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North American A-5 Vigilante | Carrier-Based Mach-2 Nuclear Strike Bomber
The North American A-5 Vigilante was an
American carrier-based supersonic bomber designed and built by North American
Aviation for the United States Navy. It set several world records, including
long-distance speed and altitude records.
Prior to 1962 unification of Navy and
Air Force designations, it was designated the A3J Vigilante
In 1953, North American Aviation began a
private study for a carrier-based, long-range, all-weather strike bomber,
capable of delivering nuclear weapons at supersonic speeds.This proposal, the
North American General Purpose Attack Weapon (NAGPAW) concept, was accepted by
the United States Navy, with some revisions, in 1955. A contract was awarded on
29 August 1956. Its first flight occurred two years later on 31 August 1958 in
Columbus, Ohio.
At the time of its introduction, the
Vigilante was one of the largest and by far the most complex aircraft to
operate from a Navy aircraft carrier. It had a high-mounted swept wing with a
boundary-layer control system (blown flaps) to improve low-speed lift. It had
no ailerons; roll control was provided by spoilers in conjunction with
differential deflection of the all-moving tail surfaces. The use of
aluminium-lithium alloy for wing skins and titanium for critical structures was
also unusual.
The A-5 had two widely spaced General
Electric J79 turbojet engines, fed by inlets with variable intake ramps, and a
single large all-moving vertical stabilizer. Preliminary design studies had
employed twin vertical fin/rudders. The wings, vertical stabilizer and the nose
radome folded for carrier stowage. The Vigilante had a crew of two seated in
tandem, a pilot and a bombardier-navigator (BN) (reconnaissance/attack
navigator (RAN) on later reconnaissance versions) seated on North American
HS-1A ejection seats.
Designated by the US Navy as a “heavy”,
the A-5 was surprisingly agile; without the drag of bombs or missiles, even
escorting fighters found that the clean airframe and powerful engines made the
Vigilante very fast at high and low altitudes. However, its high approach speed
and high angle of attack contributed to a high workload during carrier
landings.
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