mudrat Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 (edited) Papa Romeo Four (My Dad's bird) based at NAS Atsugi, Japan on monthly DETs to Danang (for him) '70-'71. Snout detail. Seen at NAS Alameda in 1968, eventually VAP-61 sent these birds to Vietnam More snout detail. Heavy 4 KA-3B Skywarrior, USS Kitty Hawk, 1968 RA-3B VAP-61, seen at Danang, RSVN in 1968 Tanker of Heavy 11 is next in the que. Happy Holidays to all of you. Regards, Stephen Edited December 28, 2006 by mudrat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 That three tone grey version looks great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Clave Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 It does indeed Why were they called 'whales'? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 22, 2006 Author Share Posted December 22, 2006 (edited) It does indeed Why were they called 'whales'? 'Cause they were the biggest damn aircraft on the the boat! Seriously, the fuselage of the A-3 is the same length as the B-17. This should give some indication of it's size. The Forrestall class carrier was developed specifically to handle this a/c. The reason for the A-3 being so large, was the large size of the nuke weapon casings at the time of the A-3's development. Their actual name was Skywarrior. Regards, Stephen Edited December 22, 2006 by mudrat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Clave Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 That must have been a lot of fun to land on a moving carrier.. :o Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 22, 2006 Author Share Posted December 22, 2006 That must have been a lot of fun to land on a moving carrier.. :o I can't comment on trapping an A-3, (my dad can, though) but I can say they were usually the last birds to trap on a given cycle (that I have seen), due, in part to the difficulty of other a/c taxiing around the A-3, if it had not been imediately spotted. Stephen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
neu Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Nice work! I've never seen this grey camo before! Do you have any photos of it? I'm really interested to the whales I always found it an interesting and exotic aircraft. If you see them on "early" carriers, from bird's view, it's hard to believe they were operating from there :) Were the able to carry those actualy nuclear weapons why they were design this huge? Greetings, neu Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 23, 2006 Author Share Posted December 23, 2006 (edited) Were the able to carry those actualy nuclear weapons why they were design this huge? Neu, I cannot answer why nuclear weapons were so large. I have to assume they, like computers, were large, crude (by today's standards) and inefficient, until designs were refined by technological improvements or maybe the larger nukes were a higher yield (in the double digit megaton range) as opposed to today's smaller yield tactical nukes like the B-61 (in the low kiloton range). I know the A-3 stopped being a bomb delivery vehicle in the mid to late '60s as more a/c became available to carry the smaller tactical nukes. I sure an internet search could better answer your question. Stephen Edited December 23, 2006 by mudrat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantomologist Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 Great Whales Stephen! Now you need to add a black one! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantomologist Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 Nice work! I've never seen this grey camo before! Do you have any photos of it? I'm really interested to the whales I always found it an interesting and exotic aircraft. If you see them on "early" carriers, from bird's view, it's hard to believe they were operating from there :)Were the able to carry those actualy nuclear weapons why they were design this huge? Greetings, neu Grab one of the Koku fan specials as they have photos of this scheme. Ginters "Fleet Whales" in his Naval Fighters #46 has shots as well. The bomb bay was designed for a 66 in diameter weapon. bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 26, 2006 Author Share Posted December 26, 2006 Great Whales Stephen!Now you need to add a black one! Bill, I've been toying with the idea of doing the black VAP-61 bird, but I have some other tanker to do, 1st. See the KA-3 I just added above. Regards, Stephen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantomologist Posted December 26, 2006 Share Posted December 26, 2006 (edited) Bill,I've been toying with the idea of doing the black VAP-61 bird, but I have some other tanker to do, 1st. See the KA-3 I just added above. Regards, Stephen Looks good! The Heavy 4 tankers are neat as they have a fuselage stripe for each number in the modex. Edited December 27, 2006 by Phantomologist Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantomologist Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Did your Dad fly any of the Army missions with the jets that had the small cheeks and all the extra shark fin antennas on the sides of the fuselage and clustered on top? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 27, 2006 Author Share Posted December 27, 2006 Did your Dad fly any of the Army missionswith the jets that had the small cheeks and all the extra shark fin antennas on the sides of the fuselage and clustered on top? Bill, no he did not. He did have an Army Sigint Evaluator on board on most missions, though. This was both in Vietnam or off the North Korean & Chinese coasts. His birds always had the big canoe under the fuselage and the CLE wing. Regards, Stephen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mudrat Posted December 28, 2006 Author Share Posted December 28, 2006 Great Whales Stephen!Now you need to add a black one! Okay Bill, You talked me into it. (See above) Stephen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Phantomologist Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Okay Bill,You talked me into it. (See above) Stephen See that did not hurt a bit and it looks great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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