A-6 Intruder

The Grumman A-6 Intruder has celebrated its 30th birthday, passing even the remarkable F-4 Phantom in its length of active, front-line Naval service. Recently. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney cancelled the A-l 2 program, which was over budget and years behind schedule. The A-12 was to have been the replacement for the A-6. so as a result of the cancellation, it would seem that the Intruder is des­tined to serve on for many more years. The Intruder went to war again, this time in the Persian Gulf. It was mentioned often in military reports from the war zone, always describing targets bombed, boats sunk, or enemy defenses jammed. It is obviously a long way from being outdated in its ability to do the job. The F-4 Phantom was dubbed "double ugly" by its detractors and proponents alike and a case could be made that the Intruder should be christened "triple ugly." After all. you would be hard pressed to describe the distinctive tadpole-like shape of the A-6 as "graceful"or"beautiful." In hisbookon the Intruder. Robert F. Dorr called the A-6 design "pragmatic." and that may be as nice a thing as you can say about the decidedly business-like demeanor of Grum-man's long-lived attack bomber. But if "Pretty is. as pretty does." then the A-6 is beautiful indeed. The genius of the Intruderdesign is that its airframe has managed to successfully incorporate the gener­ational development of attack avionics from the era of vacuum tubes to the solid-state digital electronics of today. The A-6 can deliver all types of ordnance regardless of shape, size and capabilities — from Second World War "dumb" bombs to 21st century "launch and leave" missiles. When the A-6 made its first flight. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House and most people still thought of Vietnam as French Indochina. A Navy Commander on flight status was making less than $9,000 per year. America had not yet put a man in space, nor suffered its first casualty of the Vietnam War. Gasoline was 35 cents a gallon. Hawaii was not a state, diplomatic relations with Cuba still existed, and most of the people who will read these words were not yet alive. Although "Culture Shock" was a term yet to be incor­porated into modern lexicon, we were on the threshold of tech­nological and social events which would seem to compress history as never before. The fact that the Intruder has not only survived these three momentous decades, but continues to thrive and will probably do so for at least another decade, is more than just remark­able. It should because for celebration of the genius of the designers and builders of this great airplane. This book is a celebration of the dedication, skill and 'elan of the men who flew and fought with the Intruder. Their narrative provides the reader with insight on how the A-6 was designed and how it was used, from the beginnings of its career until 1991. In that 30 year span, one thing has not changed and that is the unique spirit of the Attack Community in which the Intruder lives. In the movie "Flight Of The Intruder." the character Jake Grafton tells a fighter pilot. "Fighter Pilots make movies; Attack Pilots make history!" They sure do. and they have been doing it and will continue to do so for many-years to come in the Grumman A-6 Intruder.

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