I recognize all of these guys (I won't name names because they may want to remain anonymous). I do recall flying with this pilot on a day time mission when we flew beside a USN carrier off the coast of Virginia (with their permission of course). Good Times and Great Memories.
I've got some HUD tapes and a lot of other stuff I want to get uploaded if I ever get the time. I'm glad you guys like these. Most of the people I know who flew these or worked them enjoyed it. I even have video of the official decommissioning ceremony at Wight-Patterson at the National Museum of the USAF...
I remember them flying over the freshman school building in Groveport when they would land and we would have to stop class because we couldn’t here the teacher. I later joined the unit in 82 and was a weapons loader and worked with these guys.
That's really cool! I got in in '80 and stayed with the unit until 2003. Was a Crew Chief and became full time in 1986. It's certain we worked the ramp together. If you're on FB, there's a 121st TFW / ARW and 160th ARG OHANG Old Timers Page. It's a closed group, but if you were ever in the unit you can join up and talk to some of the old hands you used to work with. We have quite a few from WL there. Cheers!
Thank you for posting this video. My father flew the A-7s back in the 70s and 80s where he was stationed at Rickenbaker for several of those years. I have a special place in my heart for the A-7 and will always remember my father most for his years while flying this aircraft.
I was at England AFB, LA from 1976 to 1980, assigned to 23rd CRS, in-shop engine maintenance. After a couple of years I was scheduled to PCS but due to the A-10's coming in to replace the A-7's, all specialists (engine mechanics/avionics, etc) assignments were frozen. So I spent all my 4-years in beautiful Alexandria. I separated Sep 1980 and went straight to LSU. In Dec 1983, I graduated and received my commission as a 2d Lt. Stayed in the Air Force 28-more years for a total of 32-years. Good times!
Very cool! The last A7 I crewed was assigned to the 23rd 1977 to the early 1980s and then transferred to be used in support of the 117-A stealth fighter development program. I got it in 1989 and crewed it for 3 years. Tail number was 70-1021.
Thanks for sharing this with the audience and I enjoyed it very much, it's great to see aircrafts that no longer exists nor flying, Great history, I never got to see these fly,but I did get to see the F-4 Phantoms just before they were retired at the Airshow in Bessemer,Alabama with the Alabama Air National Guard and they put on a show that I will never forget,I can still remember it like it was yesterday ,Thanks again 😀.
I was a crew chief back in early 80's, worked with several of the guys that posted below. I really liked the work, and got to fly in that 2 seater, Thanks for posting, I cant believe a video of an A7 that is not of it in the boneyard and at Rickenbacker!
Late 80's....Alpena Mi....we were deployed there for the standard 2 weeks. There was one of your birds there the entire time, never moved, like it was abandoned. We never got the full story on it but figured it was a hard break, and as we had a difficult time getting spare n parts, it had to have been worse for the A 7 units. Wasn't there the next year...lol! 122FW, Ft Wayne
Remember the A-7 well...worked on them in A-dock with Al Franks in the 70's. Also worked on the flight line on the 100's as well.I know a lot have passed on , I remember them all very well....some of the best guys in the world. taught me a lot!
They often step on the seat since the floor space is limited . Easiest way to enter the cockpit. It is quite a stretch if you try to avoid the seat. Depends on how long your legs are.
I trained on the A-7 and the F-111 when I was in the USAF, but they were in the middle of phazing out the A-7 in the late 80's, so I was stuck on the F-111D and later the F model. I grew to love the Aardvark, but really wished I could have gotten my hands on the A-7's. Great looking jets. Great profile, but underpowered.
So the hump on spine, is the USAF flying boom inflight refueling adapter, replacing Navy drogue-probe. Maybe retired too soon. Do depot maintenance to strengthen central wing box & langerons, stick a Lightening or Sniper TPOD on a chin pylon, replace 20mm M61A1 with 25mm GAU-12 . Keep in service along A-10's and F-16s. But this was post cold war 1990's.
Miss the common site of a USAF Fighter over central Ohio and Springfield I was downtown in Oct "92" and saw maybe 8 or more made a flyover of State House in route out west to be retired. Thanks for share of history.
I was a crew chief at Rickenbacker ANGB from '78 to '83. I got to go to Panama 3 times, England AFB, LA twice, Ft. Campbell twice, Hawaii once. In over 23 years of service the best TDY's I ever got to go on were with the Guard and the guys from the 121st TFW. I miss those guys an awful lot. A lot of them have probably passed on by now. R.J., Lawrence, Erle, the Sprouse brothers, Pearson, Ford, Mac McKibben, Andy, Benny, and a lot of other guys whose names escape me now.....
I remember a many of crew chiefs in my guard unit crawling up inside of the intakes of A-7s to take an afternoon nap, only to thump their heads after one of the other crew chiefs decided to pull up a GPU and fire it up.
@ComplexIdealism I worked in Phase in the hangar when I got back from Tech School and we used to come over and fly the Simulator any time we didn't have a plane and also whenever there was no one training in the Sim.
I was supposed to go to TOT at England AFB for the A-7 after tech school in the spring of '81, but they shut the program down about then. Would have been really cool to have gone there as it turned out. The main jet I crewed at RANGB was based there, and later went to Tonopah under the 4450th Tactical Group for F-117 development before coming to Rickenbacker...
@johnnylaw97 -You've got that right about the intakes! Great place to catch a power nap until some joker would pull a -60 up next to the plane and fire it up! Great memory!
It WAS the life was it not? I'd love to have a nice, high res scan of that picture you're talking about with Andy's plane. Nothing sadder than losing a life in training. And just before Christmas that year too. I absolutely remember the Load Toad! Everyone would hang out there after work and talk and drink and have a great time. I bet I'd remember you too. I was a weekender until about 87 and then I became a crew chief. You remember the ramp and the hangar in the vids?
A rotating anti collision beacon…..haven’t seen one of hose in about…..well since I left the Navy A-7 fleet….even most newer aircraft have switched over to strobes and or retrofitted the old rotating beacons to strobe.
Too bad these babies got rotated out of service in the Puerto Rico ANG by the time I was born. I do remember the Bucaneros F-16 Squadron based in SJU but I've never seen these machines flying. Only as static exhibits in a couple of parks over here.
Great video. Do you have any more video showing the pilots climbing in and out of the cockpit? Did they normally step on the seat or try to avoid stepping on it?
I have a question for all of the SLUF Veterans. Were the TF41s a problem? I've been reading on the later Corsair II models. I've been reading about quite a few failures. By the way, I had relatives living a few miles northwest of Rickenbacker. I enjoyed watching everything, including the A-7s, flying in to base.
I was a Crew Chief on the jet and from our standpoint, the TF41 was a good and reliable engine. I'll need to see if I can get with some of our engine troops to see what they have to say. They should know because they did overhauls at our base...
@wiesenbefeuchter Sorry! At Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, now Rickenbacker International Airport just outside of Columbus, Ohio USA. Of course the air refueling was done somewhere over the central United States.
I'm trying to get more uploaded as I have time. It's hard to remember about the seat and all. It seems like they tried to step past it directly onto the floor, but it was sooo many years ago now....
@wiesenbefeuchter VA-46 and VA-72 took the last Navy A-7E to war on board USS J.F. Kennedy. Originally they were to transition to F-18's and were in the process when the gulf hostilitys went down.
I am curious. If newly assigned pilot to squadron, on his first mission with squadron, during climb into cockpit, slips, falls, land on his ass flat, in front of crew chief and fellow pilots, everything recorded on video. Is that it! Career over, now he is a wing clown.
Very cool! I went to Springfield for the ceremony for the end of the A-7 mission. It was a sad day. One of your pilots made a really neat VHS video of A-7s flying with a great soundtrack. My copy got stolen, so if you know anyone who has one, I'd love to transcribe it to DVD.
@wiesenbefeuchter Ich weiß nicht, ob Deutschland flog einer dieser oder nicht. Ich weiß, dass die Griechen sie flog mit großem Erfolg bis vor kurzem. Und auch Portugal flogen sie. Verschiedene Modelle, sondern auf der gleichen Zelle
![[Live] : ONE FIGHT NIGHT 25 วันนี้!! "อเล็กซิส vs รีเกียน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/suVr9a6BM2g/mqdefault.jpg)
![[UNCUT]"ตุลามรณะ"ย้อนฟังคำทำนาย หมอดูทุกสาย ดวงเมืองร้อน (หมอปลาย ฟองสนาน อ.โอเล่)I คนดังนั่งเคลียร์](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lE5az5VvT9M/mqdefault.jpg)
I recognize all of these guys (I won't name names because they may want to remain anonymous).
I do recall flying with this pilot on a day time mission when we flew beside a USN carrier off the coast of Virginia (with their permission of course).
Good Times and Great Memories.
I've got some HUD tapes and a lot of other stuff I want to get uploaded if I ever get the time. I'm glad you guys like these. Most of the people I know who flew these or worked them enjoyed it. I even have video of the official decommissioning ceremony at Wight-Patterson at the National Museum of the USAF...
Post all that stuff to YT. I'm an ex-A-7 driver. Would like to see it.
It’s probably a lot less noisy over there these days since Rickenbacker only has KC-135s now.
I remember them flying over the freshman school building in Groveport when they would land and we would have to stop class because we couldn’t here the teacher. I later joined the unit in 82 and was a weapons loader and worked with these guys.
That's really cool! I got in in '80 and stayed with the unit until 2003. Was a Crew Chief and became full time in 1986. It's certain we worked the ramp together. If you're on FB, there's a 121st TFW / ARW and 160th ARG OHANG Old Timers Page. It's a closed group, but if you were ever in the unit you can join up and talk to some of the old hands you used to work with. We have quite a few from WL there. Cheers!
Thank you for posting this video. My father flew the A-7s back in the 70s and 80s where he was stationed at Rickenbaker for several of those years. I have a special place in my heart for the A-7 and will always remember my father most for his years while flying this aircraft.
My dad was an A7 engine mechanic at Rick ANGB for about 30 years... Spent some days with him in the engine shop.
I was at England AFB, LA from 1976 to 1980, assigned to 23rd CRS, in-shop engine maintenance. After a couple of years I was scheduled to PCS but due to the A-10's coming in to replace the A-7's, all specialists (engine mechanics/avionics, etc) assignments were frozen. So I spent all my 4-years in beautiful Alexandria. I separated Sep 1980 and went straight to LSU. In Dec 1983, I graduated and received my commission as a 2d Lt. Stayed in the Air Force 28-more years for a total of 32-years. Good times!
Very cool! The last A7 I crewed was assigned to the 23rd 1977 to the early 1980s and then transferred to be used in support of the 117-A stealth fighter development program. I got it in 1989 and crewed it for 3 years. Tail number was 70-1021.
121 WSSF 1985 to early 1991. Miss those SLUFs.
i grew up with the a-7 and miss watching them in southern oh
Thanks for sharing this with the audience and I enjoyed it very much, it's great to see aircrafts that no longer exists nor flying, Great history, I never got to see these fly,but I did get to see the F-4 Phantoms just before they were retired at the Airshow in Bessemer,Alabama with the Alabama Air National Guard and they put on a show that I will never forget,I can still remember it like it was yesterday ,Thanks again 😀.
I was a crew chief back in early 80's, worked with several of the guys that posted below. I really liked the work, and got to fly in that 2 seater, Thanks for posting, I cant believe a video of an A7 that is not of it in the boneyard and at Rickenbacker!
scbikerdude who is this, John heisler asking
Late 80's....Alpena Mi....we were deployed there for the standard 2 weeks. There was one of your birds there the entire time, never moved, like it was abandoned. We never got the full story on it but figured it was a hard break, and as we had a difficult time getting spare n parts, it had to have been worse for the A 7 units. Wasn't there the next year...lol!
122FW, Ft Wayne
Remember the A-7 well...worked on them in A-dock with Al Franks in the 70's. Also worked on the flight line on the 100's as well.I know a lot have passed on , I remember them all very well....some of the best guys in the world. taught me a lot!
I remember SLUF;Doppler & IMS tech. 169th TFG SC ANG. Also worked with the mobility guys developing the load planning.
They often step on the seat since the floor space is limited . Easiest way to enter the cockpit. It is quite a stretch if you try to avoid the seat. Depends on how long your legs are.
I trained on the A-7 and the F-111 when I was in the USAF, but they were in the middle of phazing out the A-7 in the late 80's, so I was stuck on the F-111D and later the F model. I grew to love the Aardvark, but really wished I could have gotten my hands on the A-7's. Great looking jets. Great profile, but underpowered.
Thanks, 127th CAMS, Selfridge ANGB
So the hump on spine, is the USAF flying boom inflight refueling adapter, replacing Navy drogue-probe.
Maybe retired too soon. Do depot maintenance to strengthen central wing box & langerons, stick a Lightening or Sniper TPOD on a chin pylon, replace 20mm M61A1 with 25mm GAU-12 . Keep in service along A-10's and F-16s. But this was post cold war 1990's.
I remember SLUF;Inertial Nav & Doppler tech 169 Cam Mc Entire ANGB.
my favorite aircraft and its just so beautiful
Miss the common site of a USAF Fighter over central Ohio and Springfield I was downtown in Oct "92" and saw maybe 8 or more made a flyover of State House in route out west to be retired. Thanks for share of history.
@ComplexIdealism That's about when I got in...Dec 80. This is getting to be like a reunion! Those were GOOD days.
I was a crew chief at Rickenbacker ANGB from '78 to '83. I got to go to Panama 3 times, England AFB, LA twice, Ft. Campbell twice, Hawaii once. In over 23 years of service the best TDY's I ever got to go on were with the Guard and the guys from the 121st TFW. I miss those guys an awful lot. A lot of them have probably passed on by now. R.J., Lawrence, Erle, the Sprouse brothers, Pearson, Ford, Mac McKibben, Andy, Benny, and a lot of other guys whose names escape me now.....
+John Simonds my dad was an engine mechanic for about 30 years at Rick..
+Darrell Burgoon hey cool! What is your dad's name? I might have worked with him on occasion.
+John Simonds Gerald Burgoon.. Would have gone by Bear or Junior or maybe Burgie... Bear was the biggie I think.. Think he retired around 88-89..
I probably did work with him sometime. I went back active duty in'83.
John Simonds hey John, miss it also John heisler
Awesome! 👍✈️
I remember a many of crew chiefs in my guard unit crawling up inside of the intakes of A-7s to take an afternoon nap, only to thump their heads after one of the other crew chiefs decided to pull up a GPU and fire it up.
@ComplexIdealism I worked in Phase in the hangar when I got back from Tech School and we used to come over and fly the Simulator any time we didn't have a plane and also whenever there was no one training in the Sim.
Like Doug Masters in Iron Eagle
Nice shot of that low level flyby starting at 5:50
And I sure miss the 'ol A-7 Corsair. Supersluf all the way!!!
I was supposed to go to TOT at England AFB for the A-7 after tech school in the spring of '81, but they shut the program down about then. Would have been really cool to have gone there as it turned out. The main jet I crewed at RANGB was based there, and later went to Tonopah under the 4450th Tactical Group for F-117 development before coming to Rickenbacker...
@johnnylaw97 -You've got that right about the intakes! Great place to catch a power nap until some joker would pull a -60 up next to the plane and fire it up! Great memory!
It WAS the life was it not? I'd love to have a nice, high res scan of that picture you're talking about with Andy's plane. Nothing sadder than losing a life in training. And just before Christmas that year too.
I absolutely remember the Load Toad! Everyone would hang out there after work and talk and drink and have a great time. I bet I'd remember you too. I was a weekender until about 87 and then I became a crew chief. You remember the ramp and the hangar in the vids?
A rotating anti collision beacon…..haven’t seen one of hose in about…..well since I left the Navy A-7 fleet….even most newer aircraft have switched over to strobes and or retrofitted the old rotating beacons to strobe.
Too bad these babies got rotated out of service in the Puerto Rico ANG by the time I was born. I do remember the Bucaneros F-16 Squadron based in SJU but I've never seen these machines flying. Only as static exhibits in a couple of parks over here.
When was the last bird retired?
worked on sluf's at dm in the 70's
I did b52s but loved a7ds nice
Great video. Do you have any more video showing the pilots climbing in and out of the cockpit? Did they normally step on the seat or try to avoid stepping on it?
I have a question for all of the SLUF Veterans. Were the TF41s a problem? I've been reading on the later Corsair II models. I've been reading about quite a few failures. By the way, I had relatives living a few miles northwest of Rickenbacker. I enjoyed watching everything, including the A-7s, flying in to base.
I was a Crew Chief on the jet and from our standpoint, the TF41 was a good and reliable engine. I'll need to see if I can get with some of our engine troops to see what they have to say. They should know because they did overhauls at our base...
Mechanic1307 Thank you. That would be great.
@wiesenbefeuchter
Sorry! At Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, now Rickenbacker International Airport just outside of Columbus, Ohio USA. Of course the air refueling was done somewhere over the central United States.
I'm trying to get more uploaded as I have time. It's hard to remember about the seat and all. It seems like they tried to step past it directly onto the floor, but it was sooo many years ago now....
@wiesenbefeuchter VA-46 and VA-72 took the last Navy A-7E to war on board USS J.F. Kennedy. Originally they were to transition to F-18's and were in the process when the gulf hostilitys went down.
The Navy in Florida was a little different.
@wiesenbefeuchter
About 1990 or 1991
When was it taken?
Why isn't Penny installed?
What tech are you?
I am curious. If newly assigned pilot to squadron, on his first mission with squadron, during climb into cockpit, slips, falls, land on his ass flat, in front of crew chief and fellow pilots, everything recorded on video. Is that it! Career over, now he is a wing clown.
Crewed A-7 D at Springfield, OANG!
Very cool! I went to Springfield for the ceremony for the end of the A-7 mission. It was a sad day. One of your pilots made a really neat VHS video of A-7s flying with a great soundtrack. My copy got stolen, so if you know anyone who has one, I'd love to transcribe it to DVD.
@@Mechanic1307 , will do, if you find one, pass it on👍🇺🇸
Where is it?
Gibt es auch einen Deutschen Piloten, der das Ding geflogen hat?
@wiesenbefeuchter
Ich weiß nicht, ob Deutschland flog einer dieser oder nicht. Ich weiß, dass die Griechen sie flog mit großem Erfolg bis vor kurzem. Und auch Portugal flogen sie. Verschiedene Modelle, sondern auf der gleichen Zelle