The Navy had developed a hand-held laser, which allowed the aircraft crew to pinpoint the target themselves, but the single-seater pilot could not fly the aircraft and handle the laser simultaneously. Another pair of hands was required, and the TA-4F was just the thing
The TA-4 Skyhawk was primarily designed as a two-seat, lightweight, high-performance trainer that could operate from either an aircraft carrier or a land-based airfield.
To develop a two-seat Skyhawk, Douglas inserted a 28-inch fuselage section into the A-4E between the standard cockpit and the fuel tank, which was slightly downsized to make room for the modification. The TA-4F was powered by Pratt & Whitney’s J52-P8A/P8B turbojet engine.
The TA-4F was also deployed in combat during the Vietnam War, flying from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Peter Mersky notes in US Navy and Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawk Units of the Vietnam War that two TA-4Fs arrived aboard USS Hancock (CVA-19) in August 1972. Assigned to VA-164, these two-seat aircraft (BuNos 154325 and 153491) had been transferred from the Marine Corps after the “Playboy” FAC mission was discontinued in September 1970, two years earlier.
As retired Adm. Stan Arthur later explained, VA-164 pilots accumulated significant combat experience in the two-seat A-4. The A-4 squadrons of CVW-21 were tasked with building expertise in specialized mission areas, such as VA-55’s focus on the Iron Hand role. VA-164 deployed with aircraft equipped to support the use of laser-guided bombs and worked on refining tactics for delivering and directing those weapons in high-threat environments.
‘Ghostrider’ commanding officer, Cmdr. Stanley R. Arthur began his naval aviation career flying S-2 aircraft before transitioning to jets as a lieutenant commander. During the Vietnam War, he completed 514 combat missions and earned 11 Distinguished Flying Crosses along with 51 Air Medals. In the final stage of his 38-year career, he attained four-star rank and served as Vice Chief of Naval Operations before retiring in 1995. Arthur joined VA-164 as executive officer in July 1971 and succeeded to command a year later.
Some ‘Ghostrider’ A-4Fs were fitted with a Laser Spot Tracker (LST) in the nose and a Ferranti gunsight that could display the point being illuminated by laser energy. This setup had a major limitation: the pilot of a single-seat A-4F had to depend on a forward air controller, either in the air or on the ground, to designate the target with a laser. Although the Navy had created a hand-held laser that allowed aircrew to mark targets on their own, a single pilot could not both fly the aircraft and operate the laser at the same time. A second crewmember was needed, and the TA-4F provided exactly that capability.
Arthur and his squadron brought in additional personnel from other CVW-21 units to fill the rear cockpit. At first, Naval Flight Officers, who normally served in F-4s and A-6s, seemed like the best choice. But since neither of those aircraft operated with CVW-21, the available NFOs mainly came from the E-1B Tracer detachment, along with the occasional pilot seeking a different kind of combat assignment. A few F-8 and RF-8 pilots also gave it a try, but unsurprisingly, they were uneasy about landing on the carrier’s small flight deck while depending on another pilot in the front seat for a safe recovery. This marked the only occasion when the two-seat Skyhawk flew combat missions from a carrier deck.
During one mission targeting a bridge near Thanh Hoa, though not the famous railway bridge, Arthur’s A-4Fs carried an exceptionally heavy weapons load of 5,000 pounds. This included two 500-pound bombs on the outer pylons, two 1,000-pound bombs on the inner pylons, and a massive 2,000-pound Mk 84 mounted on the centerline in place of the usual 300-gallon fuel tank.
The mission plan required a TA-4F to mark the target for another squadron’s laser-guided bombs, while the ‘Ghostriders’ were to release their own weapons through visual bombing. Adm. Arthur later remembered:
“It was a great bomb load with very little drag, so even with 2000 lbs (a gallon of gas weighs six pounds) of fuel missing, we could fly a fairly normal profile and get back with adequate fuel. Part of the reason we tried this load was our experience with the TA-4Fs. They used the double-bubble drop tank configuration, while the ‘straight’ A-4 used a single tank on the centerline. We had started putting on a 1000-lb Mk 83 so the two-seater could deliver a punch if needed. It was a natural evolution to free up the centerline on a few birds for this strike.”
“Of course, it was more complicated than it sounds. One drip tank and two TERs had to be deleted, then fitted back after the strike. There was then the risk that all the connections wouldn’t be made right, and the next flight would have hung bombs, or the drop tank wouldn’t transfer. However, our ordnance gang was top-notch, and we had no such problems on the next sorties.”
Pilots boarded their aircraft to the sound of “Ghostriders in the Sky,” a well-known 1950s song by Stan Jones about a cowboy’s encounter with ghostly riders while out on the range. It was a fitting choice, played over the flight deck loudspeaker as an energizing send-off.
The mission was successful, with Stan Arthur scoring a direct hit and releasing his entire payload in a single pass. Meanwhile, Denny Sapp, flying in the Iron Mind role, circled above the strike formation as it engaged the target. With no surface-to-air missiles launched in response, Sapp was able to record the attack using his 8 mm movie camera.
Shortly after the NVA invaded South Vietnam, during the fierce fighting around An Loc, Commander Arthur and his flight provided close air support to U.S. forces on the ground. The threat posed by shoulder-launched SA-7 surface-to-air missiles forced A-4 pilots to release their ordnance from higher altitudes than usual. Unlike the earlier Rolling Thunder campaign, where repeated attack runs were generally avoided, the proximity of friendly and enemy forces now made multiple passes necessary. Precision was critical to ensure friendly troops were not struck by mistake.
While Arthur’s flight was engaging targets assigned by one forward air controller (FAC), another controller broke into the radio traffic with an urgent request. He asked what type of ordnance the A-4s were carrying and whether they could identify a large building in the city square. Arthur confirmed that he had the structure in sight. The FAC then revealed that he was sheltering in the building’s basement while enemy forces were advancing through the ground floor. He explained that his only chance of survival depended on the Navy striking the building with a bomb configured to detonate on impact rather than penetrate the basement. Fortunately, Arthur’s flight was equipped with dual-fused bombs, which could be set to explode using both mechanical and electrical fusing options.
Arthur cautioned the FAC that there was no assurance the bombs would detonate using their electrical fusing. If that system failed, the weapons would automatically revert to their mechanical fusing. As a result, there was a real possibility that a bomb could penetrate the basement—where the FAC was taking cover—before exploding. Despite the risk, the FAC instructed Arthur to proceed with the strike and urged him to release the bombs without delay.
The executive officer acknowledged the request, began his attack run, and released his bomb, scoring a direct hit. The weapon detonated immediately upon impact, exactly as the FAC had hoped. Reflecting on the incident later, Arthur remarked:
“The question that is still unanswered is, did he get out? A few years ago, I heard about an Army guy who got out of An Loc because he survived a bomb hit on a building he was hiding in. But I have no idea if that was true, and if so, was it that mission?”
US Navy and Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawk Units of the Vietnam War is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy
