douglasadskyraider

Classic aircraft.

U.S. Navy Douglas A-1H Skyraider BuNo 135272 of VA-165 "Boomers" in flight VA-165 was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 10 (CVW-10) aboard the CVS-11 USS Intrepid for a deployment to Vietnam from 4 April to 21 November 1966. A-1H 135272 was later transferred to the U.S. Air Force as s/n 52-135272. It served with the 6th Air Commando Squadron, 14th Air Commando Wing, and was shot down by ground fire near the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp, Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam on 12 May 1968. The pilot bailed out and was rescued by a U.S. Army helicopter.

The aircraft depicted in the clip above is a US Navy Douglas A-1H (AD-6) Skyraider, BuNo 134619 (c/n 9848), belonging to VA-152. This aircraft would be lost in combat to AAA fire near Son La Province, North Vietnam on August 29, 1965. Naval aviator Lieut. Edd David Taylor (USN) would perish in the crash of the aircraft. Taylor was flying as part of a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission seeking the rescue of F-105 pilot Captain Wesley D. Schierman, who was shot down on his 37th combat mission over North Vietnam on August 28, 1965. Lt. Taylor was on his third low-level pass trying to locate the source of an emergency radio beeper when his plane was struck by ground fire. Schierman was captured and would spend the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War. See: navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?c...

Interesting to see this aircraft wearing the "EA-1F" marking above the bureau number (BuNo 133770), considering most sources list BuNo 133770 as being an EA-1E (AD-5W), without any notation of conversion.