Astonishingly, the A-3 was not equipped with ejection seats, leading Navy service members to joke morbidly that the A-3D variant stood for “All Three Dead.”
The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior often gets lost in the shuffle. Most have never heard of the Navy’s Cold War-era strategic bomber, despite the fact that the A-3 served for over three decades. The reason is hard to say. Though the aircraft served a distinguished career, it never had a breakout moment as many of its contemporaries did. And perhaps the A-3’s routine appearance contributed to the jet’s diminished standing.
In any case, the A-3 has long stood in the shadow of other Navy jets, like the A-4, A-6, F-14, and F/A-18. Let’s take a closer look at the A-3, the Navy’s somewhat forgotten carrier-capable bomber.
Remembering the A-3 Skywarrior
The first thing one tends to notice about the A-3 is the aggressively swept wings, which were shoulder-mounted at a 36-degree angle. Beneath each wing lay a single Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engine. The fuselage of the aircraft appeared fairly pedestrian, with a conventional semi-monocoque design. The A-3 featured a single vertical stabilizer, again enhancing the routines of the jet’s appearance.
The original A-3 variants were designed to accommodate three crew members—a pilot, bombardier/navigator, and crewman/navigator. The pilot and bombardier/navigator sat side-by-side, where the pilot had full flight controls. The crewman/navigator sat behind the pilot in an aft-facing, or rear-facing, seat. In early variants of the A-3, the third crewman in the back also operated twin 20-mm cannons mounted in the tail; in later variants of the plane, the cannons were removed to make room for ECM equipment.
Astonishingly, the A-3 was not equipped with ejection seats, leading Navy service members to joke morbidly that the A-3D variant stood for “All Three Dead.”
The omission of ejection seats was not an oversight, but a careful decision (if a poor one). In order to qualify for carrier operations, the aircraft needed to be below a certain weight threshold to qualify for carrier operations; the bulk of the ejection seats was deemed expendable because the A-3 was expected to conduct the majority of its operations at high altitude. Of course, the most dangerous moments of any flight are take-off and landing, each of which occurs at low altitude—making the rationale that the A-3 did not need ejection seats fairly absurd.
Operating the A-3 Skywarrior
The A-3’s most enduring claim to fame, perhaps, is that in the first decades of the Cold War, the A-3 was the Navy’s contribution to the U.S. nuclear deterrence scheme. As one of the only aircraft that could both carry a nuclear weapon and take off from an aircraft carrier, it formed the third leg of America’s rudimentary nuclear “triad.” In that role, it would later be supplanted by nuclear-equipped submarines.
Thankfully, the A-3 was never called upon to deploy nuclear weapons—only conventional weapons, of which the A-3 could lift 12,000 pounds of, in the fuselage bomb bay. The A-3 was used for conventional bombing during the Vietnam War. A-3s were also found valuable for their utility; later A-3 variants were converted for use in aerial refueling, photo reconnaissance, and electronic intelligence.
Despite maintaining a low profile, the A-3 served for decades. A few EA-3Bs used for electronic intelligence even served in the 1991 Gulf War. The last of the type were retired later the same year, in September 1991, ending a more-than three-decade run for the unassuming A-3. Since retirement, the A-3 has continued serving—as a civilian operated testbed for the development of various weapons systems. Not a bad run for a jet no one’s ever heard of.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
