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Description
| Notes: Airborne platform for integrated operational intelligence system (IOIS) . Provides ALL-WEATHER tactical intelligence using photo, radar, infrared, and electronics techniques. | |||
| Manufacturer: | North American |
| |
| Base model: | A-5 | ||
| Designation: | RA-5 | ||
| Version: | C | ||
| Nickname: | Vigilante | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Tri-Service | ||
| Designation Period: | 1962-Present | ||
| Basic role: | Attack | ||
| Modified Mission: | Reconnaissance | ||
| Crew: | Pilot & Observer/Radar Officer | ||
| See Also: | |||
Specifications
| Length: | 76' 6" | 23.3 m | |
| Height: | 19' 5" | 5.9 m | |
| Wingspan: | 53' | 16.1 m | |
| Wingarea: | 754.0 sq ft | 70.0 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 37,498 lb | 17,005 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 80,000 lb | 36,281 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 2 | ||
| Powerplant: | General Electric J79-GE-8 (A/B 17,000Lb/7,711Kg) | ||
| Thrust (each): | 10,800 lb | 7,709 kg | |
Performance
| Max Speed: | 1,385 mph | 2,230 km/h | 1,205 kt |
| Ceiling: | 67,000 ft | 20,421 m | |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Fred E. Weisbrod Museum / International B-24 Museum | Pueblo | Colorado |
| Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum | New York | New York |
| National Museum of Naval Aviation | NAS Pensacola | Florida |
| Patuxent River Naval Air Museum | Patuxent River | Maryland |
| Pima Air & Space Museum | Tucson | Arizona |
RA-5C on display
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum | National Museum of Naval Aviation | Naval Air Warfare Center | ||
Patuxent River Naval Air Museum | Pima Air & Space Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Roger Folland Sun City West, AZ | I was an AQ in RVAHs 13,5,1,and 3, decommissioning the last three. For location, of aircraft, 156610 is mounted as a static display in front of what was the Admin building at the old NAS Cubi Point, Philippines. T%he last time I looked at Google Earth, it was still there. A story that was circulated around 1971 was that North American proposed selling the A-5 airframe to the Air Force as an interceptor with a third J-79 residing in what had been the linear tunnel. In the late '70s an old North American employee working at the NAS Jacksonville Rework facility told me that an example had been built but experienced severe airframe heating at speed... it was named "Operation Redwing". 07/01/2008 @ 08:24 [ref: 21734] |
| c d , PA | Try asking on RVAHNAVY.COM 06/28/2008 @ 10:28 [ref: 21713] |
| Bob Dunham Austin,, TX | Does anyone have a photo or drawing of an A-5 ejection seat? A friend bought an F-100 seat off e-bay - it says it is an F-100, but I have my doubts, and I know the F-100 seat pretty well. I think it may be an A/RA-5 seat. 06/26/2008 @ 17:12 [ref: 21614] |
| lawrence (larry) pointer chicago, IL | Served with the "smokin tigers"of heavy 1 from 69 to73.Was an amh-3..made 2 west-pac and one med. cruise with RVAH-1.
Would like to hear from my old shipmates. 04/06/2008 @ 19:45 [ref: 20356] |
| Reggie Harris AE 2 Heavy 11 Haddonfield, NJ | John Liccini,
Passed you on the road in 1968 doing 80+ mph. in my MGB. I rode a Norton and a BSA lightning and worked at the Sing gas station on Slappy Blvd. Hung at Shoneys ( who didn"t ) We had a lot of good times in Albany. Last week on my way back from Florida I made a nastagia trip through Albany. Time hasn't been kind to our former home and base. The base is now used for job corp training, which is a great use for our former base.The barracks and chow hall are used by the Job corps. 3 hangers remain but that seems to be all that is left of the flight line. Only good memories remain as I enter my 60th year. God bless all the pilots and support people that made the Vigi the most beautiful bird in the sky. Reggie Harris AE2 Checkertail till I die. 02/06/2008 @ 16:14 [ref: 19580] |
| Reggie Harris AE 2 Heavy 11 Haddonfield, NJ | John Liccini,
Passed you on the road in 1968 doing 80+ mph. in my MGB. I rode a Norton and a BSA lightning and worked at the Sing gas station on Sappy Blvd. Hung at Shoneys ( who didn"t ) We had a lot of good times in Albany. Last week on my way back from Florida I made a nestagia trip through Albany. Time hasn't been kind to our former home and base. The base is now used for job corp training, which is a great use for our former base.The barracks and chow hall are used by the Job corps. 3 hangers remain but that seems to be all that is left of the flight line. Only good memories remain as I enter my 60th year. God bless all the pilots and suport people that made the Vigi the most beautiful bird in the sky. Reggie Harris AE2 Checkertail till I die. 02/06/2008 @ 16:07 [ref: 19579] |
| John Liccini Avon, NY | I was the 11th Navy personnel that checked into NAS Albany early in 1968 coming directly from Memphis when Martin Luther King was shot. Served shore patrol in the Millington, TN trailer park during the riots. Was an ADJ and worked on the Vigi's and A-3s to start in RVAH-3. Also the TA-4Fs when they arrived. Shipped out with RVAH-7 in late 1970 and went to the Med on the Forrestal. Got out in mid 1971, went to A&P school in Pittsburgh, kicked around general aviation for 24 years and joined the FAA as a maintenance inspector in 1995. Cross trained into avionics and stationed in Rochester, NY. It's been a wild ride in aviation and I bought the ticket in the Navy with RVAH-3. Challenging aircraft to maintain but so sexy and advanced for it's day. It truly was a precurser for many aircraft and systems we see today. Heads up display, moving stabs, slats, boxy intakes tucked close to the fuselage, varible exhast nozzels and first 7 stages of compression, etc. I remember working 4 engine changes at the same time with all new crews and myself an another "mech" running between each aircraft instructing what to do next. I remember an AME running the ramp bicycle and his forehead into the rubber protector of a trailing edge horizontal stab at 2 o'clock in the morning. Doing high power runs at midnight with the burner blinding your night vision and vibrating the concrete off the ramp. Waiting to get clearance from the Air Force SAC security to cross their ramp to go to the high power run up area. Guard dogs, loaded weapons and readied B-52's with nukes. Shooting craps in the loft of the powerplant shop for nickels and dimes. I made CarQuals on the Sara 2 or 3 times, the Independance once and another ship I can't or don't want to remember. Night runs over Cuba when the crews manned the aircraft with pistols and bullets. Who can forget removing and installing fuel cans? Awful job with the skate block bolts that had to be safety wired where a pygmie couldn't fit. It was a nightly experiance and many nights, multiple joy. Most of the time I was bone tired and loved it. "Bullet" Bates from Marblehead, Mass, Bob Sedlak from Cleveland and Dave Ebert from Pittsburgh were in my shop. Also a little sawed off guy tough as nails and with a gravel voice from Southeast Missouri I forget his name. He mixed it up with the locals at Shonnies a few times. Don't know where they all went. Molykote grease on the phone receivers were a big joke for awhile until the Chief got the Molykote in the ear. Forgot his name but he smoked a pipe. There was a hot springs Southeast of Albany that had a hotdog stand across the street. They served the best chili dogs until the Health depart shut them down for using Alpo dog food as the chili. Ha, great place. Go to Crystal Springs Lake to watch the local moving scenery. That's probabily the one thing that hasn't changed. Rent a boat at the boat docks for a float on the Flint River and seeing snakes as big as the Chysler building swim by faster than you can paddle. Being grabbed by corpsman at night for vampire liberty because sick bay needed blood because a sailor got drunk and wreaked his car. Being "volunteered" to fight grass fires for the locals and wound up spending 1/2 the time dodgeing snakes, bugs, and feral cats and dogs going the other way fleeing the fire. I was riding my 1963 BSA 650 Lighting motorcycle on a back road and hit a chicken with the headlight next to a shotgun shack. Instant IFR for a nano second. Who hasn't blown the car horn next to a pig farm and howled with laughter as 2,000 pigs jump up and run off 2 pounds each to the other side of the field? I had a great time generally. Anyone remember the Claxon Fruitcake Company somewhere around Albany? Or going up to Andersonville to look at the graves of the Union Civil War dead? Drinking 3.2 beer or BYOB and buying the setups in a local bar? Picking up pecans on the side streets for free. Bob's Candy Company somewhere to the northeast of town? Sneaking down to Panama City, FL. My friends and I got kicked out of Daytona Beach when Missouri gave the finger to a local cop. One night that BSA broke down in the boonies and I had ship's movement in 2 days. Got a ride for me and the Beesa back home by 2 drunken Shriners with Fezzes in a rainstorm going 80 miles an hour and it was blacker than a well diggers backside at 11 o'clock at night. Hope you all have some funny memories like I do. 01/08/2008 @ 18:49 [ref: 19196] |
| Kevin Pruitt Jacksonville, FL | My first duty station was RVAH-5, NAS Key West. The Vigies were a demanding aircraft to maintain. Airborne they were, and still are to me, one of the most gracefull looking aircraft aloft. I remember the "feel" of all the power from those J-79s. As well as the noise!! 11/21/2007 @ 17:30 [ref: 18624] |
| Ray Davis Glenville, NY | The RA-5C listed as being located at the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum in NYC, is, in fact, now a part of the collection of the Empire State Aerosciences Museum. It is undergoing restoration, primarily undoing some of the work previously done and re-painting it in the squadron colors of RVAH-5. 10/28/2007 @ 19:06 [ref: 18336] |
| Richard \"Wags\"Wagner Jacksonville, FL | I served with Heavy 11 as an E-3 on the ill-fated 67 Forrestal cruise, and as PH-3 on the turn-around Kitty Hawk cruise. I was one messed up dude. I also did a third 'Nam cruise with Heavy 13 on the America. By then, I was certifiably nuts. If anybody remembers me and doesn't want to shoot me, send me a note. I owe many humble apologies to most of you.
I'm writing short stories about our crazy adventures, and also about our personal sad and tragic times. No matter how you may feel about me - and I know I was a wise ass - I love you all. If I can help you put your memories down, it would be a pleasure and honor. I'm especially interested in buddies who need help dealing with the V.A. I'm been helping vets of all branches who have trouble filling out forms and narratives. I could use some verifying letters helping my own case, too. I'm also interested in helping my crewmates recognise symptoms of PTSD in themselves, and seek the help they need. I have good reason to believe Heavy 11 was uniquely afflicted with this painful syndrome. I pray for you all. God bless. 09/30/2007 @ 16:52 [ref: 18062] |
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