Talking about Cold War naval aviation, one aircraft always comes up first: the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior. This was a giant of an aircraft, a very flexible one, and for more than 30 years, it was one of the most dependable jets that operated from an aircraft carrier.
Skywarrior was essentially a product of the Cold War period, right after WWII when the US Navy had the requirement for a nuclear-armed carrier-based bomber with very long range. It was quite a problem to solve by all means. Aircraft designer Ed Heinemann and his group at Douglas accepted the challenge and subsequently came up with the largest aircraft capable of the carried by that era. Shortly, the “Whale” got its nickname from the size of the plane and the strange visual of such a huge beast taking off from the carrier deck.
To get such a jet heavy in the sea, quite peculiar and courageous engineering solutions had to be implemented. For example, the A-3 was equipped with long, folding wings that allowed saving space on the crowded decks and a tricycle landing gear that gave the plane a stable and balanced position during both take-off and landing.
Moreover, two Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines powered the A-3 with the needed force and durability to perform long and heavy load flights, while its solid framework and sophisticated navigation systems enabled it to fly even in difficult conditions.
The A-3 first saw combat in 1956, but its mission was largely changed within a short period. As a result of the Navy’s decision to rely on ballistic missile submarines for the nuclear deterrent, the Skywarrior was assigned to various other tasks. The Skywarrior’s initially designed empty body and its powerful engines initially turned it into a very versatile aircraft, which was later rebuilt into an aerial refueling, a reconnaissance platform, and an electronic warfare aircraft.
Each modification was different from the last and introduced something that had not been available on board the fleet before. For instance, the KA-3B allowed fighters and bombers to stay in the fight as it refueled them during flight. The EKA-3B, being the combination of tanking and radar jamming, was not only providing fuel but also making the strike groups safe.
The EA-3B was acting as an electronic intelligence specialist, collecting crucial data on the enemy’s communication and radar systems. Having been installed with the necessary sensing equipment and cameras, the RA-3B could conduct deep reconnaissance, which was vital in forming the strategy of the naval forces.
The U.S. Air Force, too, was not blind to the potential inherent in the design. A land-based model, the B-66 Destroyer, was created using the same airframe, but with alterations in the wings, landing gear, and engines. Much like its naval counterpart, the B-66 turned out to be versatile, performing the roles of a bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft, and an electronic warfare platform.
There was hardly a time during the Vietnam War that the Skywarrior failed to demonstrate its multiple uses. It not only provided fuel to the strike planes but was also accompanied by electronic countermeasures to protect them, and in addition, it carried out daring reconnaissance sorties in enemy airspace. Anyway, it was a very dependable machine, and the fact that it could successfully perform multiple functions made it a very valuable ally for the flight crews as well as the ground personnel who looked after it.
By the 1980s and the early 1990s, the roles that the A-3 had initially played were gradually taken over by newer and more advanced planes. The arrival of electronic warfare aircraft of the new generation and precision strike jets gradually shifted the A-3 out of service. In September of 1991, the last Skywarrior officially retired after more than 30 years of service.
A few copies of it are still around, and quite a few of them are in museums, and they are essentially the witnesses of the time when one design could almost adapt itself to any Navy mission. The story of Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is not only its name or its size it is also to be seen as a jet that emphasizes how much the creativity and adaptiveness of a designer can have an impact on the transformation of a concept of an aircraft from nuclear strike missions to reconnaissance and electronic warfare, “the Whale” indicated that with the right baseline, an aircraft could develop well beyond its original intent and still be necessary for many generations.
