Introduction and early operations Initial operational basing/homeporting for USN A-7 squadrons was at
NAS Cecil Field, Florida for Atlantic Fleet units and
NAS Lemoore, California for Pacific Fleet units. This was in keeping with the role of these bases in already hosting the A-4 Skyhawk attack squadrons that would eventually transition to the A-7. in a
Chance Vought F4U-7 Corsair leads A-7 Corsair IIs of
VA-147, over NAS Lemoore, California on 7 July 1967 prior to the A-7's first deployment to Vietnam on USS
Ranger. The A-7A "NE-300" is the aircraft of the Air Group Commander (CAG) of Attack Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2). From 1967 to 1971, a total of 27 US Navy squadrons took delivery of four different A-7A/B/C/E models. The Vought plant in Dallas, Texas, employed up to 35,000 workers who turned out one aircraft a day for several years to support the navy's carrier-based needs for Vietnam and SE Asia and commitments to NATO in Europe. In 1974, when became the first aircraft carrier to be homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, two A-7A squadrons assigned to
Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) were moved to
NAF Atsugi, Japan. In 1976, these squadrons (
VA-93 and
VA-56) finally transitioned to the much more advanced A-7E model. Six Naval Reserve attack squadrons would also eventually transition to the A-7, operating from NAS Cecil Field, Florida; NAS Atlanta/
Dobbins ARB, Georgia;
NAS New Orleans, Louisiana;
NAS Alameda, California and
NAS Point Mugu, California. An additional active duty squadron stood up in the 1980s, Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 34 (
VAQ-34) at NAS Point Mugu, operating twin-seat TA-7C and EA-7L aircraft with both a pilot and a
naval flight officer in an adversary electronic warfare role. Pilots of the early A-7s lauded the aircraft for general ease of flying (with the exceptions of poor stability on crosswind landings and miserable stopping performance on wet runways with an inoperative anti-skid braking system) and excellent forward visibility but noted a lack of engine thrust. This was addressed with A-7B and more thoroughly with A-7D/E. The turbofan engine provided a dramatic increase in fuel efficiency compared with earlier turbojets—the A-7D was said to have
specific fuel consumption one sixth that of an F-100 Super Sabre at equivalent thrust. An A-7D carrying twelve bombs at at used only of fuel per hour. Typical fuel consumption at mission retrograde during aircraft carrier recovery was approximately compared to over for the Phantom F-4J/N series. The A-7 Corsair II was tagged with the nickname "SLUF" ("
Short
Little
Ugly
Fucker") by pilots.
Southeast Asia use on
USS Ticonderoga in 1968 The A-7D first entered service in 1970 with the
57th Fighter Weapons Wing at Luke AFB Arizona, and the
354th Tactical Fighter Wing at
Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina was equipped with four squadrons of A-7Ds by 1972; the 355th TFW at Davis-Monthan AFB was equipped with four squadrons in 1972, and in 1973, the 23d TFW at England AFB, Louisiana was fully equipped with A-7Ds. With the end of US involvement in South Vietnam, the 354th TFW, deployed at Korat, began flying combat sorties in Cambodia to support the Lon Nol government in support of
Khmer National Armed Forces against the
Khmer Rouge. Rotational deployments began to Korat from the 355th TFW and 23d TFW, with pilots and support personnel beginning six-month deployment cycles. In March 1973, the 354th transferred a squadron of A-7Ds to the 388th TFW, the host wing at Korat RTAFB at the time, which re-established the
3d Tactical Fighter Squadron and created a permanent USAF A-7D presence in Southeast Asia. A-7Ds from both wings stationed at Korat engaged in combat operations in Cambodia until 15 August 1973 when an A-7D of the deployed
353d TFS/354th TFW carried out the last air support mission. In March 1974, the 354th TFW transferred several more aircraft to the 3d TFS prior to its return to Myrtle Beach AFB. The USAF A-7D flew a total of 12,928 combat sorties during the war with only six losses Carrier catapult launches at maximum weight under these performance-robbing conditions were not significantly better and were characterized by the aircraft decelerating by as much as immediately after launch. As a result, A-7A units operated their aircraft below the rated
maximum takeoff weight for the A-7E. In a sortie against the
Thanh Hóa Bridge on 6 October 1972, four A-7Cs from
VA-82 successfully delivered 8,000 lb of high explosives with two aircraft carrying two
Walleyes, while two others also carried 2,000 lb in
Mk 84 GP bombs. In a simultaneous attack, the center piling on the bridge's west side was hit and broke the span in half. After this, the Thanh Hoa bridge was considered permanently destroyed and removed from the target list. The Spey-powered A-7E entered service in Southeast Asia in May 1970 with
VA-146 and
VA-147 deployed aboard . The A-7E participated in numerous close-air support missions over both North and South Vietnam, with its state-of-the-art bombing and navigation system being particularly reliable and accurate. Most air wings operating A-4 Skyhawks and early A-7s were re-equipped with A-7Es. The A-7E participated in the mining of
Haiphong harbor in 1972, and played a vital role in Operations
Linebacker I and
Linebacker II that led up to the formal end of US involvement in the Vietnam War on 24 January 1973. On 15 May 1975, A-7E aircraft operating from , in conjunction with A-7D aircraft assigned to the 3d TFS at Korat RTAFB, provided air cover in what is considered the last battle of the Vietnam War, the recovery of
SS Mayagüez after it was hijacked by Khmer Rouge gunboats. A total of 98 USN A-7 Corsairs were lost during the war.
Post-Vietnam era Air National Guard With the pullout of the USAF from its Thailand bases in late 1975, the A-7Ds stationed at Korat initially went to
Clark AB,
Philippines. The 3d TFS transitioned from its Corsairs to the F-4E Phantom II and remained at Clark. The A-7Ds were returned to the United States where they were reassigned to several
Air National Guard squadrons. With the end of the Vietnam War, the Air Force began to transfer its active duty A-7D aircraft to Air National Guard units beginning in 1974. The Corsairs had been, in a sense, a forced acquisition by the USAF in the late 1960s, and the inter-service rivalry of flying a Navy aircraft had led, beginning about 1970, to the development of its own Close Air Support aircraft. In 1974, selection of the
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II was made as the replacement for the A-7D. The first A-10As were received by the 354th TFW in 1977 at Myrtle Beach AFB; the 355th TFW at Davis-Monthan AFB began replacing its A-7Ds in 1978, and the 23d TFW at England AFB in 1979. As the A-10s were received, the A-7Ds were transferred from the USAF to the
National Guard Bureau for subsequent re-allocation. By 1981, when the 23d TFW sent its last A-7Ds to
Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada for clandestine use in the
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk development program, fifteen ANG squadrons were equipped with the A-7D Corsair II. However, Congressional decisions added additional funding to the DOD FY 1975 and FY 1976 budgets for the procurement of additional A-7Ds, primarily to keep the LTV production line in Dallas open and the workers employed in the wake of post-Vietnam DOD procurement reductions. As a result of these unplanned acquisitions, the Air Force assigned these new aircraft (all with 1975 tail numbers) to the Arizona Air National Guard 152nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Tucson, which operated the Air National Guard transition training school for Corsair II pilots. In December 1989, the South Dakota
175th Tactical Fighter Squadron and Ohio
112th Tactical Fighter Squadron were at Howard AFB on a Coronet Cove deployment when President
George H. W. Bush announced Operation Just Cause, the United States Invasion of Panama. The ANG squadrons participated in the invasion, flying 34 combat missions, completing 34 sorties, expended 71.7 flying hours and expended 2,715 rounds of ordnance. This terrorist attack was largely unreported due to the
Iran hostage crisis at the time.
Grenada and Lebanon Navy A-7E squadrons
VA-15 and
VA-87, from USS
Independence, provided close air support during the
Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, in October 1983. Navy A-7s also provided air support during the
U.S. mission in
Lebanon in 1983. An A-7 and an
A-6 Intruder were shot down by
Syrian
surface-to-air missiles (SAM) on 4 December 1983.
Libya On 24 March 1986, during the
Gulf of Sidra dispute with Libya, Libyan air defense operators launched
SA-5 missiles at two Fighter Squadron 102 (
VF-102) Grumman F-14 Tomcats from USS
America that were orbiting in international air space on a
Combat Air Patrol (CAP) station. A-7s operating from responded by launching the first
AGM-88 HARM missiles ever used in combat. On the next day, A-6s attacked Libyan warships approaching the US fleet, while A-7s again launched HARM missiles against Libyan SAM sites. In April 1986, navy Sixth Fleet A-7Es from VA-72 and VA-46 embarked on board USS
America also participated in
Operation El Dorado Canyon, the retaliatory attack on Libya, using HARM and Shrike anti-radar missiles to protect the naval strike force from SAMs. A-7Es operated from multiple U.S. Navy aircraft carriers while providing escort for oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during
Operation Earnest Will. A-7Es of
VA-22 and
VA-94 from the carrier,
Enterprise, sank the
Iranian frigate
Sahand operating alongside
VA-95 as part of
Operation Praying Mantis.
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm While USAF A-7s stayed home in favor of A-10s, the USN deployed two of its last A-7E squadrons to
Operation Desert Shield in August 1990 aboard , the only carrier of six deployed to Desert Storm to operate the A-7. The navy squadrons
VA-46 and
VA-72 made the last combat sorties of the A-7 in
Operation Desert Storm flying from the Red Sea to targets throughout Iraq. The A-7 was used both day and night to attack a wide range of heavily defended deep interdiction targets in Iraq as well as "kill boxes" (geographically defined kill zones) in Kuwait, employing a variety of weapons including precision-guided munitions (PGMs), such as the TV-guided Walleye glide bomb, unguided general-purpose bombs, and High Speed Anti-Radiation missiles (HARM). The A-7 was also used as a tanker in numerous in-flight refueling missions.
Use in F-117 development The
4450th Tactical Group stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada had the distinction of being the last active USAF unit to operate the A-7 Corsair II. The mission of the 4450th TG was the operational development of the F-117, and the unit needed a surrogate aircraft for pilot training and practice. A-7Ds and A-7Ks were obtained from various active duty and air national guard squadrons and were assigned initially to the "(P)" or "Provisional" unit of the 4450th Tactical Group, redesignated the 4451st Tactical Squadron in January 1983. The A-7s were used as a deception and training aircraft by the group between 1981 and 1989. It was selected because it demanded a similar pilot workload expected in the F-117A, was single seat, and many of the F-117A pilots had F-4 or F-111 backgrounds. A-7s were used for pilot training before any F-117As had been delivered, to bring all pilots to a common flight training base line. Later, the A-7s were used as
chase planes on F-117A tests and other weapon tests at the Nellis Range. For
dissimilar air combat training, and aerial demonstrations by the
Blue Angels, the Navy would choose the more nimble A-4 Skyhawk as a subsonic maneuvering platform, as some considered the A-7 to be inadequate in air combat, even though it was highly maneuverable. While some questioned its air combat capability it was widely regarded as a highly successful attack aircraft, partly by virtue of being a stable bombing platform. Despite this, the Marine Corps also rejected the Corsair, opting instead for the
V/STOL (Vertical/Short Take Off or Landing)
AV-8 Harrier as its light attack aircraft to replace its A-4F/M Skyhawks. Greece's
Hellenic Air Force ordered sixty new A-7H aircraft and five TA-7Hs in 1974. The delivery of the airplanes started in 1975 and equipped the
347,
340, and
345 Squadrons. In 1993 the Hellenic Air Force received an additional sixty-two A-7Es and nineteen TA-7C surplus USN airplanes given to the
335 and
336 Squadrons. The last A-7Es were retired in October 2014 from the 336th Bomber Squadron. In 1976, Pakistan started talks for 110 A-7Es to strengthen its border with India, but the
Carter administration rejected the deal fearing it would intensify an arms race in South Asia with India having recently concluded a $1.6 billion arms deal with the Soviet Union. In 1978, the US instead offered Pakistan 40
F-5E Tiger II with equipment for US$400 million, but Pakistan did not find the deal acceptable and bought the Chinese
F-7MP/PG and
A-5C instead.
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons began replacing the Air National Guard Corsairs beginning in the late 1980s and the last were retired in 1993 by the units at
Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio;
Des Moines Air National Guard Base, Iowa;
Tulsa Air National Guard Base, Oklahoma; and
Springfield Air National Guard Base, Ohio. US Navy A-7 Corsairs began being phased out of the fleet during the mid-1980s with the arrival of the
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. A-7 squadrons of the
United States Navy Reserve transitioned concurrent with (but prior to the completion of) all Regular Navy squadrons. The last Navy A-7s were retired by the last fleet operational squadrons (VA-46 and VA-72) in May 1991 shortly after their return from Operation Desert Storm. By the end of 1998, with the exception of some airframes used as static displays, all US A-7s were disposed of by the AMARC. Some of these surplus aircraft were passed to Greece, Thailand and Portugal.
Portuguese Air Force A-7Ps entered service in 1981 and started being phased-out in 1994 with the arrival of the first batch of F-16A Block 15. The last unit was retired in 1999 after 18 years of service. The Corsair II served for 49 years. ==Variants==