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The Human Engineering of the A6 was good.  Items that were the pilot’s concern were on the left side of the instrument panel or on the left console.  Items that were the B/N’s concern were on the right side of the instrument panel or on the right console.  Those things that both the pilot and the B/N needed were in the center of the instrument panel or on the center console.  Radios, for example, were on the center console.  All of the armament panels were in the center of the instrument panel except for the Multiple Release Switch, which was located adjacent to the B/N’s right knee.  It allowed the B/N to select the number of bombs to release.  It would select Off, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, or 30 pulses to release the selected number of bombs.  We called it the Dial-a-Bomb switch.

Don and I met in VMA (AW)-224, where we trained together.  We went overseas about the same time and joined VMA (AW)-242.  We teamed up, flew 116 missions together and were roommates (a good combination when you return from the same night mission, you do not stumble around in the dark and wake your roommate).

On several missions, both of us got scared; but on one mission, I scared Don.  In the fall of 1968, we had a night mission in Route Package One (the southern 60 miles of North Vietnam).  Our ordnance load was eighteen 500-pound bombs and ten 500-pound mines.  We laid the mines, as planned, in a river and were about to start an armed reconnaissance to hunt trucks; when we were told to contact a high speed FAC, with a priority target.

We made radio contact and headed his way, as he briefed us on the target.  He observed trucks parked in hoochs, with tire tracks leading into the huts, but not beyond.  He said to expect ground fire; previous flights had taken a lot of fire attacking the trucks.  Then he said, "I’ll drop a parachute flare.”  I thought, "Oh boy, night dive-bombing, with the target illuminated by a flare," something I had not done since a weapons deployment to Yuma, Arizona, six months previously.

We got to the location of the truck park in the foothills of the Annamite Mountains.  The FAC radioed that he wanted six of our 18 bombs on the first run and that he was dropping the flare.  I pulled up, to establish a dive bomb run.  We popped through a cloud layer, but it was thin enough that I could see the glow of the flare.  I let the nose fall through to start the dive, when it seemed right.  We punched through the cloud and found the flare way out in front of where I thought it would be located.  I converted a planned 30º dive to a 15º dive.  I also knew that my release height would be lower because of the shallow dive angle.  I could not see the target yet, so I pointed the refueling probe at the flare, to guide me to the target.  I closed one eye, so the brilliance of the flare would not night-blind both eyes. 

Eventually I made out the ridgeline and the huts.  I was so busy trying to line up that I never saw ground fire; but Don recalls that we took some fire.  I got the pipper lined up on a hut and mashed the bomb pickle.  I held the dive as the bombs came off, expecting six thumps; but there were a lot more.  I pulled up and the FAC said "Great hits!  On the next run get the hut to the south.”  I said to Don, "How many bombs did we drop?”  Don replied, "All of them.  Let’s get the hell out of here!"

I radioed the FAC, "We experienced an intervelometer malfunction.  We are ammo minus and headed to homeplate.”  I knew that Don had revised the armament switches during the run.  I knew how professional he is; I knew that I must have upset him.  After we climbed to a safer altitude and got feet wet, Don explained that he kept watching that ridge coming up, simultaneously reaching down to the "Dial-a-Bomb” switch and increasing it to 9; watching longer, cranking to 12, then to15 and finally to 30.  The lower we got, the more he twisted the switch.

I did get a bit low.

BIOGRAPHY:

Don Diederich enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1950.  He became an enlisted Navigator in 1958, flying with almost every transport squadron.  He was appointed a Warrant Officer in February 1966.  In May 1966, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.  He began flying the A6 in 1967 and served in VMA (AW)-224, VMA (AW)-242, VMA (AW)-332, and VMA (AW) -533 and as an Instructor in MAWTU (where he flew with all Marine A6 squadrons).  In 1975, the Commandant of the Marine Corps selected him as the Naval Flight Officer of the Year.  Don Diederich retired, with 28 years of service, in 1978.

Jim Perso was commissioned via NROTC in 1964; he attended The Basic School and Flight Training.  He flew with VMA (AW)-224, VMA (AW)-242 and as an Instructor in VMAT (AW)-202 and MAWTULant (Marine Air Weapons Training Unit – Atlantic).  He left the Marine Corps in 1971. 
 

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