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"Whale" to arrive on Yorktown's flight deck Friday!

Waring Hills Jul 01, 2010

Whale approaching flight deck for an arrested landing.

It’s not just any “Whale,” but the much esteemed Douglas A-3 Skywarrior, affectionately known as a whale because of its size and the great noise it made impacting the flight deck of a carrier as she made her arrested landing onboard pitching decks at sea!

Designed by Douglas Aircraft Corporation as a nuclear attack bomber to be launched from the first super carriers, the A-3 Skywarrior first flew 28 October 1952 and was delivered to the first Navy squadron, VAH-1, on 31 March 1955  at NAS Jacksonville, Florida. The last Skywarriors flew in the United States Naval Reserve squadrons VAK-208 and VAK-308, both decommissioned on 30 September 1989.

Our Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is bureau number 146457 and was built as an EA-3B (A3D-2Q) model. This model had the improved cambered leading edge (CLE) wings incorporating inboard slats, which increased the wing area from 779 to 812 square feet. The B model also had a defensive electronic countermeasures (DECM) system mounted in the dovetail fairing (on the tail). This particularly model of the Skywarrior was built for the Tactical Signal Exploitation System (TASES) role and differed mainly by having a pressured compartment in place of the original bomb bay. She ended her service to the country in squadrons VQ-1 and VQ-2. After being decommissioned 146457 was placed on a pedestal in front of the Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQ) at Naval Station Rota, Spain for display.

VQ-1

VQ-2

Eventually the aircraft was readied for shipment back to the United States in the early 2000’s and was offered to Patriots Point. Unfortunately acceptance of the aircraft was turned down, but today as a result of the A-3 Skywarrior Association‘s dedication and fund raising the aircraft is finally on its way to the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10). She is scheduled to arrive on the high tide Friday afternoon shortly after 12 noon. I know that one former crew member who actually flew in this aircraft off Vietnam, Hank Schultz from Easley, SC, is planning to attend the crane aboard tomorrow and I look forward to meeting him and learning some of his stories. I’ll try to post one on Friday.

A-3 being craned off in Norfolk, VA, after her arrival from Rota, Spain.

6/28/2010 146457 shown above being loaded on board the USNS Seay. It is now tied down aboard the Seay and is scheduled to arrive in Charleston on July 1 to be offloaded and transfered to the Yorktown shortly thereafter.

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0 thoughts on “"Whale" to arrive on Yorktown's flight deck Friday!

  1. Hank Schultz says:

    I remain anxious to visit this dear old friend. I have great memories of the aircraft, and the people who flew with me. I do have a picture of members of one of the crews, with their wives, as we celebrated our return from yet another deployment to Cubi Pt, and to the carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Among the missions I flew in 146457 was my original Check Flight, as Eval, on a Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance (PARPRO) mission, out of Atsugi, Japan. I also flew my 100th combat mission in 146457, from the Coral Sea….

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