Richard (Dick) Koehler, who flew the A-6 Intruder during the Vietnam War, will speak about his career and experiences in the cockpit on Thursday, October 10, at 7 p.m. as part of the EAA Aviation Museum Aviation Adventure Speaker Series.
Dick, EAA 161427, grew up with aviation being a part of everyday life, as his father flew PB4Y Privateers in the U.S. Navy during World War II and stayed involved in aviation for years afterward, later training Dick. After graduating from Purdue University with an aeronautical engineering degree while on a full Navy ROTC scholarship, Dick went on active duty with the Navy in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War.
Following pilot training and jet carrier qualifying, Dick selected the Grumman A-6 Intruder as the aircraft he wanted to fly, having graduated at the top of his class and earning pick of the litter. Dick was deployed to Southeast Asia in 1971 aboard the USS Enterprise. During his time on the Enterprise, which lasted until 1973, Dick flew 147 combat missions in the A-6, flying the standard A-6A attack variant, suppression of enemy air defenses-focused A-6B, and the KA-6D tanker variant.
“The A-6 had beautiful handling qualities,” Dick said. “It was designed to be a very efficient subsonic… all-weather bomber. So there were two of us in the airplane, the pilot and the bombardier/navigator. We sat side-by-side. The bombardier/navigator was, I think, four inches lower and four inches behind me, but essentially side-by-side. He did not have any flight controls. He operated the systems. And the A-6 was the first airplane, I think, in the world that had a digital computer interconnecting all the different operating parts of the weapon system.”
During his tour, Dick amassed nearly 400 carrier landings and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for singlehandedly sinking a North Vietnamese patrol boat carrying missiles in Hon Gay harbor. Many of the missions he flew in the A-6A were flown at night at altitudes of just 300 feet, traveling at speeds of 450 to 500 knots. Missions often targeted airfields or thermal power plants that were defended by surface-to-air missiles and hundreds of anti-aircraft guns.
Additionally, Dick flew the A-6B armed with anti-radiation missiles in SEAD missions — essentially the Navy equivalent of the Air Force’s Wild Weasel program. In December 1972, he flew support for B-52s during Operation Linebacker II, oftentimes exhausting his supply of four missiles on enemy radar sites and then serving as bait for the North Vietnamese to draw away fire from the B-52s. On one mission, he dodged more than 35 SAMs. Dick’s experiences in the A-6 served as inspiration for certain events depicted in Stephen Coonts’ 1986 novel Flight of the Intruder, which was later made into a movie of the same name in 1991, starring Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe.
Following his combat tours and graduate school, Dick served as the manager of depot level Navy aircraft repair and maintenance facility in the Philippines. He then served as a test pilot for a Navy research center on the East Coast, flying T-2s and A-7s, and followed that by serving as deputy program manager for the Navy’s T-45 program. In the mid-1980s, he served as the commanding officer of the Navy’s production office for the Australian co-production of the F/A-18 Hornet, and personally delivered the first Hornet to the Royal Australian Air Force. Following a number of other positions with the Navy, Dick retired as a captain in 1993.
Speaker Series presentations are free for all EAA members and youths, and just $5 for nonmembers.
If you’re unable to attend, all Aviation Adventure Speaker Series presentations are recorded and will be available to members to watch at a later date.