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Vigilante


BillD22

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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!

 

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R6.jpg

 

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R7.jpg

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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 :)

 

a53.jpg

 

a54.jpg

 

r55.jpg

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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

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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

 

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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

 

Vigi 1969.JPG

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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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.

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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

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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!  ✈️

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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.

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