A-3 Skywarrior aka "The Whale" (Image Heavy)

[warbirdfinder]

I am looking for an accident report or anyone who could tell me what happened to a friend from a long time ago. Glenn Major was with the VAH-9 Squadron on the [i]USS Saratoga[/i] as an enlisted crewman on the A3D Skywarrior in 1960. He was lost of a flight while flying off the Saratoga.

[Archer]

Thanks for giving me an excuse to upload these!


Skywarrior_side by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

Skywarrior_front by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

Skywarrior_inside_2 by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

Skywarrior_inside_1 by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

A kind lady at the Vintage Flying Museum showed me around their Skywarrior in October 2018. The thing that struck me was the fact that this type does not have ejection seats. It might explain why the overhead hatch is open during carrier operations, it would be the only way out for the crew if the plane went into the water.

This one is EA-3B Bu. 146453 (http://www.warbirdregistry.org/jetregis ... 46453.html).

[Scott Rose]

It might explain why the overhead hatch is open during carrier operations, it would be the only way out for the crew if the plane went into the water.

Yup, which was bad enough for the attack version, but the EA version had crewman under the wing structure. No chance at all in a ditching scenario.

My father made 119 traps as flight engineer/plane captainin various model A-3s in his career before transitioning to P-3 Orions.
You have to respect a man who did that while sitting backwards in a plane with no ejection seats.

[Scott Rose]

A VA-3B Skywarrior, one of five modified from the TA-3B configuration to serve as VIP transports
for high-ranking Navy uniformed and civilian officials, pictured on the ground at Nellis AFB in Nevada, November 21, 1970.
(Source: National Museum Of Naval Aviation)

My father was flight crew on VA-3Bs several times in his Skywarrior career