Re: North American Vigilante
- From: "Rob Arndt" <teuton263@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 9 Mar 2007 22:01:46 -0800
On Mar 9, 8:24�pm, "Flashnews" <skit...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The "Viggie" was a 2 x J79 jet like the Phantom, a couple of tons heavier
but with much less drag and started as a nuclear strike platform tossing the
weapon out the center "tube" from behind - novel idea - but it served better
as a fuel tank and with a dedicated recce nose (film and tape, not digital)
the RA-5C probably was the best - ever Navy manned reconnaissance platform
even though the TARPS pod had technical advantages.
Went real fast in military power at low altitude, went faster in burner, was
heavy on the catapults - I think 50,000 pound shot was a light one - and
required big power changes coming aboard and was near impossible single
engine. Burners were enabled to be used in the landing mode even though that
was touchy because the first slam of the throttles would actually drop the
thrust until the burners really kicked in. The back seat was for a pure
navigator and camera operator and had limited viz forward so a chin-camera
was installed, but it was quite the seat for the GIB's.
Best advantage is that it was a beautiful machine and crews liked them a lot
for reasons few could understand - mission and handling most likely being
the hard points. Many North Vietnam missions post strike were alone but done
at great speed.
"funkraum" <funkraum@hotmail .com> wrote in message
news:8rk3v2hbsho4nudoitesfqbsag7er4chbr@xxxxxxxxxx
Anyone ever flown one ? Observations on handling ? Performance ?
Faults ? Thrills ?
How could something which was such a sled ever get shot down by a
MiG-21 ?- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
A-5A/A-3J shortcomings
A serious design shortcoming involved the unique linear bomb bay. In
simple terms it consisted of a tube running inside the fuselage,
between the two engines. The weapon was loaded through an opening
between the two jet exhausts. Weapons ejection was also effected via
this opening, with a solid fuel cartridge used to propel the device
clear of the aircraft once the jettisonable tail-cone faring had been
ejected. The weapons bay was considerably longer than the nuclear
weapons which the Vigilante was originally intended to carry therefore
some of this space was utilized for additional fuel. This fuel was
contained in two jettisonable tanks located aft of the weapon and
linked to it. The tanks, which were ejected with the bomb, acted as
aerodynamic stabilizers for the bomb's free-fall to the target.
Although a viable system in theory, in actual practice difficulties
were encountered in clearing the linear bomb bay during operational
use. At the same time a major shift in Navy policy deleted the
strategic bombing role. Consequently plans to produce the improved
Vigilante attack-bomber were abandoned after it had reached the flight-
test phase.
Rob
.
- References:
- North American Vigilante
- From: funkraum
- Re: North American Vigilante
- From: Flashnews
- North American Vigilante
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