Whether engaged in training sorties and exercises at home in the US, or deployments the world over, the A-7 Corsair IIs of the Air National Guard served with great distinction. No wonder former ANG pilots remember the ‘SLUF’ so well.

report: Ben Dunnell

there would only ever be one winner — the ‘Warthog’. The Air Guard ensured that the Corsair II was not totally left out in the cold.

It wasn’t long before more former active-duty ‘SLUFs’ headed for the Guard. The 354th TFW at Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina, and the 3rd TFS, formed within the 388th TFW at Korat RTAFB, Thailand out of deployed elements from the 354th, began divesting their A-7Ds during 1974. The process was gradual — not until 1977 would the first A-10s arrive at Myrtle Beach — but the trend was clear. Davis-Monthan AFB’s 355th TFW followed. All the while, from the Dallas plant continued to emerge new Corsair IIs. Congress managed to secure funding for further production batches: 24 aircraft each in Fiscal Years 1974 and 1975. Good news for LTV’s workers, to say nothing of those hard-lobbying Texan legislators.

Yet it would be wrong to paint a picture of a platform whose production was furthered solely by pork-barrel politics. The A-7 was, in many ways, an ideal attack aircraft for the Air Guard. It was capable, dependable, and far from obsolete. It boasted a state-of-the-art navigation and weapons delivery computer system coupled with a head-up display that made it a formidable air-to-ground platform. A sizeable cadre of personnel already experienced on the Corsair II was able to ease the transition of Guardsmen coming to it afresh, valuable indeed given the lack at this time of a two-seat trainer variant.

One such was Maj Gen Mason Whitney, a former USAF O-2 forward air control pilot in Vietnam and seasoned instructor pilot who, from 1975-79, flew the A-7D with the 23rd TFW at England AFB, Louisiana. Even then, with Air Guard units re-equipping, this active-

Corsairs

AIR FORCES ARE proud institutions. When the US Air Force was pressedinto operating Vought’s outstanding A-7 Corsair II as a close air support

platform, some were far from happy. After all, it had been developed for the Navy. If the USAF had to take on this role, it wanted a bespoke aircraft. An excellent Vietnam combat record notwithstanding, as soon as the A-10 Thunderbolt II became available the USAF began to rid itself of the A-7. Still, the regulars’ loss was the Air National Guard’s gain.

For close on two decades the ‘SLUF’ (‘Short Little Ugly F*****’) was a mainstay of many Air National Guard units. Their aircraft became familiar sights in Europe, carrying out deployments to maintain readiness for the deployments to maintain readiness for the Cold War action that never came. On another Cold War action that never came. On another regular detachment, to Panama, some ANG regular detachment, to Panama, some ANG A-7s ended up firing their guns in anger. They A-7s ended up firing their guns in anger. They ought, many felt, to have been sent to fight ought, many felt, to have been sent to fight in ‘Desert Storm’. And, all the while, they in ‘Desert Storm’. And, all the while, they demonstrated the attributes that rendered demonstrated the attributes that rendered the Corsair II one of the finest American the Corsair II one of the finest American warplanes of its era.

A-7 and the ‘Total Force’‘Total Force’ was the Air Force buzz-phrase ‘Total Force’ was the Air Force buzz-phrase of the early 1970s. Drafting men to fight in of the early 1970s. Drafting men to fight in Vietnam had proved highly controversial — Vietnam had proved highly controversial — far more favorable, it was felt, increasingly far more favorable, it was felt, increasingly to use better-equipped and better-trained to use better-equipped and better-trained National Guard and Reserve elements. More National Guard and Reserve elements. More economical, too. The Air Guard would now economical, too. The Air Guard would now be equipped, trained and evaluated as a full be equipped, trained and evaluated as a full partner in the Total Air Force team.

When the 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron of When the 188th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the New Mexico ANG’s 150th Tactical Fighter the New Mexico ANG’s 150th Tactical Fighter Wing received its first A-7Ds on October 19, Wing received its first A-7Ds on October 19, 1973, the event embodied the ‘Total Force’ concept. The Corsair IIs delivered to Kirtland AFB were not ex-Air Force airframes, but fresh from the LTV Aerospace factory in Dallas. It was glad of the work. Different interest groups wanted a say in future aircraft programs, politicians from Texas, keen to support local employer LTV, among them. They helped persuade the Senate Armed Services Committee to order a fly-off in April 1974 between the A-7 and the A-10, from which, as far as the Air Force was concerned,

68 July 2014 www.combataircraft.net

duty wing was still getting fresh airframes — ‘during a period of about four weeks, I picked up three brand-new A-7s from the factory’, recalls Whitney. Having left the regular Air Force, he got a job with the Colorado ANG at Buckley ANGB, starting out as a Corsair II flight examiner and chief of standards and evaluation, and rising to become commander of the 140th TFW. Before two-seat A-7Ks started arriving in 1981, newly-fledged ‘SLUF’ drivers had obviously to go solo from the outset, with an instructor such as Mason Whitney flying in close company. ‘I flew chase so many times I could do it in my sleep’, he jokes.

The Air Guard full-timers, says Whitney from experience, ‘essentially kept operations running, did the planning for drill weekends, annual field training and the like, and ensured that all the administration was taken care

This photo: Air defense training exercise ‘Amalgam Brave ’87’ at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, saw participation from A-7Ds of the Iowa ANG.

TSgt Ed Boyce/USAF

Inset: The pilot of A-7D 72-0244 from the Colorado ANG displays his home state’s flag

upon arrival at Nellis AFB for the ‘Gunsmoke ’81’ contest. SSgt Douglas Gruben/USAF

69 69www.combataircraft.net July 2014

‘The A-7 handled real well, it flew real well, and it had a reasonably good top-end speed down low’Lt Gen Harry ‘Bud’ Wyatt

of’. They made up about a quarter of the complement, the majority being the part-timers more usually associated with the ANG, many of whom were former active-duty Air Force pilots. Whitney recalls, ‘Very few pilots in our unit back then were what we called ‘Guard babies’ — who essentially went to pilot training through the Guard, and grew up in the Guard. Most of the guys were airline pilots based in Denver… they would come out to Buckley whenever they were not doing their airline job. They were a tremendously talented and dedicated group of aviators, sacrificing their free time to train and deploy with the Guard.’

A practicing attorney when he joined the Oklahoma ANG as an F-100 Super Sabre pilot, Lt Gen Harry M. ‘Bud’ Wyatt III later transitioned to the A-7, and recalls: ‘We had a truck company owner, a couple of schoolteachers, some other lawyers, a building contractor, a car dealer, a guy who ran a concrete construction business — just about all walks of life’. He flew an average of roughly 10 to 12 sorties a month. ‘Most of our training back in those days for weapons delivery was low-altitude ingress and egress with a pop-up delivery to the target’, Wyatt told Combat Aircraft. ‘We flew some low-levels in the F-100, but the A-7 allowed us to get down a little bit lower and had a much better weapons delivery system. It handled real well, it flew real well, and it had a reasonably good top-end speed down low — we could get to between 450 and 500kt at low level.’

According to Mason Whitney, ‘You had all kinds of manpower available to you in the active-duty force that you didn’t have in the Guard, but in the Guard you still had to maintain the same levels of readiness’. While not all squadron pilots were available on a daily basis, skills were constantly honed. ‘We focused a lot, of course, on the different elements of our DOC (Designed Operational Capabilities) mission that we were required to maintain: close air support, interdiction, suppression of enemy air defenses, air-to-air.’

What did a typical Air Guard A-7 training detail involve? ‘Bud’ Wyatt says: ‘On a normal air-to-ground sortie we would take off, depart traffic and hit a low-level route… Then we

had some planned pop-up locations where we would come in, hit our entry point and begin our weapons delivery. The altitude to which we popped up varied depending on whether it was a low-drag, a high-drag or a dive-bomb event. That was before the tactics changed — on the F-16 they do a lot of medium-altitude ingress now.

‘Occasionally we’d hit a tanker for in-flight refueling, and sometimes we mixed it up — a low-level ingress for weapons delivery, and then a medium- to high-altitude exit to meet up at an air-to-air range with, preferably, dissimilar aircraft, before practicing some air combat tactics and recovering back into Tulsa.’

‘SLUF’ successParticipation in large-force exercises constantly showed the Air Guard Corsair IIs and their crews to be at the top of their game. When TAC re-started its ‘Gunsmoke’ air-to-ground gunnery competition at Nellis AFB, Nevada, in September 1981, Air Force units from around the world gathered to test and hone their skills. Who came out on top? The Colorado ANG team from the 140th TFW, one of whose A-7 pilots, Lt Col Wayne Schultz, was awarded the individual ‘Top Gun’ trophy. Two years later, another Colorado Guardsman, Maj Charlie Betts, took home the same award; a third, Capt Dean McDavid, did likewise in 1987.

Why were Air Guard pilots, flying an aircraft the active-duty Air Force no longer wanted, able to get one over on their regular counterparts? As a Colorado ANG man, Mason Whitney offers some reasoning for their specific successes, not least the nearby air-to-ground Airburst Range in the Fort Carson restricted area. ‘We had our own range officer down there; he had been there for about 15 years, and designed a great array of targets. The combination of all of that with the different military operating areas [in Colorado] was really good for training. We were able to fly low-level, do an air-to-air engagement, go to the range and perform a SEAD mission, an interdiction mission or whatever, ingressing at low level and doing a pop-up weapons delivery.’

Armed with 500lb Mk82 bombs, two Puerto Rico ANG A-7Ds formate during Exercise ‘Solid Shield ’78’. USAF

New Mexico ANG A-7Ds taxiing at Cairo West in the course of 1980’s edition of ‘Bright Star’, the regular joint training exercise involving US and Egyptian forces. MSgt Donald Sutherland/USAF

500lb bombs being fused prior to loading aboard an Ohio

ANG A-7D for Exercise ‘Gallant Eagle ’82’ at NAS China Lake.

TSgt Bob Marshall/USAF

70 July 2014 www.combataircraft.net

Whitney cites other factors in the continued success of the Air Guard A-7 community, too. ‘We moved people in and out of jobs so often on active duty. When out of jobs so often on active duty. When you became very proficient at what you were doing, very often it was time to move you into another job. In the Guard, basically, you stay in one job for a long time. For instance, I was the wing commander for eight years. The constancy of purpose and the longevity that we had in the Guard allowed us to

maybe be a little more innovative and get a better sense of what needed

to be done in the long term. Maintenance, especially,

was a factor — I think

the Guard has the best maintenance in the world because of its culture. We had guys that were on the A-7 for 20 years, and knew every nut and bolt on that airplane. We were every nut and bolt on that airplane. We were maintaining mission-ready rates that far exceeded what the active-duty force had, because of the great maintenance guys.

‘We initiated a lot of things that the Air Force would copy later. It used to be that, in order to get good composite force training, you had to go to ‘Red Flag’. That’s the way the Air Force did it. What we started at Buckley was something called ‘Aspen Flag’, where we invited units to come in and train with us during drill weekends. At one time we had somewhere around 70 aircraft

on the ramp, representing different types from the Navy, Marines and Air Force — active-duty as well as Reserves and Guard active-duty as well as Reserves and Guard — which all took part in big composite force training exercises in our airspace here in Colorado.’

Of course, the Guard’s Corsair IIs went often to exercises like Nellis AFB’s ‘Red Flag’ and its Canadian counterpart ‘Maple Flag’. They acquitted themselves very well, thanks in part to a certain independent-minded mentality. ‘We tried to be innovative whenever we deployed there in designing new tactics within operating limits and regulations, just to test and see how they worked’, says Mason Whitney. ‘When I was on active duty, you

Right: Maj Gen Mason Whitney about to step into A-7D serial 70-1055, named Double Nickel,

during his time with the Colorado ANG. This aircraft is today preserved at Montrose Airport

in the state. via Mason Whitney

71 71www.combataircraft.net July 2014

The likelihood of procuring for the Air The likelihood of procuring for the Air National Guard a new fighter not used by the active-duty Air Force was always slim. Attempts by Northrop to sell the Air Guard the multi-role F-20 Tigershark fell down for that reason amongst others. Vought, as LTV Aerospace had been re-named, faced similar struggles in trying to convince those in control of the purse strings that an upgraded, supersonic A-7 was potentially superior to an F-16.

From A-7D airframes Vought produced two YA-7F prototypes, the aircraft having an afterburning Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 turbofan engine, a lengthened fuselage,

strengthened wing and many other strengthened wing and many other enhancements. The first completed its maiden flight on November 29, 1989, and there ensued a very successful test effort. But while the USAF had initially prompted the program by way of examining how best to meet future close air support/battlefield area interdiction requirements, and issued a contract for the prototypes, there was to be no A-7F upgrade for the Air Guard’s 337-strong Corsair II fleet. Towards the end of 1990 came confirmation that the USAF preferred to meet the need with F-16s. With no export orders forthcoming, it spelled the end of the ‘SLUF’.

A-7F: the upgrAde thAt never wAs

Part of a 12-aircraft deployment, a two-seat A-7K from the Iowa ANG’s 132nd TFG leads a single-seat A-7D as they head for Chitose AB, Japan, to participate in ‘Cope North 88-3’. TSgt James Ferguson/USAF

The first YA-7F, serial 71-0344, on a test flight from Edwards AFB. Key Collection

72 July 2014 www.combataircraft.net

tended to follow a script. In the Guard, we were given the latitude by our commanders to try new things.’

‘Checkered Flag’ and ‘Creek Corsair’As part of the forces that would have been gained by TAC if required for real-world combat operations, Air Guard A-7s made preparatory deployments to Europe under the command’s ‘Checkered Flag’ program. Over an average of two weeks, all aspects necessary to execute the mission were thoroughly practiced. ‘If the Soviet Bloc forces came through the Fulda Gap and invaded Western Europe’, says Mason Whitney, ‘we would have gone to our ‘Checkered Flag’ base and fought the war from there.’

Many different European locations were used. Whitney and his Colorado colleagues sent detachments several times to Turkish bases — first Merzifon, later Eskişehir and Sivrihisar. Around a dozen aircraft would generally be involved; sometimes more, sometimes fewer. Certain British bases saw especially large numbers of ‘Checkered Flag’ visitors. Twice the Ohio ANG put 24 jets in to RAF Sculthorpe, in 1983 and 1986; no fewer than 36 were sent by Iowa and South Dakota to RAF Waddington during 1985. Such figures, such events, are unthinkable today unless deploying for combat operations.

‘Bud’ Wyatt, who several times deployed with the Oklahoma ANG to RAF Wittering, then a Harrier station, says of these exercises: ‘We would take off, navigate low-level into [mainland] Europe, practice some weapons deliveries, and usually recover to a European base. There some of the weapons loaders from the different countries would be able

Above: An A-7D of Michigan’s 127th TFW, deployed to Gioia del Colle, joins a mixed formation as part of Exercise ‘Dragon Hammer ’87’. Also involved are an Italian Tornado and F-104S, and a Turkish TF-104G. SSgt Fernando Serna/USAF

This photo: This photo: Corsair IIs from Pennsylvania’s 112th TFG and Corsair IIs from Pennsylvania’s 112th TFG and the 150th TFG from New Mexico share the flightline at RAF Wittering, England, during a ‘Checkered Flag’ exercise in July 1983. This deployment was named ‘Coronet Mail’ and involved 18 aircraft. Sgt Thomas Coaxum/USAF

A 178th TFG A-7D banks low over the Panamanian jungle while taking part in an Ohio ANG ‘Coronet Cove’ rotation. SSgt Fernando Serna/USAF

73 73www.combataircraft.net July 2014

to practice on our aircraft before we turned around and went low-level back to Wittering. They didn’t get to see the A-7 very often, so we tried to get around as much as we could. On occasion we spent three or four days in [mainland] Europe, hopping around from base to base.’

From each location, the A-7 pilots had pre-assigned targets to hit behind the Iron Curtain. ‘We had’, says Wyatt, ‘some navigation points leading up to them that we could practice on low-level navigations to get used to the countryside and the routes. If we had needed to do it for real, we would at least have seen the ingress and egress routes, and some of the points leading up to the attack.

‘Back in those days, the objective was to stay below the Soviets’ radar coverage. When you combine the fact that we trained for that with the very accurate weapons delivery system on the airplane and some really experienced, senior pilots in the Air National Guard, coupled with the air superiority we believe we would have enjoyed, I think we would have done very well. We were more concerned with ‘triple-A’ and surface-to-air missile coverage — we let the fighter guys take care of the air threat.’

‘Checkered Flag’ was a TAC program. During the latter half of the 1980s the Air Guard added its own complementary deployment, the smaller ‘Creek Corsair’. With a specific focus on operations and maintenance, the aim was to provide extra training in the European environment and procedures, in part through integration with local assets. Four A-7s from Iowa, Oklahoma and South Dakota detached to the Luftwaffe F-4 station at Wittmund under the ‘Creek Corsair’ name in 1986, but the format solidified when the biennial event used a USAF base in Germany. Spangdahlem AB was the choice, missions being flown with the resident F-4Gs and F-16Cs of the 52nd TFW. Iowa, New Mexico and Ohio were involved in 1988; two years later it was the turn of Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia. A ‘rainbow deployment’, a member of the Colorado contingent called it. The aircraft, seven of them, stayed for the six-week duration while personnel rotated every fortnight.

Much cheaper to stage than ‘Checkered Flag’, ‘Creek Corsair’ was a great success. Those involved said as much to a study of Air Guard fighter deployments to Europe. But, with the end of the Cold War, its time was already up when the last participants left Spangdahlem in July 1990.

Grenada and PanamaThe horizons of Air Guard ‘SLUF’ units were broad indeed. Not long after 1983’s US-led invasion of Grenada, Operation ‘Urgent Fury’, the Oklahoma ANG’s 125th TFS sent an eight-ship there. Construction on the Caribbean island of a new airport at Point Salines had been a source of American concern — its long runway, the Reagan administration contended, could be used by Soviet military aircraft as a staging post en route to Cuba. Says ‘Bud’ Wyatt, ‘We spent about two weeks at that airfield — ours were the first American fighters to actually land there — doing close air support with some of the armies of the Caribbean states, trying to ‘show the flag’ and to quell any issues that might lead to

‘We were maintaining mission-ready rates that far exceeded what the active-duty force had’Maj Gen Mason Whitney

In September 1981, these three Arizona ANG A-7Ds tested potential new camouflage patterns against various backgrounds for visibility. Garfield F. Jones/USAF

74 July 2014 www.combataircraft.net

uprisings or anything like that. We left once things had settled down.’

Panama was a longer-standing commitment. ‘Coronet Cove’ was the name of TAC deployments to aid the US Army in defending the Panama Canal, a job assumed by active-duty A-7 units in 1973. Their Air Guard successors took over on October 1, 1978, starting with Iowa’s 132nd TFW. Every four weeks a different unit rotated through Howard AFB, though Guard requirements on how long personnel could be expected to deploy for training (no more than 15 days, unless one volunteered for longer) meant they actually provided two detachments of two weeks each. Four aircraft was the requirement,

though some units sent five as a hedge against potential problems.

‘A lot of it was to do with supporting the jungle training the Army did down there’, says Mason Whitney. ‘We did close air support with the Army, but most of it was ‘dry’ — we very rarely dropped anything from the airplanes. Some of the airspace was fairly restricted — at that time Nicaragua was very sensitive about American fighter aircraft going over its territory — but there were a couple of low-level routes that we could fly, and then we’d also do air-to-air training out over the water.’

‘Coronet Cove’ was not normally the most demanding A-7 deployment, as responses to one study evidenced. Then, as once-friendly relations with Panamanian leader Gen Manuel Noriega cooled in the late 1980s, so things heated up. The public implication of Noriega in drug trafficking and the Iran-Contra arms sale affair, his growing ties with regimes such as those in Cuba and Libya, and the rigged 1989 election upped calls on the US to act. After all, the Panama Canal remained a vital route for American shipping. Coup attempts failed, US military personnel in Panama were attacked. An American invasion seemed ever

more likely, and, on December 20, 1989, it began. This was Operation ‘Just Cause’.

At the time, the ‘Coronet Cove’ commitment was being met by five A-7Ds from the Ohio ANG’s 180th TFG. They went into action on December 20, one early mission (sometimes erroneously described as involving jets from Virginia) supporting an assault against a military headquarters in La Chorrera. An OA-37B Dragonfly forward air control aircraft from the USAF’s 24th Tactical Air Support Squadron marked the target with a white phosphorous rocket, before two A-7s attacked it with their 20mm cannon. Corsair IIs on deployment to Panama worked often with the co-located OA-37s; now, that training was put into practice. December 21 saw a Dragonfly letting loose 28 rockets when mortar fire was spotted near San Isidro, the target later being strafed by A-7s.

These were but a couple of the 22 sorties flown by Ohio’s Guardsmen, standing a constant 15-minute alert for close air support, as part of ‘Just Cause’ before the regular ‘Coronet Cove’ rotation saw their replacement on December 23. Now the 114th TFG from South Dakota took up the cudgels, its A-7s notching up 54 more missions of a similar

Mentioning the two-seat A-7K prompts an immediate reaction from Maj Gen Mason Whitney: ‘Ah, the station wagon!’, he says with a laugh. ‘As an A-7 pilot who grew up with your first flight [in the aircraft] being solo, you kind of went, ‘Why do we need a two-seat A-7? Now we have to worry about giving people orientation rides and being a back-seat driver as an instructor pilot’. We didn’t really look at the A-7K as a great benefit, to tell you the truth. At least, most of the fighter pilots didn’t. As it turned out, the two-seaters added a lot of value to the units that flew them.’

Of course, the A-7K had a serious training purpose too. Most Air Guard Corsair II squadrons had one or two on strength. The first prototype, which made its maiden flight during October 1980, was a converted A-7D, but all subsequent airframes were new-build. A total of 30 were produced, deliveries commencing in April 1981.

This was an unusual aircraft in being built to meet an Air Guard requirement. However, it benefited the active-duty Air Force. The Arizona ANG’s 152nd and, subsequently, Arizona ANG’s 152nd and, subsequently,

195th Tactical Fighter Training Squadrons used A-7Ks not only for instructing new ‘SLUF’ pilots as the Air Guard’s A-7 Replacement Training Unit (RTU), but also to assist the 4450th Tactical Group, the USAF’s first F-117A operator. This Tactical Air Command unit employed the Corsair II for ‘surrogate’ lead-in training, as well as for chase work and other missions — practice deployments, for instance — on which the then secret F-117As could not be used. It was the last active-duty A-7 operator once the 23rd TFW, from whom the 4450th TG received most of its aircraft in 1981, completed conversion to the A-10 that same year.

The Arizona ANG handled initial A-7 training for 4450th TG pilots, and provided one of two A-7Ks assigned directly to the group. The other was the one-time prototype YA-7K. Both found employment as trainers and on chase missions during weapon trials. When the 4450th TG replaced its Corsair IIs with AT-38 Talons in January 1989, the Arizona Guardsmen got back ‘their’ A-7K, and it saw out its days on more run-of-the-mill duties.out its days on more run-of-the-mill duties.

The ‘sTaTion wagon’

Some way from its Des Moines, Iowa home, this 132nd TFG A-7K is pictured over Chitose AB, Japan, in the course of Exercise ‘Cope North 88-3’. TSgt James Ferguson/USAF

75 75www.combataircraft.net July 2014

nature. Corsair IIs expended 2,715 rounds of ammunition during the conflict — they also carried Mk82 bombs, but were not called upon to drop any. In the twilight of its career, this potent strike asset had performed faultlessly. Not a single sortie was missed, and all attacks were on target.

Noriega’s surrender three days into 1990 did not herald the end of military operations. They carried on for some weeks, allowing the Virginia ANG’s 192nd TFG, which arrived on January 20, to claim its ‘Just Cause’ campaign streamers. The unit’s five ‘SLUFs’ provided air cover and reconnaissance while efforts continued to flush out enemy forces in Panama’s provinces. But this was almost ‘Coronet Cove’s’ last hurrah. The commitment ended on January 31, budget cuts and the reduction of US forces in the Canal Zone being cited. When American fighters returned to Howard AFB as part of anti-drug efforts, they would be F-16s.

Final yearsTimes were changing, and not in the A-7’s favor. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 prompted a massive build-up of American forces in the Gulf, but the Air

Guard’s Corsair IIs played no part. Mason Whitney remembers it well. ‘As soon as we knew that there was going to be US military involvement, I called up the National Guard Bureau and said, ‘You realize that the 120th TFS has been operating in that territory, out in Turkey?’ We knew that Incirlik AB was going to be one of the main bases for operations conducted in Iraq, we had all kinds of great experience in that area over 20 years, we had great friendships with Turkish officers — we’d have been ideal to go over. But the Air Force said it didn’t need the Guard at all.

‘The National Guard Bureau fought hard to get the Air Guard involved, and the Air Force allowed a few Guard units to come in, but only if they had compatible equipment with the Air Force. The Air Force used the excuse that the logistical requirements for re-positioning all the ground support equipment for the A-7s, as well as all the other supplies required for a weapon system unique to the Guard, were not worth it. Essentially they only invited F-16 units… We understood, but we were pretty upset about it.’

US Navy A-7s fought well in Operation ‘Desert Storm’, but their Air Guard counterparts went nowhere near the Gulf.

For ‘Bud’ Wyatt and many others, it was a big disappointment. ‘Most of the Guard guys sat at home and watched the war from their living rooms — at least, I did. When the service does not support a particular airplane across all of its active-duty and reserve components, it has a natural hesitancy to use it in combat. The Air Force leadership wanted, I think, to show the muscle of the new jets.’

While aircraft no longer part of the active-duty force were hardly first in line for updates, the Air Guard’s A-7 fleet had seen several. ‘We did most of our A-7 upgrades through the National Guard Reserve Equipment Account, an annual amount of money [from] Congress’, explains ‘Bud’ Wyatt. It paid for automatic maneuvering flaps, which improved the aircraft’s turning performance, and later the LANA (Low-Altitude Night Attack) system, adding a pod-mounted Texas Instruments AN/AAR-49 FLIR (forward-looking infra-red) linked to a new Singer Kearfott navigation and weapon delivery computer and GEC wide-angle head-up display, thus affording an automatic terrain-following capability in all weathers. Deliveries of an eventual 83 LANA-upgraded aircraft, both A-7Ds and A-7Ks, began in May 1987. They equipped Iowa’s

124th TFS, Oklahoma’s 125th and New Mexico’s 188th.

No wonder Air Guard Corsair II pilots left at home during ‘Desert Storm’ felt they could have performed just as well as did F-16s in the interdiction role, if not better. But the Fighting Falcon — first introduced, incidentally, to the Guard when South Carolina’s 157th TFS traded in its A-7Ds for early F-16As way back in 1983 — was the future. There was also something of an irony in the A-10, the A-7’s rival long ago, being among the winners of the Gulf campaign. Its prominent success in the close air support role helped save the ‘Warthog’ from post-Cold War retirement. For the A-7, no such luck.

Drawing down the active-duty force made available surplus F-16C/Ds for Guard units. That and the decision not to proceed with the upgraded YA-7F beyond prototype form (see boxed item) put the writing on the wall. Corsair II numbers dwindled as airframes were sent to the ‘boneyard’, October 1993 seeing the final farewell when the Oklahoma ANG’s 125th Fighter Squadron relinquished its last A-7D.

Both of the pilots interviewed for this feature went on to assume senior leadership roles. Mason Whitney retired in 2007 as Adjutant General of Colorado. ‘Bud’ Wyatt’s last assignment, ending in 2013, was as Director of the Air National Guard. Their careers, and those of many others, were in part shaped by years spent flying the A-7 Corsair II, an aircraft rightly remembered as one of the Guard’s most faithful servants. As Whitney says, ‘I never had a bad day when I was flying the A-7 in the Air Guard. It was the best of all worlds, I thought.’

A line of Virginia ANG A-7Ds at the 192nd TFG’s Richmond base in June 1985 is headed by 71-0376, named Bad Company. Stephen Wolf via Adrian M. Balch collection

State Group/Wing Squadron BaseYears of A-7 operation

Arizona ANG 162nd TFG 152nd TFTS/TFS Tucson IAP 1976-86

195th TFTS/TFS Tucson IAP 1984-91

Colorado ANG 140th TFG/TFW 120th TFS Buckley ANGB 1974-92

Iowa ANG 132nd TFG 124th TFS Des Moines IAP 1977-93

185th TFG 174th TFSSioux Gateway Airport, Sioux City

1976-92

Michigan ANG 127th TFW 107th TFS Selfridge ANGB 1978-90

New Mexico ANG 150th TFG 188th TFS Kirtland AFB 1973-92

Ohio ANG 180th TFG 112th TFS Toledo Express Airport 1979-92

178th TFG 162nd TFS Springfield MAP 1978-93

121st TFW 166th TFS Rickenbacker AFB/ANGB 1974-92

Oklahoma ANG 138th TFG 125th TFS Tulsa IAP 1978-93

Pennsylvania ANG 112th TFG 146th TFS Greater Pittsburgh IAP 1975-91

Puerto Rico ANG 156th TFG 198th TFS Muñiz ANGB 1975-92

South Carolina ANG 169th TFG 157th TFS McEntire ANGB 1974-83

South Dakota ANG 114th TFG 175th TFS Sioux Falls MAP 1977-92

Virginia ANG 192nd TFG 149th TFS Byrd Field/Richmond IAP 1982-91

Note: Unit designations are given as per the majority of the period during which A-7 operations were undertaken. In March 1992 the word ‘Tactical’ was removed.

Air NAtioNAl GuArd A-7 uNits

Abbreviations:AFB Air Force BaseANG Air National GuardANGB Air National Guard BaseIAP International Airport

MAP Municipal AirportTFG Tactical Fighter GroupTFS Tactical Fighter SquadronTFTS Tactical Fighter Training SquadronTFW Tactical Fighter Wing

76