USAF and VNAF A-1 Skyraider Units of the Vietnam
War
How you can help me tell the story?
As the title implies, I am writing about all the USAF and
VNAF units that flew the Skyraider during the Vietnam War. That
spans a time period roughly from 1960 to 1975.
My deadline is 1
May 2012 so the time to participate by contributing is NOW!
There were five USAF units that flew various models of the
Skyraider inside that time from 1964 to late 1972. USAF units
include the training unit at Hurlburt Field where most all of us
first flew the A-1, the 3rd ACS (4409th CCTS, 4407th CTS).
The combat units were the 1st ACS Hobos (1st SOS), the 602nd
Fighter Squadron (C) Fireflys (602nd SOS), the 6th ACS
Spads (6th SOS), and the 22nd SOS Zorros.
The VNAF units were the 1st
FS Phoenix (later 524 FS), the 2nd
FS Flying Tiger (later 516th FS), the 518th
FS Flying Dragon, the 520th FS Panther,
the 524th FS Thunder, the
530 FS Phoenix, and the 83rd
Special Air Group (SAG).
Stories:
Since I flew Skyraiders at the very end of the Skyraider's
existence in the USAF, my first-hand knowledge is lacking for
all the earlier periods. I need help in telling the story of all
the units that were involved. If you or someone whom you know
was assigned to any of these units then I would love to hear
from you. Whether you were a flyer, crew chief, engine tech,
weapons loader, life support, you name it,,,, I'd like you
input. These should be paragraph length, not page after page. I
will be happy to help get you started, just email me and I will
give you some suggestions.
Pictures:
My goal is to present new material in this book, not the
long used (overused?) official Air Force photos that are
everywhere. I would like to use the pictures you took of the A-1
Skyraider. Some of mine will be in the book; I'd like to see
some of yours right along side mine. If you are a relative of
someone who flew the Skyraider and you would like to contribute,
please contact me.
Photos/Slides Collections:
I would prefer to scan photos, negatives and/or slides
myself. I have both a flatbed scanner and a slide scanner which
can scan 35mm slides or negatives. I will also place your high
resolution image files on a CD and return it along with your
original images. Please contact
me so I may give you my mailing address.
However, if you would prefer to do it yourself, please use the
following guidelines:
1) Scan the image using standard 'default' scanner settings.
2) Save the image as a jpg file using highest quality (lowest
compression). This applies to both color and black and white
images.
3) Use 300 dpi resolution (minimum) and a print size of at least
4" x 6"
4) Once the images are scanned you may email them to me at spadguy@mindless.com
5) If the photo or slide you have is not very clear or has poor
contrast, it probably won't look very good on the web. But I'll
give it a try and see how it comes out.