AD-3 Skyraider "Hefty Betty" model.

A tour of the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park has highlights of Brigadier General R.G. Head’s artistic airplane models and renditions of three military planes, all of which depict the planes exactly as they were when in use. The displayed models include a 1916 Albatross, a Hawker Hurricane, and a Supermarine Spitfire. The latter is a seven-foot model. When his fourth model, a Skyraider, was donated during a special ceremony in the Edwin D. McKellar Pavilion of Flight on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, it became the largest of his creations – nine feet by six feet – presented to the Museum.

Museum President & CEO Jim Kidrick and Brig. Gen. RG Head during the Skyraider presentation on Nov. 15, 2024.

A little more about Brig. Gen. Head’s latest expert donation in his own words:
“There are three parts to the story of the Douglas Skyraider AD-3, ‘Hefty Betty’: 1) building the model; 2) flying the airplane; 3) the Navy history of the aircraft.

I always wanted to build a big Skyraider that I flew in Vietnam. Having finished four doll houses for the grandchildren, I talked to Curator Jerry Kidrick about a year ago. He and Tony Beres needed an early model AD (Attack Douglas) for the Korean War exhibit, and we agreed on the AD-3.

The first step was researching the aircraft with the Navy History and Heritage Command and collecting articles and photographs. Then I bought a set of Nick Ziroli plans at 1/6 scale (9-foot Wingspan) and Short and Complete kits of laser-cut wood from National Balsa. Construction put together formers and stringers like a WWI airplane. The covering is high quality sheet balsa. The 18-cylinder engine is molded, as is the cowling. The cockpit was the most difficult. But I relied on my memory and photos of the A-1 in the USAF Museum. The 2000-lb bombs are three-D printed plastic. The 5-in rockets I made myself. The color is Navy Gloss Sea Blue.

I volunteered for the A-1 while flying F-100s. My squadron had been training mostly on ground attack in Florida, Japan and Turkey when I heard the Air Force had bought 350 A-1Es for Vietnam. I volunteered and arrived in-country in January 1965. We were advisors and flew with Vietnamese until March when the war escalated. I flew twice daily missions and was in two big battles. We were scrambled from night alert when the VC attacked the Special Forces camp at Dong Xoai. The weather was bad, so we bombed and strafed under the clouds.

The second was the Battle of Plei Mei, one of the first attacks by a North Vietnamese division. We bombed and strafed, and that night was the closest I ever got to getting killed. I was landing at a short strip we had on the coast and narrowly missed hitting a mountain next to the runway. Between these two battles, I had my landing gear break, and I had to crash land and became a “Tail Hooker.”

Tony found a photograph of AD-3 Bureau Number 122737, with the nickname, “Hefty Bette” so I researched the archives and found it was produced in 1948 and sent to Reserve Squadron VAS-923 at NAS St. Louis. Our plane deployed on the USS “Bon Homme Richard” (CV-31) in May 1951 to Korea. When the “Bonny Dick” came home in December of that year, “Hefty Bette” was transferred to VF-54 on the USS Essex (CV-9). Yes, VF-54 from NASNI. In February, CDR Paul Gray led the squadron on the famous mission to bomb the three bridges at Samdong-Ni. Eight AD-3s each delivered two 2,000-lb bombs and dropped all three bridges in the river. When the Admiral invited James Michener to CDR Gray’s debriefing, the mission became a book and a movie, ‘The Bridges at Toko-Ri.’”

The “Hefty Betty” Skyraider will eventually be featured in the Museum’s Modern Jet Age Gallery adjacent to the Korean and Vietnam War exhibits.