Let's get back on topic fellas
So you were there at Cubi Point in the final years of squadron - it stood down in the early 90's after what, like 46 years of operations. You guys literally flew everything and were the last of the genuine composite "do it all" squadrons. Truly challenging aviation work, especially with CAGs switching out rust bucket hangar queens for the birds you had groomed.
People forget that the that A-4 guys pioneered buddy store tanking - a tactic that has survived and used with Hornets today. Modern aviation owes a lot to the A-4 guys in terms of tactics IMO. I remember when I worked with RADM Bill Newman he frequently talked about his time as CO of the Blue Angels (1977-1978) and what a pleasure it was to strap on that aircraft and go flying.
Yah, I left not long before Pinatubo had it's way with the bases. Although I was there for some pretty historical events, he overthrow of Marcos and the Filipino Civilian base strike, which was actually a much larger event to us. They closed the gates during the strike. Talk about some grumpy sailors! I got lucky and was in Okinawa for most of it.
I didn't mind the taking of our whop-whops as much as our ALQ167's! Those took a lot of work for me to Depot!
It's pretty amazing how far they were able to extend the range of the A-4's and other Jets sipping their fuel into hostile Vietnam where a KC-130 would be a nice, slow moving target! I think the smaller tankers adopted the rotation techniques developed by the A-4 buddy store jockeys. Found some pics of UE15, I think I said it was 14 earlier, but here's the carnage:
She broke in half right at the point of the front of the engine, not where the fuselage is bolted together and unbolted for engine swaps. The seam to break it down for a an engine swap is just fore of "VC-5."
Here you can see the front of the J-52 sticking out a bit:
I don't know why the speed brakes would be open on a flame-out, but I imagine that was not much of a concern when trying to windmill it back to life.
I was actually sent as the shop emergency reclamation PO to save what I could... futile I know, after it sat at the bottom of the bay for two weeks, then they held us off for another two weeks for investigations. The only Avionics remaining were control boxes and the oddly intact upper UHF antennae (the blade behind what was the cockpit) and the rear TACAN antenna (the rectangular nub sticking out of the tail right over the exhaust on the last pic).
I was saddened by the accident, because Lt. Dickinson, as I said my DO, was really a good guy, down to earth with his enlisted, very nice to us. But I've been haunted by it every since the surviving CDR (a real ass, who did NOT become the CO as would be expected, was not on a XO/CO tour) got up on a box, hands on hips, and told us the story while we were deployed and the investigation was completed, months after the crash. He was co-pilot in the rear seat, which is very odd, being 2 ranks above the LT. I never once saw a senior officer take the back seat, and this guy did not have a humble bone in his body. The only reason for him to sit in back would be for a re-qual, and they don't do that at night. Even then, the CO or XO would probably pilot the plane. This haunts me so much everytime I think about it I spend hours on the web trying figure out what happened.
Ejection seat mode on a TA-4J: only two modes. 1. Either seat ejects, both go off. 2. Rear seat ejects only rear goes, but if the pilot ejects both go. There is a switch to select the mode and the only acceptable mode for qualified pilots is the first mode, either seat ejects both seats. The switch has a red cover on it which is sheer wired closed (thin copper wire to be broken in an emergency). cover can only be closed if the switch is set to the first mode (it changes the switch position as you press the cover down. I was a plain captain. I know this cover must be down and sheer wired and is part of the daily inspection, pre-flight inspection and post-flight inspection. So it is inspected by a plain captain every day before the first flight, then before and after every flight that day by the plain captain, pilot and co-pilot. It absolutely must be sealed into the position of either seat ejects both seats for an operational squadron. The switch is located in a position that only the pilot could reach it, and that would be difficult. After the fact, I sat in a TA-4J and tried to reach it, keeping my back against the seat. And I was skinny and flexy... I can still scratch any part of my back and I was the guy who always got stuck with swapping the audio amp down by the rudder pedals (SEE THIS IS ON TOPIC).
So, the CDR's story that spooks me out. He talked about how as they were approaching the runway the engine flamed out (died) and they tried twice to windmill it (restart with it with the forced air into the intakes), then he said he kept yelling eject eject to the the LT. And at the very last minute (drama effect) he ejected himself. There was probably 20 of 25 of us as he made himself out to be a hero. He walked away and I said (probably way to loud) ********! Everyone looked at me all wide eyed, and I realized they didn't get it. The CDR did not look back. Viet Nam vet with no balls. I guess that's why he was not on a CO/XO tour. I dunno, but never heard of a CDR sent to a squadron as "just" a pilot.
So I explained to them, why would he yell eject to the the LT if he didn't know the switch was in the wrong position? Why didn't he just try to eject both out if he thought it was in the correct position? How did it get switched to the absolutely illegal position after the pre-flight inspection? Did he plan to take the front seat and for some reason got in back and forgot about it? (thinking he was "better" than the Lt and didn't want the LT punching him out)
Any ideas Al or others? This really bothers me, as you can tell by this long post and the fact that after my last VC-5 post I once again stayed up for hours trying to find any new information. All I found was wikipedia placed the CDR in the front seat (wrong, I was there and had the CDR been in front the rear seat would have ejected first, regardless of switch position).
The LT was the DO for AV/WEPS, being Avionics and Weapons. The ordinancemen do not like to be messed with. They had their own ordinance officer, an LTJG position, but our LT was their DO as well. This was one of two cases where a pilot pissed them off enough (after word of my enlightenment got around) that a particular pilot got some nice bent fins on his practice bombs
I wonder what the ordy's do with modern weapons for the "special" friends. Nest time we can talk about the other pilot that pissed off the ordy's
