multimode photos on Flickr

Experimental Long Exposure with Stroboscopic Flash by PhotoFM.com

Electronic musicians "The Muzzle" and Members of "Caused by the Sun"

myspace.com/themuzzle

myspace.com/causedbythesun

Experimental Long Exposure with Stroboscopic Flash by PhotoFM.com

Electronic musicians "The Muzzle" and Members of "Caused by the Sun"

myspace.com/themuzzle

myspace.com/causedbythesun

Singlemode vs Multimode Communication at CommScope (33) by EPIC

STSC Multimode Duplex Fiber Optic FF Adapter Plastic by customcables1

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Grumman A-6E Intruder by Benjamin Donnelly

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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.

This superbly preserved A-6E is BuNo 152907, which started off as an A-6A. It was delivered to the US Navy in 1967, going to VA-165 ("Boomers") aboard the USS Ranger (CV-61), where it saw combat over North Vietnam. In 1969, 152907 was transferred to the Marines, seeing service with VMA(AW)-332 ("Moonlighters") at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina. By 1974, it was back with the Navy, serving with VA-35 ("Panthers") aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). 152907 was retired in 1978.

However, its story was not quite over. In 1985, 152907 was returned to service from MASDC, returning to VA-165 and upgraded to an A-6E. In 1987, it was retired again...then reactivated yet once more a year later! At this point, 152907's record gets a bit murky--it may have flown combat in its second war with VA-145 ("Swordsmen") aboard the Ranger, or it may have been sent to VA-128 ("Golden Intruders") at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. VA-128 is where 152907 finally ended its career for good in 1995, when the squadron was disestablished.

Due to its two war service (and apparent inability to stay in storage), 152907 was made the gate guard at Whidbey Island. In 2007, it was refurbished and moved to the junction of Washington Highway 20 and Ault Road, the road visitors take to get to NAS Whidbey Island, alongside an EA-6B Prowler.

I had been wanting to photograph this pair of aircraft for awhile, and just missed them in 2018 when a friend and I visited Fort Casey. In August 2026, they were on the bucket list, and I finally got both. 152907 is in fantastic shape, and is displayed in the markings of VA-145 during Desert Storm; unlike most gate guards, it is displayed with ordnance, in this case two AGM-88 HARM antiradar missiles and what looks to be two GBU-28 "bunker buster" precision-guided bombs.

Experimental Long Exposure with Stroboscopic Flash by PhotoFM.com