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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

PB ISBN: 978 1 4728 1877 5

ePDF ISBN: 978 1 4728 1878 2

ePub ISBN: 978 1 4728 1879 9

XML ISBN: 978 1 4728 2175 1

Edited by Tony Holmes

Cover Artwork by Gareth Hector

Aircraft Profiles by Jim Laurier

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Front Cover

The A‑6E SWIP was the final warfighting improvement to the Intruder family. Based on the TRAM variant and introduced in 1990, the SWIP added both AGM‑65 Maverick and AGM‑88 HARM to the aircraft’s bag of tricks. As of January 1991 and the start of Operation Desert Storm, only two of the US Navy’s nine deployed A‑6 squadrons had received the SWIP, namely the ‘Swordsmen’ of VA‑145 and VA‑75 ‘Sunday Punchers’. On the war’s opening night, VA‑145 used two SWIPs as ‘HARM trucks’, each shooting four of the weapons while providing cover for CVW‑2 Intruders striking targets inland.

Lt Cdr John ‘J R’ Haley and his Bombardier/Navigator Lt Bud Abbott launched from USS Ranger (CV‑61) in NE 501 (BuNo 162197) and climbed to altitude as other Intruders attacked the Um Qasr naval base at near sea level in the face of a completely functional Iraqi air defence system. The ‘Swordsmen’ crew flew in an orbit with another Intruder and started firing HARMs toward the threat. It was the first time either crew had ever shot a HARM, let alone at night, and both were surprised by the way the missile ‘lit up the night’ as it climbed away from their Intruder. Backed by jamming and additional HARMs from VAQ‑131 EA‑6B Prowlers (also part of CVW‑2), their efforts kept the SAM threat honest and their heads down while their air wing mates hit their targets. They would repeat the mission the following night, before going low on a memorable mining sortie on night three of Operation Desert Storm (Cover artwork by Gareth Hector)

Title Page

The Grumman Intruder formed the core of US Navy carrier-based strike power for more than 30 years. This division of A-6E TRAMs, from the ‘Green Lizards’ of VA-95, are shown flying in left echelon for the photographer as they pass Mount Baker, in Washington, just 60 miles northeast of their Whidbey Island home in the late 1980s (US Navy)