It's not every day that one sees an armed military plane, much less when a toilet takes the place of bombs and missiles. But believe me, this has happened at least twice: once in 1965 and another apparently this month.
Images circulating on social media show the vessel loaded on one of the hangers on the left wing of an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter, from the US Navy's VFA-25 Fist of the Fleet squadron.
VFA-25's F/A-18E with a toilet bowl throwin it back to the VA-25 Skyraider days! https://t.co/kj3EEUK81q pic.twitter.com/mCVKN4TCs6
— 笑脸男人 (@lfx160219) September 17, 2022
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The vessel in question received a set of stabilizing fins and the squadron emblem.
The exact dates and circumstances behind it are still unknown. The unity changed commander last thursday (15), the same day the images surfaced on Instagram, so it's possible the "special bombshell" could have been ed for this occasion.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ciipuqov3AI/
What is certain is that the vessel is an interesting tribute to an event that took place in the heat of the War in Vietnam, more specifically on November 4, 1965. At the time, the VFA-25 was a squadron dedicated to ground attack missions, with the designation VA-25 and operating the venerable A-1 Skyraider.
Formerly called the AD Skyraider in the Navy, the A-1 was developed by Douglas after World War II. The plane had a single engine. Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone (the same as the B-29 Superfortress) and even fought in the forgotten Korean War.
The model, however, made his fame flying over the dense jungle of Vietnam, where it stood out among the agile jets for carrying an enormous amount of weapons for its size, as well as its robustness.
But back to November 1965. The squadron was operating aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway. It was the last mission before returning to the US, and the military had just reached the mark of 6 million pounds (about 2,721,554 kilos) in ammunition used in the conflict. To celebrate the impressive number, the sailors decided to take a “special bomb” to North Vietnam.
The A-1H Skyraider, No. modex 572, piloted by Commander Clarence W. Stoddard, was catapulted from the Midway at the same time an officer asked "what the hell is that on the wing of the 572?"
It was a toilet. The 'apparatus' was damaged and would be thrown overboard, but some military men had a better idea. The vase was caged with pieces of iron, received stabilizer fins and even a spindle at the front. And so it was loaded into the A-1 and thrown at the North Vietnamese.
Strange as it may seem, the story is real and made famous on the internet by a photo showing the A-1 of CMDR Stoddard, loaded with the toilet and the real pumps.
Almost 60 years later, the vessel returned to the wings of the North American squadron, but in another aircraft. Despite being comical, the vase on the Super Hornet is yet another practical example of how traditional the military aeronautical environment is.
Originally founded in 1943 with the SB2C Helldiver, the VFA-25 has nearly 80 years of history and a legacy that is ed down through generations of squadron . Today the unit operates supersonic F / A-18E Super Hornet and is headquartered at Lemoore Naval Air Base.
With information gene slover, midway sailor
Editor's Note: In 1985, during the filming of the blockbuster Top Gun - Indomitable Aces, one of the fighters F-14 Tomcat received the VA-25 badge, even though the unit never flew that plane. In the film, the Tomcat in question was flown by the characters Iceman (Val Kilmer) and Slider (Rick Rossovich).
