Warbird Information Exchange

They've been there at Van Nuys for a long time now. I first saw them at an airshow there in the late 90's. I'm not sure how often they fly though. As an aside, I did get to see one of those Whales land right in front of me. I was holding short of 11L at Tuscon International, ready for take off, when I saw one of those Whales land right in front of me and pop the drag chute. It was a pretty awesome sight and I had visions of what it must have been like back in the 60's. What a rare treat! I think it was doing contract work for the Air Force at the nearby Davis-Monthan AFB, or maybe Luke? Anyways, it was pretty dang cool!

One of my favorite Captains at work flew as a Whale IP in the mid/late 80's. He said it had a reputation as one of the most challenging airplanes to bring aboard and that the guys assigned to it typically had the best boat scores in training. He also mentioned some scary moments as IP becuase there was no stick in the right seat - he had to unstrap and lean over to grab the stick and save himself on an occasion. Hmmm.

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

They made a static cameo in the last 'National Treasure' movie. My question is are these A-3's still owned by the Navy? I'm hoping the title was transfered as I'd LOVE to see these on the warbird circuit in the future!

Pete

Heavy 4 Det Echo at NAS Cubi Point. My step-dad is standing far right.

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Don't touch my junk!!

I was at the right place at the right time and caught a three-ship flight of these babies coming into Wright-Patterson a few years back. What a treat!

When I was flying with VQ-1 in the Gulf of Tonkin in '73 I saw a letter from a (retired?) Douglas employee posted in the spaces. I do not remember what periodical it had been clipped from. In any event, he recounted the development of the A3D and how Douglas had broached the subject of ejection seats to the Navy. The Navy declined on the basis of cost. When the USAF modified to the design to make the B-66, ejection seats were one of the key modifications that they insisted on. At that point, Douglas went back to the Navy and made another offer to fit the A3D with seats at a reduced cost, since the Air Force had picked up the tab to engineer 'em in. The Navy still demurred -- too expensive!

It's worth remembering, too, that the A3D was bought and fielded by the Navy on a crash basis... gotta get these nuclear bombers in service ASAP! The AJ Savage was not a sparkling performer and the nuclear mission seemed to be the only game in town in that era.

Just remembered that the Douglas employee also recounted that the company tests of the escape chute did not go very well. Quite a few of the test dummies that "bailed out" hit the belly and did not survive. I am certain there were successful bailouts in service -- but leaving the A-3 always had a high pucker factor!

Great plane!
How man are flying now?

None. The last Whales operating anywhere were those under bailment to Raytheon. They have all either been scrapped or museum'd. The very last flight of a Whale took place a few months ago, when one was flown from Van Nuys to Pensacola.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

An A-3D Skywarrior arrived at Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor earlier this month. This particular Skywarrior was retired from active Navy service in October 1968 and was later used for radar and avionics testing for the Grumman F-14 program and as a B-2A Spirit Stealth Bomber avionics test bed:

A-3D Skywarrior makes final landing at Pearl Harbor

Anthony

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I was on Guam 75-76, granted I was 8 years old, my father flew with VQ-1.

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Scott Rose
Editor-In-Chief/Webmaster
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I was on guam aug 75 flying in a ch-46 for 15 days as they fixed the prop on the ship from a whale strike. That was a real whale . P.S. loved the A3 had 1 chance to fly in her, Even thou they call it the flying coffen I thought is was a very safe and reliable A/C. pappy

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PAPPY ch-46 phrog,endangerd species 40 years and still flying

More about the Pacific Aviation Museum's Whale - the bureau number was 144867 and then registered as N577HA and N877RS:

Douglas A3D/A-3 Skywarrior

Anthony

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