Page 43
73-00878, 63rd Tactical Wing, RVNAF, Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, 1974
VFC-13 “Fighting Saints”, US Navy, NAS Fallon, Nevada, USA, 1998
73-00878, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Renovation for the Aviation
Museum Kbely, Prague, Czech Republic, 2023
Apart of the “Skoshi Tiger” program, which during
the Vietnam War represented the only USAF
combat deployment with F-5A respectively with
modified F-5C aircraft, the USAF never intended
to use this type. However, the F-5A and later
the F-5E were used extensively by the South
Vietnamese Air Force, which adopted the aircraft
in the standard four-color SEA (South East Asia)
camouflage scheme. The aircraft were used as
strike aircraft, as the lack of radar limited the use
of the F-5A for aerial combat. Only the delivery
of upgraded F-5Es, which had already arrived
at the end of the war, changed the situation.
This aircraft was deployed by the South
Vietnamese Air Force from June 1974, and had
flown 153 hours and 30 minutes by April 1975,
when it was taken over by North Vietnamese
forces at the end of the war. After being put
out of operation for some time, it was was used
again from 1978 and in April 1981 it went to
Czechoslovakia as a study example.
The unit was established on September 1, 1973,
as VC-13 (Fleet Composite Squadron) during the
reorganization of the Naval Air Reserve Force.
Initially armed with the F-8 Crusaders, the
squadron rearmed to the A-4 Skyhawks in 1974.
It was then assigned to combat pilot training
duties and moved to NAS Miramar, California,
in February 1976. Redesignation to VFC-13 (Fighter
Composite Squadron) occurred in April 1988, the
same year it also transitioned to A-4F aircraft,
which it replaced with F/A-18As in August 1993.
Just three years later, however, it replaced them
with F-5Es and moved to Fallon AFB to take over
the adversary role from VFA-45 and VFA-127
Squadrons. In December 2022, the squadron
rearmed to the F-16C. The aircraft shown here
flew in 1998 in a “Blue Scheme” consisting of
two shades of blue to simulate the appearance
of modern Russian aircraft. This is also matched
by the red stars on the vertical fin. The pilot
is listed as Cdr Jim “Guido” DiMatteo, former
commander of the adversary squadron in Top Gun
and son of wartime pilot Dominic Dee DiMatteo,
who flew Hellcats in VF-11 and subsequently
Bearcats and Corsairs in the Korean War
(he turned 100 in 2021).
After the aircraft of serial number 73-00878 was
delivered from Vietnam to Czechoslovakia in
1981. At the time, it had flown only 236 hours and
20 minutes. It was stationed at Aero Vodochody
factory and kept in secrecy. There its design
and systems were studied. It was gradually
disassembled, and the individual components
were handed over to the relevant companies,
including the armament and targeting systems.
Later on, the largely incomplete airframe with
only one engine was handed over to the Aviation
Museum in Kbely, where it was put on display in
an external exhibition, thus further deteriorating.
Thanks to the efforts of the staff of the Kbely
Aviation Museum and the Česká aviatická (Czech
Aviaton) company, Malešice Aircraft Repairs
state-owned company, almost all important
components were found and recovered, so
the aircraft could be carefully restored to the
condition in which it was received in 1981.
KITS 03/2024
INFO Eduard
43
March 2024