USS Bon Homme Richard CVA-31 and CVW-21 Vietnam Combat Flight Deck Operations 1967

[gray eagle]

I was on this cruise with VF-24 as an AO. I was ~21/22 years old then. This was filmed when the ship was off the Coast of Viet Nam. A few of my Squadrons aircraft are shown as they are trapped onboard. Notice the different types of aircraft used back then compaired to what todays carrier air group uses. No A-7 SLUFs were assigned to the CAG (21) but they were just beginnning to show in other CAGS. As I watch this, it brings back memories. They attached wire bridles to the aircraft for launches. It is amazing to see the A-3 Whales being launched from a Class 27C carrier such as the Bonnie Dick.

 

[Mike71]

Putting A-7s and A-6s into an air wing required the cats to have flush deck nose tow and so only the larger carriers were getting FDNGL refitted. This was a continuing issue for the older,big carriers,as the E-2 and F-14 also were non bridle launches. The conversion took about 3 months as I recall because it also included the new wet accumulator and capacity launch valve systems. Newer carriers were being built with this already installed.