more free
41 Greasespot: possibly a toss up for the F-4 as well. GS
42 Arluna: For me it's gotta be the good old CH47A Chinook. I flew with a recovery unit called Pipesmoke and we pulled lots of downed A/C out and brought them ba
43 Mohavewolfpup: Parked here in las vegas at the north las vegas airport (still might be here) is a Russian Mig Fighter? I think it is. sticks out like a sore thumb at
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