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Posted: 4/30/2022 3:59:43 PM EDT
[#1]
Loud
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:03:41 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: When I was in the Navy, I worked on the Jammers for our EA-6B Prowlers. They were a cool plane with awesome capabilities. A fun fact is that at the time, they were the fastest non afterburner equipped jet we had. Fun fact - No they weren't. The A-3 Skywarrior was the fastest non-afterburning aircraft in the Navy's inventory and until the F-18 came along it was faster than the F-4, F-14 and A-5 when they were not in afterburner. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:13:34 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Didn't some guy get sucked into an A-6's engine on a carrier? And the guy survived. He was wearing a helmet that FODded out the engine before it chopped him into a fine paste. He had a pregnant wife at home at the time. He named his son Blade. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:15:17 PM EDT
[#4]
Not sure where they were flying out of or where they were going but we would always have A-6's flying down our canyon growing up. We lived on the side of the hill, probably 700-1000' below the top and they were damn near at eye level. Guess they were doing low level training or something but being in Idaho, there aren't any naval stations nearby. Not sure if the ING had any or not?
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:16:07 PM EDT
[#5]
I was an A6A plane captain with VA 65 from 1965 to 1968. My initial training in all things A6A was done with the training squadron VA 42. Did two Wespacs, one on the Connie in 1966, started another one on the Forrestal that was cut short by the fire in 1967. After the fire I was in a group of 53 volunteers to go as a temporary detachment to VA 196 aboard the Connie. The picture is of me (middle, 20 years old) and a couple of other guy s when we had a beard growing contest aboard the Connie in 1966.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:17:21 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They had different missions. Yet if kill count is what your looking for the A-6 wins ten fold. Not so sure about that if you include the F-14s bombing escapades from the late 90s through retirement. Better FLIR, better bombs, lots of targets for years and years.   I'm sure the A-6 dropped more weight of bombs, but the large majority of those were GP / Unguided. With that being said, the A-6 was cool in it's day. Now it's all electric jets / technology. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:17:51 PM EDT
[#7]
Hope I'm not alone here in loving the NES game back in the day.
 
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:17:53 PM EDT
[#8]
Tomcat guy here but I love the A-6.
Way back in the early days of the interwebs, AOL used this photo taken with my camera as the cover photo for the AOL military aviation forum. I lost the original and only have this shitty scan.  I love an A-6 with a full load of Whoop-Ass!  |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:18:03 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: And the guy survived. He was wearing a helmet that FODded out the engine before it chopped him into a fine paste. He had a pregnant wife at home at the time. He named his son Blade. Should have named him Bell or Helmet. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:18:50 PM EDT
[#10]
A-6's were junk from a maintainers perspective.
Who designs an aircraft that's going to be exposed to the most corrosive environment (the ocean) with spot welds and sandwiched construction. Grumman. The engine was a pile of shit, near the end issues with the #4 bearing doomed a lot of planes. There were issues with the wing structure, a shitload of them were G-Limited. The Navy replaced the wings with a graphite/epoxy/titanium/aluminum composite wing, the new wings worked great, however, the fuselage structure couldn't handle the stress loads of the new wing and they started to wear prematurely. The best thing they did with that Grumman garbage? Send them to Neptune's Locker as an offering.  Latitude: North 29° 54.2 minutes Longitude: West 80° 47.9 minutes Depth: ~110 feet 200 A-6 Intruders  |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:21:55 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Computer Froze? Kick that Bitch to "Reboot" it...  From Flight of the Intruder so not sure if it is in anyway "real" ...   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvyBrX1eK4IBIGGER_HAMMER  That was real. Or a real thing. That was set earlier, and they were flying an A-6A. It had a rotating drum computer that sat between the BN's legs and kept his nuts warm. Some times it got out of alignment or stuck, and the BN kicking it would make it reset the spin calibration. The A-6E had a new solid state computer that was nowhere near as big or error-prone. Edit: looks like I got beat by someone who's been there and done that. Didn't read the whole thread when I replied. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:32:44 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Should have named him Bell or Helmet. David Clark manufactured the flight deck cranials https://marvgolden.com/david-clark-flight-deck-helmet-kit/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvLOTBhCJARIsACVldV2dAw9VmM2X7IReJLMmRwwyzmVVnXsQGDL75_3WkvE5FAcXMP6llkgaAhjZEALw_wcB |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:36:00 PM EDT
[#13]
The A-6 was a bomb truck, no doubt.
Remove the forward landing gear doors and you could hang thirty 500-pound iron bombs. With TRAM, CAINS, DRS and AMTI the A-6E TRAM Intruder was the most accurate all-weather attack aircraft in the fleet, if not all of the US forces at the time. It would culminate with the A-6E TRAM being responsible for 85% of all the laser designations and laser-guided bomb drops during Desert Storm. The Flying Drumstick! |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:42:39 PM EDT
[#14]
I worked on them in the 80s in Virginia Beach Oceana. I was a AIMD level tech worked on everything electronic on them along with the F14.
So everything you saw flying around back then I probably did some work on. I have a good friend that was a A6 driver and took part in the bombing of Libya. Sadden to see them dumped off the coast of Florida. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:43:12 PM EDT
[#15]
Grew up watching the EA-6's on Whidbey Island. Out of NAS Whidbey. Loved watching them do touch and go's at the outlying field in Coupeville.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:44:45 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Everyone’s responses are great. Keep it going. The A-6 is Oprah with wings. Sorry. If utility were good looks, the A-6 was beautiful. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 4:54:55 PM EDT
[#17]
cool in a B-24 Liberator sorta way... not a great looking aircraft, perhaps even a bit goofy looking but an absolute Mack truck and the coolest name ever.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 5:12:12 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I edited my post while you were quoting me. I'm just saying the F-14 is the sexiest goddamn aircraft God ever bestowed upon the United States Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: They had different missions. Yet if kill count is what your looking for the A-6 wins ten fold. I edited my post while you were quoting me. I'm just saying the F-14 is the sexiest goddamn aircraft God ever bestowed upon the United States |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 5:24:55 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: NAH. B57 Hustler was the sexiest plane ever to fill the sky. I was always fond of the B-58 Canberra |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 5:30:11 PM EDT
[#20]
Strong contender for my favorite aircraft of all time, vying with the Charlie Hornet.
I grew up with Top Gun and Tomcats, but these days I’m all about mud moving. If the A-6 is ever released for DCS as planned, I’ll find somebody to drive me around and spend as much time as it takes to master the radar and bombing computer. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 5:47:19 PM EDT
[#21]
Why do aircraft during that age just look so much better and more mission oriented than today?
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:03:38 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Fun fact - No they weren't. The A-3 Skywarrior was the fastest non-afterburning aircraft in the Navy's inventory and until the F-18 came along it was faster than the F-4, F-14 and A-5 when they were not in afterburner. Couldn't the A-3 go super? |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:11:54 PM EDT
[#23]
I was an AV8A Harrier hydraulics mech when I was in the USMC.
My first squadron, VMA-542, was next door to VMAT-202, the A6 training outfit. I thought the Pegasus engine on a Harrier was loud, but those fucking blowtorches on an A6 made them sound like electric fans by comparison. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:12:19 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I love that movie. It’s the top gun for bomber enthusiasts i HATE Flight Of The Intruder. Shits all over the book. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:14:12 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If I recall correctly, the author of the book, Stephen Coonts, was an A-6 bombardier. In the book the bombing computer was described. I consisted of several rotating wheels in gimbals and sometimes during hard maneuvers it would jam up. Kicking it was frequently effective in unsticking it. Kicking may have been in the official checklist for immediate action to get it going. I'm sure someone will be along to tell me I'm wrong. ETA: Answered by a pro above. He was a Pilot, not B/N. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:19:55 PM EDT
[#26]
These, especially the EA6B seem like they would make great firebombers for forestry service if you could come up with a way to do wing based water tanks.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:20:32 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Blue Blasters. Iconic Intruder squadron. What did you do? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The early A-6's had a rotary drum memory system in that thing he is kicking, the PCU. It would stick and kicking it would get it running again. I'm an A-6 guy, an old pic of my squadron shooting a Maverick. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/80691/a62_jpg-2367396.JPG The Blue Blasters. Iconic Intruder squadron. What did you do? I had one of their t-shirts growing up. I got in trouble in elementary school wearing it because they said the skull was smoking a cigarette, and it obviously wasn't a gun since the A-6 didn't have one. Kharn |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 6:27:10 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Hope I'm not alone here in loving the NES game back in the day. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.konsolenkost.de%2Fitem%2Fimages%2F9062277%2Ffull%2FNES-Flight-of-the-Intruder-Phantom-Air-Mission-a.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 The PC simulator game got me into aviation as a kid.  Flight of The Intruder gameplay (PC Game, 1990) |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 7:07:53 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A-6's were junk from a maintainers perspective. Who designs an aircraft that's going to be exposed to the most corrosive environment (the ocean) with spot welds and sandwiched construction. Grumman. The engine was a pile of shit, near the end issues with the #4 bearing doomed a lot of planes. There were issues with the wing structure, a shitload of them were G-Limited. The Navy replaced the wings with a graphite/epoxy/titanium/aluminum composite wing, the new wings worked great, however, the fuselage structure couldn't handle the stress loads of the new wing and they started to wear prematurely. The best thing they did with that Grumman garbage? Send them to Neptune's Locker as an offering. http://www.geocities.ws/Pentagon/Bunker/7316/a6sinking.jpg Latitude: North 29° 54.2 minutes Longitude: West 80° 47.9 minutes Depth: ~110 feet 200 A-6 Intruders https://www.intruderassociation.org/images/reef1.jpg Just like the A-3 and garbage Tomcat you have in your avatar. ETA: read all your posts. You praise the A-6 in one post then shit all over it in your next post. What gives? |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 7:25:08 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If I recall correctly, the author of the book, Stephen Coonts, was an A-6 bombardier. In the book the bombing computer was described. I consisted of several rotating wheels in gimbals and sometimes during hard maneuvers it would jam up. Kicking it was frequently effective in unsticking it. Kicking may have been in the official checklist for immediate action to get it going. I'm sure someone will be along to tell me I'm wrong. ETA: Answered by a pro above. Coonts was an A-6 pilot, and retired out of Whitby as a Commander. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 7:38:25 PM EDT
[#31]
One of my best friends flew them in the 80's.
It was the sharp point of the stick for the carrier strike group. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 7:47:22 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Was your uncle a piston or turbine engine? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: My uncle was an engine who designed something on the A-6. I can’t recall what it was though. They’re badass planes. Was your uncle a piston or turbine engine? Sigh..I meant engineer...but you knew that. I'll see if I can find out what it was. I think he also did something with the ejection seat in the F-14s. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:04:47 PM EDT
[#33]
E/A-6B talk allowed? A best friend of mine was with them until retirement.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:09:06 PM EDT
[#34]
I hated that plane with a passion, it seemed like they loved to turn the volume up right as they flew over the piers in norfolk. Why that damn plane was that loud on landing I have no f-ning clue, and on top side watch on a sub there is no where to hide.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:12:58 PM EDT
[#35]
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:22:36 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Coonts was an A-6 pilot, and retired out of Whitby as a Commander. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: If I recall correctly, the author of the book, Stephen Coonts, was an A-6 bombardier. In the book the bombing computer was described. I consisted of several rotating wheels in gimbals and sometimes during hard maneuvers it would jam up. Kicking it was frequently effective in unsticking it. Kicking may have been in the official checklist for immediate action to get it going. I'm sure someone will be along to tell me I'm wrong. ETA: Answered by a pro above. Coonts was an A-6 pilot, and retired out of Whitby as a Commander. He was a pilot in VA-196 on the USS Enterprise in 1972/73. Turns out I was in the sister squadron (VAQ-131) from Whidbey. Never met him on the cruise but I did meet him later in life. He came to NAS Fallon, Top Gun once as a speaker. Wife worked there and was able to get me in. I took my cruise book from that cruise and he autographed his pic in it. Very nice guy. I was an EA-6B Plane Captain (PC). Funny story. I had just finished securing my bird after a recovery. An A-6 was spotted next to me. I went over to help the PC with his bird. He asked me to pop open the engine bays so he could service the oil. Seems A-6s have armor on the engine bay doors because they get shot at. EA-6Bs don't have the armor cause they are not supposed to get shot at. I wasn't expecting the weight. When I popped the latches, door swung open and I got knocked on my ass. He got a good laugh out of that. Here are a few pics from that cruise that I have posted before. A-6 loaded for an Alpha Strike and going to the cats.  Attached FileOne of my birds on the cat.  Attached FileMy young scrawny self in front of one of my birds.  Attached File |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:24:44 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Computer Froze? Kick that Bitch to "Reboot" it... From Flight of the Intruder so not sure if it is in anyway "real" ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvyBrX1eK4IBIGGER_HAMMER One of the top 5 movies at deer camp. That guy died recently btw. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:29:48 PM EDT
[#38]
I know fighters are supposed to be sexier, but almost all my favorite military aircraft have an "A" designation. Aircraft laden with bombs/rockets/missiles/napalm/guns get me going.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:40:02 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: When I was in the Navy, I worked on the Jammers for our EA-6B Prowlers. They were a cool plane with awesome capabilities. A fun fact is that at the time, they were the fastest non afterburner equipped jet we had. I worked I level maintenance in the USMC. The only shop that was seriously restricted were the dudes who worked on the actual black boxes for the EA6-B. They were next door/connected to our vans and the door between us was kept padlocked shut. Then there was the time the normal A6 dropped it's bombload at the end of the runway and across the back road at El Toro when it suffered an engine flameout on rotation... Never a dull moment! |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:41:23 PM EDT
[#40]
I built the wings that Boeing supplied for the rewing program starting in 1987.
Started at the very beginning on unit 991 (load test unit) till the last unit. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:41:39 PM EDT
[#41]
Flight of the intruder is an awesome book but the movie sucked needs to be redone
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:41:57 PM EDT
[#42]
All around cool plane.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:48:30 PM EDT
[#43]
Va-196 here…. Air-Frames shop and flight deck T/S. 1975 to 1980… 3-West-PAC cruses on the Big E…. It was sum Funnn times…
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:49:38 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I was an AV8A Harrier hydraulics mech when I was in the USMC. My first squadron, VMA-542, was next door to VMAT-202, the A6 training outfit. I thought the Pegasus engine on a Harrier was loud, but those fucking blowtorches on an A6 made them sound like electric fans by comparison. I remember the A-6's at El Toro rattled the barracks windows as bad as the RF4-B's when the Phantoms were in burner... |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:51:06 PM EDT
[#45]
Flight of the Intruders gets a lot of attention, but there is another good book on the subject... Launch the Intruders, which talks about the experience of VA-75 during the linebacker raids in Vietnam. My dad is mentioned by name in that one, so it is kind of a favorite of mine.
These are pics form my dad's personal collection that I have posted before in an A-6 thread a year or more ago     
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Posted: 4/30/2022 8:54:22 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Flight of the intruder is an awesome book but the movie sucked needs to be redone  Attached File |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:18:09 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I worked I level maintenance in the USMC. The only shop that was seriously restricted were the dudes who worked on the actual black boxes for the EA6-B. They were next door/connected to our vans and the door between us was kept padlocked shut. Then there was the time the normal A6 dropped it's bombload at the end of the runway and across the back road at El Toro when it suffered an engine flameout on rotation... Never a dull moment! Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: When I was in the Navy, I worked on the Jammers for our EA-6B Prowlers. They were a cool plane with awesome capabilities. A fun fact is that at the time, they were the fastest non afterburner equipped jet we had. I worked I level maintenance in the USMC. The only shop that was seriously restricted were the dudes who worked on the actual black boxes for the EA6-B. They were next door/connected to our vans and the door between us was kept padlocked shut. Then there was the time the normal A6 dropped it's bombload at the end of the runway and across the back road at El Toro when it suffered an engine flameout on rotation... Never a dull moment! Later in my career in VAQ-132 as an AT I was LPO of the EA-6B vans on USS Forrestal. I was one of the guys that worked on those black boxes, the receivers specifically. It was a sweet job until the squadron fired the O level LPO and pulled me back to the squadron to replace him. Sucked but it made me a CPO so not going to complain. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:23:43 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I remember the A-6's at El Toro rattled the barracks windows as bad as the RF4-B's when the Phantoms were in burner... And beyond that, having lived in NASWI barracks facing the flightline at one point, I'd say that the EA-6B was both louder than the A-6E's and took a lot longer to climb out too. (. . And why did VAQ-129 always seem to resume launches after I was almost asleep?) |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:36:23 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: They had different missions. Yet if kill count is what your looking for the A-6 wins ten fold. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Tomcat > Intruder Change my mind They had different missions. Yet if kill count is what your looking for the A-6 wins ten fold.  Flight of the Intruder (4/10) Movie CLIP - Rowdy Drunken Fun (1991) HD This for the win. |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:37:23 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: And beyond that, having lived in NASWI barracks facing the flightline at one point, I'd say that the EA-6B was both louder than the A-6E's and took a lot longer to climb out too. (. . And why did VAQ-129 always seem to resume launches after I was almost asleep?) Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I remember the A-6's at El Toro rattled the barracks windows as bad as the RF4-B's when the Phantoms were in burner... And beyond that, having lived in NASWI barracks facing the flightline at one point, I'd say that the EA-6B was both louder than the A-6E's and took a lot longer to climb out too. (. . And why did VAQ-129 always seem to resume launches after I was almost asleep?) The EA-6Bs had more powerful engines, the J52-P-408. It produced about 3k pounds more thrust than the A-6 engine (J52-P-8B). Early EAs had the same engine as the A-6 and were slugs. They were loud bastards. Sitting under a P-408 doing a high power fuel control trim was almost painful. Which is why I can't hear shit now and my ears go reeeeee all the time. |
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