EKA-3 "Whale"

TARPSBird said:
I assume the current Virtavia package is the one you're looking for, it's still payware but not a bad deal for $20...
https://www.fspilotshop.com/virtavia-skywarrior-for-fsx-p-3048.html
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Is this one identical to the Steam Edition B-66 package?
https://www.fspilotshop.com/virtavia-skywarrior-fsx-steam-main-package-p-5583.html

Plus there is also this one: https://www.fspilotshop.com/virtavia-destroyer-for-fsx-p-6274.html

Prices are different probalbly because the Steam edition has only one model but the quality of that model seems much higher. Of course only the one in your post is FS2004 compatible.
 
The Navy A-3 Series (A-3A, A-3B, RA-3B, EA-3B, TA-3B, KA-3B and EKA-3B) are very different from the B-66, even though their general layout is similar. Make no mistake about it, if you want any A-3, get the Virtavia payware for a good value. The freeware Alpha is not bad, but the payware is an improvement. The B-66 is NOT going to be even close to an A-3, if that is what you want.

Retired Naval Aviator/ "Whale" qualified
 
The then-AlphaSims FS9 A-3 / A3D Skywarrior is freeware now, and has been for quite some time.

It's on the Virtavla freeware page:

http://www.virtavia.com/Freeware/index.php

If they still have a payware Whale, my guess is that it must be an FSX version.

As Mike71 said, the B-66 is a different airplane. It was conceptually derived from the A3D, but by the time it was finished about all that remained of the A3D was the general layout and a family resemblance - as long as you don't look too closely. But if you're interested, it's also on the freeware page. The Whale is near the top of the list, as it's listed as the Alpha A-3, while the B-33 is near the bottom, being listed as the Virtavia B-66.

.
 
There is a payware version out for the FS9 A-3/A-3D Skywarrior under the Virtavia name. It has a newer panel layout with newer gauges and the paints that come with it are AWESOME. Worth the $20 bucks or so, featured in the FS Pilot Shop under Virtavia. I flew the freeware version for a while but purchased the payware model some time ago. It's a vast improvement. :encouragement:

BB686:US-flag:
 
Blackbird686 said:
There is a payware version out for the FS9 A-3/A-3D Skywarrior under the Virtavia name. It has a newer panel layout with newer gauges and the paints that come with it are AWESOME. Worth the $20 bucks or so, featured in the FS Pilot Shop under Virtavia. I flew the freeware version for a while but purchased the payware model some time ago. It's a vast improvement. :encouragement:
BB686:US-flag:
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I see! I had no idea that they'd re-done the Whale.
 
Agree - the re-done A-3 panel and textures are a BIG improvement. I have both, the old Alpha one went to the boneyard less some performance and panel improvements I had made. The Virtavia is a winner.

One big but not quickly obvious difference is that the B-66 had ejection seats - the Whales didn't. Getting 3 (or even 7 in an EA-3B) crew out of a Whale at low altitude was pretty much impossible. The RA/TA/EK-3Bs had a side fuselage door for the crew in the rear fuselage.
 
Mike71 said:
...One big but not quickly obvious difference is that the B-66 had ejection seats - the Whales didn't. Getting 3 (or even 7 in an EA-3B) crew out of a Whale at low altitude was pretty much impossible. The RA/TA/EK-3Bs had a side fuselage door for the crew in the rear fuselage.
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Yeah, the joke was that the original designation, A3D, stood for All Three Dead.
 
I purchased the Whale, and i don't regret it. Though taking it off the deck of an Essex class carrier is just absolutely unbelievable but i love doing it...

My granddad was involved in the testing of the Whale over at Pax River.
 
Mick said:

Yeah, the joke was that the original designation, A3D, stood for All Three Dead.
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I had a friend who was an FE on P-3s and crewed A-3s before that, he told me that the nose gear had a propensity to come up through the FE's seat during uncontrolled landings.

Sean
 
The A-3 series had no FE; they had a pilot, one set of controls, a Bombardier/Navigator (Navy "NFO") in the right seat, and a rear facing enlisted crewman behind the pilot. originally the 3rd seater operated the rear gun turret remotely, but when they were removed, he acted as an ECM operator and general aircrewman (folding up the drag chute after landing on an airfield, servicing the plane when necessary, etc). The enlisted aircrewman were typically E-4s or E-5s with ratings of ADJ , AE or AMH typically.

Whales had a high accident rate aboard ship, but in my opinion they were not well understood in the Carrier community, whose pilots all were flying smaller more nimble airplanes like F-8s, A-4s, F-4s, A-7s, etc. Also, young pilots sent to A-3s would tend to dive for the deck at the last moment to avoid a bolter, and it put heavy stresses on the forward fuselage. If you look closely at the forward fuselage of many A-3s, you can see what appears to be wrinkled skin - which it is! These were caused by high downward bending loads during heavy cat shots, where the bridle attachment hooks were well aft on the bottom of the fuselage, and pulled downward between the main and nose landing gear, causing this bending stress during a shot, as well as simple longitudinal stresses.

I checked out in the KA-3B and RA-3B as a test pilot at Pax River in the 70's. I was pretty senior and experienced, and really learned to like the plane in general, but could well understand the problems it could have aboard ship - ESPECIALLY the small converted ESSEX Class that still populated the fleet up into the mid 70s. I also enjoyed flying with the small cadre of enlisted aircrewmen we had to fly in, and help maintain, them at NATC. We had a sort of "Whale Flying Club", and were pretty proud of it.

Although I had flown many types of planes with many different types of engines, I really liked the reliability, response, and yes - the sound - of the J-57 engine.
 
Mike71 said:
The A-3 series had no FE; they had a pilot, one set of controls, a Bombardier/Navigator (Navy "NFO") in the right seat, and a rear facing enlisted crewman behind the pilot. originally the 3rd seater operated the rear gun turret remotely, but when they were removed, he acted as an ECM operator and general aircrewman (folding up the drag chute after landing on an airfield, servicing the plane when necessary, etc.

Whales had a high accident rate aboard ship, but in my opinion they were not well understood in the Carrier community, whose pilots all were flying smaller more nimble airplanes like F-8s, A-4s, F-4s, A-7s, etc. Also, young pilots sent to A-3s would tend to dive for the deck at the last moment to avoid a bolter, and it put heavy stresses on the forward fuselage. If you look closely at the forward fuselage of many A-3s, you can see what appears to be wrinkled skin - which it is! These were caused by high downward bending loads during heavy cat shots, where the bridle attachment hooks were well aft on the bottom of the fuselage, and pulled downward between the main and nose landing gear, causing this bending stress during a shot, as well as simple longitudinal stresses.

I checked out in the KA-3B and RA-3B as a test pilot at Pax River in the 70's. I was pretty senior and experienced, and really learned to like the plane in general, but could well understand the problems it could have aboard ship - ESPECIALLY the small converted ESSEX Class that still populated the fleet up into the mid 70s. I also enjoyed flying with the small cadre of enlisted aircrewman we had to fly in, and help maintain them, at NATC. We had a sort of "Whale Flying Club", and were pretty proud of it.

Although I had flown many types of planes with many different types of engines, I really liked the reliability, response, and yes - the sound - of the J-57 engine.
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You are correct, I miss-spoke (typed?) that it was an FE seat. My experience was in P-3s so my mind just sort of went there. When I was at Pt. Mugu, there was a VAQ? unit next to us flying A-3s Would that of been EA-3 of some sort?

Sean
 
From having experienced it personally, I found AF B/EB-66 aircraft were absolute SCREAMERS on the ground - probably the loudest bird we had in the inventory with the possible exception of the A/T-37.

A high-school classmate had his brother visit us in the NJROTC class I was in back in 1970. His bro was an A-3 enlisted aircrewman who had a few interesting stories to tell us about carrier ops in general and with that bird in particular. I remember him commenting on the lack of ejection seats, which was a virtual death sentence for the crew at low/zero altitude. His fears were borne out about a year later. He was killed in the A-3 he was flying in when it suffered a dual engine failure at only a few hundred feet following takeoff at, I think, Alameda NAS, CA.
 
VAQ was EA-3Bs - electronic snoopers. They sent dets to various Carriers. VAP was heavy photo, with RA-3Bs. VAK was converted A-3Bs to KA-3Bs and later EKA-3Bs. Again, tailored dets to deployed Carriers were the standard ops method in those days, after the pure bombers went away as the A-6 came into the fleet.
 
Whales

I flew with some spooks that had some time (previously) in the whales. They would say that if it wasn't leaking hydraulic fluid, don't get in it - that means it was empty.
 
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