From Nukes to Photos: The A-5 Vigilante Story
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
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The North American A-5 Vigilante was a Cold War era carrier based supersonic bomber that entered service for the US Navy in 1961. Capable of attaining speeds of Mach 2 and carrying nuclear payloads, the Vigilante was a heavy attack aircraft that made use of an unusual delivery system. The A-5 saw extensive use in Vietnam in an entirely different role and had a relatively short career that was cut short by advances it helped introduce.
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"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."
US Department of Defense
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I watched the RA5C Vigilante launch and land on my aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA CVA 60 many many times day and night from 1965 thru 1967. The largest airplane (80,0000 lbs loaded) to regularly fly and land on an aircraft carrier. The E2 Hawkeye has a much longer wing span but the RA5C has almost double the length and weight and the landing gear took a beating on that plane. On a NATO cruise from Naples Italy we had a flight deck full of visitors when a Vigilante flew over the ship at several thousand feet and Mach 1.5 while it took a picture of the flight deck. Later after the landing and return to Naples all the visitors were handed a 8x10 picture of all the people on the flight deck looking up at the jet and you could see every single face on every single person. In My Opinion one of the most beautiful airplanes ever built . .
Thank you for your service and it must have been amazing to see the Vigilante in day-to-day carrier operations. I'd love to see that 8x10, it sounds like it really speaks to the photo capabilities of the RA5C.
@@PilotPhotog When the Vigilante took off during Night Flight Ops the afterburners lit up the whole flight deck and the trail the two jet engines made could be seen far out into the night. I took a timed photo once. . wish I could find it. . . Wish I still had that super high definition photo too . . .remember we are talking 55+ years ago and imagine how much better the technology is today. They say some of our satellites can show FACES!!!
@@golfbuddy45 That must have been a heck of a picture! If you do find it, could you send it to me? I could post it on the community page.
I always said the A5 was the most beautiful plane ever made. It looked like Mach 2 just sitting on the deck. Saw many on the three carriers I served on with VMCJ-2 on the Forrestal, Saratoga and America in 1971.
Totally AGREE with James East's post below. I was on the RANGER bridge often when RVAH-7 was flying. The most beautiful aircraft I ever saw fly. The most dangerous too (due to having only a single nosewheel). She was truly a beautiful Bird!
Probably the best looking Bomber ever, amazing lines
I was stationed at NAS Kingsville and every once in a while an RA5 would stop overnight. Used to love watching in take off. It was a huge airplane.
That must have been quite a sight - and sound to behold!
I spent some time at the US Base in Rota, Spain in the early 70s and these would show up sometimes. That was a busy base where we saw WV-1s, C-5s and many other types of aircraft.
@@Chris_at_Home there was much more variety in airframe types back then - it must have been quite a sight and sounds! Thank you for your service and thanks for commenting.
Dang, I was there with VT-23. Our graduate pilots brought some amazing aircraft back to show off. Were you there when the SAC B-52 shot a bounce on the duty runway?
Yes it is massive ! My favorite plane ever is the F-111 which is also a massive plane ! When I first saw one in person I was shocked at how big she was
Worked on the Vigi from 71-79; starting out at NAS Albany with RVAH-11 and ending at NAS Key West with the Smoking Tigers in 78. I was an AQ and maintained the inertial nav and radar system. Was the best time of my life!
Did you know Ron Kratz?
Born in 1954 and living close to North American’s Columbus, Ohio facility, I became enamored with the development of the Vigilante. The facility was at Columbus’ John Glenn Int’l Airport (formerly Port Columbus), and our house was below the right downwind leg for Runway 28 (now 28L). There were dozens and dozens of test flights, often supersonic, and there I’d be in the back yard looking up with my “child” binoculars. In 1960, Port Columbus had an air show which featured a great Vigilante demonstration followed by my first Blue Angels experience (F-11F Tigers). Thanks for bringing back the memories of my lifelong aviation obsession! 👍👍👍 ~ John in Ohio
P.S. I still believe the Vigilante is one of the most beautiful military jet aircraft ever built! 😉
Thank you, John I am glad you enjoyed the video. I've been very fortunate to find an audience of individuals like you who share my love of aviation that allows me to research airplanes like the Vigilante and tell their stories. Cheers!
@@PilotPhotog Indeed, friend! Keep posting them and I’ll keep watching! Cheers!
One of the great designs.
Indeed!
I was a Vigi maintenance person 72-79. NAS Key West
Thank you for your service and thanks for commenting.
It’s still in my top five. I retired in 87 so I got to watch the most active years in growth of military aviation. That twenty five years in the Corps is still my happy time!
Semper Fi Capt. I also retired in 87. Still kick my own ass everyday for leaving. My squadron was assigned to the USS J.F.K. Got tired of boat rides. Trying to serve two masters, the Navy, and the Marines.VMA(aw)533.
Thank you for your service Captain.
Thank you for your service James
Salute to Heavy 7.
The A-5, namely the RA-5C, is a grossly underrated aircraft. Not only was it crucial for post-strike missions in Vietnam, but it also had a very high loss rate. North American Aviation had to produce more examples after losses over North Vietnam. Despite having cameras that could, according to one source, take a photo of a baseball from 40,000 ft, missions often had them flying lower than that.
Gawd that whole war was a waste. Risking Recon, strike and cap, and then post-strike crews, and then Sandy and friends just to blow another hole in the jungle.
I have to admit this is one bomber that I know very little about? That being said for the era it was developed it definitely looks like a beautiful airframe! You have peaked my interest with this video I’m going to have to find out more about this aircraft! Thanks for another great video 👍
I agree!!!!!! I love this aircraft so much, but I’m sad that it’s so obscure
It's no wonder about the losses, since the N.Viet. folks knew that, after ordnance was dropped, they were expecting the Vigilantes to return. What a risky assignment! And the back seater had, I guess, the smallest window for viewing than any aircraft that I was aware of!!
DITTO!!!!
The Vigilante was an aircraft that, like the Hustler, was built for a mission that got axed right out from under it before it had a chance to prove itself. Of course we are all fortunate that neither of them ever had to perform that mission but they are still two of the coolest looking aircraft ever built.
Beautiful aircraft!I remember building one,either a revell or monogram.Good times!
As a "Ship's Company" member of the A1 Division flight deck crew on the USS Constellation during the Vietnam War, I loved that big beautiful bird!
Thank You! I was an AME that worked on the Vigi in the late 70's R.V.A.H.-3
What a huge airplane
Ah, what can I say. I worked on the design of this remarkable aircraft back in the day. I'm retired now, but of all the airframes that passed through my hands, the Big Vig is the one that stands out.
I've been to NAS Key West, stood by this aircraft.
I'm guessing it seems much larger in person - thanks for commenting!
Really interesting, I've heard of it but I didn't know very much about this Aircraft
Thanks for commenting and glad you enjoyed the video!
Lord Juan, thank you for another great video. I didn't know much about the vigilante, learned something new today. The plane was underrated, ahead of its time; but also gorgeous. Have a great weekend buddy!!
Thanks Juan, glad you enjoyed the video and indeed this airplane was underrated. Have a great weekend!
@ Juan Are...I second the comment.🤓
I had a coworker, now retired, that flew the Vigilante. He used to talk a lot to me about the airplane, once I told him it was my favorite Navy airplane. He told me he ejected from the airplane, and it was a huge airplane, which took a lot of room on a carrier's deck, and I'm sure in the hangar below. Great video.
Tog! This is brilliant. I'm humbled. A NavAir vet and special mission aircraft fan. I learned a ton from this post. BRRAVO ZULU! I always appreciated the beauty and performance of the Vigilante. But never taken time to peel back the history. Thanks 🤙🤙🤙
All that tech would latter show up in the F-111, F-16 and F-15 so as a tech demostraightor it was insanly successfull.
great point and thanks for commenting as always!
I worked in admin in heavy 3, got to know the skipper, while conferring with the chief skipper went looking for me to offer the back seat for a short hop. He didn't find me one of the=great regrets of my life.
Sorry to hear that, thank you for your service and it must have been quite the sight and sounds to be around these when they were operational.
it kinda looks like the grand daddy of the F-111 ardvark.
Excellent.. Your channel finds U.S. flying devices that I never knew about. You find very new things in unpublished history. Good luck bro.
Lord Tog another excellent video..
Thank you!
I didnt know much about the A-5 other than how good looking it is prior to thos vid
Great work as always
Thank you!
It was still a pretty bird, I would consider it a baby Valkyrie. I think it got short changed accidentally just by the amount of technology stuffed inside it. Only so many could launch her, and land based could only do so much. The fact that it used the J-79 should have been enough to keep her going way longer than it did. I think they missed an opportunity with this one.
Not really. The submarine force was the better option.
Excellent!! I always loved the look of this plane.
To me, as a kid, I thought it could have been an aircraft from the UK's "Thunderbirds" puppet-style futuristic TV show.
Glad you liked the video and I remember the “Thunderbirds” show
One of the seldom spoken about jets in the history of aircraft. I actually like this jet a lot.
Side note: Lord Tog is absolutely hilarious. I will refer to you as Lord Tog from now on. 😂😂
It is a very interesting jet and somewhat unknown - glad you enjoyed the video and the new title 😎
@Triple...could the new realm be, "Lord Tog" and his follower "Togliddites"? 🤔 Not to be confused with troglodyte.🤥
@@scottnj2503 I always said Photogletts. 😂
@@Triple87 Ok, 👍 how's this..."PhoTOGLites", '..letts...' being diminutive.
@@scottnj2503 That’ll do. 😂😂
Beautiful aircraft. Thanks for the informative video. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
The A-5 was one of several aircraft that have come around over the years, particularly in the era between 1955-1985 where there were so many rapid advancements in aviation and aeronautical engineering, which made it a bit ahead of its time or in the wrong era entirely. The Avro Arrow was a victim of the same “out of its era” phenomenon.
I think the F-20, AH-56, F16XL, and YF-23 were other examples of this. Right planes, wrong times.
The A-5 was one of the few articles that suffered from the problem but managed to make it to serial production. The real issue there is that because of its relatively short life span and the overall disposition of the program, in hindsight it usually ends up looking like a poorly designed and less functional airplane, which wasn’t the case at all, and serves as proof that hindsight isn’t always 20/20…
Right plane. Wrong time. Like a lot of other amazing designs.
Long-term, the submarine force was the better option.
So, what you're trying to tell me is that Vigilante bombers takes nuclear shits on targets, right?
Yes 💯🤣🤣😂😂😂
I served in RVAH-7 from 1976 to 1979 when it was decommissioned. It was the last "Heavy" squadron to deploy, and went on a WESTPAC cruise on the USS Ranger.
A5, for me, is an ICON.
I just love the design.
One of the most beatiful airplanes.
Its just sooooo slick.
It's wild how forgotten this plane feels compared to some of the other pioneering jets of the time.
we have on here as a gate guard at Sanford Orlando airport....I think it is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever.....
The A-5 Vigilante was my first jet, plastic model kit plane in like 1973. It was a looker and what my dad called a "carrier plane". Supermarine Spitfire was my first airplane model. USS Arizona, my first ship model. Cool plane, a bit random here but good memories. Thank you.
Lovely airplane - North American proposed an interceptor derived from the Vigilante by adding a third J79 roughly where its nuclear bomb sit, (North American-Rockwell NR-349), but unfortunately it wasn't picked up. A pity, as I think it was dope...
Imagine the speed on that thing.
A true work of art.
When I went thru Navy AO 'A' school, there was an A-5 up on pillars outside the chow hall. Seems like it had an identity crisis much like the F-111 Aardvark. A high-priced utility player. The position it was designed & hired for was eliminated, but it was too good a machine to throw away.
Was this the one at subic bay?
Too advanced that the admirals didn't know how to use them.
What a marvellous and timeless design. From 1955. Wow !
Another aircraft that the Navy didn't know how to use. If it could have carried missiles, Canada may have bought it instead of the CF-101 Voodoos.
An interesting take and agreed, the Vigilante had good range and endurance something the RCAF could have made great use of.
Yeah NA made a design study of a 3 engined vigilante called the retaliator and carried AIM-47s? or AIM-54s?
looks like design inspiration for the f15
I'm big fan of F-111 Raven, a personal favorite.
I served with RVAH-1 "The Smoking Tigers" and was with them when the squadron decommissioned. I was an enlisted intel specialist, trained to handle the imagery the planes produced. Some of it, like the side-looking radar, was dodgy, but one of the options was an 18" panoramic camera. It produced a fine grade negative and each frame was around 5" wide and 24" long. The lens would sweep out from horizontal to the horizon on one side, then the other. I forget the resolution, but it produced beautiful images for targeting purposes. I was proud of my squadron and happy living in Key West. We decommissioned in January of 79, and I ended up sent to shore duty in Norfolk, VA. When my four year commitment was up, I didn't bother to reenlist. Thanks for a great video on the RA-5c!
The Vigilante became the F-111. Which I think should still be on service. The F-111 had huge problems in the early years. But as time went on it became a fantastic. If you incorporated today's electronics and engines into nether F-111. It would be an excellent platform today.
The F111 and A5 has no relationship outside of both being used for similar roles.
The F111 was a General Dynamics multirole design for both the Air Force and Navy that failed the Navy causing them to get the F14 Tomcat. It was first used in Nam retired in the 90s after Desert storm.
The A5 was a North American design, makers of the P51 and F86. The video goes in somewhat well for what happen there.
A friend, Jay Shower, flew the RA-5C in vietnam war. He has passed now.
Had a ton of storys, all around good man.
I love the names from the 50's: Savage, Hustler, Vigilante. Could you imagine the response they would get today? Any other cool names come to mind?
The Demon, the Super Sabre, the Thunder chief, the Fury, The Phantom, the Starfighter.
I predict future weapons systems will have names like Scooty Puff Jr. and the Drag Queen.
I served in RVAH9 , the hootowls. From 72 to 77. I did component level repair and alignment on the AN/APD7 side looking radar system. We deployed on 4 carriers during my time in heavy9. I worked the flightdeck launches and recoveries loading and delivering film magazines to IOIC for processing and review. I would aid in analysing film when requested.
I still communicate with many shipmates from H-9. We worked and played hard. Great times.
AT2 Stephen Hill
HHMF
My dad is retired USN aviator (over 40 years on USN flight decks), and he told me that the legend is they built the Vigi-bird originally with a SINGLE seat, then it was discovered that it took the GIB do laps around his rosary to get it on the deck in one piece!
Thank you to your father for serving - 40 years of cats and traps is amazing!
@@PilotPhotog Dad did 47 (in over 15 different airframes and helo's) Brother drove SeaHawks for 27, I was a DD Boatswain's Mate for 6. Ty muchly it sucked every once in a while but was ALWAYS a privilege (and we treated it that way) to serve!
What a gorgeous plane! 😍 I have to design and build an RC version of this.
Please do and share pics when you do!
I was a plane captain in heavy 3 from 74 till 78. Naval Air Station Key West! I feel that that was the time that I was born and raised for the first time in my life!
As a boy in the 70s living near NAS Oceana, I remember seeing Vigilantes flying overhead occasionally. You'd also see Intruders, Skyhawks, Phantoms, Tomcats and, even more rarely that A-5s, Skywarriors. I still live in the area, but now all you ever see are Super Hornets. Oh - you see Hawkeyes sometimes. Which reminds me: I believe I remember also seeing E-1s flying over.
Oh - and Vikings. There used to be so many different types flying around.
The Viking is another aircraft I am planning a video on. Thanks for commenting!
I always loved the RA-5C probably the most elegant and beautiful airplane that flew and landed on a carrier! It was probably the best reconnaissance airplane and when they retired the whole fleet there was no substitute to replace it. With all the respect for the RF-4C and an excellent job it never had the speed of the RA-5C. As you stated it was very mantainace intensive and there was less and less spare parts. You have also stated that it would have still been very useful nowadays, I believe so....
Thanks for sharing this magnificent airplane.....
Most beautiful airplane ever built.
I am hoping you can do a video on the Mirage 2000. It is a well-liked and well-used aircraft around the world so there should be plenty of info on them.
Like the F-14, I think the A-5 would be a great design, to be redesigned with planform shaping, modern systems, and powerplants. A low observable A-5 with twin F-135s, maybe a bubble canopy?
My favorite Cold War jet! Thanks for this.
Brave crews. Poor visibility from both seats of the ground, you had to have faith in the young deck personnel guiding you.
They had a program where you could get cleared to ride along with a pilot when the RAN wasn't needed. I expressed an interest, but a RAN told me about the poor visibility and compared the compartment to being in a coffin, so I gave up that idea!
"Unarmed and unafraid." I applaud this aircraft's service in Vietnam
If you're talking about that RA-5c pilot's autobiography, I believe the full title was "Alone, Unarmed, and Unafraid." Unfortunately, I haven't read it.
I was a greenshirt in the early 90s so I missed out on ever launching one of these monsters! But a COD-sized jet bomber on the deck would have been a sight to see, especially around all the "little" A 4s and even the first gen F 18s. The F 14 was the beast on the deck during my time, and man what a machine.
BEING A RETIRED PJ FROM VIETNAM ERA,AND DISABLED I LOVE TO WATCH INFO ON THE DIFFERENT MILITARY ACFT WE HAVE.
MILL
Served in Heavy six 1966 till 1970 what a great time in my life. What an awesome jet made 3 cruises constellation, Ranger and the Enterprise in 1969 when we had the terrible flight deck fire. I call this the forgotten aircraft. Hardly anyone knows what the aircraft was and what role it played in the Vietnam War
I don't remember the source, but I read once that the linear bomb ejection system was only ever tried twice, in test flights.
Once with 3 empty tanks, and once with the 2 empty tanks and a simulated Mk28.
Each time nearly caused total loss of control.
Well done. I was a Hoot Owl (HHMF) 76'-77', pretty plane, it was a ton of work keeping just 2 ASB-12's working. I remember the can parties, you grab all the minions you can find and you pull out the 3 internal tanks as one. There is a lot of fun to be had in Key West when your 19!
As a Midshipman on cruise in summer of 1962 aboard Enterprise CVAN-65 I watched the first A3J Vigilante craned aboard while finishing up upgrades after shakedown cruise. It was said at the time it would be launched to make sure it would be okay to take on the rest of the squadron. Once at sea, I was on the 015 level where I shouldn't have been to watch. Afterburners ablaze it never even reach the end of the flight deck before lifting off. It joined the rest of the squadron and the flyby was a beautiful sight. I could not get enough of looking up the spine of the aircraft from the tail. Just great. Just too bad it was ahead of its time, but I am sure lessoned were learned to make future advancements possible.
Great aircraft. Terrific presentation, thanks!
I built a model of this aircraft when I was a wee lad (I don't remember how old I was, but probably less than 10, so roughly 1970?). For some reason it has remained one of my favorite aircraft since. Maybe it's the unique bomb delivery setup.
I liked the A5. Great performance and really pretty. 😎
One of my favorite jets of all time...
The Vigilante first flew in 1958, just thirteen years after the end of WW2.
Amazing
This plane almost looks like the AVRO ARROW to me, REALLY COOL..
I remember seeing one of these on the tarmac at Cubi Pt. NAS in the late 70's
It must have been quite a sight! They are large and the fact that they operated out of carriers is amazing. Thanks for commenting!
At first I thought it was a TomCat. Then I realized it had only 1 tail. Had to ask about it.
@@808TheDuck good point. People that haven’t seen an F-14 up close don’t realize how big they are.
She sure was a beautiful plane. Great vid 👍 Appreciate it!
Undervalued
Astonishing for that era.
My only experience with this aircraft was while going to A school in Millington TN. I always thought it had beautiful lines
I had the privilege of working on the RA5C of Hvy 14 on board the Indy in 1973. One of best looking airframes to ever grace the fleet. By the way, you didnt mention that Hvy 14 was the last squadron commissioned and the first decommissioned in 1974.
H14, 1972. JFK. plane Captain.
RVAH 14 was my dad’s final squadron in the Navy, retired shortly after they moved from Albany to Key West.
ATC Richardson
@@pmrich7035 Your dad would have been on the same cruise I was on! I left the the Big Boat (USS Independence) in Dec 1973 while still in the Mediterranean. When I got out, I did not have to return to Albany. Went straight home and was mustered out in Oakland Calif.
I had the opportunity to work for NAA/Rockwell in Columbus, Ohio. The history and pride of the Vigilante ran deep at the Columbus facility. I knew several of the engineers that helped design the aircraft. I recall one engineer that described the unique use of laminated honeycomb structures on this aircraft. I was there on the B-1B Program and wrote structural repair procedures that would eventually become incorporated into the maintenance manuals. Many of the design features on the Vigilante were advanced and continued into future aircraft designs. TY MH
Dwarfs the F-4s
My Brother in law was killed at Eltorrow Calf. Flying the Vigg. Low altitude and compressor failure dumped them into the ground, 8 miles from end of runway. Lt.Bob White, a damn good stick.😢
A beautiful aircraft, it just looks right.
Can you do a video on different Fighter Aircraft Maneuvers!
Under🅰ted ⭐
Darth Vader: You mention that the A-5 was ahead of its time, I fully agree. Given its speed at the time imagine this air frame with new GE engines and a full electronics suite from a F-35. This aircraft would be faster than any Russian on the drawing boards and have less maintance. It also would be able to perform many mission sets. Al you have to do is find the airframes out a Davis-Monthan AFB of there are 3 on the grounds. The 309th aerospace maintance and regeneration on the base could do all the work, thus saving cost and time. A bargain and you get a multi role aircraft that serve many functions.
They used to fly 100 feet above the pasture, throw on the afterburner and zoom above the highest pine tree next to the ditch line. About a quarter mile in toto. We were in the USAF a year later. We were dealing with a civil war in a never-defeated country.
It was in the summer of 1970. I was aboard the USS Leary DD 879 that I saw a Vigilante go in the water, the tail hook broke, two pilots lost, there was nothing we could do to save them. I still think about them.
Took a close look at one , beautiful machine .
OMG! Seeing that high-altitude maneuver that the RF-5 executed made my stomach turn. When I went through initial training on the F-4B, we had to go to the Kennedy Space Center for high-altitude training. We were fitted with space suits that the early astronauts wore. But the worst part of our high-altitude maneuver was just like the A-5 in that we gradually pulled the throttles back to idle as the temperatures climbed and then shut both engines off! The altitude was expected to be in the 70,000 to 90,000-foot range. We then shot our missiles and "Glided" down to a lower altitude and tried for a relight of the engines. I am thankful that I never had to do that. A funny thing about the space suite is that in case of depressurization, the suit would blow up and become very rigid but the funny thing was that it had cables that would pull your two arms into the stomach area so that you could use the control stick. Otherwise, your arms would stick straight out.
Wish they had kept them flying would have made good long range naval attack aviation with the addition of harpoons or other cruise missiles
An elegant plan ahead of its time.
GOOD REVIEW. I WAS WITH THE RA5C PROGRAM FRON 1963 TILL I RETIRED IN 1974. RVAH3, RVAH6, RVAH 5 AND NAMTD INSTRUCTOR DUTY. TOUGHT BASIC ELECTRONICS, PAN AND STILL CAMER MAINTENANCE. SANFORD, FL, ALBANY GA AND KEY WEST, FL.. DEPLOYED ON ENTERPRISE, RANGER AND CONSTELLATION.
ahh, the god old days. de still a ham radio guy. k
I've heard it said that the A5A through RA5C had a short service life. It was designed in a time where the average service life of many designs was between 5 and 8 years. The Vigi's service life was from 1961 to 1979, that's 18 years, that may not be equal to the F4 and current designs but it is in the same range as the A1 and A4. It's biggest deficit is that it is not a well know aircraft because of its special roll and did not get the press coverage that others did. It was mentioned that one A5A set and altitude record of over 91K feet. A RA5C hit a speed of mock 2.5 when working up for a run at the London to New York mail race. It was a more advanced design then any aircraft when it entered service and it took another 10 years for new designs to catch up. A true ground breaker.
Test bed - hi performance aircraft ! Watched them as a little boy - very cool sound !
I made the1976 Westpac Cruise on CV-61 Ranger, RVAH-5 part of CAG-2, would lose mainmount on landing, I was a plane captain, whenever they called Vigi in the break, I looked over my shoulder, they sat in the hangar most of the cruise.
You explained for the first time - why I was confused about a3hj ? When a A-5 vig crashed into
Our town in the early ‘60s after take off from Sanford Naval Air Station . Both crew members
Ejected over lake Monroe in the vertical ! Aircraft drifted north as they were at considerable
Altitude - I was told - “flame -out “. Twin jet & that would suck - anyhow, big kaboom !
No one killed on the ground !! Plenty bad damage .
Cool plane... sleek and chic👍✈️