A-3 Skywarrior Last Flight and Fly-by - NAS Fort Worth, Texas

A3Treasurer's shared video file.
On 6-30-2011 after several days of consulting with Raytheon, NAVAIR, NMNA, and the A-3 Association.
It was agreed to fly the jet to Pensacola for display. The A-3 Association deposited $15K with Raytheon and on the 29th, Ron Woltman and crew departed Van Nuys at 1945 CST arriving NAS Fort Worth at ~2215.
We (A-3 Assoc) met Ron and crew at the aircraft and transported them to the hotel. Early the next morning we readied the jet for it's last flight and Ron and his crew took off for the last time at 9:10 CST Fort Worth, TX for Pensacola, FL.
We'll miss the sound of those J-57's and we will miss the A-3 Skywarrior. Remember all that we have 20 of these in museums so please donate to the A-3 Association so we can keep them all as good looking as how Raytheon kept this one.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• EA-3B
• A-3
• Skywarrior
• 144865
• N875RS
• Ranger
• 011
• NASFortWorth
• Swisher
• Woltman
• Whale

[A3Treasurer]

No problem, it was certainly my pleasure/honor to shoot the last A-3 flight. Bobbled the camera some as I had to salute Ron on that final Skywarrior flight and for all he has done over the last twenty years. A couple bonuses here; across the runway of NAS Fort Worth is Lockheed martin where we fly out F-16's and F-35's. Also, if you look close you'll see that the the Whale had a bird strike. Final A-3 flight from Fort Worth, Texas to Pensacola, Florida.

[UrbanTiger74]

Yup. 3:49...bird strike. LOL!

[dparker161]

My dad flew these beautiful birds for most of his career. I grew up around these and remember that lovely "whine" of the engines. I miss these so much. For the largest carrier based aircraft in the Navy, they were so graceful in the air, especially at the hands of skilled pilots. I hope these live on in the history of aviation. They did so much and I will miss them in the air!

[cloudshe]

okay coyote you Prowler Puke!!! thanks for taking care of our old friends for another 20 years after USN found cheaper and uglier mission aircraft!

[deepseaZero10]

Thanks for the video Mark. The distinctive sound of the "Whale" will now only live in our memories. It was a beautiful sound indeed. I'm sure that Ed Heinemann never imagined that his design would last this many years. Fifty-nine if I figured correctly. An amazing airplane!