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From: tggsu@resonex.UUCP (Tom Gulvin Root)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Vigilantes (not Goetz :-)  )
Message-ID: <249@resonex.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Mar-85 14:49:33 EST
Article-I.D.: resonex.249
Posted: Tue Mar 12 14:49:33 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Mar-85 03:45:39 EST
References: <467@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Resonex Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 21

> I've got a bit of a question about the A-5 Vigilante, the '50s 
> Navy attack bomber/Recce aircraft.  I seem to remember a model kit
> of the A-5 that featured a rearward-firing torpedo.  Did the A-5
> actually have that?  Did it eject backwards merely to cancel out
> the forward speed of the aircraft, or did it also travel in the
> reverse direction to the aircraft flight?  How was it planned to
> use this operationally... was the aircraft required to fly over
> the target ship before firing?
> 
> 					  Ron Wanttaja
> 					  (ssc-vax!wanttaja)
> 
> Archbury control, this is Ramrod Leader...

The North American A-5 Vigilante had a rearward ejecting weapons pod that
contained the "nuclear device" to be dropped on the target. The pod nestled
between the (I think) J-79 engines and allowed a heavy and bulky nuke
(nowadays they are COMPAQ sized) to be carried w/o too much aero penalty.
	Tom Gulvin - Resonex, Inc. - Sunnyvale, CA.
BTW, the A-5 introduced many new concepts in a production machine and was
(arguably) the largest regular service navy aircraft carrier plane.