The US Navy's experience in the Korean War showed the need for a new long-range strike aircraft with high subsonic performance at very low altitude that could penetrate enemy defences and find and destroy small targets in any weather. The Grumman A-6 Intruder was designed with these needs in mind and was a true bomb truck. From the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq the Intruder proved its worth, able to catty a plethora of weaponry and pack a mighty punch. From the Intruder airframe the KA-6D tanker variant was derived, along with the specialised EA-6A Intruder and then the EA-6B Prowler, a sophisticated four-seat electronic warfare variant, packed with jamming equipment and electronics.

Like the A-6, the Prowler was used by both the Navy and Marine Corps. Af-ter nearly thirty-seven years and with 693 airframes constructed, on February 28, 1997, VA-34 the Blue Blasters, retired the Navy's last operational A-6E Intruders. The Navy retired its Prowlers in 2015, however, the Marines Corps carried on flying the EA-6B into the early months of 2019. Warpaint 146 is packed full of all the usual historical and reference material, with wal-karounds of both Prowler and Intruder, colour artwork by Sam Pearson, and a well-paced narrative that places this essential aircraft in context and show-cases its role in US naval operations over nearly sixty years.

60 pages
By Andy Evans