Tag Archives: A-7 corsair

Corsairs, old and new

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7 July 1967: American Aerospace Museum founder Lynn Garrison in “Blue Max” (N693M), his privately owned ex-Aéronavale Vought F4U-7 Corsair (BuNo 133693) leading a trio of brand-new LTV A-7A-4a-CV Corsair IIs (BuNo 153168, 153174, 153175) of the similarly brand new U.S. Navy Attack Squadron VA-147 “Argonauts” over NAS Lemoore before the squadron’s first deployment to Vietnam aboard USS Ranger (CVA-61).

Talk about the Vinn diagram between jet stall speed and prop max speed

Of the above aircraft, Garrison’s old-school bent-wing bird would be destroyed in a crash near Chula Vista on 10 May 1987, with two fatalities.

However, the newer birds, as noted by Baughner, were all lost within 15 months of the above image.

The CAG bird, 153175, NE-300, suffered an engine failure over the Gulf of Tonkin on Halloween 1968. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

Meanwhile, BuNo 153174 was written off after an accident on 11 February 1968 and 153168 had a similar fate on 28 September 1968.

Hidden Roadside Gem– and its Amazing guns

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Tucked along the roadside in Polson, Montana is one of the largest collections of American history in the country – and I got lost there for a day this summer.

Gil and Joanne Mangels founded the Miracle of America Museum in 1981, with the non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of all that is American. Located near the southern shore of beautiful Flathead Lake, it is closer to Canada than Helena and has an annual traffic of about 18,000 visitors.

A big part of the story of the country involves guns, and the Miracle of America Museum has several hundred of them ranging from a working Puckle gun and Nock Volley gun to a converted Remington Model 11 converted to AAA training and a DWM-marked Maxim captured by Montana troops on the Western front in 1918.

Yes, that is a Maxon “Meat Chopper”

The principal facility contains more than 70 classic motorcycles dating back to the 1900s. Several are military variants to include a German BMW and a few Harleys from WWII.

As well as a Cushman motor scooter pulling a machine gun trailer including an M1919 Browning.

The grounds contain several aircraft, including a circa 1971 USAF A-7D Corsair strike bomber, a Navy T-33B trainer, the nose of an F-4 Phantom, four helicopters, and at least three different Cessna Bird Dogs.

For much more details, including a 20-minute tour video we did with Gil, head on over to my column at Guns.com.

Shooter’s A-7

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a7 corsair

 

LTV A-7E Corsair II #401 at the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon. The plane is serial number 158819 (USN) showing the 24 combat missions of CDR JR Shooter Sanders while the craft was assigned to VA-72 “Blue Hawks”, as part of Carrier Air Wing Three (CVW-3) aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) during Operation Desert Storm, the last deployment of the aging A-7. The type was retired from the navy in May 1991, shortly after their return from Operation Desert Storm. By 1993 the Air National Guard had removed the last ones from US service and by 1998, other than a few static displays such as this one, the craft was extinct in the United States.

Squadron mate plane #412 over a Saudi fort in 1990, in brighter days nearly 25 years ago.

Squadron mate plane #412 over a Saudi fort in 1990, in brighter days nearly 25 years ago.