A-7D Corsair II USAF Vietnam

The A-7D is a single-seat, tactical close air support aircraft derived from the U.S. Navy’s A-7. The first A-7D made its initial flight in April 1968, and deliveries of production models began in December 1968. When A-7D production ended in 1976, LTV had delivered 459 to the U.S. Air Force. The A-7D demonstrated its outstanding ground attack capability flying with the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, during the closing months of the Vietnam War. By that time, the bulk of U.S. combat troops had been withdrawn, and the SLUF (Short, Little, Ugly, Fucker as the A-7 was nicknamed by her aircrews) ended up with two entirely different missions. The first, interdiction, was no surprise. The second was a surprise, and there were many skeptics when the A-7’s were assigned the role of replacing the venerable and respected A-1 in the Search And Rescue (SAR) “Sandy” Role.