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A-7E with LGB in Vietnam


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Yury hi

I'm no expert, but I thought only the F-4D used LGBs, with the designator being a PaveKnife pod carried on an inner pylon. I'm not aware any other aircraft carried LGB's during the conflict.

2000 pound LGBs seem to be the only ones used, along with 2000 pound electro-optical guided bombs (EOGB) which I assume was an early Maverick

Pete

Edited by Pete Wenman
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I'm no expert, but I thought only the F-4D used LGBs, with the designator being a PaveKnife pod carried on an inner pylon. I'm not aware any other aircraft carried LGB's during the conflict.

A couple of A-6's (from VA-145 "Swordsmen" at least) lobbed GBU's with Pave Knife on their centrelines in SEA as well. There's a b/w pic in Robert F. Dorrs "A-6 Intruder: Carrier-Borne Bomber" volume.

In addition, the "Tropic Moon" B-57G's dropped GBU-12's in theatre as well.

HTH,

Andre

Edited by Andre
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Yury hi

I'm no expert, but I thought only the F-4D used LGBs, with the designator being a PaveKnife pod carried on an inner pylon. I'm not aware any other aircraft carried LGB's during the conflict.

2000 pound LGBs seem to be the only ones used, along with 2000 pound electro-optical guided bombs (EOGB) which I assume was an early Maverick

Pete

The EOGB's used in Vietnam was the GBU-8 HOBOS bombs. I know the F-4's carried them and maybe the F-111A's during their brief tour over there.

Edited by muswp1
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I don't think the Navy had GBU's during Vietnam, if they did it would be very late in the war. I believe the GBU-10 came out first, followed my the -12 and -16. For the A-7E you could use any station but for GBU-10's we stayed away from putting them on the outbaord wing stations (sta 1 and 8) due to the stresses is put on the wings.

Post Vietnam the A-7 flew the following GBU,s; GBU-10, GBU-12 and GBU-16's. We also flew just about everything else except for Harpoon, Sparrow and Phoenix, everything else was fair game for us. Just remember, back them we did not have all the new fancy weapons that they have today, no JDAM, JSOW, DMLGB or Laser JDAM. We did it the old fashion way, we planned where the bomb would land and planned out deliveries. :beer4:

Reddog :blink:

Disclaimer: This opinion/answer is based on 20 years in Naval Aviation and is not meant to be an over arching answer for the whole aviation industry and foreign nations. :)

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Thanks a lot guys :jaw-dropping:

As I know, A-7E of VA-146 used LGBs in December 1971 for the first time in naval aviation history. And also on 15 Jan 1972 Corsairs of VA-25 attacked some bridges with LGBs.

So, I suppose it will be OK to load my model with drop tanks on sta 3 and 6 and GBU-10 on sta 2 and 7. What do you think?

BTW, do I have to make the thermal ablative coatings on GBUs?

UPDATE

I think I shouldn't use drop tanks as it would be too tightly for big GBU-10 Paveway I with their fixed fins.

Edited by brahio
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In the Osprey US Navy A-7 Corsair II Units of The Vietnam War book on pg 69 there is a pic of a VA-105 A-7A with what looks like a GBU-12 (500lb LGB) on the middle pylon on the left wing. A GP bomb (Mk-82?) on the left outboard pylon, nothing on inboard pylon and an AIM-9 on the fuselage. The right wing load can't be seen.

Jari

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In the Osprey US Navy A-7 Corsair II Units of The Vietnam War book on pg 69 there is a pic of a VA-105 A-7A with what looks like a GBU-12 (500lb LGB) on the middle pylon on the left wing.

WOW!!! You've got a really sharp eye Jari, thank you very much for the pointing out!

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Thermally protected bombs didn't start hitting the fleet until around late 72/73 and did not become common until mid to late 73.

I think I've read here on ARC that second yellow ring on a bomb means it has thermal coating. Correct me if I wrong please.

This is the photo:

18801373.jpg

It looks like GP bomb on outboard pylon has two yellow rings. Is it possible it was one of the first bomb with coating? The photo was taken late July - early August 1972.

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Did the A-7 use the AGM-62 Walleye instead of the GBU family at the time ?

I can't see the USN not having some form of precision strike capability at the time, especially as the USAF was already using the GBU-8 HOBOS off the F-4D. The AGM-12 was rather old, and had a limited warhead / range / performance.

Did they use the AGM-12 Bullpup at all on the A-7, or were they out of favour by the time the A-7 replaced the A-4 ?

I know that I've seen several photos of the AGM-12 on A-4's.

Regards,

Gerard

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I think I've read here on ARC that second yellow ring on a bomb means it has thermal coating. Correct me if I wrong please.

It looks like GP bomb on outboard pylon has two yellow rings. Is it possible it was one of the first bomb with coating? The photo was taken late July - early August 1972.

Yes, the second stripe means it's thermally protected. And that may be the first batch to hit the fleet.

Also, I'm not sure that was taken during the during the time frame stated. My dad was on that cruise and those don't look like the markings VA 105 had during the Saratoga's Vietnam cruise, that may have come from the 74/75 Med cruise. Next time I'm at my dad's I will look at it but as a kid I studied those cruise books, those markings are not familiar.

Reddog :jaw-dropping:

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I was in VA-196 in early '72 (in SEA) an installed a hand held laser designator in our A-6A's on 3 occasions. It would be plugged in to the BN's side console after removing one of the other panels on that side. It was about the size of a shoe box but a bit longer, with a telescopic sight mounted on top. As I understood, we were designating for drops by F-4J and A-7E's from our airwing but I never saw, or don't remember seeing the weapons themselves.

regards,

Gary F

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Did the A-7 use the AGM-62 Walleye instead of the GBU family at the time ?

I can't see the USN not having some form of precision strike capability at the time, especially as the USAF was already using the GBU-8 HOBOS off the F-4D. The AGM-12 was rather old, and had a limited warhead / range / performance.

Did they use the AGM-12 Bullpup at all on the A-7, or were they out of favour by the time the A-7 replaced the A-4 ?

I know that I've seen several photos of the AGM-12 on A-4's.

Regards,

Gerard

Yes, we (A-7's) used the Walleye, flew it regularly after Vietnam. Back then it was not called the AGM-62, they were Mark and Mod and you had Walleye I, II and III.

Percision Strike was not in the fore-front until the end of the A-7's career. In fact, it did not come into mind until Desert Storm and that was the driving force fo the percision bombs that we have today. LGB's were used infregently and only against targets that were hard to hit. 99% of the time the bombs dropped and used in training were dumb bombs, LGB's where special. The A-7 bombs system was very good, infact, it was as good as the F-18's, it could also fly longer and carry more bombs, it it's day it was the percision bombs for the Navy.

Reddog :jaw-dropping:

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That photo is the same one in the Osprey book and that particular a/c was lost on August 6 1972.

As for the bullpup on A-7s, in the old Profile Publications book #239 LTV A-7A/E Corsair II by David Anderton on pg 98 there is a pic of an A-7A of VA-37 with a pair of Bullpups on the middle pylons and Mk-82 Snakeyes in a slant two config on the outboard MERs.

Jari

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Dambuster's Feb-Nov 72 cruise on the Kittyhawk (I think!) IIRC the photo is Barry Miller's.

710000-A7E-NH404.jpg

At the conclusion of Sep-Nov 71 testing, Mk 82 and Mk 84 LGBs were authorized on USN/USMC A-4, A-6, A-7, and F-4 aircraft. The Mk 83 LGB followed in Aug 72. (The GBU designations weren't assigned until 1973 after the Vietnam War was over, so the correct term to use is Mk 8x LGB). The Navy dropped nearly 1,300 LGBs during Vietnam, the Marines 89 (the USAF dropped over 25,000). The bombs on this A-7E were high-speed Mk 82 LGBs (those were the PAVE Way Is with the low speed portion of the fins/wings broken off--literally). They are found in Hasegawa 1/72nd weapon Set 2 (the low speed version is found in the 1/48th Set 2).

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  • 13 years later...

During the war the F-4D as well as the F-111 carried laser bombs.  I don't remember seeing any other aircraft using them, but then, I was Air Force.  Our A-7Ds were used for close in work and took over the job the A-1 had as an escort for the rescue helicopters, using the call sign Sandy.

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4 hours ago, ikar said:

During the war the F-4D as well as the F-111 carried laser bombs.  I don't remember seeing any other aircraft using them, but then, I was Air Force.  Our A-7Ds were used for close in work and took over the job the A-1 had as an escort for the rescue helicopters, using the call sign Sandy.

How about the B-57G from Ubon?

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On 3/7/2023 at 11:46 PM, ikar said:

During the war the F-4D as well as the F-111 carried laser bombs. 

I checked with a couple of friends who were there and they confirmed that F-111As did NOT carry LGBs during Vietnam.

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Most of those pics appear to have been taken during the Kitty Hawk's 17 Feb to 28 Nov 72 cruise that included Operations Line Backer 1 and  Praying Mantis 1. CVW-11 (NH) units included: HC-1 Det 1 & HC-7 Det 110 (00x) SH-3G & HH-3As, VAW-114 (01x) E-2Bs, VF-213 (1xx) F-4Js, VF-114 (2xx) F-4Js, VA-192 (3xx) A-7Es, VA-195 (4xx) A-7Es, VA-52 (5xx) A-6A-B & KA-6Ds, RVAH-7 (60x) RA-5Cs and VAQ-135 Det 1 (61x) EKA-3Bs.

 

The A-4Fs (and some of the A-6 pics) appear to be from the Hancock's 7 Jan to 3 Oct 72 cruise that included Operation Line Backer 1. CVW-19 (NP) units included HC-1 Det 7 (00x) SH-3Gs, VAW-111 Det 2 (01x) E-1Bs, VF-111 (1xx) F-8Js, VF-211 (2xx) F-8Js, VA-212 (3xx) A-4Fs, VA-164 (4xx) A-4Fs & TA-4Fs, VA-55 (5xx) A-4Fs, VFP-63 Det 1 (6xx) RF-8Gs and VAQ-135 Det 5 (61x) EKA-3Bs.

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