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

gray eagle

gray eagle

SOH-CM-2026
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.

 
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.
 
Gray Eagle, when I was in VFP-63 (the photo guys) in 1970 I worked for LCDR Tim Hubbard (RIP). I believe he was in VF-211, your sister squadron in CVW-21. I didn't know it when I worked for him but he bagged a MiG-17 on your cruise. Sidewinders missed or broke lock-on, 20mm missed or ran out, he finally bagged the MiG-17 with Zuni rockets. :LOL: Great guy to work for... Wish I had a chance to see him again before he passed away.
 
TARPSBird said:
Gray Eagle, when I was in VFP-63 (the photo guys) in 1970 I worked for LCDR Tim Hubbard (RIP). I believe he was in VF-211, your sister squadron in CVW-21. I didn't know it when I worked for him but he bagged a MiG-17 on your cruise. Sidewinders missed or broke lock-on, 20mm missed or ran out, he finally bagged the MiG-17 with Zuni rockets. :LOL: Great guy to work for... Wish I had a chance to see him again before he passed away.
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I remember his name. I had forgot how he scored his kill. Once in awhile, when the F-8's came back and trapped aboard with their winders, the
AIM9's would hurl off their launchers and fly overboard.
 
<--- Really off topic, but did any of you folks ever hear about what the USS Barbel (SS-580) did to earn a PUC?
We still flew the pennant and we still had the big-###ed dent in the sail in the late 1980's but no one ever talked about it. :unsure:
As I understood it, it happened "in the Tonkin Gulf" during the mid-to-late 60's.

:ernaehrung004:
 
Sbob said:
<--- Really off topic, but did any of you folks ever hear about what the USS Barbel (SS-580) did to earn a PUC?
We still flew the pennant and we still had the big-###ed dent in the sail in the late 1980's but no one ever talked about it. :unsure:
As I understood it, it happened "in the Tonkin Gulf" during the mid-to-late 60's.

:ernaehrung004:
Click to expand...


According to Copilot:

Short answer: The best-supported public evidence indicates that USS Barbel (SS‑580) earned her Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) for a clandestine intelligence‑collection / surveillance mission in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War, almost certainly connected to interdiction of North Vietnamese shipping and covert reconnaissance in denied waters. The only specific incident publicly referenced is her accidental ramming and sinking of North Vietnam’s largest freighter in 1966, while attempting to identify war cargo.

🔧 About the “big dent in the sail”​

The 1966 ramming incident is the only documented event that would produce:
  • A major impact to the sail
  • Damage significant enough to remain visible years later
  • A story the crew knew happened but was never officially discussed
This matches your recollection of the boat still carrying the dent in the late 1980s.


Putting all available evidence together:

Barbel earned her PUC for a covert intelligence or interdiction mission in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War, almost certainly the 1966 operation in which she rammed and sank a North Vietnamese freighter while conducting surveillance of war cargo. The mission was classified, the citation text was never publicly released, and the incident was only later hinted at in secondary sources.
 
That "meatball" pennant is still really rare (unless it was the USS Parche). :cool:
What's ironic about the PUC, the crew doesn't get the recognition outside of a letter in their in their pers jacket. The hull, itself, gets the actual award.

Snuffy, please don't AI my stories. I don't want to spend my golden years in Leavenworth. :ROFLMAO:
 
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