Corsair IIs, but in January 1989 the last A-7s
were transferred to Aircraft Maintenance and
Regeneration Center (AMARC) at Davis-
Monthan AFB in Arizona for storage.
On January 12, 1981 ten A-7Ds were
destroyed in a terrorist attack on Luis Muñoz
Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico. The
aircraft were part of the 198th TFS and formed
part of the Puerto Rico ANG. While the attack
was the largest against an American military
station since the Vietnam War, it went largely
unreported because it was overshadowed by
the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans
were held for 444 days.
The last USAF active duty squadron
to operate the A-7 was the 23rd TFW at
England AFB in Louisiana which retired its last
example in June 1981.
The ANG started to replace its A-7s with
F-16s in the late 1980s and the last such unit
to retire the Corsair II was the 125th Tactical
Fighter Squadron of the Oklahoma ANG at
Tulsa in October 1993.OVERSEAS OPERATORS
Many of the surplus aircraft were sold to
Greece, Thailand and Portugal. Greece
continued to operate the A-7s in frontline
service until October 17, 2014 when the
Hellenic Air Force (HAF) retired its nal
A-7Hs and TA-7Hs at Araxos Air Base,
having served there with the 116th Combat
Wing. Fifteen A-7E and two TA-7C aircraft
were decommissioned during the ceremony,
the remainders of a force that was once
comprised 60 A-7Hs and ve TA-7Hs plus a
further 50 A-7Es and 18 TA-7Cs. In Greekservice the aircraft ew in ve HAF squadrons
and during its career in Greek service 13
aircraft were lost.
The Portuguese Air Force (PoAF) received
20 refurbished former US Navy A-7As, which
were designated as A-7P and TA-7Ps in
service. Each was powered by a TF30-P408
engine and was equipped with avionics from
D and E variants.. The rst of the initial batch
of nine aircraft was handed over on December
24, 1981 and in 1983 an additional 24 A-7Ps
and six TA-7Ps were authorised with deliveries
made between October 8, 1984 and April 30,- Sadly, one of the aircraft was lost on
a test ight prior to delivery when it suffered
a bird strike and crashed in Oklahoma,
killing the pilot. Between 1981 and 1996
the type was operated by Attack Squadron
302 Águias Reais based at Air Base No 5 at
Monte Real and between 1984 and 1999 by
Attack Squadron 304 Magní cos at the same
location. The last ight of a Portuguese A-7
Corsair was on June 10, 1999
The Thai Government bought 14 A-7Es
and four TA-7Cs primarily for coastal defence
and these were delivered in the summer of
1995 to the 104th White Shark Squadron, 1st
Wing at U-Tapao International Airport. The
A-7s were placed in reserve on July 20, 2007,
but the Royal Thai Navy has maintained them
in excellent condition with the aim of possibly
reintegrating them.
Total production of the A-7 Corsair
II reached 1,569 aircraft. It de ned a
generation and became something of an
iconic warplane; its role in Vietnam bringing
the type to the attention of the general public.
Following retirement many Corsair IIs have
found their way into private collections and
museums.Hellenic Air Force TA-7H 155774
performs a formation take-off from
Kleine Brogel AB in Belgium with A-7H- AirTeamImages.com/Jan Severijns
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 55Portugal received the rst of its Corsair IIs in December 1981. Key Collection48-55_a7DC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDCDC.mf.indd 55 07/01/2016 16:18