Douglas A-1 Skyraider VA-165 USS Oriskany

Our local flight museum recently took delivery of their second Skyraider. This one wears the livery from VA-165 USS Oriskany. The Skyraider had quite a long history - serving from the middle 1940's thru the 1980's. I am becoming pretty fond of this beast of a plane.

As a footnote - this Skyraider flew in the early '90's movie "Flight of the Intruder"

Very cool. This was the Torpedo bomber that became a ground attack plane that filled a role that the A10 took over. (with the A4 A6 and A7 in between)

I had no idea, None that it was still in service post Viet Nam.
Great shots!

^ Thanks - it is a pretty amazing plane and that the A-10 was patterned after it says a lot. The politicians have been trying to do away with the A-10 and yet the need for it keeps it relevant. I imagine a few Skyraiders and existing A-10's with a dose of resolve could change the picture along the eastern side of the Mediterranean.

It just boggles "this mind" how much we spend on an F-35 program vs what we are getting back, compared with craft like the Skyraider or Warthog. Not complaining about high tech at all; it is just that with some opponents, a "bull in the china shop" is the proper approach.

The plane in the background of the second photo (#703) seats six folks across the top and I have heard that there are two additional seats below the deck (Navy plane ) While the newest Skyraider at Cavanaugh Flight Museum seats one soul. There were many, many configurations over this history. A pretty good synopsis of the Skyraider can be read here via Wiki ...

https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Douglas_A-1_Skyraider

Edit - Another fun fact ... the Skyraider evolved over time to be able to carry more ordinance than its own weight.

Yeah well, we HAVE to get the F35 flying because we need to replace the never yet actually used ever f22, because someone out there just might actually be about to field a fighter that can actually beat an F15,.. from Circa 1972,.. the logic is clear , right?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18021521
Yeah well, we HAVE to get the F35 flying because we need to replace the never yet actually used ever f22, because someone out there just might actually be about to field a fighter that can actually beat an F15,.. from Circa 1972,.. the logic is clear , right?

Grrr .. that is a thorn in may saddle ... I will try to address that after a few hour sleep.

Lupo-Lobo wrote in post #18020481
Our local flight museum recently took delivery of their second Skyraider. This one wears the livery from VA-165 USS Oriskany. The Skyraider had quite a long history - serving from the middle 1940's thru the 1980's. I am becoming pretty fond of this beast of a plane.

Hosted photo: posted by Lupo-Lobo in
./showthread.php?p=180​20481&i=i117276671
forum: Transportation

and another including its new hangar mate.

Hosted photo: posted by Lupo-Lobo in
./showthread.php?p=180​20481&i=i180727795
forum: Transportation

Thanks for posting these photos.

VA-165 was attached to the USS Oriskany for the 1962 cruise and the 1963/'64 cruise. When I was stationed on the Oriskany in 1966, a different squadron of Sky Raiders, VA-152 was aboard. Where is the museum that is now the home of this aircraft?

And in keeping with the date, thank you for your service!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18023248
And in keeping with the date, thank you for your service!

^ For certain.

Gene - The museum is The Cavanaugh Flight Museum, located in Addison, Texas - about 11 miles north of Dallas proper. Their website is here though it is fairly static. Their FB page is updated at least weekly.

It is one of the largest collections in the country as well as being one of the best. In previous years they had an arrangement to hangar FiFi - B-29 and Diamond Lil B-24 for the CAF. Currently they are the only entity authorized by the FAA to offer rides in an F4-U Corsair ... assuming you are willing to lighten your wallet by about $2495.00 USD

Lupo-Lobo wrote in post #18023277
^ For certain.

Gene - The museum is The Cavanaugh Flight Museum, located in Addison, Texas - about 11 miles north of Dallas proper. Their website is here though it is fairly static. Their FB page is updated at least weekly.

It is one of the largest collections in the country as well as being one of the best. In previous years they had an arrangement to hangar FiFi - B-29 and Diamond Lil B-24 for the CAF. Currently they are the only entity authorized by the FAA to offer rides in an F4-U Corsair ... assuming you are willing to lighten your wallet by about $2495.00 USD

Thanks for the information regarding the museum. I'll pass that along to the Oriskany Alumni Facebook page.

navydoc wrote in post #18023325
Thanks for the information regarding the museum. I'll pass that along to the Oriskany Alumni Facebook page.

Slightly off topic, but were you on the Oriskany during the fire? Also, I spoke to my father and there is a pretty good chance he (his AO) refueled the Oriskany while under way during Korea.

Anyways, thanks to the veterans and a good Memorial Day.

*** Edit "but were you on the Oriskany during the fire? I followed your link to the Oriskany site and see that you were there at that time. Must have been horrible.

Lupo-Lobo wrote in post #18023332
Slightly off topic, but were you on the Oriskany during the fire? Also, I spoke to my father and there is a pretty good chance he (his AO) refueled the Oriskany while under way during Korea.

Anyways, thanks to the veterans and a good Memorial Day.

*** Edit "but were you on the Oriskany during the fire? I followed your link to the Oriskany site and see that you were there at that time. Must have been horrible.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my Oriskany website. I have a lot of information regarding the ship and it's history and I hope you took a few minutes to browse through it to see what I have there.

As a dental technician, I was also considered a medic and during General Quarters was assigned to a battle dressing station up forward of the ship. Because that's where the fire was, we were unable to reach our battle station and so wound up on the starboard sponson where fire victims were being brought out. I don't remember how many we performed CPR on that day but it was too many.

If you'd like, here is a link to the chapter in my story of my time in the Navy that covers my time aboard the ship. I talk more about the fire there.

http://www.ussoriskany​.us …ctions/recollec​tions4.htm

At the bottom of the page are links to the other chapters regarding my Navy service if you think that might be interesting to you as well.

Good history in there Gene, thanks for sharing.