BillD22 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 No......not one of the guys chasing Billy the Kid :D The RA-5C "Vigilante" was a U.S. Navy cold war era carrier based aircraft originally designed as a supersonic nuclear bomber but which ended up being using mainly on high speed photo recon mssions especially during the Vietnam War. In this series a sleek RA-5 lands on the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise [CVAN-65] sometime just before the RA-5 was retired from service in 1979. The airplane is the former payware Alphasim version converted to FSX. The carrier is the Team SDB payware version for FSX. [click on the images for a full screen view] Fly Navy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aharon Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 GREAT shots I remember this plane!! Biggest plane on aircraft carriers!! Regards, Aharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ftldave Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Biggest plane on aircraft carriers!! Wasn't the Douglas A3D Skywarrior, "The Whale", actually the biggest plane on US carriers? The USAF version was called the B-66 Destroyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD22 Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 Wasn't the Douglas A3D Skywarrior, "The Whale", actually the biggest plane on US carriers? The USAF version was called the B-66 Destroyer. Both airplanes were "big" at the same 74 foot fuselage length but the A3 had a 19 foot wider wingspan and much higher max takeoff weight - 82,000 lbs. vs. 63,000 for the RA5 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janessa642 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 superb shots dear.. you rock.. beautiful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy208 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Great post featuring some NAVAIR classics ... had a buddy who was aircrew on an A-3D ... he was not a fan ... Nice to see the Vigilante well displayed Bill ! Fly Navy ! Mike [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomTweak Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 My father-in-law was Maintennance crew-cheif on the Vigi's (pronounced VI-gee)! He said sitting there waiting for the controlled crash whenever one came back to the boat was terrifying, but after a few, well... Great pics, thanks for a wonderful post. At least one of those pics is going to my father-in-law! Pat☺ [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Had a thought...then there was the smell of something burning, and sparks, and then a big fire, and then the lights went out! I guess I better not do that again! Sgt, USMC, 10 years proud service, Inactive reserve now :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD22 Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 Pat, Mike, Janessa, Dave, & Aharon - many thanks for looking and the good words and r/w info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf2 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 great shots! always thought the vigilante was one of the most aesthetically pleasing jets. you're right about how sleek it is. btw, I bought the sdb enterprise a long time ago and gave up trying to figure out how to use it. mind if I p.m. u with a couple of questions? Phil Colvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornetdriver25 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 fantastic shots! :cool: Where are the vigilante and skywarrior available? System specs: AMD FTX 6300 six core processor 3.5 GHz, Video card Nvidia Geforce GTX 750 Ti 2 GB on board, Windows 8.1 64 bit and 1 TB on hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzippy Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Great shots, Bill! One of my all-time favorites to watch and actually stand behind...although about 30 feet behind including the JBDs and behind Tilly on the flightdeck of U.S.S. Saratoga 1969-70 Med cruise. THE hottest flamethrower on board! Hotter than the F-4js. I'm including one pic. These belong to RVAH-1, NAS Jacksonville FLA. Sorry that it's not a cat or trap shot. :D Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeandpatty Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 These RA-5 squadrons took a terrible loss rate over Vietnam at night doing pre and post strike photo runs. it was tough to land aboard a Carrier - speed control was tough. Autothrottle was implemented to help out, but still several ramp strikes at night, which were spectacular, but very sad indeed. The Whale was bigger, heavier, but actually could work off converted ESSEX Class CVs, especially in 4-plane KA-3B tanker dets during Vietnam. I enjoyed flying the Whale a little at Patuxent River, even though it was pretty antiquated and had no ejection seats. The J-57s were always a great engine in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD22 Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 Mike, Mr. Z, Hornet & Wolf - thanks guys. I remember seeing RA-5s at NAS Sanford, Florida back in the late 60's back before Sanford became the 2nd International Airport serving Orlando to handle all the traffic to Disney World and Universal fantastic shots! :cool: Where are the vigilante and skywarrior available? Ex-Alphasim payware - just recently posted and available over on simviation - may be here in the Library too - I haven't looked great shots! always thought the vigilante was one of the most aesthetically pleasing jets. you're right about how sleek it is. btw, I bought the sdb enterprise a long time ago and gave up trying to figure out how to use it. mind if I p.m. u with a couple of questions? Sure - but warning - my knowledge is limited to spawning the carrier and landing on it :D:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrzippy Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 These RA-5 squadrons took a terrible loss rate over Vietnam at night doing pre and post strike photo runs. it was tough to land aboard a Carrier - speed control was tough. Autothrottle was implemented to help out, but still several ramp strikes at night, which were spectacular, but very sad indeed. The Whale was bigger, heavier, but actually could work off converted ESSEX Class CVs, especially in 4-plane KA-3B tanker dets during Vietnam. I enjoyed flying the Whale a little at Patuxent River, even though it was pretty antiquated and had no ejection seats. The J-57s were always a great engine in my opinion. Whale driver, eh! I was with VAH-10 Det3 and VAQ-129 Det 19 NAS Whidbey Is. flying EKA-3b Skywarriors. Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamb Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 We passed the Enterprise in 1963 in the Mediterranean while on deployment when I was in the US Navy. Great shots of the Vigilante Bill!! :) [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liner simpilot Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Great set of pics Bill. Hard to believe this is how FS has come since beginning. It looks so real no matter what you fly FS9 or FSX Aircraft's & scenery. Kenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornetdriver25 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Mike, Mr. Z, Hornet & Wolf - thanks guys. I remember seeing RA-5s at NAS Sanford, Florida back in the late 60's back before Sanford became the 2nd International Airport serving Orlando to handle all the traffic to Disney World and Universal Ex-Alphasim payware - just recently posted and available over on simviation - may be here in the Library too - I haven't looked Sure - but warning - my knowledge is limited to spawning the carrier and landing on it :D:D Awesome, thanks Bill! :cool: System specs: AMD FTX 6300 six core processor 3.5 GHz, Video card Nvidia Geforce GTX 750 Ti 2 GB on board, Windows 8.1 64 bit and 1 TB on hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMLW Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 Another nicely displayed oldie Bill. thanks. :cool: :cool: :) Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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