Vigilante No. 97 in the Warpaint series
by Charles Stafrace
The
North American Vigilante was an aircraft of extraordinary performance,
and introduced aerodynamic, technological and electronic features that
were much ahead of their time, and which were to become standard in
combat aircraft that followed it.
It started out as a shipboard nuclear attack bomber, but when the
Navy’s nuclear attack task was given to Polaris submarines, the
Vigilante risked extinction. Reluctant to lose such an advanced
aircraft, the US Navy came up with the idea that it needed a shipboard
Mach 2 long range reconnaissance bomber, and North American, with little
effort, converted the Vigilante to carry out this mission.
In this new role, the Vigilante provided the US Navy with an
unparalleled wide-ranging reconnaissance capability that was to remain
unavailable to the Service after the Vigilante’s retirement until the
TARPS-equipped F-14 Tomcat came around in the 1980s. The recce Vigilante
entered the scene just in time for the Vietnam War, during which its
crews often risked their lives in order to bring back much needed
information on the enemy.
The aircraft’s two big engines and its aerodynamic shape gave the
Vigilante an easy Mach 2.2 performance, enough to outrun its escorting
F-4 Phantom, and making it the fastest aircraft ever to operate from an
aircraft carrier until the arrival, again, of the F-14 Tomcat. Yet, the
Vigilante remained one of those unsung heroes, and its demise from US
Navy service went largely unnoticed.
This book tries to somewhat redress this injustice with the latest
Warpaint title, which contains no less than 125 photos, many of which
are in colour, seven pages of colour artwork, and 60 pages of text that
describes the development and operational career of both the bomber and
reconnaissance versions of this remarkable aircraft.
This book is written by Charles Stafrace and is superbly illustrated by Richard J.Caruana. Stock code: WPT097
