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The original source for this page is Troy Prince, MidwaySailor.com, with story by Clint Johnson. Thanks to Ed Lipman for finding it. This little piece of Vietnam history will make you smile.
“We gave them everything we had… EVERYTHING!”
A true story from VA-25. Just as this AD was being shot off, a 1MC message came from the bridge: “What the hell was on 572’s right wing?”
According to Squadron Historian Holt Livesay, on 4 November 1965 on the last mission of the cruise, CDR Clarence W. Stoddard, Jr., Executive Officer of VA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese to commemorate the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of its type — it was a toilet.
For those too young to remember, during the Vietnam conflict, carriers were so woefully short of ordnance that missions were often launched with only a half load just to keep the sortie rate up. Given that the loss rate approached, and sometimes exceeded, one aircraft a day, all will understand the reticence to launch with less than a full load. Nevertheless, the indomitable spirit of the carrier aviators prevailed in some rather perverse ways. Yes, this really happened.
The following is an account courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965.
572 was flown by CDR C. W. ‘Bill’ Stoddard. His wingman in 577 was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera. The flight was a Dixie Station strike going to the Delta. When CDR Stoddard read the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with “and one code name Sani-flush.”
The FAC couldn’t believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop. When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane. It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet that was going to be thrown overboard. One of the plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tail fins and nose fuse for it. The squadron flight deck checkers maintained a position to block the view of the Captain and Air Boss while the aircraft was taxiing onto the catapult. Just as it was being shot off, a 1MC message came from the bridge: “What the hell was on 572’s right wing?”
Video by Russell Falb, via Ken Young, the son of James E. Young, who was the Plane Captain of NE 572. Originally silent film, music was added. To our knowledge there were no BDA reports.