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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Thanks my FRiend, I will surely do so next time I am down there.

The A-5 Vigilante was a big, supersonic aircraft designed as a long range naval strike bomber to deliver nuclear weapons against the USSR and her allies.

The RA-5C was the recon derivitive when the long range nuclear option was removed from the carriers in 1963 in favor of SLBMs from nuclear SSBN submarines. The recon version served through Vietnam and beyond until 1979.

The Tomcat and later the Hornet have since taken over thos tactical and strike recon duties.

Here's a good pic of the strike version of the aircraft operating off of the USS Enterprise in 1962:

In addition to the five A-5s, you can see an A-4 on the port side forward cat, and an F-8 Crusader sitting on the forward starboard elevator.

30 posted on 04/16/2012 12:45:55 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free, never has been, never will be (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Jeff Head
I did a quick google on the airplane and read the entire bio.

One of the stories mentioned that the F-4 pilots would ask the A-5 to slow down so they could stay with it.

31 posted on 04/16/2012 1:08:05 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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