RA-5 Vigilante, your thoughts…

Just this week I was trying to locate a Vigilante Stealth aircraft image that a fellow poster on another forum drew for me. Unfortunately, it is nowhere to be found, it looked BEAUTIFUL!

Regards,

Hammer

As much as I’m a huge A-5 Vigilante fan, I still wish the design had of followed its original mock-up design configuration of a twin fin arrangement!!

Regards
Pioneer

P.S. I would love to see this mock-up from different photo angles if anyone can oblige!!

Well I found it!!

As much as I’m a huge A-5 Vigilante fan, I still wish the design had of followed its original mock-up design configuration of a twin fin arrangement!!

The original NAGPAW design had twin vertical stabilizers, and this was actually how the mock-up was configured when it was reviewed in March of 1956. However this was changed to a single vertical stabilizer shortly thereafter (the USN getting cold feet with this revolutionary design idea of smaller twin-vertical stabilizers).

Regards
Pioneer

P.S. I would love to see this mock-up from different photo angles if anyone can oblige!!

I forgot : the Mirage had it’s own cruise missile the ASMP,with 200km range and 200kt warhead. It became the Mirage IVP…

Shorsch, thank you very much!!! I appreciate a lot what you said…how fine was it…

First, learn that General Hankock test the Mirage IV for the RAAF in may 1963.

Second, BAC was ready to put the electronics of the TSR2 in the Mirage IV, after the TSR-2 cancellation. With two powerful spey turbofans, it would be much powerful than your scrappy Vigilante or prone-to-wing-pivot-failure and-engine-stall F-111.
This airplane would have been the Mirage IVK (K for Kingdom, United Kingdom).

Third, The Mirage IV stayed on nuclear alert until 1996, and as recon airplane until 2005.(much better than the vigilante, scrap in 1979…). And the delta wing has much less drag than a swept wing in supersonic flight…
Cheers,
Archibaald

Pretty neat:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1005541/L/

I had no idea there had been foreign interest for the Mirage IV. This leaves to wonder what could have been if the Mirage IV had been purchased by Australia instead of the F-111!

Bluuuurkk 😀

Daniel

What about a comparison between the Vigilante and the Mirage IV ?
They were very similar (no bomb bay: the AN-52 nuclear bomb was semi-recessed under the belly). The Mirage flew 10 month after the Vigilante, in June 1959. It had nearly the same power (Atar was roughly equivalent to the J79, and the delta wing was ligher; The Mirage stay in nuclear alert from october 1964 to July 1996; it’s career as recon airplane ended in… july 2005!!
The Mirage IV was tested, too, by the RAAF (General Hancock, 1963);
More, there was even a project of Mirage IV* (star) for the RAF. It had two Rolls-Royce RB-168 Spey and the electronics of the TSR-2. In 1965, France and GB were allied on concorde, the Jaguar, the AVFG… the project was less costly than buying
F-111. Rolls-Royce fought for the project but the british governement made his choice in favor of the F-111 (which turn to a financial disaster)

The Mirage suffered from avionic availability. At that time only US had working inertial systems and were reluctant to deliver them to France. The Mirage IV was a high burden for the French but outmoded very fast. Like the British it showed that strategic bombers (even in smaller size) are hardly affordable for medium countries. I would rate the Vigilante as more versatile and overall modern. Can somebody say something about the range.

I had no idea there had been foreign interest for the Mirage IV. This leaves to wonder what could have been if the Mirage IV had been purchased by Australia instead of the F-111!

What about a comparison between the Vigilante and the Mirage IV ?
They were very similar (no bomb bay: the AN-52 nuclear bomb was semi-recessed under the belly). The Mirage flew 10 month after the Vigilante, in June 1959. It had nearly the same power (Atar was roughly equivalent to the J79, and the delta wing was ligher; The Mirage stay in nuclear alert from october 1964 to July 1996; it’s career as recon airplane ended in… july 2005!!
The Mirage IV was tested, too, by the RAAF (General Hancock, 1963);
More, there was even a project of Mirage IV* (star) for the RAF. It had two Rolls-Royce RB-168 Spey and the electronics of the TSR-2. In 1965, France and GB were allied on concorde, the Jaguar, the AVFG… the project was less costly than buying
F-111. Rolls-Royce fought for the project but the british governement made his choice in favor of the F-111 (which turn to a financial disaster)

Are there any more photos from different angles of your modified A-5 model ?????

How about an upgraded A-5, with its original NAGPAW twin tail fins in place of the single tall fin (as envisaged by North American designers, but changed at the insistence of the US Navy), and with new solid-state avionic, defensive Electronic Warfare system, new radar, and the linear bomb bay replaced by a Martin rotary bomb bay system, like that used in the Martin B-57, Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer, and proposed Martin XB-51. This would have allowed the A-5 the ability to carry more conventional or nuclear weapons load internally, without the adverse drag effect of a conventional bomb bay and door arrangement, while leaving the rear tunnel area of the linear bomb bay free for added fuel or more avionics, offensive or defensive systems.

Or what about a EA-5C, which could have been equipped like that of the USAF’s EF-111A, with the ALQ-99E tactical jamming EW system, to give the USN a effective supersonic replacement for the EA-6B Prowler. It could have like the RA-5B/C used a semi-protruding canoe system like that for its sensor (cameras and SLAR), in housing the ALQ-99 jamming radar system, while a fin-mounted aerial-receiver fairing. This would leave the wing pylons free for drop tanks, chaff dispensers or Anti-radiation missiles like HARM’s, to deal with threats
This like the Air Force’s EF-111A would have been able to accompany the carrier-based strike aircraft at much higher speeds, all the way to the target, as opposed to standing-off at a distance like that of the slower and more vulnerable Prowler (although I am not knocking the effectiveness of the Prowler!)

A model of this I would like to see!

Does anyone have any drawings or photos or specifications of the original North American NAGPAW design that the A-5A was developed from ?

Regards
Pioneer

This was one of my favorite kitbash projects of all time. I used the ARII 1/144 scale RA-5C Vigilante kit as the basis for what a modernized heavy attack Vigilante might look like. I won first in the scale back about 4 years ago at the North Central Texas IPMS show.

Basically it has the following features:

-Reprofiled nose radome for the terrain-following/attack radar
-More sturdy nose gear to handle the increased gross weight
-LANTIRN pods under each engine intake
-A multitude of ECM/EW antennas all over the airframe
-Paveway III series 2000 lb laser-guided bombs, 2 under each wing
-Light outboard pylon for self-defense Sidewinder missiles
-Chaff/flare launchers on the aft fuselage decking

Nicely done! I would replace the Sidewinders with AMRAAM’s and the Engines with PW F-100’s or GE F-110’s……………….as long as we are dreaming! Really to bad that they always destroyer the tooling?

Facinating, wonder how it would have faired in RAAF service though

Thanks guys. I neglected to mention that I also added LERXes to the wing roots, it’s not very visible from the angle of the picture. The nose gear came from an F/A-18 kit.

HOw effective do you guys think the RA-5 would have been in a conflict like Operation Desert Storm and if you had been General Schwarzkopf, would you have used this asset as a reconnaissace platform or as a tactical bomber truck to attack targets similar to the ones attacked by F-111s and Strike Eagles?
This is of course all hypothetical! Cheers, Irwan 🙂

This was one of my favorite kitbash projects of all time. I used the ARII 1/144 scale RA-5C Vigilante kit as the basis for what a modernized heavy attack Vigilante might look like. I won first in the scale back about 4 years ago at the North Central Texas IPMS show.

Basically it has the following features:

-Reprofiled nose radome for the terrain-following/attack radar
-More sturdy nose gear to handle the increased gross weight
-LANTIRN pods under each engine intake
-A multitude of ECM/EW antennas all over the airframe
-Paveway III series 2000 lb laser-guided bombs, 2 under each wing
-Light outboard pylon for self-defense Sidewinder missiles
-Chaff/flare launchers on the aft fuselage decking

That indeed is a sweet looking model! Good job! 🙂 Irwan

Sssswwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeetttttt!!!!!!! Looking kit bash!

That looks well hard RP6!!

Well bashed

A225HVY

This was one of my favorite kitbash projects of all time. I used the ARII 1/144 scale RA-5C Vigilante kit as the basis for what a modernized heavy attack Vigilante might look like. I won first in the scale back about 4 years ago at the North Central Texas IPMS show.

Basically it has the following features:

-Reprofiled nose radome for the terrain-following/attack radar
-More sturdy nose gear to handle the increased gross weight
-LANTIRN pods under each engine intake
-A multitude of ECM/EW antennas all over the airframe
-Paveway III series 2000 lb laser-guided bombs, 2 under each wing
-Light outboard pylon for self-defense Sidewinder missiles
-Chaff/flare launchers on the aft fuselage decking

first FBW system on an operational aircraft.