Friday Photo: A-4 from a TA-4

The view: An A-4 from the backseat of a TA-4

The pilot: Dale Hill (backseat of the TA-4)

The airplane: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

The mission: Flying from the USS Hancock, an Essex class WWII carrier operating in the Gulf of Tonkin off the east coast of Vietnam.

The memory: It was October of 1973—the Vietnam war was over and the Hancock was ‘on patrol’ in the Gulf of Tonkin.  We were on the way back to Nakhon Phanom (NKP) Air Base in Thailand where I flew the OV-10 Bronco.  It was an ‘exchange’ tour where the Navy flew a a two-ship to NKP with one of the aircraft a two-seat TA-4 and the pilot in that back seat would stay in my ‘rack’ at NKP.  The two A-4s would return to the Hancock with me occupying that back seat and I would stay in his ‘rack’ aboard the carrier.  It was supposed to be a three-day exchange with each of us getting to experience several missions in the other’s airplane.  However, a typhoon in the Gulf of Tonkin kept all of the ship’s aircraft grounded—actually they were chained down because we were taking water over the deck!  So, the only flights I got was the trip out with a ‘trap’ when we arrived (THAT was exciting!) and then a ‘cat shot’ (THAT was even MORE exciting!) when we returned to Thailand a week later.  When I got back on solid ground, I could still ‘feel’ the rolling of the ship for several hours as I got my ‘land legs’ back.

Want to share your “Friday Photo?” Send your photo and description (using the format above) to: [email protected].

• Author
• Recent Posts

Dale Hill

Colonel (ret) Dale "Boots" Hill served 22 years in the Air Force, beginning his tour of duty flying 165 missions in the OV-10 as a Forward Air Controller in Vietnam. He was then a T-38 IP, A-10 IP and flight examiner, and an F-16 IP and commander of the 61st Top Dawgs. He worked assignments at TAC HQ (he told other fighter pilots where to go—they would tell him where to go). At the Pentagon he served on the Air Staff as a planner for Operation Desert Storm and on the staff of the Secretary of the Air Force. He lives in Canton, GA, with his wife, Susan, near three (soon to be four) of their seven (soon to be eight) grandchildren.

Latest posts by Dale Hill (see all)

• Friday Photo: A-4 from a TA-4 - January 10, 2025
• Checking off a bucket list item - December 4, 2024
• Sounds you NEVER want to hear - October 21, 2024