A-3 Skywarrior

A-3 (A3D) Skywarrior
Role	Strategic bomber
Manufacturer	Douglas Aircraft Company
Designer	Ed Heinemann
First flight	28 October 1952
Introduction	1956
Retired	27 September 1991
Status	Retired
Primary user	United States Navy
Produced	1956–1961
Number built	282
Developed into	Douglas B-66 Destroyer

The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was designed as a strategic bomber for the United States Navy and was among the longest serving carrier-based aircraft in history. It entered service in the mid-1950s and was retired in 1991. Throughout its service, it was the heaviest operational aircraft to operate from aircraft carriers, earning its nickname, "The Whale." Its primary function for much of its later service life was as an electronic warfare platform, tactical air reconnaissance platform, and high capacity aerial refueling tanker.

The Skywarrior is one of only two U.S. Navy attack aircraft intended as a strategic bomber to enter full-scale service (the other being its predecessor, the North American AJ Savage). The carrier-based supersonic North American A-5 Vigilante was also originally designed for strategic nuclear strike missions and initially, very briefly, supplanted the A-3 in that role beginning in the early 1960s. However, with the removal of aircraft carriers from the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), the realization that very high altitude penetration of the Soviet Union was no longer feasible, and the transfer of the U.S. Navy's strategic nuclear deterrence mission to the Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine force, the Vigilante saw its mission changed to carrier-based tactical air reconnaissance.

A modified derivative, the B-66 Destroyer, served in the U.S. Air Force until the early 1970s as a tactical bomber, electronic warfare aircraft, and reconnaissance platform.

Early in World War II, the U.S. Navy began to explore the concept of a jet-powered aircraft operating from aircraft carriers. Success encouraged further development of the concept, and early in the post war years, the U.S. Navy began to consider jet power as a possible means of operating carrier-based aircraft that were large enough to provide a strategic bombing capability.

In January 1948, the Chief of Naval Operations issued a requirement to develop a long-range, carrier-based attack plane that could deliver a 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) bomb load or a nuclear weapon. The aircraft was planned to operate from the proposed United States-class "supercarriers," much larger than existing carriers, and the specification set a target loaded weight of 100,000 lb (45,500 kg). Ed Heinemann, chief designer of the Douglas Aircraft Company, later to win fame for the A-4 Skyhawk, fearing that the United States-class was vulnerable to cancellation, proposed a significantly smaller aircraft of 68,000 lb (31,000 kg) loaded weight, capable of operating from existing carriers. The contract that the U.S. Navy awarded to the Douglas Aircraft Company on 29 September 1949 led to the development and production of the A3D Skywarrior. The prototype XA3D-1 first flew on 28 October 1952.

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