The catalyst for this event was a seemingly innocuous plan to trim a tree that was blocking the view of a UN observation post in the DMZ that had separated North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in July 1953
The A-7 Corsair II, manufactured by LTV Aerospace Corporation—the same company behind the renowned F-8 Crusader—replaced the A-4 Skyhawk as the primary light attack aircraft in Naval Aviation. The A-7 made its first flight in September 1965 and was operational in conflicts from Vietnam through to the Gulf War.
Although US Navy A-7s did not see combat for over eight years after the Mayaguez Incident, which ‘officially’ marked the close of the Vietnam Conflict, they nearly saw action again just 15 months later, following an unexpected event on August 18, 1976, known as the Korean Tree Incident. As a result, the aircraft carrier Midway and Carrier Air Wing 5, which included A-7A-equipped squadrons VA-56 and VA-93, were deployed to the Korean Peninsula.
According to Peter Mersky, Mike Crutch, and Tony Holmes in their book “A-7 Corsair II Units 1975-91,” the incident was triggered by what appeared to be a routine plan to trim a tree that was obscuring the United Nations (UN) observation post in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea—a division established at the end of the Korean War in July 1953. After the Korean People’s Army (KPA) ignored requests to prune the tree, US Army personnel and Republic of Korea troops escorted civilian workers into the DMZ on August 18 to handle the task themselves. While not every American and South Korean present was armed, some carried axes specifically for the job.
Soon after entering the Demilitarized Zone, the team was attacked by 35 North Korean soldiers. Two U.S. Army personnel lost their lives, and the North Korean forces withdrew—this repeated over nearly an hour. The Korean People’s Army then blamed the incident on the ‘American imperialist aggressors,’ escalating the crisis further. U.S. forces in the region were raised to DEFCON 3, signaling a significant risk of conflict, including the potential for nuclear war. On August 19, South Korea began preparing for possible rocket and artillery attacks by the North, though none ultimately occurred.
Nonetheless, on August 21, U.S. forces launched Operation Paul Bunyan, named for the legendary American lumberjack, while President Ford held emergency discussions about the next steps. That same day, the Midway was ordered to leave its homeport at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, carrying Carrier Air Wing 5 and its associated battle group. The vessels headed swiftly toward the Korean Peninsula. Flight operations began only after the battlegroup reached the Sea of Japan the following day, with VA-56 and VA-93 aircraft dropping smoke markers into the sea for F-4s, A-6s, and A-7s to use as practice targets. Plans were also made for potential large-scale Alpha strikes against North Korean targets, and aircrew made sure their personal survival gear and sidearms were in order.
By August 23, the Midway and its battle group were positioned near South Korea’s coast. On the carrier’s deck, two F-4N Phantom IIs (belonging to either VF-151 or VF-161) and two A-7As, each equipped with three Mk 20 Rockeye canisters on both ends, maintained round-the-clock Alert 5 readiness. To keep flights aerodynamic, most other weapon stations were left empty, but sometimes Corsair IIs carried 300-gallon external tanks on stations 3 and 6 to fly longer distances. Each A-7A’s pair of Colt Mk 12 20mm cannons was also fully loaded with 340 rounds each.
By this point, the US Army had finished trimming the tree, but there was still significant concern about potential North Korean retaliation. The Midway battlegroup remained off the coast of Korea until September 8, returning to Yokosuka eight days afterward.
Robert Thomas, who served as a VA-93 pilot, remembered flying an A-7A configured as a tanker from CVW 5’s base at NAF Atsugi to the Midway soon after the carrier left Yokosuka on August 21. Once they reached the waters off Korea, CVW 5 began launching flights almost every day, according to Thomas. ‘I flew a total of 11 flights during this period, five of which were at night. We flew a longer cycle than normal, with most flights in the 2.5-hour-plus range. Three of the flights—on 23, 26, and 27 August—were SUCAP [surface combat air patrol] missions. These were flown in jets with the same weaponry as the alert birds. So, in effect, we had an Alert 5 presence airborne during flight ops. We operated with VAW-115 E-2Bs and surface ships in the carrier strike group during these missions. We didn’t expend any ordnance, as it was to be used operationally if required. Other flights during this period saw us undertaking practice bombing missions on mainland South Korea target ranges not far south of the DMZ, as well as carrying out routine tanker missions. One interesting tidbit is that every mission, even tanker missions, was flown with a full load of 20 mm ammunition.’
During Operation Paul Bunyan, North Korea’s SA-2 surface-to-air missile sites kept their ‘Spoon Rest’ search radars running, but planes from the Midway were always outside their range. Meanwhile, Soviet ships consistently shadowed the U.S. battlegroup near Korea, occasionally aiming their fire control radar at U.S. Navy ships to ‘paint’ them as potential targets.
A-7 Corsair II Units 1975-91 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Army
