A-3 Skywarrior Units of the Vietnam War

Osprey Combat Aircraft #108

by Rick Morgan, Jim Laurier (Illustrations)

The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior, though something of a cult favourite, remains a largely unremarked classic of Naval Aviation. Built for nuclear weapon delivery, the A-3 made its name in Vietnam as a conventional bomber, tanker and Electronic Warfare platform. It was the largest aircraft ever regularly operated from the decks of aircraft carriers, earning it the fleet-wide nickname 'Whale'. It excelled in every mission area assigned to it and operated in the US Navy for more than four decades, from 1956 through to 1991. Fully illustrated to depict the incredible array of paint schemes and awesome size, this volume focuses on the type's Vietnam service, which saw the aircraft briefly used as a bomber over both North and South Vietnam from March 1965, before the Skywarrior proved far more valuable as a multi-role tanker (KA-3B) and tanker/tactical jammer (EKA-3B). The title includes details on all of these operations as well as more clandestine reconnaissance missions, and provides information about the men that flew them.

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 17, 2015

Reviews

[Charles Seymour · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former A3 Aircrewman I found this book to be very informative. Being in the middle of air operations does not allow the individual to be aware of what is occurring on other ships and in other units even if they are within sight and sound during combined strikes or support activities. For instance I flew with three of the pilots mentioned in the book as a member of the Savage Sons of Sanford , VAH 5. Two met their demise in an A3, one in an A5 and the last was a B/N who made Captain. Until reading of it in this book I had no idea of the fates of these men. I made a year long cruise on the USS Coral Sea CA 43 in VAH 2 where many of the activities described herein were duplicated in what seemed to be an endless cycle. The mission was fulfilled, lives were lost, lives were saved and we had done our duty. For those in the A3 "Cult" it's a must have on the shelf. CS

[Matthias Noch · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the detail-level this book would have deserved 5 stars, but unfortunately the author left out nearly everything that adds a bit atmosphere to the book, nearly no stories from pilots or about the daily problems the units were facing. Everything is very factual, technical, only the data. That is something I’m expecting from the books in the Air Vanguard series, but not in the Combat aircraft series. So the book is not bad, it is good, but not what it should be to fit into this series.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another week, another "Osprey" booklet. This is my first exposure to the the author in question and he does a very good job with condensing down the very long and varied service of this aircraft into a coherent package; it helps that he had personal experience with the "Skywarrior." If you're interested in this machine you owe it to yourself to acquire a copy.

[Keith Budzynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Versatile "Whale"

I really enjoyed this book. I did not know much about this workhorse that did every job it was ask. I enjoy this Osprey series and really liked this one.