US Navy in Vietnam
 

What were the survival chances of US Naval aviators in the Vietnam war? I've been reading 'Flight of the Intruder' again, which seems very well researched and I'm morbidly curious as to what chances the real life counterparts of the characters would have of completing their tour. Presumably far higher than say a WW2 bomber crew but still daunting.

try here:
https://www.intruderassociation.org/...A-6-Losses.pdf

Francillion gives a figure of 317 Navy aircrew lost in the 12 year period due to hostile action. From other causes of death - 2,430 Naval personnel.
Can't find total figures for Naval sorties - but Linebacker I alone was 23,652 tactical sorties against the North. Highest monthly figures for the early 70's is listed at around 3,300 to 4,800 sorties per month.

The book "Intruder - The Operational History of Grumman's A-6" by Mark & Rick Morgan will give a very good over view. My flight school room mate went on to fly the A-6 over Vietnam, had one ejection when the KA-6D tanker he wa flying caught fire because of the fuselage mounted hose reel springing a leak.

The author flew A-6s over Vietnam himself, he did two tours on the USS Enterprise. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Coonts
I can recommend his book 'The Intruders' as well, which serves as a sort of post-Vietnam sequel. Together, they contain a lot of interesting insights into A-6 operations and naval air operations in general. Both books are of course fiction.

708 aircraft were built, of those 73 were lost due combat and 191 to accidents.


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we forget just how dangerous military flying is even in peacetime - the RAF (and USAF and) all suffered horrendous losses on a yearly basis . The Aviation Safety Network lists 174 Tornado losses - that includes 8 in the Gulf War but not all of them were actually shot down.

That has to be all operators of the Tornado Asturias, but even then 174 seems a large number?

174 total incidents recorded on ASN across all operators including prototypes/development aircraft. Most were classed as write offs. UK aircraft figured in 77 accidents, Germany 60.

Having enjoyed the book I found the film to rent on Amazon. Not bad, some great shots of A6s and sticks pretty closely to the book.

Just to say Steve Coonts' book "The Cannibal Queen" is an absolute delight - one of the best American authored books I've read.