Chu Lai TA-4F

 History on aircraft by Tom Dunne.  Note the bomb load near the end of the article.

H&MS-12 was assigned five (5) TA-4F aircraft for the period of 7 Sep ’67 – 7 Nov ’69; Bureau Numbers: 153488, 153489, 153491, 153499. Aircraft #154302 was lost in a landing accident on 29 Sep ’67 having been piloted by a Major Starnes who was killed. The rear seat was occupied by a Captain Pool who was medevacked stateside.

The TA-4F Skyhawk pictured is Lt Col Joseph J. Went’s aircraft; he was the H&MS-12 Commanding Officer at the time. MODEX (a name used by Naval Aviation, both Navy and Marine), assigned WA as the tail code for H&MS-12. The Bureau Number is 153488; the 00 nose number was assigned by the squadron; i.e., the number aircraft out of five aircraft assigned to the squadron. In the case of the Commanding Officer (CO) it would be 00 or affectionately known as “double nuts”. The tail code, the nose numbers, the last four numbers of the bureau numbers (3488) appear on both starboard and port sides of the aircraft.
The TA-4F is the 2-seater version of the A-4 aircraft. The pilot typically sat in the front seat and a pilot/aerial observer (AO) sat in the rear seat. The back seat man was another pilot or a professionally trained observer like a naval gunfire officer, artillery officer, etc. The TA-4F aircraft was designated as a tactical airborne coordinator air (TACA) as well as training and support. It flew as tasked to recon target areas and/or control air strikes and naval gunfire in support of the grunts. This was the main purpose of the TA-4F Skyhawk in S. Vietnam. MAG-12, MAG-13 both located at Chu Lai and MAG-11 at Da Nang all had them at some time between September ’67 and March ’70. H&MS-12 did not possess any single-seat aircraft but MAG-12 had from 3 to 5 A-4 squadrons at any one time which flew either the A-4C or the A-4E. A single-seat A-4E might carry a typical load of a centerline drop tank with three (3) MK-82 500lb Snakeyes on each inboard wing station on a multiple bomb rack and one (1) 500lb MK-77 napalm on the outboard wing stations. The A-4E gun squadrons in MAG-12 at this time were VMA-211 (CF), VMA-223 (WP), VMA-121 (VK) and VMA-311 (WL). The H&MS-12 TA-4F would typically be best configured with two (2) drop tanks, one each on the inboard wing stations and a 4-pack of 5” Zuni rockets on each outside wing station. This gave the aircraft endurance with extra fuel to hunt for targets and forward firing ordnance to mark targets for other aircraft. H&MS birds normally did not have a squadron insignia on the fuselage in-country.