Hunters a’Huntin
Some 60 years ago this week, over the skies of the Republic of Vietnam.
An LTV F-8E Crusader of the “Hunters” of Fighter Squadron 162 (VF-162), fires 2.75-inch Zuni rockets in support of ground forces in South Vietnam during USS Oriskany (CVA-34)’s 1966 West Pac deployment. The photo is dated 23 July 1966. Eighteen rockets are visible in this image.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph USN 1117222, now in the collections of the National Archives.
VF-162 was established aboard NAS Miramar on 1 September 1960 as a Douglas F4D outfit but only flew their pokey Skyrays on their first deployment aboard USS Intrepid in the Med in 1961-62.
Switching to the speedy F-8 in 1963, they would make their next four deployments from Oriskany’s deck on Westpac cruises (Aug 63 – Mar 64, Apr 65 – Dec 65, May 66 – Nov 66, and Jun 67 – Jan 68).
A Sidewinder-armed F-8E Crusader from the VF-162 Hunters prepares to launch from USS Oriskany (CVA 34) on a mission over North Vietnam in August 1967. Note the “Hunters” moniker on the aircraft’s wing roots.
Keeping the Tonkin Gulf in their blood, the Hunters shipped out in 1969 for another Vietnam tour aboard USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) and their last on USS Shangri-La (CVS-38) in 1970.
With 16 aircraft lost in action, VF-162 had the second-highest combat loss rate after VF-111 of the F-8 fighter units deployed to Vietnam, but had two confirmed A-to-A MiG kills (9 October 1966, when CDR Dick Bellinger bested a VPAF MiG-21; and 14 December 1967, when LT Richard Wyman shot down a VPAF MiG-17).
VF-162 disestablished on 29 January 1971, having just nine years on the books but lots of time in combat.
The squadron’s last “deployed” aviator downrange, LCDR Richard Minnich, shot down over North Vietnam by an SA-2 in December 1968, had his remains repatriated in December 1985 and identified the next year.
