Former USS Intrepid A3D

[TimAPNY]

I E-mailed the group that received the Skywarrior from the Intrepid and asked how things where going and what was the time frame for it to go on display at the Johnstown NY county airport.

It aircraft is still in pieces, they are stripping paint and trying to counter the corrosion. It sounds like they have their work cut out for them. Plan is that July 16 that the aircraft will go on display. I wish it wasn't a 1.5 hour drive out there, I'd love to get my hands dirty, if they wanted me.

I think it will be a stop on the way to Thunder over Michigan.

[CorsairFreak]

what group recieved their A3?

[Jack Cook]

My step-dad flew with Heavy 2 and said A3D stood for "ALL 3 DEAD" has it had no ejection system for the crew and was hard to egress in a emergency. He also said it was a great airplane (has long has everything worked well I guess). I was great seeing the 2 flyers up at Whidbey Is. 2 years ago.

[tom d. friedman]

interesting about the no ejection seat statement. in the movie bat 21, a true story, and a fantastic flick with gene hackman as colonel iceal hambelton, it showed him ejecting from the usaf b-66 version used in early wild weasel missions, after being clobbered by a sam missile. why would the usaf version have ejection seats but not the navy version??? unless that point was hollywoodized for the excitement of the movie??? best, tom

[Jack Cook]

The movie BAT 21 was based on a true story. That means yes he was in VN and he was shot down. After that it's pure fantasy. Hambliton was actually rescued by a Navy Seal Lt named Tom Norris who received the Medal of Honor for his daring feat! I don't know how similar the A-3 was to the B-66 but I wouldn't be surprised if it's something comparible of the P-39 and the P-63.

[tom d. friedman]

rather dissapointing that most of the movie was b.s. compared to the real story. still no answer as to the ejection seat / no ejection seat issue though. best, tom

[Jack Cook]

Like I said A3D=All 3 Dead. Somewhere I have some nice slides of VQ-2 EA-3s on the Saratoga during the 77-78 med cruise. I'll try to dig some out and post them.

[tom d. friedman]

a private aero research firm still operates 4 or 5 of them, at mojave i believe, all are a3d variants. they test experimental components for uncle sam. the air frames look good, & will soldier on in the test capacity for years. why did the navy nix ejection seats in them?? regards, tom

[TimAPNY]

Here is the link to the group in Johnstown NY working on the A3D. Also is a link to photos of the move.


http://www.a3skywarrior.com/featurephot ... _Flier.htm
http://www.ryanwpetersen.fotopic.net/c303814.html