During the twenty-nine years that the A6 Intruder served with the Marine Corps it was assigned to seven squadrons: VMA (AW) 242, 533, 224, 225, 121, 332 and VMAT(AW) 202. Of those squardons, 242, 533, 225 and 224 served in combat during the Vietnam era. During the Vietnam era the Marine Corps lost eighteen Intruders to both combat and non-combat actions. Of the 69 Intruders lost to combat by the Marines and Navy in Southeast Asia, 36 were claimed by anti-aircraft fire, 10 by SAMs, and only two by MiGs. Three Marine Intruder pilots received the Navy Cross during the Vietnam era: Major Fred Cone, Lt. Col. Lou Abrams and Major Ken Bateman. Marine Intruder squadrons spanned a twenty-nine year period beginning in 1964 with VMA(AW)-242 and ending in 1993 with VMA(AW) 332. A6 Intruder variants included both A6A and A6E models. The Marine A6's served with three Marine Air Wings, four Marine Air Groups and supplemented several Navy Air Wings on various career deployments. VMA (aw) 242 flew 16,783 sorties dropping 86,000 tons of ordinance. That represented an average of 13.9 sorties per day during the forty month of Vietnam combat operations spanning a period of November 1, 1966 through September 15, 1970 During the Vietnam era the United States Marine Corps deployed: 8- A4 Skyhawk squadrons, 4- A6 Intruder squadrons (one carrier deployment), 12- F4 Phantom squadrons (one carried deployment), 4- F8 Crusader squadrons, 1-RF4 Photo Phantom, RF8 Photo Crusader, EF10 Skyknight, EA6A Intruder Composite Reconnaissance squadron and one EA6 Intruder Detachment, 4- CH53 Sea Stallion Heavy Helicopter squadrons, 20- CH34/CH46 Sea Knight Medium Helicopter squadrons, 2- UH1 Huey Light Helicopter squadrons, 3- AH1 Cobra Attack Helicopter squadrons, 4- O-1Bird Dog/OV10 Bronco, 1- KC130 Hercules and 2- Hawk Light Anti-aircraft Missile squadrons. Former VMA (aw) 242 B/N Lt. Col. Jim Andherst formed the first reserve EA6A squadron at Whidbey Island with aircraft that had been placed in war reserve in the Arizona desert. VMA (aw) 242 Batmen were not always represented by the little black bat. When 242 was flying TBM's during WWII as VMTB 242 the squadron patch was a Bugs Bunny character riding on a torpedo. VMA (aw) 242 took twelve aircraft across the Pacific to Vietnam in October 1967. Those were: DT 1 152601 Combat loss October 1967 The original DT 2 (152602) and DT 5 (152605) were lost in a mid air collision over Virginia prior to deployment to Vietnam. Other VMA(aw)242 losses were:
A North Vietnamese "porter" on the Ho Chi Minh Trail could move up to 500 pounds of supplies using a transport bicycle. (Vietnam Magazine). One fully load A6A with 28 MK 82 500 pounders might get him. During 1969 rockets were launched on an average of every 2.5 nights against the Da Nang airfield. In the summer of 1977 VMA (aw) 242 was the last squadron in the Marine Corps to transition from the A-6A to the newer A-6E. Then, on 29 November 1977, Capt. Charlie Bolden and 1st Lt Bill Bykes flew the last operational fleet A-6A, BuNo 155682, from El Toro CA to NAS Alameda, CA. (This NATOP info was reported by LTCOL Williams Dykes.) the call signs for the various A6 Squadrons. They were: |
