a-6 intruder cockpit

A-6 Intruder Cockpit - Join veteran pilot Francisco "Paco" Cherisi for a trip back to when A-6s still flew over the canyons in the dark of night.

It may not be as cool as its pointed, rotary-wing counterpart, the F-14 Tomcat, but the Grumman A-6 Intruder was also a movie star and the backbone of deep-strike air in every season of the carrier's career. was working Wings for decades. The versatile A-6 was capable of delivering a heavy hit far beyond its home at sea, and it felt at home low, deep in the weeds, traversing enemy territory in the dark of night. .

A-6 Intruder Cockpit

An A-6 pilot, Francisco "Paco" Cherisi, flew a whip-nose attack plane late in his career and told of what it was like to be strapped to a "flying drumstick" and land in enemy territory. to fly And dark streams and into the history books when it began to disappear once and for all from the Navy's existence.

Ka 6 Intruder (italeri 1/72)

Puck's experience flying the Intruder is particularly noteworthy, as he continued to fly high-performance aircraft, transitioning to the F-14 and later becoming an attack pilot in the F-5—areas where we We will discuss it in the second part of this series. So, suffice it to say, with thousands of hours in fast jets Chirichi has a lot to compare to the A-6.

Paca has thousands of hours in fast jets, the A-6 being the first fleet aircraft he was assigned to fly. Francisco "Paco" Cherisi

If you have any hints about reading it, his novel should be excellent, and we look forward to reviewing it.

So, without further ado, let's get airborne and step into the cockpit alongside Grumman's legendary Deep Strike Phenom and go on a ride with a puck to remember.

Intruder A6 Hi Res Stock Photography And Images

I will never forget the first time I approached the A-6. It was much larger than the TA-4 Skyhawk jet trainer I had recently flown. Almost three times harder. Two engines against one. While the TA-4 was sleek and flexible on a long chassis, the Intruder was strong and serious. The TA-4 looked awesome, the Tomcat was beautiful, just like in the movies, the Intruder looked like it was - a dud.

The log cabin was also completely different. Visibility from the big bulbous nose wasn't as good as the Skyhawk's, but the side window went all the way to my thigh. It was crazy, you could practically see the bottom of the plane without even rolling.

The dashboard was also very serious. It was completely filled with screens and switches. This was obviously a big step up from the coaches I had been studying with for the past few years. Now it will be less about the flights and more about the mission.

But the biggest difference in the entry cockpit was the seat to my right. The Bombardier/Navigators (BN) sat a little below and behind the pilot, but mostly beside us. It was initially tempting to leave the semi-cockpit, sacrificing visibility and BN advantage, but I soon discovered that the camaraderie in that cockpit was unlike anything I would ever experience again. We were actually high-fiving the target and seeing the bomb.

A 6 Intruder Hi Res Stock Photography And Images

One of my favorite stupid pilot tricks was asking the BN to look to the right before going into head brake. While he looks out, I cut the hose of his G-suit before turning 6.5G. I have passed out a few times with the Gradymon hack. He hit me in the arm until I fell into the gutter and he was forced to let me sit on the ball.

The exterior of the entrance was dominated by her large nose. The aircraft was apparently built around a large terrain tracking radar. We also had a very noticeable oil leak that constantly stopped where the red fairing was visible under the windshield.

The plane looked like a bulldog, so ugly you should be very proud of it.

One of the great things about the interceptor was his power. At its peak, it was second only to the B-52 in payload capacity. This was significant because she was only 54 feet long with a wingspan of 53 feet compared to the BUFF which is 159 feet long and 185 feet wide. Also, it took off from a 100-foot carrier, while BUFF flew a two-mile-long runway before taking to the skies.

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Without any modifications, the A-6 can carry 28,500 pounds of MK-82 bombs. When the gear doors were removed, it was exactly 30. That was 15,000 pounds of ammunition in a plane that weighed only 27,000 pounds. Fill it with gas and we launch from the deck at 300 feet, zero to 160 knots, at 60,000 pounds gross weight.

One advantage of such an aerodynamically complex airframe was that it was more manageable fully loaded than empty. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, she dreamed of flying low, fast, and full of weapons.

The wing root, where the wing attached to the fuselage, was very thick. We can fly all day (and night) at low level with a serious bomb load and pull five G's or more. The attacker was unstoppable.

The addition of the FLIR (Forward Infrared Vision) capsule—which happened long before my time—allowed the A-6 to go from simple strike to precision strike. While there were two primary delivery methods previously, the pilot using visual dive and BN using radar to guide the aircraft to the bomb drop point, FLIR introduced a level of aim point refinement that was It was completely unique at the time.

Fairchild Airmen Respond To Navy Plane Crash > Fairchild Air Force Base > Article Display

At the target area, BN converts the radar image to FLIR. Using the laser and scope on the FLIR imager, he fine-tuned the data the pilot used to arrive at the perfect delivery location. These capabilities allowed the Intruder to accurately deliver ironclad and laser-guided bombs in virtually all weather conditions and at night.

The Intruder was different from any other aircraft I had flown because it was built with a different crew in mind, the BN. The A-6 was an all-air, low altitude, day and night, medium attack aircraft. Basically a badass bomber that can fly through enemy yards at tree level and drop tons of ammo.

For this mission, we had a bit of a weird area to track on the radar - that big badass again in the nose. We also had a heavy-duty FLIR gimbal pod under the chin. The FLIR pod didn't add anything visually, it looked like a wart on Magic's chin, but it added accuracy to an already impressive payload.

BN was responsible for using radar to navigate deep valleys and canyons using crude returns. The pilot used the information generated by the computer on the screen in front of him to move the aircraft at a general speed determined by the BN. After entering the target area, the BN activated the FLIR ball. It will "lay down" on a target for accurate range determination regardless of what weapon is loaded and as a target designator for laser-guided munitions. He also killed the FLIR scope to sweeten the final aiming phase. The pilot then followed the computer generated instructions on our screens from all the BN attempts, engaged the master arm and then fired the weapon.

Old Abandoned Soviet Aircraft Fighter Cockpit Detail Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Image 59625373

We usually do this at night, even in the mountains, in clouds and rain, and at 200 feet and 420 inches. There was no automation, the pilot controlled the aircraft manually at all times. But the craziest part for me was that the BNs stuck their heads in the boots, covering the radar and FLIR screen for the entire mission.

The shoe was actually a bag with a hole punched in it, where B.N. To prevent the cockpit from blinding the pilot during night flights, he shielded the cockpit from radar light. But when using it, BN cannot see what is happening in the real world outside. So we would fly through the desert at seven miles a minute at night as fast as we dared, I would stare in horror at the granite rock face I could barely make out, and BN would put his head down, Stop hands. The rotating dials and switches, like a dark wizard, are immersed in the virtual world of their radar and seem oblivious to the violent jolts and pitches as we navigate the low-level passage.

The flight got tougher as we entered the target area and did all sorts of dynamic weapon pops while the BN kept his head in his boot.

Because of this belief

Cockpit View (from The A 6) Of An A 6e Intruder Attack Aircraft From Medium Attack Squadron 196 (va 196) Refueling An A 7e Corsair Ii Attack Aircraft From Light Attack Squadron 27 (va 27). The Removable

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