This book is far more than its title suggests; it is in fact a concentrated history of the Skywarrior's complete career to its last Navy use in 1991 and last contractor hop in 2011 as well as the interesting history of the rise of the Navy's electronic attack community with side trips to the Heavy Photo (VAP) and VQ communities. While a 96-page book can not cover all of that ground in great depth, the author writes with consummate efficiency and grace in this operational history, keeping the reader aware of the aircraft being flown, where they were flown from, and the squadrons and detachments (Dets) flying them and the constant evolution of those organizations.
Whenever the author introduces a new variant of the A-3 he places it in the clear context of the squadrons using it and their basing (for example, allowing us to watch how the electronic warfare community wound up at Whidbey Island via its VAH forebears) and the establishment, disestablishment, splitting, and merging of squadrons that operated the new versions. He integrates this information effortlessly into the narration, showing how the EKA-3Bs replaced the EA-1 Spads in the VAW squadrons, how the VAQ squadrons were then split out of the VAW squadrons, and nimbly follows all of the family trees, the numbering series of the new VAQ community, their names and callsigns, without this ever feeling like it slows down the flow of the text. He also clearly follows in the text and in a very useful table, the deployments of all of the Skywarrior VAW and VAQ dets as well as the stand-alone squadrons created to replace the Dets on the bigger decks. He clearly traces how AIRPAC and AIRLANT used their A-3 assets differently, with the Pacific having far more Essex 27C carriers, how the AIRPAC and AIRLANT used different Det designation schemes before settling on a numbered model, and how the VAH community lived on for a while, supplying either direct tanker Dets or tankers to round out VAQ Dets.
Just as impressive as the information above, this book clearly lays out the differences, often muddied in other books and on-line resources, between the A-3 versions with their multi-layered mission modifiers: EA-3, EKA-3, RA-3, ERA-3, making it very simple and straight-forward. A-3Bs became KA-3Bs, and some of these became EKA-3Bs and later reverted back to simple KA-3Bs. All of these were built as BOMBERS, with a fuselage bomb bay, whether filled with fuel tanks and electronics or not. The EA-3Bs, RA-3Bs, and TA-3Bs were a different aircraft, with no bomb bays and a pressurized, MANNED fuselage instead of a bomb bay. Further, their missions were quite different. The EKA-3Bs were tactical jammers in the VAQ squadrons, which gave rise to the EA-6B and then EA-18 communities, and some of these aircraft lived on as KA-3Bs in the Reserve VAK squadrons. The EA-3Bs were ELINT birds, the carrier-based elements of the multi-type VQ squadrons, the forerunners of the short-lived ES-3As. The RA-3Bs served in the Heavy Photo VAP squadrons until these were discontinued, and then some were modified into ERA-3Bs which were too heavy to operate from carriers. These served only in the electronic aggressor squadrons VAQ-33 and 34, providing realistic electronic warfare training in the aggressor role. The TA-3Bs served as trainers and shadow VIP aircraft, and the sole VA-3B was actually a converted EA-3B.
While the book mentions the NRA-3Bs and other N-versions in passing, it does not go into them in detail. Since these were not fleet aircraft the book does not suffer from their omission, especially not at the expense of the material described above.
The narrative spine, which the above themes weave through, are the deployments and operations of the A-3 entering service prior to the war, given briefly to set the stage, during the Vietnam war, and then 1975-1991. This starts with the VAH HATRONs and their deployments and operations, their very early repurposing into the tanking and jamming missions, and a nice story about GEN Westmoreland being honked that his Navy bombers didn't have bombsights. There are a number of good accounts of tanker heroics, tales of itinerant EA and RA missions shuttling among land bases and carrier decks, and some very good discussion of how tricky and accident-prone the Whale was around the boat: 42% of all A-3 production was lost in mishaps, and Morgan carefully details these. Strikingly, Morgan does not belabor the old A3D "All 3 Dead" joke, but instead turns it on its head, observing that the plane only lasted so long because it DIDN'T have ejection seats. And through all this he still keeps our eye on how the Heavy Attack community split into the A-3 (West coast) and A-5 (East coast) halves and both evolved into non-bombing missions, the RA-5Cs becoming the RVAH squadrons that replaced the RA-3B VAP squadrons.
The color plates are outstanding with 27 in the standard gull grey over gloss white showing the distinctive and colorful VAH, VAW, and VAQ markings, the addition of jammer blisters on EKAs and then their departure, four different variations in tanker stripes, and a multitude of variations in carrier, squadron, and Det markings. The remaining three are the famous green Kitty Hawk experiment, a field-expedient all black RA-3, and the official three-tone grey RA-3 scheme.
The A-3 story is a complex and convoluted one, sitting at the nexus of many brand-new Navy missions in the 1960s, but this book makes it look effortless, and communicates great clarity to the reader. I can not recommend it highly enough.
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Full colour battlescenesBeautifully illustrated battlescenes are included to bring the narrative of the conflict to life. |
Aircraft profilesEach illustration is meticulously researched to depict the machines used in combat. The profiles are accompanied by fully detailed captions that bring their histories to life. |
PhotographsThe books feature a wide range of archival photographs sourced from official and private collections, and these provide unparalleled detail of the aircraft. |
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Reviews with images
A3 Skywarrior
I found the presentation of the aircraft and the information most helpful. I served nearly a dozen years in the Skywarrior program from 1956 to 1968 as an ASB-1 technician and then as aircrew both B/N and G/N. All of my service was on the West coast. I served in VC-6, VAH-2, VAH-8 and VAH-10. I did notice a few errors and omissions in book. Otherwise, it was a very good reference.
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I found the presentation of the aircraft and the information most helpful. I served nearly a dozen years in the Skywarrior program from 1956 to 1968 as an ASB-1 technician and then as aircrew both B/N and G/N. All of my service was on the West coast. I served in VC-6, VAH-2, VAH-8 and VAH-10. I did notice a few errors and omissions in book. Otherwise, it was a very good reference.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2016
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