And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
RA-5C Vigilante (I think). USS Enterprise (CVN-65). I left the ship in November 1978 in Alameda, CA just before it went to Bremerton, WA for a yard period. At the time the A-5 was the only plane we had that launched with afterburners. The F-14s were still fairly new and usually didn't carry drop tanks, so no afterburners on launch. That all changed later. When the A-5 launched at night it was a sight to behold. It looks like there are a couple more in the background. When I joined the ship in 1976 we only carried one. Can't remember what squadron to save my life. I believe they were out of Key West.
My old neighbor had been a Vigilante driver, transitioning from it being a strike bomber to a recon plane in Vietnam. He had some neat stories of what sounded like a fascinating aircraft.
A-5 Vigilante, back when they Navy still thought it could be a supersonic bomber. The RA-5C would have had the Side-Looking Radar pod slung underneath on the centerline. Note also, orange flight suits and brown flight boots.
Brown Shoe Navy. The surface types wore black shoes, thus the difference of the brown vs black shoe navies. That term was still around when I was in even though the surface officers were also wearing brown shoes when wearing khaki.
Vigilante was always one of my favorites....used to do a lot of work at Pax River, and there were many stories about how fast this plane really was....how many were true remains to be seen....like the time one took off from Pax River and landed at Jax NAS 15 minutes later?....not unless he took off and went immediately to 2800 miles an hour with no allowance for slow down to land...I always laughed when I heard that one....SR 71 only went 2100 or so, and that was the fastest plane we ever had....at least, as far as I know.....who knows what alien tech they are using to attain higher speeds than that....LOL...
We had one flying over NAS Key West back in 1968 taking pictures at night. He'd fly over and take a picture and the entire area would light up as daylight. I was with the CDO when a local sheriff called and said there was a plane flying around and it looked like he was on fire. I made the mistake of standing behind one, about a 1/4 mile away, when he lit the afterburners to take off. It took me off my feet.
From the lack of the ventral camera fairing, it is an A-5. I found the photo and from the caption the aircraft is part of VAH-7 "The Peacemakers" squadron. If the caption is correct, the photo predates December 1,1964 as this squadron was redesignated RVAH-7 on that date after being reequipped with the RA-5C.
If you look closely, there is another RA-5 in the background by the island. Note the small window (black area) on the rear canopy. The NFO in the backseat was in the dark most of the time. Plus, it was really too big (long) for shipboard ops. Evidently the Vigilante was a handful to land aboard and was phased out of shipboard ops around the end of the 70s.
During the vet war, it was also used as a mail and parts plane. The two cods were broken so to get parts and mail they took out the internal fuel tank and put the parts and mail in its place. Fastest mail delivery we had during that time. It was on the USS Ranger CVA-61. That was before all the carriers got changed to CV. Was with VA-25, using A-7E's to deliver bombs to nam. It was faster then the F-4J's that were on board. Mitchell Grundbrecher AQ-1. In the 1970's.
A-5 Vigilante
ReplyDeleteYeah, winner.
DeleteBiggest tub of parts ever launched off of carriers on the reg.
RA-5C Vigilante (I think). USS Enterprise (CVN-65). I left the ship in November 1978 in Alameda, CA just before it went to Bremerton, WA for a yard period. At the time the A-5 was the only plane we had that launched with afterburners. The F-14s were still fairly new and usually didn't carry drop tanks, so no afterburners on launch. That all changed later. When the A-5 launched at night it was a sight to behold. It looks like there are a couple more in the background. When I joined the ship in 1976 we only carried one. Can't remember what squadron to save my life. I believe they were out of Key West.
ReplyDeleteThe RA-5 home was the former NAS Sanford, near Orlando. Still have a Viggie on a stick at the entrance to the airport.
DeleteJust an A-5. The RA-5 had a sensor "canoe" under the fuselage, snd camera ports.
DeleteMy old neighbor had been a Vigilante driver, transitioning from it being a strike bomber to a recon plane in Vietnam. He had some neat stories of what sounded like a fascinating aircraft.
ReplyDeleteA-5 Vigilante, back when they Navy still thought it could be a supersonic bomber. The RA-5C would have had the Side-Looking Radar pod slung underneath on the centerline.
ReplyDeleteNote also, orange flight suits and brown flight boots.
I noticed those brown boots right away. Interesting.
DeleteBrown Shoe Navy. The surface types wore black shoes, thus the difference of the brown vs black shoe navies. That term was still around when I was in even though the surface officers were also wearing brown shoes when wearing khaki.
DeleteVigilante was always one of my favorites....used to do a lot of work at Pax River, and there were many stories about how fast this plane really was....how many were true remains to be seen....like the time one took off from Pax River and landed at Jax NAS 15 minutes later?....not unless he took off and went immediately to 2800 miles an hour with no allowance for slow down to land...I always laughed when I heard that one....SR 71 only went 2100 or so, and that was the fastest plane we ever had....at least, as far as I know.....who knows what alien tech they are using to attain higher speeds than that....LOL...
ReplyDeleteMach 6 has been the standard since the 1990s.
Deletehttps://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-17-me-607-story.html
They didn't retire the SR-71 because we were stupid; we already had something much better behind the curtain.
We had one flying over NAS Key West back in 1968 taking pictures at night. He'd fly over and take a picture and the entire area would light up as daylight. I was with the CDO when a local sheriff called and said there was a plane flying around and it looked like he was on fire. I made the mistake of standing behind one, about a 1/4 mile away, when he lit the afterburners to take off. It took me off my feet.
ReplyDeleteFrom the lack of the ventral camera fairing, it is an A-5. I found the photo and from the caption the aircraft is part of VAH-7 "The Peacemakers" squadron. If the caption is correct, the photo predates December 1,1964 as this squadron was redesignated RVAH-7 on that date after being reequipped with the RA-5C.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a great shot of Big E.... back when, you know....
ReplyDeleteIf you look closely, there is another RA-5 in the background by the island. Note the small window (black area) on the rear canopy. The NFO in the backseat was in the dark most of the time. Plus, it was really too big (long) for shipboard ops. Evidently the Vigilante was a handful to land aboard and was phased out of shipboard ops around the end of the 70s.
ReplyDeleteDuring the vet war, it was also used as a mail and parts plane. The two cods were broken so to get parts and mail they took out the internal fuel tank and put the parts and mail in its place. Fastest mail delivery we had during that time. It was on the USS Ranger CVA-61. That was before all the carriers got changed to CV. Was with VA-25, using A-7E's to deliver bombs to nam. It was faster then the F-4J's that were on board.
ReplyDeleteMitchell Grundbrecher AQ-1. In the 1970's.