Reunion at Hickory, N.C. Five former Naval Aviators and members of the VA-82 Marauders in the late ’60s met at the Hickory Aviation Museum on 5 Jul ’09 to renew acquaintances with an old friend — a A-7A known to them as Streetcar 313. From left: Tom Brown, Joel Eaton, Walt Moser, Dave Page and Kenny Wayne Fields.
On 5 July 2009, a very special day at the Hickory Aviation Museum, Hickory, N.C., five men gathered in the shadow of a long-since retired A-7A Corsair II. They had flown many hair-raising combat missions over Vietnam in this very aircraft serving as VA-82 Marauders pilots on board USS America (CVA-66) more than 40 years ago. After the war they took separate paths, and none foresaw such a unique reunion.
That this fabled war bird would be such a cornerstone in their lives was highly unlikely. While most of the aircraft these men flew would be destroyed by hostile fire, accidents or ended up in scrap heaps, A-7A BuNo 154345, soldiered on, ultimately finding a new home at a small airport in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains.
The Sabre Society was founded 20 years ago by brothers Kyle and Kregg Kirby to save a rare North American FJ-3M Fury that was languishing at a park in Taylorsville, N.C. After two years attempting to get approval to acquire the jet, they received help from the U.S. Army at Ft. Bragg. Slung beneath a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, the Fury was recovered and eventually restored in VMF-235 colors. Ted Goetz, who flew the aircraft in the mid-’50s proposed to his wife after climbing out of its cockpit. These great aircraft have magnificent stories.
Impressed by the successful acquisition of the FJ-3M, the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola offered the fledgling group a new aircraft for their inventory. That aircraft — an A-7A Corsair II located at Millington, Tenn. — became magic for the group. It had served at Millington as an instructional trainer to teach the fine art of maintaining complex aircraft. Kregg Kirby and other volunteers made the trip to Memphis in early 1992 to check out the new aircraft for the Sabre Society. Among rows of newly arrived A-7Es sat BuNo 154345. She was painted in plain gray with bright red main wheel hubs, an ugly duckling among the fully painted “Echoes” that lined the area. A check of the logbooks revealed the historic significance of this particular bird. She had flown with VA-82 on their first cruise in America in 1968. The Fury had sat in a field where scavengers had taken away souvenirs, yet the A-7 was virtually intact. The cockpit was fully fitted out, and everything else was present except for the Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-6 engine that had pushed her through the skies so many years ago. With a little tender loving care and paint, Streetcar 313 would soon attain her former glory.
So, in 1992 the volunteers of the Sabre Society trucked her to Hickory for restoration. It didn’t take long before the A-7 attracted attention. Sitting on the ramp at the fixed base of operations (FBO) in Hickory in her generic paint, she wasn’t the usual fare. Kregg Kirby worked at the FBO when a Cessna taxied in one day. The pilot of the Cessna wanted to take a closer look at the A-7. He pointed out a VA-82 insignia on his current aircraft’s control yoke to Kregg, and they headed to the A-7 together.
The Cessna pilot’s name was Joel Eaton, and he had flown VA-82 A-7s with Carrier Air Wing Six on board America in 1968. Joel reminisced about the features of the aircraft and the cockpit functions. He departed later that day and promised to check his logbooks at home — BuNo 154345 sounded familiar. A couple of days later, Joel called back — he had flown 19 combat missions in this particular aircraft.
Joel was excited about the new find and contributed pictures to the Sabre Society to help in their restoration of the aircraft. The VA-82 Corsairs on the 1968 cruise had a paint scheme that was rarely documented. It was decided that the aircraft needed to be painted in its 1968 VA-82 colors, and Joel assisted to get the scheme dead on, right down to the six stars on the blue rudder denoting CVW-6.
The 1968 deployment was significant in a number ways for America. Not only did she have the new A-7 aboard but also new F-4Js with VF-102 and VF-33. The new A-6A Intruder was on-line to bring great advances to the fleet. This A-7 represented a great generation of Naval Aviators who pioneered so many new things during such a turbulent period in our nation’s history. Its restoration preserved that image. When the restoration was complete, Eaton sent a very generous letter to Pensacola praising the effort. This meant a great deal to the “nuggets” who were trying to start a new aviation museum.
In 2007, Sabre Society member Jeff Willhelm, a photographer with The Charlotte Observer, was shooting pictures of a retired Navy pilot in Mooresville, N.C. CDR Kenny Wayne Fields had just published a book, The Rescue of Streetcar 304, about his experience evading capture after being shot down over Laos on his first combat mission. Willhelm noted a profile picture of Streetcar 304 hanging in Field’s office, the AE tailcode and rudder were identical to the society’s Corsair II. Fields indicated that he wanted to be photographed at Hickory Airport.
While Fields checked his logbook, Willhelm coordinated with Sabre Society curator Kyle Kirby to propose the photograph and to check the A-7’s bureau number. Kyle provided the information. Fields had indeed flown BuNo 154345 and was actually the first man to land her on a carrier deck.
A few days later Kenny arrived at the airport for the photograph and was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of Sabre Society volunteers, and the stories began to fly. He had not been in the cockpit of a Corsair II for many years. But, seeing 313 on the ramp and sitting in the ejection seat brought back many memories. He provided copies of his new award-winning book, and everyone accepted his own to read. Kenny and Joel Eaton had flown combat together. Mission and group photos documented it.
Later that year Walt Moser of Gastonia, N.C., walked onto the ramp at Hickory. His fellow veterans Eaton and Fields had called to tell him about Streetcar 313. He had flown her too. He has a photo of himself preflighting Streetcar 313 prior to a mission.
VA-82 was tasked to fly a lot of night missions on their ’68 cruise. Moser was airborne on the night of 24 July 1968 with squadronmate David “Scotty” Greiling on a bombing mission. Greiling was on a night bombing run when he was lost. He was VA-82’s only combat loss on the cruise. Moser had some of Scotty’s personal effects and had been looking for his family for decades.
Moser’s logbooks also identify him as the pilot who flew BuNo 154345 to the boneyard once VA-82 transitioned to the A-7B model.
The odds are incredible — one pilot landing at a small airport finds one of his old war birds, while less than 50 miles away live two of his shipmates who also flew the same airplane into harm’s way.
The reunions in Hickory have become more frequent and emotional but always very special. Kenny has been gracious to do book signings at the museum, now known as the Hickory Aviation Museum. These include Joel and Walt. It was at the first book signing that Joel noticed something unique and important. On the very first picture page of Kenny’s book, there is a photo of a Mk 82 bomb and Zuni rocket-equipped A-7 launching off America. Kyle Kirby had already identified the aircraft as BuNo 154345, but Eaton noticed the pilot’s helmet. It was rather unusual as it was an astronaut style helmet. Eaton was the only man to wear one of these on the cruise. It was Joel Eaton in the museum’s aircraft in this very picture.
Eaton had been injured during a night catapult shot when a small hexagonal counterbalance on the gunsight had worked its way loose. Upon launch the metal piece struck him in the eye. He had trouble seeing through the standard issue helmets with tinted visors, so he asked the equipment technicians for help. This was the only helmet that had a clear visor so Eaton used it until he recovered from his injury. Eaton checked his logbooks and found that he had carried Zunis only once, and that was in BuNo 154345. Now the Hickory Aviation Museum has this very helmet and actual combat photos of that mission on 8 July 1968. All three men have graciously donated artifacts and photos to the museum.
After Field’s first book signing in December 2007, photos and a story of the event were added to the museum’s Web site. The three Naval Aviators provided information, and it meant a great deal to the museum.
In Hawaii, Karen DeBellis, wife of EA-6B Prowler pilot Jay DeBellis, was surfing the Internet for information on a very special man. She was only six months old when her father was lost on a bomb run on 24 July 1968. She is the daughter of Scotty Greiling, and the search led her to Walt Moser’s story on the Hickory Aviation Museum Web site. She e-mailed the museum regarding who she was. Kyle Kirby informed an emotional Walt Moser, and another family circle closed around Streetcar 313.
This year on 5 July, Kenny did another book signing to help raise money for the museum. Eaton and Moser were in attendance. Two other VA-82 1968 cruise alumni also made the journey to Hickory to see the Corsair II. One was then-LCDR Dave Page who couldn’t believe that the cockpit smelled exactly the same. The other pilot ventured from Denver, Colo., to see Streetcar 313 was Tom Brown, who is now a B-747 instructor for Boeing and Evergreen and has enjoyed a long career in aviation. He always carried a camera in the cockpit, so he had a plethora of photos including several of BuNo 154345 on combat missions. Brown was the first person in VA-82 to fly Streetcar 313 when he picked it up at the LTV factory on 13 January 1968. He later flew 17 of his 98 combat missions in the aircraft.
The event was publicized locally, and many locals greeted the aviators to add to the reunion. The afternoon of the reunion was pure magic. We witnessed history until now unwritten. Here was a group of guys willing to give their lives for our freedom. They were barely kids when they flew this A-7. It is great fun to listen to their ribbing, joking and the stories that flow when they are together.
The A-7 was brand new when they joined VA-82. The commanding and executive officers were combat experienced, having been in A-1 Skyraider units flying combat missions previously. These guys flew in stressful conditions and performed superbly. It is humbling for the museum to be able, in some small way, to be associated with these great men and to give them hearty thanks for their service.
There is talk about having a 1968 VA-82 reunion in Hickory. When that happens, the five Marauder pilots want to have Scotty Greiling’s name painted on the canopy, and to have Karen and Jay DeBellis be there to unveil this chapter in Streetcar 313’s legacy.
Naval Aviator wives who attended the event were equally enthusiastic. They had sacrificed too, and it was a very significant day for some VA-82 alumni and the United States Navy. Walt Moser said it best, “This great aircraft always got us home safely, and it continues to keep bringing us back together.”
Division of VA-82 Marauders over the Caribbean near Roosevelt Roads, P.R., in the late ’60s. The Hickory Museum’s aircraft leads the formation with Streetcar 304 directly behind it. Streetcar 304 was the aircraft flown by Kenny Wayne Fields when he was shot down and is the subject of a book written by Fields — The Rescue of Streetcar 304.