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| LAST DAYS WITH VAQ-34 - POINT MAGU | |||||||||||||||||
| VAQ -34 WHALES! | October 1989 - the annual Open House at Point Magu, California. This was the only time that I ever saw the A-3 in U.S. Navy service and the venerable whale was indeed in her final months of service life. This absolutely super line-up of Whales belongs to VAQ-34 which was based at Point Magu. VAQ-34 was the most recent A-3 unit to be formed, being established at NAS Point Magu on the 1st March 1983. The squadron was known as "The Electric Horsemen" and was utilised in the role of electronic aggressors on the West Coast. The unit was unusual in that they also operated the very rare EA-7L Corsair, a two-seat version of Vought's portly "SLUF"! To this day I kick myself as there was a stall at the Open House selling all manner of "Whale" goodies such as genuine squadron tee-shirts but I was being careful with my cash so no purchase was made. Damn damn damn!! | ||||||||||||||||
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| Now this is a very rare Whale indeed. Can you see why? Yes, the informed enthusiast will notice that 138944 still has a pair of working bomb bay doors and that they are open. Skywarrior 138944 is listed as an NA-3B; in effect that makes her a test airframe of the A3D-2 variety. I really have no idea what her role was with VAQ-34; perhaps she was their training airframe ("bounce bird") or their utility runabout. You will also notice that her nose and fuselage are slightly more streamlined than the ECM models as she retains the original bomber planform. On retirement in 1990 '944 was stricken from service and now is one of the very few Whales on public display, she is on the USS Lexington at Corpus Christi in Texas. | A VERY RARE WHALE | ||||||||||||||||
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| TAIL DRAGGER |
"GD-11"/142668 is another rare Skywarrior model - an ERA-3B. She would have been one of the thirty A3D-2P airframes built in 1958 and subsequently designated as the RA-3B. Her mission was photo-reconnaissance and she would have carried 2 specialist operators in a pressurised mission kit in the bomb bay as well as twelve vertical or oblique cameras. Her "E" designation would have been added later and she would have been re-kitted to undertake her electronic aggressor role with VAQ-34. Why "tail-dragger"? Well, the larger fuselage is very clear in this photo and she carries quite a few lumps and bumps as well as a loaded wing pylon. She also clearly shows her naval ancestry as she has her wings neatly folded. At ease, sailor! She was bailed to Thunderbird Aviation at Phoenix then to Hughes. She is currently in store at Mojave as a low time airframe and carries the civilian registration N163TB. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Aggressor Red 10 is the identity of another ERA-3B, this time 144846 gently baking in the midday California heat. The grass in the foreground is a golden colour, as is most of California at this time of the year. Also present is the distant smog from Los Angeles that my telephoto lens has captured in the background. '846 looks quite rakish in this picture and you can clearly make out the canoe under her fuselage that contains much of her ECM gear as well as the ECM "missile" hanging from her wing pylon. VAQ-34 had repainted their Whales for the aggressor role with a Soviet-style plain grey scheme plus red identity numbers. Unfortunately this Whale came to a sad end soon after this photo was taken. She was stricken from service and bailed to Hughes for spare parts and was given civil registration N547HA with Raytheon. 144846 was finally cut up for scrap in 1999 after all usable components had been removed, after 31 years of faithful service. | AGGRESSOR RED 10 | ||||||||||||||||
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| IN A BROKEN DREAM | The identity of this Whale is a complete mystery to me. She was also on the VAQ-34 ramp at Point Magu in 1989 and was in a very sorry looking state. Either she had suffered a landing accident or she was a time expired airframe which was being stripped for spares for the rest of the local Skywarriors. However, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that she was securely taped up to protect her either against the elements or for the forthcoming final journey to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan in Tucson, Arizona. If you have any information about this A-3 please contact me. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Links to Mike's Other Skywarrior Pages | ||||||||||||||||
| Skywarrior at Fairford
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