"WDA" vented spleen or mostly mumbled...

In the 60s carrier based A-3 heavy attack bombers flying above 40,000
feet often could approach a warship and not be detected on the air
search radar even when passing overhead.


As a 60s era carrier based Air Intercept Controller, I'll argue your claim
from two contrarian perspectives...

A. Unless some here can establish reasonable evidence to the contrary the
number of A3 strike sorties (or EA3 missions) routinely flown above Angels
40 will fit over in the slim and none category. Ops above 40 with any navy
a/c in the early 60s were simply not the norm, and even the most capable,
the F8s, were troubled by compressor stalls in certain attitudes.
Certainly, the advent of the F4 changed the picture, but F4s remained in
short supply until '64 or so.

B. I can't think of an aspect in which an A3 wasn't a well-painted target
(at least on the SPS-37 or 43, although I had no experience with low flyers
(but I knew few former A3 drivers who were happy flying low, them downward
firing seats lending little survivability to a low altitude mechanical
problem). I "learned" on an SPS-12, a gadget of lesser range, but there
were controllers who worked SPS-6s, high art and good intuitive skill
required.

TMO