Douglas A-3 Skywarrior history is one of determination and adaptability, traits that defined the aircraft as a symbol of flight during the Cold War era. It was built in the late 1940s to meet the Navy’s insistence on a carrier-based jet bomber with long range to carry nuclear weapons to any place on earth. When it was commissioned officially in 1952, no one had thought that it would last for nearly four decades and that it would be one of the longest-serving Navy carrier planes.
It was a titanic feat to build something as huge and as heavy as that. Something much heavier and bigger than anything that had ever been catapulted off a carrier was needed by the Navy. Douglas engineers met the challenge with a stack of the plane high with a collapsible, high-wing, tricycle landing gear for improved safety on the deck, and two Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojets, which gave the plane the power it required to carry out heavy, long-endurance missions.
Its A-3B version was the only one of its type in that it had a wingspan of more than 22 meters, takeoff weight of more than 37,000 kilograms, and cruise altitude speed of up to 530 knots. It could fly up to more than 41,000 feet as it could carry nearly 6,000 kilograms of bombs, mines, or even atomic ones.
A twin 20 mm tail turret gave it teeth, and sophisticated gear like the AN/ASB-1A radar and AN/ASB-7 bomb director allowed it to shoot to home. When it went into regular service in 1956, the A-3 was the Navy’s everything it had ever dreamed of—a real strategic bomber from a carrier deck.
With altered Cold War priorities, though, came altered missions for the A-3. During the Vietnam War, the Skywarrior was already used on missions far beyond its original nuclear mission. As the KA-3B, it was an air tanker, extending the radius of fighter and reconnaissance planes in battle.
In its EKA-3B guise, it double-timed—refueling aircraft while jamming enemy radar on the other side, a monstrous synergy in modern naval combat. The Skywarrior also became a signals intelligence master.
The EA-3B model had better gear and was manned by as many as seven individuals, and its mission was intercepting communications, monitoring enemy movement, and collecting intelligence from carriers or land bases.
Those “spy planes” flew during the Cold War, above Vietnam, and even during the Gulf War. It came in other various models, such as the RA-3B, with unique cameras and sensors offering commanders valuable information far behind enemy lines.
Its range, ceiling, and longevity made it a key part of information gathering that guided campaigns. Its design impressed the US Air Force so much that they used it on their jet, the B-66 Destroyer. Nominally nearly the same, the B-66 was specifically intended for ground support, and it featured additional landing gear, ejector seats, and Allison J71 engines. As with the Skywarrior, it spawned a series of specialized derivatives, the EB-66, the best electronic warfare aircraft of the Vietnam War, in which it was a mainstay in knocking out enemy radar defenses.
Even when newer technology had emerged, the Skywarrior was not destined for the sunset. Subsequent models, such as the ERA-3B, boasted still finer avionics, navigation equipment, communications equipment, and radar. They saw it still flying through the 1980s, years and decades after many of its contemporaries had already retired.
Its finality arrived late in 1991, the Skywarrior replaced by more modern technology. But the Skywarrior remains. Nicknamed affectionately by its crews “the Whale,” it was never just another bomber. A multi-role workhorse that evolved to evolve with evolving needs, a Cold War giant that made its presence felt not only in naval aviation, but in Air Force history.
