North American A-5 Vigilante Operations

After the RA-5C's introduction to fleet service in 1964, the aircraft was almost immediately sent into combat over Southeast Asia, with the first reconnaissance missions flown in August 1964. Initially, the Navy was so concerned about the secrets of the Vigilante falling into enemy hands that operations of the aircraft were restricted to South Vietnam, but an asset is no good if it can't be used, and the Vigilante was soon sent north.

RA-5Cs were used to observe enemy troop concentrations and movements; obtain pre-strike information on a target and post-strike evaluations on the same target; and, in one large-scale endeavor early in the war, obtain imagery for the construction of detailed maps of all of South and North Vietnam.

The RA-5C was generally the last aircraft launched from a carrier during an operations cycle, since it was one of the fastest aircraft the Navy had. The Vigilante was heavier than the F-4 Phantom but used the same engines, so the RA-5C had a poorer thrust-to-weight ratio than the F-4, making it underpowered on paper. However, the Vigilante always flew "clean", unencumbered by external stores, which was never the case for a combat-configured F-4. The Navy assigned F-4s to protect the valuable RA-5Cs from North Vietnamese MiGs, as well as provide additional "eyes", since a Vigilante pilot's rear view was nonexistent. F-4 pilots often had to call to the Vigilante pilots to slow down so the fighter could keep up.

Once over enemy territory, the Vigilante flew continuously in full afterburner, keeping above Mach 1 at all times. It would fly into the target area at 2,100 to 2,400 meters (7,000 to 8,000 feet), and could in many cases use its oblique cameras and other reconnaissance gear to obtain information without flying directly over the target. The aircraft was fast and agile for its size, and was able to dodge SAMs on many occasions.

The electronic strobe system devised for the Vigilante was not used in combat, since it attracted too much unwanted attention. During night missions, infrared and SLAR were used instead. Although the optical cameras in the sensor suite worked reliably, the electronic sensor systems proved troublesome under operational conditions. One Vigilante squadron circulated a fake advertisement for the "RA-5C VigilanTOY", saying: "You can't afford to buy less than a dozen -- that way you can have one to fly while the others are being repaired."

The old tunnel store system, now reduced to accommodating fuel tanks, was also sometimes a source of trouble. On a few occasions, the fuel tanks came loose during catapult shots, smashing through the tail cone to fall back on the deck, causing a fire. In most cases, the fire was quickly extinguished and the Vigilante was not much the worse for wear, but at least one went out of control and was lost in such an incident, the two flight crew punching out successfully.

18 RA-5Cs were lost in combat during the war, giving it the highest loss rate of any Navy aircraft in the conflict. 13 Vigilantes were shot down by flak, two were shot down by SAMs, one was shot down by a MiG-21, and the other two were lost to unknown causes over enemy territory.

The loss rate was high because the missions were unusually hazardous. Vigilantes were used for both pre-strike and post-strike reconnaissance. Pre-strike missions were relatively safe, but the North Vietnamese quickly realized after a target was bombed a reconnaissance aircraft would soon arrive to evaluate the damage, and so post-strike missions were generally conducted in the face of an enemy that was thoroughly alert and waiting. Vigilantes flying post-strike reconnaissance missions tried to follow the strike elements in just after the last bombs fell to reduce the risk.

Only 9 of the 36 of the aircrew shot down were rescued, with others either killed or taken prisoner. In one case, the rescue was a grim adventure like something out of an action movie. Lieutenant JG Francis Prendergast was the back-seat RAN on an RA-5C that was shot down over North Vietnam on 9 March 1967. According to one version of the story (there are other versions that differ slightly in details), he was captured near the seashore by North Vietnamese militiamen, with two of them assigned to guard him. One was armed with a rifle, the other with Prendergast's own 0.38-caliber revolver, standard equipment for aircrew and carried externally in a shoulder holster.

Prendergast carried the revolver with the first two chambers unloaded as a safety measure, and as a backup also had a small 0.22 caliber automatic pistol hidden inside his flight suit. When a rescue helicopter and support aircraft showed up, strafing drove off all the North Vietnamese except the guards, who felt safer staying with Prendergast than running for cover.

This proved a fatal mistake. While the two North Vietnamese were distracted by the noise and confusion, Prendergast pulled out the little automatic, cocked it, and shot the militiaman with the rifle in the head. The other militiaman tried to shoot Prendergast with the revolver, only to find that the hammer fell on an empty cylinder, and was shot himself an instant later. Prendergast swam out to the rescue helicopter and was retrieved.

As the war wound down in the mid-1970s, so did Vigilante reconnaissance squadrons. With the aircraft out of production, obtaining spares became increasingly difficult, and so did keeping a complicated machine like the RA-5C flying. The Navy also increasingly regarded a dedicated reconnaissance aircraft as something of a luxury, preferring to fit fighter-attack aircraft with reconnaissance pods, trading capability for operational flexibility.

Vigilante squadrons began to be disbanded in 1974, and by 1979, the Vigilante was out of service. Most were sent to the "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. A number were used as nonflying targets, including one that was used a target for the Tomahawk cruise missile whose destruction is documented in a well-known video.

A total of 156 Vigilantes were built, including prototypes. A number are known to survive as gate guards and static museum exhibits, including one at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida; another at the INTREPID Air-Sea-Space Museum in New York City; a third at the Pima Air Museum in Arizona; two more at the Naval Air Test & Evaluation Center Museum at Patuxent River, Maryland; and one at what used to be the Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines.

North American Vigilante - comments

While the sleek Vigilante is largely forgotten, it was and remains an impressive aircraft, with many similarities to the controversial British BAC TSR-2 strike aircraft, designed and cancelled a few years after the introduction of the Vigilante.

The story of the Vigilante includes some minor details not mentioned in the preceding text:

• In late 1962, one A-5A was loaned to the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration for research into supersonic transport (SST) technology specifically to determine how an SST would operate in a normal commercial air traffic environment. 21 flights were performed over a year's time, and then the machine was returned to the Navy.
• The nuclear store assembly that was held in the linear bomb bay on the A-5A could be replaced by a large buddy refueling pack for probe-and-drogue refueling. This item appears to have seen little or no operational use, probably because the Vigilante was too expensive to use as a tanker in comparison with, say, a Skyhawk.
• North American proposed advanced versions of the Vigilante to the US Air Force an interceptors. One, known as the "Retaliator", added a liquid-fuel rocket engine to the two J79s, but the Air Force didn't pursue the concept.
• Later, in 1972, in response to an Air Force requirement for an advanced interceptor, North American proposed adding a third J79 in the center bay and arming the "NR-349", as the new aircraft was designated, with six AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles. The Air Force didn't follow up on that concept, either.

It's always slightly troublesome when writing up a Navy aircraft to have to convert the designation from the old-style ("A3J-1") designation to the new-style ("A-5A") designation. This particular decision came down from Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and his aides, the "Whiz Kids", and is still somewhat controversial.

Author: Greg Goebel