A-6 Intruder and EA-6 Prowler

[Leigh]

Righty ho sir, as requested. Looks like the underside is blue which is kinda neat.

[GTX]

Leigh,

Thanks - that is perfect.  Do you have an approximate date of when that picture was taken?  I wanted to check whether or not the radome was able to be painted green.  I know the one posted by AeroplaneDriver is, but I think that photo is relatively recent (and hence takes advantage of newer paint developments) whereas, I am looking for something around the early 1970s for my what-if.

Regards,

Greg

[Leigh]

caption above the piccy says "An A-6A Intruder of VA-85 shows off the camouflage tried on experimental basis in 1966. It was thought that the colour would make U.S. Navy warplanes less likely to be spotted and attacked from above by MiGs".

But if yer doing a WIF you can make it any year you want.

[GTX]

Leigh,

Thanks again - this is perfect.  As said above, my what-if Intruder will be a RAAF A-6E (pre-TRAM) lease aircraft (instead of the F-4E) pending the arrival of the F-111s, so my time frame is pretty limited - 14 Sept 1970 to 20 Jun 1973 to be exact.

Regards,

Greg

[Jschmus]

There's a teensy shot of a carrier deck from Vietnam in a recent issue of Flight Journal.  The article is primarily about Phantom ops, but the photo in question shows both an A-6 and a Skyraider in green schemes.

[Son of Damian]

I found a picture of a Green A-6 some where on net a few weeks ago, though I'm sure that it is more recent than what your looking for.

[Dork the kit slayer]

Actually I think it was in the early 90s.  The pic was on here not too long ago, so if you search you should find it.  If not it's been on ARC so you should be able to find it there too.

It's a great looking Intruder.  You going to wow us with one in 1/48?

They did have one(?) in Vietnam.....well off the coast. The USN tried it out on an F4 N (with a white nose cone)  a couple of Skyhawks ( or an A4 and Spad) and I believe a SAC style three tone on a Vigilante.

Not popular with deck crew during night ops. I do have pics some where and Ill dig em out.

[Gary F]

On Leigh's pic with the od green topped A-6A with the lt blue bottom, the bottom is actually lt blue on the side towards us, and white on the other side bottom ... if you look closely you can just make out the white on the bottom of the rear side intake area.   There's another pic of that plane showing the other side but I don't have the book anymore.  This was the trials ac to see what was better ... the lt blue or white .. the white won out.
 Both the Constellation and Kitty Hawk air wings did camo trials in 1966 in SEA.  VA 65 on the Connie had several A-6's done in 34079 and 34102 uppers with white bottoms.  VA 85 on the Kitty had overall green 34079 upper with white belly.  Most had black radomes although one, 151819 w modex 413, carried the camo onto the radome.

regards,
Gary F

[Leigh]

On Leigh's pic with the od green topped A-6A with the lt blue bottom, the bottom is actually lt blue on the side towards us, and white on the other side bottom ... if you look closely you can just make out the white on the bottom of the rear side intake area.   There's another pic of that plane showing the other side but I don't have the book anymore.  This was the trials ac to see what was better ... the lt blue or white .. the white won out.

Now that really is interesting, I love real life stuff that is so far out it has to be a WIF.
Green Intruder with a half white half blue underside would cause some heated discussions at the model show, thanks Gary.

[Sentinel Chicken]

On Leigh's pic with the od green topped A-6A with the lt blue bottom, the bottom is actually lt blue on the side towards us, and white on the other side bottom ... if you look closely you can just make out the white on the bottom of the rear side intake area.   There's another pic of that plane showing the other side but I don't have the book anymore.  This was the trials ac to see what was better ... the lt blue or white .. the white won out.

Now that really is interesting, I love real life stuff that is so far out it has to be a WIF.
Green Intruder with a half white half blue underside would cause some heated discussions at the model show, thanks Gary.

Heated discussons? Have you ever seen the movie Scanners? I can see some JMNs' heads exploding.

[Gary F]

Glad to help ...
 I was looking through some of my A-6 stuff and also found one pic of an A-6A in tan-green with white bottom .. there could be a 2nd shade of green present but the lighting makes it hard to tell.  Which leads me to the question ... how do you post a pic in this part of the site ... I can get pics attached in the 'Current projects' area but can't find the attachment button in this section ... anyone can help me??

regards,
Gary

[Amphion]

In the june 1983 issue of SAM there is an article named " US Navy Low Visability Camouflage and Markings 1966-1983".

In this they specify four A-6 ships who trialed in 1966 with greenish colours:

A-6A ?/403 of VA-65 'Tigers' on board USS Constellation in 1966: Dark green FS.34079/Olive drab FS.34102 over White. Navy titles in black, nose and tail codes in white. Full colour national insignia.

A-6A 151782/802 of VA-85 'Black Falcons'on board USS Kitty Hawk in 1966: Dark green FS.34079 over White with serials and Navy titles in black, nose and tail codes in white. Full colour national insignia.

A-6A 151822/402 of VA-65 'Tigers' on board USS Constellation in 1966: Dark green FS.34079/Olive drab FS.34102 over White. Navy titles in black, nose and tail codes in white. Full colour national insignia.

A-6A 151819/413 of VA-65 'Tigers' on board USS Constellation in 1966: Dark green FS.34079/Olive drab FS.34102 over White. Navy titles in black, nose and tail codes in white. Full colour national insignia.

First two have a black radome, last two camo painted on radome.

Hope this helps.

[nev]

Another thing to bear in mind is that the Vietnam green camo, it streaked pretty badly wherever oil or hydraulic fluid or whatever leaked out, to reveal what looks like Zinc Chromate underneath.  I'll see if I can did the piccies out the loft.

[GTX]

Gary,

When you write your reply, look for the 'IMG' button.

Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

Hi folks,

Here are 2 pictures that Gary F asked me to post.  Enjoy:




I may be wrong, but the second picture appears to be the aircraft I was originally referring to - except that I have seen it in colour and from the rear, upper.

Regards,

Greg