A-5 Vigilante

[scoolbubba]

I can't see from the pic very well, but does the poor GIB have his own solid canopy with that porthole, or does he climb in the way all my buddies used to get in my crappy 2 door honda (god i loved that car)...

them: "hey dood, put your seat forward so i can slide in here"
me: "shutup. you're the one riding bitch, so you'll be glad with what you get!"

 

[zipmartin]

... and/or landing at night on the BOAT ...

... or taxiing all the way forward after landing on the boat at night and then the yellow shirts taxi you till the nose wheel is almost at the edge before they pivot you around and the cockpit is WAY out over the water because it is so far forward of the nosegear and you are having to look back over your shoulder to see the wands ...

 

[A4sForever]

I can't see from the pic very well, but does the poor GIB have his own solid canopy with that porthole, or does he climb in the way all my buddies used to get in my crappy 2 door honda (god i loved that car)...

He's got his own "canopy" of his own ... of sorts ... here's a pix w/ both up:

But once it's down & locked ... here's all the RAN really has to look at -- pretty minimal system-wise:

I sat in the back once (once) on the ship at the behest of a former classmate who started as an Aviator STUD and got shitcanned but completed as an NFO/RAN ... I said "no thanks" after the talkee-pointee show ... and he got out after one tour.

Case closed ...

 

[Redux]

I can't see from the pic very well, but does the poor GIB have his own solid canopy with that porthole, or does he climb in the way all my buddies used to get in my crappy 2 door honda (god i loved that car)...

them: "hey dood, put your seat forward so i can slide in here"
me: "shutup. you're the one riding bitch, so you'll be glad with what you get!"

What you see is what you got plus I think that "porthole" had a curtain to make things really cozy and dark inside. But yes, it was a clamshell if I recall correctly if thats what you're asking.

Ah, the older guy beat me to it. <:

 

[clonei09]

this is a great site by a former pilot. His whole site is full of naval aviation history http://www.bobjellison.com/RA5C_Vigilante.htm

 

[Cron]

Here's some Vigi sea-stories from the legendary "Hoser" Satrapa, posted by the man himself on the Tomcat forum. I promise they are worth the read.

"The Vigi was Faaast! The AAA usually exploaded a good 3000' behind us on photo runs. However, it was a bitch coming aboard ship. After earning the 'Golden Tail Hook" trophy, in F-8's, 2 combat cruises in a row, d-Hose figured the Vigi had to be a piece of cake. Holygwackaskamoly! The Vigi had no ailerons, only 4 sets of spoilers, top and bottom, of each wing. The two inboard sets would open for roll inputs while the outboard spoiler on the other wing would open for yaw compensation.(with one set opening in to the wind) So, no sweat at high speed but on glide slope approaching ship at 145kts, any line up correction had to be coordinated with the appropriate back stick/AOA, power addition(auto throttles) then reverse the procedure to stabilize on glide slope. All them spoilers caused loss of lifties. There was a trick we used ONLY AT NIGHT when the LSO's or Air Boss could not see. The ENTIRE vertical stabilizer moved on the Vigi. So at night rather than doing all that line up cluster bungle above, we could mash in a bunch of rudder for line up corrections. This could NOT be done in day light because at a quarter mile the Vigi would look as though it were headed straight at the LSO platform on "left for line up" and at the Air Boss, "right for line up".... just for a moment of course. Well, trying it ounce on a day recovery, all I saw was 4 south ends of the LSO's leaping into the net. Weak, real weak! Bottom line,,, could only use at night. So a night Vigi pass had its rewards. Boom Powell will confirm. VR D-Hose"

"November 1971, NAM, USS America, Ron Ludlow(air wing LSO and F-4 driver) and D-Hose briefed a 1v1 Vigi vs. F-4. Of course a agreement was made that the F-4 would limit it's "g's" to 4.5 g's which was the Vigi symmetric limit @ 50% fuel. D- Hose's RAN(Rob Binder) was thoroughly briefed as what to expect. Not much fun for him in a rolling scissors with two 5"x8" windows. It was a 1.5 mile abeam split start with both of us attempting a lead turn in the vertical prior to merge. We found ourselves in a neutral slow speed rolling scissors(140kts) at about 22k', both with full flaps. We disengaged 180 out and unloaded for knots. Picking up bout 400kts, we recommitted. D-Hose goes nose high again hoping to suck Ron in to losing his 6.5g envelope cause it was time for Ron to say the hell with our agreement and use his extra available 'g' for position. The wings of the Vigi under a 4.5 g load are bowed up what looks to be bout 20 degrees in the rear view mirrors. Yep, he reefed on the pole and so D-Hose gets max angles out, unloads to zero 'g' with both burners blowing full and leaves Ron outside gun range by the time he gets his nose on. The Vigi has bout 60% less drag than the F-4 so opening is a piece of cake. That's why the Vigi would maintain 1.2 IMN in basic engine at sea level. Oh yeah, forgot to mention it was a visual split, GUNS ONLY.... HaaaRR! VR D-Hose"

"June of 1969, checking in to the Vigi RAG in Albany GA, the first question D-Hose had was, “how is the hunting and fishing round here?”. Answer; “it sux cause all the surrounding land is privately owned by farmers and they hate the jet noise”! “PERFECT”! Several weeks later, D-Hose started his Vigi training flights. Returning to base, the surrounding farmers land was photographed with 18” pan and 6” serial frame recce cameras from about 8k’. A very nice, crystal clear collection of black and white 18”x20” and 8”x10” photos were compiled. On two weekends D-Hose, in a flight suit, ‘piss cutter’ in hand, standing pigeon toed, custody of the eyes and max humble ‘Hoser’ mode, knocks on the first, Farmer Jessup’s, door. “Sir, I am one of those Navy guys that is making all that dad blain noise. Ya see those damned auto throttles in the Vigi make dem J-79,s have that terrible ghoulish high pitch warble, especially at night during carrier landing practice.. and I thought that by explaining to you, sir, what our mission is and giving you these aerial photos of yours and the surrounding farms may ease the angry attitude that prevails towards us Navy guys.” Explaining, that we are all displaced from our own homes and land because of the war, we have no place to hunt or fish: Overwhelmed with compassion and expressing gratitude for the aerial photos, three out of five farmers visited, gave written permission to hunt and fish on their land and jet noise complaints were minimized. Hence forth, hunting and fishing was outstanding and we had access to many private max-out bass and cat fish ponds. Two weeks before dove season, Farmer Higgins calls: “Is Mr. Hoser there? You may be interested to know, that I am harvesting the corn on my south 40 along the Flint River the week before Dove season.” D-Hose, “thank you sir, if it is OK, we’ll have a total of five shooters around your south 40 on opening day”. The prezact program was incorporated using imagery obtained with the F-14, TARPS at both VX-4 (Pt Mugu) and NAS Oceana, VA. Improvise, adapt and overcome: (USMC)… and of course, greasing the skids,, helps!
VR D-Hose"

"OK, can ya handle one more Vigi story??? I'll take that as a

From D-Hose's combat journal, bout Nov 1971, Gulf Of Tonkin, Vigi, RTB, suspected combat damage, utility hyd gage in the yellow, min fuel, CAVU to the moon, bright sunny PM, calm seas....... VIgi in the groove,,,,, "Roger Ball, 29 kts down the angle",,, well, D-Hose is in Pri Fly with the "Blue Pill" (NATOPS) cause of the (E) situation.... Perfect! OK 3 wire on center line...... bout 20 yards from the end of rollout, the nose gear collapses and the Vigi nose settles gently to the deck. Well, the front canopy opens immediately, and Phil Peroffilo steps out of the cockpit stbd side, right on to the flight deck. The rear canopy remained closed for what seemed like a long time.... The rear Vigi canopy only had a small window on each side for the RAN to look out. Bout 8"x10"

They also had a TV ( hoop-d-doo) George Canellos, in the back, was a small guy, maybe 145lbs in full flight gear, a man of very few words but with a crisp sense of humor.. bout the time the crash crew is heading out to check on George,,,, the stbd slide shade over the rear canopy window slides aft and a 8"x10" sign appears,,,,, "JOB AVAILABLE, APPLY WITHIN" VR D-Hose"

http://www.tomcat-sunset.org/forums/index.php?topic=4505.0

http://www.tomcat-sunset.org/forums/index.php?topic=2441.0

 

[Flugelman]

... or taxiing all the way forward after landing on the boat at night and then the yellow shirts taxi you till the nose wheel is almost at the edge before they pivot you around and the cockpit is WAY out over the water because it is so far forward of the nosegear and you are having to look back over your shoulder to see the wands ...

Which reminds me of the first time I towed an A-5. When I first reported to NAS Atsugi I was assigned to the line division (for about 2 months) and we caught spillover from Cubi Pt for repairs, etc. I was driving the tow tractor with an A-5 on tow. Unlike other Navy aircraft, the nose projected waaaay out past the driver's position (see A4s picture) and when I started the first left turn the nose moved off to my right. The unexpected visual perception was that the plane had departed the towbar and was moving off on it's own. I jammed on the brakes and then realized what had just happened. I sheepishly finished the tow. Anytime the Vigi comes up that image comes back.