A-4 Skyhawk fans ?

I think they were kind of cool, and even though I am a former USN enlisted, I have to go with my cousin, Russell has retired long ago I am still proud of him and his USAF service.


He had gone to work for one of the major military suppliers, and was just out of Kuwait when Saddam invaded, and the first President Bush reacted. Here is a little bit of the final paragraph concerning his duty time, from his USAF bio-page. It was written while he was still in the Air Force.

"The general is a command pilot with more than 3,500 flying hours including 308 combat hours in F-100s, F-105s, F-106s, F-4s, A-10s, T-33s, T-38s, T-39s, and C-12s. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters and Presidential Unit Citation with "V" device and two oak leaf clusters."

From:

MAJOR GENERAL RUSSELL L. VIOLETT

When talking to him (in the 70's) after his Vietnam time, but before he went to D.C. he said his personal favorite was always the "Thud", especially the single seat version (F-105D), although he did fly a few "wild weasel" missions in the two seat version he didn’t care for the performance of that version compared to the "D".

He liked the "Super Saber" and the "Delta Dart" well enough, but compared to the "Thunderchief" he would always take the "Thud" for the kick in the pants the afterburner would lay on yer butt. Toward the end of his career he was in charge of the a-10 "Warthog" maintenance, and flew it many, many times, and while he loved the rugged tank-killer for its handling and such, he never could get the 105 out of his mind as the "best" in his mind.

 

Ahh, the Thud. Now you're talking

Quite a character, your cousin!

 

IIRC, at the time of it's introduction, the Skyhawk was the smallest plane capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

tom