Carrier Air Wing 16 USS Oriskany 1965-1967

Bullseye Model Aviation, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by David Couche

Carrier Air Wing Sixteen was a carrier air wing of the United States Navy. It was established as Carrier Air Group Sixteen on 1 September 1960. It became Carrier Air Wing Sixteen on 20 December, 1963, and was disestablished in 1971. The wing served aboard USS Oriskany (photo below) from 1962 (as a CVG) to 1968, including the heavy losses of the 1967-68 cruise.

 
During the combat tour, Carrier Air Wing 16 suffered perhaps the highest loss rate of any naval air wing during the Vietnam War, losing half of assigned planes – 29 to combat damage and another 10 to operational causes – and had 20 pilots killed and another 9 taken prisoner. One contribution to this heavy loss rate was the air wings’ unrelenting pace, as the pilots flew over 9,500 missions, including 181 air strikes into the heavily defended Hanoi–Haiphong corridor.

The package is in the usual heavy A4 size zip lock bag and supplies us with 2 sheets of decals and an A4 colour instruction booklet. The decal sheets are printed by Cartograf, so you can expect the usual ease of use, great settling down qualities as well as being in excellent register. The instruction booklet is a matt colour printed 16-page booklet.

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Thumbnail panels:

The back cover has some photographs of those real aircraft.  I have included photos of some these aircraft as part of the review. The next 4 pages have side profiles of 12 aircraft, accompanied by useful brief notes and positional help. Following on is a page of painting information and then 4 pages of various commonly used loadouts for each of these types that CAW 16 used. and painting guides, as well as the load outs for each of these aircraft on their missions. Whilst similar, these load outs were varied as to what drop tanks, bombs, rockets and missile loads they carried. This will enable you to build the model historically accurate.

All aircraft are the standard Gull Grey and White schemes of that period of the Vietnam war. Then we have 3 pages of comprehensive notes and stories of CAW 16 and its crews. Lastly is a double page with aircraft profiles which gives us the stencilling that was on these aircraft at that time.

There is a written rider that the demands of carrier aviation are numerous, and it was harsh on paint with many stencils being painted over or wearing off. It will pay to check your refences for accuracy.

The aircraft in this set are:

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk

• A-4E, 151067, AH 340, “Old Salt 340”, VA-163 Saints Cdr. James Stockdale, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1965

• A-4E, 152100, AH 301, “Old Salt 301”, VA-163 Saints, Cdr. Wynn Foster, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1966

• A-4E, 152003, AH 300, “Old Salt 300”, VA-163 Saints, LTJG Denny Earl, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1967 \

• A-4E, 152085, AH 460, “Magic Stone 460”, VA-164 Ghost Riders, Cdr. Robert Spruit, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1965

• A-4E, 152048, AH 406, “Magic Stone 406”, VA-164 Ghost Riders, Lady Jessie, LCdr. Richard Perry, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1966

• A-4E, 151991, AH 402, “Magic Stone 402”, VA-164 Ghost Riders, Cdr. William Span, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1967

Douglas A-1H Skyraider

• A-1H, 142051, AH 582, “Locket 582”, VA-152 Friendlies, Cdr. Gordon Smith, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1965

• A-1H, 137629, AH 510, “Locket 510”, VA-152 Friendlies, Lt. John Feldhaus, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1966

• A-1H, 142056, AH 501, “Locket 501”,VA-152 Friendlies, Cdr. D. M. Willson, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1967

Vought F-8E Crusader

• F-8E, 150932, WD 101, “Sea Grape 101”, VMF(AW)-212 Lancers, Lt.Col. Charles Ludden, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1965

• F-8E, 150924, AH 201, “Superheat 201”, VF-162 Hunters, Cdr. Richard Bellinger, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1966

• F-8E, 150907, AH 101, “Old Nick 101”, VF-111 Sundowners, Cdr. Richard Cook, USS Oriskany (CV-34), 1966

Bullseye Model Aviation has produced another very nice, high-quality decal set. It is suitable for a multitude of varied kits. Bullseye supplies a good deal of reference material needed to build these models accurately for those missions flying from Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin.

With the production quality of Cartograf and the historical accuracy that Bullseye provide this is a great set of decals to have.

Highly Recommended.

https://the48ers.com/

Thanks to Bullseye Model Aviation for the sample.

Text Copyright © 2024 by David Couche
Images Copyright © 2024 by Bullseye Model Aviation
This Page Created on 17 July, 2024
Last updated 17 July, 2024

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