Mike Kanze wrote:
EA-18G "Growler"Woody,

IMHO the 28-bomb loadout was almost a "ferry tail" given that at least one drop tank was required for on station time-at least in my experience.

True...or lots of "give" available overhead. (My head is still locked in the Days of Wine and Roses, when each cycle had at least one EKA-3 and one or two A-6 duty tankers in orbit.)

******

Nasty crack that circulated in the early 1970s, just as the EA-6Bs were about to make their first sea deployment, was one that asked how much "give" they could offer. On at least one occasion, this sort of comment came from a "heavy" who had never taken the time to notice that the EA-6B was an electron-chaser by design, and not a hypermorph like the Whale had become.

And now it appears we are coming full-circle, with the Growler being the new hypermorph.

--
Mike Kanze

Speaking of hypermorphing...An interesting article in the Sept. 2005
Proceedings, "Creatively Bridging the Gap" by Captain Gordon E. Van
Hook, USN, and Captain Thomas C. Cropper, USN, declares that the
APS-130 on the EA-6B makes it useful in an ASW/SSSC role (like it's not
tasked in too many roles already). Also, "Every aircraft in CVW-11 is
an ASW aircraft".