Woody,
Thanks for filling in some gaps in my dated knowledge.
OBTW, never saw it except in TACMAN pictures, but the Intruder DID have a
gun pod designed for it.
Interesting. I can visualize the trenchant comments from the 1973 Green
Lizard Ordie Shop on THAT one.
Of course as a former B/N, you already know that the A-6E did carry
rockets.
I always assumed this to be the case, but since my Intruder career ended in
1974 - with only A, B (PAT ARM) and K time in my logbook - I wasn't sure.
At the time the E Standard was just beginning to appear at Oceana but none
had come yet to Whidbey. And of course the E Standard was soon superseded
by the E TRAM.
All that we had on the Rock in 1974 was an E Standard cockpit mockup in the
VA-128 Ready Room that was no more informative than the $.50 kiddie rides
outside the Oak Harbor food stores.
Rockets not allowed on ship.
What was the thinking behind that one - spurious ignition worries? Still
the case? Allowed ashore only?
To me, rockets are a great way of equipping a non-gun aircraft with a cheap
forward-firing air-to-surface weapon that consumes no internal space and
gives very good hitting power. Only question in my mind is - how often will
such a weapon be required in the future for air-to-surface work? (I know
our Marine Corps brethren have a ready answer to that question.)
Owl sends.
--
Mike Kanze
436 Greenbrier Road
Half Moon Bay, California 94019-2259
USA
650-726-7890
"Vegetarian (vej ' i tār ' ee en), n. Amerindian term meaning "lousy
hunter".
"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message
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