Grumman A-6E Intruder
The A-6 Intruder was designed to serve two roles: one, to replace the aging A-1 Skyraider and supplement the A-4 Skyhawk in the carrier-based strike role, and two, to give the US Navy a genuine all-weather strike aircraft. The requirement was issued in 1957, and Grumman’s A2F-1 design selected, with the first flight in 1960. In 1962, just before fleet entry in 1963, the Intruder was redesignated A-6A.
The A-6 was designed to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy in adverse weather, day or night, similar to what the USAF would later require for the F-111 Aardvark. For this reason, it was built around the Digital Integrated Attack/Navigation Equipment (DIANE), which used three radar systems to constantly update the INS and provide attack data to the bombardier/navigator sitting in the right seat. The system proved very complicated and it would be some years before it was perfected. Since the weather and night would be the Intruder’s primary defense, no defensive armament was put on the aircraft, though it could carry an impressive 18,000 pound warload of air-to-ground weaponry.
The Intruder was committed early to the Vietnam War, which showed up the flaws in the DIANE system and a more lethal one in the bomb delivery system, which had a tendency to set off the bombs prematurely, destroying the aircraft. Gradually improvements were made, and despite the loss of 84 Intruders over Vietnam, it proved to be extremely effective: until the bugs were ironed out of the F-111A in 1971, the A-6 remained the only American aircraft that could attack during the monsoon season. Specialized A-6Bs were also produced specifically for Iron Hand defense suppression missions, and A-6Cs for anti-truck operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
All three variants were replaced by the A-6E beginning in 1971: this replaced DIANE with a more advanced solid-state computer and the three radars with a single AN/APQ-148 multimode radar. In 1979, the A-6E was further modified with the installation of Target Recognition Attack Multisensor (TRAM), consisting of a turret in the nose containing FLIR linked to the radar and a new bomb computer. Besides making the already accurate A-6 even more deadly, it also allowed the Intruder to drop laser-guided bombs, hit moving targets with bombs, and also use passive radar to attack a target.
A-6s would find themselves once more heavily employed during the First Gulf War, flying 4700 sorties for the loss of four aircraft; its final roles would find it supporting Marines in Somalia in 1991 and UN forces in Bosnia in 1995. By that time, surviving A-6Es had been partially upgraded to allow them to fire all newer guided weapons in the inventory (namely the AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-65 Maverick, and AGM-88 HARM), while most of the fleet also received composite wings. Grumman further proposed an updated version designated A-6F, with new avionics and engines, but the US Navy rejected this in favor of replacing the Intruder with the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The last A-6E left US Navy service by Feburary 1997; the US Marine Corps had retired theirs in 1993.
In addition to the attack versions of the Intruder, Grumman also built the dedicated KA-6D tanker version, which replaced the attack systems with an internal hose/reel refuelling system. These too were retired in 1997 and replaced by the S-3B Viking.
Bureau Number 154171 would be one of the highest-timed A-6s ever built: it would serve with no less than 12 squadrons during its three-war career! (For interest of brevity and sanity, this history will only list seven of those units, as 154171 was shuttled between squadrons seemingly once a year.) It was built as an A-6A, and was assigned to VA-65 ("Fighting Tigers") aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) in 1968. It would remain with that squadron until 1970, when it was transferred to VA-115 ("Eagles") aboard USS Midway (CVA-41), where it saw combat during Operation Linebacker over North Vietnam.
After Vietnam, 154171 was sent to the Marines and VMA(AW)-242 ("Bats") at MCAS El Toro, California, serving there from 1972 to 1974, then back to the Navy with VA-176 ("Thunderbolts") aboard USS America (CV-66). It returned ashore in 1978, when it was upgraded to an A-6E and flew as a testbed aircraft at NAS China Lake until 1983. 154171 went back to the Marines as a training aircraft with VMAT(AW)-202 ("Double Eagles") until 1985, and would then serve off and on with VA-165 ("Boomers") from then until retirement in 1996. During that time, it flew during Operation Earnest Will, the escorting of tankers through the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, and during Operation Southern Watch in the aftermath of the First Gulf War, mostly aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS Constellation (CV-64). (Estrella claims that 154171 saw combat over Libya and in Desert Storm, which is possible, as the aircraft was detached to other squadrons during that time period.)
In 1996, 154171 was donated to the Estrella Warbirds Museum and flown there from NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. Surprisingly, it went on display with the engines still in the aircraft, and left in the markings of VA-165, its last squadron. It's looking a little worn, but still in good shape when we visited in June 2023.
Grumman A-6E Intruder
The A-6 Intruder was designed to serve two roles: one, to replace the aging A-1 Skyraider and supplement the A-4 Skyhawk in the carrier-based strike role, and two, to give the US Navy a genuine all-weather strike aircraft. The requirement was issued in 1957, and Grumman’s A2F-1 design selected, with the first flight in 1960. In 1962, just before fleet entry in 1963, the Intruder was redesignated A-6A.
The A-6 was designed to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy in adverse weather, day or night, similar to what the USAF would later require for the F-111 Aardvark. For this reason, it was built around the Digital Integrated Attack/Navigation Equipment (DIANE), which used three radar systems to constantly update the INS and provide attack data to the bombardier/navigator sitting in the right seat. The system proved very complicated and it would be some years before it was perfected. Since the weather and night would be the Intruder’s primary defense, no defensive armament was put on the aircraft, though it could carry an impressive 18,000 pound warload of air-to-ground weaponry.
The Intruder was committed early to the Vietnam War, which showed up the flaws in the DIANE system and a more lethal one in the bomb delivery system, which had a tendency to set off the bombs prematurely, destroying the aircraft. Gradually improvements were made, and despite the loss of 84 Intruders over Vietnam, it proved to be extremely effective: until the bugs were ironed out of the F-111A in 1971, the A-6 remained the only American aircraft that could attack during the monsoon season. Specialized A-6Bs were also produced specifically for Iron Hand defense suppression missions, and A-6Cs for anti-truck operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
All three variants were replaced by the A-6E beginning in 1971: this replaced DIANE with a more advanced solid-state computer and the three radars with a single AN/APQ-148 multimode radar. In 1979, the A-6E was further modified with the installation of Target Recognition Attack Multisensor (TRAM), consisting of a turret in the nose containing FLIR linked to the radar and a new bomb computer. Besides making the already accurate A-6 even more deadly, it also allowed the Intruder to drop laser-guided bombs, hit moving targets with bombs, and also use passive radar to attack a target.
A-6s would find themselves once more heavily employed during the First Gulf War, flying 4700 sorties for the loss of four aircraft; its final roles would find it supporting Marines in Somalia in 1991 and UN forces in Bosnia in 1995. By that time, surviving A-6Es had been partially upgraded to allow them to fire all newer guided weapons in the inventory (namely the AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-65 Maverick, and AGM-88 HARM), while most of the fleet also received composite wings. Grumman further proposed an updated version designated A-6F, with new avionics and engines, but the US Navy rejected this in favor of replacing the Intruder with the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The last A-6E left US Navy service by Feburary 1997; the US Marine Corps had retired theirs in 1993.
In addition to the attack versions of the Intruder, Grumman also built the dedicated KA-6D tanker version, which replaced the attack systems with an internal hose/reel refuelling system. These too were retired in 1997 and replaced by the S-3B Viking.
Bureau Number 154171 would be one of the highest-timed A-6s ever built: it would serve with no less than 12 squadrons during its three-war career! (For interest of brevity and sanity, this history will only list seven of those units, as 154171 was shuttled between squadrons seemingly once a year.) It was built as an A-6A, and was assigned to VA-65 ("Fighting Tigers") aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) in 1968. It would remain with that squadron until 1970, when it was transferred to VA-115 ("Eagles") aboard USS Midway (CVA-41), where it saw combat during Operation Linebacker over North Vietnam.
After Vietnam, 154171 was sent to the Marines and VMA(AW)-242 ("Bats") at MCAS El Toro, California, serving there from 1972 to 1974, then back to the Navy with VA-176 ("Thunderbolts") aboard USS America (CV-66). It returned ashore in 1978, when it was upgraded to an A-6E and flew as a testbed aircraft at NAS China Lake until 1983. 154171 went back to the Marines as a training aircraft with VMAT(AW)-202 ("Double Eagles") until 1985, and would then serve off and on with VA-165 ("Boomers") from then until retirement in 1996. During that time, it flew during Operation Earnest Will, the escorting of tankers through the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, and during Operation Southern Watch in the aftermath of the First Gulf War, mostly aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS Constellation (CV-64). (Estrella claims that 154171 saw combat over Libya and in Desert Storm, which is possible, as the aircraft was detached to other squadrons during that time period.)
In 1996, 154171 was donated to the Estrella Warbirds Museum and flown there from NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. Surprisingly, it went on display with the engines still in the aircraft, and left in the markings of VA-165, its last squadron. It's looking a little worn, but still in good shape when we visited in June 2023.