SOUTH SIOUX CITY — A historic A-7D Corsair II fighter jet landed at its final home, Siouxland Freedom Park, on Tuesday afternoon.
The jet made a short trip across the Missouri River from the 185th Air Refueling Wing with the help of a CH-47Chinook helicopter from the Iowa Army National Guard’s B/171 Aviation Regiment, based in Davenport.
The A-7 formerly called Martin Field home, but after the field was sold and development was scheduled to take place, Marty Hogan, a board member with Siouxland Freedom Park, led the process of taking possession of the plane. Hogan said they have been working to the plane to the interpretive center for almost two years.
In May, the plane was relocated from Martin Field to the 185th to be repainted. The process was similar to Tuesday, with a Chinook helicopter lifting it from Martin Field and dropping it off at the 185th.
In order to get the plane repainted and maintained, the ownership of the plane needed to be transferred from the American Legion and the VFW, to the Air National Guard base. If that had not happened, it would have cost Siouxland Freedom Park around $20,000 just to repaint it.
Hogan said the 185th did a wonderful job of painting the jet, and pointed out the addition of Capt. Larry Christensen’s name on the plane.
“He was one of our last A-7 pilots out of the 185th,” Hogan said.
Christensen, now a brigadier general, retired from the National Guard in 2022 after 35 years. He told the Journal in 2020 about his experiences flying the A-7, as he was the last active member of the Iowa Air National Guard who flew the A-7.
“I’m a little biased because that’s what I grew up on,” he said at the time. “It was a great airplane. It did what it was designed to do very, very well.”
The A-7 will be the only plane on display in the front plot of the interpretive center. Hogan said it will have a concrete pad in the shape of the plane silhouette, and signage about the particular A-7. Hogan hopes to also include the original sign for the plan that was at Martin Field.
The A-7 fighter jet was once part of the Iowa ANG when it was known as the 185th Tactical Fighter Group in Sioux City. The 185th flew A-7s, including the one moved on Wednesday, from March 1977 to December 1991.
The Air Force’s D-model version of the Corsair II aircraft was used extensively towards the end the Vietnam War primarily for close air-support. After the war, the Air Force eventually gave sole ownership of the A-7 airframe to the Air National Guard.
Locally, both Iowa ANG units in Des Moines and Sioux City, as well as their sister unit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota flew Corsairs during the 1980s. During that time, Air Force A-7D fighters were being flown by ANG units in 10 states and Puerto Rico. The Iowa ANG in Des Moines was one of the last units to retire their A-7s when they converted to flying F-16s in September 1993.
This particular A-7 has been at Martin Field since 2003.
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Caitlin Yamada
Education and county government reporter
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