RA-5C Vigilante operations

MikeD

MikeD

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Staff member
@Derg

An absolutely beautiful airplane, of which only 158 were built. Of note, the cockpit where the Radar Attack Navigator NFO sat, behind the pilot cockpit, had only 2 small side windows and no forward or rearward visibility at all, nor any flight controls like all other naval tactical aircraft. Far different from an F-14 or F-4, where at least the NFO can see something.

The jet takes up practically all of the landing area on the deck, with its wingspan, leaving little lateral displacement error for carrier landings.

Some nice film of what appears to be the NorCal coast and cruising amongst the clouds.

 
Prob the most graceful looking of all Naval jet fighters...she looked like she was doing Mach 2, standing still
 
Support or contest: The Navy had an F-111 a decade earlier except bigger and at a cost that had a number of zeroes at the end that could be attempted to be believed.

I'll take my answer off the air.
 
There's one at the USS Midway museum in San Diego (in fact you can see it on static display on the deck at 6:45 in the video).

It's a staggeringly large airplane in person! (At least pitted against most of the other aircraft you would see on an aircraft carrier.)
 
Pilot Fighter said:
Take a look at the E-2 (or C-130) wingspan and squirm.
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Yeah but the E-2 didn't come aboard at a ridiculous approach speed or have a weak front landing gear prone to breakage.

We have a thread on Airwarriors with one of the old Vietnam guys that was an LSO. To land a Viggy or "Steel Dart" was apparently a nightmare for the crews and the LSO team. He was saying for all the bravado and community S-talking, nobody doubted the pilot ability of anybody in the Recce community when it came to trapping the Vigilante because it was just so unforgiving even in the era of the Crusader.
 
On 13 December 1960, Navy Commander Leroy Heath (Pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (Bombardier/Navigator) established a world altitude record of 91,450.8 feet (27,874.2 m) in an A3J Vigilante carrying a 1,000 kilogram payload, beating the previous record by over four miles (6 km). This new record held for over 13 years.[15]

The attempt was accomplished by reaching a speed of Mach 2.1, then pulling up to create a ballistic trajectory beyond the altitude its wings could continue to function. The engines flamed out in the thin atmosphere, and the aircraft rolled onto its back. This had already been experienced in previous flights, and so the pilot simply released the controls and the aircraft regained control naturally as it descended back into the thicker air of the lower atmosphere.
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Neat.
 
Interesting view picture showing some cockpit detail, especially the cramped rear cockpit for the RAN with its zero forward/rear visibility, and only two small side windows. Must've made launching/landing on the carrier fun.

19-20.jpg
 
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