The Flying SLUF
The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was an excellent carrier-based, light attack aircraft. But its career was overshadowed by its predecessor—the remarkable Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The A-7 served in the U.S. fleet for 25 years, being retired in 1991 following action in the Gulf War. Skyhawk variants served in the Navy a dozen years beyond, until 2003!
The Navy had begun seeking a new light attack aircraft in the early 1960s. To reduce costs, competitors were asked to submit proposals derived from existing aircraft. LTV (formerly Chance Vought), Douglas, Grumman, and North American Aviation participated, and on 11 February 1964, the LTV design was selected.
The firm’s proposal was based on a derivative of its F-8 Crusader, an outstanding Mach 2 fighter.1 However, the resulting A-7 was subsonic and snub-nosed, the latter leading to its Air Force moniker SLUF—for short, little, ugly fellah. (At times another word was substituted for the “f” word.)
The LTV design team, led by J. Russell Clark, sought to use existing technology for the airframe while pushing the envelope with respect to the aircraft’s navigation and weapons-delivery systems. Like the F-8, the new attack plane would be a single-seat, single-engine aircraft. The initial A-7A variant was powered by the Pratt and Whitney TF30-P-6 turbofan rated at 11,350 pounds static-thrust (lb st) “military” power. The snub nose housed an AN/APQ-116 radar that fed into a digital weapons computer, making possible the highly accurate delivery of bombs at increased standoff distances. Initially two 20-mm MK12 cannon were fitted, with up to 680 rounds of ammunition. Most significant, the aircraft had two “cheek” pylons for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and six wing pylons for bombs, rockets, missiles, gun pods, or fuel tanks. Its maximum weapons load was more than 15,000 pounds, compared with 9,000 pounds for the ultimate A-4M Skyhawk.
The first flight of the A-7A occurred on 27 September 1965, with production aircraft already on order. The name Corsair II was officially assigned, remembering the firm’s F4U fighter of World War II and Korea fame.
The A-7 was soon confirmed to have:
• A greater load-carrying capability than any other single-jet aircraft
• A greater weapons payload capacity than than any other single-jet aircraft
• An all-weather/day-night attack capability unequaled in a single-seat aircraft
• Possibly the best maintenance-to-flight-time ratio of any jet aircraft of its era.
Two Navy attack training squadrons, VA-122 and VA-174, received the first of the new Corsairs in the fall of 1966, and VA-147 became the first operational A-7A squadron on 1 February 1967, and the first carrier landings on board the USS Ranger (CVA-61) in June 1967.
The Ranger returned to Vietnam waters in December 1967, introducing the new jet to combat on Yankee Station. Intended to replace the Skyhawk as the Navy’s primary light strike aircraft, the A-7 formed a partnership with the A-4 for the remainder of the war. Attached to VA-147 on board the Ranger were 24 Air Force personnel—including three pilots—to evaluate the aircraft for their service. Carrier Air Wing 2 on the Ranger had three attack squadrons, one each flying the A-7A Corsair, the A-4C Skyhawk, and the A-6A Intruder.
In concert with A-4s of other carriers, the Ranger’s A-7s flew strikes against coastal defense sites and truck convoys and in support of Marine ground operations soon after arrival. But time and weather were against much of the effort, and only the A-6 Intruders on board the Task Force 77 carriers flew strikes on a regular basis that season. More carriers brought additional A-7 squadrons into the war.
Although not a star performer with regard to non-attack performance, on 19 May 1967, two A-7As, piloted by Marine Captain Alex Gillespie and Navy Commander Charles Fritz, made a transatlantic crossing to display the aircraft at the Paris Air Show. They flew from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to Evreux, France, establishing an unofficial distance record for light jet aircraft of 3,327 miles flown in 7 hours, 1 minute.
Meanwhile, the Navy shifted production to the A-7B, the primary difference being the TF30-P-8 engine rated at 12,200 lb st. The first B model flew in 1968, and was in turn followed into production by the A-7E, the ultimate Navy variant of the Corsair. The later E aircraft had an Allison turbofan providing enhanced performance, as well as a weapons-delivery system featuring improved accuracy. Also, the aircraft dispensed with the long-serving MK12 cannon in favor of a rapid-fire 20-mm multi-barrel, or Gatling, gun. The first A-7E flew on 25 November 1968, and “Es” reached Southeast Asia in April 1970 with VA-147 on board the carrier America (CVA-66).
The first A-7E combat missions were flown on 23 May. Subsequently, the A-7E was particularly active at night along the Ho Chi Minh Trail with its headup display (HUD) enabling the pilot to concentrate on activity outside the cockpit without diverting his eyes downward to the aircraft’s instruments.
When the belated decision was made on 8 May 1972, to mine North Vietnamese ports (Operation Pocket Money), three Marine A-6A Intruders and six Navy A-7E Corsairs from the Coral Sea (CVA-43) mined the outer approaches of Haiphong Harbor. Each aircraft carried four MK52-2 mines. It required only two minutes for the planes to lay their strings of 36 mines, which were programmed to arm 72 hours after being laid to permit foreign merchant ships to safely leave port. Over the next eight months more than 11,000 MK36 Destructor and 108 MK52-2 mines were planted along the North Vietnamese coast—many sown by Corsairs.
The Marine Corps did not procure the A-7 for squadron use, but the Air Force did, purchasing the A-7D variant. The Air Force had long rejected specialized attack aircraft, but Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara directed it to buy the A-7. His order was staunchly supported by the congressional delegation from Texas, where the aircraft was built. The Air Force A-7D prototype first flew on 6 April 1968, and later D models saw action in Vietnam. They differed from Navy variants by having a different engine and the M61 Gatling gun. The Air Force acquired 454 A-7D Corsairs, 5 TA-7D two-seat aircraft for training, and 30 two-seat A-7K models for the Air National Guard.
Navy production totaled 997 A-7s, of which 535 were the definitive E versions. Some Navy A and B models were modified to the A-7C configuration, and eight TA-7C aircraft were two-seat variants.
The Greek Air Force procured 60 A-7H and 5 TA-7H aircraft. Thus, the total Corsair production was 1,551 aircraft. Subsequently, refurbished U.S. aircraft went to Portugal and Thailand.
Beyond the Vietnam conflict, the A-7 saw combat over Lebanon, Libya, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, and Iraq. The last Navy squadrons to fly the Corsair were VA-46 and VA-72, which flew strikes from the John F. Kennedy (CVA-67) during the 1991 Gulf War. That conflict had delayed the aircraft’s retirement. Both squadrons were disestablished in 1991. A few Navy aircraft continued in service briefly in special-purpose roles. The last Air Force unit—an Air National Guard squadron in Springfield, Ohio—discarded its final A-7D in May 1993.
Thus ended the quarter-century career of the A-7 Corsair as a first-line Navy attack aircraft. As aviation historian Robert F. Dorr observed, “the basic A-7 is a far better attack aircraft than it has ever received credit for being—a machine which was truly ahead of its time.”2
1. The best book about the aircraft is Robert F. Dorr, Vought A-7 Corsair II (London: Osprey Publishing, 1985).
2. Robert F. Dorr, “A Plus for the Corsair,” Air International (August 1987), p. 61. Also see, CDR James C. Hill, USN, “The Corsair II As I See It,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (November 1968), pp. 38-42.