Presentation Date: May 22, 1997
JP Sheehan
Navy Pilot in A-3D Sky Warriors Navy Pilot in A-3D Sky Warriors
"First to Go, Last to Land"
JP Sheehan piloted the largest plane ever to land on an aircraft carrier, the Douglas A-3D Sky Warrior, and he flew it on about every kind of mission imaginable - - attack, photo recon, electronic warfare and tanker. By the time he was finished flying the big Navy bird, he'd logged 7000 hours and more than 750 carrier landings. Sheehan spoke of the big old bird and his experiences at the Wing's May 22nd dinner meeting.
The A-3D was the aircraft which brought the U.S. Navy into the age of nuclear weapons. Borne of a 1948 specification for a carrier based plane which could deliver a nuclear bomb to a target 2000 miles away, it was originally to be a 100,000 pound plane operating from a "mega-carrier." Douglas Aircraft's bid for the contract was a 78,000 pounds (gross) craft which could operate from WWII Essex Class carriers, proving most fortuitous when the "mega carrier" idea was scrapped in 1949. Sheehan says tests run on boosting various aircraft with JATO rocket bottles, none of which proved very practical. Two XA-3D prototypes powered by Allison-Westinghouse J-40 engines, were airborne on three trials, but one aircraft was lost in the process. Sheehan says "probably, had that happened, I wouldn't be here. Those engines eventually were total failures." The engine finally selected for the A-3D was the Pratt & Whitney J-57 (used in B-52s and Boeing 707s).
Sheehan says he flew the A-3D now displayed at the Western Aerospace Museum, on several occasions. Once on a test hop out of Alameda, #147666 lost an engine. Sheehan says that plane was the 281st built of a total of 283 A-3Ds.
In 1952, the A-3D finally flew successfully for 52 minutes, the test pilot remarking it porpoised on landing. The Sky Warrior had no ejection seats, using the "already-proven" escape hatch and laundry chute out the bottom of the fuselage. The system earned the sobriquet "All Three Dead" for the A-3D. March 1956 saw the commissioning of the first heavy attack squadron VAH-1 at Sanford, Florida.
Sheehan's combat work in the A-3D began on bombing missions from the U.S.S. Coral Sea, with his crewman named Salmon, nicknamed "Fish". They quickly discovered the plane's limitations in this role, since the A-3D could only pull 3.5 Gs. It wasn't maneuverable enough to get away from Vietnamese SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) and bombing missions for the Sky Warrior very quickly faded away.
Sheehan says, "Fish and I had a bridge that we got very good at bombing. We had a deal with the bamboo guys - - we hit the cratered approaches and left the bridge for them, and they wouldn't shoot at us. And then somebody decided we shouldn't bomb that bamboo-devil again, and we moved to another place. Well, these new guys just didn't get the message. We got hosed a few times flying over there. And so we decided that flying A-3Ds in a SAM and heavy AAA (anti aircraft artillery) environment was not a very good idea."
Pilots found they could lose SAMs by flying directly at them and then pulling a very hard, high-G barrel roll which the SAM couldn't follow. "So our Vietnamese friends got very smart. They'd shoot one SAM high and about the time you did your roll, they'd shoot one low and you're flying into another one. And you'd work your way to the ground and with good luck, you'd run out over the water."
A-3Ds also served in the refueling role. Sheehan explained that was a matter of tanking fighters outbound, then laying off the coast to refuel the attack ships. Sheehan says they worked with a lot of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks. "We would effectively "wet-wing" them, pump gas through them, drag 'em back to the carrier, hope they had enough in their bag (sump tank) to get aboard.
It was in this role that Sheehan says the A-3D gained its reputation for missions as the first aircraft off the carrier deck and the last to land.
"I put my crewman up for an award once, for a Distinguished Flying Cross. The A-4 had flamed out in our basket three times. Fish had used the periscope to look behind us, had the throttles, and all I did was point the airplane. And he kept it in the basket and pumped it with enough gas so the guy could get a relight. I don't know how he did it. I can't believe we didn't have a midair collision. It was a feat of magic."
The excitement didn't end there. About ten miles from the carrier, the A-4 pilot said "I'm leavin' ", and ejected from the Skyhawk. Fish told Sheehan they still had an airplane connected (due to a 300 pound connection on the refueling drogue). Finally the A-4 did a couple rolls and spun off into the sea.
The tanker variant, KA-3D carried fuel in the rear bomb bay area, with the forward bomb bay available for as many as twelve 100-pound bombs. Sheehan says, "We didn't do that very long, because of the fact you couldn't get away from the SAMs in Vietnam and we lost a few that way."
EKA-3Ds variants, with electronics to jam enemy communications (seen around Alameda) had fat blisters on either side of the cockpit and aft, filled with VHF jamming equipment (50,000 watts of power). Though used little, Sheehan credits the EKA-3Ds effectiveness in jamming SAMs. "We could pretty well get to 'em, shut 'em down, and put an awful lot of measles on their scopes."
There was always the challenge of bringing a 50-thousand pound plane back to land on the carrier deck. "Some of the Elint birds were so heavy you were lucky to call 4000 pounds (of fuel remaining), which at night was 2 passes to a tanker or a jump out" And tanking with an A-6 or another A-3D was very difficult, especially at night.
Sheehan says he was able to make 52 consecutive carrier landings in the Sky Warrior. Another A-3D pilot, Max Otto holds the Navy record for all types - - 150 straight landings without a go-around.