ATTACK SQUADRON SEVEN SIX (VA-76) "Spirits"
USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). May 1st,1967
piloted by LCDR Ted "T.R." Swartz / shot down a MiG-17 on 1 May 1967
Model: A-4C “Skyhawk“
Serial: BuNo 148609 #685 / NP
On May 1, 1967, Lieutenant Commander Ted "T.R." Swartz was about to make an air-to-ground missile attack on North Vietnam's Kep Airfield, north of Hanoi. His A-4C #685 was armed with unguided 5" ZUNI rockets to hit ground targets. As LCDR Swartz began his roll-in to attack the target, his wingman alerted him to a pair of enemy MiG-17 “Fresco” fighters at Swartz's 6 o'clock position. Suddenly A-4C aborted his target run pulling the aircraft into a defensive high "G" barrel roll sliding into MiG’s 6 o'clock position. LCDR Swartz pickled a salvo of ZUNI rockets from beneath his Skyhawk wings and incredibly one of the unguided ZUNIs hit one of the MiGs, which disintegrated in a ball of flame. The first, and only, shoot-down of an enemy aircraft by a Skyhawk during the Vietnam War. LCDR Swartz combat awards include the Silver Star, DFC, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
