What the Navy really misses is the A-6E Intruder. Could carry 24+ 500 pound bombs, plus some other assorted systems.
If you have read the book, “Flight of the Intruder”, there were many scenes that seemed like they were contrived; they weren’t. Every one of them happened in real life.
The scene where an bombardier-navigator was hit by an AK-47 round and bled out before the pilot could get back to the carrier (USS Midway) was actually true. My dad was the Maintenance Chief for VA-115 at the time. My mom told me one of the very few times my dad cried was when he read that part of the book.
The part that seemed most unbelievable was a flight of two A-6As going flying into downtown Hanoi and bombing the docks. Well, that was true, too.
My aero-engr bud from my Jet Engine days use to say Taildragger, it is in the wing design. I don’t know the airfoil or aspect ratio, but I need to dig into it more...