The North American A-5 Vigilante

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[@DS12-42]

Excellent analysis of the vigilante. I was in the first operational squadron(VAH-7) aboard Enterprise(1961-1965). We used the A5A, A5C, lastly converting to the RA5-C. The altitude record to which you refer was set by one of our pilots. We lost one that hit the round down late at night. The front section went off the angle deck, the rear section landed on the fantail. Both men were killed. It’s role was similar to the B58 Hustler; high altitude, supersonic, nuclear delivery. Fortunately, we didn’t do much of that! In reflection, it was a very expensive white elephant. Instead of dropping nukes, we used it mainly as a tanker, refueling the other combat aircraft.

[@F4Wildcat]

This makes it sound like you actually did a high altitude, supersonic nuclear delivery. Also thanks for your service

[@mykleraymond3700]

RA5-C was the reconnaissance aircraft aboard Enterprise during Vietnam deployments in 1967 and 1968 while I served aboard. A3 were used for refueling.

[@martymilner6714]

I’d be interested in knowing how many Vigilantes would be attached to a carrier during a typical deployment. Thanks

[@NKBobcat]

I was a plane captain in RVAH-6 and RVAH-12, supporting the RA-5C Vigilante. We were based out of NAS Key West. They were a beautiful aircraft, required lots of maintenance, and were big, loud, and fast. I worked on them from 75-79 before transferring to the P-3 community.

[@pixelnazgul]

As a former USA president, I claim...

[@marcbiff2192]

I can still distinctly remember standing right next to an A5 when a carrier came into Plymouth Sound i think she was the seaward side of the breakwater but they laid on boats so you could visit her sorry i cannot remember the ship it might have been USS Kitty Hawk but not sure it was over fifty years ago but i do remember how sleek the plane looked compared to the other aircraft on the flight deck. i came home saved up my pocket money and bought a 1/72 nd Airfix model of the Vigilante a good but distant memory thanks Simon.

[@nutsackmania]

like in the band everclear

[@byronharano2391]

Aloha Shipmate. West-Pac 1984 aboard USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 Battle Group B - Bravo. Press on!

[@highdriver100]

Also an interesting note about the absurd bomb delivery system, on three occasions, the shock of the catapult launch caused the stores train to eject onto the deck.

[@Error_404-F.cks_Not_Found]

Well that wouldn't be good lol

[@TheBudman52]

oops, NAVAIR , SHIT HAPPENS

[@paulwoodman5131]

Expected this to be covered, inadvertently dropping ordinance on the deck.

[@barryervin8536]

I was aboard the Independence in 69-70 in an F-4 squadron when one of the Vigilantes aboard lost it's stores train on a cat launch. I wasn't on the flight deck to see it but from what I heard from guys who were there it was exciting to say the least. No fire though, fortunately.

[@DickHolman]

That's not optimal.

[@ElsinoreRacer]

This plane was declassified years before design work began on the Foxbat, F-15, and F-14. You can see design elements of the Vigilante in all of them. But the original is still the most beautiful. Especially the 2nd build ones with the LERX. And it did serve clean, no pylons. When light and at the right temps, she could marginally supercruise and with all that wing, esp at altitude, she was surprisingly agile. As in they bounced F-4s and F-8s (and could then run away) to their great displeasure. What a greyhound.

[@gsprings43]

i was about to say the same thing,,,,you can for sure see f15 and f14 influence

[@eddieoreilly9391]

Also the F-111…

[@mikewalkey7520]

I saw a picture of it when I was younger and thought it was an early F-15 prototype. Looks very similar to the F-15.

[@NickGiffin]

The most mega project: the electric power grid. It's been under constant operation and construction for over a century.

[@PeaceItUp]

This would be a cool one for sure!

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Whose power grid? If it is just the US that would be rather boring.

[@user-dg9pu4pe9d]

That would be a good one. Not only is it fascinating but it is always good to remind people how important it is. Especially since when it goes wrong it can go very badly wrong. Last year's Texas outage could be an episode in itself.

[@PeaceItUp]

@@owenshebbeare2999 why would it matter which? A power grid anywhere would be interesting. I'm more curious as to why you single out the US, would it be more interesting if it was the UK? Not sure how it would be different. Honestly wherever the largest power grid is is where the video should be about...

[@christiantothemax107]

Pretty sure he's covered it before on one of his other channels

[@otherbrothersteve]

The A-5 is the prettiest jet ever built. It looks like it's going Mach 2 when it's just sitting there.

[@Fortunes.Fool.]

Came here to say it, that jet looks like a scifi spaceship and it's unbelievably large. Those things looked like a Concorde sitting on small Cold War era carriers. (say that 3 times fast)

[@cleverusername9369]

SR-71, still the baddest

[@ConvairDart106]

F-106, still holds the world speed record for single engine turbine, at mach 2.4, or 1,525 mph. Talk about looking fast sitting still, it was the first fighter to use the area rule, which gave her fuselage the coke bottle shape.

[@nitehawk86]

@@ConvairDart106 well, you would know :)

[@ConvairDart106]

@@nitehawk86 Yes, but many do not, and I can not find but a few short films of them anywhere. There has to be a training film in a vault somewhere. I never flew one, but as a firefighter at McChord AFB in1979, was sent out during an emergency scramble. When the pair went by me in full burner gear up and clean, then penetrating the overcast at 800 feet, and me standing there with my fingers jammed into my ears, sporting a woody! A minute later came the two sonic booms.

[@rickcentore2801]

As an old B-25 pilot once told me, "North American never built a bad airplane."

[@thundercamel]

"Nor do they ever built good ones. They build PRECIOUSLY what they meant to!" - Gandalf, former B-25 pilot and wizard.

[@Ushio01]

NA really got unlucky with the F-107, XF-108 and XB-70 all being cancelled within 5 years basically killing the company.

[@socaljarhead7670]

They tried to hang with Convair and Lockheed and lost.

[@jerryplante4239]

Spent many hours on the Big E watching Viggies come and go. They were a big hit in the impromptu airshows we did when visiting a port. Supersonic passes 100 feet off the water, 100 feet off the side of the ship.

[@Idahoguy10157]

In 1974 I saw an RA-5 on display at an airshow. For a carrier based aircraft it was huge! The losses over North Vietnam are a result of RA-5’s being sent on the most dangerous recon missions. That being post strike bomb damage assessment. The North Vietnamese knew to expect them and had a good of course, altitude, and speed to expect.

[@Beryllahawk]

Wow, what a plane! These sound just plain amazing - most especially when you consider HOW early this design was! Also that pilot just casually LETTING THE PLANE FALL and then regaining control once he got lower and into thicker air: That is a Certified Badass right there, nerves of steel doesn't even cover it! Very good video!!

[@cab6273]

The Vigilante’s first flight was in 1958, just 13 years after WW2. Amazing

[@Logovanni]

It looks like a modern jet even today.

[@cab6273]

@@Logovanni Maybe the best-looking carrier jet, ever.

[@Casra76]

YO, Do a Megaprojects on the F-4 Phantom II!!!!!

[@hifinsword]

The RA-5C Vigi is one of the finest and fastest looking aircraft to ever take flight in my opinion. Great presentation Simon!

[@philliplopez8745]

Possibly the most beautiful aircraft that I ever had the pleasure of seeing up close while still in service .

[@Mr_JollyRoger]

I'd love to see one about the F-14 Tomcat. It was one of the reasons I decided to join the Navy. Also, how about the history of the Top Gun program with a small aside to the support crews required to keep all the aircraft and staff going.

[@carlosrenteria2495]

*danger zone intensifies*

[@megaprojects9649]

Great suggestions.

[@AtheistOrphan]

The F-14 is one of my favourite aircraft. (I had the 1/72 Airfix kit). Still the pride of the Iranian Air Force! 🇮🇷

[@parallax9281]

I thought the F-14 Tomcat did all that..?

[@a4ordy877]

How about the Marines and the F-14 project? A GySGT I knew was involved with that project. He never went into detail about it.

[@russingle1340]

As a child I loved building the plastic models of aircraft.On or about 1975 I bought a model of a large sleek aircraft called The Vigilante.It looked like it was going mach3 just sitting on my desk.Beautiful airplane So when I this video I had to watch it.Great Job,taking me back about 45 years.

[@a4ordy877]

I remember seeing one on static display infront of the chow hall at NAS Memphis.

[@jeffcamp481]

A beautiful aircraft for it’s time and even by today’s standards!

[@RCAvhstape]

Years ago there used to be a Navy air base north of Memphis Tennessee, and they had an A-5 displayed on a pedestal in front of the chow hall. Just looked it up on google maps and I see that's gone now, but you can see the spot on the lawn where it used to be. I hope it found a home in a museum. When I first saw it I was amazed at how modern it looked for something 20+ years out of date. Of course it had birds building nests in it and so on.

[@daviddunsmore103]

I just checked wikipedia, and the one that you described is referenced as being there alright, but their 2015 source makes no mention of it being moved, so I guess it was moved in the last seven years, but I don't know where to, or why. Perhaps you could send a request for information to the base public relations officer. 🤔

[@kaladek]

A group got permission to remove the aircraft from NSA Millington (used to be NAS Millington), take it about 30miles away and totally clean it up, repaint it, and weatherize it. They documented it on Facebook, etc for the time it took. It was brought back to the airport and sits there until they replace the mount on base. She looks gorgeous. I have a buddy stationed at Millington now and went up for a promotion ceremony and since my father flew the vigilante in VAH-1, VAH-3, RVAH-1, and RVAH-3, I had to go by and see the girl. She is just behind a fence at the right side of the airport and looks so beautiful. Cannot wait until she is back up on her stand. The guys did an amazing job on her renovation - looks like she just came off the line. I have always thought that the RA-5C looks so good and like she is doing mach 2 while sitting on the ground. You can still see on google maps (as of 7/11/23) - of Visual Perfection and Towing, INC (search for it around Memphis, TN) - the airframe sitting in the front yard with the wings off.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@kaladek Cool, thanks for the info. Glad to see it is being preserved.

[@matthewprobst9890]

Simon f14 tomcat

[@zacharyhumphries1707]

The F-14 would be pretty good... but i'd like to see one on the Stuxxnet computer virus. Yeah its not as obviously cool as a jet, but it was/is the first comp. virus which physically broke things and had people asking, "Is this an act of war?" Its a Megaproject because of the sheer engineering needed for such a thing. Three zero-day exploits don't just fall outta the sky.

[@jamesstuckey2732]

F14 f14 f14

[@Taylor-uo3nb]

He did the f14 already

[@givemepizzaorgivemedeath3983]

The 1950s must have been a wildly exciting time in aircraft engineering. Staggering leaps forward.

[@MrHurst-lb1rn]

Millington A school for the US Navy had ab A-5 on a pedestal outside the galley in the mid 80s. the plane is huge for a carrier based plane.

[@mols89]

Whoa, I lived on this base as a kid in the mid-90s!

[@sadwingsraging3044]

Drove by that gate guard a many a time.

[@gapratt4955]

Spent summer of 85 there. BHC USMC. I was excited the first time I saw that Vig, first time I saw one in person.

[@MrHurst-lb1rn]

@@gapratt4955 Summer of 87. We probably drank beer out of the same vending machines. Semper Fi.

[@kelvinh8327]

I heard the stores train was a requirement specified by the Navy. Also, Soviet designers drew on the A-5's design for the MIG-25 Foxbat.

[@beep_beep_beep]

Thats cool

[@roblockhart6104]

As well as the WS-300a fighter concept. Many forget, the A-5 Vigilante had dual vertical tails prior to going into production.

[@williams6206]

I think the soviets copied the a5 design for their tu 22m3

[@glenn-g]

A video about the development of the Trident ICBM would be a popular mega project I imagine! Cold war, nuclear Armageddon, Huge budgets and secrecy- Everything mega projects viewers love!

[@WTH1812]

"... the resulting frankenplanes were expensive, unpopular, and often incapable of it doing anything particularly well." This is never a "twist of fate". It is an obvious and predictable outcome ignored by seemingly every other generation of military procurement (see F-35). Just as you can't pack your family into your 2 seat sports car, look really cool driving a minivan or find a real reason for your urban pickup truck, military requirements differ among the Air Force, Navy and Marines with surprisingly little overlap. They fly, they carry ordnance/weapons and... that's about it. Different radars, sensors, vision systems, computer systems, fuel needs, flight characteristics, time on target, performance ceilings and floors, speed, range, crew size, ordnance mix, offensive/defensive weapons mix, and on and on. ... Trying to make a "Swiss army knife" plane makes as much sense as giving a Navy seal a Swiss army knife and telling him that will meet all his needs.

[@JonMartinYXD]

The USAF has all but admitted that they would have been better served by a lower cost design specific to their needs. The USN hasn't been quite as vocal but some of the moves they are making mirror that of the AF. The USMC is happy because the F-35 fits their perceived needs perfectly, after all they are the ones who commissioned DARPA and Lockheed Martin to design the thing in the first place. I really hope Public Services and Procurement Canada does the sane thing and chooses the Gripen for our air force.

[@egmccann]

*nod* The F-4 Phantom managed it - but it wasn't "designed for tri service," it was a Navy aircraft the Air Force looked at and said "Hey, we could use that." And there were still service-appropriate variations.

[@WTH1812]

@@egmccann ... F4 Phantom is still the coolest plane ever (except the Mosquito)

[@RCAvhstape]

@@egmccann The F-4 just happened to be a damn fine aircraft design all around, except for the lack of an internal gun, which the USAF later fixed. I think it's easier to take a naval aircraft and adapt it to an air force mission than the other way around, since adding heavier landing gear and airframes changes is harder going from land based to ship based.

[@DickHolman]

@@WTH1812 Hawker Hunter.

[@1959Edsel]

The A-5 followed on from work North American had done on the XF-108. That plane never made it past the mockup stage and was meant to escort the XB-70, another amazing plane from North American Aviation.

[@24602400]

I served on USS Forrestal, I was there for the fire. The rear edge of the A5 was so sharp that they put a rubber protector on to prevent head wounds. I remember being on the flight deck, at night when an A5 lit us up with large strobe lights.

[@IMRROcom]

in Millington TN back in the 80's the had a Vigilante on a stick. I used to eat my lunch under it on nice days. As of 2021 it no longer shows on google maps. - A project is underway today to remove the RA-5C Vigilante from its location on the installation where it has resided for nearly 40 years. A project is underway today to remove the RA-5C Vigilante from its location on the installation where it has resided for nearly 40 years. After a period of refurbishment, the plane will return to Millington for display at Millington-Memphis Airport. Custody of the display aircraft is being transferred to the airport to ensure proper preservation and maintenance. This display of the aircraft at the airport will serve as a reminder of the rich history of aviation in Millington, Tennessee.

[@WillKinton]

My favorite thing about the A-5 is that the nuke and fuel tanks were jettisoned out the back through a center tunnel like it was pooping them out.

[@foxhoundp9949]

Then the shit hits the fan and no one's happy 😂 on a slightly more serious note, I mean to be fair nature has a pretty good idea of what works and what don't 🤷 the bum is the og fuel dump 🤔

[@mooniejohnson]

The "nuclear pigeon."

[@nmxsanchez]

Nothing ruins my day like a nuclear shit

[@M167A1]

For a mega project may I suggest the Columbia basin project? The construction of dams along the Columbia and snake Rivers including Grand Coulee.

[@WasabiSniffer]

As always the Cold War projects are stellar. Dropping these again, Bradley IFV and Colonel Munske’s Pyongyang project

[@frankpinmtl]

J79 Aircraft: Convair B-58 Hustler General Dynamics F-16/79 Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger IAI Kfir Lockheed F-104 Starfighter McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II North American A-5 Vigilante Northrop X-21 SSM-N-9/RGM-15 Regulus II

[@dannymcgee8118]

I grew up in Columbus and was entering into kindergarten in September of '58, a scant month after the Vigilantes first took wing. The son of a WWII B-17 navigator, the thrill of military-aviation already had it's firm grip on me. The two things that captured my fascination with the "Vig" were the incessant sonic-booms that occurred daily, much to our delight, and seeing those huge, box-shaped air intakes making that telltale signature of the A-5's unmistakable identity as it roared by overhead. By my high school days it was the NAA OV-10A making those daily flyovers above Columbus, as the newly minted aircraft were undergoing their first tests before being sent off to Viet Nam.

[@hektor6766]

I remember those sonic booms while growing up in Colonial Hills in the early 60s. My dad was a designer at the NAA plant.

[@Primus54]

Columbus native here. Our house was below the downwind leg of then-Port Columbus’ runway 28. I too remember many sonic booms. I can also recall an overhead pass at night when they were testing the reconnaissance version, ultra-bright strobe lights lighting up the sky. The Vigi was the first model I built.

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

The UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. They are close to my heart because was a mechanic for and crewed on them. The story of how it won the government contract is really interesting as well.

[@byronharano2391]

Aloha my rotor head mechanic brother-n-arms!

[@reecedrury4145]

I'd like the Apache for the same reason, UK Army, was in the first Regt that brought them in.

[@joeyr7294]

HC-6A would also make a good vid. She is one hell of a work horse!

[@Sgt_SealCluber]

@@joeyr7294 Just remember: "If it ain't leaking fluid, that means it's out." So don't get on! 😁

[@joeyr7294]

@@Sgt_SealCluber lmao haven't heard that saying in a while

[@MrPopc]

My dad headed up the vigilante program with North American aviation one day he brought the camera home was used for filming Cuba. It was amazing. I love the shape of the aircraft everything about it. My dad was the pilot of one in Vietnam. It was his fourth deployment this time as a civilian, he said that the brass shut down one of the best bombers the military had manufactured through north American. I want to tell you that plane if they brought it back would be equal to the F 15 and I would certainly give Russia a go for it when they’re fox bomber. Basically, they copied everything from this flame not to say that the British version of a 111 was not a great plane! They still have these planes sitting out in the desert. They should bring them back and give them to Ukraine and upgrade them with new engines and new electronics. They were the first fly wire bomber in America. They had a camera in the nose thanks again for showing us.

[@DavidSJ_DAP]

You mentioned the F8 Crusader...that would make an excellent episode...

[@jasonwomack4064]

A video about AT&T's program to nuclear harden the US communications system would be interesting. A surprising amount of it is still secret though.

[@Error_404-F.cks_Not_Found]

Underrated suggestion

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Agreed...👍👍

[@jhedrich]

That would be very interesting. I've never even heard of that project.

[@Chris_at_Home]

Where I worked one of our sites was a hardened site from the White Alice days. I also have been to many of the remote radar sites around the state up here. Many of those buildings had thick concrete walls.They now called LRRS which stands for Long Range Radar Station.

[@Article_86]

I was attached to Heavy 12 out of NAS Key West, FL as a Fire-Control Technician (AQ). It`s my recollection that we were the last operational RA5-C squadron ... other than a Trainer Squadron (Heavy 7 also in Key West). For the life of me, I also thought we had Pratt & Whitney engines that replaced the General Electric J79-GE-8 . Heavy 12 ``The Speartips`` was decommissioned a couple of months after I left the Navy in 1979. That said, I miss those days both in Key West and on cruises in the Mediterranean area. In my view, `Virgil the Vigilante` was the prettiest jet the Navy has had, to date ... damn the maintenance/size. We had 3 planes in our squadron, 2 of which were always ready for mission ... sometimes all 3. Regards - Article_86

[@evanrousseau8666]

The A5 was a beautiful aircraft. You can almost see the influence it had on the F15 and Mig25.

[@nmxsanchez]

A video on air defense systems (in the vein of Iron Dome] would be cool. There are many to choose from and they are all very interesting especially the newer ones.

[@georgemallory797]

Did he actually ever give the exact altitude it achieved? I looked it up and it was 91,450 ft.

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

No he rambled about how, but never gave a number. 🤨

[@bis1254]

maybe better for side projects, but the J79 engine seems to be mentioned often.

[@byronharano2391]

General Electric J79. Quite the power plant for the era

[@xyzaero]

Because the J-79 is a bloody miracle that made modern jets possible in the first place.

[@Jusuff]

The F104 Starfighter, the F4 Phantom, the B58 Hustler and the A5 Vigilante all used it

[@jeremythornton433]

Any chance you could do a video on the Canadian plane from the 50s called the Avro Arrow?

[@Brera011]

Being a child of the '50's with a father in the Dutch Royal Airforce (Koninklijke Luchtmacht) I've always had a lot of interest in aviation. The A5 was, and is, still one of the most beautiful planes ever produced. I remember an old episode of the Buck Danny series when it was called project FX.

[@robertwhite711]

Thank you - what a beautiful plane! My dad worked on RA-5Cs when he was a Naval civil service aircraft maintenance specialist in Jacksonville, FL.

[@bobsmith-wg9fz]

One of my buddies was a mechanic for these and was one of the last to work on them as he sent a few to be displays or go into museums. He loves that jet and would love to see modern engines in one to see if it went even faster or add in one where the bomb bay was at in the rear for 3 total!

[@bigbob1699]

The A-5 was one of the first plastic modals I ever made.

[@sje7119]

Yes, it was beautiful! many used as Gate Sentries, None operational. I was an AME worked on ejection seats, canopies etc. Heavy 3, Just before they were decommissioned. Great video

[@tylerespy2408]

An interesting note to add, the A5 was a one way trip for any crew who had to carry out a nuclear strike. The aircraft use absurd amounts of fuel when traveling at Mach 2, the reason it jettisoned the tanks with the bomb was because it needed to shed as much weight as possible and let the crew get as close to friendly territory as possible before bailing. The pilots of these aircraft knew it was almost certainly a suicide mission, and so did the government which is why the bombers were phased out so quickly in favor of ICBMs. Source - My aerospace engineering professors who worked through this time period

[@andersjjensen]

So it was generally agreed upon that captured pilots, of a plane that just dropped a nuke, would probably not be treated according to the Geneva Convention? :P

[@MN6WS6]

Your source is confirmed by my source which is my dad, who was a nuclear ordnance officer and a RAN on an RA5C Vigilante with 150 combat missions and will verify that is correct. Most people are unaware of the Zero Return Mission (nuclear strike).

[@arioch2112]

I first fell in love with this bird outside of Pax River NAS in Lexington Park, MD as a kid. Loved all her ilk, the B-58 and XB-70 as well!

[@DECAlphaGuy]

Simon: In reference to time index 4:00 - 4:07. 'LBF' is "Pound Force" --> a measure of linear force applied to a point or surface. 'LB-FT' is "Pound-Feet" --> a measure of torque (rotational force applied at a distance from the axis of rotation / axle). Jet engines deliver thrust measured in LBF or Newtons, for my Not-In-America friends. ^_^

[@marvwatkins7029]

Love the way he pronounces 'Navaho'. That's so British!

[@brucelamberton8819]

Naval aviators said those with the biggest balls were the 'Vig' pilots as the aircraft's long nose and high landing speed made landings very difficult.

[@alexschenewerk7436]

My grandfather , Donald D Schenewerk , told me a story about one of these crashing on the deck of either the kitty hawk or the independence. May he Rest In Peace

[@francisshaw7020]

I was aboard the USS Constellation in 71-72 with RVAH-11. One of our birds had the honor of photographing a SAM exploding just beneath it. It took some minor damage but made it back aboard. It was an amazing series of photos as you could see the SAM approaching until it exploded. There was a mighty pucker factor for the crew members!

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:05 - Chapter 1 - Concept 3:20 - Chapter 2 - Specs 5:15 - Chapter 3 - Design 6:50 - Chapter 4 - Reconnaissance variant 7:35 - Chapter 5 - Flaws 8:55 - Chapter 6 - Service 11:00 - Chapter 7 - Altitude record 12:25 - Chapter 8 - Photographing a russian sam 13:35 - Chapter 9 - The end of the vigilante

[@thedungeondelver]

NAS Sanford, now Sanford International Airport, had a wing of Viggies based there. There's a gate guard RA5 there if you're in Central Florida and care to see one up close, although like most "up on a pole" type of aircraft, it's not much to see anymore.

[@jeffwalther3935]

I'm amazed that someone else especially recognized the extraordinary A-5. At first sight, the Vigilante stuck out in my mind too as the best carrier deployed strategic and/or tactical attack bomber EVER and would LOVE (someday, somehow) ta fly one, just like when I first saw them so long ago. Although slower, the A-6 is amazingly capable, but the A-5 gave the NAVY equivalent capability to anything and everything the Air Force had, fixed and land-based all, while the Navy carriers just take their strike aircraft as far as 4/5 of the way to the combat zone instead of launching thousands of miles away from fixed land bases. But in considering the real potential of a strategic-armed carrier squadron being used like the SAC of the US Air Force, the A-5 could have been the Royal Navy's dream machine in the Falklands War of 1980! Instead of relying on a single Vulcan bomber raid to strategically make a single bomb strike and win, deployed from thousands of miles away, but almost a dozen other support and spare aircraft required, JUST to get to the target (a continental Argentine air base) and back to deliver a single, but crippling bomb hit by a single bomber under the most narrow margins of safety. WHILE all the while A-5's, deployed from a single British fleet carrier, all things remaining equal, coulda done the same without refueling AND again and again with many such strikes; again that's just one fleet carrier packing A-5's. That's how great this aircraft is/was; that is, far ahead of its time to maximally develop maritime deployed strategic aircraft AND IS STILL CAPABLE, imho, with reasonable upgrades.

[@JonMartinYXD]

Could the A-5 have even taken off a Royal Navy carrier?

[@jeffwalther3935]

@@JonMartinYXD Not with that weird-looking bow structure currently sported. I was referring to a normal fleet carrier. I was referring moreover to strategic warfare not territorial disputes, although particular citing a terr dispute war in my comment. Perhaps contemporary UK is no longer thinking or capable, like a world superpower of the past, so those weird carriers are IT for y'all? THAT's why Argentina gave UK a hard time - the Royal Navy doesn't have the carrier sea power to do anything comparable to the venerated past, and so and was the reason the Falklands War went on as long as it did with the losses the British sustained, imho. USS Reagan, Eisenhower or Truman with squadrons of Royal Navy A-5's, armed with bunker-busting cruise missile air-to-ground would've cratered all the Argentine airfields in a few days, making their top (but only a few) weapon, the French antiship missile that sank the Atlantic Conveyor, unusable, especially if they bombed more than runways.

[@JonMartinYXD]

@@jeffwalther3935 That weird bow structure is a "ski jump" to assist takeoff. Catapult equipped aircraft carriers are very expensive; only the US and French still operate them and only a couple more countries (UK being one of them) have ever had them.

[@502nuts]

Wonderful as always. Have you ever considered a video on the C130 Hercules. That is definitely a mega project being on continuous production since the 1950's and being used in more variants and by more operators than any other aircraft I can think of.

[@andreasvictorious3991]

Happy New Year Whistlers!

[@woodrowsmith3400]

What a beautiful aircraft! One of the prettiest ever produced. I am happy to see you cover this, Simon. Most would have rejected it as not being significant, but I believe it was groundbreaking.

[@bender7565]

My 1st squadron was Heavy 9, (HHMF), 76'-77'. lots of fun to be had when your 19 stationed in Key West.

[@nexpro6118]

Damn. In full afterburner the A-5 Vigilante can use afterburner for a full 19 minutes before its out of internal fuel. Thats actually amazing. Majority of fighters/Fighter Bombers run out of internal fuel with full afterburner between 8-14 minutes. The A-5 Vigilante carries a crap ton of internal fuel. 3,305 gallons of internal fuel. That's almost 22k pounds of internal fuel. F14 carries 16,200 internal. F15 Eagle carries around 18k pounds of fuel with the conformal tanks. F35C variant carries 20k pounds in fuel. It's why the F35s nickname is, "fat amy" lol. With all of that massive internal fuel load, the F35 looks, chunky lmao

[@firemedic105ns]

Love this vid. Nice to learn about something new to me.

[@andrezejobuch4527]

Fantastic documentary Simon. Love all your videos buddy. Keep up the great work 😊😊😊

[@stephentilley6645]

I like how the profile behind the cockpit mirrors that of the XB-70 beautiful.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

12:45 How can you hear a tell tale thump of a missile launching when it travels towards you at 3 times faster than the sound of it launching? I realise that it has to accelerate and overtake the soundwave of its launch but still. Maybe it launches as you're over the top (it's closest point) but because you're doing Mach 2 it has to lead you by several kilometers, much further away that the initial thump and gets there much later than the sound. Yeah, I guess that's it?

[@KWMQ]

Again with the pound-feet? lbf in this context is pound-force, usually expressed in pounds of thrust.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Blame the American scriptwriters and editors. Can't even get their own cave-man units right.

[@pmgn8444]

Good video. Minor nitpick - The Tri-Service Designation Scheme and multi-service multi-role aircraft (eg, Navy version of the F111) were 2 separate things that driven by SecDef McNamara.

[@alexwalker2582]

I wonder why that program reminds me of the F-35.......oh right same principle different years. Why do we never learn.....

[@0cch10]

Awesome video and i love the scale conversion to metric a lot ty

[@robertbacklund4438]

I read some information a while back about the A5 and revealed the reason of how the RA5C came to be. During testing before it was actually deployed to North Americans horror the reason for the revolutionary bomb bay and nuclear bombing capability simply did not work. When trying to drop a dummy nuclear bomb it could not break through the boundary layer of air around the tail of the air frame and hung half inside the bomb bay and half outside. They lucked out and the pilot was able to safely land. Then the scramble was on to find some other role for the very expensive and fast aircraft. This is where the RA5C came from, it was a very stable flying plane and wound up being an excellent photo recon and radar platform. Most people may not know but even the smaller Essex class carriers operated 2 RA5C's. My Father was on the USS Oriskany for 3 cruises during the Vietnam War1965, 66, and 67. They also operated 3 A3's used as the air wings tankers.

[@nicetechtips2629]

Never heard of this bad boi, i will try to recreate it in ksp

[@pdxaviation]

Lockheed Super Constellation is deserving of a video for sure, whether here or side projects

[@donjackson8357]

Brings back fond memories of RVAH-5 Savage Sons my first squadron at N.A.S. Key West.

[@donaldsmith1055]

Overall your report is very good. Compared to todays aircraft the Vigi had a short life. Compared to aircraft of the 1950's when it was designed it had a long life, 1961 to 1979 when the last was retired. It had a long list of first when it was designed .Around 50 were built as A3J/A5A. One was built as an A5B with the hump. After that They were built as RA5C and most of the A5A unit were converted to RA5C. There are pictures of the same aircraft as an A5A, a RA5C early and a RA5C late. An additional 38 were produced in 1968 to a modified RA5C spec. which could have been listed as RA5D but congress would not fund a D. Again a lot of the early aircraft were modified to the later spec. The early unit used J79-8 engines and the late modification changed to J79-10 engines. The easy way to tell the difference was the wing root extension to the front of the air intake and the change to the outside edge of the air intake from a curve to straight on the late mod. They were the best recon. aircraft short of the SR71. One aircraft that was setup for the London to New York mail race hit a speed of mock 2.5. Most combat operations were between mock 1.3 and 1.6.

[@sojolly]

I worked with a former Vigilante pilot. He had a bronze stick replica on his desk and once in a while i would look over to his desk and he was 10,000 miles away flying his Vigilante on a mission who knows where. It was a special aeroplane.

[@wolfpaw2715]

Please do the MI-24 hinds !

[@DS12-42]

Just read some of the other comments re the A5A. In the four years I worked on it, I never witnessed Mach 2 flight. Mach 1 at sea level was extremely difficult and seldom obtained. And, after a Mach 1 demonstration the wings and intake ducts would have lots of stress cracks.

[@xyzaero]

Most people just don’t know anything about airplanes and believe in what the “sales brochure” says. Like the F-15s Mach 2.5 when in reality it is almost impossible to reach beyond Mach 1.6 with CFTs. Most people lack the capability of complex and analytical thinking.

[@Remrag1]

I fondly remember growing up at NAS Sanford and NAS Albany. My father worked on the RA-5C and I got to see these up close. Impressive - not wonder why I became an engineer.

[@oshtoolman]

NAS Albany 1972-'73. Hvy-14

[@DOffio]

They had an RA-5C on "sticks" outside the galley at NAS MILLINGTON in Tennessee when I was there. I couldn't figure out what it was and spent entirely too much time figuring it out. lol (Pre-internet days)

[@bruceday6799]

I would like you to delve into America's first supersonic flight. Was it the X-1 or the F-86 prototype earlier that same day. Pancho Barnes and her crew heard the strange new sound twice (sonic boom) that day hours apart. The F-86 flew that morning, while the X-1 flew later

[@RCAvhstape]

If a tree falls supersonic in the woods, and there is no official judge there to record the event, did it really happen?

[@kweeks10045]

Yesterday, I saw a QF-106 fly into Fort Worth Alliance Airport. I say it was a "QF" variant, unless it happened to be owned by a private entity. It had a paint scheme similar to the Blue Angels. Alliance Airport has a Lockheed Martin manufacturing facility and maintenance facility.

[@lohrtom]

When I was stationed as NAS Rota Spain in the mid 80s, there was a hulk of a Vigilante that the crash crew would practice on. It was huge.

[@ericbrammer2245]

B-47, B-58, FB-111, were all, Medium Tactical Nuke-capable Bombers. The B-1B is 'almost' a true Heavy Bomber, although out-classed by the much-older B-52. The B-1 Spirit, is, actually, Only a 'Nuke ship', currently, although, once the B-21 'Bat' comes online, it might become an-almost-heavy Multi-ordinance Bomber. Payload, and Intent, Matter. The A-5, was a great plane (and, you might note, how Similar it was to an F-15 Eagle? Or, XF-108 Rapier?) But after the Martin Sea-Master being cancelled, the Navy really, badly, wanted a Carrier Op Nuke plane. They almost, almost, got their wish... But, as a Recon, the RA-5 was almost un-matched. It out-ran Migs of the 70's (mig-25 excluded) often and Easily. What it should have become, is a 'Raven' in the early 80's. In that role, it could've launched late, passed-by it's bomber wing of A-6/A-7/A-4/AF-18's, got to the 'radar line' ahead of those, jammed, backed-off, refueled mid-air, and streaked by 'just after' with cameras rolling. Admirals are just Dumb, too often...

[@mylesspear]

Have you ever thought about doing a video on the Antarctic snow cruiser?

[@Goldie644]

NA proposed a three engined variant of the A-5 as an interceptor called the NR-349 - that would have been something to see !

[@AlphaWhiskey_Haryo]

I made a flying papercraft of this one few years back, it flew gracefully, appreciate to the large wing area and sleek design

[@joethegeographer]

The A-5 Vigilante was built at the World War II-era aircraft factory that was originally established in 1940. Designed by world-famous industrial architect Albert Kahn, the factory was operated by Curtiss Aircraft during World War II to build the SB2C Helldiver. The plant was still standing in the late 1990s, when it was determined to be historic. There's a video in there for you somewhere.

[@dg2589-h1y]

Be interested to see a video on the Challenger series of tanks, having never lost one to enemy fire and the sheer amount of testing and trouble the programs had.

[@nts821]

Looks like BAC TSR-2

[@twentypdrparrott694]

There is one of these on a stick at the Naval Air Station Millington, TN.

[@GraemePayne1967Marine]

Watching this, I noted a number of similarities between the Vigilante and the ill-fated Avro Arrow. I know that when Avro Canada laid off everyone on what Canadians called "Black Friday", most of the engineers and engineering managers almost immediately accepted positions with US aerospace companies, and a new outfit called NASA. My father was at Avro and that is is what happened with most of his co-workers and friend. One of his close friends eventually became a senior executive at North American. Also many of those Canadian engineers were recent transplants from the British aircraft industry - and had been recruited by my father. The Monday after Avro laid off everyone, the top management did put out an announcement that the layoff did NOT apply to the engineering staff, but by then it was far, far too late: most of them were already headed "south of the border." As far as the Vigilante is concerned, I would not be at all surprised if many former Avro engineers had significant input to the design. In the early 1970's I was in a USMC Reserve squadron that flew F-8 Crusaders. In the same hangar there was also a Navy Reserve squadron flying the RF-5C aircraft. (My work was in the offices so I did not have any interaction with the aircraft.)

[@michaelpipkin9942]

Can you do the history of The Thunderbirds? It's a long, tragic, ever evolving story that wondered millions.

[@nmxsanchez]

One day buddy, one day

[@AtheistOrphan]

The best Gerry Anderson programme by far!

[@danielkennedy1524]

A perfect distortion and commentary of an amazing aircraft! Yep your right! You see one in full 3 D may be able to go faster! It was tough as well to land on carriers as landing speeds were a tad high! GREAT info! Thank you sir!

[@SonOfAB_tch2ndClass]

Iowa class battleship

[@gtv6chuck]

I always thought these planes were gorgeous. When I was a kid I lived on an Air Force base in The Philippines, but occasionally we would take a trip to Subic Bay Naval Base to go to the beach. The USS Ranger was based there, and we drove past, actually on to the flight line, to get to the beach. Every time I would look for a Vigilante and never saw one, as they were just plain rare. I didn't see one until about 5 years ago or so when I visited the Pima County Air Museum in Tucson.

[@garyspeed8961]

beautiful aircraft... fell in love with it with my Airfix Kit

[@christianoakley1686]

Simon,........the most extraordinary airplane ever built and achieved regular service, in my view, is the B58 Hustler. Not only did it look like the coolest thing ever created to fly,...it actually had the performance to validate its looks. It was an extraordinary machine in every way. It still lasted 10 years and in the age of the century Fighters,...that ain't bad. Biographics - Robert S McNamara. In my view his one of the top 10 minds of the 20th Century. If you can get past Vietnam (he was not the President,...he served the President) and actually detail what he has achieved,..........extraordinary man.

[@westherm]

lbf is Pound-Force which is what thrust is measured in. Pound-feet measures torque and doesn't make sense in the context of a jet engine used for powering an aircraft.

[@9Apilot]

On Yankee Station Vigilante crews along with Phantoms would often stay barely above mast height after launching from the carrier and supersonic buzzing the Soviet “Trawler” ships in front of the task force.