Lessons Learned

[@AvengerII]

Technically, That WASN'T the last chapter of the A-7 with the Navy. When they were doing the weapons tests with the USS America (CV-66) prior to it being scuttled and sunk in a deep part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Navy stored at least 2 squadrons' worth of decommissioned A-7D's from the Ohio National Guard in the hangar deck of the America. This was to see what the impact of heavy live-fire on the carrier and embarked aircraft would be. Needless to say, graphic photos of the aftermath of those weapons tests were never published. There are only 2 publicly available photos of the America's scuttling I'm aware of that were every published -- 1 at surface from head-on when the bow is just below the ocean top, and the second of the ship's hull visible when it's only a few seconds completely submerged -- you just see at outline that's maybe one-third of the ship's length at surface.

[@longrider188]

1:06 The squadron was called the "Clansmen" ????

[@astro_karbowski]

The initial commander of VA-64 was Clifford McDougal, which was obviously a Scottish last name and chose a Scottish heritage for the squadron. The squadron patch has Scottish tartans involved in it as well. In Scotland, families are known as "clans" hence the name "clansmen"

[@h.r.puffnstuff8705]

What you never seen Braveheart? “With a C not a K” ! Seen a lot of brawls in the 0400 liberty launch lines over that one. Funny how simple minded Yanks can be.