CAPT Russ ‘Ratt’ Larratt amassed some 1,500
hours and over 300 carrier landings in the
EA-6B before retiring to join the airlines
in 2014. ‘I come from a Navy family,’ he
says. ‘My father was an o cer candidate
graduate in 1959 and my brother was a
naval ight o cer on the A-6E Intruder and
the EA-6B Prowler.’
Larratt went through the then standard
US Navy training pipeline on the T-34C,
T-2C and the TA-4J (to which he would later
return for two tours as an instructor) before
earning his Wings of Gold on June 4, 1993 at
NAS Meridian, Mississippi.
‘Like most of my fellow student naval
aviators I wanted to y ghters: either the
F/A-18 Hornet or the F-14 Tomcat. So my
initial reaction to hearing that I was selected
for the EA-6B was not one of excitement.
I was an average overall student but with
excellent carrier quali cation grades.
Unbeknown to me that made me a perfect
t for the EA-6B community.
‘My initial reaction to the Prowler was
amazement at the power and speed of
the big jet. During 1994, I spent some 10
months in the RAG during which time I ew
112 ight hours including six night and
10 day carrier landings. The most di cult
part initially for me was sitting side-by-side
next to the front-seat ECMO. Formation
join-ups on the left side were particularly
di cult because of the obstructed view
looking across the front cockpit to see the
lead aircraft. Another challenging stage in
the course was tanking. We did our initial
tanking quali cation with the KA-6D. This
was the one and only time in my career that
I tanked o an A-6 and within three years
the A-6 was gone from the eet.
‘Perhaps the most demanding part of
the course was night carrier quali cations.
I had gone to the boat in both the T-2C
and the TA-4J but these were day-only
operations. As a much bigger aircraft, the
EA-6B was more challenging during the
day but I quickly fell into a nice rhythm and
performed well (we were landing on the
USS Abraham Lincoln [CVN 72] o the coast
of San Diego.
‘Night time was another story! On one
particular night I was low on fuel becauseof a couple of foul deck wave-o s ahead
of me. As I came around for my third pass,
I was ‘trick-or-treat’, meaning if I didn’t get
aboard I would have to y a ‘bingo’ pro le
back to Miramar. I ‘boltered’ and 30 minutes
later I found myself back at Miramar getting
gas! After a strong showing during the
day and a not-so-strong showing at night
I earned my initial carrier qual in the EA-6B
and I was o to the eet.’
Larratt joined VAQ-141 ‘Shadowhawks’
at NAS Whidbey Island. ‘We had an
outstanding CO at the time, CDR Brian
‘Disco’ Bennett, and quite a few new
Junior O cers [‘nuggets’] like myself. It
would take time for this group to gel into
an outstanding cohesive team. However,
under his leadership, we not only came
together nicely as a group but in 1995 we
had an outstanding cruise for which the
squadron received the famous Battle ‘E’
[Battle E ciency Award].’
With cruises aboard the USS Theodore
Roosevelt (CVN 71) in 1995 and USS John
F. Kennedy (CV 67) in 1997, Larratt ew in
Operations ‘Deny Flight’, ‘Deliberate Force’
and ‘Southern Watch’, notching up 52
combat missions.
‘In terms of operational ight envelope,
the Prowler excelled at low-level,’ Larratt
recalls. ‘It was fast, manoeuvrable and
built for the low-level environment. Good
crew resource management [CRM] was
imperative for the e ective employment
of the EA-6B, particularly in executing a
real-world mission. For example, to re an
AGM-88 HARM [High-Speed Anti-Radiation
Missile] missile involved the back-seat
ECMOs working with the front-seat ECMO
to send a set of parameters to the missile.
Once the missile was told what to do, the
front-seat ECMO would arm the missile.
Then, once the correct parameters were
met, the pilot would pull the trigger.
Around the ship, a good front-seat
ECMO was worth his weight in gold in
helping the pilot navigate the dangers of
shipboard operations.’
In December 2000, Larratt reported to
the ‘Star Warriors’ of VAQ-209 as a reserve
o cer. ‘The big di erence between active-
duty and reserve units were primarily in
the experience of the aircrew.’ The lone
EA-6B reserve squadron after 1994 meant
it was kept very busy and deployed on a
regular basis to combat zones around
the world.
Larratt’s nal association with the Prowler
was between August 2008 and May 2011
when he served as the EA-6B functional
check ight (FCF) and delivery pilot for
the Fleet Readiness Center and aircraft
re-work facility in Jacksonville, Florida.
‘My summary of this amazing aircraft
is that it has been the world’s premier
electronic attack aircraft for over 40 years.
Throughout its service life, the EA-6B
has undergone multiple software and
hardware upgrades and notably it’s one of
only a few aircraft in the US inventory that
was never exported to another country.’
Richard CollensFLYING THE PROWLER
move to become Hornet WSOs, some
have gone to ight school and are now
ying C-130s — some have become
F-35, F/A-18 and V-22 pilots, plus
we’ve had transitions to unmanned
air systems.’
It is clear that the EA-6B is being used
to maximum advantage right to the end.
In the goals of ‘denying, disrupting and
degrading’ the enemy — perhaps the
clearest representation of future warfare
— proves the value of the EA-6B.
Rundle concludes: ‘The Prowler is
a hardy beast. Our maintainers have
re ned the art of troubleshooting. I can’t
say enough good things about them. We
have some very seasoned maintainers
who have been doing this for a long
time. The sentimental among us really
don’t want to see it go away. The Prowler
is the best it’s ever been, but we don’t
want to wait until it’s ine ective. We
are highly capable as we sundown; yes,
there’s an itch to want to keep it around,
but we are aware that we want to bow
out at the top of our game.’US NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018
EA-6B PROWLER^4944-49 Prowler Farewell C.indd 49 31/05/2018 22:01