Courtesy of WIXer SIDSIKO, here is 135152's operational history; VAW-12 is most appropriate:
AD-5W, 135152 accepted on charge, El Segundo, 28 Sep 1955.
O&R Norfolk, 9 Oct 1955.
O&R QP, 31 July 1956.
VAW-12, QP, 26 Nov 1956.
VAW-12 Det 33, abd Intrepid, 6 July 1957.
VAW-12 Det 42, abd Forrestal, 1 Nov 1957.
VAW-12, QP, 6 Nov 1957.
VAW-12 Det 33, abd Intrepid, 21 May 1958.
VAW-12, QP, 19 Aug 1958.
O&R QP, 27 Aug 1958.
VAW-12, QP, 26 March 1959.
VAW-12 Det 38, abd Tarawa, 25 Apr 1959.
VAW-12, QP, 6 May 1959.
VAW-12 Det 52, abd Valley Forge, 29 June 1959.
VAW-12, QP, 27 Aug 1959.
VAW-12 Det 38, abd Tarawa, 10 Sep 1959.
VAW-12, QP, 6 Oct 1959.
VAW-12 Det 48, abd Wasp, 19 Oct 1959.
VAW-12, QP, 20 Nov 1959.
VAW-12 Det 38, abd Tarawa, 27 Nov 1959.
VAW-12, QP, 14 Dec 1959.
VAW-12 Det 34, abd Champlain, 21 Jan 1960.
VAW-12, QP, 31 Jan 1960.
VAW-12 Det 52, abd Valley Forge, 12 March 1960.
VAW-12, QP, 21 March 1960.
VAW-12 Det 52, abd Valley Forge, 27 April 1960.
VAW-12, QP, 18 May 1960.
VAW-12 Det 34, abd Champlain, 4 Nov 1960.
VAW-12, QP, 9 Dec 1960.
O&R QP, 23 Dec 1960.
VAW-11, San Diego, 19 May 1961.
VAW-11 Det Q, San Diego, 1 Dec 1961.
VAW-11, North Island, 1 Aug 1962.
NAS Memphis, 22 Feb 1963.
SOC by the Navy next day, used as a training aid
A very nicely finished VAW-12 EA-1E model may be seen here:
http://www.modelerv.com/AD5W_page.htm
Some of her sisters ...
Since I'm more of an Air Force A-1 history buff, I asked a good friend who flew A-7's in the Navy to explain the 2-letter tail code differences to me ... here is his response, edited for clarity.
"Those letters are indicative of the airwing to which the squadron is assigned. My old squadron was attached to Airwing One embarked aboard USS America. Our tail letters were AB. When the squadron was reassigned to Airwing Seven (not a normal event but occurs when the ships enter drydock or refit periods) the letters were changed to AE. All of the aircraft attached to that airwing have the same letters. Carrier borne squadrons were never split amongst airwings in my day and I do not think they did earlier. They would have just been a small squadron. Our E-2 Hawkeye squadron had only four aircraft. Our EA-6B squadron also had only six where the normal squadron had 12-14 planes. Back in the time of the Skyraider, we had many smaller carriers vice the much fewer in number large "supercarriers" common today. Having many airwings does not surprise me. I assume there would have been fewer of this airframe modification so they would have wanted to keep the operational versions at sea as much as possible. The pilots could have been kept current ashore with a generic version of the plane since the mission does not require any specific manuvering which would have required currency. The 703 on the cowl would have been the number in the squadron. We had 13 A-7E's which were numbered 300-312. Tradition dictates the 00 bird have the CAG's name (before everyone went TPS gray) and a special highlight to the paint scheme. This was often the "Sunday go to meeting" scheme and was commonly the more photographed bird for publicity. 301 had the skippers name and 302 the XO."
Ken
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
