Operation Nickel Grass F-8J (Nearly Happened!)

[+dtmdragon]

Quote from Osprey Combat Series F-8 Crusader Units Of The Vietnam War:

"The Crusader's last months in Vietnam are filled with amazing stories, but none more incredible than that involving Cdr John Nichol's VF-24 in the Hancock in 1973 (...) and arrived at the southern end of the Red Sea as the third Arab-Israeli war was winding down (...) the squadron commanding officers of Air Wing 21 listened in amazement as they were told to stand by to fly their A-4 and F-8s to Israel and turn them over to the hard-pressed Israeli Air Force (...) However the Israelis had gained the upper hand in the war, and the Hancock was sent on its way back to the United States."

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by dtmdragon

[+daddyairplanes]

A suggestion, a skin for on delivery with rough Stars of David applied over the USN grey. As hurtin as the IDF was in Oct 73, they wouldnt have bothered with painting camo until after the war. The marking wouldve likely been big enough to cover the US insignia,  and lettering ( NAVY, two letter codes) painted over(maybe with green or brown). USN Squadron colors, insignia on tail, and numbers probably wouldnt have been bothered with until a full repaint.

Sorry for nitpickin, just some thoughts. 

[+dtmdragon]

8 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

A suggestion, a skin for on delivery with rough Stars of David applied over the USN grey. As hurtin as the IDF was in Oct 73, they wouldnt have bothered with painting camo until after the war. The marking wouldve likely been big enough to cover the US insignia,  and lettering ( NAVY, two letter codes) painted over(maybe with green or brown). USN Squadron colors, insignia on tail, and numbers probably wouldnt have been bothered with until a full repaint.

Sorry for nitpickin, just some thoughts. 

The USN A-4F Skyhawks that actually  arrived during the height of the war as part of Operation Nickle Grass were repainted literally over night and put into service the day after they arrived fully re painted. The USAF F-4E were not since the SEA camaflage was deemed suitable until after the war. The USN grey was not.

[fallenphoenix1986]

18 hours ago, dtmdragon said:

as they were told to stand by to fly their A-4 and F-8s to Israel and turn them over to the hard-pressed Israeli Air Force 

Fair enough on the A-4's... though when were the planing to convert Israeli pilots to the F-8? 

[+dtmdragon]

20 minutes ago, fallenphoenix1986 said:

Fair enough on the A-4's... though when were the planing to convert Israeli pilots to the F-8? 

Who knows mate, that one paragraph from the book is all the information I have but apparently it it authenticated on a few ex-Crusader pilot/ crew/ squadron forums?

[+daddyairplanes]

did not know that about the Skyhawks, learn somethin new everyday on the repaint! although i recall reading somewhere the Phantoms in SEA were called toads until they got repainted after the war.

fallenphoenix, if you ever read the book Warriors, it prologues at this timeframe. the main character John Bennett is in a F-8 squadron on the Hancock, and after getting this briefing he surmises that if the Isrealis need F-8s they are hurting real bad.

yeah, a fiction book from 1990 was my introduction to this bit of history, found out about ten years later it was true

Edited April 16, 2019 by daddyairplanes

[fallenphoenix1986]

On 4/17/2019 at 12:38 AM, daddyairplanes said:

fallenphoenix, if you ever read the book Warriors, it prologues at this timeframe. the main character John Bennett is in a F-8 squadron on the Hancock, and after getting this briefing he surmises that if the Isrealis need F-8s they are hurting real bad.

Worth a look... of to Amazon I go.

Probably be a while before I get round to reading it though... my current reading list is taller than my fiancee 

[charlielima]

My What if to put on this what if is (big skin snivel here) is what if the USN painted the F-8s in Israeli camo but still kept the USN National and squadron markings on just in case ? And what about those 16 A-1Hs in the hanger bay that we cant talk about ? Wink wink nudge nudge.

CL

[+dtmdragon]

 

On 4/17/2019 at 12:07 AM, daddyairplanes said:

A suggestion, a skin for on delivery with rough Stars of David applied over the USN grey. As hurtin as the IDF was in Oct 73, they wouldnt have bothered with painting camo until after the war. The marking wouldve likely been big enough to cover the US insignia,  and lettering ( NAVY, two letter codes) painted over(maybe with green or brown). USN Squadron colors, insignia on tail, and numbers probably wouldnt have been bothered with until a full repaint.

Sorry for nitpickin, just some thoughts. 

 

On 4/17/2019 at 8:41 AM, dtmdragon said:

The USN A-4F Skyhawks that actually  arrived during the height of the war as part of Operation Nickle Grass were repainted literally over night and put into service the day after they arrived fully re painted. The USAF F-4E were not since the SEA camaflage was deemed suitable until after the war. The USN grey was not.

Still not a bad idea for a skin...

 

[+Crusader]

You could add more paint patches on the nose, wing and flap areas of the USN numbers system.. IDFAF would have used their tailfin numbers only, no ?

[charlielima]

21 hours ago, dtmdragon said:

 

 

Still not a bad idea for a skin...

 

Nice.

The next step would be that they barely painted one, JUST 1, of the desert colors on and then they had to fly.

CL

[+daddyairplanes]

On 5/28/2019 at 10:41 PM, dtmdragon said:

 

Still not a bad idea for a skin...

now i gotta find my copy of the book. need that quote i mentioned earlier

[+dtmdragon]

On 5/30/2019 at 4:06 AM, Crusader said:

You could add more paint patches on the nose, wing and flap areas of the USN numbers system.. IDFAF would have used their tailfin numbers only, no ?

Like so...

P.s. the painted over squadron tail fin markings are from VF-24 as in the story on the first post.

Edited May 30, 2019 by dtmdragon