U
ntil its retirement in 1997
the Grumman A-6 Intruder
was one of the most capable
all-weather strike aircraft in the
US Navy and Marine Corps
inventories. Designed to carry
nuclear or conventional weapons, it
could haul more than three dozen
different types of ordnance.
In the A-6A the bombardier/
navigator (B/N) relied on a system
known as DIANE – Digital
Integrated Attack and Navigation
Equipment – to get to the target,
attack and return to the carrier.
Later versions were modified with
the A-6B optimised for surface-to-
air missile (SAM) suppression and
the C-model was the first equipped
with electro-optical sensors.
Further developments included the
KA-6D tanker and the A-6E, which
had the Target Recognition Attack
Multi-sensor (TRAM). Continuous
updates such as integrated search/
track radar, forward-looking infrared
(FLIR) and laser sensors for target
identification kept the Intruder
capable well into the 1990s.
Introduced into service by the US
Navy’s Attack Squadron 42 (VA-42),
the A-6 was well liked by aircrew.
Lt Robert Wilkes, an Intruder
pilot in VA-165 who flew 100
combat missions in the Vietnam
War in 1971-1972 from the carrier
USS Constellation, recalled: “The
[Intruder] was a joy to fly. It was
solid and reliable with a wing built
for bomb lift more than for speed.
“The airplane was subsonic and
had no red line. It had a ‘g’ limit of
6.5 and, with the big wing, it turned
as tight as the early MiGs.
“It had a high roll rate and was
very agile in the sky. We didn’t think
much about the
flight envelope.The A-6 was at home in the sky
and there were few limits. It carried
enormous weight for its size.
“The most memorable thing about
that was making a rendezvous on
another aircraft with a full bomb load.
The [weight] changed the momentum
so much the pilot had to take great
care not to overshoot the rendezvous.
“While we were not supersonic,
the design proved itself on strikes
with our F-4 Phantom fighters.
The typical load was sixteen
500-pounders. The F-4s carried six
500lb bombs. While flying to the
target, the A-6s frequently got calls
from the F-4s to slow down because
they couldn’t keep up with us
without going into afterburner.
“Our [Pratt & Whitney] J52
engines were among the most reliable
I ever knew about. They would not
push us over the sound barrier, but
the power seemed adequate and the
engines were very
responsive when
you needed
them.
“On the
catapult shot
from the
carrier, the
airplane
would fly
itself off the
ship. With the elevator set at
6° nose up, all the pilot had to do was
put his hand behind the stick and stop
the rearward movement as the impact
of the catapult hurled the airplane
toward the end of the ship. It would
rotate into a perfect flying attitude by
itself and rise into the sky.
“On landing it was probably the
slowest jet to
approachthe ship, so it was safe. You had
more time, but there was also
more opportunity for the ‘burble’
[turbulence] from the [carrier’s]
island or simple poor airmanship to
put you off. In a ‘bolter’ [go-around]
the A-6 rebounded into the air
smartly.”HITTING THE TRAIL
The Intruder first went to war in
Vietnam in the late 1960s. Pete
Young was a B/N in the A-6A, ’B
and KA-6D and flew 97 combat
missions over North and South
Vietnam and Laos from 1968
to 1972.
He recalled a sortie in 1969:
“The sun broke above the
rim of the horizon just as
we were flung down the
catapult track and off into
the morning air. Once free of the
deck the aircraft settled briefly and
then started to climb slowly, clawing
for altitude while carrying its load of
over six tons of bombs.
“Headed east, we crossed the
narrow northern neck of South
Vietnam at the ancient cityof Hue. We
were ‘Feet Dry’ [over land].
“We could see nothing on the
ground but the winding ribbons
of water that wound through the
low hills. Hidden within was the
network of dirt roads and tracks that
made up the Ho Chi Minh Trail.GOINGGOING
Tom Docherty talked to A-6 Intruder aircrew about their time over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and Hanoi
24 FLYPAST May 2018VIETNAM WAR GRUMMAN INTRUDER