{"id":937,"date":"2010-10-29T10:46:26","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T14:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=937"},"modified":"2011-06-24T16:56:02","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T20:56:02","slug":"ed%e2%80%99s-hotrod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=937","title":{"rendered":"Ed\u2019s Hotrod"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occasionally one of my students will ask me which airplane I liked flying the best in the Navy.\u00a0 The answer I always give is, \u201cDepends.\u00a0 If I was going out to deliver weapons, no question \u2013 it is the A-7.\u00a0 If I was going out to fly<\/em>, it is the A-4.\u201d<\/p>\n

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TA-4Js during carrier qualification<\/p><\/div>\n

Both airplanes were great fun to fly.\u00a0 The A-7 was a workhorse compared to the A-4 in terms of the load it could carry, but if you were going to go fly and just rip around the sky, nothing was better than Ed Heinemann\u2019s little hotrod.<\/p>\n

The A\u20134 taught generations of naval aviators a lot about flying.\u00a0 Many of us completed our \u201cStrike\u201d training in the TA-4J Skyhawk to attain our Wings of Gold.<\/p>\n

The A-4 first flew on June 22, 1954 and enjoyed a production run until 1979.\u00a0 During that time, Douglas Aircraft delivered almost 3000 airplanes to various military forces, including 555 two-seat trainers.<\/p>\n

Douglas supplied variants of the aircraft to fit the needs of the Marines in context of electronic warfare and their specific attack mission.\u00a0 During Vietnam, the A-4 was one of the mainstays of naval aviation, flying from the decks of carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin against targets in North Vietnam.<\/p>\n

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Blue Diamond A-4Cs<\/p><\/div>\n

The airplane really was a kick in the pants to fly.\u00a0 She had a maximum speed of 585 knots (673 mph) powered by a Pratt & Whitney J-52.\u00a0 A pair of drop tanks could take the airplane almost 2000 miles.\u00a0 The airframe was good for -3gs up to +8g.\u00a0 One of the most spectacular things the airplane could do well was roll.\u00a0 At the best working speed, she could roll 720 degrees per second.<\/p>\n

The memories I enjoy most of the airplane involve lots of speed, lots of g, formation flying, shooting guns and missiles, and dropping bombs.\u00a0 The airplane did all of those things with aplomb.\u00a0 I particularly enjoyed dropping things.<\/p>\n

For instance, the airplane did commendably as a manual bomber dropping Mk 82 general purpose bombs.\u00a0 To go out with a couple of TERs (triple ejector racks) with three Mk 82s each and drop a couple of bulls eyes on the bombing range was very satisfying<\/em>.\u00a0 It was very similar to going to a pistol and rifle range and practicing your marksmanship – the difference between shooting and bombing is that in the case of bombing, you sort of ride the bullet for a while on the way to the target.<\/p>\n

Something else I really enjoyed with the airplane was air combat maneuvering (ACM), otherwise known as dogfighting.\u00a0 ACM was a lot like a huge three dimensional game of chess.\u00a0 In chess, there is a lot of mental activity taking place in your cranium when you go up against an opponent.\u00a0 In ACM there\u2019s a lot more mental activity combined with science, physics, physical brawn, and patience \u2013 a lot of patience.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be misled by the idea of patience in a dogfight.\u00a0 Most dogfights only last about 30 seconds to maybe a minute, a minute and a half perhaps.\u00a0 During that time, however, the concept of time stands almost completely still.\u00a0 And this is where the idea of patience comes into play.\u00a0 For a fighter pilot to take advantage of his opponent and win he has to carefully fly the airplane on the edge of the performance envelope and you have to be patient<\/em> with small gains on your opponent until you can get into the kill position.<\/p>\n

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Trapping on the Kitty Hawk<\/p><\/div>\n

All of this was a challenge, and it was extremely fun.\u00a0 Yeah, sometimes it was a little dangerous, sometimes it was a little scary, and I am sure mothers of naval aviators over the world don\u2019t like it one bit or understand.<\/p>\n

But for those of us flying airplanes like Ed\u2019s hotrod, nothing was more rewarding.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occasionally one of my students will ask me which airplane I liked flying the best in the Navy.\u00a0 The answer I always give is, \u201cDepends.\u00a0 If I was going out to deliver weapons, no question \u2013 it is the A-7.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,9],"tags":[244,246,298,450,1172,1234,1235,1395,1552,1747,2498,2505,2595,2852,3215,4174,4295],"class_list":["post-937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","category-personal","tag-a-4","tag-a-7","tag-air-combat-maneuvering","tag-attack-pilots","tag-dogfight","tag-ed-heinemann","tag-eds-hotrod","tag-fighter-pilots","tag-formation-flying","tag-gulf-of-tonkin","tag-naval-aviators","tag-navy","tag-north-vietnam","tag-pratt-whitney-j-52","tag-shooting-guns","tag-vietnam","tag-wings-of-gold"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t