Funny Vietnam flying stories..... Chu Lai Vietnam

[earntaz]

Funny Vietnam flying stories..... Chu Lai Vietnam
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Originally one story, another two stories that happened at Chu Lai in 1966. At the time there was only the expeditionary field of 4,000 feet.

All takeoffs were with JATO bottles (lots of things went wrong with these - especially at night) and all landings were arrested.

FIRST STORY:

One day we taxied in to VMA-223 from a mission and noticed an Air Force C-123 parked at the main ramp. It had made an emergency landing. That night at the club, the only passenger from the C-123 was there. He was an F-100 pilot in his flight suit on crutches and with two broken legs. Of course, we wanted to know how he broke his legs.

He told us that he was in an F-100F Misty Fast FAC. They took turns flying front and back seat. He said that it was his day to go up North in the back seat. They found the target for the F-105s and marked it with WP rockets. Then, after the 105s were done, they were supposed to fly low and fast and take an after-action picture of the target. He was the guy with the hand-held camera. Of course, the NVA knew the routine and began shooting at them. The front seat guy did a lot of jinking and somehow, the lens came off the camera and disappeared.

They safely got "feet wet" and in-flight refueled for their return trip home to Tui Hua. Our guy said that he kept looking for the lens but the front seater said to forget it. They would find it after landing. Upon landing and taxi back, the front seater called "Canopy Clear" and raised the canopy. The lens had landed near one of the actuators for the ejection seat. He said that he heard this tremendous explosion and realized what had happened when he got seat separation about 250 feet up at the top of the arc and saw a miniature F-100 below him missing a canopy. He said that it was like a "Wily Coyote" cartoon. There was a point where you stop going up, a pause, and then a rapid going down thing.

The F-100 didn't have a zero/zero seat either, so, he said that he had always heard that in a long fall, one dies of a heart attack before one hits the ground. So he said he kept shouting: "Come on heart attack."

The drogue chute had deployed and that kept his feet straight down. It was real steep near the taxiway, they had been doing a lot of excavating and it had rained. He hit feet first. The undeployed chute saved his back and kept it straight. He skidded down the embankment into a large pool of water. He had two simple fractures. Needless to say, he couldn't buy another drink that night.

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The SECOND STORY is the single funniest thing that I have ever seen.

It was around September 1966 and they had just completed the installation of the land catapult. We had operated out of there for about 3 weeks with land catapult shots and they worked great. Anyway, there was to be a change of command for Marine AG 12. Col. Les Brown was about to hand over MAG-12 to the great, one and only Jay Hubbard.

The Change of Command ceremony was to coincide with the official inauguration of the first combat tactical SATS field in the history of the Marine Corps. A real dog and pony show. The guests of honor were the Secretary of the Navy, FMFPAC LG Krulak, 1st MAW Commander, MG Robinshaw (a great guy by the way - he always flew with 223 and was the world's best wingman because he could hardly see).

All pilots not flying were to put on their dungarees for formation in the sand for the Change of Command. The program then called for all troops to fall out and observe four A-4s to be launched from the land catapult.

That was the planned program. Someone (no one would admit who) suggested the day before that two F-4 Phantoms be brought in the night before to be launched after the A-4s. Wouldn't that be a great idea. Well, of course, with a 4 thousand foot strip and 50' wide taxiways, no F-4s had ever been to Chu Lai. But, in the late afternoon the day before the ceremony, two F-4s landed and took the arresting gear. They folded their wings and proceeded to very carefully taxi into the biggest two revetments.

That night there was much harassment of the F-4 crews in the club about flying an aircraft that needed a committee to perform (2 seats instead of 1). Furthermore, we took to calling the RIO 's (backseat guys) "hare-lipped dogs" because their only job was to shout "MARK MARK" when the pilot reached bomb release altitude. Anyway, the next day those of us not on the flight schedule put on our dungarees and fell in for the ceremony. VMA-123 was led by the world's greatest Squadron Co and my personal hero to this day, LTC Bob Sinclair (I was the world's saltiest 2Lt. at the time with 125 combat missions and Col. Bob's assigned wingman).

The ceremony went off without a hitch and Jay Hubbard was now our new Group skipper. The dignitaries lined up on the high ground with the SECNAV on the right then FMFPAC "The Brute" Gen Krulak, then Gen Robinshaw, then the old Group CO, Les Brown and finally Jay Hubbard. Sure enough, they launched four bomb laden A-4's off the land cat. This was ho hum stuff for us because we had been doing it for three weeks already.

Next the first F-4 taxied up with folded wings. The F-4 engines were doing a lot of wailing. Up went the F-4's nose wheel on the dolly. The wings were extended and locked. The nose wheel was attached to the dolly with the frangible metal breakaways. The hold-back for the tail was installed. All was ready for the run-up. The two J-57 engines powering the land cat were run-up. The two F-4 engines were run-up to 100%. Man, there was something in this show for everyone.

Tremendous noise from 4 jet engines, dust and smoke. Nothing could go wrong now. The CAT Officer received the salute from the F-4 pilot and he dropped his hand. BOOM the CAT fired. BOOM BOOM both F-4 engines went into burner. Now about 60,000 pounds of F-4 and bombs are hurtling down the 1,500 foot CAT.

At this point I must interject a minor technical point about the frangible metal devices holding the F-4's nosewheel to the dolly: Well, you see, they break away at the end of the 1,500' CAT ride. This, of course is not a problem for an A-4 because it has a long nosewheel and sits up at a pronounced angle. Unfortunately, the F-4 sits parallel to the ground. In order to not make this too technical, both nosewheel frangible devices did what they were supposed to and broke off. One went into the left intake and one went into the right intake. This was problematic for the Phantom. BOOM, the left engine exploded. BOOM, the right engine exploded. The show got much better. Flaming metal parts and discs slicing through the side of the F-4. Then total involvement of flames of the aircraft from the intakes back. BOOM went the ejection seat of the backseater. BOOM went the ejection seat of the frontseater. And KABOOM went the F-4 into the sand southeast of the runway.
Then the Three Stooges part: The SECNAV looks to his left at FMFPAC who looks to his left to 1st MAW CO, who looks at the old MAG-12 CO, Colonel Brown, and finally they are all looking at Jay Hubbard. We laughed so hard that some of us fell down.

Both F-4 crewmembers lived. Probably wouldn’t have been as funny if they hadn't.

By the way, the second F-4 refolded his wings and slowly taxied back to the revetments. They down loaded the bombs and defueled him and he flew back to DaNang the next day with a very short takeoff roll. Now, I don't know if this helps you, but it's what I remember. And, to quote Anthony Swofford author of "Jarhead" about the first Gulf War when asked whether his book was fact or fiction, he responded: "I don't know. It's what I remember."

Semper Fi.....

[mockingbird812]

Good stuff. Love these stories. I was attached to MAG-32 of which VMA-223 belonged back in early 90s. Then and today the Bulldogs fly Harriers but are soon to transition to the F-35. Semper Fi!

[Xplantdad]

Way cool stuff!

[HawkX66]

Too funny. I have a few "pieces of paper" signed by Gen. Krulak. One of them is my Hon Discharge.

"guests of honor were the Secretary of the Navy, FMFPAC LG Krulak,"

[67since67]

You Air Wing guys had all the fun!!

Semper Fi