The Grumman A-6 Intruder was a medium-attack, all weather, day-night carrier-based combat aircraft whose prototype first flew on 16 April 1960. The Navy changed its designation from A-2F to A-6A in October 1962, delivered the first A-6A to VA-42 in February 1963, and placed the first operational fleet squadron, VA-75, on its first West Pac cruise aboard the USS Independence in May 1965. The first flight of the A-6E, a refitted A-6A, took place on 27 February 1970, and 240 A-6As were eventually converted. By the time A-6A production stopped in December 1970, the aircraft was serving in 14 Navy and 6 Marine squadrons and 488 had been produced. The first new-production A-6E was accepted by the Navy in September 1971, and VA-85 began accepting its aircraft in December 1971. As of February 1995, Intruder fleet squadrons were still operational, though a phaseout was planned. Testing of the Intruder began at Patuxent River in the early 1960s and continued into 1995. The displayed aircraft, NA-6E BuNo 156997, known as Salty Dog #500, was built as an A-6A and accepted into the Navy inventory on 30 January 1970. It served with VA-145, VA-128, VA-52, and VA-95 through 1976, then went through the A-6A-to-A-6E update conversion program at Grumman and returned to the fleet with VA-35. In March 1979 it returned to Grumman for installation of the Target Recognition Attack Multisensor system, then spent the next 5 years at VX-5 in system operational evaluations. It arrived at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, in October 184 and was involved in system test and evaluation work thereafter. A new prototype fuel-indicating system was installed and evaluated there, and from 1986 through 1993 the aircraft was highly instrumented for Night Attack Technologies involving night sensors, predictive ground proximity warning, and passive terrain navigation. Its final flight was on 29 July 1993 after accumulating 4,789 flight-hours and 6,287 landings, including 787 aircraft carrier arrestments, and it joined the Naval Air Test and Evaluation Museum aircraft collection in April 1995.

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe

Drum Point, Maryland · USA