{"product_id":"vigilante-1-200-hours-flying-the-ultimate-us-navy-reconnaissance-aircraft","title":"Vigilante!: 1,200 Hours Flying the Ultimate US Navy Reconnaissance Aircraft","description":"\u003cp\u003eNorth American s RA5C Vigilante represents the absolute zenith of Jet Age aerial reconnaissance at Mach 2. The aircrafts history corresponds to the evolution of the war in Vietnam, where Vigilantes located targets and assessed poststrike damage. The jets two crewmen operated highly sophisticated sensors, cameras, infrared mapping, sidelooking radar, and electronic countermeasure equipment. Because of their ultrahighrisk missions, Vigilantes suffered the highest loss rate of any US Navy aircraft, and the number of RA5Cs built was small as was the cadre of dedicated men who flew them. This book explains the aircraft and its development in great detail and gives new insight into the courageous men who flew the Vigilante in combat.Author Robert  Boom  Powell was a US Navy carrier pilot for 16 of his 20 years in the service. His second combat tour in Vietnam was spent flying the Vigilante, and he incorporates historical fact, detailed new information, and neverbeforepublished photographs to produce the definitive work on this aircraft. Personal sidebar anecdotes are interspersed in the text, adding the vital human element to this compelling story of Naval Aviation at its best.No book has ever been written about the A3J\/RA5C like this one, telling the story of North American s jet in such vivid detail. Many of the rare, neverbeforepublished photographs were culled from the authors personal collection, archives of the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, the Tailhook Association in San Diego, California, and several wellknown photo historians. The author also contacted 40 veterans of the RA5C community to acquire their Vigilante stories, which have also never been told.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specialty Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47335863714037,"sku":"SONG1580072615","price":49.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/81ynKldAaXL.jpg?v=1763993928","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/vigilante-1-200-hours-flying-the-ultimate-us-navy-reconnaissance-aircraft","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}