“One white hat laid into me, calling me ‘Captain Messerschmitt.’ I thought it had to do with my German name. ‘Not exactly,’ he corrected, maintaining that it was actually my nickname among the ‘mechs’ because whenever I flew, I brought the A-7E back filthy from shooting the gun,” Capt. Ralph Wetterhahn USAF exchange with VA-146 Blue Diamonds
The A-7 Corsair II was created by Vought to succeed the storied A-4 Skyhawk, but while the latter aircraft represented the most straightforward, fundamental method of launching a variety of weapons from an aircraft carrier, the A-7, also known as the SLUF (Short, Little, Ugly, Fucker) by its aircrews, went on to become arguably the most effective tactical jet bomber of the Vietnam War.
The A-7E was the ultimate Corsair II for the U.S. Navy, and during the Southeast Asia War, Forward Air Controllers (FACs) came to love it for its durability, precision, and an arsenal of weapons.
The A-7E was built by the U.S. Navy from the A-7D by the U.S. Air Force, which had a significantly more potent engine and an entirely new set of avionics. The impressive and helpful change of switching to the Allison TF41 from the underwhelming Pratt & Whitney TF30 enhanced the A-7B’s output by about 3000 lbs of thrust. The General Electric M61A1 Vulcan, which had a very reliable six-barrel configuration reminiscent of the Gatling gun of the 19th century, replaced the A-7E’s two troublesome 20 mm Colt Mk 12 cannons. Additionally, the cannon’s overall ammunition capacity was boosted from little more than 650 rounds to 1000 rounds.
To many Navy Corsair II drivers, the Vulcan gun was a cool toy, but as Norman Birzer and Peter Mersky explain in their book U.S. Navy A-7 Corsair II Units of the Vietnam War, they did not use it much in combat mostly because there were not enough suitable targets.
Even FACs were hesitant to authorize strafing runs by eager A-7 pilots in some circumstances. While serving an exchange tour with VA-146 “Blue Diamonds” in 1970, USAF Capt. Ralph Wetterhahn (who as a first lieutenant shot down a MiG-21 during Operation Bolo and later became a successful author) preferred to fire the A-7E’s cannon, which did not go over well with his groundcrew.
Wetterhahn was confronted by a plane captain while making an off-duty incursion into a bar in the Philippines’ famed servicemen’s paradise of Olongapo City (the enlisted man in charge of a specific aircraft in the squadron). “We all got merrily inebriated, and one white hat laid into me, calling me ‘Captain Messerschmitt.’ I thought it had to do with my German name. ‘Not exactly,’ he corrected, maintaining that it was actually my nickname among the ‘mechs’ because whenever I flew, I brought the airplane back filthy from shooting the gun. I usually did fire the M61, particularly at night. On one occasion, maintenance wanted the ammo can emptied for some reason, and boy did I accommodate. All 1000 rounds… “zzziiip!’ The cordite would stick to the belly, and being corrosive, it had to be cleaned off before salt spray got to it.
“I had figured out a way to drop bombs, then open up with the Gatling gun during pullout – a tactic designed to keep AAA heads low while I cleared the area. Truth be known, I just loved to shoot the gun. ‘The AAA gunners can see your muzzle blast at night a hose you’, another aviator told me. ‘Heck, they see the whole airplane the whole time during the day and miss,’ I retorted, “so because they see a two-second burst at night, they’ll suddenly get more accurate?’
“But that wasn’t the plane captain’s point. He and his fellow PCs had to clean the cordite off the A-7. ‘It’s a real pain, Captain Messerschmitt!’ ‘Fine,’ I told him. ‘Next time I fly, I’ll clean the damn thing myself!’
“Two weeks later, back on the line, I caught a night mission with six Mk 83s and a full load of 20 ‘mike-mike.’ Needless to say, the airplane came back with a black belly. After the A-7 was chained down, I noticed the PC looking underneath, a look of disgust on his face. ‘Don’t touch it,’ I said. ‘Get what you need to clean it at dawn and wait for me.’
“I went to debrief and hit the sack for about two hours, then groggily stumbled up to the flight deck. There must have been 200 sailors gathered around that A-7 when I showed up. I grabbed the gunk can and a pile of rags slid under the fuselage and started applying the cleaning solvent. Cameras flashed like a 57 mm gun battery in the heat.
“I was halfway to the tail, and fully appreciative of the work involved, when the plane captain slid next to me and took the rag. ‘Never thought I’d ever see an officer do this. I’ll take over – and another thing. Shoot the gun any time.”
Wetterhahn closed his commentary on this incident by noting that his fellow sailors in the Navy did not use the gun as frequently as he did.
“Mostly, when we had a mission in South Vietnam, we used it. In Laos, generally, the bombs did the work, so strafing was required. Also, you had to get pretty close to be effective, putting yourself in the heart of the AAA envelope. I strafed high, the rounds hitting the ground in front of the area where I was pulling out.”
Photo by skyhawkpc (Flickr) via hiveminer.com, screenshot from YouTube video, and Lt. Graves / U.S. Navy