Nicknamed "The Whale" due to its enormous size and weight, the Navy's A-3 Skywarrior was one of the longest serving, carrier-based jet aircraft. Designed by famed Douglas engineer Ed Heinemann, the A-3 featured a 36° swept wing, semi-monocoque fuselage, and two J57 turbojets in underwing nacelles. It typically carried a crew of three in a frame canopy with the pilot and bombardier/navigator sitting side by side. The A-3 was an outgrowth of a development program that dated to 1948 and was intended to serve as a strategic bomber. The prototype XA3D-1 first flew in 1952. Production problems pushed back introduction of the first A3D-1 aircraft to 1956, and 282 left the assembly line by the time production ceased in 1961. By that time the aircraft's role as a nuclear delivery platform had been handed off to the A3J Vigilante. Skywarriors served in Vietnam as conventional bombers and in other capacities including as an electronic warfare platform (designated EA-3B), as tactical...

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