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The Cold War was known for its notorious competition by the USA and USSR on multiple topics but one that especially concerned the Americans was who could retaliate faster with nuclear weapons, if the worst case scenario came to pass.
A response to this issue was the carrier-based supersonic bomber made by North American Aviation (NAA), the A-5 Vigilante.
History:
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The late 1940s and 50s displayed a remarkable pace of new achievements, technologies and other advancements within aviation. NAA was one of many who contributed to that big leap in innovation, such as in 1954 when the company initiated a private study into a carrier-based, long-range, all-weather strike bomber with the possibility to reach supersonic speeds.
The aircraft that emerged from this research was seen as a worthy successor to the XA2J Super Savage, a plane that sadly never went beyond the first prototype.
This project that NAA was by many considered as highly ambitious, if not even overambitious, as the aircraft was supposed to reach speeds of up to Mach 2, be deployed from Aircraft Carriers as well as have a large payload and flight radius. Many of those factors were initially believed to be uncombinable at the time. The basic configuration of the concept consisted of a twin-engine and shoulder mounted wings just as on the XA2J, but with heavily swept wings and jet propulsion.
According to Bill Gunston, British aviator and author, NAA’s design was filled to the brim with the newest technology of its time, such as the massively powerful engines, a compact forward fuselage and fully-variable wedge-type intakes. The final concept was then proposed to the US Navy with the comically long name of “North American General Purpose Attack Weapon” (NAGPAW).
The service requirements set by the Navy turned out to be quite complicated as they demanded it to be able to reach Mach 2 while taking off from a Carrier with its maximum weight and no headwind whatsoever. This very high bar didn’t bother the engineers and designers at NAA, as the USN promptly evaluated the concept, eventually granting them an initial design contract for a mockup in 1955, followed by another contract in September 1956, this time for a pair of flight-worthy prototypes.
After nearly 2 years, the XA3J-1’s maiden flight took part at Columbus, Ohio on the 31st of August 1958. Because the US Navy is the US Navy and also due to the rapid improvement of technology, the US Navy changed their vision for the aircraft, demanding a successor to the A-3 Skywarrior in the role of a nuclear attack aircraft. With this change in requirements, the design team at NAA decided to take a different approach for the demanded role as they’ve placed the stowage for the nuclear weapon not in a traditional way inside a bomb bay, but with a rear-ejecting linear “stores train” system that would release both nuclear weapon and emptied additional fuel tanks.
The A-5 Vigilante was highly innovative due to its immense amount of new features, such as the use of aluminium-lithium alloy for the wing skins and titanium for critical structures. Along with those coatings and main frames, gold coating was applied to reflect the heat in key areas such as the bomb bay. Its wings were also easily foldable to facilitate stowage on aircraft carriers.
The two General Electric J79 turbojet engines, the same engines that can be found on the F-4 Phantom and B-58 Hustler, were installed alongside with variable intake ramps and had a rather uncommon air-impingement starter along with single igniters. The engines were equipped with constant-speed drivers for the alternators, generating around 30kVA (Kilo Volt-Ampere) for the onboard system while the hydraulic emergency supply was powered by the ram air turbine.
As previously stated, the A-5 Vigilante had a rather unusual bomb-bay construction, as it was placed between the engines, allowing a bomb-drop at supersonic speeds. The single nuclear bomb was usually attached to two disposable fuel tanks that had to be emptied during the flight and then jettisoned with the bomb altogether by an explosive drogue gun.
Throughout the late 50s and early 60s, the NAA didn’t stop to improve the bomber design and eventually ended up with the A-5B. With the requirements changing again, the fuselage was redesigned with a hump back to make room for even more fuel as the A-5 was no longer required to be able to take off in zero headwind conditions, which allowed for the gross weight to be increased. The wings were redesigned with enlarged trailing-edge flaps and fully-blown flaps allowing 4 additional drop tanks, giving the plane a 100% increase in flight range. As the US Navy had changed the requirements and its entire view on bombers yet again though, development was put on a halt after only six models, leading to many at NAA feeling frustrated.
A majority of Vigilantes were later on reconfigured into reconnaissance aircrafts, designated the RA-5C. Despite its multiple reconnaissance equipment such as the APD-7 radar, AAS-21 infrared line scanners and AN/ALQ-61 electronics, it still retained the AN/ASB-12 bombing system and could theoretically still carry weapons. The immense amount of reconnaissance hardware resulted in a drastic weight increase of the A-5, giving it an additional 5t on the scale, which resulted in reduced acceleration and climb rate.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) had considered purchasing the RA-5C as its new bomber to succeed its fleet of Canberras. The RA-5C was in serious competition with the F-4C/RF-4C, Dassault Mirage IV and BAC TSR-2. Eventually the F-111C from General Dynamics won the competition and fulfilled Australian needs. Due to the F-111C’s protracted development, the RAAF advocated for 36 Vigilantes to be acquired, having determined that it too met all requirements and would be within their arsenal quicker, but the Australian Government ignored the requests and no RA-5C were sold.
The RA-5C was the final version of the Vigilante to be used, with procurement of A-5s ending in 1963. They were deployed in Vietnam for post-strike recon missions. As those were carried out at medium to low altitude, a whole 14 aircraft were lost to anti aircraft gun emplacements, while another 3 were lost to SAMs and a single one to a MiG-21. To replace the combat and operational losses, a further 36 RA-5Cs were built from ‘68 to ‘70. As the Vietnam war came to an end in 1974, the remaining active units were gradually deactivated until 1979, where the last remaining squadron, RVAH-7, had its last deployment in the western pacific. The last flight of an RA-5C was also in late 1979 and with that its time came to an end. Out of the 167 aircraft built, 12 are still viewable as public displays, of which one is in the Philippines.
Specifications:
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Crew: 2
Length: 23.32m
Wingspan: 16.16m
Height: 5.91m
Wing area: 65.1m²
Empty/Loaded mass: 14.870kg/21.605kg
Max takeoff weight: 28.615kg
Powerplant: 2 x General Electric J79-GE-8 with 48kN thrust dry, 76kN with afterburner
Max. Speed: 2.128 kmh at 12.000m
Climbrate: 41 m/s
Ceiling Height: 15.900m
Range: 2.900km
Offensive Armament: —
Defensive Armament: Sanders AN/ALQ-41 X Band Radar Jammer
Suspended Armament:
1 x B27, B28, B43 Nuke
2 x B43, Mark 83 or Mark 84 with two external hardpoints
Potential for following bombs/rockets:
Mk 81, 82, 83 and 84 free fall bombs
Aero 7D and Aero 6A-1 FFAR Might Mouse Rocket Pods
LAU 10/A FFAR Nuni Rocket Pods
AGM-12B and C
Sources and Videos:
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Sources:
North American A-5 Vigilante English Wikipedia
North American A-5 German Wikipedia
Vigilante Charasteristics Summary - Avialogs.com
File:A3J-2 Vigilante with weapon load display c1962.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Naval History Magazine - usni.org website (2006)
A-5 Vigilante - Airvector.net Article
RA-5C Vigilante Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft) - Robert P Powell
Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons - Page 448
US Naval Aviation 1910-1995 written by Grossnick, Roy A; Armstrong, William J; Naval History & Heritage Command (U.S.); - Internet Archive
https://youtu.be/eC2g-Svmnss?si=QiZukZvs98Dl95ea In case that this video does not load, check out: DroneScapes - North American A-5 Vigilante | Supersonic Carrier Based Nuclear Bomber And Reconnaissance Aircraft
https://www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes
Photos:
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