Yes, this really happened. Once more, truth is way funnier and stranger than fiction
The pictures in this post show the US Navy Douglas A-1H Skyraider (NE-572, BuNo 135297) of Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25), “Fist of the Fleet,” being prepared for a mission over the Mekong Delta aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVA-41), on November 4, 1965. The temporary name “Paper Tiger II” was used for this one flight. VA-25 was deployed to Vietnam from March 6 to November 23, 1965, and was assigned to Attack Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) on the Midway.
To commemorate the mark of delivering 6,000,000 lbs (2721.56 tons) of ordnance, NE-572 was equipped with a unique “bomb”—a toilet!
According to Eugeneleeslover.com, the US Navy flattops in Vietnam were so short on ordnance that missions were frequently launched with only a half load in order to maintain the sortie rate and prevent blistering messages from the Rear Echelon Mother M****r F****r’s (REMF) in Washington, DC, regarding the failure to support the war effort, etc.
Since the loss rate approached, and sometimes exceeded, one aircraft a day, all will understand that there was a degree of reticence to launch with less than a full load. However, in certain rather strange ways, the unwavering spirit of the US Naval Aviators and their squadron-mates triumphed. Yes, this really happened. That’s right, this actually did happen. History is, as always, way funnier and stranger than fiction.
This story was provided by USNR Ret. Captain Clint Johnson, one of the two VA-25 A-1H Skyraider pilots who have been credited for downing a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965.
“I was a pilot in VA-25 on the 1965 Vietnam cruise.
572 was flown by CDR C. W. ‘Bill’ Stoddard. His wingman in 577 was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station-mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).
The flight was a Dixie Station strike (off South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with ‘and one code name, Sani-flush’.
The FAC couldn’t believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying in a tight wing position to film the drop. When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane.
It made a great ready-room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard.
One of our plane captains rescued it, and the ordnance crew made a rack, tail fins, and nose fuse for it. The squadron flight deck checkers maintained a position to block the view of the Captain and Air Boss while the aircraft was taxiing onto the catapult. Just as it was being shot off, we got a 1MC message from the bridge: ‘What the hell was on 572’s right wing?’
There were a lot of jokes with air intelligence about germ warfare. I wish that we had saved the movie. CDR Stoddard was later killed while flying 572 in October 1966. He was hit by three SAMs over Vinh.”
Russell Falb got the footage below, which features Paper Tiger II carrying the toilet bomb, through Ken Young, James E. Young’s son and NE 572’s plane captain.
Photo by U.S. Navy and Bayou Renaissance Man
