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The Franken Prowler


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Have read something over on another forum about an EA-6B still flying with the fleet that was made from the components from three different airframes, around the 1999 period! Just curious as to how this was managed - was it three accident damaged airframes or what?

With the demand on the Prowler and the lack of decent airframes around it wouldn't surprise me to see all kinds of hulks re-used for parts, but to bash three airframes together to make a single jet seems remarkable! Was wondering if anyone from the Prowler community could shed more light on this....

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As Brian from Fightertown Decals mentions that plane in this thread as a possible entrant on his EA-6B decal sheet:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....40&start=40

he's probably be a good one to ask. From his comments I'm guessing it's aircraft BuNo 158542 from VAQ-141. This is most likely a nose shot of it:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nos...nkenProwler.jpg

And if I have the BuNo correct here are several more photos:

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.sear...inct_entry=true

Edited by David Walker
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Here's the story behind the plane from a newspaper article back in Oct. of 2004:

"Franken-Prowler is the result of the efforts of NAVAIR Depot, Jacksonville, Fla. Their goal is to provide the fleet with an additional Electronic Warfare asset by combining the forward fuselage of BUNO 158542, the aft fuselage of BUNO 158547, and pieces of BUNO 156482. The three aircraft were all part of the Advanced Capability (ADVCAP) Program, which aimed to incorporate multiple improvements into the airframe."

Full article:

http://www.northwestnavigator.com/index.ph..._third_prowler/

Edited by David Walker
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