Sheet:

Aeromaster 48-535: EA-6B Prowlers II

Units: See review

Price

$9.00 when new

Reviewer:

Scott Van Aken

The need for electronic jamming aircraft came to light when surface to air missiles became the major ground to air weapon against incoming aircraft. For the US Navy, the first somewhat dedicated jammer was a major modification of the A-3B Skywarrior into the EKA-3B. This was mainly because the jamming equipment was very heavy and the A-3 was the only plane in the inventory with the ability to carry this gear and keep up with the strike force.

When the A-3 was obviously not going to be around long enough for the modern Navy (though it lasted longer than most thought), it was replaced by a modified A-6A Intruder. These EA-6As were solely used by the Marines in the south of Vietnam to protect their in-country ground attack operations. A more capable system, the EA-6B was developed that doubled the crew of the EA-6A and was built ground up as new aircraft. These are still in service after more than thirty years of operation and have even outlasted the USAF's EF-111A's which carried basically the same electronics, but in a larger and faster airframe.

This sheet has three aircraft, all in the current TPS (Tactical Paint Scheme) of FS 35237, 36320, and 36375. There are two kits of the EA-6B; one by Monogram and one by Airfix. The Airfix kit is, by all accounts to be avoided, but even the Monogram kit is not up to current standards and needs the help of expensive conversion sets to do any of the planes on this sheet.

The aircraft on this sheet come from VAQ-132 aboard the USS Enterprise and shows the CAG bird from this unit. Next is a VAQ-141 aircraft from the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and finally, a VAQ-133 plane with probably more color in it than the other two combined!

There are enough insignia and warning decals to do all three with some of the lighter grey markings on a smaller separate sheet .

 

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